Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Kidney function and risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality in women: a prospective cohort study

Objective To evaluate the association of kidney function with cardiovascular disease and mortality among apparently healthy women. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Women ’ s Health Study, United States. Participants 27939 female health professionals aged ≥ 45 who were free of cardiovascular disease and other major disease and who provided a blood sample at study entry. Main outcome measures Time to cardiovascular disease (non-fatal stroke, non-fatal myocardial infarction, coronary revascularisation procedures, or death from cardiovascular cause), specific cardiovascular disease events, and all-cause mortality. End points were confirmed after review of medical records and death certificates.
A Convengent Solution to Tensor Subspace Learning

Recently, substantial efforts have been devoted to the subspace learning techniques based on tensor representation, such as 2DLDA [Ye et al., 2004], DATER [Yan et al., 2005] and Tensor Subspace Analysis (TSA) [He et al., 2005]. In this context, a vital yet unsolved problem is that the computational convergency of these iterative algorithms is not guaranteed. In this work, we present a novel solution procedure for general tensor-based subspace learning, followed by a detailed convergency proof of the solution projection matrices and the objective function value. Extensive experiments on real-world databases verify the high convergence speed of the proposed procedure, as well as its superiority in classification capability over traditional solution procedures.
Infection of Human Macrophages and Dendritic Cells with Mycobacterium tuberculosis Induces a Differential Cytokine Gene Expression That Modulates T Cell Response1

Macrophages and dendritic cells (DC) play an essential role in the initiation and maintenance of immune response to pathogens. To analyze early interactions between Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and immune cells, human peripheral blood monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) and monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MDDC) were infected with Mtb. Both cells were found to internalize the mycobacteria, resulting in the activation of MDM and maturation of MDDC as reflected by enhanced expression of several surface Ags. After Mtb infection, the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1, and IL-6 were secreted mainly by MDM. As regards the production of IFN-γ-inducing cytokines, IL-12 and IFN-α, was seen almost exclusively from infected MDDC, while IL-18 was secreted preferentially by macrophages. Moreover, Mtb-infected MDM also produce the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10. Because IL-10 is a potent inhibitor of IL-12 synthesis from activated human mononuclear cells, we assessed the inhibitory potential of this cytokine using soluble IL-10R. Neutralization of IL-10 restored IL-12 secretion from Mtb-infected MDM. In line with these findings, supernatants from Mtb-infected MDDC induced IFN-γ production by T cells and enhanced IL-18R expression, whereas supernatants from MDM failed to do that. Neutralization of IFN-α, IL-12, and IL-18 activity in Mtb-infected MDDC supernatants by specific Abs suggested that IL-12 and, to a lesser extent, IFN-α and IL-18 play a significant role in enhancing IFN-γ synthesis by T cells. During Mtb infection, macrophages and DC may have different roles: macrophages secrete proinflammatory cytokines and induce granulomatous inflammatory response, whereas DC are primarily involved in inducing antimycobacterial T cell immune response.
A Data-Driven Assessment of Biosphere-Atmosphere Interaction Impact on Seasonal Cycle Patterns of XCO2 Using GOSAT and MODIS Observations

Using measurements of the column-averaged CO_2 dry air mole fraction (XCO_2) from GOSAT and biosphere parameters, including normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), leaf area index (LAI), gross primary production (GPP), and land surface temperature (LST) from MODIS, this study proposes a data-driven approach to assess the impacts of terrestrial biosphere activities on the seasonal cycle pattern of XCO_2. A unique global land mapping dataset of XCO_2 with a resolution of 1° by 1° in space, and three days in time, from June 2009 to May 2014, which facilitates the assessment at a fine scale, is first produced from GOSAT XCO_2 retrievals. We then conduct a statistical fitting method to obtain the global map of seasonal cycle amplitudes (SCA) of XCO_2 and NDVI, and implement correlation analyses of seasonal variation between XCO_2 and the vegetation parameters. As a result, the spatial distribution of XCO_2 SCA decreases globally with latitude from north to south, which is in good agreement with that of simulated XCO_2 from CarbonTracker. The spatial pattern of XCO_2 SCA corresponds well to the vegetation seasonal activity revealed by NDVI, with a strong correlation coefficient of 0.74 in the northern hemisphere (NH). Some hotspots in the subtropical areas, including Northern India (with SCA of 8.68 ± 0.49 ppm on average) and Central Africa (with SCA of 8.33 ± 0.25 ppm on average), shown by satellite measurements, but missed by model simulations, demonstrate the advantage of satellites in observing the biosphere–atmosphere interactions at local scales. Results from correlation analyses between XCO_2 and NDVI, EVI, LAI, or GPP show a consistent spatial distribution, and NDVI and EVI have stronger negative correlations over all latitudes. This may suggest that NDVI and EVI can be better vegetation parameters in characterizing the seasonal variations of XCO_2 and its driving terrestrial biosphere activities. We, furthermore, present the global distribution of phase lags of XCO_2 compared to NDVI in seasonal variation, which, to our knowledge, is the first such map derived from a completely data-driven approach using satellite observations. The impact of retrieval error of GOSAT data on the mapping data, especially over high-latitude areas, is further discussed. Results from this study provide reference for better understanding the distribution of the strength of carbon sink by terrestrial ecosystems and utilizing remote sensing data in assessing the impact of biosphere–atmosphere interactions on the seasonal cycle pattern of atmospheric CO_2 columns.
Dynamic Trace Signal Selection for Post-Silicon Validation

