Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The production and functional morphology of helminth egg-shells

SUMMARY The high energy costs of egg-shell production in many helminths suggests that this structure plays an important role in their biology. The mechanical and chemical resistance of the egg-shell and the barrier it provides to the entry and loss of material are important in the survival of the free-living stages within the egg. The presence of egg filaments may increase the availability of infective stages and the operculum may be important in the infective process.
Effective and Efficient Dynamic Graph Coloring

Graph coloring is a fundamental graph problem that is widely applied in a variety of applications. The aim of graph coloring is to minimize the number of colors used to color the vertices in a graph such that no two incident vertices have the same color. Existing solutions for graph coloring mainly focus on computing a good coloring for a static graph. However, since many real-world graphs are highly dynamic, in this paper, we aim to incrementally maintain the graph coloring when the graph is dynamically updated. Our proposal has two goals: high eﬀectiveness and high eﬃciency. To achieve high eﬀectiveness, we maintain the graph coloring in a way such that the coloring result is consistent with one of the best static graph coloring algorithms. To achieve high eﬃciency, we investigate eﬃcient incremental algorithms to update the graph coloring by exploring a small number of vertices. The algorithms are designed based on the observation that the number of vertices with color changes after a graph update is usually very small. We design a color-propagation based algorithm which only explores the vertices within the 2-hop neighbors of the color-changed vertices. We then propose a novel color index to maintain some summary color information and, thus, bound the explored vertices within the neighbors of the color-changed vertices. Moreover, we derive some eﬀective pruning rules to further reduce the number of propagated vertices. The results from extensive performance studies on real and synthetic graphs from various domains demonstrate the high eﬀectiveness and eﬃciency of our approach.
Degradome Products of the Matricellular Protein CCN1 as Modulators of Pathological Angiogenesis in the Retina*

Background: CCN1, a matricellular protein composed of four modular domains, is essential for proper vascular development. Results: CCN1 variants containing fewer domains stimulate or inhibit retinal neovascularization under ischemic conditions. Conclusion: Proteolytic degradation of CCN1 amplifies the angiogenic or angiostatic potential of its exposed domains. Significance: CCN1 degradation products are potential targets for therapeutic inhibition or monitoring of retinal neovascular diseases. CCN1 is a matricellular protein involved in normal vascular development and tissue repair. CCN1 exhibits cell- and context-dependent activities that are reflective of its tetramodular structure phylogenetically linked to four domains found in various matrix proteins. Here, we show that vitreal fluids from patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) were enriched with a two-module form of CCN1 comprising completely or partially the insulin-like growth factor-binding protein (IGFBP) and von Willebrand factor type C (vWC) domains. The two- and three-module forms comprising, in addition to IGFBP and vWC, the thrombospondin type 1 (TSP1) repeats are CCN1 degradome products by matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -14. The functional significance of CCN1 and its truncated variants was determined in the mouse model of oxygen-induced retinopathy, which simulates neovascular growth associated with PDR and assesses treatment outcomes. In this model, lentivirus-mediated expression of either CCN1 or the IGFBP-vWC-TSP1 form reduced ischemia-induced neovascularization, whereas ectopic expression of the IGFBP-vWC variant exacerbated pathological angiogenesis. The IGFBP-vWC form has potent proangiogenic properties promoting retinal endothelial cell growth, migration, and three-dimensional tubular structure formation, whereas the IGFBP-vWC-TSP1 variant suppressed cell growth and angiogenic gene expression. Both IGFBP-vWC and IGFBP-vWC-TSP1 forms exhibited predictable variations of their domain folding that enhanced their functional potential. These data provide new insights into the formation and activities of CCN1-truncated variants and raise the predictive value of the form containing completely or partially the IGFBP and vWC domains as a surrogate marker of CCN1 activity in PDR distinguishing pathological from physiological angiogenesis.
Self-testable components: from pragmatic tests to design-for-testability methodology

