Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exposure to brackish water, upon feeding, leads to enhanced conservation of nitrogen and increased urea synthesis and retention in the Asian freshwater stingray Himantura signifer

SUMMARY The white-edge freshwater whip ray Himantura signifer is ammonotelic in freshwater, but retains the capacities of urea synthesis and ureosmotic osmoregulation to survive in brackish water. The first objective of this study was to examine whether exposure to brackish water would lead to increases in food intake, and/or conservation of nitrogen in H. signifer upon daily feeding. Results obtained showed that a progressive increase in ambient salinity, from 1‰ to 15‰ over a 10-day period, did not lead to an increase in daily food intake. However, there were significant reductions in daily rates of ammonia and urea excretion in H. signifer during salinity changes, especially between day 5 (in 10‰ water) and day 10 (in 15‰ water) when compared to those of the control kept in 1‰ water. Consequently, there was a significant decrease in the percentage of nitrogen (N) from the food being excreted as nitrogenous waste (ammonia-N+urea-N) during this period. On day 10, the tissue urea contents in fish exposed to 15‰ water were significantly greater than those of fish kept in 1‰ water, and the excess urea-N accumulated in the former fish could totally account for the cumulative deficit in excretion of urea-N+ammonia-N during the 10-day period. Thus, it can be concluded that H. signifer is N-limited, and conserved more N from food when exposed to brackish water. The conserved N was converted to urea, which was retained in tissues for osmoregulation. The second objective of this study was to elucidate whether the retention of the capacity of N conservation in H. signifer would lead to an accumulation of urea in fish exposed to not only 15‰ water, but also 1‰ water, upon feeding. For fish pre-acclimated to 1‰ water or 15‰ water for 10 days and then fasted for 48 h, the rate of ammonia excretion in fish exposed to 15‰ water was consistently lower than that of fish exposed to 1‰ water, throughout the 36-h post-feeding period. In addition, the hourly rate of urea excretion in the former was significantly lower than that of the latter between hours 12 and 36. There were postprandial increases in ammonia contents in the muscle, liver, stomach, intestine, brain and plasma of fish kept in 1‰ water; but postprandial increases in ammonia occurred only in the liver and brain of fish exposed to 15‰ water, and the magnitudes of increases in the latter were smaller than those in the former. Indeed, postprandial increases in tissue urea contents occurred in both groups of fish, but the greatest increase in urea content was observed in the muscle of fish exposed to 15‰ water. Taken together, these results indicate that H. signifer in freshwater could be confronted with postprandial osmotic stress because of its capacity of conserving N and increasing urea synthesis upon feeding.
Deformable-medium affordances for interacting with multi-robot systems

This paper addresses the issue of human-swarm interactions by proposing a new set of affordances that make a multi-robot system amenable to human control. In particular, we propose to use clay- a deformable medium- as the “joystick” for controlling the swarm, supporting such affordances as stretching, splitting and merging, shaping, and mixing. The contribution beyond the formulation of these affordances is the coupling of an image recognition framework to decentralized control laws for the individual robots, and the developed human-swarm interaction methodology is applied to a team of mobile robots.
Adaptive Volumetric Shadow Maps

We introduce adaptive volumetric shadow maps (AVSM), a real‐time shadow algorithm that supports high‐quality shadowing from dynamic volumetric media such as hair and smoke. The key contribution of AVSM is the introduction of a streaming simplification algorithm that generates an accurate volumetric light attenuation function using a small fixed memory footprint. This compression strategy leads to high performance because the visibility data can remain in on‐chip memory during simplification and can be efficiently sampled during rendering. We demonstrate that AVSM compression closely approximates the ground‐truth correct solution and performs competitively to existing real‐time rendering techniques while providing higher quality volumetric shadows.
Self-monitoring in stroke patients and healthy individuals : predictive factors and methodological challenges

