Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Post-infectious bronchiolitis obliterans in children.

OBJECTIVE To review publications about the main features of post-infectious bronchiolitis obliterans and its history, etiology, epidemiology, risk factors, pathogenesis, histological findings, clinical presentation, complementary tests, diagnostic criteria, differential diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. SOURCES Non-systematic review of MEDLINE and LILACS databases and selection of 66 most relevant studies. SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS In the post-infectious bronchiolitis obliterans there is an insult to respiratory epithelial cells, and its clinical severity is associated with the degree of lesion and inflammation. Diagnosis is made according to clinical signs and symptoms, by exclusion of main differential diagnoses and with the aid of complementary tests. High resolution CT, particularly images obtained during inspiration and expiration, provide information for the evaluation of the small airways. Pulmonary function tests show fixed airway obstructions and marked decrease of FEF25-75%. Treatment has not been definitely established, and corticoids have been administered as pulse therapy or by inhalation of high doses of steroids. However, data about its efficacy are scarce in the literature. Long-term prognosis is variable, and there might be either clinical improvement or deterioration into respiratory insufficiency and death. CONCLUSION Post-infectious bronchiolitis obliterans is a disease with a high morbidity rate; it should be treated by a multidisciplinary team, and patients should be followed up for a long period of time.
Lifelike talking faces for interactive services

Lifelike talking faces for interactive services are an exciting new modality for man-machine interactions. Recent developments in speech synthesis and computer animation enable the real-time synthesis of faces that look and behave like real people, opening opportunities to make interactions with computers more like face-to-face conversations. This paper focuses on the technologies for creating lifelike talking heads, illustrating the two main approaches: model-based animations and sample-based animations. The traditional model-based approach uses three-dimensional wire-frame models, which can be animated from high-level parameters such as muscle actions, lip postures, and facial expressions. The sample-based approach, on the other hand, concatenates segments of recorded videos, instead of trying to model the dynamics of the animations in detail. Recent advances in image analysis enable the creation of large databases of mouth and eye images, suited for sample-based animations. The sample-based approach tends to generate more naturally looking animations at the expense of a larger size and less flexibility than the model-based animations. Beside lip articulation, a talking head must show appropriate head movements, in order to appear natural. We illustrate how such "visual prosody" is analyzed and added to the animations. Finally, we present four applications where the use of face animation in interactive services results in engaging user interfaces and an increased level of trust between user and machine. Using an RTP-based protocol, face animation can be driven with only 800 bits/s in addition to the rate for transmitting audio.
Economies of Size in Wheat Production

This paper investigates the relationship between the cost of producing wheat and the size of the wheat enterprise on farms in the Boolooroo Shire of New South Wales. The impact of seasonal variation and new technology on the cost/size relationship is also examined. The estimated longrun cost functions suggest that significant cost economies may be achieved as the area sown to wheat on a farm in the region concerned is increased to approximately 1,000 acres.
A Distributed and Coordinated Massive DDOS Attack Detection and Response Approach

Nowadays Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks related to networked enterprise systems is a problem that has become much known. Many papers dealt with this type of attacks. Recently DDoS attacks that target large cyberspaces like national cyberspaces have become a hot topic. We start from an existing architecture called Saher Architecture. Saher is used to detect attacks threatening Tunisian National cyberspace. We improve this architecture and propose an approach that allows using a consensus algorithm executed by the probes of the Internet Service Providers in order to detect and react to massive DDoS attacks in a coordinated fashion and under Byzantine assumptions. Different levels of alerts are proposed and the reaction mechanisms depend on the type of the attack. The final outcome of this research is a framework that affords the necessary mechanisms allowing a national cyberspace to counter massive DDoS attacks by coordinating internet Service Providers effort in order to detect and respond to the attacks.
Three varieties of visual field

Abstract The goal of this paper is to challenge the rather insouciant attitude that many investigators seem to adopt when they go about describing the items and events in their “visual fields”. There are at least three distinct categories of interpretation of what these reports might mean, and only under one of those categories do those reports have anything resembling an observational character. The others demand substantive revisions in one's beliefs about what one sees. The ur‐concept of a “visual field” is that of the “sum of things seen”, but one can interpret the latter in very different ways. The first is the ‘field of view”, or the sum of physical things seen. The second is an array of visual impressions, whose spatial relations are distinct from those of physical phenomena in front of the eyes. The third is an intentional object: the world as it is represented visually. These three categories are described, and various locutions of vision science—such as “optic array”, “retinocentric space”, “vis.
Birthright Citizenship on Trial: Elk v. Wilkins and United States v. Wong Kim Ark