Testing is a key aspect of software development, because of its cost and impact on final product reliability. Classical views on testing and their associated testing models, based on the waterfall model, are not well-suited to an OO development process. The standardization of semi-formal modeling methods, such as UML, reveals this trend: testing can no longer be separated from specification/design/code stages. A test approach integrated with the OO process must be defined with an associated testing philosophy. The approach presented in the paper aims at providing a consistent framework for building trust into components. By measuring the quality of test cases, we seek to build trust in a component passing those test cases. We present a pragmatic approach for linking design and test of classes, seen as basic unit test components. Components are self-testable by enhancing them with embedded test sequences and test oracles. Self-testable components serve as building blocks for performing systematic integration and non-regression testing. The main contribution presented in the paper consists of using component self-tests to systematically exercise main system structural dependencies. This approach has been implemented in the Eiffel, Java, Perl and C++ languages. Since it is simpler, due to the direct support for Design-by-Contract(TM) in the language, the Eiffel implementation is detailed.
Short-term memory, working memory, and syntactic comprehension in aphasia

Sixty-one people with aphasia were tested on 10 tests of short-term memory (STM) and for the ability to use syntactic structure to determine the meanings of 11 types of sentences in three tasks—object manipulation, picture matching, and picture matching with self-paced listening. Multilevel models showed relationships between measures of the ability to retain and manipulate item and order information in STM and accuracy and reaction time (RT), and a greater relationship between these STM measures and accuracy and RT for several more complex sentence types in individual tasks. There were no effects of measures of STM that reflect the use of phonological codes or rehearsal on comprehension. There was only one effect of STM measures on self-paced listening times. There were double dissociations between performance on STM and individual comprehension tasks, indicating that normal STM is not necessary to perform normally on these tasks. The results are most easily related to the view that STM plays a facilitatory role in supporting the use of the products of the comprehension process to accomplish operations related to tasks.
Multitemporal Spaceborne SAR Data for Urban Change Detection in China

The objective of this research is to examine effective methods for urban change detection using multitemporal spaceborne SAR data in two rapid expanding cities in China. One scene of ERS-2 SAR C-VV image was acquired in Beijing in 1998 and in shanghai in 1999 respectively and one scene of ENVISAT ASAR C-VV image was acquired in near-anniversary dates in 2008 in Beijing and Shanghai. To compare the SAR images from different dates, a modified ratio operator that takes into account both positive and negative changes was developed to derive a change image. A generalized version of Kittler-Illingworth minimum-error thresholding algorithm was then tested to automatically classify the change image into two classes, change and no change. Various probability density functions such as Log normal, Generalized Gaussian, Nakagami ratio, and Weibull ratio were investigated to model the distribution of the change and no change classes. The results showed that Kittler-Illingworth algorithm applied to the modified ratio image is very effective in detecting temporal changes in urban areas using SAR images. Log normal and Nakagami density models achieved the best results. The Kappa coefficients of these methods were of 0.82 and 0.71 for Beijing and Shanghai respectively while the false alarm rates were 2.7% and 4.75%. The findings indicated that the change accuracies obtained using Kittler-Illingworth algorithm vary depending on how the assumed conditional class density function fits the histograms of change and no change classes.
La neutralidad de la información narrativa: Un estudio del informe de gestión de las empresas españolas

