Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hard discs under steady shear: comparison of Brownian dynamics simulations and mode coupling theory

Brownian dynamics simulations of bidisperse hard discs moving in two dimensions in a given steady and homogeneous shear flow are presented close to and above the glass transition density. The stationary structure functions and stresses of shear-melted glass are compared quantitatively to parameter-free numerical calculations of monodisperse hard discs using mode coupling theory within the integration through transients framework. Theory qualitatively explains the properties of the yielding glass but quantitatively overestimates the shear-driven stresses and structural anisotropies.
Failures of the cervical cytology screening programme.

To suppose that any non-communicable disease in adults could be completely controlled by a screening programme is wishful thinking. Failures of the system are inevitable, arising from failure to reach all of the target population, failure of the screening test's sensitivity and frequency to detect all the cases, failure to implement treatment in all cases detected, and failure of treatment to modify the natural course of the disease. The cervical cytology screening programme in Britain, which is demonstrably less effective than in some other countries,' suffers from all these deficiencies. Two papers in this issue report studies describing some of these defects, a third proposes a system for a more efficient screening service, and a fourth considers the problem in general practice. Elwood et al (p 891) have assessed the adequacy of management of over 1000 women who had a first abnormal smear result in Nottingham in 1981, finding that fewer than two thirds had received the recommended follow up. This failure occurred despite the presence of a well organised centralised cytology laboratory with an explicit follow up policy for different levels of cytological abnormality. The findings are similar to those in a survey in north London,2 with deficiencies in communication among different sectors of the health service, and between doctor and patient accounting for a much higher proportion of failed follow ups than patient default. Nevertheless, the last group contains a recognised high risk group for cervical cancer-namely, women attending special clinics. The need for maintaining confidentiality of such attendances may not be in the patient's best interests so far as prevention of invasive cervical carcinoma is concerned. By implication most of the patients for whom appropriate action had not been taken had milder degrees of cellular abnormality (dyskaryosis), in which the recommendation was for repeat smears, two consecutive negative reports being required before discharging a patient from follow up. Though these women may not be in imminent danger, the authors rightly draw attention to the risk of invasive carcinoma of the cervix in patients with untreated intraepithelial neoplasia.3 Their proposed solution to achieve more comprehensive follow up is, firstly, for a computerised record system providing a cumulative record of all successive tests for each woman, preferably linked to her family practitioner committee record so that changes of name, of general practitioner, and of place of residence may be determined;
Estimating organic carbon content of soil in Papua New Guinea using infrared spectroscopy

Quantification of soil organic carbon (SOC) content is important for sustainable agricultural management and accurate carbon accounting. Infrared (IR) absorbance can be used to estimate SOC content, but the relationship differs between regions due to matrix effects. We developed an IR-based model specific for SOC in Papua New Guinean soils. A total of 437 samples from 0.0–0.3m depth were analysed for SOC using Dumas combustion. IR absorption spectra were collected from the same samples, and a predictive regression model was developed using the 6000–1030cm–1 spectral range. Using a validation set, predicted SOC values resulting from the IR-based model compared well with values from Dumas combustion (R2=0.905; ratio of performance-to-deviation=5.64). Constraining wavelengths to positively correlated regions of the spectra was also explored and showed improved model performance (R2=0.932). Overall, IR analysis provides a robust method for estimating SOC content for a range of Papua New Guinean soils.
Prodweakfinder: an Information Extraction System for Detecting Product Weaknesses in Online Reviews Based on Sentiment Analysis