i Lay summary . v Declaration . vii Acknowledgements . ix Chapter 1 . 1 General Introduction . 1 1.1 Anosognosia for Hemiplegia (AHP): hemispheric asymmetry and cognitive impairments . 1 1.2 Prevalence and impact on the lives of patients and caregivers . 5 1.3 Issues of measurement . 7 1.4 Unawareness of deficit: global or modality-specific monitoring systems? 11 1.5 AHP as a disorder of motor planning and control . 14 1.5. 1 The intentional feed-forward hypothesis. 14 1.5. 2 Discrepancies between intention and outcome . 15 1.6 Defence, emotional processing and implicit awareness . 18 1.7 Thesis structure and terminology . 21 Chapter 2 . 25 Listening to the Silent Hemisphere: Are stroke physicians and health professionals unaware of right-hemisphere neuropsychological symptoms? 25 2.
CHAPTER 19 LEARNING IN SOCIAL NETWORKS

Social ties convey information through observations of others' decisions as well as through conversations and the sharing of opinions. The resulting information flows play a role in a range of phenomena, including job search (Montgomery 1991), financial planning (Duflo and Saez 2003), product choice (Trusov et al. 2009), and voting (Beck et al. 2002). Understanding how individuals use information from their social environments, and the aggregate consequences of this learning, is therefore important in many contexts. Is dispersed information aggregated efficiently? Whose opinions or experiences are particularly influential? Can we understand when choices will be diverse, when people will choose to conform, and how the networks in which individuals communicate shape these outcomes? This chapter surveys several approaches to these questions. We begin with a discussion of sequential social learning models in which each agent makes one decision; these models have admitted a rich analysis within a canonical Bayesian paradigm. We next discuss the DeGroot model of repeated linear updating. This theory employs a simple heuristic learning rule, delivering a fairly complete characterization of learning dynamics as a function of network structure. Finally, we review work that studies repeated Bayesian (or quasi-Bayesian) updating in general networks.
Being Where? Navigating the Involvement Paradox in Qualitative Research Accounts

Researcher presence in the field (“being there”) has long been a topic of scholarly discussion in qualitative inquiry. However, the representation of field presence in research accounts merits increased methodological attention as it impacts readers’ understanding of study phenomena and theoretical contributions. We maintain that the current ambiguity around representing field involvement is rooted in our scholarly community’s “involvement paradox. ” On one hand, we laud field proximity as a tenet of qualitative inquiry. On the other hand, we insist on professional distance to avoid “contamination” of findings. This leaves authors in a difficult position as they attempt to weave field involvement into written accounts. We draw on existing conceptual articles and illustrative exemplars to introduce four interrelated dimensions of representation: visibility, voice, stance, and reflexivity. These are intended to structure thinking about how authors do, and can, cast field involvement in research accounts as they navigate the involvement paradox. We encourage researcher-authors to think carefully about how they attend to their field presence as they craft research accounts, in order to enhance their legitimacy, trustworthiness, and richness.
Analysis of active power control of HVDC in damping power oscillations

The ability of High-Voltage-DC(HVDC) system to improve the system dynamics and stability by modulation of active power flow through the HVDC terminals is presented. This method is used to damp oscillations in large systems. A two-machine system is used for analysis. For simulation purpose an HVDC transmission system is designed based on Rihand-Dadri 500kV HVDC project, India. Stability analysis is carried out by monitoring the rotor speed deviation of the machine. Variation of system dynamics is studied by varying the modulation and system parameters. Simulation result under each case has been obtained in MATLAB.
Cognitive Linguistic Critical Discourse Studies

