Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tank gun recoil mechanism technical condition assessment based on improved kernel function SVM

Recoil mechanism technical condition assessment is the presupposition of outfit using and servicing. This paper import support vector machine and upbuild recoil mechanism technical condition assessment model based on analyzing and dealing with recoil and counterrecoil parameter by dint of artificial recoiling on-line test equipment. The optimizing of assessment model using combined kernel function improved the preciseness. Instance analysis indicated that the pattern recognition method based on improved kernel function support vector machine is effective for evaluating recoil mechanism technical condition.
An Empirical Study of Household Educational Expenditure Burden in Urban China

The educational expenditure and its burden on the family is a very important topic.The overburden will lead to less consumption and savings by families,hence impede the transition of China from an investment-driven to consumption-driven economy.Using data from the Urban Household Education survey in 2007,our empirical study obtains the following findings: first,low-income families bear a greater burden due to educational expense.Second,the educational expenditure burden was heavier for families with a child in a kindergarten or high school which is not in the 9-year compulsory education.Third,the household educational expenditure burden varies by regions.Based on these findings,we propose policy suggestions.
Quantitative evaluation in vivo of the degree of differentiation of hindlimb cartilage in a rat clubfoot model

The Limb Morphogenetic Differentiation Scoring system introduced by has been used in drug testing as a measure of the degree of cartilage growth inhibition especially for forelimb in vitro. There is no scoring system to quantify the degree of hindlimb bud cartilage differentiation in vivo. A total of 60 female Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 220–250 g were assigned at random to six control groups and six experimental groups on day 0 of pregnancy. The experimental groups were treated with all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA). A new limb morphogenetic differentiation scoring system was developed and used to quantify the degree of development of the hindlimb buds from the fetuses at embryonic days E13 to E18. The differentiation of cartilages assessed by the new scoring system showed a statistically significant difference between the experimental group and the control group from E13 to E18 (T-test, p < 0.05). Cartilage growth (the proximodistal length) in the control group increased gradually from E14, reaching its peak at E17, but in the experimental group the growth at E13, E16, E17, and E18 was significantly shorter (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the new limb morphogenetic differentiation scoring system described here can be used to quantify the degree of inhibition of the hindlimb bud development by teratogenic drugs or materials, and morphogenetic differentiation in vivo.
A high throughput Gaussian noise generator

A digital additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) generator has recently become a public focus with the increasing demand of hardware simulation in researches on communication discipline. Some successful ideas of software, such as the Box-Muller method, are then proposed and implemented into hardware platforms and the architecture design has attracted new studies. Then high-precision small-error Gaussian noise generators appeared in literatures from time to time. Considering that the academic applications prefer higher throughput and the data resolution are always limited by hardware resources, we propose to use a straightforward architecture based on a Gaussian lookup table in these cases. In this paper, such an architecture has been fully investigated and the corresponding FPGA implementation gives out a high throughput of 800 million noise samples per second.
Ranking of Stimuli That Evoked Memories in Significant others after Exposure to Circumcerebral Magnetic Fields: Correlations with Ambient Geomagnetic Activity

To identify means to enhance the laboratory production of alleged paranormal phenomena, 15 pairs of men and women involved emotionally were tested by male and female experimenters who were not familiar with the hypothesis that ambient (geomagnetic) activity could modulate this production. While the female of the pair was exposed to six different patterns of complex magnetic fields designed to affect states of consciousness, the male wrote his reminiscences about shared experiences evoked by a postcard randomly selected from a collection of five. Increased global geomagnetic activity (k values between 0 and 5) at the time of the experiments was significantly and moderately correlated with the more accurate ranking of the stimulus cards. These results were similar to those of a previous study. We suggest that alleged paranormal phenomena involve processes that might be produced by experimentally altering the electroencephalographic correlates of consciousness with circumcerebral applications of counterclockwise weak magnetic fields. However, these processes may be enhanced if global geomagnetic activity is increasing during the periods of exposure.
A Community of practice for teacher education academics