Defective products cannot meet the needs of consumers, and they also bring security risks. Prior product weakness detection methods resort to time and money consuming questionnaire, and the accuracy could not be guaranteed. As a result, this paper proposes a novel opinion-aware approach, PRODWeakFinder, which extracts product weaknesses from online reviews through sentiment analysis. PRODWeakFinder detects product weakness by considering both comparative and non-comparative evaluations in online reviews. For comparative evaluation, we build a feature comparison network, where the authority score of each node is assessed. For non-comparative evaluation, sentiment score is calculated through sentiment analysis. The composite score is calculated by combing both comparative and non-comparative evaluations. The features with lower score represent potential product weaknesses. The experiment result shows that PRODWeakFinder outperforms baseline methods in terms of both accuracy and reducing of operating costs.
Intimacy is a Transdiagnostic Problem for Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Functional Analytical Psychotherapy is a solution

Problems with intimacy and interpersonal issues are exhibited across most psychiatric disorders. However, most of the targets in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy are primarily intrapersonal in nature, with few directly involved in interpersonal functioning and effective intimacy. Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) provides a behavioral basis for working on intimacy and interpersonal functioning. The current paper describes how intimacy concerns are addressed by FAP and provides evidence for the need to assess and
Prenatal Phthalate Exposures and Anogenital Distance in Swedish Boys

Background: Phthalates are used as plasticizers in soft polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and in a large number of consumer products. Because of reported health risks, diisononyl phthalate (DiNP) has been introduced as a replacement for di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in soft PVC. This raises concerns because animal data suggest that DiNP may have antiandrogenic properties similar to those of DEHP. The anogenital distance (AGD)—the distance from the anus to the genitals—has been used to assess reproductive toxicity. Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the associations between prenatal phthalate exposure and AGD in Swedish infants. Methods: AGD was measured in 196 boys at 21 months of age, and first-trimester urine was analyzed for 10 phthalate metabolites of DEP (diethyl phthalate), DBP (dibutyl phthalate), DEHP, BBzP (benzylbutyl phthalate), as well as DiNP and creatinine. Data on covariates were collected by questionnaires. Results: The most significant associations were found between the shorter of two AGD measures (anoscrotal distance; AGDas) and DiNP metabolites and strongest for oh-MMeOP [mono-(4-methyl-7-hydroxyloctyl) phthalate] and oxo-MMeOP [mono-(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate]. However, the AGDas reduction was small (4%) in relation to more than an interquartile range increase in DiNP exposure. Conclusions: These findings call into question the safety of substituting DiNP for DEHP in soft PVC, particularly because a shorter male AGD has been shown to relate to male genital birth defects in children and impaired reproductive function in adult males and the fact that human levels of DiNP are increasing globally. Citation: Bornehag CG, Carlstedt F, Jönsson BA, Lindh CH, Jensen TK, Bodin A, Jonsson C, Janson S, Swan SH. 2015. Prenatal phthalate exposures and anogenital distance in Swedish boys. Environ Health Perspect 123:101–107; http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/ehp.1408163
A Novel Comparative Genomics Analysis for Common Drug and Vaccine Targets in Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis and other CMN Group of Human Pathogens

Caseous lymphadenitis is a chronic goat and sheep disease caused by Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis (Cp) that accounts for a huge economic loss worldwide. Proper vaccination or medication is not available because of the lack of understanding of molecular biology of the pathogen. In a recent approach, four Cp (CpFrc41, Cp1002, CpC231, and CpI‐19) genomes were sequenced to elucidate the molecular pathology of the bacteria. In this study, using these four genome sequences along with other eight genomes (total 12 genomes) and a novel subtractive genomics approach (first time ever applied to a veterinary pathogen), we identified potential conserved common drug and vaccine targets of these four Cp strains along with other Corybacterium, Mycobacterium and Nocardia (CMN) group of human pathogens (Corynebacterium diphtheriae and Mycobacterium tuberculosis) considering goat, sheep, bovine, horse, and human as the most affected hosts. The minimal genome of Cp1002 was found to consist of 724 genes, and 20 conserved common targets (to all Cp strains as well as CMN group of pathogens) from various metabolic pathways (13 from host‐pathogen common and seven from pathogen’s unique pathways) are potential targets irrespective of all hosts considered. ubiA from host‐pathogen common pathway and an ABC‐like transporter from unique pathways may serve dual (drug and vaccine) targets. Two Corynebacterium‐specific (mscL and resB) and one broad‐spectrum (rpmB) novel targets were also identified. Strain‐specific targets are also discussed. Six important targets were subjected to virtual screening, and one compound was found to be potent enough to render two targets (cdc and nrdL). We are currently validating all identified targets and lead compounds.
A Framework for Visualization of Geospatial Information in 3 D Virtual City Environment for Disaster Risk Management