One of the more recent developments on the Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) landscape lies in critical applications of Cognitive Linguistics (e.g. Chilton 2004; Koller 2004; Hart 2010, 2011a, 2014a; Hart and Lukes 2007). Critical Linguistic CDS (CL-CDS) is characterised by a shift in focus to the interpretation-stage of analysis (O’Halloran 2003; Hart 2010). That is, CL-CDS addresses the cognitive-semiotic processes involved in understanding discourse and the fundamental role that these processes play in the construction of knowledge and the legitimation of action. Cognitive Linguistic approaches to CDS thus typically present detailed semantic analyses of language usages. In particular, CL-CDS emphasises the conceptual nature of meaning construction and is concerned with modelling the conceptual structures and processes which, invoked by text in the course of discourse, constitute an ideologised understanding of the situations and events being described. Cognitive Linguistics itself is not a specific theory but a paradigm within linguistics comprised of several related theories. Accordingly, Cognitive Linguistics makes available to CDS a set of alternative ‘tools’ as different theories may be operationalised as methodologies in critical analyses of discourse. Theories in Cognitive Linguistics, however, share a common set of assumptions about the nature of language. These assumptions are naturally shared by Cognitive Linguistic studies in CDS and thus provide the common thread and theoretical backdrop that defines a more general Cognitive Linguistic school of CDS (cf. Hart 2011b, 2015b). In this chapter, then, I begin, in Section 2, by introducing the Cognitive Linguistic perspective, reviewing the common aims and commitments of Cognitive Linguistic approaches. In section 3, I introduce some of the methods employed in Cog Linguistic approaches. And finally in Section 4, I provide an example analysis using data sourced from three online newspaper articles reporting on the 2014 Million Mask March in London.
Switches for Point-to-point Links Using Omi/hic Technology

OMI/HIC is a point-to-point link technology under development. It has a exible packet format and supports ow control, which makes OMI/HIC usable as an alternative physical layer for other higher level protocols, like SCI and ATM. Routing chips with advanced routing strategies are made, and these routing chips are useful building blocks for larger switches for point to point links.
Nephron number determines susceptibility to renal mass reduction-induced CKD in Lewis and Fisher 344 rats: implications for development of experimentally induced chronic allograft nephropathy.

BACKGROUND The Fisher 344 (F344) rat kidney transplanted to a Lewis rat recipient is a common model of chronic renal allograft nephropathy (CAN); however, CAN does not develop when the Lewis kidney is grafted into a F344 recipient. In this study we investigated whether a difference in nephron number/glomerular volume exists between the strains that could contribute to a greater susceptibility to development of kidney disease in the F344. METHODS Separate animals, male F344 and Lewis rats, were subjected to either sham surgery or right uni-nephrectomy and infarction of 2/3 of the left kidney, to produce a 5/6 ablation/infarction injury (5/6 A/I). Serial urinary protein excretions were measured, a terminal 24-h creatinine clearance was obtained and rats were killed 11 weeks after surgery and kidneys were harvested for pathology. Glomerular volumes were measured in the sham controls of each strain. Glomerular number was counted in separate, normal rats of each strain. RESULTS The normal F344 had approximately 30% fewer glomeruli than Lewis rats that were larger in volume. The sham F344 had similar creatinine clearance and glomerular structure to the Lewis shams, although BP and urine protein excretion were higher. After 5/6 A/I the F344 developed more severe proteinuria and structural kidney damage. When factored for kidney weight, the F344 rats exhibited a greater compensatory hyperfiltration in response to 5/6 A/I, compared to Lewis. CONCLUSIONS The F344 strain is more vulnerable to development of progressive kidney damage due to 5/6 A/I, compared to the Lewis. This is likely due to the lower nephron number/greater glomerular volume of the F344 that may also account for the greater susceptibility to CAN exhibited by this strain.
Generating Functions For Kernels of Digraphs (Enumeration & Asymptotics for Nim Games)

In this article, we study directed graphs (digraphs) with a coloring constraint due to Von Neumann and related to Nim-type games. This is equivalent to the notion of kernels of digraphs, which appears in numerous fields of research such as game theory, complexity theory, artificial intelligence (default logic, argumentation in multi-agent systems), 0-1 laws in monadic second order logic, combinatorics (perfect graphs). Kernels of digraphs lead to numerous difficult questions (in the sense of NP-completeness, #P-completeness). However, we show here that it is possible to use a generating function approach to get new informations: we use technique of symbolic and analytic combinatorics (generating functions and their singularities) in order to get exact and asymptotic results, e.g. for the existence of a kernel in a circuit or in a unicircuit digraph. This is a first step toward a generatingfunctionology treatment of kernels, while using, e.g., an approach "a la Wright". Our method could be applied to more general "local coloring constraints" in decomposable combinatorial structures.
A Semantically-based Lattice Approach for Assessing Patterns in Text Mining Tasks

