Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neotropical primate communities: Effects of disturbance, resource production and forest type heterogeneity

Undisturbed primate communities in the Neotropics are bottom‐up structured as their biomass and species richness can be predicted from fruit production. However, the effects of fruit scarcity and the availability of forest types have not been fully analyzed, and seasonality is expected to differently affect small and large monkeys. The first aim of this study was to examine the effect of contrasting forest types within a location on the temporal variation in fruit production. The second was to assess the relative roles of disturbance, climate, patterns of fruit and leaf production, and plant composition on determining Neotropical primate communities. I compiled population density data for diurnal primate species from 154 sites to calculate species richness and assemblage biomass. Fruit abundance in the study sites was estimated from fruit trap data and phenology transects, and fruit variability was calculated as the monthly coefficient of variation (CV) and the length of the fruit scarcity period (LFSP). The results indicate that fruit production in floodplain forests is generally more variable than in terra firme forests, and this variation decreases in habitats with mixed forest types. Endozoochorous fruit production (based on fruit traps) and litter productivity were good predictors of the biomass of Neotropical primates (R2 = 0.83 and R2 = 0.59, respectively), but neither CV nor LFSP were good predictors. The biomass of large primates was independent of rainfall variation, but the biomass of small and medium sized monkeys was negatively correlated with temporal rainfall variability. Varzea forests tended to show higher biomass than those from terra firme and igapó. These results suggest that the production of fleshy fruits is the best predictor of the structure of primate assemblages in the Neotropics, but the effect of leaf quality and productivity remains to be investigated. Am. J. Primatol. 78:391–401, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Comparison of UV‐induced skin changes in sun‐exposed vs. sun‐protected skin‐ preliminary evaluation by reflectance confocal microscopy

Summary Background UV radiation (UVR) represents the main risk factor for skin cancer. Sunscreens are commonly used to prevent acute and chronic effects of UVR. The efficacy of sunscreens is currently determined by measurement of minimal erythema dose. Reflectance confocal microscopy represents a non‐invasive imaging technique that allows the in‐ vivo characterization of the skin at near histological resolution.
Ultrasound performed by radiologists-confirming the truth about FAST in trauma.

BACKGROUND For hemodynamically stable patients with suspected abdominal injuries, the diagnostic accuracy of computed tomographic scans remains unmatched. Focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) is useful in trauma evaluation to identify intraabdominal fluid early in the unstable patient. In skilled hands, sensitivity is shown to be close to 100%. However, some recent studies have questioned its sensitivity in subgroups at risk of bleeding. In most studies, hemodynamic markers of instability have been limited to hypotension. The purpose of this study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of initial FAST for detection of hemoperitoneum in the potentially unstable patient as judged by objective hemodynamic parameters available early during resuscitation. METHODS Prospective observational study at a major European trauma center. FAST was performed in trauma patients by the trauma team radiologist. The study population consisted of the subgroup deemed potentially unstable on arrival as defined by systolic blood pressure < or =90 mm Hg, pulse rate > or =120, or base deficit > or =8. Results were compared with one of the following reference standards: computed tomographic scan, diagnostic peritoneal lavage, exploratory laparotomy, or observation. RESULTS One hundred and four patients constituted the study group. There were 75 true-negative, 10 false-negative, 16 true-positive, and 3 false-positive FAST results. Sensitivity and specificity were 62% and 96%, positive and negative predictive values 84% and 89%, respectively, and overall accuracy was 88%. CONCLUSION A negative initial FAST in hemodynamically unstable patients, even in the hands of radiologists, cannot reliably exclude intraabdominal bleeding. These patients should undergo additional diagnostic tests to exclude intraperitoneal hemorrhage.
Sperm competition and female remating rate in the scorpionfly