This paper reports how a group of six teacher education academics from one university formed a community of practice for sharing ideas about pedagogy. A collaborative self-study approach was used to investigate the experiences of the group. Data include personal written reflections and interviews with individual group members. Results indicate the complexities of university work and offer positive insights into a collaborative pedagogical culture for academics.
Natural occurrence of fumonisins B1 and B2 in maize from eight provinces of China in 2014

ABSTRACT A total of 249 maize kernel samples from 8 maize-producing provinces of China were collected after the harvest season in 2014. All samples were analysed using high-performance liquid chromatography. The incidences of FBs (FB1 + FB2) from Guizhou, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Chongqing, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, and Henan provinces were 71.4%, 73.8%, 28.0%, 52.6%, 85.0%, 87.5%, 38.1%, and 100.0%, respectively. The average concentration of FBs was 817 µg kg−1 and the concentrations ranged from <6 to 15,252 µg kg−1. Among the 249 maize kernel samples, 28 samples exhibited higher levels as set by the Food and Drug Administration (2000 µg kg−1), whereas 12 samples exhibited higher levels as set by the European Commission (4000 µg kg−1). The average exposure to FBs (0.12 µg kg−1 body weight/day) is within the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake of 2.0 µg kg−1 body weight as set by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives.
Clinical algorithms for the screening of Chlamydia trachomatis in Turkish women.

OBJECTIVE: To test the diagnostic validity of clinical algorithms for the detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in an urban population of married women in Turkey. DESIGN: Cross-sectional population-based survey. SUBJECTS: A systematic sample of 867 women who reported the use of contraceptive methods. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value of clinical algorithms for the diagnosis of C trachomatis. RESULTS: C trachomatis was diagnosed in 4.89% of the women. The WHO algorithm for use in settings where no vaginal examination could be performed had a sensitivity of 9% and a specificity of 96%. The corresponding figures for the WHO algorithm incorporating the findings of a speculum examination were 47% and 56% respectively. Algorithms incorporating symptoms or signs other than those suggested by the WHO did not yield satisfactory standards of validity. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study do not support the widespread introduction of the use of clinical decision models for screening of women for chlamydia infection in primary health care settings such as family planning or antenatal clinics. The large number of false positive results with the use of the clinical algorithms tested in this study would cause unnecessary costs to the health system and unnecessary interventions to the women treated.
Blunted Sympathetic Vasoconstriction in Contracting Skeletal Muscle of Healthy Humans: is Nitric Oxide Obligatory?

We tested the hypothesis that nitric oxide (NO) is responsible for blunting sympathetic α‐adrenergic vasoconstriction in the active muscles of humans (functional sympatholysis). We measured forearm blood flow (Doppler ultrasound) and calculated the reductions in forearm vascular conductance (FVC) in response to α‐adrenergic receptor stimulation during rhythmic handgrip exercise and during a control non‐exercise vasodilator condition (intra‐arterial adenosine), before and after local NO synthase (NOS) inhibition in healthy men. The forearm vasoconstrictor responses to endogenous noradrenaline release (intra‐arterial tyramine) were significantly blunted during moderate exercise compared with adenosine, and these vasoconstrictor responses were not restored by NOS inhibition with NG‐monomethyl‐l‐arginine (l‐NMMA; n= 6) or NG‐nitro‐l‐arginine methyl ester (l‐NAME; n= 8). Similarly, l‐NAME did not restore the vasoconstrictor responses to tyramine in contracting muscle during heavy rhythmic handgrip exercise (n= 4). In four additional subjects, we also found that the vasoconstrictor responses evoked by tyramine during exercise or adenosine were repeatable in the absence of NOS inhibition (i.e. time control). Finally, in five subjects the forearm vasoconstrictor responses to direct α1‐adrenergic (phenylephrine) and α2‐adrenergic (clonidine) receptor stimulation were blunted during moderate exercise compared with adenosine; these responses were also unaffected by l‐NAME. Taken together, our results demonstrate that NO is not obligatory for functional sympatholysis in contracting skeletal muscles of healthy men.
Cyclooxygenase-2 Differentially Directs Uterine Angiogenesis during Implantation in Mice*

