Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficient Algorithms for p-Self-Protection Problem in Static Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks have been widely used in many surveillance applications. Due to the importance of sensor nodes in such applications, certain level of protection need to be provided to them. We study the self protection problem for static wireless sensor networks in this paper. Self protection problem focuses on using sensor nodes to provide protection to themselves instead of the target objects or certain target area, so that the sensor nodes can resist the attacks targeting on them directly. A wireless sensor network is p-self-protected, if at any moment, for any wireless sensor (active or non-active), there are at least p active sensors that can monitor it. The problem finding minimum p-self-protection is NP-complete, and no efficient self protection algorithms have been proposed. In this paper, we provide efficient centralized and distributed algorithms with constant approximation ratio for minimum p-self-protection problem in sensor networks with either homogeneous or heterogeneous sensing radius. In addition, we design efficient distributed algorithms to not only achieve p-self-protection but also maintain the connectivity of all active sensors. Our simulation confirms the performances of proposed algorithms.
The Relative Impact of Country of Origin and Universal Contingencies on Internationalization Strategies and Corporate Control in Multinational Enterprises: Worldwide and European Perspectives

We examine the importance of country-of-origin effects and of universal contingencies such as industrial recipes in organizational practices at the international level of multinational enterprises. This is based on a study comparing European (Finnish, French, German, Dutch, Swiss, Swedish, British), American and Japanese multinational enterprises. Although multinationals are highly internationalized by definition, our study shows their organizational control practices at the international level to be more than anything else explained by their country of origin. Universal contingencies such as size and industry, on the other hand, are more related to internationalization strategy. Internationalization strategy and organizational control are associated with different sets of variables; to this extent they appear more de-coupled with regard to each other than the literature suggests. Multinationals appear to follow tracks of coordination and control in which they have become embedded in their country of origin. Nationally specific institutions and culture have to be interpreted as particularistic but universally practicable facilitators of internationally competing organizational practices.
Decoupling from spoof surface plasmon polaritons waveguide by periodic reversal of cross-linking architecture

We propose a method for decoupling of spoof plasmon-polaritons (SPPs) which are highly confined on two anti-parallel ultra thin corrugated strips. Periodic reversal of cross linking element between the two parallel pair, which can ensuring the continuity of the transmission waveguide and results in a π -phase shifting with the adjacent inversion units. At the junction between adjacent cells, periodic discontinuity of structure can be viewed as a perturbation to generate space harmonic, generating a mixed mode is operation in its leaky-wave region, thereby enabling the efficient coupling of surface-plasmon mode into free-space radiating modes. Leaky wave concept has found innovative applications in wavefront engineering, and we expect that these ideas could be an alternative to transform the spoof surface-plasmon mode into radiation.
Parental and early childhood influences on adolescent obesity: a longitudinal study

The influence of parental and early childhood factors on adolescent obesity was investigated using a longitudinal model of body mass index (BMI) from birth to 14 years. Trajectories of BMI using linear mixed model (LMM) analysis were used to investigate the influence of early parental and childhood factors on BMI at 14 years in the Raine birth cohort study over eight follow-ups (n = 1403). An inverse relationship between parental education attainment and BMI was found (mothers χ 2 = 21.75, p = 0.016; LMM p = 0.043; fathers χ 2 = 21.19, p = 0.020; LMM p > 0.05). More overweight adolescents had mothers who smoked during pregnancy (χ 2 = 12.60, p = 0.002). Parental birth weight and BMI across years (p < 0.001) were strongly associated with adolescent obesity (LMM p < 0.05). Obese adolescents visited the park or playground infrequently as toddlers (p < 0.05). Results for early home environment factors were mixed. Maternal education, parental birth weight, and parental BMI were the strongest influences on their child's BMI from birth to adolescence.
Constraints on the mass and abundance of black holes in the Galactic halo: the high-mass limit

We establish constraints on the mass and abundance of black holes in the Galactic halo by determining their impact on globular clusters, which are conventionally considered to be little evolved. Using detailed Monte Carlo simulations and simple evolutionary models, we argue that black holes with masses Mbh≳(1–3)×106 M⊙ can comprise no more than a fraction fbh≈0.17 of the total halo density at Galactocentric radius R≈8 kpc. This bound arises from requiring stability of the cluster mass function. A more restrictive bound may be derived if we demand that the probability of destruction of any given, low-mass Mc≈(2.5–7.5)×104 M⊙] globular cluster not exceed 50 per cent; this bound is fbh≲0.025–0.05 at R≈8 kpc. This constraint improves those based on disc heating and dynamical friction arguments as well as current lensing results. At smaller radius the constraint on fbh strengthens, while at larger radius an increased fraction of black holes is allowed.
Amyloid Precursor Protein Translation Is Regulated by a 3’UTR Guanine Quadruplex