Visualization of geospatial information is a key issue since it is a bridge between this rich and high level information and its users to support decision making, management and operations. In recent years, new developments in technology provide new methods and platforms that enable innovative visualization of geospatial information. Among the possible platforms, 3D geospatial environments are increasingly preferred as they not only depict the real world but also convey additional information. This study, in the big picture, will cover theories from the disciplines of Cartography, Human Computer Interaction, Information Visualization and Cognitive Science which are considered to be most supportive and associative disciplines for finding solid and innovative geovisualization strategies. Considering the disciplines, Bertin’s “theory of graphics” that defines visual variables for expressing information is set as a starting and connection point of the study. This study’s aim is to create a framework for visualization of city objects and attributes that are critical in Disaster Risk Management in a 3D virtual city model. The framework is expected to be useful for designers, GIS vendors and researchers. More importantly, it is expected to help users make efficient and effective decisions.
Effectiveness of Proactive Quitline Service and Predictors of Successful Smoking Cessation: Findings from a Preliminary Study of Quitline Service for Smoking Cessation in Korea

This study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the first proactive Quitline service for smoking cessation in Korea and determine the predictors of successful smoking cessation. Smoking participants were voluntarily recruited from 18 community health centers. The participants were proactively counseled for smoking cessation via 7 sessions conducted for 30 days from November 1, 2005 to January 31, 2006. Of the 649 smoking participants, 522 completed 30 days at the end of the study and were included in the final analysis. The continuous abstinence rate at 30 days of follow-up was found to be 38.3% (200/522), in the intention-to-treat analysis. Compared with non-quitters, quitters were mostly male, smoked <20 cigarettes/day, had started smoking at the age of ≥20 yr, and were less dependent on nicotine. Based on the stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis, the significant predictors of successful smoking cessation were determined to be male sex, low cigarette consumption, and older age at smoking initiation. We investigated the short-term effectiveness of the Quitline service and determined the predictors of successful smoking cessation.
Short-term creatine supplementation improves maximum quadriceps contraction in women.

Creatine monohydrate (CrH2O) supplementation has been demonstrated to increase skeletal muscle power output in men. However, its effect upon women is not as clearly defined. This study investigated the effect of oral creatine supplementation upon muscle function, thigh circumference, and body weight in women. Twenty-two consenting college-age women were assigned to 1 of 2 groups matched for dietary and exercise habits, phase of menstrual cycle, and fat-free mass (FFM). After familiarization with testing procedures, pretrial measures of muscle function (5 repetitions 60 deg x s(-1) and 50 repetitions 180 deg x s(-1) were conducted during maximal voluntary concentric contraction of the preferred quadriceps muscle using an isokinetic dynamometer. Subjects then ingested 0.5 g x kg(-1) FFM of either CrH2O or placebo (one fourth dosage 4 times daily) in a double-blind design for 5 days. Resistance exercise was prohibited. After the ingestion phase was completed, all measures were repeated at the same time of day as during pretrials. Statistical analysis revealed time to peak torque in quadriceps extension decreased from pre-test values of 255 +/- 11 ms (mean +/- SEM) to post-test values of 223 +/- 3 ms; average power in extension increased from 103 +/- 7 W pre-test to 112 +/- 7 W post-test; and, during flexion, average power increased from 59 +/- 5 W pre-test to 65 +/- 5 W post-test in the creatine group as compared to controls (p .05). FFM, percent body fat, mid-quadriceps circumference, skinfold thickness of the measured thigh, and total body weight did not change for both groups between trials. We conclude that CrH2O improves muscle performance in women without significant gains in muscle volume or body weight.
Echolocation intensity and directionality of perching and flying fringe-lipped bats, Trachops cirrhosus (Phyllostomidae)

