Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ultrasonic Biotelemetry of Muscle Activity from Free-Ranging Marine Animals: A New Method for Studying Foraging by Blue Crabs (Callinectes sapidus)

The design and utilization of a small (16 g in air, 6 g in water) ultrasonic transmitter for animal tracking and bio-telemetry of muscle activity are described. To our knowledge this is the first use of such devices to telemeter a specific behavior (ingestion) from a free-ranging marine predator. The transmitter produces regularly recurring short tracking pulses, and long pulses triggered by the action potentials of a muscle. Pulses are transmitted through conductive estuarine water by a piezoelectric ring transducer at a frequency of about 75 KHz. The preparation of a subject animal, insertion of electrodes, and attachment of the transmitter are described for the telemetry of mandibular muscle contraction in the blue crab. The transmitter provides a signal that corresponds unequivocally with feeding activity and allows enumeration of bites required to consume a food item. Number of bites, and feeding time, are both positively correlated with the size of the prey specimen. As a test of the technique's fea.
The Internet of Things: Opportunities and Challenges for Distributed Data Analysis

Nowadays, data is created by humans as well as automatically collected by physical things, which embed electronics, software, sensors and network connectivity. Together, these entities constitute the Internet of Things (IoT). The automated analysis of its data can provide insights into previously unknown relationships between things, their environment and their users, facilitating an optimization of their behavior. Especially the real-time analysis of data, embedded into physical systems, can enable new forms of autonomous control. These in turn may lead to more sustainable applications, reducing waste and saving resources IoT's distributed and dynamic nature, resource constraints of sensors and embedded devices as well as the amounts of generated data are challenging even the most advanced automated data analysis methods known today. In particular, the IoT requires a new generation of distributed analysis methods. Many existing surveys have strongly focused on the centralization of data in the cloud and big data analysis, which follows the paradigm of parallel high-performance computing. However, bandwidth and energy can be too limited for the transmission of raw data, or it is prohibited due to privacy constraints. Such communication-constrained scenarios require decentralized analysis algorithms which at least partly work directly on the generating devices. After listing data-driven IoT applications, in contrast to existing surveys, we highlight the differences between cloudbased and decentralized analysis from an algorithmic perspective. We present the opportunities and challenges of research on communication-efficient decentralized analysis algorithms. Here, the focus is on the difficult scenario of vertically partitioned data, which covers common IoT use cases. The comprehensive bibliography aims at providing readers with a good starting point for their own work
Evolution des techniques sidérurgiques pré-industrielles et aperçu des critères de localisation de la métallurgie en « Terre de Durbuy »

Cette etude sur la metallurgie ancienne a ete realisee dans le cadre de recherches en dynamique fluviale portant sur les rivieres de la « Terre de Durbuy » (Houbrechts, 2000). Les scories rejetees a proximite des rivieres, et emportees par les crues debordantes, permettent d’une part de determiner la taille des elements mobilisable par les rivieres (competence) ainsi que les vitesses de progression de leur charge de fond (Houbrechts et Petit, 2003). D’autre part, l’utilisation des scories microscopiques piegees dans les alluvions nous a permis de determiner l’importance de la mobilite laterale des rivieres et l’epaisseur de sediments accumules depuis l’apparition de l’activite metallurgique (Houbrechts, 2002).
Human Sleep, Sleep Loss and Behaviour

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) consists of the cortex lying in front of the primary and secondary motor cortex, and includes the dorsolateral and orbital areas, frontal eye fields, and Broca's area. Not all of the functions of the PFC are known, but key ones are the maintenance of wakefulness and non-specific arousal, and the recruiting of various cortical areas required to deal with tasks in hand (Luria, 1973; Stuss & Benson, 1986; Fuster, 1989). Other roles include (Kolb & Whishaw, 1985) planning, sensory comparisons, discrimination, decisions for action, direction and maintenance of attention at a specific task, execution of associated scanning eye movements, and initiation and production of novel goal-directed behaviour (especially with speech). Of the senses, vision makes a particular demand of the PFC, and this is reflected by the frontal eye fields.
Epilogue: New Drugs for Neglected Diseases

