Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
L'applicazione della partita doppia in Italia e in Spagna nel XVI secolo documentata dalle opere di due autori: Angelo Pietra e Salvador Bartolomé de Solorzano

L’articolo si propone di realizzare un’analisi comparata tra due opere che hanno visto la luce entrambe sul finire del XVI sec. : la prima e Indirizzo degli economi scritta dal frate benedettino Angelo Pietra pubblicata a Mantova, mentre l’altra e Libro de caxa y manual de cuentas de mercaderes di Salvador Bartolome de Solorzano pubblicato a Madrid. L’interesse principale risiede nella pubblicazione quasi contemporanea dei due trattati, nel 1586 quello del Pietra e nel 1590 quello del Solorzano, che permette di indagare sul modo con cui il metodo della partita doppia era trattato in quegli anni in due diversi contesti territoriali e culturali a circa 100 anni dalla pubblicazione del Tractatus particularis De Computis et Scripturis di Pacioli avvenuta nel 1494 in cui vi e la prima spiegazione sistematica del funzionamento di questo metodo contabile. Sembra di qualche interesse verificare quanto di simile vi e nelle due opere, testimonianza di conoscenze o di un sentire comune tra i due ambienti di riferimento, e quanto invece di difforme, dimostrazione delle differenze culturali esistenti o di diversi percorsi di sedimentazione e di sviluppo dei saperi. I due contesti economico-culturali sono particolarmente interessanti dimostrandosi, per diversi punti di vista, particolarmente vivaci: l’Italia e la patria di adozione della partita doppia, mentre la Spagna nel cinquecento si dota di una legislazione contabile all’avanguardia. Queste due mirabili opere, essendo state realizzate sul finire del secolo, possono essere considerate come significative espressioni dello stato dell’arte della cultura contabile dei due ambienti in quel determinato periodo storico.
The Apoptotic Ligands TRAIL, TWEAK, and Fas Ligand Mediate Monocyte Death Induced by Autologous Lupus T Cells1

Individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus show evidence of a significant increase in monocyte apoptosis. This process is mediated, at least in part, by an autoreactive T cell subset that kills autologous monocytes in the absence of nominal Ag. We have investigated the apoptotic pathways involved in this T cell-mediated process. Expression of the apoptotic ligands TRAIL, TNF-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK), and Fas ligand on lupus T cells was determined, and the role of these molecules in the monocyte apoptotic response was examined. We report that these apoptotic ligands mediate the autologous monocyte death induced by lupus T cells and that this cytotoxicity is associated with increased expression of these molecules on activated T cells, rather than with an increased susceptibility of lupus monocytes to apoptosis induced by these ligands. These results define novel mechanisms that contribute to increased monocyte apoptosis characterizing patients with lupus. We propose that this mechanism could provide a source of potentially antigenic material for the autoimmune response and interfere with normal clearing mechanisms.
Enhancing different phases of artificial bee colony for continuous global optimisation problems

The working of basic ABC algorithm depends on the functioning of three categories of bees; the employed bees, the onlooker bees and the scout bees. Although, employed and onlooker bees have different functionality, they follow the same equation for exploration and exploitation. Obviously, the performance of ABC greatly depends on single equation. In order to provide a variation in the working of ABC, we propose the use of different equations in the employed bee and onlooker bee phase. The new mechanism proposed by us for the movement of the bees is based on the convex linear combination of three candidate solutions. This scheme is initially embedded in the employed bees phase while the original equation is maintained for the onlooker bees. In the second variation the basic equation for employed bees is retained while for onlooker bees, different equation is used. The simulation results when compared with DE and ABC demonstrate that the modification increases efficiency and capability in terms of balancing exploration and exploitation as well as the accelerating the convergence rate of the ABC.
Orientation of collagen in wound healing.

