Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Imaging Land Subsidence Induced by Groundwater Extraction in Beijing (China) Using Satellite Radar Interferometry

Beijing is one of the most water-stressed cities in the world. Due to over-exploitation of groundwater, the Beijing region has been suffering from land subsidence since 1935. In this study, the Small Baseline InSAR technique has been employed to process Envisat ASAR images acquired between 2003 and 2010 and TerraSAR-X stripmap images collected from 2010 to 2011 to investigate land subsidence in the Beijing region. The maximum subsidence is seen in the eastern part of Beijing with a rate greater than 100 mm/year. Comparisons between InSAR and GPS derived subsidence rates show an RMS difference of 2.94 mm/year with a mean of 2.41 ± 1.84 mm/year. In addition, a high correlation was observed between InSAR subsidence rate maps derived from two different datasets (i.e., Envisat and TerraSAR-X). These demonstrate once again that InSAR is a powerful tool for monitoring land subsidence. InSAR derived subsidence rate maps have allowed for a comprehensive spatio-temporal analysis to identify the main triggering factors of land subsidence. Some interesting relationships in terms of land subsidence were found with groundwater level, active faults, accumulated soft soil thickness and different aquifer types. Furthermore, a relationship with the distances to pumping wells was also recognized in this work.
Using Videotaped Self-Modeling to Change Behavior

T he history of self-modeling as an in­ structional strategy dates back al­ most 30 years. The first research study of videotaped self-modeling (VSM) in educational settings was carried out by Creer and Miklich (1970). They set out to use videotapes to modify noncompliant and aggressive behavior in children. Creer and Miklich videotaped children over time and edited out all examples of neg­ ative behavior. They then compiled ex­ amples of students exhibiting compliant and nonaggressive behavior to include in the final VSM tape. Shortly after begin­ ning to view the tapes, the students were exhibiting less of the undesirable behav­ iors throughout the school day.
City, Class and Power.

Urban problems are increasingly at the heart of political debate in industrial capitalist societies. The Italian Left obtained a majority in the 1975 municipal elections in all the large towns, in part on the basis of urban protests and partly on the strength of being an alternative form of local government. The same phenomenon occurred in Japan, where socialists and communists, because they have given priority to urban and environmental issues, govern the most important cities. In the United States, the crisis of New York is only the most spectacular manifestation of a series of social contradictions which question a model of urban development which nevertheless remains indispensable for the organisation of an existence centred around the dominant interests of American society. In France, urban and regional policies are one of the clearest indicators of the cleavages and struggles between different political forces, as could be observed during the debate on the Galley Bill (which in 1975 tried to tax more heavily speculative use of land and triggered widespread opposition from the business circles), or yet still, in the successive measures which have been adopted with respect to public transport and urban-renewal programmes. The middle classes are living increasingly in the grands ensembles and some observers have gone as far as to attribute the success of the Left in the 1976 district elections to their dissatisfaction with the lifestyle in these new residential milieux. As we shall see, this process is in fact more complex.
Thermodynamic Parameters for Stacking and Hydrogen Bonding of Nucleic Acid Bases in Aqueous Solution: Ab Initio/Langevin Dipoles Study

The potentials of mean force (PMF) for the association of purine, adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine, and uracil in aqueous solution are investigated using ab initio MP2/6-31G(d-0.25) calculations (diffuse d-polarization functions were used) and Langevin dipoles solvation model. The entropy contributions to the free energies for stacking and hydrogen bonding are approximated using the linear relationship between binding enthalpies and entropies determined here from the available experimental data. This methodology is used to evaluate the dependence of PMF, and the gas-phase and solvation energies on the twist angle (Ω) in a number of undisplaced face-to-back stacking complexes. Further, we characterized the vertical association of the parallel (Ω = 0°) and antiparallel (Ω = 180°) stacked cytosine dimers. The results show large compensation between the gas-phase and solvation energetics and an overall preference of the bases in the undisplaced face-to-back stacked complexes for the twist angles near 30°.
A bilinear estimate with applications to the KdV equation

