Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
N umerical Simulation of the Thermodependant Visco-hyperelastic Behaviour of PET near the Glass Transi tion Temperature : prediction of the self-heating during biaxial tension test 1

The polyethylene terephthalate near the glass trans i io temperature highlights a strongly non linear elastic and viscous behaviour when biaxially stretched at high strain rates representative of the injection stretch blow moulding process. A n on linear visco-hyperelastic model, where characteristics are coupled to the temperature, has been identified from equi-biaxial tension experimental results. The weak form of this model i s presented and implemented into a finite element code and validated by comparing numerical s mulation of equi-biaxial testing with the analytical solution in the isothermal case. Con sidering the thermal aspects, an experimental study, where PET sheets are heated usi ng infrared (IR for short) lamps is also presented. The modeling of the IR radiation of the sheet helps to identify the thermal properties of the PET. The thermal model is then im ple ented in the finite element code, coupled to the 2D visco-hyperelastic model. A discu s ion is made to justify the accuracy of the assumption made on homogeneity of the temperatu r field through the thickness. The simulation of the 2D plane stress equibiaxial test shows the important influence of the thermal aspects and the coupled thermo-mechanical software is used to quantify the self-heating phenomenon in the case of the biaxial elongations.
Levels of HSP70 in HIV+ patients in different viroimmunological states

The aim of the study was to establish an association between the viroimmunological status of HIV positive patients and their levels of the 70‐kD heat shock protein (Hsp70). The longitudinal retrospective case study involved 61 patients at the University Hospital in Granada (Spain) from 1999 to 2002. Twenty‐five patients were viroimmunologically stable, while the other 36 patients had suffered virological failure. A minimum of three blood samples were taken at intervals of at least 3 months for the patients who were stable virologically and immunologically, whereas four samples were taken for the virological failure group: two previous to the onset of virological failure, a third corresponding to the time of virological failure, and a fourth at least 3 months after remission of virological failure. Blood samples were also obtained from 20 healthy control subjects; Hsp70 levels in all were determined by enzyme immunoassay. The mean concentration of Hsp70 was 145.4 ng/ml in the HIV‐infected patients as opposed to 72.1 ng/ml in the controls. While the viroimmunologically stable group showed levels similar to those of the controls (66.5 ng/ml), the mean value of Hsp70 in the virological failure group was nearly four times as high (249.1 ng/ml), yet this difference was not statistically significant. The patients treated with reverse transcriptase inhibitors were found to have significantly higher levels of Hsp70 than the other subjects. The transformed variable Hsp70/CD4+ presents less variability than the Hsp70 value itself, giving a higher degree of statistical significance, and may be considered a useful parameter for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic management of HIV positive patients. J. Med. Virol. 78:318–323, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Adipose tissue, adipocytes and the circadian timing system

Circadian clocks time the daily occurrence of multiple aspects of behaviour and physiology. Through studies of chronic misalignment between our internal clocks and the environment (e.g. during shift work), it has long been postulated that disruption of circadian rhythms is detrimental to human health. Recent advances in understanding of the cellular and molecular basis of mammalian circadian timing mechanisms have identified many key genes involved in circadian rhythm generation and demonstrated the presence of clocks throughout the body. Furthermore, clear links between sleep, circadian rhythms and metabolic function have been revealed, and much current research is studying these links in more detail. Here, we review the evidence linking circadian rhythms, clock genes and adipose biology. We also highlight gaps in our understanding and finally suggest avenues for future research.
Protein Phosphatase 2A Is Essential for the Activation of Ca2+-activated K+ Currents by cGMP-dependent Protein Kinase in Tracheal Smooth Muscle and Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells*

