Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implanted Miniature Engineering Mechanisms in Tendon-Transfer Surgery Improve Robustness of Post-Surgery Hand Function

INTRODUCTION Upper-extremity tendon transfer surgeries have been routinely performed since the 1970s for conditions such as stroke, paralysis, spinal muscle atrophy, nerve or muscle trauma, and congenital disorders. The surgery involves re-routing one or more tendons from an non-functioning muscle and directly suturing it to a functioning donor muscle in order to partially restore hand function [3, 4]. However, a fundamental aspect of tendon-transfer surgery has gone unaddressed. Oftentimes, a single donor muscle is directly sutured to multiple recipient tendons in order to actuate multiple joints. For example, take the case of tendon-transfer surgery for high median-ulnar palsy, a severe condition that disables the flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) muscle bellies and results in an inability to fully close the fingers, leading to weak grasps. In order to restore finger flexion capability, the current surgical procedure is to directly suture the FDP tendons of all four fingers to a functioning donor muscle, such as the extensor carpi radialis longus (ECRL) (see Figs. 1a and 1b). While the direct suture is a simple method of attachment, it results in directly coupling the movement of the distal joints of all four fingers. As a result, the direct suture method prevents the fingers from adapting independently during physical interaction tasks such as grasping an object, fundamentally impeding post-surgery hand function. Specifically, when the hand closes in on an object during the grasping process, if one finger makes contact and stops, all the other fingers will stop before making contact since the motion of all the fingers is coupled (see Fig. 1b). Thus, the direct-suture attachment method results in poor multi-finger power/enveloping grasping ability and may require the patient to use unnatural wrist and arm movements to complete the grasp. This is a significant issue since the ability to perform power grasps is fundamental to the activities of daily living, such as when holding objects to feed oneself [2]. In order to address this fundamental issue in tendontransfer surgery, our group is exploring the use of implanted passive miniature differential mechanisms1 called “adaptive coupling mechanisms” to attach the donor muscle to the recipient tendons (see Figs. 1c, 1d, and 1e). Inspired by the application of these adaptive coupling mechanisms in underactuated robotic hands [1], the key idea is that these adaptive coupling mechanisms, such as a hierarchical pulley system or seesaw mechanism, will enable
Liquidity, Sentiment and Segmentation: A Survey of Closed-End Fund Literature

Closed-end funds have been a topic of lively debate for several decades. In this paper I focus on studies relating to liquidity, sentiment and segmentation and, in particular, on studies that investigate closed-end country funds. I extend the previous survey by Dimson & Minio-Kozerski (1999) by adding in more recent contributions to the closed-end fund debate; and by including more of a discussion of sentiment, segmentation and country funds I complement the recent survey by Cherkes (2012). In addition I provide summaries of over 40 key papers in these areas, listing the sample and sample period, the theory examined and the findings of each paper.
Can corporate management tools be successfully applied in public administration – A German-based case study

A permanent challenge for public sector organizations is to become more economically, effective and efficient to cope with the increasing complexity of tasks and disproportional resources. But the environment is permanently changing; instruments and tools, which were once successful, are increasingly ineffective. The public sector has distinctive origins and objectives, for example to provide public goods or to fulfil mandatory tasks. The current financial situation forces scholars and public managers to develop or adapt instruments to cope with increasing responsibilities coupled with scarce resources. Inspired by the incentives of New Public Management, public managers have been trying for the past three decades to convert private sector tools for application in the public sector. But the necessary adaption and application proceed slowly. In pursuit of reasons and arguments for the delay, this conceptual paper considers the necessary conversion of private sector management tools for appropriate fitting in public administration. The focus is directed to the possible boundaries and limits for application of private sector management tools. By comparing both public and private sectors using current analyses of public sector specialists and results of a field research, a separating line between the two will be drawn, but we will also detect convergences in using management tools. As a result, the combination of differentiation by Wilson, the separation by Taylor, and the bureaucratic style by Weber have to be modernized for the use of new tools. This distinction is based on representative cases and specific borrowings in Germany, describing fundamental tasks, but the results can be transferred to most local public administrations in the industrial nations.
Virtual Anti-racism: Pleasure, Catharsis, and Hope in Mafia III and Watch Dogs 2

This essay examines the representation and consumption of Mafia III and Watch Dogs 2 as a site of catharsis, pleasure, and empowerment. Through not only its representation of white supremacy but its rendering of intervention and transformation as violence, Mafia III and Watch Dogs 2 offer a powerful inscription of gratification. In other words, offering both a space of oppositional gaze and a virtual reality invested in challenging gaze based in violence, Mafia III and Watch Dogs 2 reimagine the conventions of both video games and violence.
Treatment of Cherubism with Salmon Calcitonin: A Case Report