In a widely cited 2003 article, DiMasi, Hansen, and Grabowski estimated the cost of pharmaceutical research and development to be $1.1 billion (year 2000 U.S. dollars) per new medicine coming onto the market in 2001. They also estimate that this cost is going up at a real (inflation-adjusted) rate of 7.4% annually. According to these estimates, the innovation cost per new medicine today is about $2.1 billion (year 2000 U.S. dollars) or $2.65 billion (year 2010 U.S. dollars).
Early Infant Feeding Influences and Weight of Children

Childhood obesity has become a major health concern in nearly every country in the world. In the United States, the number of overweight children aged 2 to 5 years has more than doubled in the past 30 years. Overweight and obesity, already epidemic among the world’s adults and children in both developed and developing countries, is escalating. While 61% of U.S. adults and almost 12% of U.S. children were overweight in 2001, a decade later, over two thirds of U.S. adults and almost one-third of U.S. children and adolescents were overweight or obese (Satcher, 2011). A 2010 estimate by the World Health Organization (WHO, n.d.[a]) indicated 42 million overweight children under five years of age worldwide, with 35 million living in developing countries. However, 2010 estimates provided by the International Association for the Study of Obesity International Obesity Taskforce (IASO/IOTF, n.d.) indicated one billion overweight (and another nearly half billion obese) adults internationally, with even higher estimates if adjusted for Asian-specific obesity measures. Moreover, the IASO International Obesity Taskforce’s 2010 estimated 200 million obese or overweight school-aged children (IASO/IOTF, n.d.[b]). Global trends toward childhood overweight or obesity have been attributed to two major factors: 1) increasing intake of energy-dense foods, high in sugars and fats and nutrient-poor (low in beneficial nutrients, such as minerals, vitamins, and healthy micronutrients); and 2) increasingly sedentary lifestyles, with low physical activity (Corvalan et al., 2009; Satcher, 2011; WHO, n.d.[b],). However, though primarily associated with unhealthy nutrition and limited physical activity, WHO (n.d.[b]) suggests that increased childhood obesity rates are related to child behaviors and numerous economic or social changes, as well as environmental, educational, urban planning, agricultural, transportation, and food policies. Polhamus et al. (2009) reported that data from 1998−2008 Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System indicate prevalence of overweight/obese preschool children as 14.7%, and this prevalence is higher among Hispanic preschoolers (18.5%). Infant and toddler stages are a time of transition from dependent feeding to independent feeding. During early life, weight trajectories and food preferences predict trends and preferences throughout life (Allen & Myers, 2008). Early childhood is a crucial stage for monitoring growth and BMI and the most opportune time to prevent obesity in children by promoting healthy dietary and physical activity behaviors (Hawkins & Law, 2006a; He, 2008; Story et al., 2002). Many
Molecular cloning of the human B cell CD20 receptor predicts a hydrophobic protein with multiple transmembrane domains.

CD20 is an antigen expressed on normal and malignant human B cells that is thought to function as a receptor during B cell activation. Here we report the isolation of a CD20‐specific cDNA clone from a lambda gt11 library using a polyclonal antiserum raised against purified CD20 antigen. Additional cDNA clones were then isolated from a lambda gt10 library. Alignment of the sequences of overlapping lambda clones reveal a single consensus sequence except for a divergence that preceded the first methionine within the open reading frame. Normal B cells and B cell lines contain a prominent 2.6 kb mRNA and a lower level of a 3.3 kb mRNA. An oligonucleotide derived from one of the divergent sequences hybridized to the 3.3 kb mRNA only, indicating that the two mRNA species are derived from an alternative splicing mechanism. The predicted amino acid sequence of CD20 reveals three major hydrophobic regions of approximately 53, 25 and 20 amino acids. CD20 lacks an NH2‐terminal signal peptide and contains a highly charged COOH‐terminal domain. Although CD20 is immunoprecipitated as a doublet of 33 and 35 kd proteins from B cells, in vitro translation of CD20 cDNA produced a single 33 kd protein that was specifically immunoprecipitated with monoclonal CD20 antibodies. CD20 was strongly phosphorylated on resting B cells after CDw40 stimulation, suggesting that CD20 may be functionally regulated by a protein kinase(s).
Meter Placement for Distribution System State Estimation: An Ordinal Optimization Approach