The Neotropical frog-eating bat, Trachops cirrhosus, primarily hunts stationary prey, either by gleaning on the wing, or in a sit-and-wait mode hanging from a perch. It listens passively for prey-generated sounds, but uses echolocation in all stages of the hunt. Like other bats in the family Phyllostomidae, T. cirrhosus has a conspicuous nose leaf, hypothesized to direct and focus echolocation calls emitted from the nostrils. T. cirrhosus is highly flexible in its cognitive abilities and its use of sensory strategies for prey detection. Additionally, T. cirrhosus has been observed to echolocate both with closed and open mouth. We hypothesize that its flexibility extends to echolocation call design. We investigated the effect of hunting mode, perching or flying, as well as the effect of mouth opening, on the acoustic parameters and directionality of the echolocation call. We used a multi-microphone array, a high-speed video camera, and a microphone-diode-video system to directly visualize the echolocation sound beam synchronized with the bat's behavior. We found that T. cirrhosus emits a highly directional sound beam with half amplitude angle (HAM) of 12–18° and DI (directionality index) of ~17 dB, among the most directional bat sonar beams measured to date. The directionality was high both when flying and when perching. The emitted intensity was low, around 88 dB SPL at 10 cm from the mouth, when hanging, but higher, around 100 dB SPL at 10 cm, when flying or just before take-off. Our data suggests that the limited search volume of T. cirrhosus sonar beam defined by the high directionality and the rather low intensity of its echolocation calls is adapted to the highly cluttered hunting habitat and to the perch hunting mode.
Human Activity Detection from RGBD Images

Being able to detect and recognize human activities is important for making personal assistant robots useful in performing assistive tasks. The challenge is to develop a system that is low-cost, reliable in unstructured home settings, and also straightforward to use. In this paper, we use a RGBD sensor (Microsoft Kinect) as the input sensor, and present learning algorithms to infer the activities. Our algorithm is based on a hierarchical maximum entropy Markov model (MEMM). It considers a person's activity as composed of a set of sub-activities, and infers the two-layered graph structure using a dynamic programming approach. We test our algorithm on detecting and recognizing twelve different activities performed by four people in different environments, such as a kitchen, a living room, an office, etc., and achieve an average performance of 84.3% when the person was seen before in the training set (and 64.2% when the person was not seen before).
Towards a sustainable web accessibility

Cases like Target.com show that there is still uncertainty about the precise meaning of “web accessibility”, about how to identify accessibility problems, and about when to claim that a web site is accessible. In this paper I suggest that the only way to change this is by focussing on sustainable accessibility, i.e. by shaping and establishing eﬀective accessibility processes that can be sustained mainly by their own return on investment and by minimal additional resources. To achieve a sustainable accessibility, at least two issues need to be addressed. First, accessibility evaluations have to produce sets of accessibility problems that are prioritized by their impact: in other words, evaluations should identify problems whose solution makes a big diﬀerence in accessibility. Therefore, evaluators and developers can focus on these problems ﬁrst, thus optimizing their resources. Secondly, accessibility processes (involved when conceiving, developing, maintaining, revamping web sites) should be eﬀective and eﬃcient. After discussing the role that a well deﬁned accessibility model plays, the paper illustrates recent ﬁndings concerning quality factors of each type of accessibility process, including: sensitivity, correctness, speciﬁcity and reliability of elicitation processes; reliability and validity of processes for sampling pages/resources of a website and of accessibility measurement processes. Several of these factors were experimentally studied in recent and still ongoing experiments, and the paper discusses the overall conclusions.
A Review of Pharmacology and Clinical Use of Piperine and Its Derivatives