Sperm competition can be a powerful selective force in the evolution of reproductive strategies and mating systems. In studies on sperm competition patterns of sperm use are typically reported as the mean species value of P2, determined as the proportion of offspring sired by the second male to copulate with a doubly mated female. However, the withinspecies variance in P2 has mostly been ignored, although taking this variance into account may be crucial for understanding the underlying mechanisms of sperm competition. Paternity analysis among the offspring of doubly mated females of Panorpa germanica (Mecoptera, Panorpidae) revealed a very high intraspecific variance in P2. The distribution of paternity was found to depend mainly on the proportional duration of both copulations, but with the second male on average having some advantage over the first male. However, for individual males the outcome of sperm competition remains uncertain because variance in P2 is extremely high in this species, irrespective of copulation durations.
Design and development of nasal mucoadhesive microspheres containing tramadol HCl for CNS targeting

In the present study, tramadol HCl microspheres were designed in order to accomplish rapid delivery of drug to the brain. For this purpose, lower viscosity grade HPMC (E15) was chosen as mucoadhesive polymer and used at different drug/polymer ratios in the microspheres formulations. The spray-dried microspheres were evaluated with respect to the production yield, incorporation efficiency, particle size, mucoadhesive property, in vitro drug release, histopathological study, and radio imaging study in rabbits. DSC and XRD study showed molecular dispersion and conversion of the drug into amorphous form. Size and surface morphology of microspheres was analyzed by SEM and found to be spherical in shape with smooth surface. It was found that the particle size, swelling ability, and incorporation efficiency of microspheres increase with increasing drug-to-polymer ratio. Microspheres show adequate mucoadhesion and do not have any destructive effect on nasal mucosa. In vitro drug release of optimized formulation was found to be 94% after 90 min. The radio imaging study indicated localization of drug in the brain. Hence, tramadol HCl microspheres based on a HPMC E15 may be a promising nasal delivery system for CNS targeting.
A design of LMS with order adaptation for feedback echo cancellation in hearing aids

This paper describes a design of a hybrid adaptive filter for feedback echo cancellation in hearing aids. The proposed design utilizes a multiplexing direct form (MDF) FIR filter, and the LMS algorithm with order adaptation in order to reduce a requirement of a chip area and to minimize power consumption wasted in activities of non active taps. The proposed design can operate up to 6.25MS/s, and could save 26% of power consumption compared to a conventional fixed order FIR filter with LMS adaptation.
A Novel Electronically-Controlled Optical Switch

In this paper, we consider a novel approach to an electronically controlled optical switch, which would be able to switch digital optical signals from one waveguide into other, suitable for subsequent optical communication. The switch operates based on the two TE mode interference, and the free-carrier injection from the published driver circuit. The switch designs with 1% refractive index decrease and the driver circuit are both consistent with the existing unmodified 45 nm SOI-CMOS foundry process. Our switch designs with 1% refractive index decrease of Si, have a few hundred times smaller area footprint on the chip, a switching time that is several times shorter, and also several times smaller energy consumption, than the optical switch based on a traditional Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Also, our switch shows reasonably good simulated performance. We derived the analytical model from Maxwell's equations for our switch design, and showed the match with the simulated results and also mode solver calculation results.
1 Distance Measures for Detecting Geo-Social Similarity

This paper investigates the problem of geo-social similarity among users of online social networks, based on the locations of their activities (e.g., posting messages or photographs). Finding pairs of geo-socially similar users or detecting that two sets of locations (of activities) belong to the same user has important applications in privacy protection, recommendation systems, urban planning, public health, etc. It is explained and shown empirically that common distance measures between sets of locations are inadequate for determining geo-social similarity. Two novel distance measures between sets of locations are introduced. One is the mutually nearest distance that is based on computing a matching between two sets. The second measure uses a quad-tree index. It is highly scalable, but incurs the overhead of creating and maintaining the index. Algorithms with optimization techniques are developed for computing the two distance measures and also for finding the k-most similar users of a given one. Extensive experiments, using geo-tagged messages from Twitter, show that the new distance measures are both more accurate and more efficient than existing ones.
Vers une gestion des croyances pour la planification Homme - Robot