Cherubism is a familial disease of the jaws which is inherited via autosomal dominant manner. Typical features of cherubism include a painless bilateral, symmetrical enlargement of the jaws, misalignment of teeth, and intra-osseous central giant cell granuloma-like lesions, which are usually evident in early childhood. Treatment of cherubism consists of local curettage of the lesions, jaw contouring, intralesional steroid injections, and systemic calcitonin administration as well. Calcitonin therapy for central giant cell granuloma of the jaws is well documented, and favorable results have been achieved. However, fewer reports have been presented in regard to calcitonin administration for cherubism. In the present report, a 14-year-old boy with cherubism who had intra-osseous cherubic lesions in his mandible was treated with an administration of 200 IU systemic calcitonin every other day via his nasal passage for duration of more than two years. After 30 months of calcitonin therapy, the lesions in the mandible were significantly regressed, and calcitonin application was ceased. Despite some drawbacks, such as unpredictable efficient absorption and patient tolerability, nasal administration is the easiest way to use calcitonin therapy on children. In this report, every-other-day applications of calcitonin increased patient tolerability and might be considered as an effective treatment for mild cherubic lesions.
Automatic Image Grading Based on Skin Segmentation

This paper proposes an automatic image grading method, which classifies an image into three levels, i.e., Normal, Revealing Attire and Nude. First, a novel region based skin detection method, which incorporates the clues of color, shape, texture and neighborhood, is used to get the skin regions. Then a normalized mask is generated from the skin region image according to the scale and location of the face. Global and spatial features extracted based on this mask are used as the input of SVM to give the grade of an image. Besides, because false classifications of images with different grades have quite different affections, a cost-matrix is defined and the MetaCost method is used to get the minimum-risk results. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our method.
ERK5 negatively regulates tobacco smoke-induced pulmonary epithelial–mesenchymal transition

As the primary cause of lung cancer, tobacco smoke (TS) promotes the initiation and progression of lung tumorigenesis. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a crucial process involved in cell malignant transformation. The role of ERK5, the lesser studied member of MAPKs family, in regulating TS-triggered pulmonary EMT has not been investigated. Normal human bronchial epithelial cells and BALB/c mice were used as in vitro and in vivo TS exposure models. Exposure of normal human bronchial epithelial cells to TS for 7 days induced morphological change, enhanced migratory and invasive capacities, reduced epithelial marker expression and increased mesenchymal marker expression. Importantly, we demonstrated for the first time that ERK5 negatively regulated TS-mediated lung epithelial EMT, as evidenced by the findings that TS suppressed ERK5 activation, and that TS-triggered EMT was mimicked with ERK5 inhibition and reversed by ERK5 overexpression. The negative regulation of ERK5 on pulmonary EMT was further confirmed in mice exposed to TS for 12 weeks. Taken together, our data suggest that ERK5 negatively regulates TS-mediated pulmonary EMT. These findings provide new insight into the molecular mechanisms of TS-associated lung tumorigenesis and may open up new avenues in the search for potential target of lung cancer intervention.
Interdisciplinary research for managing ecosystem services

Like all good assessments, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) provided a state-of-the-art summary of relevant knowledge, in this case, of the state and trends of the world's ecosystems. The MA went further by developing a novel framework for analyzing the fundamental relationship between the well-being of human societies and the ecosystem services on which we depend (1). In this issue of PNAS Carpenter et al. (2) build on the innovative nature of the MA even further by proposing an impressive research agenda that challenges a very broad range of disciplines to build a new type of knowledge base oriented around social–ecological systems and the services they derive from the ecosystems in which they are embedded.
The use of acoustics in space exploration

In recent years increased attention has been paid to the potential uses of acoustics for extraterrestrial exploration. The extent to which acoustics per se is used in these studies varies greatly. First, there are the cases in which acoustics is simply the medium through which some other time-varying non-acoustic signal (such as the output of a cosmic ray detector) is communicated to humans. Second, perturbations in a non-acoustic signal (e.g. EM) are interpreted through mechanisms relating to acoustic perturbations in the source material itself. Third, some probes have made direct measurements of acoustic signals which have been generated by the probe itself, as is done for example to infer the local atmospheric sound speed from the time-of-flight of an acoustic pulses over a short distance (O(10 cm)). Fourth, some studies have discussed ways of interpreting the natural acoustic signals generated by the extraterrestrial environment itself. The report discusses these cases and the limitations, implications and opportunities for extraterrestrial exploration using acoustics.
REVUE DES MODLES D'OPTIONS ET DES TESTS SUR LES BONS