In the summer of 2015, the majority of Republican candidates for President announced their opposition to birthright citizenship. The constitutional dimensions of that right revolve around two cases decided at the end of the nineteenth-century, Elk v. Wilkins (1884) and United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898). The first held that an American Indian man born in the United States was not a citizen under the fourteenth amendment; the second, that a Chinese American man born in the United States was indeed a citizen under the amendment. This Article juxtaposes the history of these decisions. By showing the distinctive constitutional and political status of Native peoples, this history makes clear the unconstitutionality of efforts to limit birthright citizenship and the consistency of Elk with the egalitarian ideals of the Fourteenth Amendment. Further, by providing new facts about the litigants, lawyers, and communities in these cases, this history provide new perspectives on the meaning of citizenship and its role in judicial and administrative law. Although John Elk’s non-Native lawyers presented him as seeking to assimilate and abandon his tribe, Elk was part of a Winnebago community and likely sought only freedom from the federal government’s aggressive policies of land acquisition and domination. While Wong Kim Ark’s lawyers were products of an organized Chinese migrant community, Wong also likely sought citizenship less as a quest for full assimilation than as an effort to maintain his transnational family in the face of exclusionary immigration policies. Wong’s citizenship, however, permitted his Chinese-born son to migrate to the United States, be drafted into the Army in World War II, and make a career with the Merchant Marines. The histories also show the limits of judicial action, as Congress quickly undermined the effect of each opinion, and the divergent opinions both contributed to expanded administrative power. Together, these histories challenge idealized concepts of citizenship, freedom, and individual action that remain with us today, and provide a richer understanding of race, constitutional doctrine, and administrative structure in the United States.
Generating branes via sigma models

Starting with the D-dimensional Einstein-dilaton-antisymmetric form equations and assuming a block-diagonal form of a metric we derive a $(D-d)$-dimensional $\sigma$-model with the target space $SL(d,R)/SO(d) \times SL(2,R)/SO(2) \times R$ or its non-compact form. Various solution-generating techniques are developed and applied to construct some known and some new $p$-brane solutions. It is shown that the Harrison transformation belonging to the $SL(2,R)$ subgroup generates black $p$-branes from the seed Schwarzschild solution. A fluxbrane generalizing the Bonnor-Melvin-Gibbons-Maeda solution is constructed as well as a non-linear superposition of the fluxbrane and a spherical black hole. A new simple way to endow branes with additional internal structure such as plane waves is suggested. Applying the harmonic maps technique we generate new solutions with a non-trivial shell structure in the transverse space (`matrioshka' $p$-branes). It is shown that the $p$-brane intersection rules have a simple geometric interpretation as conditions ensuring the symmetric space property of the target space. Finally, a Bonnor-type symmetry is used to construct a new magnetic 6-brane with a dipole moment in the ten-dimensional IIA theory.
Universal magnetic properties of frustrated quantum antiferromagnets in two dimensions.

We present a theory of frustrated, two-dimensional, quantum antiferromagnets in the vicinity of a quantum transition from a non-collinear, magnetically-ordered ground state to a quantum-disordered phase. Using a sigma-model for bosonic, spin-1/2, spinon fields, we obtain universal scaling forms for a variety of observables. Our results are compared with numerical data on the spin-1/2 triangular antiferromagnet.
The Challenge of Promoting Health: Exploration and Action

This book sets the promotion of health on wider agendas. Starting at the local level and the interface between primary health care and the community, it explores potentials for participation and the building of health alliances. It then takes a searching look at how health policy is made and the scope for intersectoral working. The role of poverty and unemployment in determining health chances is explored. A range of ethical, professional, sociological, epidemiological and gender-related issues are addressed.
An Estimated DSGE Model of the Indian Economy

We develop a closed-economy DSGE model of the Indian economy and estimate it by Bayesian Maximum Likelihood methods using Dynare. We build up in stages to a model with a number of features important for emerging economies in general and the Indian economy in particular: a large proportion of credit-constrained consumers, a financial accelerator facing domestic firms seeking to finance their investment, and an informal sector. The simulation properties of the estimated model are examined under a generalized inflation targeting Taylor-type interest rate rule with forward and backward-looking components. We find that, in terms of model posterior probabilities and standard moments criteria, inclusion of the above financial frictions and an informal sector significantly improves the model fit.
Multiband joint detection with correlated spectral occupancy in wideband cognitive radios

