Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring physical, mental and psychological health for elders through their personal networks

In this study, we explore whether there is correlation between the personal network and its impact on physical, mental and psychological health of aging population. Previous research on aging and health suggest the importance of individual family network and social network on different aspects of health assessments and outcomes. We examine the impact of family network and social network on physical, mental and psychological health of elderly men and women by using a cross-national sample (N = 4412) from four Eastern Mediterranean countries of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia. We analyse the dataset entitled World Health Organisation Collaborative Study on Social and Health Aspects of Aging in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia both at a macro and a micro level. Results show that there is a strong impact of family network and social network on individual physical, mental, and psychological health both at a macro and a micro level.
Tensile Deformation and Rotating-Bending Fatigue Properties of a Highelastic Thin Wire, a Superelastic Thin Wire, and a Superelastic Thin Tube of NiTi Alloys

The tensile deformation and rotating-bending fatigue properties of a highelastic thin wire, a superelastic thin wire and a superelastic thin tube, all made of NiTi alloys, were investigated experimentally. The results obtained are summarized as follows: (I) The stress-strain curve of the highelastic thin wire is approximately linear up to a strain of 4 percent with a stress of 1400 MPa and shows little dependency on temperature and strain rate; (2) The modulus of elasticity for the initial loading stage of both the highelastic wire and the superelastic tube is low, showing superior bending flexibility as is necessary for medical applications; (3) The slopes of the strain-life curves of the alloys are steep in the low-cycle fatigue region (the strain amplitude of the fatigue limit is in the region of 0.6-0.8 percent); and (4) In the tube, fatigue cracking initiates on the rougher inner surface, resulting in a shorter fatigue life than in the case of the wire.
Fluvoxamine inhibits some inflammatory genes expression in LPS/stimulated human endothelial cells, U937 macrophages, and carrageenan-induced paw edema in rat

Objective(s): Fluvoxamine is a well-known selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI); Despite its anti-inflammatory effect, little is known about the precise mechanisms involved. In our previous work, we found that IP administration of fluvoxamine produced a noticeable anti-inflammatory effect in carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of fluvoxamine on the expression of some inflammatory genes like intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM1), vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM1), cyclooxygenases2 (COX2), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Materials and Methods: An in vitro model of LPS stimulated human endothelial cells and U937 macrophages were used. Cells were pretreated with various concentrations of fluvoxamine, from 10-8 M to 10-6 M. For in vivo model, fluvoxamine was administered IP at doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg-1, before injection of carrageenan. At the end of experiment, the expression of mentioned genes were measured by quantitative real time (RT)-PCR in cells and in paw edema in rat. Results: The expression of ICAM1, VCAM1, COX2, and iNOS was significantly decreased by fluvoxamine in endothelial cells, macrophages, and in rat carrageenan-induced paw edema. Our finding also confirmed that IP injection of fluvoxamine inhibits carrageenan-induced inflammation in rat paw edema. Conclusion: The results of present study provide further evidence for the anti-inflammatory effect of fluvoxamine. This effect appears to be mediated by down regulation of inflammatory genes. Further studies are needed to evaluate the complex cellular and molecular mechanisms of immunomodulatory effect of fluvoxamine.
Probabilistic Modeling for Face Orientation Discrimination: Learning from Labeled and Unlabeled Data

This paper presents probabilistic modeling methods to solve the problem of discriminating between five facial orientations with very little labeled data. Three models are explored. The first model maintains no inter-pixel dependencies, the second model is capable of modeling a set of arbitrary pair-wise dependencies, and the last model allows dependencies only between neighboring pixels. We show that for all three of these models, the accuracy of the learned models can be greatly improved by augmenting a small number of labeled training images with a large set of unlabeled images using Expectation-Maximization. This is important because it is often difficult to obtain image labels, while many unlabeled images are readily available. Through a large set of empirical tests, we examine the benefits of unlabeled data for each of the models. By using only two randomly selected labeled examples per class, we can discriminate between the five facial orientations with an accuracy of 94%; with six labeled examples, we achieve an accuracy of 98%.
Regulation of Actin Polymerization and Adhesion-Dependent Cell Edge Protrusion by the Abl-Related Gene (Arg) Tyrosine Kinase and N-WASp†