Résumé. Lauteur revoit, avec pédagogie, les principaux acquis sur les options et les bons de souscription dactions. Il en présente les modèles dévaluation concurrents et juge de leur performance. Il montre concrètement les sensibilités paramétriques du modèle classique selon le degré denjeu des options. Il ajoute des exemples chiffrés dévaluation de bons vus comme options de type européen ou américain. Via une comparaison des tests connus sur les bons, il lui apparaît que les modèles plus raffinés réduisent lerreur destimation, en particulier pour les bons très hors jeu, à vie longue et à dilution potentielle élevée. Toutefois, il reconnaît que leur application exige un surcroît deffort et demeure problématique. Il lui semble donc que les classiques de Black et Scholes (1973) et de Merton (1973) savèrent, tout compte fait, les plus utiles pour lévaluation des bons.
The Use of an Early Alert System to Improve Compliance with Sepsis Bundles and to Assess Impact on Mortality

Introduction. Diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines, organized as sepsis bundles, have been shown to improve mortality, but timely and consistent implementation of these can be challenging. Our study examined the use of a screening tool and an early alert system to improve bundle compliance and mortality. Methods. A screening tool was used to identify patients with severe sepsis or septic shock and an overhead alert system known as Code SMART (Sepsis Management Alert Response Team) was activated at the physician's discretion. Data was collected for 6 months and compliance with bundle completion and mortality were compared between the Code SMART and non-Code SMART groups. Results. Fifty eight patients were enrolled −34 Code SMART and 24 non-Code SMART. The Code SMART group achieved greater compliance with timely antibiotic administration (P < 0.001), lactate draw (P < 0.001), and steroid use (P = 0.02). Raw survival and survival adjusted for age, leucopenia, and severity of illness scores, were greater in the Code SMART group (P < 0.05, P = 0.03, and P = 0.01). Conclusions. A screening tool and an alert system can improve compliance with sepsis bundle elements and improve survival from severe sepsis and septic shock.
The Impacts of Fertilization on Mycorrhizal Production and Investment in Western Gulf Coast Grasslands

Abstract Mycorrhizal fungi are ubiquitous components of terrestrial ecosystems that can influence plant performance, abundance and diversity. Patterns of allocation to specific mycorrhizal fungal structures could provide a useful context for understanding belowground dynamics in response to changing resources. Specifically, increased soil nutrient availability has been predicted to favor plants with lower rates of mycorrhizal association. In addition, fertilization has been predicted to favor mycorrhizae with higher investment in storage structures relative to uptake and exchange structures. A 3 y field experiment was conducted in coastal tallgrass prairie to examine how fertilization affects mycorrhizal abundance and investment patterns. Fertilization significantly increased total mycorrhizal abundance. Specifically, mycorrhizal investment in hyphae, coils and vesicles were significantly increased 53%, 252% and 440% in fertilized plots, respectively. Together these results suggest that mycorrhizae in high fertility soils allocate more to internal fungal storage at a potential cost to plant hosts. Thus, fertilization could have important indirect effects on the aboveground plant community by potentially altering the costs and benefits of mycorrhizae to host plants.
New Flap-Legged Forest Gecko (Genus Luperosaurus) from the Northern Philippines

Abstract We describe a new species of Luperosaurus from the Luzon faunal region, northern Philippines. The new species is most similar to, and has long been confused with, Luperosaurus cumingii from Luzon Island but differs from this and all other Luperosaurus by numerous characters of scalation, color pattern, and a suite of variables related to its small body size. The new species has been recorded at four localities along the eastern seaboard of Luzon and on Camiguin Norte, a small island just northeast of Luzon; it may also occur on Polillo and Lubang Islands. Data from our recent survey work suggest that some Luperosaurus species may be adapted to low elevation, coastal forest and that these species may now be encountered rarely now because this habitat type is so severely imperiled by centuries of deforestation and near complete development of virtually all Philippine coastlines.
Labor Market Effects of Social Programs: Evidence from India's Employment Guarantee

We estimate the effect of a large rural workfare program in India on private employment and wages by comparing trends in districts that received the program earlier relative to those that received it later. Our results suggest that public sector hiring crowded out private sector work and increased private sector wages. We compute the implied welfare gains of the program by consumption quintile. Our calculations show that the welfare gains to the poor from the equilibrium increase in private sector wages are large in absolute terms and large relative to the gains received solely by program participants. (JEL I38, J31, J45, J68, O15)
A review of the melt blown process

The melt blown process produces a fine fiber, small pore size, nonwoven web directly from polymer chips. The web is formed entirely of a given polymer without the need of added binders, finishes or thermal bonding of the fibers. A variety of additives can be put in with the polymer to affect the end properties of the web: similar to any other extrusion based process. The web can undergo further processing such as calendering to produce finer pore sizes. These webs have been found to be useful as a battery separator, especially in alkaline chemistries. This paper gives a general review of the process.
A study of language usage evolution in open source software