Recently, a wideband spectrum sensing scheme referred to as multiband joint detection has been proposed by Quan et al., in which a set of frequency dependent detection thresholds are optimized to achieve the best trade-off between aggregate measures of opportunistic throughput and interference to primary users in cognitive radio (CR) networks. While this scheme shows significant performance gains over benchmark approaches, it employs a frequency-decoupled detector structure that is not optimal in the presence of correlation between subband occupancies, a common situation in CR applications. In this paper, we investigate how a frequency-coupled optimum linear energy combiner (OLEC) structure, recently proposed for single user scenarios, can be integrated into the above multiband joint detection framework to take further advantage of subband occupancy correlation in wideband spectrum sensing. We first analyze the performance of the single-user OLEC and derive expressions for its probabilities of false alarm and missed detection. Using these expressions, we then formulate joint optimization problems for the detection thresholds used by a bank of subband OLECs, with the aim to maximize the aggregate opportunistic throughput under interference constraints. Through numerical experiments with a Markov model of subband occupancy, we show that the use of the OLEC in wideband spectrum sensing can significantly enhance CR performance in terms of these global metrics, when compared to the decoupled multiband processing structure.
Crushed tablets: does the administration of food vehicles and thickened fluids to aid medication swallowing alter drug release?

PURPOSE To evaluate the influence of co-administered vehicles on in vitro dissolution in simulated gastric fluid of crushed immediate release tablets as an indicator for potential drug bioavailability compromise. METHODS Release and dissolution of crushed amlodipine, atenolol, carbamazepine and warfarin tablets were tested with six foods and drinks that are frequently used in the clinical setting as mixers for crushed medications (water, orange juice, honey, yoghurt, strawberry jam and water thickened with Easythick powder) in comparison to whole tablets. Five commercial thickening agents (Easythick Advanced, Janbak F, Karicare, Nutilis, Viscaid) at three thickness levels were tested for their effect on the dissolution of crushed atenolol tablets. RESULTS Atenolol dissolution was unaffected by mixing crushed tablets with thin fluids or food mixers in comparison to whole tablets or crushed tablets in water, but amlodipine was delayed by mixing with jam. Mixing crushed warfarin and carbamazepine tablets with honey, jam or yoghurt caused them to resemble the slow dissolution of whole tablets rather than the faster dissolution of crushed tablets in water or orange juice. Crushing and mixing any of the four medications with thickened water caused a significant delay in dissolution. When tested with atenolol, all types of thickening agents at the greatest thickness significantly restricted dissolution, and products that are primarily based on xanthan gum also delayed dissolution at the intermediate thickness level. CONCLUSIONS Dissolution testing, while simplistic, is a widely used and accepted method for comparing drug release from different formulations as an indicator for in vivo bioavailability. Thickened fluids have the potential to retard drug dissolution when used at the thickest levels. These findings highlight potential clinical implications of the addition of these agents to medications for the purpose of dose delivery and indicate that further investigation of thickened fluids and their potential to influence therapeutic outcomes is warranted.
Deep Web and MapReduce

This invited paper introduces results on Web science and technology obtained during work with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. In the first part, we discuss algorithms for exploring the deep Web, which refers to the collection of Web pages that cannot be reached by conventional Web crawlers. In the second part, we discuss sorting algorithms on the MapReduce system, which has become a dominant paradigm for massive parallel computing.
MKP-1 attenuates LPS-induced blood-testis barrier dysfunction and inflammatory response through p38 and IκBα pathways

Sertoli cells create a local tolerogenic microenvironment to maintain testicular immune privilege especially through the formation of a blood-testis barrier (BTB). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the immune modulation function and BTB dynamics of Sertoli cells remained elusive. MAP phosphatase (MKP)-1 acts as a crucial negative regulator of the inflammatory response. Nevertheless, the role of MKP-1 in regulating Sertoli cells has not been elucidated. In this study, we have for the first time uncovered distinct cellular localization of MKP-1 in the cells at different stages of mouse testis, and the level of MKP-1 expression was significantly up-regulated by LPS-induced acute testis inflammation. In addition, MKP-1 staining was strongly detected in nuclei and peri-nuclear regions of cytoplasm in the Sertoli cells, and it was presented at Sertoli cell tight junctions (TJs) at stages VII-VIII after LPS treatment. Moreover, we demonstrated that MKP-1 was capable of attenuating LPS-induced decrease of occludin by interaction with p38 MAP kinase and IκBα molecules. Taken together, our data highlight that MKP-1 was an important endogenous suppressor of innate immune responses involved in the regulation of BTB barrier dynamic. This study thus might offer novel targets for treating inflammatory diseases in the testis.
Effects of Comt Genotype on Behavioral Symptomatology in the 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