Extracellular cues stimulate the Abl family nonreceptor tyrosine kinase Arg to promote actin-based cell edge protrusions. Several Arg-interacting proteins are potential links to the actin cytoskeleton, but exactly how Arg stimulates actin polymerization and cellular protrusion has not yet been fully elucidated. We used affinity purification to identify N-WASp as a novel binding partner of Arg. N-WASp activates the Arp2/3 complex and is an effector of Abl. We find that the Arg SH3 domain binds directly to N-WASp. Arg phosphorylates N-WASp on Y256, modestly increasing the affinity of Arg for N-WASp, an interaction that does not require the Arg SH2 domain. The Arg SH3 domain stimulates N-WASp-dependent actin polymerization in vitro, and Arg phosphorylation of N-WASp weakly stimulates this effect. Arg and N-WASp colocalize to adhesion-dependent cell edge protrusions in vivo. The cell edge protrusion defects of arg−/− fibroblasts can be complemented by re-expression of an Arg-yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) fusion, but not by an N-WASp binding-deficient Arg SH3 domain point mutant. These results suggest that Arg promotes actin-based protrusions in response to extracellular stimuli through phosphorylation of and physical interactions with N-WASp.
Multi-resolution Field D

We present a multi-resolution path planner and replanner capable of efficiently generating paths across very large environments. Our approach extends recent work on interpolation-based planning to produce direct paths through non-uniform resolution grids. The resulting algorithm produces plans with costs almost exactly the same as those generated by the most effective uniform resolution grid-based approaches, while requiring only a fraction of their computation time and memory. In this paper we describe the algorithm and report results from a number of experiments involving both simulated and real field data.
Ectomycorrhizal identification in environmental samples of tree roots by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy

Roots of forest trees are associated with various ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal species that are involved in nutrient exchange between host plant and the soil compartment. The identification of ECM fungi in small environmental samples is difficult. The present study tested the feasibility of attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy followed by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) to discriminate in situ collected ECM fungal species. Root tips colonized by distinct ECM fungal species, i.e., Amanita rubescens, Cenococcum geophilum, Lactarius subdulcis, Russula ochroleuca, and Xerocomus pruinatus were collected in mono-specific beech (Fagus sylvatica) and mixed deciduous forests in different geographic areas to investigate the environmental variability of the ECM FTIR signatures. A clear HCA discrimination was obtained for ECM fungal species independent of individual provenance. Environmental variability neither limited the discrimination between fungal species nor provided sufficient resolution to discern species sub-clusters for different sites. However, the de-convoluted FTIR spectra contained site-related spectral information for fungi with wide nutrient ranges, but not for Lactarius subdulcis, a fungus residing only in the litter layer. Specific markers for distinct ECM were identified in spectral regions associated with carbohydrates (i.e., mannans), lipids, and secondary protein structures. The present results support that FTIR spectroscopy coupled with multivariate analysis is a reliable and fast method to identify ECM fungal species in minute environmental samples. Moreover, our data suggest that the FTIR spectral signatures contain information on physiological and functional traits of ECM fungi.
Evaluation of Personalised Information Retrieval at CLEF 2017 (PIR-CLEF): Towards a Reproducible Evaluation Framework for PIR