The regulation of Ca2+-activated K+ channels (KCa channels) by cGMP-dependent protein kinase (cGMP kinase) and its molecular mechanism were investigated in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and tracheal smooth muscle cells. In CHO wild-type cells (CHO-WT cells) and in CHO cells stably transfected with cGMP kinase Iα (CHO-cGK cells), KCa channels with intermediate conductance (∼50 picosiemens) were identified. Due to the basal activity of cGMP kinase, Ca2+-activated K+ currents had a higher sensitivity toward the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration in CHO-cGK cells than in CHO-WT cells. Dialysis of the active fragment of cGMP kinase (300 nM) into CHO-WT cells or of cGMP into CHO-cGK cells increased the Ca2+-activated K+ current, while the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (cAMP kinase) was without effect. In cell-attached patches obtained from freshly isolated bovine tracheal smooth muscle cells, the open state probability (NPo) of maxi-KCa channels (conductance of ∼260 picosiemens) was enhanced by 300 μM 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)-cGMP, a specific and potent activator of cGMP kinase. In contrast, 1 μM isoprenaline, 20 μM forskolin, and 3 mM 8-bromo-cAMP failed to enhance KCa channel activity. In excised inside-out patches, only the active fragment of cGMP kinase (but not that of cAMP kinase) increased NPo when applied to the cytosolic side of the patch. The enhancement of NPo by cGMP kinase was inhibited in CHO cells as well as in tracheal smooth muscle cells by the cGMP kinase inhibitor KT 5823 (1 μM) and the protein phosphatase (PP) inhibitors microcystin (5 μM) and okadaic acid (10 nM). The catalytic subunit of PP2A (but not that of PP1) mimicked the effect of cGMP kinase on NPo in excised inside-out patches. The results show that cGMP kinase regulates two different KCa channels in two unrelated cell types by the same indirect mechanism, which requires the activity of PP2A. The regulation of the KCa channel is specific for cGMP kinase and is not mimicked by cAMP kinase.
Three-Dimensional Vertebrae Reconstruction from Stereoradiography Based on Epipolar Geometry

This paper proposed an approach based on epipolar geometry for three-dimensional (3D) vertebrae reconstruction from two conventional radiographic views (posteroanterior and lateral). The proposed method consisted in detecting the corresponding landmarks and estimating the 3D coordinates of landmarks under the constraint of epipolar geometry. With the 3D landmarks reconstructed as control points, the anatomical primitives were deformed to obtain the personalized vertebral models by using kriging algorithm. The distances between the stereoradiographic and CT-scan reconstruction were calculated to validate the proposed method. It was shown that due to the accurate estimation of 3D landmarks, both the mean and maximum distances under the proposed method were less than those under the traditional direct linear transformation (DLT) reconstruction. This method can therefore be proposed to obtain the 3D geometry of vertebrae from stereoradiography.
Detecting Anatomical Landmarks for Fast Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosis

Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a very popular and effective technique used to diagnose Alzheimer's disease (AD). The success of computer-aided diagnosis methods using structural MRI data is largely dependent on the two time-consuming steps: 1) nonlinear registration across subjects, and 2) brain tissue segmentation. To overcome this limitation, we propose a landmark-based feature extraction method that does not require nonlinear registration and tissue segmentation. In the training stage, in order to distinguish AD subjects from healthy controls (HCs), group comparisons, based on local morphological features, are first performed to identify brain regions that have significant group differences. In general, the centers of the identified regions become landmark locations (or AD landmarks for short) capable of differentiating AD subjects from HCs. In the testing stage, using the learned AD landmarks, the corresponding landmarks are detected in a testing image using an efficient technique based on a shape-constrained regression-forest algorithm. To improve detection accuracy, an additional set of salient and consistent landmarks are also identified to guide the AD landmark detection. Based on the identified AD landmarks, morphological features are extracted to train a support vector machine (SVM) classifier that is capable of predicting the AD condition. In the experiments, our method is evaluated on landmark detection and AD classification sequentially. Specifically, the landmark detection error (manually annotated versus automatically detected) of the proposed landmark detector is 2.41 mm, and our landmark-based AD classification accuracy is 83.7%. Lastly, the AD classification performance of our method is comparable to, or even better than, that achieved by existing region-based and voxel-based methods, while the proposed method is approximately 50 times faster.
The Hepatotoxicity and Testicular Toxicity Induced by Arecoline in Mice and Protective Effects of Vitamins C and E

Arecoline is a major alkaloid of areca nuts which are widely chewed by southeast Asian and it manifests various toxic effects in different organs of human and animals. In this work, mature mice were treated by vitamins C plus E, arecoline, or both daily for four weeks. The results showed that arecoline significantly increased the levels of serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT), glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) and significantly decreased the levels of reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in the liver tissues. Additionally, the body weight, testis weight, sperm counts, motility and normal sperms also were significantly decreased. The supplement of vitamins C and E can bring the activities of ALP and GPT to normal levels and partially restore the sperm counts compared to the arecoline-treated group but have no other positive effects. In conclusion, the vitamins C and E partially attenuated the arecoline-induced hepatotoxiciy but basically had on protective effects against the arecoline-induced testicular toxicity.
Information Effects in Collective Preferences