In order to gain market share in today's competitive high-tech industry, fast time-to-market (TTM) is one of the key factors for the success of a product. Since pre-silicon verification cannot be applied exhaustively as the size and complexity of the integrated circuit design increases, post-silicon validation becomes crucial to capture bugs and design errors that escape from the pre-silicon verification phase. However, because of the limited observability of internal states due to the limited storage capacity available for post-silicon validation, selecting optimal sets of trace signals has always been a challenging task for debugging engineers. This paper proposes a new dynamic trace signal selection algorithm to maximize the restoration ratio for internal circuit states. Experimental results on benchmark circuits and an industry design show that the proposed technique provides a high degree of state restoration regardless of the input test patterns.
DDP EFL Student Teachers’ Perceptions About the Qualities of a Professional Teacher

This study explores how EFL student teachers of an undergraduate dual diploma program describe the qualities of a professional teacher after spending a year in their partner university in the United States, and after experiencing international and local practice teaching contexts. As a case study, the data were obtained through in-depth interviews, student teachers’ observation journals, and a survey. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. In addition, student teachers’ observation journals were gathered on a weekly basis. As a supplementary tool, International Survey (TALIS) was administered to all participants. The collected data suggested that study abroad and international short-term fieldwork experience made contributions to their perceptions about the ideal teacher thanks to broadening their worldviews about multiculturalism and diversity, and improving their personal skills, including human relation and communication skills. As a result of these experiences, the prospective teachers re-shaped their perceptions and attributed new features indicating interpersonal skills to the image of a professional teacher. The study also revealed that after returning to Turkey and completing Practice Teaching course in one of the cooperating schools, their perceptions were re-shaped again under the influence of experiencing a real teaching context with the same students for a long time. They indicated that while international fieldwork and study abroad experience showed them being fluent in English, patient, eager to raise human beings, and being able to address individual differences in a classroom, thanks to local practice teaching experience, they added new features to them, including love of teaching, motivating students for life-long learning, being a facilitator to help them find their own path, attending to the learner, getting along with students within the framework of respect, kindness and temperateness, dealing with disruptive behaviors and accomplishing classroom management by developing techniques to create a safe and pleasant learning environment for students.
Performance Analysis of Closed-Loop Like Power Control for Packet Transmission over DS-CDMA in a Multipath Fading Environment

SUMMARY Packet-based and stream-based traffic will be widely accommodated in third generation mobile systems. In direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems, the impact of packet-based traffic is different from streambased traffic because of different power control schemes adopted in a multipath fading environment. In this paper, a closed-loop like power control scheme is considered for packet-based traffic on the reverse link. The concept of packet cost is introduced that represents how packet traffic consumes the link capacity of stream-based traffic. The effects of the response delay, the fading maximum Doppler frequency, and the number of resolvable paths on the packet cost for a single cell system are investigated by using Markov modeling for a multipath fading channel with a uniform power delay profile.
Sonoelastography in Distinguishing Benign from Malignant Complex Breast Mass and Making the Decision to Biopsy

Objective To evaluate the additional effect of sonoelastography on the radiologist's ability for distinguishing benign from malignant complex breast masses and to decide whether to perform biopsy by B-mode US. Materials and Methods One hundred eighteen complex breast masses (15 malignant lesions, 103 benign lesions) were included. Five blinded readers independently assessed the likelihood of the malignancy score from 1 to 5 for two data sets (B-mode ultrasound alone and B-mode ultrasound with sonoelastography). Elasticity scores were categorized as 0, 1, or 2 based on the degree and distribution of strain of the echogenic component within complex masses. The readers were asked to downgrade the likelihood of the malignancy score when an elasticity score of 0 was assigned and to upgrade the likelihood of the malignancy score when an elasticity score of 2 was assigned. The likelihood of the malignancy score was maintained as it was for the lesions with an elasticity score of 1. The Az values, sensitivities, and specificities were compared. Results The Az value of B-mode ultrasound with sonoelastography (mean, 0.863) was greater than that of B-mode ultrasound alone (mean, 0.731; p = 0.001-0.007) for all authors. The specificity of B-mode ultrasound with sonoelastography (mean, 37.1%) was greater than that of B-mode ultrasound alone (mean, 3.8%; p < 0.001) for all readers. The addition of sonoelastography led to changes in decisions. A mean of 33.6% of benign masses were recommended for follow-up instead of biopsy. Conclusion For complex breast masses, sonoelastography allows increase in both the accuracy in distinguishing benign from malignant lesions and the specificity in deciding whether to perform biopsy.
Load balance for semantic cluster-based data integration systems

