Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The ‘psoriatic march’: a concept of how severe psoriasis may drive cardiovascular comorbidity

Abstract: There is increasing awareness that psoriasis is more than ‘skin deep’. Several recent reviews focussed on biomarkers indicating the systemic dimension of psoriasis and the aspect of comorbidity psoriasis shares with other chronic inflammatory diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Of emerging significance is the relationship to cardiovascular disease, as this contributes substantially to the patients’ increased mortality. In this viewpoint, we examine currently available evidence favouring the concept of a causal link between psoriasis and cardiovascular disease: systemic inflammation may cause insulin resistance, which in turn triggers endothelial cell dysfunction, leading to atherosclerosis and finally myocardial infarction or stroke. While this ‘psoriatic march’ is not yet formally proven, it raises clinically and academically relevant questions, and gains support by recent observations of numerous investigators.
Spatial Cognition & Computation: an Interdisciplinary Journal Effects of Communication Methods on Communication Patterns and Performance in a Remote Spatial Orientation Task Effects of Communication Methods on Communication Patterns and Performance in a Remote Spatial Orientation Task Communication 

The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Abstract: An experiment was conducted to examine the impact of communication methods (text-only, audio-only, and audio-plus-video) on communication patterns and effectiveness in a 2-person remote spatial orientation task. The task required a pair of participants to figure out the cardinal direction of a target object by communicating spatial information and perspectives. Results showed that overall effectiveness in the audio-only condition was better than the text-only and audio-plus-video conditions, and communication patterns were more predictive of errors than individual differences in spatial abilities. Discourse analysis showed that participants in the audio-plus-video condition performed less mental transformation of spatial information when communicating, which led to more interpretation errors by the listener. Participants in the text-only conditions performed less confirmation and made more errors by misreading their own display. Results suggested that speakers in the audio-plus-video condition minimized effort by communicating spatial information based on their own perspective but speakers in the audio-only and text-only conditions would more likely communicate transformed spatial information. Analysis of gestures in the audio-plus-video condition confirmed that iconic gestures tended to co-occur with spatial transformation. Iconic gesture rates were negatively correlated with transformation errors, indicating that iconic gestures more likely co-occurred with successful communication of spatial transformation. Results show that when visual interactive feedback is available, speakers tend to adopt egocentric spatial perspectives to minimize effort in mental transformation and rely on the feedback to ensure that the hearer correctly interprets the information. When visual interactive feedback is not available, speakers will put more effort in transforming spatial information to help the hearer to understand the information. The current result demonstrated that allowing two persons to see and 151 communicate with each other during a remote spatial reasoning task can lead to more errors because of the use of a suboptimal communication strategy.
Mutually honest ? Physiological ‘ qualities ’ signaled by color ornaments in 1 " monomorphic king penguins 2 "

26" In species for which successful reproduction relies strongly on shared and substantial parental 27" investment by males and females, mate choice is expected to be important to the fitness of 28" both sexes. Reciprocal selection may then favor the evolution of morphological signals 29" providing mutual information on the condition/quality of tentative partners. However, 30" because males and females often have differing physiological constraints, it is unclear which 31" proximate physiological pathways guarantee the honesty of male and female signals in 32" similarly ornamented species. We used the monomorphic king penguin (Aptenodytes 33" patagonicus) as a model to investigate the physiological qualities signaled by color and 34" morphological ornaments known to be under sexual selection (coloration of the beak spots 35" and size of auricular feather patches). In both sexes of this slow-breeding seabird, we 36" investigated the links between ornaments and multiple indices of individual quality; including 37" body condition, immunity, stress and energy status. In both sexes, individual innate immunity, 38" resting metabolic rate, and the ability to mount a stress response in answer to an acute 39" disturbance (capture) were similarly signaled by various aspects of beak coloration or 40" auricular patch size. However, we also reveal interesting and contrasting relationships 41" between males and females in how ornaments may signal individual quality. Body condition 42" and oxidative stress status were signaled by beak coloration, though in opposite directions for 43" the sexes. Over an exhaustive set of physiological variables, several suggestive patterns 44" indicated conveyance of honest information about mate quality in this monomorphic species. 45" However, sex-specific patterns suggest that monomorphic ornaments may signal different 46" information concerning body mass and oxidative balance of males and females, at least in 47" king penguins. 48" 49" 50"
Robust asymptotically stable visual servoing of planar robots

