Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combining Generic Judgments with Recursive Definitions

Many semantical aspects of programming languages, such as their operational semantics and their type assignment calculi, are specified by describing appropriate proof systems. Recent research has identified two proof-theoretic features that allow direct, logic-based reasoning about such descriptions: the treatment of atomic judgments as fixed points (recursive definitions) and an encoding of binding constructs via generic judgments. However, the logics encompassing these two features have thus far treated them orthogonally: that is, they do not provide the ability to define object-logic properties that themselves depend on an intrinsic treatment of binding. We propose a new and simple integration of these features within an intuitionistic logic enhanced with induction over natural numbers and we show that the resulting logic is consistent. The pivotal benefit of the integration is that it allows recursive definitions to not just encode simple, traditional forms of atomic judgments but also to capture generic properties pertaining to such judgments. The usefulness of this logic is illustrated by showing how it can provide elegant treatments of object-logic contexts that appear in proofs involving typing calculi and of arbitrarily cascading substitutions that play a role in reducibility arguments.
Early Lapita skeletons from Vanuatu show Polynesian craniofacial shape: Implications for Remote Oceanic settlement and Lapita origins

Significance The question of the origin of Pacific Islanders has exercised scientists since the first explorers’ voyages of the 16th century. Physical resemblance between Polynesians and Asian populations was detected, but in between were the islands of Melanesia, inhabited largely by people of different phenotype. However, the Lapita culture bridged this geographical divide 3,000 y ago. Morphological studies of early Lapita colonists from Teouma, Vanuatu align them with present-day Polynesian and Asian populations, whereas skeletal remains of later generations show a more Melanesian phenotype predominating. We suggest that migration streams from already-inhabited parts of Melanesia dating from the late-Lapita phase ultimately dominated the original Polynesian phenotype in eastern Melanesia, but not in Polynesia, which became relatively isolated soon after initial settlement. With a cultural and linguistic origin in Island Southeast Asia the Lapita expansion is thought to have led ultimately to the Polynesian settlement of the east Polynesian region after a time of mixing/integration in north Melanesia and a nearly 2,000-y pause in West Polynesia. One of the major achievements of recent Lapita research in Vanuatu has been the discovery of the oldest cemetery found so far in the Pacific at Teouma on the south coast of Efate Island, opening up new prospects for the biological definition of the early settlers of the archipelago and of Remote Oceania in general. Using craniometric evidence from the skeletons in conjunction with archaeological data, we discuss here four debated issues: the Lapita–Asian connection, the degree of admixture, the Lapita–Polynesian connection, and the question of secondary population movement into Remote Oceania.
Water Absorption Behavior and Its Influence on Properties of GRP Pipe

With the rapid development of glass-fiber reinforced plastic (GRP) pipes in civil infrastructure under different environments, it is essential to understand the fundamental mechanisms responsible for the pipe failure. However, research reports on water absorption behavior and its influence on the performance of GRP pipe are few in the literatures. This study provides test results of water diffusion in a GRP pipe wall and its influence on the properties of the pipe. When the environment is water, it attacks each component of the GRP pipe. In this study, the water absorption behavior of three different types of GRP pipe is recorded. One of them (UP-A pipe) presents near-Fickian behavior, the other two types of pipe behave like a two-stage diffusion. A model developed from Fick's law is used to predict the water diffusion process for the three pipes. The prediction agrees well with the experimental data for the UP-A specimen, while the same cannot be transferred to EP-A and UP-B specimens because of the abnormal non-Fickian process. The influence of moisture on flexural properties, interlaminar shear strength, and viscoelastic properties of a GRP pipe is also discussed.
Visual analysis of fingering for pedagogical violin transcription

