Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning Cooperative Games

This paper explores a PAC (probably approximately correct) learning model in cooperative games. Specifically, we are given m random samples of coalitions and their values, taken from some unknown cooperative game; can we predict the values of unseen coalitions? We study the PAC learnability of several well-known classes of cooperative games, such as network flow games, threshold task games, and induced subgraph games. We also establish a novel connection between PAC learnability and core stability: for games that are efficiently learnable, it is possible to find payoff divisions that are likely to be stable using a polynomial number of samples.
Accumulated Evidence on Fish Consumption and Coronary Heart Disease Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies

Background—Results from observational studies on fish consumption and coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality are inconsistent. Methods and Results—A meta-analysis of cohort studies was conducted to examine the association between fish intake and CHD mortality. Studies were included if they provided a relative risk (RR) and corresponding 95% CI for CHD mortality in relation to fish consumption and the frequency of fish intake. A database was developed on the basis of 11 eligible studies and 13 cohorts, including 222 364 individuals with an average 11.8 years of follow-up. Pooled RR and 95% CI for CHD mortality were calculated by using both fixed-effect and random-effect models. A linear regression analysis of the log RR weighted by the inverse of variance was performed to assess the possible dose-response relation. Compared with those who never consumed fish or ate fish less than once per month, individuals with a higher intake of fish had lower CHD mortality. The pooled multivariate RRs for CHD mortality were 0.89 (95% CI, 0.79 to 1.01) for fish intake 1 to 3 times per month, 0.85 (95% CI, 0.76 to 0.96) for once per week, 0.77 (95% CI, 0.66 to 0.89) for 2 to 4 times per week, and 0.62 (95% CI, 0.46 to 0.82) for 5 or more times per week. Each 20-g/d increase in fish intake was related to a 7% lower risk of CHD mortality (P for trend=0.03). Conclusions—These results indicate that fish consumption is inversely associated with fatal CHD. Mortality from CHD may be reduced by eating fish once per week or more.
Wound Infections in Aesthetic Abdominoplasties: The Role of Smoking

Background: In this prospective study, the authors followed patients who underwent aesthetic abdominoplasty to determine the influence of smoking on the occurrence of postoperative wound infections. Methods: Patients who underwent aesthetic abdominoplasty were considered eligible for the study. The authors excluded postbariatric patients, those with ongoing clinical infections, those receiving a recent antibiotic course, and those with systemic diseases such as arteriosclerosis and diabetes mellitus. Smokers were advised to quit smoking at least 4 weeks before surgery. Results: Starting in February of 2004, the authors enrolled 84 patients. Postoperative infections were present in 13 patients (15.5 percent) and were superficial in 10 (77 percent). All but one occurred in smokers. These had a certain number of cigarettes smoked per day, years of smoking, and higher estimated overall number of smoked cigarettes when postoperative infections were present. The relative risk of smoking on infections was 12. A cutoff value of approximately 33,000 overall cigarettes smoked determined 3.3 percent false-positive and 0 percent false-negative rates. Conclusions: Smoking is an important issue in aesthetic surgery that needs to be accurately addressed during the preoperative interview. In the future, the analysis of smoke-related, easy-to-gather variables such as the estimated overall number of cigarettes smoked until surgery could help stratify patients according to their risk of manifesting infections.
Control of cutaneous blood flow by central nervous system

Hairless skin acts as a heat exchanger between body and environment, and thus greatly contributes to body temperature regulation by changing blood flow to the skin (cutaneous) vascular bed during physiological responses such as cold- or warm-defense and fever. Cutaneous blood flow is also affected by alerting state; we ‘go pale with fright’. The rabbit ear pinna and the rat tail have hairless skin, and thus provide animal models for investigating central pathway regulating blood flow to cutaneous vascular beds. Cutaneous blood flow is controlled by the centrally regulated sympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic premotor neurons in the medullary raphé in the lower brain stem are labeled at early stage after injection of trans-synaptic viral tracer into skin wall of the rat tail. Inactivation of these neurons abolishes cutaneous vasomotor changes evoked as part of thermoregulatory, febrile or psychological responses, indicating that the medullary raphé is a common final pathway to cutaneous sympathetic outflow, receiving neural inputs from upstream nuclei such as the preoptic area, hypothalamic nuclei and the midbrain. Summarizing evidences from rats and rabbits studies in the last 2 decades, we will review our current understanding of the central pathways mediating cutaneous vasomotor control.
Analysis of muscular activity in archery: a comparison of skill level.