Cet article presente une extension d'une approche de planification hierarchique pour la gestion des problemes multi-agents et, plus specialement, pour les problemes d'interaction Homme-Robot dans lesquels un robot et un humain doivent cooperer pour atteindre un but commun. La methode proposee permet de raisonner et de planifier pour des agents qui ont des croyances differentes ou incompletes. Elle s'appuie sur une nouvelle description des croyances des agents et sur un mecanisme permettant de produire et d'inserer des actions de communication dans le plan courant. Ces actions de communication ont pour fonction de transmettre des informations d'un agent a l'autre.
Forecasting CSI 300 index using a Hybrid Functional Link Artificial Neural Network and Particle Swarm Optimization with Improved Wavelet Mutation

Abstract Financial market dynamics forecasting has long been a focus of economic research. A hybridizing functional link artificial neural network (FLANN) and improved particle warm optimization (PSO) based on wavelet mutation (WM), named as IWM-PSO-FLANN, for forecasting the CSI 300 index is proposed in this paper. In the training model, it expands a wider mutation range while apply wavelet theory to the PSO, in order to exploring the solution space more effectively for better parameter solution. In the stimulating experiment, we use five benchmark functions to test the proposed method, and the results shows that IWM-PSO has greater convergence accuracy than WM-PSO and PSO. The empirical research is performed in testing the predictive effects of CSI 300 index in the proposed model compared with the back propagation functional link neural network (BP-FLANN), PSO-FLANN and WM-PSO-FLANN. The experiment utilizes two expansion functions, Chebyshev functions and trigonometric functions, to map the input data to higher dimension. The results show that the prediction performance of the proposed model displays a better performance in financial time series forecasting than other three models. Moreover, the accuracy of the input with trigonometric functions is higher, and it suggests that trigonometric function is more suitable for this kind of data type.
Gene of LukF-PV-like component of Panton-Valentine leukocidin in Staphylococcus aureus P83 is linked with lukM.

Staphylococcus aureus P83 (ATCC 31890) produces five components, I to V for synergistic toxins, leukocidin and gamma-hemolysin [Sudo et al., Biosci. Biotech. Biochem. , 56, 1786-1789 (1995)]. We report here the identification of component II, which is designated LukF-PV(P83) and its gene (lukF-PV(P83)). The lukF-PV(P83) gene was found to be one base downstream of the stop codon of the lukM gene. The deduced amino acid sequence of LukF-PV(P83) showed 78.4% identity with that of LukF-PV. The lukM and lukF-PV(P83) genes were encoded as one operon like that of Panton-Valentine leukocidin.
Burden of Influenza in Children

Heli Silvennoinen Burden of influenza in children Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Turku Annales Universitatis Turkuensis, Medica–Odontologica, Turku, Finland, 2012 Background: Most children with influenza are treated as outpatients but, especially among young children, influenza-attributable illnesses often result in hospitalization. However, relatively scarce data exist on the clinical picture and the full disease burden of pediatric influenza. Prompt diagnosis of influenza could enable the institution of antiviral therapy and adequate cohorting of patients. Data are needed to help clinicians correctly suspect influenza at the time of hospital admission. Aims and methods: We conducted a prospective 2-year cohort study of respiratory infections in children aged ≤13 years to determine the incidence of influenza in outpatient children and to assess the clinical presentation of influenza in various age groups seen in primary care. We also determined the rates of different complications attributable to influenza and the absenteeism of the children and their parents due to the child’s influenza infection. We then conducted a further 16-year retrospective study of children ≤16 years of age, hospitalized with virologically confirmed influenza. We estimated the population-based rates of hospitalizations and determined the primary admission diagnoses of the hospitalized children in different age groups. Results: The average annual rate of influenza was highest (179 / 1000) among children <3 years old. In this age group, acute otitis media was diagnosed as a complication of influenza in 40% of children. High fever was the most prominent sign of influenza, and 20% of children <3 years of age had a fever ≥40oC. Most children had rhinitis already during the first days of the illness. The average annual incidence of influenzarelated hospitalization was highest (276 / 100,000) among infants <6 months of age, of whom 52% were primarily admitted due to sepsis-like illnesses. Respiratory symptoms accounted for 38% of the hospitalizations. Conclusions: Influenza causes a substantial burden of illness on outpatient children and their families. The clinical presentation of influenza is most severe in children <3 years of age. The high incidence of influenza-associated hospitalizations among infants aged <6 months calls for more effective ways to prevent influenza in this age group. The clinical manifestations of influenza vary widely in different age groups of children at the time of hospital admission. Awareness of this phenomenon is important for the early recognition of the illness and the potential initiation of effective antiviral treatment of these patients.
Occlusion, Sternocleidomastoid Muscle Activity, and Body Sway: A Pilot Study in Male Astronauts