Increased vascular permeability and angiogenesis at the site of blastocyst apposition in the uterus are two hallmarks of the implantation process. The present investigation shows that although the proangiogenic vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor, Flk-1, are primarily important for uterine vascular permeability and angiogenesis prior to and during the attachment phase of the implantation process, VEGF in complementation with the angiopoietins and their receptor, Tie-2, directs angiogenesis during decidualization following implantation. Mice with null mutation for the gene encoding cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), a rate-limiting enzyme in prostaglandin (PG) biosynthesis, show implantation and decidualization failure. Using reporter and mutant mice, we show here that COX-2-derived prostaglandins (PGs) are important for uterine vascular permeability and angiogenesis during implantation and decidualization, suggesting that one cause of the failure of these latter processes in Cox-2(−/−) mice is the deregulated vascular events in the absence of COX-2. The attenuation of uterine angiogenesis in these mice is primarily due to defective VEGF signaling and not due to the defective angiopoietin system.
Epilepsy disorder detection by EEG signal decomposition using wavelet transform

Electroencephalography is a medical imaging technique that reads scalp electrical activity generated by brain structures. The electroencephalogram (EEG) is defined as electrical activity of an alternating type recorded from the scalp surface after being picked up by metal electrodes and conductive media. We will refer only to EEG measured from the head surface. The recognition of epileptic waveform from EEG signal is important physiological task as epilepsy is still one of the most frequently occurring disorder. The main aim of this paper is to provide new method to diagnose the epileptic waveform directly from the EEG, by performing quick signal processing which makes it possible to apply in on-line monitoring system. This is done in two steps. In the first step, by using multi-resolution wavelet decomposition, we obtain different spectral components (α, β, Δ, θ) of the measured signal. These components serve as input signals for the artificial neural network (ANN), which accomplishes the recognition of epileptic waveforms. Use of ANN makes the rate of recognition very high and also makes the on-line monitoring and 'paperless' task of EEG analysis.
Comment on “Asian Participation and Performance at the Olympic Games”

Noland and Stahler (2016) shed light on Asian participation and performances at the Olympic Games. This paper presents a wide range of fact findings regarding Asian Olympic performances, including the performances of three outstanding Northeast Asian countries, China, Japan and Korea; the better performances of Asian women than men; and the better performances in weight-stratified contests, such as wrestling, judo, taekwondo, and weightlifting, and in size-free games, such as table tennis, shooting, badminton, archery, and gymnastics. I broadly agree with what Noland and Stahler discover and their forecasts for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. As is often argued with positive economics, the proof of a good theory depends on its forecasting (predictive) power. We need to wait to see whether Noland and Stahler’s approach will still be justifiable after the 2016 Olympics. At this stage, we can say that medal forecasting would be quite accurate for three major countries ‐ China, Japan, and Korea ‐ while those for the rest of Asian countries would contain substantial errors. I will give some reasons in the following. I have two broad questions concerning with this paper at this moment. First, Noland and Stahler rely on Bernard and Busse (2004), Johnson and Ali (2004), and Otamendi and Doncel (2014) for their theoretical framework and econometric estimation methods. Their empirical approach is used extensively in this research field. These authors use the production function approach to the Olympic caliber athletes by assuming that (i) the expected medal share accruing to a country should be equal to its share of the total population of countries participating in the Olympics, and that (ii) the production function for generating Olympic caliber athletes for a country i in year t requires people, money, and some organizational ability. In other words, the authors assume that talent is distributed equally across countries, and the production technology is basically the same across countries except for constant terms (including dummies for regions, the host country, and the communist block dummy). As the actual Olympic records show, many individual sports require physiological advantages, so that competition itself may not be fair from the Asian point of view. This reflects the fact that talent is not distributed equally across countries. Production technology of caliber athletes is also quite different among countries due to various sociocultural differences. In addition, as we know from the industrial organization literature, market share competition depends on the
Changes in plasma volume, in transcapillary escape rate of albumin and in subcutaneous blood flow during hypoglycaemia in man.