u(x, 0) = u0(x), where u0 ∈ H(R). Our principal aim here is to lower the best index s for which one has local well posedness in H(R), i.e. existence, uniqueness, persistence and continuous dependence on the data, for a finite time interval, whose size depends on ‖u0‖Hs . Equation in (1.1) was derived by Korteweg and de Vries [21] as a model for long wave propagating in a channel. A large amount of work has been devoted to the existence problem for the IVP (1.1). For instance, (see [9], [10]), the inverse scattering method applies to this problem, and, under appropriate decay assumptions on the data, several existence results have been established, see [5],[6],[14],[28],[33]. Another approach, inherited from hyperbolic problems, relies on the energy estimates, and, in particular shows that (1.1) is locally well posed in H(R) for s > 3/2, (see [2],[3],[12],[29],[30],[31]). Using these results and conservation laws, global (in time) well posedness in H(R), s ≥ 2 was established, (see [3],[12],[30]). Also, global in time weak solutions in the energy space H(R) were constructed in [34]. In [13] and [22] a “local smoothing” effect for solutions of (1.1) was discovered. This, combined with the conservation laws, was used in [13] and [22] to construct global in time weak solutions with data in H(R), and even in L(R). In [16], we introduced oscillatory integral techniques, to establish local well posedness of (1.1) in H(R), s > 3/4, and hence, global (in time) well posedness in H(R), s ≥ 1. (In [16] we showed how to obtain the above mentioned result by Picard iteration in an appropriate function space.) In [4] J. Bourgain introduced new function spaces, adapted to the linear operator ∂t+∂ 3 x, for which there are good “bilinear” estimates for the nonlinear term ∂x(u /2). Using these spaces, Bourgain was able to establish local well posedness of (1.1) in H(R) = L(R), and hence, by a conservation
Publishing Bibliographic Data on the Semantic Web using BibBase

We present BibBase, a system for publishing and managing bibliographic data available in BiBTeX files. BibBase uses a powerful yet light-weight approach to transform BiBTeX files into rich Linked Data as well as custom HTML code and RSS feed that can readily be integrated within a user's website while the data can instantly be queried online on the system's SPARQL endpoint. In this paper, we present an overview of several features of our system. We outline several challenges involved in on-the-fly transformation of highly heterogeneous BiBTeX files into high-quality Linked Data, and present our solution to these challenges.
Perception of risk.

Studies of risk perception examine the judgements people make when they are asked to characterize and evaluate hazardous activities and technologies. This research aims to aid risk analysis and policy-making by providing a basis for understanding and anticipating public responses to hazards and improving the communication of risk information among lay people, technical experts, and decision-makers. This work assumes that those who promote and regulate health and safety need to understand how people think about and respond to risk. Without such understanding, well-intended policies may be ineffective.
Arteriovenous Fistula Construction with the VasQ™ External Support Device: A Pilot Study

Background and objective Arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) are currently the gold standard for access, exhibiting the best combination of a low complication profile with a long patency period and attractive pricing. Despite a steady increase in the use of autogenous AVF in recent years, there is still a high rate of non-maturation of native fistulas. VasQ™ (Laminate Medical Technologies, Israel) is an external support device for AVFs designed to improve flow and reduce neointimal hyperplasia at the anastomotic site. Preliminary data are presented of its use, assessing its safety and efficacy for brachiocephalic AVFs in haemodialysis patients. Design, setting, participants and measurements A single institution study of VasQ™ use was conducted with placement of the device in patients undergoing a brachiocephalic fistula, followed for 6 months. The VasQ™ was available in three sizes and was deployed externally over the fistula. Patients were assessed for flow, maturation and patency at 1, 3 and 6 months by Doppler ultrasonography. Results Twenty patients were implanted. Mean venous flow at 1, 3 and 6 months was 1130, 1426 and 1304 mL/min, respectively. Primary patency rates for these time periods were 95%, 79% and 79%, respectively, with unassisted maturation rates of 80%, 79% and 74%, respectively. There were no device-related serious adverse events. At the end of the follow-up period, 14/15 patients requiring dialysis were able to use the AVF. Conclusions VasQ™ is safe with high unassisted maturation and patency rates. The device may prevent perianastomotic stenosis, the leading cause of AVF failure.
New anatomical landmarks to study the relationship between fetal lung area and thoracic circumference by three-dimensional ultrasonography