A central event in Alzheimer’s disease is the accumulation of amyloid β (Aβ) peptides generated by the proteolytic cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). APP overexpression leads to increased Aβ generation and Alzheimer’s disease in humans and altered neuronal migration and increased long term depression in mice. Conversely, reduction of APP expression results in decreased Aβ levels in mice as well as impaired learning and memory and decreased numbers of dendritic spines. Together these findings indicate that therapeutic interventions that aim to restore APP and Aβ levels must do so within an ideal range. To better understand the effects of modulating APP levels, we explored the mechanisms regulating APP expression focusing on post-transcriptional regulation. Such regulation can be mediated by RNA regulatory elements such as guanine quadruplexes (G-quadruplexes), non-canonical structured RNA motifs that affect RNA stability and translation. Via a bioinformatics approach, we identified a candidate G-quadruplex within the APP mRNA in its 3’UTR (untranslated region) at residues 3008–3027 (NM_201414.2). This sequence exhibited characteristics of a parallel G-quadruplex structure as revealed by circular dichroism spectrophotometry. Further, as with other G-quadruplexes, the formation of this structure was dependent on the presence of potassium ions. This G-quadruplex has no apparent role in regulating transcription or mRNA stability as wild type and mutant constructs exhibited equivalent mRNA levels as determined by real time PCR. Instead, we demonstrate that this G-quadruplex negatively regulates APP protein expression using dual luciferase reporter and Western blot analysis. Taken together, our studies reveal post-transcriptional regulation by a 3’UTR G-quadruplex as a novel mechanism regulating APP expression.
Traditional and Novel Predictors of Classroom and Clerkship Success of Pharmacy Students

Objective. This study was designed to assess the extent to which 7 traditional and novel predictors contribute to overall pharmacy grade point average (pharmacy GPA), first through third year pharmacy GPA (1–3 year GPA), and clerkship GPA of pharmacy students. Methods. This investigation used a convenience sample and a blinded retrospective record review of the first 3 class years of Doctor of Pharmacy students at Shenandoah University's Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy (Classes of 2000, 2001, and 2002). Results. Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT) score, essay score, California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI) and Skills Test (CCTST) were all significant predictors of pharmacy GPA. PCAT and CCTDI contributed significantly to 1–3 GPA. Finally, only the CCTST proved to be a significant predictor of the clerkship GPA. Conclusion. This study corroborated previous studies by concluding that several traditional predictors of students' performance appear to significantly predict academic o.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: thin-section CT measurement of airway wall thickness and lung attenuation.

PURPOSE To prospectively evaluate airway wall thickness and lung attenuation at spirometrically gated thin-section computed tomography (CT) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to correlate gated CT findings with pulmonary function test (PFT) results. MATERIALS AND METHODS The ethical committee approved the study, and all patients gave informed consent. Forty-two consecutive patients with COPD (20 with and 22 without chronic bronchitis [CB]) underwent gated thin-section CT and PFTs on the same day. The percentage wall area (PWA) and the thickness-to-diameter ratio (TDR) for all depicted bronchi that were round and larger than 2 mm in diameter, the mean lung attenuation (MLA), and the pixel index (PI) at -950 HU were determined. The reproducibility of the airway measurements was preliminarily tested by performing a five-trial examination in a patient with COPD and in a control patient. Differences in airway and lung attenuation measurements between the patients with and those without CB were evaluated at Mann-Whitney U testing. Simple and multiple regression analyses were used to assess the correlation between thin-section CT and PFT measurements. RESULTS The mean intraoperator coefficient of variation for airway measurements was 7.8% (range, 3.8%-13.4%). An average of nine bronchi per patient were assessed. Patients with CB had significantly higher PWAs, TDRs, and MLAs and significantly lower PIs than patients without CB (P < .05 for all values). The combination of PWA, TDR, and PWA normalized to body weight correlated significantly (P < .05) with the forced expiratory volume in 1 second-to-slow vital capacity ratio and the diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide in patients with but not in patients without CB. PFT results correlated better with MLA and PI in patients without CB. CONCLUSION Bronchial wall measurements differ between patients who have COPD with CB and those who have COPD without CB. The correlation between airway dimensions and indexes of airway obstruction in patients with COPD and CB indicates that the bronchial tree is the site of anatomic-functional alterations in this patient group.
Between Bit Valley and Silicon Valley: Hybrid Forms of Business Governance in the Japanese Internet Economy.