Hypoglycaemia was induced by insulin injected intravenously (0.15 i.u./kg body weight) in seven healthy young males. Plasma volume was measured before and during hypoglycaemia by intravenous injection of 125I before hypoglycaemia and of 131I during hypoglycaemia. Plasma volume decreased and transcapillary escape rate increased significantly during hypoglycaemia. Skin temperature and local subcutaneous adipose tissue blood flow were measured in four different regions. Both tended to decrease during hypoglycaemia and decreased significantly 2 h after hypoglycaemia. There was no correlation between changes in the two measurements, suggesting that there is no simple relationship between subcutaneous blood flow and skin temperature during hypoglycaemia.
Injectable Soft-Tissue Fillers: Clinical Overview

Learning Objectives: After studying this article, the participant should be able to: 1. Know the composition and biology of injectable fillers. 2. Understand the advantages and disadvantages of each injectable filler. 3. Understand the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory status of each type of injectable filler, including their indications. Background: The use of injectable filling agents for soft-tissue facial defects has a long history of successful use based on xenogeneic collagen materials. New materials of differing compositions for injection treatments either are now available or will soon be available for clinical use. Methods: A review of the medical literature was performed to provide chemical compositions, methods of preparation, biological behavior, and clinical outcomes for every known injectable filler material that is either currently used or being evaluated in clinical trials. Results: Hyaluronic acid–based materials have now replaced animal or human-derived collagen as the standard injection materials. Synthetic alternatives offer the potential of longer lasting results, but the long-term outcome with their use in large numbers of patients is not yet known. Conclusions: As there is no single injectable filler that has all of the desired characteristics, understanding the advantages and disadvantages of one filler over another is extremely helpful in guiding the patient to an informed decision. Although all of the reviewed injectable fillers are safe, the concepts of their long-term volume persistence and how they compare with each other remain largely anecdotal, with few prospective controlled clinical trials.
Fatigue decreases skilled tennis performance

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of fatigue from maximal tennis hitting on skilled tennis performance. Eighteen senior county tennis players (9 males, 9 females) volunteered to participate in the study. Their mean ( - s x -macron ) age and body mass were as follows: males 20.7 - 0.9 years and 60.6 - 2.7 kg respectively, females 21.7 - 0.6 years and 71.5 - 1.8 kg respectively. The players undertook two performance tests, both against a tennis ball serving machine, on an indoor tennis surface: (1) a pre- and post-skill test of groundstrokes and service; (2) the Loughborough Intermittent Tennis Test (4 min work plus 40 s recovery) to volitional fatigue. Body mass decreased by 1.5% ( P ≪ 0.0001). Mean heart rates differed between rest, post-warm-up and all intermittent test values ( P ≪ 0.01), between the pre- and post-skill tests ( P ≪ 0.0001) and between bouts and recoveries ( P ≪ 0.01). Peak blood glucose and lactate concentrations were 5.9 mmol· l -1 (50% into the intermittent tennis test) and 9.6 - 0.9 mmol· l -1 (25% into the test) respectively. Mean time to volitional fatigue was 35.4 - 4.6 min. Groundstroke hitting accuracy decreased by 69% from start to volitional fatigue in the intermittent test ( P ≪ 0.01). Service accuracy to the right court declined by 30% after the intermittent tennis test. The results of this study suggest that fatigue was accompanied by a decline in some but not all tennis skills.
Avoidance of Lower-Limb Amputation by Surgical Implantation of Autologous Stem Cells

