Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bone mineral content and bone mineral metabolism: changes after growth hormone treatment in juvenile chronic arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether growth hormone (rhGH) affects bone mineral metabolism and bone mineral content (BMC, g/cm) in a therapeutic trial of recombinant growth hormone in growth retarded children with juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA) treated with steroid. METHODS BMC was measured in 20 children (of whom 17 were treated with corticosteroid) before and after one year of rhGH. Children were randomized to receive either low dose (12 IU/m2/week) or high dose (24 IU/m2/week) for one year. Three monthly assessments were made of disease activity and anthropomorphic measurements. Blood and urine samples were also obtained to measure indicators of disease activity, bone remodeling, and vitamin D and parathyroid hormone (PTH) status. RESULTS BMC increased during the treatment period and correlated with increasing height. Osteocalcin levels, normally indicators of bone formation, increased after rhGH treatment and correlated significantly with height velocity, particularly for the high dose treatment group. In contrast, osteocalcin levels were negatively correlated with C-reactive protein levels, both before and during treatment. Height velocity, vitamin D, PTH, and osteocalcin levels were significantly lower than age matched controls before treatment. CONCLUSION Steroid treated children with both JCA and severe growth retardation have reduced vitamin D, PTH, and osteocalcin levels. After treatment with rhGH, height velocity increased, as did BMC. Growth hormone might be a useful adjunct in the treatment of severe growth retardation and osteoporosis in children with JCA. The longterm benefits of rhGH in the treatment of osteoporosis remain unclear.
Membrane resistance in endolymphatic walls of the first turn of the guinea-pig cochlea.

Microelectrodes were inserted into the three scalae of the first turn, and resistance measurements were fitted to a model having six pathways. The six pathways with average resistance values are (1) blood vessels inside the cochlea to the outside of the bulla—1.6 kΩ, (2) blood vessels inside the cochlea to scala tympani—0.6 kΩ, (3) blood vessels inside the cochlea to scala vestibuli—0.8 kΩ, (4) blood vessels inside the cochlea via the stria vascularis to scala media—13 kΩ, (5) scala media direct to scala tympani (organ of Corti)—24 kΩ, (6) scala media direct to scala vestibuli (Reissner's membrane) 46 kΩ. There was no indication of a need to include a direct pathway from scala tympani to scala vestibuli. The “length constant” of scala media in the first turn is about 2.0 mm. The resistance changes due to moderate sound were found to be small, but measurable. Changes of resistance with anoxia showed first a decrease and then an increase in the resistance from scala media to ground.
Modelling the behaviour of management operations in TOSCA

Managing complex applications over heterogeneous clouds is one of the emerging problems in the cloud era. The OASIS Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Applications (TOSCA) aims at solving this problem by providing a language to describe and manage complex cloud applications in a portable and vendor-agnostic way. TOSCA permits to define an application as an orchestration of components, whose types can specify states, requirements, capabilities and management operations --- but not how they interact with each other. In [1][2], we already discussed a simple extension of TOSCA that permits describing the behaviour of a component's management operations and their relations with its states, requirements, and capabilities. The objective of this short report is to show how to enrich the TOSCA modelling language to provide such extension.
Gait selection in the ostrich: mechanical and metabolic characteristics of walking and running with and without an aerial phase

It has been argued that minimization of metabolic–energy costs is a primary determinant of gait selection in terrestrial animals. This view is based predominantly on data from humans and horses, which have been shown to choose the most economical gait (walking, running, galloping) for any given speed. It is not certain whether a minimization of metabolic costs is associated with the selection of other prevalent forms of terrestrial gaits, such as grounded running (a widespread gait in birds). Using biomechanical and metabolic measurements of four ostriches moving on a treadmill over a range of speeds from 0.8 to 6.7 m s−1, we reveal here that the selection of walking or grounded running at intermediate speeds also favours a reduction in the metabolic cost of locomotion. This gait transition is characterized by a shift in locomotor kinetics from an inverted–pendulum gait to a bouncing gait that lacks an aerial phase. By contrast, when the ostrich adopts an aerial–running gait at faster speeds, there are no abrupt transitions in mechanical parameters or in the metabolic cost of locomotion. These data suggest a continuum between grounded and aerial running, indicating that they belong to the same locomotor paradigm.
mRNA Expression and Transport Characterization of Conditionally Immortalized Rat Brain Capillary Endothelial Cell Lines; a New in vitro BBB Model for Drug Targeting

