Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sleep duration and risk of fatal and nonfatal stroke

Objective: To study the association between sleep duration and stroke incidence in a British population and to synthesize our findings with published results through a meta-analysis. Methods: The prospective study included 9,692 stroke-free participants aged 42–81 years from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer–Norfolk cohort. Participants reported sleep duration in 1998–2000 and 2002–2004, and all stroke cases were recorded until March 31, 2009. For the meta-analysis, we searched Ovid Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library for prospective studies published until May 2014, and pooled effect estimates using a weighted random-effect model. Results: After 9.5 years of follow-up, 346 cases of stroke occurred. Long sleep was significantly associated with an increased risk of stroke (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.46 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08, 1.98]) after adjustment for all covariates. The association remained robust among those without preexisting diseases and those who reported sleeping well. The association for short sleep was smaller (and not statistically significant) (HR = 1.18 [95% CI 0.91, 1.53]). There was a higher stroke risk among those who reported persistently long sleep or a substantial increase in sleep duration over time, compared to those reporting persistently average sleep. These were compatible with the pooled HRs from an updated meta-analysis, which were 1.15 (1.07, 1.24) and 1.45 (1.30, 1.62) for short and long sleep duration, respectively. Conclusions: This prospective study and meta-analysis identified prolonged sleep as a potentially useful marker of increased future stroke risk in an apparently healthy aging population.
Clinical Applications of Circulating Tumor Cells in Lung Cancer Patients by CellSearch System

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cells spread from the primary tumor into the bloodstream that might represent an important biomarker in lung cancer. The prognosis of patients diagnosed with lung cancer is generally poor mainly due to late diagnosis. Recent evidences have reported that tumor aggressiveness is associated with the presence of CTCs in the blood stream; therefore, several studies have focused their attention on CTC isolation, characterization, and clinical significance. So far, the CellSearch® system is the only approach approved by FDA for metastatic breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer intended to detect CTCs of epithelial origin in whole blood and to assess prognosis. To date, no specific biomarkers have been validated in lung cancer and the identification of novel tumor markers such as CTCs might highly contribute to lung cancer prognosis and management. In the present review, the significance of CTC detection in lung cancer is examined through the analysis of the published studies in both non-small cell and small cell lung cancers; additionally the prognostic and the clinical role of CTC enumeration in treatment monitoring will be reported and discussed.
Pulsar Kicks and Spin Tilts in the Close Double Neutron Stars PSR J0737–3039, PSR B1534+12, and PSR B1913+16

In view of the recent measurement of the scintillation velocity for PSR J0737-3039, we examine the complete set of constraints imposed on the pulsar B natal kicks (magnitude and orientation) and predict the most favorable pulsar kick velocity and spin tilt for both isotropic and polar kicks. Our analysis takes into account both currently unknown parameters: the orientation of the orbital plane on the sky (Ω) and the radial component of the systemic velocity (Vr). Assuming that the system's peculiar velocity is entirely due to the second supernova explosion, we find that the system may have crossed the Galactic plane multiple times since the birth of the second neutron star and that the postsupernova peculiar velocity could have been as high as ≃1200 km s-1. We also confirm the absolute lower and upper limits on the physical parameters derived in our earlier study. For specific combinations of the two unknown parameters Ω and Vr, however, we find much tighter constraints on the presupernova binary configuration and natal kicks imparted to pulsar B, as well as on the age of system. Once Ω is measured in the coming year, it will be straightforward to use the results presented here to further constrain the natal kicks and the spin-tilt predictions. We complete our comprehensive study and derive similar constraints and spin-tilt predictions for PSR B1534+12, for which the only free parameter is Vr. Finally, for PSR B1913+16 we update the progenitor and kick constraints using the measured pulsar spin tilt and allowing for Roche lobe overflow from the progenitor of the pulsar companion.
The identification of behavioural intervention opportunities to reduce child exposure to indoor air pollution in rural South Africa.

Acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) such as pneumonia have been linked to exposure to indoor air pollution (IAP) and account for the deaths of millions of children in developing countries each year. While interventions to prevent child exposure to IAP have been characterised by technological approaches such as stove improvement programmes very little is known about the effectiveness of behavioural interventions in reducing child exposure to IAP. In response to the paucity of information in this regard the aim of this project which is divided into a number of phases is to evaluate the effectiveness of a behavioural intervention approach in reducing child exposure to IAP. The goal of this the first phase of research is to inform the design of the behavioural intervention to be implemented in subsequent phases. To do this the specific objectives of phase one are: To describe all observable practices that might have an effect on child exposure to IAP and respiratory health; To understand the factors that influence practices; and To describe how practices may differ between households that care for a child with a history of severe ALRI (hereafter high ALRI group) and households that care for a child with minimal ALRI (hereafter low ALRI group). (excerpt)
Space-time block code design for single-carrier frequency division multiple access

In this paper, we propose a space-time block code (STBC) coding scheme with three decoding algorithms for the frequency-domain generation of single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) which addresses the issue of orphan symbols. The proposed algorithms only require one time-slot to perform Alamouti coding as compared to the space-time coding and mapping (STCM) Scheme I which uses two time-slots. The performance of the third proposed algorithm approaches that of STCM Scheme I in coded systems.
A phonetic study of vietnamese tones: acoustic and electroglottographic measurements

Vietnamese is a tone language using 6 different tones. The phonology of Vietnamese makes use of both melodic tones (pitch movements and registers) and voice quality tones. In this paper we present a phonetic description of the 6 tones of Vietnamese. Acoustic and electroglottographic data are provided. Two speakers (one female, one male) participated in the recordings. Phonetic realization of phonological tones using these acoustic parameters is discussed. The results indicate that several phonetic features are able to make possible the phonological contrasts. The first feature is the mean melodic register (high-low), represented mainly by the fundamental frequency. The second feature is the melodic movement (fall, rise, and fall-rise) represented mainly by the fundamental frequency. The third feature is voice quality, represented mainly by the voice open quotient and energy. Finally, a fourth feature seems to be the tone duration. However, all these features are not equally effective for all the tones, and some features seem correlated.
Secrecy rate maximization for MISO multicasting SWIPT system with power splitting scheme

This paper considers transmit covariance matrix design for secrecy rate maximization problem in a multiple-input single-output (MISO) multicasting simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) system. In order to enhance the performance of the system, artificial noise (AN) is added to the transmit signal in the design for the following purposes: to reduce the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the eavesdroppers and increase the harvested energy. We assume that all the channel-state-information (CSI) is perfectly known at the transmitter and all legitimate users are capable of simultaneously receiving information and harvesting energy. In addition, all the eavesdroppers are passive and they can harvest energy only when they are not intercepting or eavesdropping the messages intended for the legitimate users. The original secrecy rate maximization problem is not convex in terms of transmit and artificial covariance matrices as well as the power splitting (PS) ratio. In order to circumvent this non-convexity issue, we exploit the Charnes-Cooper Transformation and semidefinite relaxation (SDR) to convert this original problem into a convex one. However, this convex problem does not always yield the rank-one transmit and AN covariance matrices to obtain the solution of the original problem. Therefore, we analyze the optimal conditions and utilize a Gaussian randomization (GR) method to construct the rank-one solutions from the non-rank one results. Simulation results have been provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed transmit covariance matrices design for MISO multicasting SWIPT system.
Early Biomarkers of Renal Damage in Relation to Arterial Stiffness and Inflammation in Male Coronary Artery Disease Patients

Background/Aims: Plasma neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), urinary liver-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) and urinary kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) have emerged as promising biomarkers for both acute and chronic kidney injury that also provide prognostic value for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Our aim was to evaluate their relationships with arterial stiffness and inflammation in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients and in clinically healthy controls. Methods: We studied 52 patients with CAD (age 63.2 ± 9.2 years) and 41 healthy controls (age 60.1 ± 7.2 years). Urinary L-FABP and KIM-1 as well as serum NGAL, adiponectin and resistin levels were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. The technique of applanation tonometry was used for non-invasive pulse wave analysis and pulse wave velocity assessments. Results: Urinary L-FABP and KIM-1 were independent determinants of cf-PWV for the CAD patients (R2=0.584, P<0.001) but not for the controls. Adiponectin correlated with log-KIM-1 (r=0.31, P=0.028) only for the patients, while NGAL correlated with WBC count (rho=0.29, P=0.038; r=0.35, P=0.029) and resistin (rho=0.60, P<0.001; r=0.57, P<0.001) for both the CAD and control groups, respectively. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that urinary L-FABP and KIM-1 may be independently associated with aortic stiffness in individuals with CAD.
Tangible search system using RFID technology

Many types of information input methods into computers have been invented and used from keyboard and mouse to touch-panel display. However, each operation method is totally different and it often takes much time to learn how to operate it. For example, when customers use an information terminal at a retail store, they may have to browse more than a few pages or type several appropriate words with a keyboard or something to get to the information they want. It is very laborious and complicated especially for inexperienced users. Therefore, more intuitive and simple user interface has been desired for a long time.
Predicting Multi-Component Protein Assemblies Using an Ant Colony Approach