The 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (DiGeorge/velocardiofacial syndrome) is associated with elevated rates of psychosis, and is also characterized by severe attentional difficulties and executive dysfunction. Behavioral manifestations of this syndrome could result from haploinsufficiency of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene, located within the 22q11 region. The goal of the present study was to examine COMT genotype in relation to behavioral symptomatology in this syndrome. Val158/108Met was genotyped in 38 patients (16 Met/-, 22 Val/-) with confirmed 22q11.2 deletions who had received the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) as part of a comprehensive evaluation. Results indicated that the Val genotype was associated with significantly greater internalizing and externalizing behavioral symptomatology in children with 22q11.2 deletions. Val allele status was associated with a greater-than-four-fold increase in risk for clinically significant behavior problems in children with this syndrome. These data are consistent with previous findings of increased psychopathology associated with the Val genotype in normal individuals and suggest that a functional genetic polymorphism in the 22q11 region may influence behavior in individuals with COMT haploinsufficiency.
Feature Extraction for DW-MRI Visualization: The State of the Art and Beyond

By measuring the anisotropic self-diusion rates of water, Diusion Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DW-MRI) provides a unique noninvasive probe of fibrous tissue. In particular, it has been explored widely for imaging nerve fiber tracts in the human brain. Geometric features provide a quick visual overview of the complex datasets that arise from DW-MRI. At the same time, they build a bridge towards quantitative analysis, by extracting explicit representations of structures in the data that are relevant to specific research questions. Therefore, features in DWMRI data are an active research topic not only within scientific visualization, but have received considerable interest from the medical image analysis, neuroimaging, and computer vision communities. It is the goal of this paper to survey contributions from all these fields, concentrating on streamline clustering, edge detection and segmentation, topological methods, and extraction of anisotropy creases. We point out interrelations between these topics and make suggestions for future research.
ALLOCATING RESOURCES TO SUPPORT A MULTICOMMODITY FLOW WITH TIME WINDOWS

This paper presents mathematical models for a macro level analysis of a supply logistics problem. The problem involves the allocation of a limited number of transport resources (assets) towards the shipment of cargo and personnel (movement requirements) between many origins and destinations within prescribed time windows. The problem has been modeled by three linear programming formulations which can be solved in a personal computer environment in a timely manner. The first and second formulations represent an explicit statement of the problem. These formulations attempt to minimize the amount of cargo which is delivered late by determining the most appropriate assets to be allocated to movement requirements in each time period. A much smaller statement of the problem is achieved in the third formulation by assuming that lateness is distributed evenly over all routes. Thus, the formulations offer a tradeoff between the degree of control to be exercised by the planner and the speed of computation. The paper presents the basic structure of these formulations along with some test results.
A NOVEL COLOR IMAGE COMPRESSION METHOD USING EIGENIMAGES

From the birth of multi–spectral imaging techniques, there has been a tendency to consider and process this new type of data as a set of parallel gray–scale images, (instead of an ensemble of an n–D realization). Although, even now, some researchers make the same assumption, it is proved that using vector geometries leads to more realistic results. In this paper, based on the proposed method for extracting the eigenimages of a color image, a new color image compression method is proposed and analyzed which performs in the vectorial domain. Experimental results show that the proposed
Particle Based Fluid Simulation for 3D Scene with Implicit Surfaces

The shape modeling technique based on the implicit surface representation is used for generating threedimensional surface models that interpolate given sets of scattered points. A number of techniques for generating interpolating surfaces have been proposed and significant progress has been made in the last decade [1]. In addition, the implicit surface representation is also useful for interactive modeling of simple shapes [2] and three-dimensional scenes can be constructed as a set of implicit surfaces. For appropriate visualization of the threedimensional scenes, some additional effects such as water flows need to be added depending on the situation. The promising method for generating water flow is the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH [3]): a particlebased fluid simulation method. In the standard SPH, the fluid is discretized into a set of particles and obstacles in the simulation field are assumed to be represented as sets of dense particles. Harada et al. proposed another approach for SPH simulation that enables simulation in polygonbased scenes [4]. In this approach, the particle force acted by polygon obstacles is incorporated in addition to the forces acted by the surrounding particles. In this paper, we present a method of fluid simulation in three-dimensional scene with obstacles represented as implicit surfaces. In this method, the particle motion is formulated by adding the forces acted by the obstacles defined as implicit surfaces into the standard particle forces as in the SPH.
Crystallized Intelligence : Toward an Integrative Model

Many studies are concerned with the bivariate relationships between Openness, fluid intelligence (Gf), and crystallized intelligence (Gc). Results suggest an influence of Gf and Openness on Gc. However, the overlap between Gf and Openness is rarely controlled for. Moreover, interaction effects or longitudinal influences are also often neglected. The present two studies aimed to elucidate exactly these interactions and longitudinal influences. Besides a main effect of Gf on Gc, Study 1 (N=180) revealed an interaction effect between Openness and Gf. Study 2 utilized longitudinal data (N=173) and identified an effect of Openness on the development of Gf. Gf and Openness predicted Gc 6 years later. A model integrating the results and providing a theoretical framework and outlook is proposed.