Summary: Piperine and its derivatives are effective anticonvulsant drugs that antagonize convulsions induced by physical and chemical methods. Their major anticonvulsant activity as shown in animal tests lies in modification of the maximal electroshock seizure pattern. They also have sedative‐hypnotic, tranquilizing, and muscle‐relaxing actions and can intensify the depressive action of other depressants, when used in combination. Antiepilepsirine, one of the derivatives of piperine, is used as an antiepileptic drug in treating different types of epilepsy. It has been proved effective and is being widely used in China. The anticonvulsant action of 7446, 7448, and 7903 is more potent than that of antiepilepsirine. The chemical structure of piperine and its derivatives is different from that of prototype antiepileptic drugs, and, therefore, these may become a new group of antiepileptic drugs.
Evaluation of the Antioxidant Activity of Ethanolic Extracts of Some Varieties of Onions

The content of polyphenolic substances in commercial onions has been determined. The antioxidant activity of their ethanolic extracts, as well as their effects on the oxidation of edible corn oil during accelerated ageing was studied. Maceration of taxonomically identified commercial vegetable samples, previously peeled and thinly sliced, was carried out at ambient temperature, out of direct light, with occasional agitation and ultrasound, employing 95% ethyl alcohol as the extraction solvent, allowing them to stand for 7 days. The total polyphenolic contents were determined on the filtrated extracts using the Folin-Ciocalteau method. The antioxidant activity was evaluated on emulsions of ethanolic extracts of onion prepared in edible commercial corn oil, using sorbitan monooleate as emulsifying agent. The peroxide values were analyzed using the iodometric method; oxidation induction times were obtained from the peroxide evolution graphs, using the tan- gent method. Oil samples emulsified with ethanolic onion extracts showed an extension of the induction period. A 7-day ageing study at 45? C was additionally performed to determine the conjugated dienes on pure commercial corn oil and its emulsions by visible spectrophotometry. The spectral analysis showed an increase of the measured absorbancies in oil samples without additives and no change for the oils emulsified with onion extract. An increasing of diene values was observed for corn oil without additives during ageing; no changes in the value were observed in oils emulsified with onion extracts.
Advances in Fiber Optic Sensors Technology Development for Temperature and Strain Measurements in Superconducting Magnets and Devices

The luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) requires the development of a new generation of superconducting magnets based on Nb3Sn technology. To monitor the magnet thermo-mechanical behavior during its service life, from the coil fabrication to the magnet operation, reliable sensing systems need to be implemented. In the framework of the FP7 European Project EUCARD, Nb3Sn racetrack coils are developed as test beds for the fabrication validation, the cable characterization, and the instrumentation development. Fiber optic sensors (FOS) based on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) technology have been embedded in the coils of the short model coil (SMC) magnet. The FBG sensitivity to both temperature and strain required the development of a solution able to separate the mechanical and temperature effects. This paper presents the feasibility study of the implementation of embedded FBG sensors for the temperature and strain monitoring of the 11-T-type conductor. We aim to monitor and register these effects during the coil fabrication and cool down in a standalone configuration.
Theory and Empiricism in Virulence Evolution

Dobzhansky famously wrote, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. ” Given the importance of viral evolution to disease emergence, pathogenesis, drug resistance, and vaccine efficacy, it has been well studied by theoreticians and experimentalists. Indeed, as the highly theoretical concepts of quasispecies and error catastrophe gained mainstream attention over the last thirty years, notions of viral populations and viral evolution became almost inseparable for many virologists. In contrast, a large body of theoretical work on the evolution of virulence has yet to gain traction in the virology community. Our purpose here is to offer a brief introduction to virulence theory, explain some of its strengths and weaknesses, and suggest how theory might be united with empiric data. While we focus our discussion on viruses, many of the concepts presented are similarly applicable to other prokaryotic and eukaryotic pathogens.