Abstract The modifications induced by microgravity on the coordinated patterns of movement of the head, trunk, and limbs are reported on extensively. However, apparently there is little data on the masticatory muscles. In normal gravitational conditions, information from the neck and stomatognathic apparatus play a role in maintaining the body’s balance and equilibrium. The current pilot study used normal gravity conditions to investigate the hypothesis of a functional coupling between occlusion and neck muscles and body postural oscillations. The immediate effect of modified occlusal surfaces on the contraction pattern of the sternocleidomastoid muscles during maximum voluntary clenching and on the oscillation of the center of foot pressure was analyzed in 11 male astronauts (aged 31-54 yrs). All subjects were healthy and free from pathologies of the neck and stomatognathic apparatus. Occlusal splints were prepared using impressions of their dental arches. The splints were modeled on the mandibular arch, had only posterior contacts, and were modified to obtain a more symmetric, standardized contraction of the masseter and temporalis muscles during teeth clenching. Surface EMG activity of the sternocleidomastoid muscles was recorded during a maximal voluntary clench with and without the splint. Sternocleidomastoid potentials were standardized as percent of the mean potentials recorded during a maximum contralateral rotation of the head, and the symmetry of the EMG waves of left- and right-side muscles was measured. Body sway was assessed with and without the splint, either with eyes open or closed. The variations of the center of foot pressure were analyzed through bivariate analysis, and the area of the 90% standard ellipse was computed. Within each visual condition (eyes open or closed), the difference between the areas of oscillation measured with and without the splint was computed. Muscular activity was more symmetric with the splint. The area of oscillation of the center of foot pressure was larger without the splint than with the splint, both with eyes open and eyes closed. The modifications, induced by the occlusal splint in the sternocleidomastoid muscles’ symmetry, and center of foot pressure differential area with closed eyes, were significantly related (p<0.05): the larger the increment in muscular symmetry, the smaller the area of oscillation with the splint as compared to without the splint. A functionally more symmetric maxillo-mandibular position resulted in a more symmetric sternocleidomastoid muscle contraction pattern and less body sway. Modifications in the contraction of the masticatory muscles may therefore affect the whole body.
[Experimental study of intrinsic healing of the flexor tendon: collagen synthesis of the cultured flexor tendon cells of the canine].

The roles of the tendon cells, such as epitenon cells and tenocytes, through the reparative process of the flexor tendon are controversial. This study was performed to investigate the collagen synthesis of cultured tendon cells derived from the sheathed flexor tendons of the canine under electron microscopy using "Floating Sheet" method introduced by Arnold, J. R. , et al (1983). Morphologically epitenon cells gave an appearance of large and oval fibroblasts, while tenocytes were small, spindle shaped fibroblasts. Electron microscopy revealed large amount of collagen and non-collagen fibers in the intercellular spaces of both cell populations. The collagen fibers produced by tenocyte populations were 200 A to 400 A in thickness, whereas those of the cultured epitenon cells ranged from 150 A to 300 A. These results indicated that tenocytes secreted larger and more matured collagen fibers than epitenon cells. Promotion of collagen synthesis by the tenocytes in the early stage of the flexor tendon repair was thought to be more favorable for its quality of the healing process.
A categoria "mercado de trabalho": inspirações da sociologia econômica para um necessário reexame