BACKGROUND A series of archery shooting movements requires strong activity of muscles attached to the shoulder girdle and upper extremity. It is unclear which muscles influence archery competition scores. This study aimed to compare muscle activity of the shoulder girdle and upper extremity during shooting movements and to analyze the muscles influencing in archery skill improvement. METHODS Thirty male archers, who were divided into three groups based on skill level (elite, pre-elite, and beginner), were included in this study. The angle of shoulder joint abduction, horizontal extension, and elbow joint flexion, as well as the electromyographic activity of the upper trapezius, lower trapezius, deltoid middle, deltoid posterior, biceps brachii, and triceps brachii muscles at the point of stabilization during shooting, were measured. RESULTS In the elite group, the activity of the lower trapezius muscle was significantly higher (P<0.05), while that of the biceps brachii and triceps brachii muscles were significantly lower (P<0.05) compared to the pre-elite and beginner groups. CONCLUSIONS The lower trapezius muscle of the draw arm is actively involved in scapular fixation during shooting. Therefore, in order to improve the archery competition score, training focused on the lower trapezius muscle is necessary.
Deadlock Prevention Based on Structure Reuse of Petri Net Supervisors for Flexible Manufacturing Systems

Deadlocks are an undesirable situation in automated flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). Their occurrences often deteriorate the utilization of resources and may lead to catastrophic results. Finding an optimal supervisor is NP-hard. A computationally efficient method often ends up with a suboptimal one. This paper develops a deadlock prevention method that makes a good tradeoff between optimality and computational tractability for a class of Petri nets, which can model many FMS. The theory of regions guides our efforts toward the development of near-optimal solutions for deadlock prevention. Given a plant net, a minimal initial marking is first decided by structural analysis, and an optimal live controlled system is computed. Then, a set of inequality constraints is derived with respect to the markings of monitors and the places in the model such that no siphon can be insufficiently marked. A method is proposed to identify the redundancy condition for constraints. For a new initial marking of the plant net, a deadlock-free controlled system can be obtained by regulating the markings of the monitors such that the inequality constraints are satisfied, without changing the structure of the controlled system. The near-optimal performance of a controlled net system via the proposed method is shown through several examples.
Vertical Handoff Decision Scheme Using MADM for Wireless Networks

Wireless environment is expected to support heterogeneous wireless access technologies. The objective is the support of a diverse range of high-data rate multimedia services. The main issue in this environment is to provide a seamless vertical handoff mechanisms, which allow mobile users to handoff transparently from access technology to another. In this paper we propose a distributed handoff decision scheme to enhance service mobility using the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method in a distributed manner, under heterogeneous environments. Our main goal is to reduce the overload and power consumption in the mobile terminal, by delegating the calculation of handoff metrics for network selection to the Visiting Networks.
Scaling of energetic cost of running to body size in mammals.

TAYLOR, C. RICHARD, KNUT SCHMIDT-NIELSEN, AND JACOB L. RAAB, Scaling of energetic cost of running to body size in mammals. Am. J. Physiol. 219(4) : 1104-l 107. 1970. -The purpose of this study was to see if a convenient relationship could be found between the energetic cost of running and the body weight of mammals. We found that steady-state oxygen consumption of seven groups of mammals (21 g-18 kg) increased almost linearly with running speed. Oxygen consumption (M, ml 02 g-l hr-l) relative to running velocity (V, km hr-l) could be expressed by linear equations:
Pilot-assisted estimation of MIMO fading channel response and achievable data rates

We analyze the effects of pilot-assisted channel estimation on achievable data rates (lower bound on information capacity) over a frequency flat time-varying channel. Under a block-fading channel model, the effects of the estimation error are evaluated in the case of the estimates being available at the receiver only (open loop) and in the case when the estimates are fed back to the transmitter allowing water pouring transmitter optimization (closed loop). Using a characterization of the effective noise due to estimation error, we analyze the achievable rates as a function of the power allocated to the pilot, the channel coherence time, the background noise level, as well as the number of transmit and receive antennas. The analysis presented here can be used to optimally allocate pilot power for various system and channel operating conditions, and to also determine the effectiveness of closed loop feedback.
A Robust Watermarking Scheme Using Selective Curvelet Coefficients

In this paper, a digital watermarking algorithm used in the curvelet domain is proposed. Wrapping of specially selected Fourier samples is employed to implement fast discrete curvelet transforms (FDCT) to transform the digital image to the curvelet domain. Based on the capacity of the watermark and the impact of the variation of the curvelet coefficients, the proper positions to embed the watermark were chosen. The experimental results show that watermark is robust to most of the signal processing operations, including Common Image Processing Attacks like Histogram Equalization, Brighter Filter, Darker Filter, Increase Contrast, Decrease Contrast, Median Filtering, JPEG Compression attack, Gaussian Noise attack and Laplacian Filtering.
Relative Levels of mRNA Encoding Enamel Proteins in Enamel Organ Epithelia and Odontoblasts