Objective: To evaluate the relation between total lung area (TLA) and thoracic circumference (TC) ratio by three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonography applying new anatomical landmarks as the fetal aorta and inferior angle of the scapula. Methods: A longitudinal prospective study was conducted with 56 uncomplicated pregnancies between 24 and 32 weeks of gestation. Polynomial regressions were used to evaluate the correlation between TC and gestational age (GA) as well as TC and estimated fetal weight (EFW). A simple linear regression was used to evaluate the correlation between TLA and Total thoracic area (TTA) and GA. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess the intra and interobserver variability. Results: 127 examinations were performed. TC values ranged from 150 to 174 mm (mean 166 mm) at 24 weeks and 215–248 mm (mean 231 mm) at 32 weeks. The TLA/TC ratio ranged from a mean of 0.64 at 24 weeks (range 0.56–0.70) to 0.90 at 32 weeks gestation (range 0.79–1.01). The intraobserver variability using the ICC was of 0.919 for TC; 0.916 for TTA; 0.860 for right lung area (RLA) and 0.910 for left lung area (LLA). Interobserver reproducibility was with an ICC of 0.970 for TC; 0.984 for RLA and 0.910 for LLA. Conclusions: Measurement of fetal TC and the relationship between TLA and TC by 3D-ultrasonography applying new anatomical landmarks shows good reproducibility and allows a new assessment of thoracic and lung growth.
Nine-Year Survival of Lymphoblastic Lymphoma Patients

This study aimed to analyze the overall survival period of adult lymphoblastic lymphoma patients treated with various therapeutic regimens, and to assess the determinants affecting survival outcome. Twenty-five adult patients with lymphoblastic lymphoma who had been treated at Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea from June 1996 to June 2005 were analyzed retrospectively. As an initial remission induction chemotherapy, the hyper-CVAD regimen was performed in eight patients, the Stanford/Northern California Oncology Group (NCOG) regimen in five, the CAVOP regimen in four, the m-BACOP regimen in three, and the CHOP regimen in one patient. Patients were divided into two groups according to their therapeutic modalities. Twenty patients received conventional chemotherapy alone and five received subsequent PBSCT after conventional chemotherapy. Four patients of the PBSCT group underwent autologous PBSCT and one underwent allogeneic PBSCT. The overall response rate was 80% (60% showing a complete response, 20% showing a partial response) and the relapse rate was 73.3%. The overall survival (OS) rate was 55.1% at 1 year, 31.5% at 5 years, and 23.6% at 9 years. The disease-free survival (DFS) rate was 46.7% at 1 year and 30.0% at 7 years. The 5-year OS rate in relation to the regimens was 60% with the Stanford/NCOG regimen, 50% with the CAVOP regimen, and 33.3% with the m-BACOP regimen. The patients treated with the hyper-CVAD regimen had an 18.2% 2-year OS rate, and other patients with CHOP or COPBLAM-V expired early in their course. The OS rate in patients treated with conventional chemotherapy alone was 19.8%, whereas patients treated with subsequent PBSCT after chemotherapy showed 50% overall survival (p = 0.25). The age at presentation influenced the outcome of the patients (p = 0.01). The Stanford/NCOG regimen is an effective initial choice of therapy for lymphoblastic lymphoma patients, and is superior to the hyper-CVAD regimen in complete response rate and overall survival rate (p = 0.36). Addition of PBSCT after chemotherapy may be needed for achieving optimal outcomes.
A New Approach to Stable Matching Problems

It is shown that Stable Matching problems are the same as problems about stable configurations of X-networks. Consequences include easy proofs of old theorems, a new simple algorithm for finding a stable matching, an understanding of the difference between Stable Marriage and Stable Roommates, NP-completeness of Three-party Stable Marriage, CC-completeness of several Stable Matching problems, and a fast parallel reduction from the Stable Marriage problem to the Assignment problem.
Kainic acid-induced apoptosis in cerebellar granule neurons: an attempt at cell cycle re-entry