Even in the midst of a prolonged macroeconomic recession, Japan experienced the beginning of a take-off in its Internet economy since the mid-1990s. Business enterprises enthusiastically endorsed the Internet, as the usage rate went up from 12% in 1995 to 95.8% in 2000 (MPHPT 2001, p.5). At the end of 2000, 34% of Japan’s population, or 47 million users, were connected to the Internet, up from 3.3% in 1996 and 19.1% in 1999. This take-up rate is not high compared to the US or Scandinavian countries with 40+% penetration rates. But NTT DoCoMo’s highly successful i-mode is expected to further accelerate the pace of wireless access to the Internet. Japan is the first country in the world to introduce third generation (3G) mobile services in October 2001. The year 2001 is also marked as the first year of broadband service, which is expected to diffuse rapidly. What explains such growth in Internet-related business activities in Japan? And what is the impact of the Internet on the Japanese business system? These are the questions that this chapter addresses.
Combination of metronomic cyclophosphamide and dietary intervention inhibits neuroblastoma growth in a CD1-nu mouse model

Background MYCN-amplification in high-grade Neuroblastoma (NB) tumors correlates with increased vascularization and therapy resistance. This study combines an anti-angiogenic approach with targeting NB metabolism for treatment. Methods and Results Metronomic cyclophosphamide (MCP) monotherapy significantly inhibited NB growth and prolonged host survival. Growth inhibition was more pronounced in MYCN-amplified xenografts. Immunohistochemical evaluation of this subtype showed significant decrease in blood vessel density and intratumoral hemorrhage accompanied by blood vessel maturation and perivascular fibrosis. Up-regulation of VEGFA was not sufficient to compensate for the effects of the MCP regimen. Reduced Bcl-2 expression and increased caspase-3 cleavage were evident. In contrast non MYCN-amplified tumors developed resistance, which was accompanied by Bcl-2-up-regulation. Combining MCP with a ketogenic diet and/or calorie-restriction significantly enhanced the anti-tumor effect. Calorie-restricted ketogenic diet in combination with MCP resulted in tumor regression in all cases. Conclusions Our data show efficacy of combining an anti-angiogenic cyclophosphamide dosing regimen with dietary intervention in a preclinical NB model. These findings might open a new front in NB treatment.
Encouraging Active Learning In Lectures

The passivity of students in lectures and large group teaching sessions has long been observed and criticised. In response some have argued for the abolition of this form of teaching. However, expansion in Higher Education, increases in student numbers and a desire to maintain face to face contact does seem to be a little at odds with this view. In fact, it seems that, for the foreseeable future, the lecture will remain a cornerstone of the tertiary education experience and many students will continue to spend considerable amounts of time sitting amongst, perhaps hundreds of, their classmates in a tiered lecture theatre, as an important part of their studies. The view expressed in this article is that most of the good things about lectures can be extended and expanded upon and most of the bad things can be reduced or erased by getting the students to play a more active and interactive role in the larger group teaching sessions they attend. Although this sounds a very simple idea the practice usually turns out to be a little more difficult to achieve. In particular, a simple thing such as introducing a quiz, or a discussion task, into a lecture actually challenges both learners' and lecturers' attitudes alike on three important questions: What are lectures for? What should good teachers do? What should good learners be doing?
Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) in Turkey: Results of a Nationwide Multicenter Study

Abstract: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal recessive disease that is prevalent among eastern Mediterranean populations, mainly non-Ashkenazi Jews, Armenians, Turks, and Arabs. Since a large proportion of all the FMF patients in the world live in Turkey, the Turkish FMF Study Group (FMF-TR) was founded to develop a patient registry database and analyze demographic, clinical, and genetic features. The cohort was composed of 2838 patients (mean age, 23.0 ± 13.33 yr; range, 2-87 yr), with a male:female ratio of 1.2:1. There was a mean period of 6.9 ± 7.65 years from disease onset to diagnosis; the period was about 2 years shorter for each decade since 1981. Ninety-four percent of patients were living in the central-western parts of the country; however, their familial origins (70% from the central-eastern and Black Sea regions) reflected not only the ongoing east to west migration, but also the historical roots of FMF in Turkey. Patients' clinical features included peritonitis (93.7%), fever (92.5%), arthritis (47.4%), pleuritis (31.2%), myalgia (39.6%), and erysipelas-like erythema (20.9%). Arthritis, arthralgia, myalgia, and erysipelas-like erythema were significantly more frequent (p < 0.001) among patients with disease onset before the age of 18 years. Genetic analysis of 1090 patients revealed that M694V was the most frequent mutation (51.4%), followed by M680I (14.4%) and V726A (8.6%). Patients with the M694V/M694V genotype were found to have an earlier age of onset and higher frequencies of arthritis and arthralgia compared with the other groups (both p < 0.001). In contrast to other reported studies, there was no correlation between amyloidosis and M694V homozygosity in this cohort. However, amyloidosis was still remarkably frequent in our patients (12.9%), and it was prevalent (27.8%) even among the 18 patients with a disease onset after age 40 years. Twenty-two patients (0.8%) had nonamyloid glomerular diseases. The high prevalence of vasculitides (0.9% for polyarteritis nodosa and 2.7% for Henoch-Schönlein purpura) and high frequency of pericarditis (1.4%) were striking findings in the cohort. Phenotype II cases (those patients with amyloidosis as the presenting or only manifestation of disease) were rare (0.3% or less). There was a high rate of a past diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever, which suggested a possible misdiagnosis in children with FMF presenting with recurrent arthritis. To our knowledge, this is the largest series of patients with FMF reported from 1 country. We describe the features of the disease in the Turkish population and show that amyloidosis is still a substantial problem. Abbreviations: AA = amyloidosis, secondary amyloidosis; FMF = familial Mediterranean fever.
Gait parameters in vertical climbing of captive, rehabilitant and wild Sumatran orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus abelii)