Los informes de gestion tienen como objetivo complementar o suplementar los datos recogidos en los estados contables para facilitar una mejor comprension de la situacion y perspectivas futuras de la empresa ofreciendo a los usuarios la oportunidad de conocer a la empresa a traves de los ojos de la direccion. Aunque se tarta de un documento de presentacion obligatoria, su contenido y formato de presentacion apenas estan sujetos a regulacion, por lo que en una gran mayoria la informacion o el grado de desglose que recoge depende de la voluntad de la compania. El caracter voluntario de la informacion puede ser utilizado por la direccion para construir y proyectar una determinada imagen, influenciando las percepciones de los usuarios a traves de la seleccion de informacion a divulgar o de su formato. Mas concretamente, la discrecionalidad permitida a la direccion posibilita un comportamiento oportunista, dirigido a la obtencion de su propio beneficio, bien ocultando malas noticias, a traves de la disminucion de la claridad o el tono empleado, bien realizando atribuciones egoistas en las explicaciones de la direccion. En estas condiciones la neutralidad de la informacion, la presentacion equilibrada de buenas noticias disminuye, lo que podria influenciar las percepciones de los usuarios, y sus decisiones o, de ser detectada la actuacion egoista de la direccion, ocasionar perdidas de credibilidad. El objetivo central de esta tesis es, precisamente, el analisis de la posible utilizacion por la empresa de estrategias de manipulacion que alteren la neutralidad de los informes de gestion, con un objetivo oportunista. Analizamos, tambien, la repercusion del Gobierno Corporativo, la participacion accionarial de los gestores y la reputacion corporativa de la empresa sobre la informacion, con el objetivo de determinar si tales factores actuan como elementos mitigadores de las practicas de gestion de la impresion.
Esophageal motility disorders in diabetics.

OBJECTIVE To see the presence of esophageal motor disorders in diabetic patients and compare it with controls at the Department of Medicine Ziauddin Medical University Hospital, Karachi. METHODS Diabetic patients admitted at Ziauddin Medical University Hospital, Karachi were taken as study subjects, whereas age and sex matched healthy volunteers not suffering from any disease neither taking any medication for dyspepsia were taken as controls Esophageal manometry was done to see the motility disorders in diabetic patients and controls. RESULTS Resting pressure of the lower esophageal sphincter in diabetics was similar to controls. Percentage of relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter was low in diabetics. Amplitude of esophageal peristalsis and duration of contraction was similar in both the groups. Propulsive velocity of peristalsis was slower in diabetics. Parameters of upper esophageal sphincter were similar in diabetics and controls. Abnormal peristaltic waves like aperistalsis of the esophageal body, high amplitude and broader waves, absent contraction and hypertensive lower esophageal sphincter were seen in diabetics only. CONCLUSIONS Poor relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter and slow propulsive velocity were noted in diabetics. Abnormal peristaltic waves like aperistalsis of the esophageal body, high amplitude and broader waves, absent contraction and hypertensive lower esophageal sphincter were seen in diabetics only.
QRP07-1: Throughput Guarantees for Wireless Networks with Opportunistic Scheduling

In this paper we analyze achievable throughput guarantees in wireless time-division multiplexing (TDM) networks. Approximations of the throughput guarantee violation probability (TGVP) for users communicating in time-slotted systems are obtained for any scheduling algorithm with a given mean and variance of the number of bits transmitted in a time- slot and a distribution for the number of time-slots allocated to a user within a time-window. We investigate the corresponding TGVPs for three scheduling algorithms, namely (i) Round Robin Scheduling, (ii) Maximum Carrier-to-Noise Ratio Scheduling, and (iii) Opportunistic Round Robin Scheduling, when the users' channels are independently and identically distributed.
The effect of safer play equipment on playground injury rates among school children

Background: Changes to Canadian Standards Association (CSA) standards for playground equipment prompted the removal of hazardous equipment from 136 elementary schools in Toronto. We conducted a study to determine whether applying these new standards and replacing unsafe playground equipment with safe equipment reduced the number of school playground injuries. Methods: A total of 86 of the 136 schools with hazardous play equipment had the equipment removed and replaced with safer equipment within the study period (intervention schools). Playground injury rates before and after equipment replacement were compared in intervention schools. A database of incident reports from the Ontario School Board Insurance Exchange was used to identify injury events. There were 225 schools whose equipment did not require replacement (nonintervention schools); these schools served as a natural control group for background injury rates during the study period. Injury rates per 1000 students per month, relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated, adjusting for clustering within schools. Results: The rate of injury in intervention schools decreased from 2.61 (95% CI 1.93–3.29) per 1000 students per month before unsafe equipment was removed to 1.68 (95% CI 1.31–2.05) after it was replaced (RR 0.70, 95% CI 0.62–0.78). This translated into 550 injuries avoided in the post-intervention period. In nonintervention schools, the rate of injury increased from 1.44 (95% CI 1.07–1.81) to 1.81 (95% CI 1.07–2.53) during the study period (RR 1.40, 95% CI 1.29–1.52). Interpretation: The CSA standards were an effective tool in identifying hazardous playground equipment. Removing and replacing unsafe equipment is an effective strategy for preventing playground injuries.
Exertional heat illness during training and competition