Contrary to much of the literature on collective opinion, I find that the low levels and uneven social distribution of political knowledge in the mass public often cause opinion surveys to misrepresent the mix of voices in a society. To assess the bias introduced by information effects, I compare “fully informed” collective preferences simulated from actual survey data to collective preferences revealed in the original data. Analysis of policy questions from the 1988 and 1992 American National Election Studies shows that group differences in knowledge, along with the public's modest average level of political knowledge, can cause significant distortions in measures of collective opinion. The mass public may appear more progressive on some issues and more conservative on others than would be the case if all citizens were equally well informed. To the extent that opinion polls influence democratic politics, this suggests that information effects can impair the responsiveness of governments to their citizens.
Phenomenology as a Method for the Study of Informal Care

This paper establishes the suitability of a phenomenological research method, based on the existential philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, for the qualitative study of caring outside the professional context. Firstly, different perspectives of the nature of caring are reviewed, as well as the notion that informal care can be regarded as a function of empathy. The philosophical origins of phenomenology and its adaptation to a qualitative research method are outlined. This is followed by the description of a methodology based essentially upon Merleau-Ponty’s existential philosophy. This methodology is then evaluated as an appropriate means of enhancing the understanding of informal caring. It is argued that phenomenology is not only a means of understanding and documenting the experience of caring, but that the process of inquiry itself has an important intrinsic value.
Performance of the Raised-Cosine and "Better Than Raised-Cosine" Pulses in Non-Data-Aided Symbol Timing-Error Detection

The performances of non-data-aided feedback-loop symbol timing synchronization operating with the raised-cosine and the "better than" raised-cosine pulses are investigated. In terms of the jitter variance, modified Cramer-Rao bounds are compared and the individual effects of additive channel noise, self-noise, and their product on jitter variance are also investigated for the two pulses. The better than raised-cosine pulse is shown to have better synchronization performance than the conventional raised-cosine pulse. The gain is, for example, as much as 1.4 dB for excess bandwidth of 0.35 without a prefilter and is larger when the excess bandwidth is smaller or a prefilter is employed.
Experiencing Inequality: Memoirs, Hardship, and Working-Class Roots

Thirty-two literary memoirs constitute the database for this research on how economic deprivation and classism affected the early lives of gifted writers who grew up in poor and working-class families. All the memoirists experienced material deprivation, ranging from severe hunger to insufficient funds for college. Many encountered discrimination based on their lower-class status, attitudinal barriers to intellectual development and upward mobility, and deficits in public school education. Institutional support came from extracurricular activities, public libraries, religious participation, and government funding. The mental health practitioner’s respect is likely to have special potency for clients undermined by past experiences of inequality and classism.
The practical relevance of management accounting research and the role of qualitative methods therein - The debate continues

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present and analyze the opinions of a number of editors of accounting journals on the value they attach to the practical relevance of management accounting research and the potential role of qualitative methods in conducting this type of research. Design/methodology/approach - This paper collects together commentaries from these journal editors about the theme indicated above, together with an overview and reflections by the editors of this special issue. Findings - The journal editors do not regard a lack of practical relevance in management accounting research as a key concern. Most of them see practice-relevance and theoretical advancement as complementary, while the latter is given by far the most weight as the core of academic work. Furthermore, most journal editors have no clear preference for either qualitative or quantitative research in relation to the practical relevance issue. Neither do they seem to have strong opinions about the specific benefits of qualitative methods in practice-relevant studies. In their commentaries, the editors of this special issue advocate a stronger connection between the needs of practitioners and the content of the research, more interventionist research in which practitioners and researchers work together, and a greater focus on communication between academics and practitioners about the practical implications of management accounting research. The special issue editors specifically emphasize the importance of this communication in relation to safeguarding the “support” of various groups in society for academic research. Practical implications - The paper contributes to the ongoing debate about the practical relevance of management accounting research, and particularly to the role of qualitative methods in practice-relevant studies. Originality/value - By collecting and analyzing the opinions of editors of several prominent accounting journals on the practice-relevance of the research in this field, a contribution is made to the ongoing debate about this issue.
Searching for Integration in Counselling Practice.