A 69-year-old Caucasian man was referred to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas with resting lower-extremity pain and a nonhealing sore above his right ankle (Rutherford chronic ischemia stage 5 of 6) after having failed multiple attempts at revascularization. He was enrolled in a clinical research trial using adult autologous stem cells for treatment of critical limb ischemia. Autologous stem cells from the patient's pelvic bone marrow were harvested, concentrated in the operating room, and reinjected into the lower leg along the vasculature below the level of complete occlusion of the popliteal artery and around the ulcer. After 3 months, the patient had significant improvement in his ankle brachial index, which increased from 0.10 to 0.40 (normal 0.9–1.01), and early healing. After 12 months, the ulcer was fully healed. Healing of the sore has persisted for 3 years.
Are We Closer to Understanding Defibrillation in the Whole Heart?

Electrical dee brillation of the heart by administering a strong electric discharge is currently the only effective therapy for combating sudden cardiac death resulting from ventricular e brillation. Advancements in the clinical procedure of dee brillation in the recent decade have been driven by the device industry, resulting in small-sized and lightweight implantable dee brillators requiring a minimally invasive implantation procedure. However, despite the fastpaced device advancements, the basic electrophysiologic mechanisms that underlie the interaction of the strong electric shock with the self-sustained e brillatory wavefronts remain incompletely understood. A large body or research aimed at unraveling the mechanisms for dee brillation involved mapping the extracellular potential signals on the epicardial surface. Isochrone activation maps were constructed from the measured data. This approach culminated in the development of computer-assisted electrical mapping techniques that could simultaneously record from hundreds of channels. 1 Although a wealth of insight was gained from these experiments with regard to postshock activity in the heart, 2-6 the direct effect of the shock on cardiac tissue remained unknown because of electrical artifacts that prevented recording during and shortly after the shock. 7 The advent of optical mapping techniques that use potentiometric dyes to record e uorescence signals in proportion to local transmembrane potential allowed the investigators to follow the electrical activity before, during, and after the electric shock free of the artifacts associated with conventional electrical mapping. With optical mapping, the direct effect of the shock on the state of the myocardium could be observed, and the ensuing postshock electrical activity correlated directly with the shock-induced change in transmembrane potential. 8
Lipopolysaccharides from Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis Differently Modulate Human Dendritic Cell Functions Resulting in Divergent Prevalence of Th17-Polarized Responses1

Bordetella pertussis and B. parapertussis are the etiological agents of pertussis, yet the former has a higher incidence and is the cause of a more severe disease, in part due to pertussis toxin. To identify other factors contributing to the different pathogenicity of the two species, we analyzed the capacity of structurally different lipooligosaccharide (LOS) from B. pertussis and LPS from B. parapertussis to influence immune functions regulated by dendritic cells. Either B. pertussis LOS and B. parapertussis LPS triggered TLR4 signaling and induced phenotypic maturation and IL-10, IL-12p40, IL-23, IL-6, and IL-1β production in human monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MDDC). B. parapertussis LPS was a stronger inducer of all these activities as compared with B. pertussis LOS, with the notable exception of IL-1β, which was equally produced. Only B. parapertussis LPS was able to induce IL-27 expression. In addition, although MDDC activation induced by B. parapertussis LPS was greatly dependent on soluble CD14, B. pertussis LOS activity was CD14-independent. The analysis of the intracellular pathways showed that B. parapertussis LPS and B. pertussis LOS equally induced IκBα and p38 MAPK phosphorylation, but B. pertussis LOS triggered ERK1/2 phosphorylation more rapidly and at higher levels than B. parapertussis LPS. Furthermore, B. pertussis LOS was unable to induce MyD88-independent gene induction, which was instead activated by B. parapertussis LPS, witnessed by STAT1 phosphorylation and induction of the IFN-dependent genes, IFN regulatory factor-1 and IFN-inducible protein-10. These differences resulted in a divergent regulation of Th cell responses, B. pertussis LOS MDDC driving a predominant Th17 polarization. Overall, the data observed reflect the different structure of the two LPS and the higher Th17 response induced by B. pertussis LOS may contribute to the severity of pertussis in humans.