This study was undertaken to investigate whether kainic acid (KA) may regulate the expression of several proteins which plays an important role in cell-cycle progression in cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs). KA induced decrease in MTT values in a concentration dependent way. Flow cytometric analysis showed that KA was able to induce 30% apoptosis in CGNs. Apoptotic nuclear condensation were detected 24 h of exposure to KA (200 μM). An associated marked increase in DNA synthesis, measured by BrdU incorporation, was observed. Western blot analysis showed that KA induced an increase in the expression of Cdk2, cyclin E and E2F-1. It is proposed that, in post-mitotic cells like CGNs, re-entry cell cycle could be responsible for the apoptotic effect of KA.
Statin use before and after acute ischemic stroke onset improves neurological outcome

The devastating consequences of stroke, both in terms of morbidity and mortality, and the economic implications it has worldwide, coupled with a growing knowledge regarding its pathophysiology, has led to the development of novel therapeutic strategies in recent years that have had an enormous impact on clinical practice and the outcome of stroke patients. While thrombolysis is regarded as the most important of these developments, its relatively narrow therapeutic window and complexity of administration imply that only a minority of stroke patients can benefit from it. Among other strategies, in an attempt to overcome this limitation, research has focused on the development of neuroprotection aimed to salvage ischemic brain tissue by means complementary to reperfusion. Among these approaches, the use of statins stands out, which, by inhibiting the HMG CoA reductase, interfere with the formation of isoprenoid intermediates in the biosynthesis of cholesterol, and have been shown to have a positive impact in both the incidence and outcome of acute stroke. The main results of animal models, observational studies, clinical trials and opinion articles available in the medical literature covering the effect of statins on acute brain ischemia will be reviewed in order to provide in-depth information regarding their mode of action and current evidence regarding their potential benefits for ischemic stroke patients.
Colchicine and Insulin Secretion in Man

The present study is aimed at investigating the effect of acute and chronic colchicine administration on insulin secretion in humans. Acute insulin response to glucose (0.33 g/kg) was significantly decreased by colchicine (3 mg i.v.). In fact, this response (mean change 2–10 min insulin) was 44 ± 8 μU/ml before and 32 ± 6 μU/ml after colchicine administration (P < 0.01). As a consequence of this, glucose disappearance rates were reduced (P < 0.05). Infusion of lysine acetylsalicylate (LAS), an inhibitor of endogenous PG synthesis, completely reversed the inhibitory effect of colchicine upon insulin secretion and also augmented acute insulin response to glucose (response before colchicine + LAS = 45 ± 8 μl/ml; response after colchicine + LAS = 51 ± 9 μl/ml, P < 0.05). This effect was associated with an increase in glucose disappearance rates (P < 0.05). The 10-day treatment with colchicine (2 mg daily) caused a significant suppression of insulin secretion induced by oral glucose (100 g) and significantly increased the plasma glucose concentrations following the test (P < 0.05). These findings demonstrate that (1) both acute and chronic colchicine administration inhibit glucose-induced insulin secretion and deteriorate glucose tolerance in humans, and (2) LAS completely reverses these negative effects of colchicine. An increased synthesis of endogenous PGE, which are known to inhibit insulin secretion in humans, might account for the inhibiting effect of colchicine on insulin secretion.
Critical implication of the (70–96) domain of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Vpr protein in apoptosis of primary rat cortical and striatal neurons

