Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Enoxaparin Sodium on Experimentally-Induced Myringosclerosis in Rats.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of enoxaparin sodium (ES) on experimentally-induced myringosclerosis in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty Wistar albino-type rats weighing up to 250-300 g each were randomized into four groups containing five rats each and were then bilaterally myringotomized. The control group (n=5) received intratympanic serum physiologic injections, whereas ES2 (n=5), ES4 (n=5), and ES6 groups (n=5) received intratympanic ES of 2000 IU, 4000 IU, and 6000 IU, respectively, for 10 days after myringotomy. Rats were sacrificed at 60 days after intratympanic application and were then prepared for histopathologic evaluation. RESULTS As for tympanic membrane hyaline degeneration, there were statistically significant differences among the control, ES2, ES4, and ES6 groups (p<0.05). As for fibrosis formation on tympanic membranes, a statistically significant difference was observed among the control and study groups; however, although not statistically significant, the formation of fibrosis was slowed down in the ES2 and ES4 groups compared with the control group. The control and study groups did not show any significant difference for calcification, hyperemia, and tympanic membrane thickening (p>0.05). CONCLUSION Although our study and control groups comprised limited number of animals, and only one parameter demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the groups, ES may have an ameliorating effect on myringosclerosis induced by myringotomy in the tympanic membranes of rats. ES proved to be effective in the prevention of hyaline disc formation. Further studies should be conducted for better understanding of the effects of low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) (i.e., enoxaparin) on myringosclerosis.
Examining the Relationship Between Nonresponse Propensity and Data Quality in Two National Household Surveys

Important theoretical questions in survey research over the past 50 years have been: How does bringing in late or reluctant respondents af- fect total survey error? Does the effort and expense of obtaining interviews from difficult-to-contact or reluctant respondents significantly decrease the nonresponse error of survey estimates? Or do these late respondents intro- duce enough measurement error to offset any reductions in nonresponse bias? This study attempts to address these questions by examining nonre- sponse and data quality in two national household surveys: the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). Response propensity models were developed for each survey, and data quality in each survey was assessed by a variety of indirect indicators of response error, for example, item-missing-data rates, round value reports, and interview-reinterview response inconsistencies. The principal analyses investigated the relationship between response propensity and the data- quality indicators in each survey, and examined the effects of potential common causal factors when there was evidence of covariation. Although the strength of the relationship varied by indicator and survey, data quality decreased for some indicators as the probability of nonresponse increased. Therefore, the direct implication for survey managers is that efforts to re- duce nonresponse can lead to poorer-quality data. Moreover, these effects remain even after attempts to control for potential common causal factors.
Restricted intersection type assignment systems and object properties

In this note we consider a restricted version of the intersection types for a λ-calculus with records as presented in [5, 6] w.r. t. principal typing property and expressivity. We sketch how the classical approach to principal typing for intersection type assignment system can be adapted to cope with record types. We then exemplify typings in our system of self-application and recursive record interpretations of objects.
Retropubic versus transobturator midurethral slings for stress incontinence.

BACKGROUND Midurethral slings are increasingly used for the treatment of stress incontinence, but there are limited data comparing types of slings and associated complications. METHODS We performed a multicenter, randomized equivalence trial comparing outcomes with retropubic and transobturator midurethral slings in women with stress incontinence. The primary outcome was treatment success at 12 months according to both objective criteria (a negative stress test, a negative pad test, and no retreatment) and subjective criteria (self-reported absence of symptoms, no leakage episodes recorded, and no retreatment). The predetermined equivalence margin was +/-12 percentage points. RESULTS A total of 597 women were randomly assigned to a study group; 565 (94.6%) completed the 12-month assessment. The rates of objectively assessed treatment success were 80.8% in the retropubic-sling group and 77.7% in the transobturator-sling group (3.0 percentage-point difference; 95% confidence interval [CI], -3.6 to 9.6). The rates of subjectively assessed success were 62.2% and 55.8%, respectively (6.4 percentage-point difference; 95% CI, -1.6 to 14.3). The rates of voiding dysfunction requiring surgery were 2.7% in those who received retropubic slings and 0% in those who received transobturator slings (P=0.004), and the respective rates of neurologic symptoms were 4.0% and 9.4% (P=0.01). There were no significant differences between groups in postoperative urge incontinence, satisfaction with the results of the procedure, or quality of life. CONCLUSIONS The 12-month rates of objectively assessed success of treatment for stress incontinence with the retropubic and transobturator approaches met the prespecified criteria for equivalence; the rates of subjectively assessed success were similar between groups but did not meet the criteria for equivalence. Differences in the complications associated with the two procedures should be discussed with patients who are considering surgical treatment for incontinence. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00325039.)
Enhanced Conformational Sampling Using Replica Exchange with Collective-Variable Tempering