Abstract The search for integration in counselling practice is addressed. It is argued that this necessarily involves a process of dialectical thinking, brought to bear in reconciling different visions of reality encapsulated within divergent therapeutic traditions. A model is offered of integration based upon the superordinate concept of ‘the vicious circle’ derived from an ironic world-view. The model is heated in Wachtel's theory of cyclical psychodynamics and Bowlby's attachment theory. An illustrative case-study is provided.
A new method for robust object tracking system based on scale invariant feature transform and camshift

To overcome the shortages of SIFT features and Camshift to individually apply to object tracking, in this paper, an algorithm is presented which integrates SIFT and Camshift tracking. In the proposed algorithm, Bhattacharyya coefficient is used as an indicator that judges whether the matching result is stable or not. Then, SIFT and Camshift tracking can adaptively switch tracking method. The SIFT features of object are updated in real-time according to matched result and historical information. Experimental results demonstrate that this algorithm can track the object accurately in conditions of scale modifications, rotation, abrupt shifts, as well as clutter and partial occlusions occurring to the tracking object with good robustness.
The Influence of Verbal Labelling on the Retention of Picture Stimuli: An Alternative Viewpoint

as thinking was believed to consist of subvocal speech, so memory was thought to consist of translating experiences into words and using these words as a basis for reconstructing the original. Second, its slender empirical base drew mainly upon the rather primitive work of the early pioneers. Experiments, notably those by Kuhlmann (1907), Bartlett (1932), and Jenkin (1935), had discredited the view that Ss retained a photographiclike record of everyday experience. These experiments demonstrated that remembering was often reconstructive rather than literal, and emphasized the apparent advantages subjects gained from verbalizing their perceptions. However, perhaps because of the theoretical tenor of the
Local Marriage Markets and the Marital Behavior of Black and White Women

Previous research has typically ignored the spatial dimension of marriage markets, focusing instead on highly aggregated data or on individual models of entry into marriage. A basic premise of this study is that national marriage rates are played out across local marriage-market areas that define female opportunities for marriage. Using local area data from the newly released 1980 Public Use Microdata Sample (D file), the article provides a direct test of several alternative explanations of U.S. marital behavior and of black and white differences in marriage rates. The analysis reveals that (a)local economic opportunities (including welfare)for females, spouse availability, and urbanization contribute significantly to spatial variations is female marriage rates, (b) the lcoal supply of economically "attractive" males plays an especially large role in the marital behaviors of U.S. black and white women, and (c) racial differences in marriage-market conditions accentuate, but do not explain completely, black-white differences in U.S. marriage rates. The study reinforces the view that local marriage-market conditions play a fundamental and often unappreciated role in the marital search process of American women.
Listening to children's perspectives on play across the lifespan: children's right to inform adults' discussions of contemporary play

For over a decade, researchers, practitioners, and play advocates have documented a decline in children's opportunities to engage in unstructured and outdoor play, a discussion that has been represented through the discourse and perspectives of adults. Given the increasing recognition that children's voices, their perspectives, deserve a more intentional and prominent inclusion in activities and decisions designed to influence them, the current study was designed to interview 98 children (ages 3–17) about their perspectives on children's and adults' play to examine how children's ideas could expand the dialogue on the changing sociocultural contexts of play. Children's emic conceptualizations of the characteristics defining play were consistent with previous research. Children's ideas of fun play and plans for spending a whole day playing emphasized relationships, outdoor play, and interacting with toys, but rarely digital play. The majority of children believed that adults play – with their children, sports, games, and digitally – although most children reported that adults do not play enough, a phenomenon they critiqued. The findings are discussed in relationship to literature describing children's perspectives on play and children's rights. The study reveals novel information concerning children's perspectives on play and suggests the importance of including children's narratives in research and advocacy describing the changing landscape of contemporary children's play.
OPTIMAL CONTROL OF A TWO-SERVER QUEUEING SYSTEM WITH FAILURES

We consider the problem of controlling a two-server Markovian queueing system with heterogeneous servers. The servers are differentiated by their service rates and reliability attributes (i.e., the slower server is perfectly reliable, whereas the faster server is subject to random failures). The aim is to dynamically route customers at arrival, service completion, server failure, and server repair epochs to minimize the long-run average number of customers in the system. Using a Markov decision process model, we prove that it is always optimal to route customers to the faster server when it is available, irrespective of its failure and repair rates, if the system is stable. For the slower server, there exists an optimal threshold policy that depends on the queue length and the state of the faster server. Additionally, we analyze a variant of the main model in which there are multiple unreliable servers with identical service rates, but distinct reliability characteristics. For that case it is always optimal to route customers to idle servers, and the optimal policy is insensitive to the servers’ reliability characteristics.