In this paper we address the visual servoing of planar robot manipulators under fixed-camera configuration. The control goal is to place the robot end-effector over a desired static target by using a vision system equipped with a fixed camera to 'see' the robot end-effector and target. We analyze an image-based controller, whose implementation requires the robot Jacobian, the gravitational torque vector, and the camera orientation. Further, the robot manipulator is not treated as an ideal positioning device but modeled by the Lagrangian dynamics. We formally prove that the overall closed-loop system composed by the full nonlinear robot dynamics and the controller is Lyapunov stable. Also, we demonstrate that the controller is capable to yield an asymptotically stable system which is robust against radial lens distortions and uncertainty in the camera orientation. Simulations on a two degrees of freedom arm are presented to illustrate the controller performance.
The spatial and temporal distributions of arthropods in forest canopies: uniting disparate patterns with hypotheses for specialisation

Arguably the majority of species on Earth utilise tropical rainforest canopies, and much progress has been made in describing arboreal assemblages, especially for arthropods. The most commonly described patterns for tropical rainforest insect communities are host specificity, spatial specialisation (predominantly vertical stratification), and temporal changes in abundance (seasonality and circadian rhythms). Here I review the recurrent results with respect to each of these patterns and discuss the evolutionary selective forces that have generated them in an attempt to unite these patterns in a holistic evolutionary framework. I propose that species can be quantified along a generalist–specialist scale not only with respect to host specificity, but also other spatial and temporal distribution patterns, where specialisation is a function of the extent of activity across space and time for particular species. When all of these distribution patterns are viewed through the paradigm of specialisation, hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the evolution of host specificity can also be applied to explain the generation and maintenance of other spatial and temporal distribution patterns. The main driver for most spatial and temporal distribution patterns is resource availability. Generally, the distribution of insects follows that of the resources they exploit, which are spatially stratified and vary temporally in availability. Physiological adaptations are primarily important for host specificity, where nutritional and chemical variation among host plants in particular, but also certain prey species and fungi, influence host range. Physiological tolerances of abiotic conditions are also important for explaining the spatial and temporal distributions of some insect species, especially in drier forest environments where desiccation is an ever‐present threat. However, it is likely that for most species in moist tropical rainforests, abiotic conditions are valuable indicators of resource availability, rather than physiologically limiting factors. Overall, each distribution pattern is influenced by the same evolutionary forces, but at differing intensities. Consequently, each pattern is linked and not mutually exclusive of the other distribution patterns. Most studies have examined each of these patterns in isolation. Future work should focus on examining the evolutionary drivers of these patterns in concert. Only then can the relative strength of resource availability and distribution, host defensive phenotypes, and biotic and abiotic interactions on insect distribution patterns be determined.
THE STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF ADDITIVES IN THE CRYSTALLINITY OF RECYCLED LDPE BY IR AND XRD ANALYSIS

In this study, the influence of additives used during the recycling process, to the crystallinity of LDPE was analyzed. The usage of LDPE recycled is growing, as well as other types of recycled plastics, due to its flexibility and other properties. The spectroscopic method of infrared vibration is used for microstructure analysis of the samples. The presence of low-intensity peaks to infrared spectrum at 1300-800 cm -1 for all samples indicates the presence of additives. The additives used in the recycled polymers influence their degree of crystallinity that is closely linked with their physical and mechanical properties. Due to the different rates of crystallinity the samples show different intensities of peak at 726 cm -1 . XRD techniques are used to calculate the degree of crystallinity and to study the phase compound of recycled LDPE. Rutile’s and calcite’s peak were identified by diffractgrams analyses as the additives added in the recycled LDPE.
A Formal Model forWeb Service Choreography Description Language (WS-CDL)

We propose a language CDL as a formal model of simplified WS-CDL. The operational semantics of CDL is given, and static validation and verification of choreographies is studied. Some properties of the proposed model are verified using the SPIN model-checker, which illustrates the potential usage and benefits of the formal model
PSO aided k-means clustering: introducing connectivity in k-means

Clustering is a fundamental and hence widely studied problem in data analysis. In a multi-objective perspective, this paper combines principles from two different clustering paradigms: the connectivity principle from density-based methods is integrated into the partitional clustering approach. The standard k-Means algorithm is hybridized with Particle Swarm Optimization. The new method (PSO-kMeans) benefits from both a local and a global view on data and alleviates some drawbacks of the k-Means algorithm; thus, it is able to spot types of clusters which are otherwise difficult to obtain (elongated shapes, non-similar volumes). Our experimental results show that PSO-kMeans improves the performance of standard k-Means in all test cases and performs at least comparable to state-of-the-art methods in the worst case. PSO-kMeans is robust to outliers. This comes at a cost: the preprocessing step for finding the nearest neighbors for each data item is required, which increases the initial linear complexity of k-Means to quadratic complexity.
Plasma zinc concentrations in iron supplemented low birthweight infants