The Personalised Information Retrieval (PIR-CLEF) Lab workshop at CLEF 2017 is designed to provide a forum for the exploration of methodologies for the repeatable evaluation of personalised information retrieval (PIR). The PIR-CLEF 2017 Lab provides a preliminary pilot edition of a Lab task dedicated to personalised search, while the workshop at the conference is intended to provide a forum for the discussion of strategies for the evaluation of PIR and extension of the pilot Lab task. The PIR-CLEF 2017 Pilot Task is the first evaluation benchmark based on the Cranfield paradigm, with the potential benefits of producing evaluation results that are easily reproducible. The task is based on search sessions over a subset of the ClueWeb12 collection, undertaken by 10 users by using a clearly defined and novel methodology. The collection provides data gathered by the activities undertaken during the search sessions by each participant, including details of relevant documents as marked by the searchers. The PIR-CLEF 2017 workshop is intended to review the design and construction of this Pilot collection and to consider the topic of reproducible evaluation of PIR more generally with the aim of launching a more formal PIR Lab at CLEF 2018.
Ezrin/radixin/moesin proteins and Rho GTPase signalling in leucocytes

The ezrin/radixin/moesin (ERM) family of actin‐binding proteins act both as linkers between the actin cytoskeleton and plasma membrane proteins and as signal transducers in responses involving cytoskeletal remodelling. The Rho family of GTPases also regulate cytoskeletal organisation, and several molecular pathways linking ERM proteins and Rho GTPases have been described. This review discusses recent findings on ERM protein function in leucocytes and how these may be integrated with Rho GTPase signalling.
Emergence of influenza B viruses with reduced sensitivity to neuraminidase inhibitors.

CONTEXT Very little is known about the frequency of generation and transmissibility of influenza B viruses with reduced sensitivity to neuraminidase inhibitors. Furthermore, transmission of resistant virus, whether influenza A or B, has not been recognized to date. OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence and transmissibility of influenza B viruses with reduced sensitivity to neuraminidase inhibitors. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS Investigation of the neuraminidase inhibitor sensitivity of influenza B isolates from 74 children before and after oseltamivir therapy and from 348 untreated patients with influenza (including 66 adults) seen at 4 community hospitals in Japan during the 2004-2005 influenza season. Four hundred twenty-two viruses from untreated patients and 74 samples from patients after oseltamivir therapy were analyzed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Sialidase inhibition assay was used to test the drug sensitivities of influenza B viruses. The neuraminidase and hemagglutinin genes of viruses showing reduced sensitivity to neuraminidase inhibitors were sequenced to identify mutations that have the potential to confer reduced sensitivity to these drugs. RESULTS In 1 (1.4%) of the 74 children who had received oseltamivir, we identified a variant with reduced drug sensitivity possessing a Gly402Ser neuraminidase substitution. We also identified variants with reduced sensitivity carrying an Asp198Asn, Ile222Thr, or Ser250Gly mutation in 7 (1.7%) of the 422 viruses from untreated patients. Review of the clinical and viral genetic information available on these 7 patients indicated that 4 were likely infected in a community setting, while the remaining 3 were probably infected through contact with siblings shedding the mutant viruses. CONCLUSIONS In this population, influenza B viruses with reduced sensitivity to neuraminidase inhibitors do not arise as frequently as resistant influenza A viruses. However, they appear to be transmitted within communities and families, requiring continued close monitoring.
Measuring the relation between speech acoustics and 2D facial motion

Presents a quantitative analysis of the relation between speech acoustics and the 2D video signal of the facial motion that occurs simultaneously. 2D facial motion is acquired using an ordinary video camera: after digitizing a video sequence, a search algorithm is used for tracking markers painted on the speaker's face. Facial motion is represented by the 2D marker trajectories; whereas line spectrum pairs (LSP) coefficients are used to parameterize the speech acoustics. LSP coefficients and the marker trajectories are then used to train time-invariant and time-varying linear models, as well as nonlinear (neural network) models. These models are used to evaluate to what extent 2D facial motion is determined from speech acoustics. The correlation coefficients between measured and estimated trajectories are as high as 0.95. This estimation of facial motion from speech acoustics indicates a way to integrate audio and visual signals for efficient audio-visual speech coding.
Effect of seaweed-derived laminarin and fucoidan and zinc oxide on gut morphology, nutrient transporters, nutrient digestibility, growth performance and selected microbial populations in weaned pigs