Automatic music transcription, in spite of decades of research, remains a challenging research problem. The traditional audio-only approach has yet to achieve a satisfactory performance for any computer-aided pedagogical system. Inspired by the high correlation between violin playing techniques (fingering, bowing) and the played acoustic notes, this paper presents a first attempt in visual analysis of violin fingering to compensate for the difficulties in audio-only music transcription. This is achieved by a robust multiple finger tracking algorithm and a string detection method that extract press, release, and fingertip position from the fingering video and automatically translate the fingering information into the played acoustic note, i.e., onset, offset, and pitches. Experimental results reveal high correctness in multiple finger tracking and string detection, thus paving the way for an improved audio-visual violin transcription system.
Haemodynamic effects from aortocaval compression at different angles of lateral tilt in non-labouring term pregnant women.

BACKGROUND Aortocaval compression (ACC) can result in haemodynamic disturbances and uteroplacental hypoperfusion in parturients. Its detection is difficult because in most patients, sympathetic compensation results in no signs or symptoms. However, profound hypotension may develop after sympathectomy during regional anaesthesia. In this prospective observational study, we aimed to detect ACC by analysing haemodynamic changes in term parturients who were positioned sequentially at different angles of lateral tilt. METHODS We studied haemodynamic changes in 157 non-labouring term parturients who were positioned in random order at 0°, 7.5°, 15°, and full left lateral tilt. Cardiac output (CO), stroke volume, and systemic vascular resistance were derived using suprasternal Doppler. Non-invasive arterial pressure (AP) measured in the upper and lower limbs was analysed to detect aortic compression. RESULTS CO was on average 5% higher when patients were tilted at ≥15° compared with <15°. In a subgroup of patients (n=11), CO decreased by more than 20%, without changes in systolic AP, when they were tilted to <15° which was considered attributable to severe inferior vena caval compression. Only one patient in the supine position had aortic compression with the systolic AP in the upper limb 25 mm Hg higher than the lower limb. CONCLUSIONS Patients with ACC can be identified by the CO changes from serial measurements between supine, 15°, or full lateral tilt. Our findings suggest that in non-labouring parturients, ACC is asymptomatic and can be effectively minimized by the use of a left lateral tilt of 15° or greater.
Two Time-Scale Tracking Control of Nonholonomic Wheeled Mobile Robots

In this paper, a practical control law is proposed for wheeled mobile robots in order to both improve the transient performance and repress the tracking errors. In particular, a two time-scale filtering technique, which can derive a fast variable to compensate for the disturbance, is applied during the carbot's moving process. The nominal system is governed using a controller derived under the back-stepping framework. Such a design can effectively realize the system's tracking objective and enhance robustness via properly configured parameters. In the meantime, a two time-scale filter is applied to the system function to estimate the disturbances, essentially improving the system's precision. By virtue of this innovative technique, the final performance of the system is satisfactory in terms of both transient response and tracking error rejection. A previous sliding mode based control law is compared with the propounded one with respect to transient behavior and steady-state errors, and two types of disturbances, respectively the constant and sinusoid are simulated to verify the filter's effectiveness. Since, from the results, there is significant improvement in both transient and steady-state performance, the proposed method is confirmed to be practical for tracking control of the wheeled mobile robots.
Collaborative Interaction Analysis: The Teachers&#146; Perspective

Collaborative interaction analysis involves quantitative and qualitative techniques of coding and interpreting recorded group activities, mostly used by researchers of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL). These techniques are usually tedious and necessitate specialized knowledge, so they are not suitable for everyday class practice. A hypothesis investigated in this paper is that such methods in a simplified version, if supported by adequate tools may be useful in design, implementation and evaluation of collaborative activities by teachers. The Synergo interaction analysis tool is proposed for such use and an example of collaborative problem solving activity analysis by teachers during a collaborative activity is discussed as evidence of the effectiveness of this proposal
Giant intrathoracic mycotic aneurysm of left subclavian artery

Fungal infections are serious and important cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Angioinvasive aspergillosis causing mycotic aneurysm of major blood vessels is very rare and only a few cases are reported in literature. We hereby report one case of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia presenting with this fatal complication.
Anterior approaches to fusion of the cervical spine: a metaanalysis of fusion rates.