applies-namely, that for there to be no bias in the first and second cohorts combined, women of relatively high social class in the second cohort must have had a high risk of neural tube defect recurrence, a surprising result that is contrary to knowledge of the epidemiology of the disorder. Indeed, the opposite effects in the two cohorts are extremely unlikely to have arisen by chance. The relative risk of having a neural tube defect pregnancy for 'low' social class women compared with 'high' social class women was 2-98 in the first cohort and 0-19 in the second, after allowing for supplementation (p=0-003). This apparently inconsistent result between the two parts of the study needs to be explained before it can be concluded that, on average, social class was not related to neural tube defects and so could not have biased the results.
A summary of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's evidence report on breastfeeding in developed countries.

OBJECTIVES This article summarizes the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's evidence report on the effects of breastfeeding on term infant and maternal health outcomes in developed countries. EVIDENCE REPORT DATA SOURCES Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, bibliographies of selected reviews, and suggestions from domain experts were surveyed. Searches were limited to English-language publications. EVIDENCE REPORT REVIEW METHODS Eligible comparisons examined the association between differential exposure to breastfeeding and health outcomes. We assessed 15 infant and six maternal outcomes. For four outcomes, we also updated previously published systematic reviews. For the rest of the outcomes, we either summarized previous systematic reviews or conducted new systematic reviews; randomized and non-randomized comparative trials, prospective cohorts, and case-control studies were included. Adjusted estimates were extracted from non-experimental designs. The studies were graded for methodological quality. We did not draw conclusions from poor quality studies. EVIDENCE REPORT RESULTS We screened over 9,000 abstracts. Thirty-two primary studies on term infant health outcomes, 43 primary studies on maternal health outcomes, and 28 systematic reviews or meta-analyses that covered approximately 400 individual studies were included in this review. A history of breastfeeding was associated with a reduction in the risk of acute otitis media, nonspecific gastroenteritis, severe lower respiratory tract infections, atopic dermatitis, asthma (young children), obesity, type 1 and 2 diabetes, childhood leukemia, and sudden infant death syndrome. There was no relationship between breastfeeding in term infants and cognitive performance. There were insufficient good quality data to address the relationship between breastfeeding and cardiovascular diseases and infant mortality. For maternal outcomes, a history of lactation was associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, breast, and ovarian cancer. Early cessation of breastfeeding or no breastfeeding was associated with an increased risk of maternal postpartum depression. There was no relationship between a history of lactation and the risk of osteoporosis. The effect of breastfeeding in mothers on return-to-prepregnancy weight was negligible, and the effect of breastfeeding on postpartum weight loss was unclear. EVIDENCE REPORT CONCLUSIONS A history of breastfeeding is associated with a reduced risk of many diseases in infants and mothers. Future research would benefit from clearer selection criteria, definitions of breastfeeding exposure, and adjustment for potential confounders. Matched designs such as sibling analysis may provide a method to control for hereditary and household factors that are important in certain outcomes.
Anthelmintics Are Substrates and Activators of Nematode P Glycoprotein

ABSTRACT P glycoproteins (Pgp), members of the ABC transporter superfamily, play a major role in chemoresistance. In nematodes, Pgp are responsible for resistance to anthelmintics, suggesting that they are Pgp substrates, as they are in mammalian cells. However, their binding to nematode Pgp and the functional consequences of this interaction have not been investigated. Our study showed that levamisole and most of the macrocyclic lactones (MLs) are Pgp substrates in nematodes. Ivermectin, although a very good substrate in mammalian cells, is poorly transported. In contrast to their inhibitory effect on mammalian Pgp, these drugs had a stimulatory effect on the transport activity of the reference Pgp substrate rhodamine 123 (R123) in the nematode. This may be due to a specific sequence of nematode Pgp, which shares only 44% identity with mammalian Pgp. Other factors, such as the affinity of anthelmintics for Pgp and their concentration in the Pgp microenvironment, could also differ in nematodes, as suggested by the specific relationship observed between the octanol-water partition coefficient (log P) of MLs and R123 efflux. Nevertheless, some similarities were also observed in the functional activities of the mammalian and nematode Pgp. As in mammalian cells, substrates known to bind the H site (Hoechst 33342 and colchicine) activated the R site, resulting in an increased R123 efflux. Our findings thus show that ML anthelmintics, which inhibit Pgp-mediated efflux in mammals, activate transport activity in nematodes and suggest that several substituents in the ML structure are involved in modulating the stimulatory effect.
Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy Overcomes the Intrinsic Axonal Growth–Inhibitory Signals in Stroke Rats