Abstract Skin incisions were made in each of adult female white Yorkshire pigs. One set of 3 incisions was made on the back and one on the side of the animal. In each site one incision was longitudinal, another transverse to the length of the animal, and a third was longitudinal but at an angle of about 45° to the surface. Disposition of fibroblasts, new reticulin and collagen fibres was studied at 5, 15 and 30 days after the operations. No significant differences in fibre alignment were seen between the longitudinal and the transverse, and the back and the flank wounds. In the oblique wounds the cells and fibres ran in the direction of the incision and perpendicular to it rather than in relation to the direction of the pre-existing collagen. The data indicate that the orientation of cells and fibres might be due to chemotactic influence of the traumatized area rather than to mechanical factors or to pre-existing structural arrangement.
NBTI mechanism in ultra-thin gate dielectric - nitrogen-originated mechanism in SiON

We have investigated the mechanism of negative bias temperature (NBT) degradation of p/sup +/-gate p-MOSFETs having SiON and SiO/sub 2/ films. As a result, it was found that NBT degradation of SiO/sub 2/ is improved by fluorine incorporation, while no effect is observed in that of SiON, and that the activation energy of NBT degradation in SiON is lower than that in SiO/sub 2/. From these experimental results, it is inferred that nitrogen-originated NBT degradation dominates NBT degradation in SiON. It was also found that non-energetic holes existing in the inversion layer contribute to NBT degradation for both SiON and SiO/sub 2/ films, and that the oxide field is indispensable for NBT degradation.
Backtesting Expected Shortfall: Accounting for Tail Risk

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BIS) has recently sanctioned Expected Shortfall (ES) as the market risk measure to be used for banking regulatory purposes, replacing the well-known Value-at-Risk (VaR). This change is motivated by the appealing theoretical properties of ES as a measure of risk and the poor properties of VaR. In particular, VaR fails to control for "tail risk". In this transition, the major challenge faced by financial institutions is the unavailability of simple tools for evaluation of ES forecasts (i.e. backtesting ES). The main purpose of this article is to propose such tools. Specifically, we propose backtests for ES based on cumulative violations, which are the natural analogue of the commonly used backtests for VaR. We establish the asymptotic properties of the tests, and investigate their finite sample performance through some Monte Carlo simulations. An empirical application to three major stock indexes shows that VaR is generally unresponsive to extreme events such as those experienced during the recent financial crisis, while ES provides a more accurate description of the risk involved.
A Simplified Approach to Human Islet Quality Assessment

Background. The successful treatment of patients with type 1 diabetes by islet transplantation is affected by a multitude of factors of which infusion of the highest quality tissue is essential. The current standard pretransplant quality assessments lack sensitivity, accuracy, and objectivity in the determination of islet viability and potency. We hypothesized that a multiparametric approach focused on islet cell metabolic state, mitochondrial integrity, and in vitro glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) could provide data predictive of in vivo function. The objective of this study was to validate a novel set of islet quality assays and develop a simplified islet quality scoring system for both basic research and clinical applications. Methods. A series of 42 human islet preparations were screened using standard and novel methods, which included determination of yield, viability by fluorescent microscopy, GSIS, percentage of islet loss in culture, quantification of adenine nucleotides, flow cytometric measurement of viability, apoptosis, and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). In vivo functional potency was tested by minimal model transplant in streptozotocin-induced diabetic NOD.scid mice. Results. Functionally potent islet preparations showed significantly greater numbers of cells with polarized MMP, higher ATP-to-ADP ratios, and increased glucose-induced insulin secretion. The MMP, ATP-to-ADP ratio, and GSIS data were combined into a single islet scoring formula that showed more than 86% accuracy in predicting in vivo functional potency. Conclusions. Our study demonstrates that a multiparametric approach using objective assessments focused on islet cell mitochondrial integrity and in vitro function can provide data predictive of in vivo function.
Localization, Tracking, and Separation of Sound Sources for Cognitive Robots