In this paper, a new approach to automatically assessing patterns in text mining is proposed. It combines corpus based semantics and Formal Concept Analysis in order to deal with semantic and structural properties for concepts discovered in tasks such as generation of association rules. Experiments show the promise of our evaluation method to effectively assess discovered patterns when compared with other state-of-the-art evaluation methods.
Age and sex differences in the incorporation of EPA and DHA into plasma fractions, cells and adipose tissue in humans

The aim of the present study was to determine whether age and sex influence both the status and incorporation of EPA and DHA into blood plasma, cells and tissues. The study was a double-blind, randomised, controlled intervention trial, providing EPA plus DHA equivalent to 0, 1, 2 or 4 portions of oily fish per week for 12 months. The participants were stratified by age and sex. A linear regression model was used to analyse baseline outcomes, with covariates for age or sex groups and by adjusting for BMI. The change in outcomes from baseline to 12 months was analysed with additional adjustment for treatment and average compliance. Fatty acid profiles in plasma phosphatidylcholine, cholesteryl esters, NEFA and TAG, mononuclear cells (MNC), erythrocyte membranes, platelets, buccal cells (BU) and adipose tissue (AT) were determined. At baseline, EPA concentrations in plasma NEFA and DHA concentrations in MNC, BU and AT were higher in females than in males (all P< 0·05). The concentrations of EPA in AT (P= 0·003) and those of DHA in plasma TAG (P< 0·01) and AT (P< 0·001) were higher with increasing age. Following 12-month supplementation with EPA plus DHA, adjusted mean difference for change in EPA concentrations in plasma TAG was significantly higher in females than in males (P< 0·05) and was greater with increasing age (P= 0·02). Adjusted mean difference for change in DHA concentrations in AT was significantly smaller with increasing age (P= 0·02). Although small differences in incorporation with age and sex were identified, these were not of sufficient magnitude to warrant a move away from population-level diet recommendations for n-3 PUFA.
Aetiology of Acute Febrile Episodes in Children Attending Korogwe District Hospital in North-Eastern Tanzania

Introduction Although the burden of malaria in many parts of Tanzania has declined, the proportion of children with fever has not changed. This situation underscores the need to explore the possible causes of febrile episodes in patients presenting with symptoms at the Korogwe District Hospital (KDH). Methods A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted at KDH, north-eastern Tanzania. Patients aged 2 to 59 months presenting at the outpatient department with an acute medical condition and fever (measured axillary temperature ≥37.5°C) were enrolled. Blood samples were examined for malaria parasites, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and bacterial infections. A urine culture was performed in selected cases to test for bacterial infection and a chest radiograph was requested if pneumonia was suspected. Diagnosis was based on both clinical and laboratory investigations. Results A total of 867 patients with a median age of 15.1 months (Interquartile range 8.6–29.9) were enrolled from January 2013 to October 2013. Respiratory tract infections were the leading clinical diagnosis with 406/867 (46.8%) of patients diagnosed with upper respiratory tract infection and 130/867 (15.0%) with pneumonia. Gastroenteritis was diagnosed in 184/867 (21.2%) of patients. Malaria infection was confirmed in 72/867 (8.3%) of patients. Bacterial infection in blood and urine accounted for 26/808 (3.2%) infections in the former, and 66/373 (17.7%) infections in the latter. HIV infection was confirmed in 10/824 (1.2%) of patients. Respiratory tract infections and gastroenteritis were frequent in patients under 36 months of age (87.3% and 91.3% respectively). Co-infections were seen in 221/867 (25.5%) of patients. The cause of fever was not identified in 65/867 (7.5%) of these patients. Conclusions The different proportions of infections found among febrile children reflect the causes of fever in the study area. These findings indicate the need to optimise patient management by developing malaria and non-malaria febrile illnesses management protocols.
Individual versus Difference Rewards on Reinforcement Learning for Route Choice