In the present study, two experiments were conducted to (1) evaluate the effect of laminarin and/or fucoidan on ileal morphology, nutrient transporter gene expression and coefficient of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of nutrients and (2) determine whether laminarin inclusion could be used as an alternative to ZnO supplementation in weaned pig diets. Expt 1 was designed as a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, comprising four dietary treatments (n 7 replicates, weaning age 24 d, live weight 6·9 kg). The dietary treatments were as follows: (1) basal diet; (2) basal diet+300 ppm laminarin; (3) basal diet+240 ppm fucoidan; (4) basal diet+300 ppm laminarin and 240 ppm fucoidan. There was an interaction between laminarin and fucoidan on the CTTAD of gross energy (GE) (P< 0·05) and the expression of sodium–glucose-linked transporter 1 (SGLT1/SLC5A1) and GLUT1/SLC2A1 and GLUT2/SLC2A2 (P< 0·05) in the ileum. The laminarin diet increased the CTTAD of GE and increased the expression of SGLT1, GLUT1 and GLUT2 compared with the basal diet. However, there was no effect of laminarin supplementation on these variables when combined with fucoidan. Expt 2 was designed as a complete randomised design (n 8 replicates/treatment, weaning age 24 d, live weight 7·0 kg), and the treatments were (1) basal diet, (2) basal diet and laminarin (300 ppm), and (3) basal diet and ZnO (3100 ppm, 0–14 d, and 2600 ppm, 15–32 d post-weaning). The laminarin diet increased average daily gain and gain:feed ratio compared with the basal diet during days 0–32 post-weaning (P< 0·01) and had an effect similar to the ZnO diet. These results demonstrate that laminarin provides a dietary means to improve gut health and growth performance post-weaning.
Effects of Al and Zn on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Magnesium Alloys

Two groups of magnesium alloys with various Al and Zn components are studied in this paper. One group of alloys are constant Al content of about 6% and various Zn content from 0 to 3%, another group are constant Zn content of about 0.4% and various Al content from 0 to 6%. The microstructures and mechanical properties of these alloys are investigated in as-cast and homogenized at 380°C for 15h. The results show that the tensile strength increases but yield strength decreases after homogenizing treatment. It can also be found that the morphology of second phrase and the size of grain exert the more effect on the mechanical properties than Zn content does. The alloys with uniform, fine and non-dendrite microstructure exhibit both high strength and elongation regardless of Zn content. On the other hand, the tensile strength and yield strength elevate significantly as Al content increases, and the elongation has a peak value in Al content of about 1.90%. The results show that the as-cast magnesium alloys with Al content of 5.6~6.0% and Zn content of 0.6~1.0% exhibit the best comprehensive mechanical properties.
Frustratingly Easy Semi-Supervised Domain Adaptation

In this work, we propose a semisupervised extension to a well-known supervised domain adaptation approach (EA) (Daume III, 2007). Our proposed approach (EA++) builds on the notion of augmented space (introduced in EA) and harnesses unlabeled data in target domain to ameliorate the transfer of information from source to target. This semisupervised approach to domain adaptation is extremely simple to implement, and can be applied as a pre-processing step to any supervised learner. Experimental results on sequential labeling tasks demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.
Inter-Heavy Chain Interactions in Human IgG Subclasses 1 Dynamics of Inter-Heavy Chain Interactions in Human IgG Subclasses