OBJECT Anterior cervical discectomy (ACD), ACD with interbody fusion (ACDF), ACDF with placement of an anterior plate system (ACDFP), corpectomy, and corpectomy with plate placement are used to fuse the cervical spine. The authors conducted a metaanalysis of studies published after 1990 in which fusion rates achieved with each procedure were reported for patients with degenerative disease at one, two, and three disc levels. METHODS Twenty-one papers each included data on at least 25 patients. In each of the 21 studies the average clinical follow up was more than 12 months, and the results were evaluated according to radiographic evidence of fusion and delineated by the number of levels fused. Chi-square and Fisher exact tests were used for comparisons. The mean age of the patients was 46.7 years, 46.6% were female, and the mean follow-up period was 39.6 months. The studies included 2682 patients and the overall fusion rate was 89.5%. For single disc-level disease, fusion rates were 84.9% for ACD, 92.1% for ACDF, and 97.1% for ACDFP (p = 0.0002). For two disc-level disease, fusion rates were 79.9% for ACDF, 94.6% for ACDFP, 95.9% for corpectomy, and 92.9% for corpectomy with plate placement (p = 0.0001). For three disc-level disease, fusion rates were 65.0% for ACDF, 82.5% for ACDFP, 89.8% for corpectomy, and 96.2% for corpectomy with plate placement (p = 0.0001). The use of anterior plates significantly improved fusion for one-level (p < 0.0001), two-level (p < 0.0001), and three-level (p < 0.05) ACDF. There was no significant difference in fusion rates between two-level ACDF and corpectomy with plate placement. CONCLUSIONS The anticipated fusion rate is one of several factors that may guide surgical decision making. Anterior cervical decompression and fusion results in high fusion rates. The results of the authors' study show that regardless of the number of levels fused, the use of an anterior cervical plate system significantly increases the fusion rate. For two-disc-level disease, there was no significant difference between ACD with a plate system or corpectomy with a plate system. For three-disc-level disease, however, the evidence suggests that corpectomy with plate placement is associated with higher fusion rates than discectomy with plate placement.
A Survey of Adaptive Layered Video Multicast using MPEG-2 Streams August

Adaptive Layered Video Multicast is a combination of layered video encoding and layered multicast. The layered video encoding method encodes (or transcodes) a video stream into multiple layers of data. With the layered multicast mechanism, these layers are transmitted over the network, automatically adapting to changes in the available channel resources, such as bandwidth, latency, or error rate. We present an overview over this technology, and some possible methods of using a pre-existing MPEG-2 bitstream with this transmission scheme. These methods do not require to fully decode and re-encode the bitstream, which results in considerably faster and less resource-intensive processing.
Association of the Astrovirus Structural Protein VP90 with Membranes Plays a Role in Virus Morphogenesis

ABSTRACT VP90, the capsid polyprotein precursor of human astrovirus Yuc8, is assembled into viral particles, and its processing at the carboxy terminus by cellular caspases, to yield VP70, has been correlated with the cell release of the virus. Here, we characterized the effect of the VP90-VP70 processing on the properties of these proteins, as well as on their intracellular distribution. VP90 was found in membrane-enriched fractions (mVP90), as well as in fractions enriched in cytosolic proteins (cVP90), while VP70 was found exclusively in the latter fractions. Upon trypsin activation, infectivity was detected in all VP90-containing fractions, confirming that both mVP90 and cVP90 are able to assemble into particles; however, the two forms of VP90 showed differential sensitivities to trypsin, especially at their carboxy termini, which in the case of mVP90 was shown to remain membrane associated after protease digestion. Structural protein oligomers were detected in purified VP70-containing viruses, as well as in membrane-enriched fractions, but they were less evident in cytosolic fractions. Ultrastructural studies of infected cells revealed different types of viral particles, some of which appeared to be associated with membranes. By immunoelectron microscopy, structural proteins were shown to form virus particles in clusters and to associate with the edges of vesicles induced during infection, which also appear to contain subviral particles inside. Nonstructural proteins and viral RNA colocalized with mVP90, but not with cVP90, suggesting that mVP90 might represent the form of the protein that is initially assembled into particles, at the sites where the virus genome is being replicated.
Variational Bayesian algorithm for distributed compressive sensing