Abstract Brain capillary endothelial cell lines (TR-BBB) were established from a recently developed transgenic rat harboring temperature-sensitive simian virus 40 (ts SV 40) large T-antigen gene (Tg rat) and used to characterize the endothelial marker, transport activity, and mRNA expression of transporters and tight-junction strand proteins at the blood-brain barrier (BBB). These cell lines expressed active large T-antigen and grew well at 33°C with a doubling-time of about 22-31 hr, but did not grow at 39°C. TR-BBBs expressed the typical endothelial marker, von Willebrand factor, and exhibited acetylated low-density lipoprotein uptake activity. Although the γ-glutamyltranspeptidase activity in TR-BBBs was ~13% of that of the brain capillary fraction of a normal rat, it was localized in the apical side, suggesting that it reflects the functional polarity of the in vivo BBB. The mRNA of tight-junction strand proteins such as claudine-5, occludin, and junctional adhesion molecule are expressed in TR-BBB 13. Drug efflux transporter, P-glycoprotein, with a molecular weight of 170 kDa was expressed in all TR-BBBs and mdr 1a, mdr 1b, and mdr 2 mRNA were detected in TR-BBBs using RT-PCR. Moreover, mrp1 mRNA was expressed in all TR-BBBs. Influx transporter, GLUT-1, expressed at 55 kDa was revealed by Western blot analysis. It had 3-O-memyl-D-glucose (3-OMG) uptake activity which was concentration-dependent with a Michaelis-Menten constant of 9.86 ± 1.20 mM. The mRNA of large neutral amino acid transporter, which consists of LAT-1 and 4F2hc was expressed in TR-BBBs. In conclusion, the conditionally immortalized rat brain capillary endothelial cell lines (TR-BBB) had endothelial makers, expressed mRNA for tight-junction strand proteins and the influx and efflux transporters and produced GLUT-1, which is capable of 3-OMG transport activity.
Solid-State Transformer Architecture Using AC–AC Dual-Active-Bridge Converter

Modern development of semiconductor power-switching devices has promoted the use of power electronic converters as power transformers at the distribution level. This paper presents an ac–ac dual-active-bridge (DAB) converter for a solid-state transformer. The proposed converter topology consists of two active H-bridges and one high-frequency transformer. Four-quadrant switch cells are used to allow bidirectional power flow. Because power is controlled by the phase shift between two bridges, output voltage can be regulated when input voltage changes. This paper analyzes the steady-state operation and the range of zero-voltage switching. It develops a switch commutation scheme for the ac–ac DAB converters. Experimental results from a scaled-down prototype are provided to verify the theoretical analysis.
Patient predictors of response to cognitive behaviour therapy and schema therapy for depression

Objective: Few studies have examined differential predictors of response to psychotherapy for depression. Greater understanding about the factors associated with therapeutic response may better enable therapists to optimise response by targeting therapy for the individual. The aim of the current exploratory study was to examine patient characteristics associated with response to cognitive behaviour therapy and schema therapy for depression. Methods: Participants were 100 outpatients in a clinical trial randomised to either cognitive behaviour therapy or schema therapy. Potential predictors of response examined included demographic, clinical, functioning, cognitive, personality and neuropsychological variables. Results: Individuals with chronic depression and increased levels of pre-treatment negative automatic thoughts had a poorer response to both cognitive behaviour therapy and schema therapy. A treatment type interaction was found for verbal learning and memory. Lower levels of verbal learning and memory impairment markedly impacted on response to schema therapy. This was not the case for cognitive behaviour therapy, which was more impacted if verbal learning and memory was in the moderate range. Conclusion: Study findings are consistent with the Capitalisation Model suggesting that therapy that focuses on the person’s strengths is more likely to contribute to a better outcome. Limitations were that participants were outpatients in a randomised controlled trial and may not be representative of other depressed samples. Examination of a variety of potential predictors was exploratory and requires replication.
Hepatitis C Virus Infection and Increased Risk of Cerebrovascular Disease