In transportation systems, drivers usually choose their routes based on their own knowledge about the network. Such a knowledge is obtained from drivers' previous trips. When drivers are faced with jams they may change their routes to take a faster path. But this re-routing may not be a good choice because other drivers can proceed in the same way. Furthermore, such behaviour can create jams in other links. On the other hand, if drivers build their routes aiming at maximizing the overall travel time (system's utility), rather than their individual travel time (agents' utility), the whole system may benefit. This work presents two reinforcement learning algorithms for solving the route choice problem in road networks. The IQ-learning uses an individual reward function, which aims at finding a policy that maximizes the agents' utility. On the other hand, DQ-learning algorithm shapes the agents' reward based on difference rewards function, and aims at finding a route that maximizes the system's utility. Through experiments we show that DQ-learning is able to reduce the overall travel time when compared to other methods.
Materialising social ontology

Social theorists increasingly recognise that material things often play vital roles in the causation of social events. However, there is substantial disagreement on how to theorise these roles. Several members of the Cambridge Social Ontology Group have made important contributions in the form of their work on the ontology of technological objects. This paper builds on their work to develop an ontology of socio-technical structures: social entities composed of both humans and technological objects, with causal powers that depend on how these parts relate to, and interact with, each other. The implication is that material things are not just significant in their own right, or as parts of technical complexes, but that they can play a central role in social structures themselves. Indeed, many of the most important and consequential social structures in contemporary societies, and in particular in contemporary economies, are socio-technical structures.
Inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis improves left ventricular contractility in neonatal pigs late after cardiopulmonary bypass

BACKGROUND Following neonatal open heart surgery a nadir occurs in left ventricular function six to 12 hours after cardiopulmonary bypass. Although initiated by intraoperative events, little is known about the mechanisms involved. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the involvement of nitric oxide in this late phase dysfunction in piglets. DESIGN Piglets aged 2 to 3 weeks (4–5 kg) underwent cardiopulmonary bypass (1 h) and cardioplegic arrest (0.5 h) and then remained ventilated with inotropic support. Twelve hours after bypass, while receiving dobutamine (5 μg/kg/min), the left ventricular response to non-selective nitric oxide synthase inhibition (l-NG-monomethylarginine (l-NMMA)) was evaluated using load dependent and load independent indices (Ees, the slope of the end systolic pressure–volume relation; Mw, the slope of the stroke work–end diastolic volume relation; [dP/dtmax]edv, the slope of the dP/dtmax–end diastolic volume relation), derived from left ventricular pressure–volume loops generated by conductance and microtip pressure catheters. RESULTS 10 pigs received 7.5 mg l-NMMA intravenously and six of these received two additional doses (37.5 mg and 75 mg). Ees (mean (SD)) increased with all three doses, from 54.9 (40.1) mm Hg/ml (control) to 86.3 (69.5) at 7.5 mg, 117.9 (65.1) at 37.5 mg, and 119 (80.4) at 75 mg (p < 0.05). At the two highest doses, [dP/dtmax]edv increased from 260.8 (209.3) (control) to 470.5 (22.8) at 37.5 mg and 474.1 (296.6) at 75 mg (p < 0.05); and end diastolic pressure decreased from 16.5 (5.6) mm Hg (control) to 11.3 (5.0) at 37.5 mg and 11.4 (4.9) at 75 mg (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS In neonatal pigs 12 hours after cardiopulmonary bypass with ischaemic arrest, low dose l-NMMA improved left ventricular function, implying that there is a net deleterious cardiac action of nitric oxide at this time.
A simulation study of single events in n/sup +/-p junctions

In this work we present a simulation s t u 4 for single events in n’-p junctions. The s t u 4 investigates the variation of both the single-event induced current and the consequent collected charge with bias, substrate doping and minority carrier lifetime. We show that the minority carrier lifetime is the key factor in determining the amount of the total collected charge. We suggest that the reduction of the minority carrier lifetime in the substrate renders the device more immune against single events.