This paper addresses the problem of meter placement for distribution system state estimation (DSSE). The approach taken is to seek a set of meter locations that minimizes the probability that the peak value of the relative errors in voltage magnitudes and angle estimates across the network exceeds a specified threshold. The proposed technique is based on ordinal optimization and employs exact calculations of the probabilities involved, rather than estimates of these probabilities as used in our earlier work. The use of ordinal optimization leads to a decrease in computational effort without compromising the quality of the solution. The benefits of the approach in terms of reduced estimation errors is illustrated by simulations involving a 95-bus UKGDS distribution network model.
Situación sanitaria y determinación de la evaluación del riesgo en las empresas productoras de arepas de maíz del Área Metropolitana del departamento de Antioquia

En el Departamento de Antioquia uno de los alimentos que mas se consume es la Arepa de Maiz, situacion esta que hace que el numero de fabricas dedicadas a la produccion de arepas y el volumen de produccion de estas sea elevado.Por lo tanto basandose en lo anterior para determinar los habitos de consumo de la arepa de maiz en la poblacion se realizo una encuesta personal, en los 10 municipios que conforman el area metropolitana del departamento de Antioquia. Caldas, La estrella, Sabaneta, Itagui, Envigado, Medellin, Bello, Copacabana, Girardota y Barbosa. Para determinar las condiciones sanitarias se extrajo la informacion de los expedientes suministrados el GTT OCC1 - INVIMA de las empresas productoras de arepas de maiz. Y para la definicion de la evaluacion del riesgo se realizo mediante dos factores, Factor potencial y de confianza; y factor de nivel de cumplimiento. Como conclusion se determino que la situacion sanitaria de las fabricas de arepas es critica puesto que el mas bajo porcentaje representa a las empresas con concepto sanitario favorable, lo que significa que la mayoria de las empresas tienen algun tipo de incumplimiento a la normativa sanitaria relacionada vigente. Frente a los habitos de consumo se pueden obtener conclusiones como: Los municipios Copacabana, Barbosa, Caldas, La estrella y Girardota el 100% de los entrevistados consumen arepa. El municipio de envigado presenta la mayor cantidad de entrevistados que no consumen arepa. Le siguen en su orden los municipios de Sabaneta, Itagui, Bello y Medellin.
Association of neutrophils with platelet aggregates in unstable angina. Should we alter therapy?

In this issue of Circulation , Dr Ott and his colleagues1 have convincingly demonstrated evidence for increased neutrophil-platelet interaction associated with unstable angina not seen in patients with stable angina. Although such interactions have been suggested previously, as duly referenced by the authors, the work by Ott and coworkers has defined these observations and characterized some of the cellular changes in neutrophils consequent to this interaction that are potentially important in consideration of their pathophysiological significance. We intend to provide an alternative perspective to the scholarly discussion provided by Ott and colleagues. We wish to address the potential of these findings as a diagnostic and prognostic tool and as a part of the pathophysiology of unstable angina and to discuss the potential therapeutic implications. The major finding of the study by Ott et al1 is the evidence of augmented platelet-neutrophil interaction in the circulating venous blood of patients with unstable angina. They consider the mechanism of this adhesion and its potential relationship to the pathophysiological process, which is, at least theoretically, occurring on a labile plaque in the coronary circulation. However, activated neutrophils and neutrophil-platelet aggregates will certainly be cleared rapidly from the circulation by both the spleen and the lung. Because the complexes are both rapidly cleared and not likely to be stable (see below), this measurement offers a potential way of following the ongoing metastable interaction. It would be of interest to measure the rate at which these aggregates disappeared as a function of classic treatment approaches to unstable angina. If the complexes truly clear rapidly, then they should disappear rapidly after new complexes are no longer formed, and one would have the opportunity to examine these changes in patients with various treatment regimens. The relationship of platelet-neutrophil aggregates to treatment modalities and changes in symptoms …
Space-time bit-interleaved coded modulation for OFDM systems in wireless LAN applications