Background and Purpose— The association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and cerebrovascular disease remains controversial. This study aimed to assess the risk of lethal cerebrovascular diseases associated with chronic HCV infection. Methods— In this community-based prospective cohort study, 23 665 residents (aged 30 to 65 years) were enrolled in 1991 to 1992. They were personally interviewed using structured questionnaires and provided blood samples for various serological and biochemical tests at study entry. Serum HCV RNA level and HCV genotype were tested for participants seropositive for antibodies against HCV (anti-HCV). Deaths from cerebrovascular disease during follow-up were ascertained by computerized linkage with National Death Certification profiles from 1991 to 2008 (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision 430 to 438). Multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio with 95% CI was estimated for each risk predictor. Results— There were 255 cerebrovascular deaths during 382 011 person-years of follow-up. The cumulative risk of cerebrovascular deaths was 1.0% and 2.7% for seronegatives and seropositives of anti-HCV, respectively (P<0.001). The hazard ratio (95% CI) of cerebrovascular death was 2.18 (1.50 to 3.16) for anti-HCV seropositives after adjustment for several conventional risk factors of cerebrovascular disease. Compared with participants seronegative for anti-HCV as the referent, the multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio (95% CI) was 1.40 (0.62 to 3.16), 2.36 (1.42 to 3.93), and 2.82 (1.25 to 6.37), respectively, for anti-HCV-seropositive participants with undetectable, low, and high serum levels of HCV RNA (P<0.001 for trend). However, no significant association was observed between HCV genotype and cerebrovascular death. Conclusions— Chronic HCV infection is an independent risk predictor of cerebrovascular deaths showing a biological gradient of cerebrovascular mortality with increasing serum HCV RNA level.
Stability Analysis of Positive Switched Linear Systems With Delays

This technical note addresses the stability problem of delayed positive switched linear systems whose subsystems are all positive. Both discrete-time systems and continuous-time systems are studied. In our analysis, the delays in systems can be unbounded. Under certain conditions, several stability results are established by constructing a sequence of functions that are positive, monotonically decreasing, and convergent to zero as time tends to infinity (additionally continuous for continuous-time systems). It turns out that these functions can serve as an upper bound of the systems' trajectories starting from a particular region. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the obtained results.
Human Action Forecasting by Learning Task Grammars

For effective human-robot interaction, it is important that a robotic assistant can forecast the next action a human will consider in a given task. Unfortunately, real-world tasks are often very long, complex, and repetitive; as a result forecasting is not trivial. In this paper, we propose a novel deep recurrent architecture that takes as input features from a two-stream Residual action recognition framework, and learns to estimate the progress of human activities from video sequences -- this surrogate progress estimation task implicitly learns a temporal task grammar with respect to which activities can be localized and forecasted. To learn the task grammar, we propose a stacked LSTM based multi-granularity progress estimation framework that uses a novel cumulative Euclidean loss as objective. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed architecture, we showcase experiments on two challenging robotic assistive tasks, namely (i) assembling an Ikea table from its constituents, and (ii) changing the tires of a car. Our results demonstrate that learning task grammars offers highly discriminative cues improving the forecasting accuracy by more than 9% over the baseline two-stream forecasting model, while also outperforming other competitive schemes.
Approximability of the Ground State Problem for Certain Ising Spin Glasses

We consider polynomial time algorithms for finding approximate solutions to the ground state problem for the following three-dimensional case of an Ising spin glass: 2nspins are arranged on a two-level grid with at mostn? vertical interactions (0 ? 1). The main results are:1.Let12? 0 such that every approximate polynomial time algorithm has absolute error greater than sn? infinitely often, unlessP=NP.2. Let ? = 1. There is an approximate polynomial time algorithm with absolute error less thann/lgn; there exists a numberk> 1 such that every approximate polynomial time algorithm has absolute error greater thann/(lgn)kinfinitely often iffNP? > 0DTIME(2n? ).
On the sum of L 1 influences