O artigo problematiza o conceito de mercado de trabalho, tomando por inspiracao a “nova sociologia economica”, ou “sociologia dos mercados”. Primeiramente, caracteriza-se essa abordagem, em especial o contraponto que faz a concepcao economica — classica e neoclassica — de mercado, com seus principios de atomicidade, permeabilidade, transparencia, etc. Na secao seguinte, evidencia-se a radical discrepância entre esses principios, de um lado, e o legado da analise sociologica sobre o trabalho assalariado, de outro. No terceiro momento, tematizam-se as multiplas formas de trabalho social que, escapando a modalidade emprego, reivindicam um tratamento teorico para alem da relacao de compra e venda de forca de trabalho. Sustenta-se que a categoria analitica mercado de trabalho sofreu um processo de naturalizacao, carecendo de exercicios de vigilância epistemologica.
De l'éthique dans la technique comptable

Dans ce chapitre, l'auteur defend la these selon laquelle la comptabilite, dans ses principes et ses concepts fondamentaux, est une technique historiquement infiltree par l'ethique. A l'appui de cette these, il propose une interpretation ethique des principes de prudence et d'unicite du bilan.
Integrated Optimization of Two Design Techniques for Cogging Torque Reduction Combined With Analytical Method by a Simple Gradient Descent Method

This paper presents an integrated optimization process to minimize cogging torque in permanent-magnet (PM) machines by a simple Gradient Descent method. The presented optimization method can be easily achieved in machine design. The design techniques of nonuniformly distributed magnets and teeth are presented to illustrate the optimization process. First, with the assistance of an analytical model deduced, the initial solution and feasible domain of the optimization can be easily identified. Then a simple Gradient Descent method is combined with finite element analysis to perform the optimization within the identified feasible domain. Four representative PM machines-including surface-mounted permanent-magnet synchronous machine (SPMSM), brushless DC machine (BLDC), and interior permanent-magnet synchronous machine (IPMSM)-are designed and optimized by the presented method, respectively. The results verify that the presented optimization process can greatly reduce the cogging torque in PM machines. In addition, it is easily achieved and very time-saving. At last, the influence of the nonuniformly distributed magnets method on load torque is examined.
Hospitalization, Surgery, and Readmission Rates of IBD in Canada: A Population-Based Study

BACKGROUND:We aimed to define the rates of hospitalization and readmission for inflammatory bowel disease in Canada.METHODS:The data source was Statistics Canada Person Oriented Information Database (1994–2001). The number of stays for a diagnosis of Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) by ICD-9-CM code 555 or 556 was extracted (and assessed when CD or UC was the first diagnosis or was 1 of 16 diagnoses on the patient discharge abstract). Age-, gender-, and disease-specific rates of hospitalization, length of stay, readmission, and surgery were assessed.RESULTS:The age-adjusted hospitalization rate for CD declined over 1994–2001 from 29.2 to 26.9/100,000 but was stable for UC at 12.6–13.3 per 100,000. In the 7 yr, 39.4% of CD patients (21.3–24.0%/yr) and 33.7% of UC patients (18.5–20.3%/yr) got readmitted at least once. The average length of stay declined from 10.3 (1994–1995) to 9.1 days (2000–2001) (P = 0.029) in CD and in UC declined from 12.2 to 10.1 days (P = 0.054). Of all hospitalizations, major surgery occurred in 48% of CD (44.8–49.8% per yr) and 55% of UC (51.5–59.0% per yr). CONCLUSIONS:Rates of hospitalization declined slightly for CD over the 7 yr but still remained twice as great as the rates for UC. Approximately 20% of CD and UC subjects got readmitted per year and over 7 yr approximately 35% got readmitted. Major surgery was a more common reason for hospitalization in UC than in CD.