SUMMARY Exertional heat illness can affect athletes during high-intensity or longduration exercise and result in withdrawal from activity or collapse during or soon after activity. These maladies include exercise associated muscle cramping, heat exhaustion, or exertional heatstroke. While certain individuals are more prone to collapse from exhaustion in the heat (i.e., not acclimatized, using certain medications, dehydrated, or recently ill), exertional heatstroke (EHS) can affect seemingly healthy athletes even when the environment is relatively cool. EHS is defined as a rectal temperature greater than 40-C accompanied by symptoms or signs of organ system failure, most frequently central nervous system dysfunction. Early recognition and rapid cooling can reduce both the morbidity and mortality associated with EHS. The clinical changes associated with EHS can be subtle and easy to miss if coaches, medical personnel, and athletes do not maintain a high level of awareness and monitor at-risk athletes closely. Fatigue and exhaustion during exercise occur more rapidly as heat stress increases and are the most common causes of withdrawal from activity in hot conditions. When athletes collapse from exhaustion in hot conditions, the term heat exhaustion is often applied. In some cases, rectal temperature is the only discernable difference between severe heat exhaustion and EHS in on-site evaluations. Heat exhaustion will generally resolve with symptomatic care and oral fluid support. Exercise associated muscle cramping can occur with exhaustive work in any temperature range, but appears to be more prevalent in hot and humid conditions. Muscle cramping usually responds to rest and replacement of fluid and salt (sodium). Prevention strategies are essential to reducing the incidence of EHS, heat exhaustion, and exercise associated muscle cramping.
Test instruction set (TIS) for high level self-testing of CPU cores

TIS (test instruction set) is an instruction level technique for CPU core self-testing. This method is based on enhancing a CPU instruction set with test instructions. TIS replaces the NOP instruction that is available in most processors with test instructions so that online testing can be done with no performance penalty. This method can be applied to both offline and online (concurrent) testing of all types of processors (single-cycle, multi-cycle and pipelined). TIS is appropriate for pipelined architectures in which one or many NOP instructions (or stalls) are inserted between instructions that are data or control dependent. We have implemented this test method on a pipelined CPU core and several test programs for this pipelined CPU are used to illustrate the method. Also fault coverage results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the TIS test technique.
Bringing epilepsy out of the shadows

At least fifty million people in the world today have epilepsy. Public health studies of the global burden of disease from primary brain disorders have ranked epilepsy 4th, after depression, substance abuse, and dementia.1 As measured by disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), epilepsy accounts for 1% of the global disease burden, equivalent to lung cancer in men and breast cancer in women.1 This large proportion of DALYs reflects the facts that epilepsy often begins in childhood and lasts a lifetime and that 80% to 90% of people with epilepsy live in the developing world, where most receive no treatment at all. The difference between the number of people with a given disorder …
Does Improving Marital Quality Improve Sleep? Results From a Marital Therapy Trial