The computational study of conformational transitions in RNA and proteins with atomistic molecular dynamics often requires suitable enhanced sampling techniques. We here introduce a novel method where concurrent metadynamics are integrated in a Hamiltonian replica-exchange scheme. The ladder of replicas is built with different strengths of the bias potential exploiting the tunability of well-tempered metadynamics. Using this method, free-energy barriers of individual collective variables are significantly reduced compared with simple force-field scaling. The introduced methodology is flexible and allows adaptive bias potentials to be self-consistently constructed for a large number of simple collective variables, such as distances and dihedral angles. The method is tested on alanine dipeptide and applied to the difficult problem of conformational sampling in a tetranucleotide.
Three-dimensional integrated circuits for low-power, high-bandwidth systems on a chip

Shows the feasibility of stacking SOI circuits to build 3D-ICs with dense vertical interconnects; the results are being applied to develop higher performance systems. Low-power circuits with three metal levels are fabricated with a 0.25/spl mu/m fully-depleted SOI technology. Three or more circuit layers are stacked and connected with 3D vias whose size, pitch, and resistance will be decreased by replacing the adhesive process with low temperature oxide bonding and utilizing tungsten plugs to fill high-aspect-ratio vias.
A coordinate‐based meta‐analytic model of trauma processing in posttraumatic stress disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has a well‐defined set of symptoms that can be elicited during traumatic imagery tasks. For this reason, trauma imagery tasks are often employed in functional neuroimaging studies. Here, coordinate‐based meta‐analysis (CBM) was used to pool eight studies applying traumatic imagery tasks to identify sites of task‐induced activation in 170 PTSD patients and 104 healthy controls. In this way, right anterior cingulate (ACC), right posterior cingulate (PCC), and left precuneus (Pcun) were identified as regions uniquely active in PTSD patients relative to healthy controls. To further characterize these regions, their normal interactions, and their typical functional roles, meta‐analytic connectivity modeling (MACM) with behavioral filtering was applied. MACM indicated that the PCC and Pcun regions were frequently co‐active and associated with processing of cognitive information, particularly in explicit memory tasks. Emotional processing was particularly associated with co‐activity of the ACC and PCC, as mediated by the thalamus. By narrowing the regions of interest to those commonly active across multiple studies (using CBM) and developing a priori hypotheses about directed probabilistic dependencies amongst these regions, this proposed model—when applied in the context of graphical and causal modeling—should improve model fit and thereby increase statistical power for detecting differences between subject groups and between treatments in neuroimaging studies of PTSD. Hum Brain Mapp 34:3392–3399, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Logic grammars for diagnosis and repair

We propose an abductive model based on Constraint Handling Rule Grammars (CHRGs) for detecting and correcting errors in problem domains that can be described in terms of strings of words accepted by a logic grammar. We provide a proof of concept for the specific problem of detecting and repairing natural language errors, in particular those concerning feature agreement. Our methodology relies on grammar and string transformation in accordance with a user-defined dictionary of possible repairs. This transformation also serves as top-down guidance for our essentially bottom-up parser. With respect to previous approaches to error detection and repair including those that also use constraints and/or abduction, our methodology is surprisingly simple while far-reaching and efficient.
Integrated and heuristic methods for maximizing the lifetime of wireless sensor networks with optimal base station location for disaster forecast

A wireless sensor network consists of sensor nodes and a base station. While the base station is located in places that people can get to easily, sensors nodes are usually placed evenly in remote areas. By observing environmental data collected by sensor nodes, this system helps anticipating and preventing unexpected disasters such as floods and earthquakes. However, the lifetime of the whole system is unpredictable since wireless nodes have a limited energy source (e.g. batteries) that can run out at any time, while data transmission between nodes takes a huge amount of energy. This paper considers to specify an optimal base station location that provides the longest network lifetime. A modified integrated greedy method and a heuristic and greedy combinational method are proposed for finding the base station location. We experimented and compared to existing methods over 30 randomly created data sets. The experimental results show a significant improvement in the quality of the found base station locations.
Power supply for very high insulation requirements in IGBT gate-drives

A power supply concept for very high insulation requirements in gate-drives has been developed. The power supply concept is described, layout decisions are explained and simulations and measurements are presented. The power supply has been tested and is already operating in different industrial products. Very high efficiencies of 80% and power levels of 10 W have been achieved over a wide input voltage range. The zero voltage switching, multiresonant converter ZVS-MRC concept with the control concept used here, can deliver multiple output voltages with few components. Together with the high switching frequency and an optimized transformer construction, the concept used is well suited for integration into the gate drives of modern semiconductor switches like IGBTs or IGCTs. With a range of 20 US$, the total cost are very low. Currently they are used for IGBT converters for up to 4500 V operation voltage, but they can be adapted easily to higher power and different insulation voltage levels.
Modes d'ajustement à la crise : des relations professionnelles sous tensions