Amelogenin, enamelin, sheathlin (ameloblastin/ amelin), enamelysin (MMP-20), and KLK4 (EMSP-1) are the major structural proteins and proteinases in developing tooth enamel. Recently, odontoblasts were reported to express amelogenin, the most abundant enamel protein. In this study, we hypothesized that odontoblasts express all enamel proteins and proteases, and we measured their relative mRNA levels in enamel organ epithelia and odontoblasts associated with porcine secretory- and maturation-stage enamel by RT-PCR, using a LightCycler instrument. The results showed that amelogenin mRNA in secretory-stage EOE is 320-fold higher than in odontoblasts beneath secretory-stage enamel, and over 20,000-fold higher than in odontoblasts under maturation-stage enamel. Similar results were obtained for enamelin and sheathlin. Enamelysin mRNA levels were equivalent in these two tissues, while KLK4 mRNA was higher in odontoblasts than in secretory-stage EOE. These results support the conclusion that odontoblasts are involved in the formation of the enamel layer adjacent to enamel-dentin junction.
Changes in poly(A) tail length of maternal transcripts during in vitro maturation of bovine oocytes and their relation with developmental competence

Molecules of mRNA are stored in the oocyte cytoplasm in order to be used during the initial phases of embryonic development. The storage takes place during oocyte growth and the extent of poly(A) tail at the 3′ end of the transcripts has emerged as an important regulatory element for determining their stability. The objective of the present study was to analyse changes in polyadenylation levels of mRNA transcripts, stored in bovine oocytes, during in vitro maturation and their possible relation with developmental competence. Oocyte developmental competence was predicted on the basis of the morphological appearance of their originating ovary as previously established (Gandolfi et al. 1997a. Theriogenology 48:1153–1160) and were divided into groups H (high competence) and L (low competence). The length of the poly(A) tail of the following genes, β‐actin (β‐Act), connexin 43, glucose transporter type 1, heat shock protein 70, oct‐4, plakophilin, pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphatase (PDP), and RNA poly(A) polymerase, was determined at the germinal vesicle (GV) and metaphase II (MII) stage. The results indicated that the poly(A) tail of all genes except for β‐Act and PDP, is shorter after in vitro maturation (IVM) in both groups. Moreover, group L oocytes showed a shorter poly(A) tail than group H oocytes in all genes except for β‐Act and PDP, both at GV and MII stage. We conclude that most of the examined transcripts follow the default deadenylation pattern described during oocyte maturation in other species and that a shorter poly(A) tail is correlated with low developmental competence. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 52:427–433, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Quantification of multiple waterborne pathogens in drinking water, drainage channels, and surface water in Kampala, Uganda, during seasonal variation

Longitudinal water quality monitoring is important for understanding seasonal variations in water quality, waterborne disease transmission, and future implications for climate change and public health. In this study, microfluidic quantitative polymerase chain reaction (MFQPCR) was used to quantify genes from pathogens commonly associated with human intestinal infections in water collected from protected springs, a public tap, drainage channels, and surface water in Kampala, Uganda, from November 2014 to May 2015. The differences in relative abundance of genes during the wet and dry seasons were also assessed. All water sources tested contained multiple genes from pathogenic microorganisms, with drainage channels and surface waters containing a higher abundance of genes as compared to protected spring and the public tap water. Genes detected represented the presence of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, Shigella spp. , Salmonella spp. , Vibrio cholerae, and enterovirus. There was an increased presence of pathogenic genes in drainage channels during the wet season when compared to the dry season. In contrast, surface water and drinking water sources contained little seasonal variation in the quantity of microbes assayed. These results suggest that individual water source types respond uniquely to seasonal variability and that human interaction with contaminated drainage waters, rather than direct ingestion of contaminated water, may be a more important contributor to waterborne disease transmission. Furthermore, future work in monitoring seasonal variations in water quality should focus on understanding the baseline influences of any one particular water source given their unique complexities.
Clinical Interventions in Aging Dovepress the Effect of Medical Illness Related Depression on Frailty in Elderly Subjects with Heart Failure