Data integration systems based on Peer-to-Peer environments have been developed to integrate dynamic, autonomous and heterogeneous data sources on the Web. Some of these systems adopt semantic approaches for clustering their data sources, reducing the search space. However, the clusters may become overloaded and traditional strategies of load balance are not suitable to semantic clusters. In this paper, we discuss limitations of load balance strategies in semantic clusters. In addition, we propose a solution for this load balance and we present some experimental results.
Multi-robot cooperative localization: a study of trade-offs between efficiency and accuracy

This paper examines the tradeoffs between different classes of sensing strategy and motion control strategy in the context of terrain mapping with multiple robots. We consider a larger group of robots that can mutually estimate one another's position (in 2D or 3D) and uncertainty using a sample-based (particle filter) model of uncertainty. Our prior work has dealt with a pair of robots that estimate one another's position using visual tracking and coordinated motion. Here we extend these results and consider a richer set of sensing and motion options. In particular, we focus on issues related to confidence estimation for groups of more than two robots.
An evidence-theoretic neural network classifier

A new classifier based on the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence is presented. The approach consists in considering the similarity to prototype vectors as evidence supporting certain hypotheses concerning the class membership of a pattern to be classified. The different items of evidence are represented by basic belief assignments over the set of classes and combined by Dempster's rule of combination. An implementation of this procedure in a neural network with specific architecture and learning procedure is presented. A comparison with LVQ and RBF neural network classifiers is performed.
Information-based Active SLAM via topological feature graphs

Exploring an unknown space and building maps is a fundamental capability for mobile robots. For fully autonomous systems, the robot would further need to actively plan its paths during exploration. The problem of designing robot trajectories to actively explore an unknown environment and minimize the map error is referred to as active simultaneous localization and mapping (active SLAM). Existing work has focused on planning paths with occupancy grid maps, which do not scale well and suffer from long term drift. This work proposes a Topological Feature Graph (TFG) representation that scales well and develops an active SLAM algorithm with it. The TFG uses graphical models, which utilize independences between variables, and enables a unified quantification of exploration and exploitation gains with a single entropy metric. Hence, it facilitates a natural and principled balance between map exploration and refinement. A probabilistic roadmap path-planner is used to generate robot paths in real time. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves better accuracy than a standard grid-map based approach while requiring orders of magnitude less computation and memory resources.
A Clock Retiming Circuit for Repeaterless Low Swing On-Chip Interconnects

Repeaterless low swing interconnects have been proposed for enhancing the performance of long on-chip inter-connects. Synchronization of these high speed, low swing inter-connects is important for proper operation. This paper discusses a clock synchronizing circuit for low swing interconnects. The circuit uses a combination of a delay locked loop (DLL), that generates multiple phases of the clock, and an analog voltage controlled delay line (VCDL). The circuit picks one of the phases of the DLL and tries to achieve lock by delaying this clock using the VCDL. If the VCDL range is not sufficient to achieve lock, a coarse correction is automatically triggered by the circuit, which is realized by picking the next adjacent phase of the DLL. Using the multiple clock phases inherently available in the system, a low latency clock domain transfer from the sampling clock domain to the receiver clock domain is achieved. The proposed synchronizer has been designed and fabricated in UMC 130 nm CMOS technology. The circuit consumes 1.4 mW from a 1.2 V supply at a data rate of 1.3 Gbps.
Enhanced Hemicholinium Binding and Attenuated Dendrite Branching in Cognitively Impaired Acetylcholinesterase‐Transgenic Mice

Abstract: In a search for behavioral, neuroanatomical, and metabolic characteristics of Alzheimer's disease that may result from cholinergic malfunction, we used transgenic mice overexpressing acetylcholinesterase (AChE) mRNA and active enzyme in brain neurons. Mapping by in situ hybridization revealed that transgenic and host AChE mRNAs were distributed similarly. In a Morris water maze working memory paradigm, adult transgenic mice did not display the characteristic improvement found in control mice either between or within test days and spent less time than control mice in the platform zone. In 5‐week‐old transgenic mice, the basilar dendritic trees of layer 5 pyramidal neurons from the frontoparietal cortex were essentially as developed as in age‐matched controls. However, branching totally ceased after this age, whereas in control adults it continued up to at least 7 months. Therefore, dendritic arbors became smaller in adult transgenic mice than those of controls. Furthermore, the average number of spines was significantly lower on dendritic branches of 7‐month‐old but not 5‐week‐old transgenics as compared with controls. Binding of tritiated hemicholinium‐3, a blocker of the high‐affinity choline uptake characteristic of active cholinergic terminals, was over twofold enhanced in the brain of transgenic mice. In contrast, no differences were observed in the mRNA and ligand binding levels of several different subtypes of nicotinic and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. These findings suggest that three different hallmarks associated with Alzheimer's disease—namely, progressive cognitive failure, cessation of dendrite branching and spine formation, and enhanced high‐affinity choline uptake—are outcomes of cholinergic malfunction.
Excuses in Physical Education Made by Primary School Pupils of Fourth and Fifth Class