Distributed compressive sensing (DCS) concerns the reconstruction of multiple sensor signals with reduced numbers of measurements, which exploits both intra- and inter-signal correlations. In this paper, we propose a novel Bayesian DCS algorithm based on variational Bayesian inference. The proposed algorithm decouples the common component, that characterizes inter-signal correlation, from innovation components, that represent intra-signal correlation. Such an operation results in a computational complexity of reconstruction which is linear with the number of signals. The superior performance of the algorithm, in terms of the computing time and reconstruction quality, is demonstrated by numerical simulations in comparison with other existing reconstruction methods.
Smoking vs other risk factors as the cause of smoking-attributable deaths: confounding in the courtroom.

CONTEXT The surgeon general estimates that more than 400,000 deaths are attributable to smoking annually in the United States. The tobacco industry has criticized the surgeon general's estimates because they do not control for the lower educational and socioeconomic status of modern-day smokers. OBJECTIVE To determine whether controlling for education, occupation, race, alcohol consumption, and various dietary factors, in addition to age and sex, substantially alters the relative and attributable risk estimates associated with tobacco smoking. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Nationwide American Cancer Society prospective cohort study of 974, 150 US adults aged 30 years or older, enrolled in 1982 and followed up through 1988. (The same study is used for the surgeon general and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] estimates of smoking-attributable deaths in the United States.) MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Death from each of the chronic diseases considered in the CDC's estimate of smoking-attributable mortality (cancers of the lung, oropharynx, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, kidney, bladder, and cervix; ischemic heart disease, arterial disease, and other heart conditions; stroke; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and other respiratory conditions). Estimates adjusted for multiple covariates were compared with those adjusted for age only among current and former vs never smokers. RESULTS Adjusting for multiple covariates slightly decreased the relative and attributable risk estimates for current smoking in both men and women, but slightly increased the estimates for former smoking in women. Multivariate adjustment decreased the overall estimate of deaths attributable to smoking in the United States by approximately 1%, from 401,109 to 396,741 per year. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that federal estimates of deaths caused by smoking are not substantially altered by adjustment for behavioral and demographic factors associated with smoking beyond the current adjustment for age and sex. JAMA. 2000;284:706-712
Formalisms for ontology validation

Ontology and its inferencing capabilities are critical for the modern semantic Web. Ontology validation is necessary due to the uncertainty of the description logic based inferences. Ontology validation should be independent of DL reasoners. To overcome this uncertainty of concepts and instances inference results, in this paper we describes some of the formal ontology validation methods based on the sequent logic and simple conceptual graphs.
A methodology for designing continuous-time sigma-delta modulators

A methodology for analysis and synthesis of lowpass sigma-delta (/spl Sigma//spl Delta/) converters is presented in this paper. This method permits to synthesize /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ modulators employing continuous-time filters from discrete-time topologies. The analysis method is based on the discretization of continuous-time model and using a discrete simulator which is more efficient than an analog simulator. Finally, a realistic design of a second-order /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ modulator with a compensation of the non ideal behavior of DAC is given. Moreover, simulation results show a good agreement with the theoretical bases.
Preoperative colonoscopy for patients with gastric adenocarcinoma

Background and Aim: In patients with gastric adenocarcinoma (GA), the most common double primary cancer is colorectal cancer. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the necessity of preoperative colonoscopy in patients with GA who have no symptoms of colorectal disease or any past/family history of colorectal cancer.
Scalability Analysis to Optimize a Network on Chip