Effectuee dans le cadre des post-enquetes a l'enquete REPONSE (2010-2011), cette recherche a pour objet de mettre au jour les processus d'ajustement des etablissements face a la crise, les caracteriser et, conjointement, analyser la maniere dont ils ont ete discutes, negocies ou au contraire imposes par les directions. Sur le plan methodologique, elle combine un volet quantitatif, constitue de la realisation d'une typologie (REPONSE completee de SINAPSE et des DMMO), et un volet qualitatif comprenant la realisation de quinze monographies d'etablissements appartenant majoritairement au secteur manufacturier. La typologie rend compte des combinaisons specifiques d’ajustements sur l’emploi et les remunerations, mises en oeuvre par pres de 4000 etablissements francais entre 2008 et 2010. Sur cette base, le travail de terrain effectue a permis d'eclairer les processus d’ajustements dans leurs dimensions negociees et conflictuelles, et leur vecu par les salaries. Si la preservation de l’emploi « permanent » et le maintien des remunerations par les directions ont ete des conditions determinantes de l’acceptation des ajustements, cela s’est souvent fait en contrepartie de l’acceptation de nouvelles modalites de flexibilite interne (amenagement du temps de travail, mobilite interne, redefinition de regles d’evolution salariale…) sur lesquelles les representants du personnel auront du mal a revenir quand la conjoncture s’ameliorera. La relation de travail apparait ainsi de plus en plus malleable a l’occasion de la crise.
Proofs and Proof Certification in the TLA+ Proof System

TLA + is a specication language originally designed for specifying concurrent and distributed systems and their properties. It is based on Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory for modeling data structures and on the linear-time temporal logic TLA for specifying system executions and their properties. The TLA + proof system (tlaps) has been designed as an interactive proof assistant for deductively verifying TLA + specications. Designed to be independent of any particular theorem prover, it is based on a hierarchical proof language. A proof manager interprets this language and generates proof obligations corresponding to leaf proofs, which can be discharged by dierent back-end provers. The current release, restricted to non-temporal reasoning, includes Isabelle/TLA + , an encoding of the set theory underlying TLA + as an object logic in the proof assistant Isabelle, the tableau prover Zenon, and a back-end for SMT solvers. This article will rst give an overview of the overall design of
La prospective métier : Définition, intérêts et proposition méthodologique

In a vision of co-construction of possible future, our work based on emerging facts aims at thinking of the possible competencies, activities, training program. The jobs prospective can be seen as a capacity of anticipating changes more adapted than traditional methods based on prevision. The paper aims at defining the concept of jobs prospective and at presenting core raisons that justify to speak of prospective in the field of jobs and no more of prevision. More over, the methodology called "PM method" is presented.
Radiation therapy for adrenal gland metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND The adrenal gland is a common site of extrahepatic metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma. However, it has been the subject of few studies, and the optimal treatment remains unclear. Methods previously tried for the management of adrenal gland metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma included surgical resection, transarterial chemoembolization or percutaneous ethanol injection, on the basis of case reports. External beam radiation therapy has seldom been applied for patients with adrenal gland metastases. METHODS We retrospectively studied 22 patients with adrenal metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma who were treated with limited-field external beam radiation therapy. The radiation dose to the adrenal lesion ranged from 36 to 54 (median 50) Gy, while the intrahepatic lesions were treated with either surgical resection or transarterial chemoembolization. RESULTS Among the 14 patients who had pain related to adrenal metastases, 11 (78.6%) had complete pain relief without medication that lasted until death. Two (14.3%) patients had marked pain relief, but still required analgesics. Partial responses were observed in 73% of the patients. The median survival period for all patients was 10 months. No patient died from complications related to adrenal metastasis. Adverse effects were mild. CONCLUSION Adrenal metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma are sensitive to radiation treatment. Radiation therapy with 50 Gy for adrenal gland metastases is a good palliative therapy with reasonable safety.
Burn injury decreases myocardial Na-K-ATPase activity: role of PKC inhibition.