Dovepress 1409 L e t t e r open access to scientific and medical research Open Access Full text Article Dear editor We read the recently published and well-designed study of Uchmanowicz et al which suggests that multidimensional assessment of the frailty syndrome (FS) in subjects with heart failure (HF) is very important. 1 The authors investigated the association between the dimensions of FS and self-care ability in elderly chronic HF patients. Their findings indicate that only social components of frailty adversely affect the ability to self-care. Their study is especially important regarding two aspects. Firstly, there are limited studies regarding FS in elderly HF patients. Secondly, most commonly used frailty instruments focus on physical components of frailty and overlook psychological and social components. The Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) has the potential to detect psychological and social components of frailty. We have a few comments about this study. Firstly, although the TFI has a 4-item psychological domain, it is very important to perform a detailed assessment regarding depression in these subjects. Cardiac disease and arthritis are among the most common predisposing factors underlying medical illness related depression. 2 We wonder if the authors excluded subjects with minor or major depression, because they mentioned a general exclusion criterion of psychiatric disorders. Later life depression is different from younger onset depression in terms of symptoms. Somatic complaints and fatigue are more commonly seen in these subjects. It is also important because it may even complicate accurate functional classification of HF. Depression may be found to be very common when subjects with HF are screened for it. 3 In clinical practice, symptoms of depression are generally overlooked. Although the physical and social items of the TFI were responded to by almost all of the participants, this is not the case for most of the items (19–21) of the psychological component, in which the response rate seems to be rather low. We wonder how the authors interpret the lower response rate for these items and the potential effects of the lower response rate. Secondly, the authors did not find a significant correlation between New York Heart Association class and social components of TFI. Although social support would be especially important in subjects with New York Heart Association class IV HF, there are only two (1.82%) patients in this functional class in the study. Another point is that, we generally see patients with features of …
The Pull-Tab Transformation

We present a new approach to the execution of functional logic programs. Our approach relies on definitional trees for the deterministic portions of a computation and on a graph transformation, called pull-tab, for the non-deterministic portions. This transformation moves, one level at a time, non-deterministic choices towards the root of the graph representing the state of a computation. With respect to needbased strategies for functional logic computations, our approach executes only localized graph replacements, a property that characterizes it as “pay as you go” and makes it suitable for parallel execution.
The Protective Signaling of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 1 Is Mediated by Sustained, β-Arrestin-1-dependent ERK Phosphorylation*

Metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (mGlu1) is a G protein-coupled receptor that enhances the hydrolysis of membrane phosphoinositides. In addition to its role in synaptic transmission and plasticity, mGlu1 has been shown to be involved in neuroprotection and neurodegeneration. In this capacity, we have reported previously that in neuronal cells, mGlu1a exhibits the properties of a dependence receptor, inducing apoptosis in the absence of glutamate, while promoting neuronal survival in its presence (Pshenichkin, S., Dolińska, M., Klauzińska, M., Luchenko, V., Grajkowska, E., and Wroblewski, J. T. (2008) Neuropharmacology 55, 500–508). Here, using CHO cells expressing mGlu1a receptors, we show that the protective effect of glutamate does not rely on the classical mGlu1 signal transduction. Instead, mGlu1a protective signaling is mediated by a novel, G protein-independent, pathway which involves the activation of the MAPK pathway and a sustained phosphorylation of ERK, which is distinct from the G protein-mediated transient ERK phosphorylation. Moreover, the sustained phosphorylation of ERK and protective signaling through mGlu1a receptors require expression of β-arrestin-1, suggesting a possible role for receptor internalization in this process. Our data reveal the existence of a novel, noncanonical signaling pathway associated with mGlu1a receptors, which mediates glutamate-induced protective signaling.
Post-Paris: Taking Forward the Global Climate Change Deal

• The Paris Agreement, reached at COP21, was a triumph of diplomacy. The deal can be characterized as: flexible, combining a ‘hard’ legal shell and a ‘soft’ enforcement mechanism; inclusive, as it was adopted by all 196 parties to the UNFCCC and is therefore the first truly global climate deal; messy, as the bottom-up process of creating nationally determined contributions means the system is unstandardized; non-additive, as the contributions do not currently deliver the agreement’s stated long-term goal of keeping the rise in global average temperature to ‘well below 2̊ C’; and dynamic, as the deal establishes a ratchet mechanism that requires more ambitious contributions every five years.
Measuring technology effects on software change cost

We describe a methodology for precise quantitative measurement of technology impact on software change effort. The methodology employs measures of small software changes to determine the effect of technology. We illustrate this approach in a detailed case study on the impact of using two particular technologies — a version-sensitive source code editor and a domain-engineered application environment — in a telecommunications product. In both cases, the change effort was reduced. The methodology can precisely measure cost savings in change effort and is simple and inexpensive, since it relies on information automatically collected by version control systems.
VNode infrastucture enhancement — Deeply programmable network virtualization

We introduce the latest extended functions for the VNode infrastructure. We present new extended VNode infrastructure functions that achieve high performance and provide convenient deep programmability to network developers. In addition, we extend network virtualization from the core network to edge networks and terminals. We deploy an enhanced VNode infrastructure on the JGN-X testbed in evaluation experiments. We also succeeded to create international federation slice between GENI and Fed4FIRE.