Biological processes are often governed by functional modules of large protein assemblies such as the proteasomes and the nuclear pore complex, for example. However, atomic structures can be determined experimentally only for a small fraction of these multicomponent assemblies. In this article, we present an ant colony optimization based approach to predict the structure of large multicomponent complexes. Starting with pair-wise docking predictions, a multigraph consisting of vertices representing the component proteins and edges representing scored transformations is constructed. Thus, the assembly problem corresponds to identifying minimum weighted spanning trees that yield arrangements of components with few atomic clashes. The utility of the approach is demonstrated using protein complexes taken from the Protein Data Bank. Our algorithm was able to identify near-native solutions for 5 of the 6 cases tested, including one 6-component complex. This demonstrates that the ant colony model provides a useful way to deal with highly combinatorial problems such as assembling multicomponent protein complexes.
Power Management Techniques in Smartphones Operating Systems

Extend the battery life of mobile handsets at different levels such as operating system, wireless technologies and applications is the aim of the most hardware manufacturers and OS designers, so designing more energy efficient applications and operating systems is the best way to solve this problem, In this paper, we aim is to provide a summary of techniques employed in mobile computer and especially smartphones operating systems that can reduce the power consumption of today's mobile computing devices.
Avian Pox in Magellanic Penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus)

Avian pox is an enveloped double-stranded DNA virus that is mechanically transmitted via arthropod vectors or mucosal membrane contact with infectious particles or birds. Magellanic Penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) from two colonies (Punta Tombo and Cabo Dos Bahías) in Argentina showed sporadic, nonepidemic signs of avian pox during five and two of 29 breeding seasons (1982– 2010), respectively. In Magellanic Penguins, avian pox expresses externally as wart-like lesions around the beak, flippers, cloaca, feet, and eyes. Fleas (Parapsyllus longicornis) are the most likely arthropod vectors at these colonies. Three chicks with cutaneous pox-like lesions were positive for Avipoxvirus and revealed phylogenetic proximity with an Avipoxvirus found in Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophrys) from the Falkland Islands in 1987. This proximity suggests a long-term circulation of seabird Avipoxviruses in the southwest Atlantic. Avian pox outbreaks in these colonies primarily affected chicks, often resulted in death, and were not associated with handling, rainfall, or temperature.
Soluble Axoplasm Enriched from Injured CNS Axons Reveals the Early Modulation of the Actin Cytoskeleton

Axon injury and degeneration is a common consequence of diverse neurological conditions including multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. The molecular events underlying axon degeneration are poorly understood. We have developed a novel method to enrich for axoplasm from rodent optic nerve and characterised the early events in Wallerian degeneration using an unbiased proteomics screen. Our detergent-free method draws axoplasm into a dehydrated hydrogel of the polymer poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate), which is then recovered using centrifugation. This technique is able to recover axonal proteins and significantly deplete glial contamination as confirmed by immunoblotting. We have used iTRAQ to compare axoplasm-enriched samples from naïve vs injured optic nerves, which has revealed a pronounced modulation of proteins associated with the actin cytoskeleton. To confirm the modulation of the actin cytoskeleton in injured axons we focused on the RhoA pathway. Western blotting revealed an augmentation of RhoA and phosphorylated cofilin in axoplasm-enriched samples from injured optic nerve. To investigate the localisation of these components of the RhoA pathway in injured axons we transected axons of primary hippocampal neurons in vitro. We observed an early modulation of filamentous actin with a concomitant redistribution of phosphorylated cofilin in injured axons. At later time-points, RhoA is found to accumulate in axonal swellings and also colocalises with filamentous actin. The actin cytoskeleton is a known sensor of cell viability across multiple eukaryotes, and our results suggest a similar role for the actin cytoskeleton following axon injury. In agreement with other reports, our data also highlights the role of the RhoA pathway in axon degeneration. These findings highlight a previously unexplored area of axon biology, which may open novel avenues to prevent axon degeneration. Our method for isolating CNS axoplasm also represents a new tool to study axon biology.
Two-stage hepatectomy for multiple giant alveolar echinococcosis