Background and Purpose— Constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) improves functional outcome in patients with stroke possibly through structural plasticity. We hypothesized that CIMT could enhance axonal growth by overcoming the intrinsic growth–inhibitory signals, leading eventually to improved behavioral performance in stroke rats. Methods— Focal cerebral ischemia was induced by intracerebral injection of endothelin-1. Adult Wistar rats were divided into a sham-operated group, an ischemic group, and an ischemic group treated with CIMT. CIMT started at postoperative day 7 and continued for 3 weeks. Biotinylated dextran amine was injected into the contralateral sensorimotor cortex at postoperative day 14 to trace crossing axons at the cervical spinal cord. The expressions of Nogo-A, Nogo receptor, RhoA, and Rho-associated kinase in the peri-infarct cortex, and the expressions of biotinylated dextran amine, growth associated protein-43, synaptophysin, vGlut1, and postsynaptic density-95 in the denervated spinal cord were measured by immunohistochemistry and Western blots. Behavioral recovery was analyzed at postoperative days 29 to 32. Results— Infarct volumes were not different between groups after stroke. CIMT significantly increased the length and the number of midline crossings of contralateral corticospinal axons to the denervated cervical spinal cord. CIMT significantly decreased the expressions of Nogo-A/Nogo receptor and RhoA/Rho-associated kinase in the peri-infarct cortex, and increased the expressions of growth associated protein-43, synaptophysin, vGlut1, and postsynaptic density-95 in the denervated cervical spinal cord. Behavioral performances assessed by the beam-walking test and the water maze test were improved significantly by CIMT. Conclusions— CIMT promoted poststroke synaptic plasticity and axonal growth at least partially by overcoming the intrinsic growth–inhibitory signaling, leading to improved behavioral outcome.
Defects and charge-carrier lifetime in early-stage photovoltaic materials : relating experiment to theory

To minimize risks associated with climate change, we must rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide by shifting reliance away from fossil fuels. Solar photovoltaic (PV) modules are well suited for reducing emissions; however, manufacturing and capital costs must continue to decline for rapid, worldwide PV adoption. Low-cost and Earth-abundant “thin film” materials offer potential in spurring PV growth, but their development is often hampered by the presence of defects, which degrade solar cell efficiency due to short charge-carrier lifetimes. In this thesis, such defects and their impact on lifetime in early-stage PV materials are investigated, focusing on experimental methods to assess lifetime connected to theoretical concepts about both defects and lifetime measurements themselves. First, time-resolved photoluminescence is performed, and both analytical and numerical modeling are used to determine lifetimes exceeding 1 nanosecond in six materials predicted to be “defect tolerant. ” Two-photon spectroscopy is then employed to decrease the effect of surface recombination, enabling more representative estimates of “bulk” lifetime. Second, the role of impurities is explored by intentionally contaminating lead halide perovskites with iron. Synchrotron-based X-ray techniques are also utilized to investigate the distribution and charge state of incorporated iron, and perovskite solar cells are found to tolerate approximately 100 times more iron in the feedstock than comparable p-type silicon solar cells. In addition, improved methods for extracting lifetime from solar cell devices are explored. Quantum efficiency measurements are performed and modeled on tin monosulfide solar cells to verify that very short lifetimes (30–100 picoseconds) limit device performance. Furthermore, temperatureand illumination-dependent current–voltage measurements are performed and modeled in iron-contaminated silicon solar cells— and analyzed with the help of a Bayesian inference algorithm—to estimate the defect parameters that directly relate to lifetime. Collectively, these studies serve to provide a more robust framework for assessing and mitigating the presence of defects in early-stage PV materials, streamlining efforts to better optimize their photovoltaic performance.
Hybrid System by Combining GDT-RS and Genetic Algorithm

_____________________________________________________________________ Abstract The Probabilistic Rough Induction is based on the combination of Generalization Distribution Table (GDT) and The Rough Set methodology . A GDT is a table in which the probabilistic relationships between concepts and instances over discrete domains are represented. The GDT provides a probabilistic basic for evaluating the strength of a rule. Furthermore, the rough set methodology is used to find minimal relative reducts from the set of rules with larger strengths. Genetic Algorithm (GA) has a wide search space and a high flexibility to search for global optimum solution. But, in general, GA learning speed is not so fast. In this paper we use GDT – RS, for modeling a classification system and applying genetic operations to a population, a minimal set of rules with larger accuarcy can be acquired from databases with noisy, incomplete data, so it is interesting to try to incorporate these approaches into a hybrid system. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we apply it to the Monk’s Problems from the University of California at Irvine (UCI) machine-learning repository.