SUMMARY Vertical climbing is central to the locomotor and foraging strategies of the great apes and, indeed, to theories about the evolution of locomotor specialisations of hominoid primates. Nevertheless, its kinematics have yet to be fully evaluated. Here, we present spatio-temporal parameters of 80 climbing sequences containing 560 limb cycles obtained from video recordings of captive, rehabilitant and wild Sumatran orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus abelii). Gait parameters such as cycle duration, duty factor, laterality of footfalls, relative stride length and normalised speed were analysed to identify the influence of body size (through an intraspecific comparison of age/sex classes), the influence of the environment (through an intraspecific comparison of animals living in different habitats) and the influence of morphology (through an interspecific comparison with the climbing characteristics of other primates) on climbing ability in orang-utans. Results show that there are only few differences between the climbing of wild, rehabilitant and captive individuals. Cycle duration is longer and speed is lower for the wild individuals than for other groups due to the complexity of their environment and lack of familiarity with each substrate, which results in a more cautious gait. Sex/age-related differences in climbing were found to be small, although juveniles generally exhibited a shorter cycle duration and lower duty factor than other groups. The spatio-temporal gait parameters of adult females carrying infants were not found to differ significantly from those for females without an infant, which suggests that climbing kinematics are not affected by the presence of a clinging infant. Extended-elbow vertical climbing is primarily characterised by a higher duty factor than flexed-elbow climbing, indicating that the former is an energetically more demanding form of locomotion. In comparison with other primates, orangutans exhibit a longer cycle duration, longer strides but lower climbing speed, reflecting a compromise between the demands of a large body mass and extreme joint mobility.
Fluid–structure interaction models of the mitral valve: function in normal and pathological states

Successful mitral valve repair is dependent upon a full understanding of normal and abnormal mitral valve anatomy and function. Computational analysis is one such method that can be applied to simulate mitral valve function in order to analyse the roles of individual components and evaluate proposed surgical repair. We developed the first three-dimensional finite element computer model of the mitral valve including leaflets and chordae tendineae; however, one critical aspect that has been missing until the last few years was the evaluation of fluid flow, as coupled to the function of the mitral valve structure. We present here our latest results for normal function and specific pathological changes using a fluid–structure interaction model. Normal valve function was first assessed, followed by pathological material changes in collagen fibre volume fraction, fibre stiffness, fibre splay and isotropic stiffness. Leaflet and chordal stress and strain and papillary muscle force were determined. In addition, transmitral flow, time to leaflet closure and heart valve sound were assessed. Model predictions in the normal state agreed well with a wide range of available in vivo and in vitro data. Further, pathological material changes that preserved the anisotropy of the valve leaflets were found to preserve valve function. By contrast, material changes that altered the anisotropy of the valve were found to profoundly alter valve function. The addition of blood flow and an experimentally driven microstructural description of mitral tissue represent significant advances in computational studies of the mitral valve, which allow further insight to be gained. This work is another building block in the foundation of a computational framework to aid in the refinement and development of a truly non-invasive diagnostic evaluation of the mitral valve. Ultimately, it represents the basis for simulation of surgical repair of pathological valves in a clinical and educational setting.
Benefit finding and expressive writing in adults with lupus or rheumatoid arthritis

An intriguing question within the expressive writing literature is whether writing interventions that focus on positive aspects of adverse experiences can produce health benefits, particularly among individuals with serious physical illness. Seventy-five adults with lupus or rheumatoid arthritis were randomly assigned to one of three 4-session writing interventions: benefit finding (BF), standard expressive writing (EW), or a control group. Follow-up questionnaires were completed one and three months later. At three months, fatigue was lower in the BF and EW groups than in the control group. BF appeared effective in reducing pain levels for participants with high trait anxiety, whereas EW appeared effective for participants with low trait anxiety. No significant group effects were found for psychological functioning or disability. Results are discussed with regard to the literature on BF and EW among medical patients.