Researches show that children are mostly active at gym/sport in the school. So it is extremely important that they participate in physical education and aren’t making excuses or aren’t passive. Excuses for physical education were in the Slovenian area already a subject to a number of researches; however all deal with pupils in third triad and/or high school pupils. This research is the first of its kind dealing with younger pupils. Despite the fact that participation in physical education is a duty and right of every pupil, some pupils in physical education do not want to participate. Therefore, we wanted to find out how much and in what way the pupils of fourth and fifth class are making excuses for physical education. In the sample 319 pupils of fourth and fifth class were included. We found that absences of school children were within the expected range, because most children aren’t long-term ill. Young pupils are expected to make excuses less often than older pupils, because the need for physical movement in this period is strongly expressed. When pupils excuse, this is most often due to illness or because of unsuitable premises and lack of time for personal hygiene after hours of physical education. Pupils in the case of non-participation in physical education often tell teacher the real reason, but often also bring an apology from parents. When pupils don’t participate in physical education, they mainly observe it; less frequently the teacher finds another occupation for them.
MTTK: An Alignment Toolkit for Statistical Machine Translation

The MTTK alignment toolkit for statistical machine translation can be used for word, phrase, and sentence alignment of parallel documents. It is designed mainly for building statistical machine translation systems, but can be exploited in other multi-lingual applications. It provides computationally efficient alignment and estimation procedures that can be used for the unsupervised alignment of parallel text collections in a language independent fashion. MTTK Version 1.0 is available under the Open Source Educational Community License.
Prior Experience with Photostimulation Enhances Photo-Induced 1 Reproductive Response in Female House Finches : A Potential Basis 2 for Age-Related Increase in Reproductive Output 3

Prior experience with photostimulation enhances photo-induced reproductive response in female house finches. The NERC and CEH trademarks and logos ('the Trademarks') are registered trademarks of NERC in the UK and other countries, and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Trademark owner. ABSTRACT 24 In many vertebrates parental age is related to reproductive output with older individuals 25 often performing better (e.g., advanced timing, more offspring) than younger ones. First-26 year birds differ from older birds in that they lack previous experience with the 27 reproductively-stimulatory effects of long day lengths (photostimulation). The goal of this 28 study was to examine whether this age-related increase in reproductive output can be 29 attributed, at least in part, to previous experience with photostimulation in a 30 photoperiodic bird, the female house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus). Specifically, we 31 investigated whether previous experience with photostimulation influences the early 32 stages of reproductive development by quantifying plasma luteinizing hormone (LH), 33 plasma vitellogenin, ovarian follicle size, and immunoreactivity of hypothalamic 34 gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH-I) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP). 35 By differentially manipulating photoperiod, we generated two groups of first-year female 36 finches: a photo-experienced group that had been through one photoperiodically-37 induced cycle of gonadal development and regression, and a photo-naïve group 38 exposed to long days since hatch. Both groups were then transferred from long to short 39 days for nine weeks, to ensure full photoperiodic responsiveness, and then 40 photostimulated for four weeks and exposed to conspecific or heterospecific male song 41 starting 90 minutes before sacrifice. Following photostimulation, although photo-42 experienced and photo-naïve groups exhibited similar surges in plasma LH 43 concentrations, circulating vitellogenin levels increased in photo-experienced, but not in 44 photo-naïve birds. After four weeks of photostimulation, egg yolk deposition was 45 observed in two of six photo-experienced birds but in none of the photo-naïve birds. 46 3 After four weeks of photostimulation and exposure to conspecific or heterospecific male 47 song, more GnRH-I-ir cells were seen in the septo-preoptic hypothalamus of photo-48 experienced than of photo-naïve birds. In contrast, there were no differences between 49 the photo-experienced and photo-naïve birds, irrespective of the song type they were 50 exposed to, in numbers of visible VIP-ir cells in the mediobasal hypothalamus. Our 51 results demonstrate that previous photo-experience enhances some of the early stages 52 of photo-induced reproductive development, and that the reproductive neuroendocrine 53 …