Cardiomyocyte sodium accumulation after burn injury precedes the development of myocardial contractile dysfunction. The present study examined the effects of burn injury on Na-K-ATPase activity in adult rat hearts after major burn injury and explored the hypothesis that burn-related changes in myocardial Na-K-ATPase activity are PKC dependent. A third-degree burn injury (or sham burn) was given over 40% total body surface area, and rats received lactated Ringer solution (4 ml.kg(-1). % burn(-1)). Subgroups of rats were killed 2, 4, or 24 h after burn (n = 6 rats/time period), hearts were homogenized, and Na-K-ATPase activity was determined from ouabain-sensitive phosphate generation from ATP by cardiac sarcolemmal vesicles. Additional groups of rats were studied at several times after burn to determine the time course of myocyte sodium loading and the time course of myocardial dysfunction. Additional groups of sham burn-injured and burn-injured rats were given calphostin, an inhibitor of PKC, and Na-K-ATPase activity, cell Na(+), and myocardial function were measured. Burn injury caused a progressive rise in cardiomyocyte Na(+), and myocardial Na-K-ATPase activity progressively decreased after burn, while PKC activity progressively rose. Administration of calphostin to inhibit PKC activity prevented both the burn-related decrease in myocardial Na-K-ATPase and the rise in intracellular Na(+) and improved postburn myocardial contractile performance. We conclude that burn-related inhibition of Na-K-ATPase likely contributes to the cardiomyocyte accumulation of intracellular Na(+). Since intracellular Na(+) is one determinant of electrical-mechanical recovery after insults such as burn injury, burn-related inhibition of Na-K-ATPase may be critical in postburn recovery of myocardial contractile function.
Adaptive Slope Filtering of Airborne LiDAR Data in Urban Areas for Digital Terrain Model (DTM) Generation

A filtering algorithm is proposed that accurately extracts ground data from airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) measurements and generates an estimated digital terrain model (DTM). The proposed algorithm utilizes planar surface features and connectivity with locally lowest points to improve the extraction of ground points (GPs). A slope parameter used in the proposed algorithm is updated after an initial estimation of the DTM, and thus local terrain information can be included. As a result, the proposed algorithm can extract GPs from areas where different degrees of slope variation are interspersed. Specifically, along roads and streets, GPs were extracted from urban areas, from hilly areas such as forests, and from flat area such as riverbanks. Validation using reference data showed that, compared with commercial filtering software, the proposed algorithm extracts GPs with higher accuracy. Therefore, the proposed filtering algorithm effectively generates DTMs, even for dense urban areas, from airborne LiDAR data.
Time Independent Query Recommendations Using Concept Based User Profile from Search Engine Query Logs

2 Abstract: Search engines are highly confided resources of the people in mustering web information or obtaining relevant data approached for. The query log file contains an entry for every request posed by the user to the search engine and it is maintained in the system desktop or in the proxy server. Query log mining improves the performance of the search engine. The proposed algorithm mines the query log file which discovers the similar query keywords, URLs and the concepts based on both positive and negative preferences in its first phase. In the Second phase, the query cluster and the URL cluster is generated by using the combined similarity measure generated from the first phase. The cluster recommends the query to the user to frame their future queries based on their previous search histories and click through data. Expert's Query keyword and feedback are also considered for providing the recommendations. This approach also recommends the URLs to the user to be selected for their future queries.
The Development of the Silurian Trilobite Aulacopleura koninckii Reconstructed by Applying Inferred Growth and Segmentation Dynamics: A Case Study in Paleo-Evo-Devo

Fossilized growth series provide rare glimpses into the development of ancient organisms, illustrating descriptively how size and shape changed through ontogeny. Occasionally fossil preservation is such that it is feasible to test alternative possibilities about how ancient development was regulated. Here we apply inferred developmental parameters pertaining to size, shape, and segmentation in the abundant and well-preserved 429 Myr old trilobite Aulacopleura koninckii that we have investigated previously to reconstruct the post-embryonic ontogeny of this ancient arthropod. Our published morphometric analyses associated with model testing have shown that: specification of the adult number of trunk segments (polymorphic in this species) was determined precociously in ontogeny; that growth regulation was targeted (i.e., compensatory), such that each developmental stage exhibited comparable variance in size and shape; and that growth gradients operating along the main body axis, both during juvenile and adult ontogeny, resulted from a form of growth control based on positional specification. While such developmental features are common among extant organisms, our results represent the oldest evidence for them within Metazoa. Herein, the novel reconstruction of the development of A. koninckii permits visualization of patterns of relative and absolute growth and segmentation as never before possible for a fossilized arthropod ontogeny. By conducting morphometric analysis of appropriate data sets it is thus possible to move beyond descriptive ontogenetic studies and to address questions of high interest for evolutionary developmental biology using data from fossils, which can help elucidate both how developmental processes themselves evolve and how they affect the evolution of organismal body patterning. By extending similar analyses to other cases of exceptional preservation of fossilized ontogeny, we can anticipate beginning to realize the research program of “paleo-evo-devo”.