Interdomain interactions between the CH3 domains of antibody heavy chains are the first step in antibody assembly, and are of prime importance for maintaining the native structure of IgG. For human IgG4 it was shown that CH3-CH3 interactions are weak resulting in the potential for half-molecule exchange ('Fab arm exchange'). Here we systematically investigated non-covalent inter-chain interactions for CH3 domains in the other human subclasses, including polymorphisms (allotypes), using realtime monitoring of Fab arm exchange with a FRET-based kinetic assay. We identified structural variation between human IgG subclasses and allotypes at three amino acid positions (K/1392, V/M397, K/R409) to alter the strength of inter-domain interactions by over six orders of magnitude. Each substitution affected the interactions independent from the other substitutions in terms of affinity, but the enthalpic and entropic contributions were nonadditive, suggesting a complex interplay. Allotypic variation in IgG3 resulted in widely different CH3 interaction strengths which were even weaker for IgG3 than for IgG4 in case of allotype G3m(c3c5*/6,24*), whereas G3m(s*/15*) was equally stable to IgG1. These interactions are sufficiently strong to maintain the structural integrity of IgG1 during its normal life span; for IgG2 and IgG3 the interheavy chain disulfide bonds are essential to prevent half-molecule dissociation, whereas the labile hinge disulfide bonds favor half-molecule exchange in vivo for IgG4.
Fast and Scalable Training of Semi-Supervised CRFs with Application to Activity Recognition

We present a new and efficient semi-supervised training method for parameter estimation and feature selection in conditional random fields (CRFs). In real-world applications such as activity recognition, unlabeled sensor traces are relatively easy to obtain whereas labeled examples are expensive and tedious to collect. Furthermore, the ability to automatically select a small subset of discriminatory features from a large pool can be advantageous in terms of computational speed as well as accuracy. In this paper, we introduce the semi-supervised virtual evidence boosting (sVEB) algorithm for training CRFs - a semi-supervised extension to the recently developed virtual evidence boosting (VEB) method for feature selection and parameter learning. The objective function of sVEB combines the unlabeled conditional entropy with labeled conditional pseudo-likelihood. It reduces the overall system cost as well as the human labeling cost required during training, which are both important considerations in building real-world inference systems. Experiments on synthetic data and real activity traces collected from wearable sensors, illustrate that sVEB benefits from both the use of unlabeled data and automatic feature selection, and outperforms other semi-supervised approaches.
Robust Filter Design for Sigma-Delta Modulators with One-Bit Quantizer and Analog Mismatch

Abstract A method for improving the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of single-stage sigma-delta modulators (SDMs) with one-bit quantizer is presented. It is well known that uncertainties and noises are sources of error which cause performance degradation. Specifically, the modulators are naturally subject to analog mismatch in capacitor values and finite amplifier gain, which are manifested as parametric uncertainties of the SDMs, whereas the quantization error due to the coarse quantizer is modeled as a bounded-peak additive noise. Robust stability margin optimization and suppression of the output swing of the non-ideal integrators are also considered in the integral design. Based on a frequently used linear model, we propose a new architecture for the SDMs. The associated digital filter is determined by robust control theory. For numerical illustration, comparisons between the proposed SDM and the conventional one are made. It is shown that the proposed SDM has an effective resolution of 16 bits.
Unhealthy product sponsorship of Australian national and state sports organisations.

ISSUE ADDRESSED Marketing of products harmful to the health of children has been found to be prolific, and occurs across multiple media platforms and in several settings, including organised sport, thus potentially undermining the health benefits inherent in sports participation. Through website audits, this study investigated the nature and extent of unhealthy food, beverage, alcohol and gambling sponsorship across peak Australian sporting organisations. METHODS A structured survey tool identified and assessed sponsoring companies and products displayed on the websites of the 53 national and state/territory sport governing bodies in Australia receiving government funding. Identified products were categorised as healthy or unhealthy, based on criteria developed by health experts. RESULTS There was a total of 413 websites operated by the 53 sports, with 1975 company or product sponsors identified. Overall, 39 sports had at least one unhealthy sponsor, and 10% of all sponsors were rated as unhealthy. Cricket had the highest percent of unhealthy sponsors (27%) and the highest number of unhealthy food and beverage sponsors (n=19). Rugby Union (n=16) and Australian Football (n=4) had the highest numbers of alcohol and gambling sponsors respectively. CONCLUSIONS Sponsorship of Australian sport governing bodies by companies promoting unhealthy food and beverage, alcohol and gambling products is prevalent at the state/territory and national level. SO WHAT? : Regulatory guidelines should be established to limit such sponsorship and ensure that it is not translated into promotions that may reach and influence children.