Abstract Alveolar echinococcosis is a chronically progressive and potentially fatal disease. Patients with multiple giant alveolar echinococcosis have a poor prognosis when radical resection cannot be achieved, but curative resection can be limited by low future remnant liver volumes. In these cases, 2-stage liver resection may be a better choice: after a first-stage hepatectomy with partial resection, liver regeneration is allowed in the residual liver before proceeding to the second-stage hepatectomy. In this study, we therefore retrospectively reviewed and evaluated the safety and feasibility of two-stage hepatectomy in patients with multiple giant alveolar echinococcosis. We reviewed the data for all patients who underwent 2-stage hepatectomy for multiple giant alveolar echinococcosis between August 2013 and December 2015 at either the West China Hospital of Sichuan University or the Hospital of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. We identified 7 patients in whom 2-stage hepatectomy was completed. During the first-stage hepatectomy, 4 patients underwent right-sided hepatectomy and the other 3 underwent left-sided hepatectomy. The second-stage hepatectomies were successfully performed 3 months after the first-stage procedures. All patients had follow-up durations of >1 year; there were no cases of operation-related mortality, and no patients experienced disease recurrence. Two-stage hepatectomy is safe and feasible for patients with multiple giant alveolar echinococcosis.
Open problems of Paul Erdös in graph theory

The main treasure that Paul Erdős has left us is his collection of problems, most of which are still open today. These problems are seeds that Paul sowed and watered by giving numerous talks at meetings big and small, near and far. In the past, his problems have spawned many areas in graph theory and beyond (e.g., in number theory, probability, geometry, algorithms and complexity theory). Solutions or partial solutions to Erdős problems usually lead to further questions, often in new directions. These problems provide inspiration and serve as a common focus for all graph theorists. Through the problems, the legacy of Paul Erdős continues (particularly if solving one of these problems results in creating three new problems, for example.) There is a huge literature of almost 1500 papers written by Erdős and his (more than 460) collaborators. Paul wrote many problem papers, some of which appeared in various (really hard-to-find) proceedings. Here is an attempt to collect and organize these problems in the area of graph theory. The list here is by no means complete or exhaustive. Our goal is to state the problems, locate the sources, and provide the references related to these problems. We will include the earliest and latest known references without covering the entire history of the problems because of space limitations (The most up-to-date list of Erdős' papers can be found in [65]; an electronic file is maintained by Jerry Grossman at grossman@oakland.edu.) There are many survey papers on the impact of Paul's work, e.g., see those in the books: A Tribute to Paul Erdős [84], Combinatorics, Paul Erdős is Eighty, Volumes 1 and 2 [83], and The Mathematics of Paul Erdős, Volumes I and II [81]. To honestly follow the unique style of Paul Erdős, we will mention the fact that Erdős often offered monetary awards for solutions to a number of his favorite problems. In November 1996, a committee of Erdős' friends decided no more such awards will be given in Erdős' name. However, the author, with the help of Ron Graham, will honor future claims on the problems in this paper, provided the requirements previously set by Paul are satisfied (e.g., proofs have been verified and published in recognized journals). Throughout this paper, the constants c, c′, c1, c2, · · · and extremal functions f(n), f(n, k), f(n, k, r, t), g(n), · · · are used extensively, although within the context of each problem, the
Kinematic structure for robust mechanical architectures in robotic planetary exploration

This paper describes new research into the kinematic structure of autonomous robotic systems, and into the associated design processes. The approach aims to develop novel insights and applicable tools and techniques for designing advanced mechanical architectures for planetary exploration systems. These should provide enhanced functionality for tackling complex autonomous operations, and improved levels of robustness in the face of the inevitable system faults.
Investigating the Computer Security Practices and Needs of Journalists

Though journalists are often cited as potential users of computer security technologies, their practices and mental models have not been deeply studied by the academic computer security community. Such an understanding, however, is critical to developing technical solutions that can address the real needs of journalists and integrate into their existing practices. We seek to provide that insight in this paper, by investigating the general and computer security practices of 15 journalists in the U.S. and France via in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Among our findings is evidence that existing security tools fail not only due to usability issues but when they actively interfere with other aspects of the journalistic process; that communication methods are typically driven by sources rather than journalists; and that journalists' organizations play an important role in influencing journalists' behaviors. Based on these and other findings, we make recommendations to the computer security community for improvements to existing tools and future lines of research.
Hardware implementation of a PCA learning network by an asynchronous PDM digital circuit

We have fabricated a PCA (principal component analysis learning network in a FPGA (field programmable gate array) by using an asynchronous PDM (pulse density modulation) digital circuit. The generalized Hebbian algorithm is expressed in a set of ordinary differential equations and the circuits solve them in a fully parallel and continuous manner. The performance of the circuits was tested by a network with two microphone inputs and two speaker outputs. By moving a sound source right and left in front of the microphones, the first principal weight vector could continuously track the sound direction in real time.