Space-time coding techniques are methods to improve transmission efficiency in radio channels by using multiple transmit and/or receive antennas. Bit-interleaved coded modulation gives good diversity gains with higher order modulation schemes using well known binary convolutional codes. By using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), wideband transmission can be achieved over frequency selective fading radio channels. In this paper, we combine these three ideas into a family of flexible space-time coding methods where modulation order and coding rates as well as the number of transmit and receive antennas can be changed without drastic redesign of the space-time codes. Near optimum iterative decoders are evaluated in terms of simulation for slowly varying wireless LAN type channels. Significant performance gains over the 802.11a standard system are reported.
Carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems: do browsing and grazing herbivores matter?

Large mammalian herbivores manifest a strong top‐down control on ecosystems that can transform entire landscapes, but their impacts have not been reviewed in the context of terrestrial carbon storage. Here, we evaluate the effects of plant biomass consumption by large mammalian herbivores (>10 kg adult biomass), and the responses of ecosystems to these herbivores, on carbon stocks in temperate and tropical regions, and the Arctic. We calculate the difference in carbon stocks resulting from herbivore exclusion using the results of 108 studies from 52 vegetation types. Our estimates suggest that herbivores can reduce terrestrial above‐ and below‐ground carbon stocks across vegetation types but reductions in carbon stocks may approach zero given sufficient periods of time for systems to respond to herbivory (i.e. decades). We estimate that if all large herbivores were removed from the vegetation types sampled in our review, increases in terrestrial carbon stocks would be up to three orders of magnitude less than many of the natural and human‐influenced sources of carbon emissions. However, we lack estimates for the effects of herbivores on below‐ground biomass and soil carbon levels in many regions, including those with high herbivore densities, and upwards revisions of our estimates may be necessary. Our results provide a starting point for a discussion on the magnitude of the effects of herbivory on the global carbon cycle, particularly given that large herbivores are common in many ecosystems. We suggest that herbivore removal might represent an important strategy towards increasing terrestrial carbon stocks at local and regional scales within specific vegetation types, since humans influence populations of most large mammals.
Crucial implication of protein kinase C (PKC)‐δ, PKC‐ζ, ERK‐1/2, and p38 MAPK in migration of human asthmatic eosinophils

Asthma is associated with an eosinophil infiltration into the bronchial mucosa. 5‐Oxo‐6,8,11,14(E,Z,Z,Z)‐eicosatetraenoic acid (5‐oxo‐ETE), a potent eosinophil chemotactic factor, activates cell motility, adherence, and proteolysis, notably, by promoting CD11b expression, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)‐9 secretion, and plasmin generation. We investigated the intracellular signaling pathways implicated in these various steps by using different, selective inhibitors. Human eosinophil migration through a reconstituted basement membrane in response to 5‐oxo‐ETE was greatly inhibited (≥72%) by the protein kinase C (PKC)‐δ, PKC‐ζ, ERK‐1/2, and p38 inhibitors. Our findings indicate that PKC‐δ mediates cell motility, CD11b expression, and MMP‐9 granule release. PKC‐ζ is also largely involved in eosinophil migration, although its specific targets remain undefined. ERK‐1/2 and p38 modulate CD11b expression; ERK‐1/2 is also involved in long‐term MMP‐9 secretion and p38 in the plasmin activation system. We demonstrated the crucial implication of PKC‐δ, PKC‐ζ, ERK‐1/2, and p38 in human blood eosinophil migration through extracellular matrix components. Targeting specific pathways may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of allergic airway inflammation.
Computerized Neuropsychological Testing to Rapidly Evaluate Cognition in Pediatric Patients With Neurologic Disorders