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 regulatory protein Vpr has been detected in the serum of HIV-seropositive individuals and in the cerebrospinal fluid of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients suffering from neurological disorders. Therefore, Vpr could play a critical role in the neuronal apoptosis observed postmortem in the brain of patients, often connected to a severe AIDS-related disease termed HIV-associated dementia (HAD). This suggests that the Vpr neurotoxicity already observed in vitro on hippocampal neurons could also occur in other brain structures. In this study the authors have investigated the ability of synthetic Vpr to induce apoptosis in primary cultures of rat cortical and striatal neurons. Moreover, the authors have explored the Vpr minimal proapoptotic region using synthetic Vpr fragments and mutants of the protein. Treatments of both neuronal types with Vpr, its C-terminal domain, Vpr(52–96), or a shorter fragment, Vpr(70–96), led to dose- and time-dependent cell death as determined by flow cytometry after propidium iodide labeling, phase-contrast microscopy, and TUNEL labeling. Taken together, these results support an apoptosis-induced death of these neurons. The (71–82) Vpr peptide, previously shown toxic to isolated mitochondria, was inactive on neurons. Vpr-induced neuronal apoptosis was associated with activation of caspase-3 beginning 3 h after Vpr extracellular addition and peaking 3 h later. Moreover, an hyperproduction of reactive oxygen species was observed. In addition to hippocampal neurons, the extension of the apoptotic property of Vpr to cortical and striatal neurons could account for several signs observed in HAD and is thus consistent with a possible involvement of Vpr in this syndrome.
Bone Morphogenetic Protein-7 Inhibits EMT-Associated Genes in Breast Cancer

Background/Aims: Bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP7) has been shown to reduce the severity of injury-induced fibrosis through counteracting the fibrotic effects of transforming growth factor β 1 (TGFβ1). However, this model in the carcinogenesis of breast cancer is unknown. Methods: We analyzed the effects of BMP7 and TGFβ1 on gene transcripts and protein levels of EMT-related factors in breast cancer cells by RT-qPCR and Western blot, respectively. The effects of BMP7 and TGFβ1 on cell invasiveness and migration were evaluated by scratch wound healing assay and transwell cell migration assay. The cell growth was measured by MTT assay. Results: BMP7 did not alter the TGFβ1-stimulated phosphorylation of TGFβ receptor, but significantly inhibited the TGFβ1-activated epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related genes in breast cancer cells, resulting in a significant reduction in TGFβ1-triggered cell growth and cell metastasis. Conclusion: Our data suggest that besides being a well-known antagonist for TGFβ1 in fibrosis, BMP7 may also antagonize TGFβ1 in tumorigenesis-associated EMT in breast cancer. Thus, BMP7 may be a promising therapeutic target for treating breast cancer.
Antiviral Treatment to Prevent Transmission of Hepatitis C in People Who Inject Drugs

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is common among people who inject drugs (PWID) and causes significant morbidity and mortality. Opiate replacement therapy and needle exchange programs have effectively prevented the transmission of the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) but have been less effective for HCV. Other HCV prevention strategies are needed. Antiviral therapy with all oral direct acting antivirals is currently available and appears to be highly effective even in PWID and offers a possible strategy to further prevention efforts. This paper will review current evidence for treatment as prevention for HCV in PWID.
Spatial-spectral cross correlation for reliable multispectral image registration

This paper presents a normalized spatial-spectral cross correlation method for multispectral image registration. This method generalized correlation coefficients defined in a spatial domain or a spectral domain into a spatial-spectral domain. This novel spatial-spectral signature based method significantly increases the discrimination of the correlation coefficient for a given template window size, increases the registration reliability, robustness and accuracy, as compared with the classic normalized spatial cross correlation method. It is invariant to the dynamic range and robust to the noise yet it is straightforward with minimum preprocessing required. The experimental results show that the normalized spatial-spectral cross correlation method is superior to the traditional normalized spatial cross correlation method in effective registering multispectral images. However, the experimental results also show that only those statistically highly independent spectral bands are helpful for enhancing the robustness and reliability of the NSSCC multispectral image registration. Specifically, it is found that the near infrared band together with visual bands will gives the best registration results.
Design of high-performance transform and quantization circuit for unified video CODEC

This paper presents the new high-performance circuit architecture of the transform and quantization for unified video CODEC. The proposed architecture can be applied to all kinds of transforms for the video compression standards such as JPEG, MPEG-1/2/4, H.264 and VC-1. It exploits the similarity of 4-point DCT and 8-point DCT using permutation matrices. Since our circuit accepts the transform coefficients from the users, it can be extended very easily to cover any kind of DCT-based transforms for future standards. The multipliers in the transform circuit are shared by the quantization circuit in order to minimize the circuit size. The quantization operations are performed using spare clock cycles during the transform operations in order to minimize the number of clock cycles required. We described the proposed transform circuit at RTL and verified its operation on FPGA board.