The use of programming languages such as Java and C in Open Source Software (OSS) has been well studied. However, many other popular languages such as XSL or XML have received minor attention. In this paper, we discuss some trends in OSS development that we observed when considering multiple programming language evolution of OSS. Based on the revision data of 22 OSS projects, we tracked the evolution of language usage and other artefacts such as documentation files, binaries and graphics files. In these systems several different languages and artefact types including C/C++, Java, XML, XSL, Makefile, Groovy, HTML, Shell scripts, CSS, Graphics files, JavaScript, JSP, Ruby, Phyton, XQuery, OpenDocument files, PHP, etc. have been used. We found that the amount of code written in different languages differs substantially. Some of our findings can be summarized as follows: (1) JavaScript and CSS files most often co-evolve with XSL; (2) Most Java developers but only every second C/C++ developer work with XML; (3) and more generally, we observed a significant increase of usage of XML and XSL during recent years and found that Java or C are hardly ever the only language used by a developer. In fact, a developer works with more than 5 different artefact types (or 4 different languages) in a project on average.
Targeting impulsive processes of eating behavior via the internet

Objective. Palatable food, such as sweets, contains properties that automatically trigger the impulse to consume it even when people have goals or intentions to refrain from consuming such food. We compared the effectiveness of two interventions in reducing the portion size of palatable food that people select for themselves. Specifically, the use of dieting implementation intentions that reduce behaviour towards palatable food via top-down implementation of a dieting goal was pitted against a stop-signal training that changes the impulse-evoking quality of palatable food from bottom-up. Design. We compared the two interventions using a 2 x 2 factorial design. Methods. Participants completed a stop-signal training in which they learned to withhold a behavioural response upon presentation of tempting sweets (vs. control condition) and formed implementation intentions to diet (vs. control condition). Selected portion size was measured in a sweet-shop-like environment (Experiment 1) and through a computerized snack dispenser (Experiment 2). Results. Both interventions reduced the amount of sweets selected in the sweet shop environment (Experiment 1) and the snack dispenser (Experiment 2). On average, participants receiving an intervention selected 36% (Experiment 1) and 51% (Experiment 2) fewer sweets than control participants. In both studies, combining the interventions did not lead to additive effects: Employing one of the interventions appears to successfully eliminate instrumental behaviour towards tempting food, making the other intervention redundant. Conclusions. Both interventions reduce self-selected portion size, which is considered a major contributor to the current obesity epidemic.
Recent advances in closure of atrial septal defects and patent foramen ovale

Transcatheter closure of secundum atrial septal defect (ASD) and patent foramen ovale (PFO) is now widely accepted as an alternative to surgical closure. With currently available devices and techniques, approximately 80-90% of secundum ASDs and all PFOs can be closed percutaneously. While many devices are available, the use of any particular device is dictated largely by individual defect anatomy, device availability, long-term considerations, approval status (US Food and Drug Administration approval versus CE mark), and physician preference.
Using Landscape Genetics Simulations for Planting Blister Rust Resistant Whitebark Pine in the US Northern Rocky Mountains

Recent population declines to the high elevation western North America foundation species whitebark pine, have been driven by the synergistic effects of the invasive blister rust pathogen, mountain pine beetle (MPB), fire exclusion, and climate change. This has led to consideration for listing whitebark pine (WBP) as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, which has intensified interest in developing management strategies for maintaining and restoring the species. An important, but poorly studied, aspect of WBP restoration is the spatial variation in adaptive genetic variation and the potential of blister rust resistant strains to maintain viable populations in the future. Here, we present a simulation modeling framework to improve understanding of the long-term genetic consequences of the blister rust pathogen, the evolution of rust resistance, and scenarios of planting rust resistant genotypes of whitebark pine. We combine climate niche modeling and eco-evolutionary landscape genetics modeling to evaluate the effects of different scenarios of planting rust-resistant genotypes and impacts of wind field direction on patterns of gene flow. Planting scenarios showed different levels for local extirpation of WBP and increased population-wide blister rust resistance, suggesting that the spatial arrangement and choice of planting locations can greatly affect survival rates of whitebark pine. This study presents a preliminary, but potentially important, framework for facilitating the conservation of whitebark pine.
Memory tagging in Charm++

Many scientific applications are logically decomposed into modules. each module performing a different type of computation. These modules are then linked together inside the same executable. While these modules are logically independent, they are not physically independent: a faulty module can corrupt the state of another one. By identifying the different modules inside an application, tagging the memory according to the different modules, and performing extra runtime checks, we can automatically detect certain type of errors. We implemented our idea inside the Charm++ runtime system, where modules can be easily identified. We illustrate the validity of our approach, and evaluate its overhead.