For a real-valued function p over the Boolean hypercube the L1-influence of p is defined to be ∑n i=1 Ex∈{−1,1}n [ |p(x)−p(x)| 2 ] , where the string x is defined by flipping the i-th bit of x. For Boolean functions the notion of L1 influence will coincide with the usual notion of influences defined as ∑n i=1 Ex∈{−1,1}n [ |p(x)−p(x)| 4 ] . For general [−1, 1]-valued functions, however, the L1-influence can be much larger than its L2 counterpart. In this work, we show that the L1-influence of a bounded [−1, 1]-valued function p can be controlled in terms of the degree of p’s Fourier expansion, resolving affirmatively a question of Aaronson and Ambainis (Proc. Innovations in Comp. Sc., 2011). We give an application of this theorem to the maximal deviation of cut-value of graphs. We also discuss the relationship between the study of bounded functions over the hypercube and the quantum query complexity of partial functions which was the original context in which Aaronson and Ambainis encountered this question.
Compressive Sensing for radar STAP

We present a technique that merges Compressive Sensing and Wiener filtering (denoted as CS-Wiener) and compares it to standard Wiener filtering (denoted as Std-Wiener) in radar detection and estimation in a Space-Time Adaptive Processing application. The method leverages an inherent similarity in the Generalized Sidelobe Canceller transformation to that of the Compressive Sensing sampling function, namely its broadband, random or `white' characteristic. We illustrate a data sampling reduction factor of 84% by using a CS-Wiener algorithm as compared to Std-Wiener approaches, while achieving approximately identical performance in SINR and subsequent radar detection performance.
La commercialisation des vins "en primeur"

Cette these propose une analyse de la commercialisation des vins en primeur. Le chapitre 1 presente les caracteristiques de cette vente ainsi qu' une revue de la litterature analysant le role de certains marches financiers. Le chapitre 2 fournit une justification a l' engouement des acheteurs pour le marche vinicole bordelais entre 1995 et 1999. Nous montrons qu' un investissement dans le vin primeur a procure des rendements significativement meilleurs qu' un investissement sur le marche boursier. En revanche, hors marche primeur, un portefeuille contenant vins et actifs financiers n' a ete que rarement plus performant qu' un portefeuille classique. Le chapitre 3 etudie le role des ventes en primeur dans le financement des producteurs. Dans un modele ou une asymetrie d' information entre banques et viticulteurs cree un probleme de rationnement de credit, nous etudions le role certificateur de ces ventes. Nous montrons qu' en raison des possibilites de collusion entre producteur et negociant, cette commercialisation n' est utilisee qu' a des fins de financement. Elle resout neanmoins le probleme de rationnement de credit. Le chapitre 4 etudie les offres d' achats anticipes comme un moyen de couverture contre un choc sur la demande. Si le producteur ne peut s' engager sur le prix futur, il rencontre un probleme de credibilite intertemporelle. Nous montrons que ce probleme se resout par le rationnement de la demande en premiere periode. Seuls les producteurs averses au risque choisissent de vendre a l' avance et rationnent la demande.
Peri-operative myocardial infarction

Patients with, or at risk for, cardiac disease have a 3,9% (95% confidence interval (CI) 3,3% – 4,6%) chance of suffering a major peri-operative cardiac event.1 This is associated with a significant in-hospital mortality of 15 - 25%, and subsequent cardiovascular death or myocardial infarction at 6 months (hazard ratio 18; 95% CI 6 – 57). 1 This paper focuses on our understanding of the pathophysiology of peri-operative myocardial infarction, the flaws associated with the proposed definition of peri-operative myocardial infarction, and the management of peri-operative myocardial infarction.
New acoustic velocity measurements on CaO-MgO-Al 2 O 3-SiO 2 liquids : Reevaluation of the volume and compressibility of CaMgSi 2 O 6-CaAl 2 Si 2 O 8 liquids to 25 GPa