Computerized neuropsychological tests represent a viable method for rapidly screening cognition. The purpose of this study was to explore performance on the CNS Vital Signs in a large pediatric neurology sample. Participants included 166 neurology patients (mean age, 13.0 years; standard deviation, 3.2) and 281 controls (mean age, 13.2 years; standard deviation, 3.2) between 7 and 19 years. The neurology sample performed significantly worse on all domain scores and nearly all subtest scores. Cohen d effect sizes were small to medium for verbal memory (d= 0.44), visual memory (d= 0.40), and reaction time (d= 0.48) and very large for psychomotor speed (d= 1.19), complex attention (d = 0.94), cognitive flexibility (d = 0.94), and the overall composite score (d = 1.08). Using the criterion for cognitive impairment of 2 or more scores ≤5th percentile, 36.6% of the neurology sample was identified as having an uncommon cognitive profile. This is the first study to demonstrate the performance of pediatric patients with neurologic disorders on CNS Vital Signs.
The confidence to get going: The moderating effects of depressive symptoms on the self-efficacy–activity relationship among youth and adolescents

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the relationship between self-efficacy and physical activity was moderated by the presence of depressive symptoms in a sample of youth and adolescents. Participants (N = 688) from grades 7–12 completed measures of self-efficacy and depressive symptoms at baseline and self-report measures of physical activity 1 month later. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated a moderating effect of depressive symptoms on the self-efficacy–physical activity relationship, with this relationship being even more pronounced among those reporting depressive symptoms. These findings have important implications for the promotion of physical activity among youth and adolescents especially those suffering from depressive symptoms.
Cognitive-Motivational Determinants of Residents’ Civic Engagement and Health (Inequities) in the Context of Noise Action Planning: A Conceptual Model

The Environmental Noise Directive expects residents to be actively involved in localising and selecting noise abatement interventions during the noise action planning process. Its intervention impact is meant to be homogeneous across population groups. Against the background of social heterogeneity and environmental disparities, however, the impact of noise action planning on exposure to traffic-related noise and its health effects is unlikely to follow homogenous distributions. Until now, there has been no study evaluating the impact of noise action measures on the social distribution of traffic-related noise exposure and health outcomes. We develop a conceptual (logic) model on cognitive-motivational determinants of residents’ civic engagement and health (inequities) by integrating arguments from the Model on household’s Vulnerability to the local Environment, the learned helplessness model in environmental psychology, the Cognitive Activation Theory of Stress, and the reserve capacity model. Specifically, we derive four hypothetical patterns of cognitive-motivational determinants yielding different levels of sustained physiological activation and expectancies of civic engagement. These patterns may help us understand why health inequities arise in the context of noise action planning and learn how to transform noise action planning into an instrument conducive to health equity. While building on existing frameworks, our conceptual model will be tested empirically in the next stage of our research process.
[Relationship between gene polymorphism and haplotype of SLC6A2 promoter and blood-stasis pattern in patients with essential hypertension].

OBJECTIVE To explore the relationship between the genetic variants of the norepinephrine transporter gene solute carrier family 6 member 2 (SLC6A2) and blood stasis pattern (BSP) in patients with essential hypertension (EH). METHODS DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood of 830 EH patients (532 were typed as BSP and 298 as non-BSS) and 512 persons with normal blood pressure (for control), to detect the polymorphisms of SLC6A2 promoter-3 and 2 by PCR-RFLP, and estimate the haplotype frequency adopting SHEsis program. RESULTS Chi2 partition showed that frequency of promoter-2-GG genotype in EH patients of BSP was lower than that in the EH patients of non-BSP and the normal control (P = 0.001); while that of promoter-3-GG/GA in the EH patients with severe BSP was the highest (P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that after the miscellaneous factors being rectified, with the reference category of EH-non-BSP, the relative odds ratio (OR) of promoter-2-GC/CC genotype for EH-BSP was 1.535 (95% CI: 1.094-2.155, P = 0.013); that of promoter-3-AG/GG genotype for EH with severe BSP was 1.925 (95% CI: 1.199-3.091, P = 0.007); while OR of G-C haplotype (promoter-3-promoter-2) for EH-BSP was 2.127 (95% CI: 1.202-3.765, P = 0.010), showing the strongest intensity. CONCLUSION SLC6A2 promoter-3-GA/GG genotype may be a susceptibility gene for patients of EH with severe BSP; promoter-2-GC/CC and G-C haplotype might be the susceptible factors to EH-BSP.