New high performance architectures combining high and low level techniques are widely used today, and FPGA-based designs offer excellent platforms for this kind of systems. This paper describes the HIPAOC (HIgh Performance Architecture On Chip) system, a general purpose and reconfigurable high performance architecture implemented on a single FPGA. The proposed design can be configured to work as a shared memory system (multiprocessor) or as a distributed memory system (multicomputer or cluster). The selection of the interconnection network topology in this kind of system is a major design decision. Performance metrics are needed to guide the designer and the user in their decisions with quantitative information. This work proposes a scalability metric and a scalability analysis procedure to optimize the design of Networks on Chip.
Title : Protective effects of C-type natriuretic peptide on linear growth and articular cartilage integrity in an inflammatory arthritis mouse model . Short title : C-type natriuretic peptide protects cartilage during arthritis

cartilage integrity in an inflammatory arthritis mouse model. Short title: C-type natriuretic peptide protects cartilage during arthritis Hülya Bükülmez, MD. , Fozia Khan, PhD. , Cynthia F. Bartels, MS., Shunichi Murakami MD. , PhD. , Adriana Ortiz-Lopez, PhD. , Abdus Sattar, PhD. , Tariq M. Haqqi, PhD. , Matthew L. Warman, MD. Corresponding author: Hülya Bükülmez, MD, Skeletal Research Center, Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences and Pediatric Rheumatology, and Department of Pediatrics, MetroHealth Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, Address: Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Rheumatology, 2500 MetroHealth Drive, Cleveland, OH, 44106. Tel: 216-778-4284, Fax: 216-778-2857, e-mail: hxb38@case.edu, Supported by grants from the Arthritis National Research Foundation and from NIH/NIAMS K08 AR053943-01, and from NIH/NCCAM R01 AT 0036227; R01 AT 005520; and R21 AT 004026. Authors do not have any financial supports from commercial sources, thus no conflicts of interest. Full Length Arthritis & Rheumatism DOI 10.1002/art.38199
Distribution of biotypes and leukotoxic activity of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans isolated from Brazilian patients with chronic periodontitis

Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is an important etiologic agent of the periodontitis and is associated with extra-oral infections. In this study, the detection of the ltxA gene as well as the ltx promoter region from leukotoxic A. actinomycetemcomitans isolated from 50 Brazilian patients with periodontitis and 50 healthy subjects was performed. The leukotoxic activity on HL-60 cells was also evaluated. Leukotoxic activity was determined using a trypan blue exclusion method. The 530 bp deletion in the promoter region was evaluated by PCR using a PRO primer pair. A. actinomycetemcomitans was detected by culture and directly from crude subgingival biofilm by PCR using specific primers. By culture, A. actinomycetemcomitans was detected in nine (18%) of the periodontal patients and one (2%) healthy subject. However, by PCR, this organism was detected in 44% of the periodontal patients and in 16% of the healthy subjects. It was verified a great discrepancy between PCR detection of the ltx operon promoter directly from crude subgingival biofilm and from bacterial DNA. Only one periodontal sample harbored highly leukotoxic A. actinomycetemcomitans. Moreover, biotype II was the most prevalent and no correlation between biotypes and leukotoxic activity was observed. The diversity of leukotoxin expression by A. actinomycetemcomitans suggests a role of this toxin in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease and other infectious diseases.
Detection of Chlamydophila felis and Feline Herpesvirus by Multiplex Real-Time PCR Analysis

ABSTRACT Chlamydophila felis and feline herpesvirus (FHV) are pathogens commonly associated with feline respiratory and ocular disease. A real-time multiplex PCR assay was developed to allow detection of these organisms, together with feline 28S ribosomal DNA, in a single tube. Of 538 ocular swab samples tested, 123 were positive for FHV, 97 were positive for C. felis, and 16 were positive for both pathogens.