[1] Relaxed sound speed measurements on 12 liquids in the CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 (CMAS) system have been performed from 1410 to 1620 C at 1 bar with a frequency sweep acoustic interferometer. In all liquids, the sound speeds either decrease or remain constant with increasing temperature. These data are combined with those in the literature to calibrate models for bT and (@V/@P)T as a function of composition and temperature for CMAS liquids. CaO is the only oxide component that contributes to the temperature dependence of compressibility. The new compressibility models permit the bulk modulus (KT,0) of CaMgSi2O6 (Di), CaAl2Si2O8 (An), and the Di64-An36 eutectic liquid to be directly obtained. These results are used to uniquely constrain values for the pressure dependence of the bulk modulus (K0 0 = dK0/dP) in a third-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state (EOS) for these three liquids from shock wave data in the literature. The revised K0 0 value is 6.8 (versus 6.9) for CaMgSi2O6 liquid, 4.7 (versus 5.3) for CaAl2Si2O8 liquid, and 5.6 (versus 4.85) for Di64-An36 liquid. Information on both KT,0 and K0 0 allows the density and compressibility for each of these three liquids to be calculated as a function of pressure to 25 GPa. Both the molar volume and isothermal compressibility of CaMgSi2O6-CaAl2Si2O8 liquids mix ideally between 0 and 25 GPa. The dominant mechanism of compression at low pressure (0–5 GPa) for all three liquids (CaMgSi2O6, CaAl2Si2O8, and the Di64-An36 eutectic) is topological, whereas gradual Al/Si coordination change plays an increasingly important role at higher pressure as topological mechanisms of compression are diminished.
SVM modeling on slow time varying system and online correction studying

The problem of identification and online correction for slow time-varying system has become a hotspot. Based on the traditional modeling algorithm and their shortages, in this paper, the intelligence algorithm AO-SVM is studied intensively. Because of the defects of AO-SVM, such as the sampling deletion strategy and instability of the algorithm, the improved AO-SVM which is combined with ZD-SVM is proposed. The simulation results show that the improved algorithm ensures the accuracy of modeling and avoids the data saturation.
Scientific evidence supporting folic acid fortification of flour in Australia and New Zealand.

BACKGROUND Fortification of flour with folic acid is a safe, sustainable, and cost-effective approach for preventing spina bifida and anencephaly, and it is likely to confer multiple health benefits to the adult population. Scientists and advocates are bringing this intervention to the attention of policymakers in countries around the world, and consequently the demand for sound, science-backed policy rationale is increasing. METHODS We recently prepared this scientific review for scientists, physicians, and advocates who were promoting mandatory folic acid fortification of flour in Australia and New Zealand. This short document references the most relevant published scientific data and national and international recommendations from other countries and presents an argument for fortification based on demonstrated need, proven effectiveness, safety, and multiple health benefits. CONCLUSIONS With some modifications, this document could be utilized in other countries considering fortification of flour or other staple products with folic acid.
Keynote address: discipline and chaos

There is no poetry in NERR Proceedings. So I'm going to rectify that and start with a few lines from a poem by W.H. Auden that have both amused and taunted me since I read them over 30 years ago. Entitled, "Under Which Lyre," it was the Phi Beta Kappa poem, delivered at Harvard University, in 1946. Auden compared the lyres of Apollo and Hermes to convey his concerns with changes he saw happening in America's universities. Two verses in early parts in the piece establish the main point, followed by Auden's advice in the closing verses.
An Improved Cross-Layer Privacy-Preserving Authentication in WAVE-Enabled VANETs

In 2013, Biswas and Misic proposed a new privacy-preserving authentication scheme for WAVE-based vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), claiming that they used a variant of the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA). However, our study has discovered that the authentication scheme proposed by them is vulnerable to a private key reveal attack. Any malicious receiving vehicle who receives a valid signature from a legal signing vehicle can gain access to the signing vehicle private key from the learned valid signature. Hence, the authentication scheme proposed by Biswas and Misic is insecure. We thus propose an improved version to overcome this weakness. The proposed improved scheme also supports identity revocation and trace. Based on this security property, the CA and a receiving entity (RSU or OBU) can check whether a received signature has been generated by a revoked vehicle. Security analysis is also conducted to evaluate the security strength of the proposed authentication scheme.