For most adults, sleep is a dyadic behavior. Only recently have studies explored the dynamic association between sleep and relationship functioning among bed partners. The current study is the first to examine bidirectional associations between changes in insomnia and changes in marital quality over time, in the context of a marital therapy trial. Among husbands, improvements in marital satisfaction were associated with a 36% decreased risk of insomnia at follow-up. Regarding the reverse direction, counter-intuitively, wife baseline insomnia was associated with improvements in husbands’ marital satisfaction, but only among the non-treatment-seeking comparison group. Results are discussed in terms of implications for sleep and marital therapy, and suggest that improving sleep may be an added benefit of improving the marital relationship.
General Beliefs and the Theory of Planned Behavior: The Role of Environmental Concerns in the TPB

This study tested whether the theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1985) could explain people's intention to use a park-and-ride facility (transferium) in Groningen, The Netherlands. We extended the TPB by including egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric concerns. A questionnaire study was conducted among 218 respondents who regularly visit the center of Groningen for work or shopping. Environmental concerns were directly related to attitudes toward using the transferium. However, the 3 types of concerns were not directly related to intention to use the transferium. Furthermore, positive attitudes, positive subjective norms, and high perceived behavioral control toward the use of the transferium were related to stronger intention to use the transferium. Limitations and practical implications of the study are discussed.
Test Effort Estimation Models Based on Test Specifications

In competitive markets, test teams should be able to estimate the required effort to perform their test activities on the schedule. In this paper, we present a test execution and a test automation effort estimation model and their use for test selection. All these models are based on the test specifications written in a controlled natural language. This characteristic may allow us to have better estimation accuracy, even for tests never executed before. The evaluation of these models and some additional benefits to industry are also discussed in the paper.
Lipofilling of the Breast Does Not Increase the Risk of Recurrence of Breast Cancer: A Matched Controlled Study

Background: Although many plastic surgeons perform autologous fat grafting (lipofilling) for breast reconstruction after oncologic surgery, it has not been established whether postoncologic lipofilling increases the risk of breast cancer recurrence. The authors assessed the risk of locoregional and systemic recurrence in patients who underwent lipofilling for breast reconstruction. Methods: The authors identified all patients who underwent segmental or total mastectomy for breast cancer (719 breasts) (i.e., cases) or breast cancer risk reduction or benign disease (305 cancer-free breasts) followed by breast reconstruction with lipofilling as an adjunct or primary procedure between June of 1981 and February of 2014. They also then identified matched patients with breast cancer treated with segmental or total mastectomy followed by reconstruction without lipofilling (670 breasts) (i.e., controls). The probability of locoregional recurrence was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: Mean follow-up times after mastectomy were 60 months for cases, 44 months for controls, and 73 months for cancer-free breasts. Locoregional recurrence was observed in 1.3 percent of cases (nine of 719 breasts) and 2.4 percent of controls (16 of 670 breasts). Breast cancer did not develop in any cancer-free breast. The cumulative 5-year locoregional recurrence rates were 1.6 percent and 4.1 percent for cases and controls, respectively. Systemic recurrence occurred in 2.4 percent of cases and 3.6 percent of controls (p = 0.514). There was no primary breast cancer in healthy breasts reconstructed with lipofilling. Conclusions: The study results showed no increase in locoregional recurrence, systemic recurrence, or second breast cancer. These findings support the oncologic safety of lipofilling in breast reconstruction. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Risk, II.
Wave Propagation on an Overhead Multiconductor in a High-Frequency Region

Carson's, Pollaczek's, Wise's, and Sunde's earth-return impedances of an overhead line have been examined, and errors involved in the formulas are explained. Modified Pollaczek's and Carson's/Sunde's formulas are described. Wave propagation characteristics on a multiconductor in a high-frequency region are evaluated by adopting the modified earth-return impedance and Wise's earth-return admittance. Sommerfeld-Goubau propagation in a high-frequency region, which shows transition between transverse electromagnetic and transverse magnetic propagation, has been confirmed in the calculated results which agree with those predicted by Kikuchi for a single conductor. On a multiconductor system, it is found that the aerial mode also shows Sommerfeld-Goubau propagation when the separation between conductors is large and the earth resistivity is high.