An artificial auditory system plays an important role for the perception system of cognitive robots, as it complements a robot's other senses as a source of information. Hearing is essential to detect events that are purely acoustic in nature, because these events cannot be perceived by any of the other senses. Furthermore, sound propagates in all directions and hearing a sound does not require a direct line of sight between a sensor and an acoustic event. A cognitive robot's hardware and field of application impose specific requirements and constraints that existing algorithms for artificial auditory systems generally do not meet. This thesis investigates individual components of robot auditory systems, particularly focussing on the data processing modules for sound source localization, tracking, and separation. The localization module determines the positions of active sound sources, while the tracking module filters the localized positions and follows the source movement over time. For robots in unconstrained dynamical environments, both modules have to be able to process multiple simultaneously active sources from observations that are subject to reverberation and noise. The separation module estimates the original source signals from the recorded observations, which contain convolved mixtures of the original signals. Since robots must be able to quickly react to acoustic events, only a small algorithmic latency is acceptable for all three modules. Additionally, the complexity of the algorithms must be kept low, as the computational resources on robots are generally limited. This thesis presents algorithms for the three mentioned auditory system modules that are explicitly tailored to the requirements of cognitive robots. The localization algorithm operates in the time-frequency domain and exploits signal sparseness to estimate the positions of multiple sources. The tracking algorithm uses particle filters with bimodal observation probability densities to postprocess localization results. The separation algorithm is based on binary masking and shares its computations with the localization module to keep its complexity low. The performance of the algorithms is evaluated and compared to state-of-the-art techniques in elaborate real-world experiments. The evaluations reveal that the presented algorithms perform better than state-of-the-art techniques, while simultaneously operating inside the requirements and constraints of robotic systems.
Circumstances of death in adult sickle cell disease patients

The purpose of the study was to analyze clinical and/or autopsy findings at the time of death among adults with sickle cell disease (SCD) at Howard University in Washington, DC over a 25‐year period. A single physician recorded circumstances of death among 141 adult SCD patients he treated and knew well from 1976 to 2001. These findings were determined by autopsy report and/or clinical assessment. In a subset of 31 patients, autopsy records were reviewed for reports of iron deposition in liver and heart and of organ pathology. One hundred and fourteen (80.9%) of the patients had SS phenotype and 66 (46.8%) were female. The mean ± SD age at death was 36 ± 11 years. Leading circumstances of death included pulmonary hypertension (PHT) (26.2%), sudden death (23.4%), renal failure (22.6%), infection (18.4%), thromboembolism (14.9%), cardiac diagnoses (12.0%), cirrhosis (11.3%), pneumonia or acute chest syndrome (9.9%), bleeding (7.8%), and iron overload (7.0%). When circumstances of deaths that occurred after 1991 (n = 69) were compared to those that occurred in 1991 or earlier (n = 72), PHT (36.2% vs. 16.6%; P < 0.01) was significantly more common in 1992 or later. Significant associations were found between PHT and thromboembolism and between cirrhosis and iron overload. In this proportional mortality study of adults with SCD, PHT was the leading finding at the time of death. Thromboembolism was associated with PHT, and iron overload was associated with cirrhosis. Am. J. Hematol. , 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Levo-alpha-acetylmethadol (LAAM) versus methadone: treatment retention and opiate use.

AIMS To compare the effects of levo-alpha-acetylmethadol (LAAM) and methadone maintenance (MM) on treatment retention and abstinence from opiate use. DESIGN A two-group experimental design with patients randomly assigned (2 : 1 LAAM : MM) to receive LAAM (three doses per week) or methadone (daily dosing). SETTING A community clinic in Los Angeles, California. PARTICIPANTS A total of 315 patients seeking LAAM or methadone maintenance. INTERVENTION LAAM or methadone maintenance, plus ancillary services available to all patients. LAAM and methadone dose levels varied according to clinical judgement. Electrocardiograms were administered to LAAM patients monthly. MEASUREMENTS Treatment status at 26-week follow-up and number of days retained in treatment, weekly clinical urine tests and 26-week research urine test. FINDINGS LAAM and methadone patients did not differ on treatment retention. LAAM patients were less likely to test positive for opiate use during treatment (40% versus 60%) and at 26-week follow up (39.8% versus 60.2%). Benefits of LAAM were confined to patients (n = 204) still in treatment at 26 weeks (33% positive in patients receiving LAAM and 61% in patients receiving methadone). No adverse events, cardiological or otherwise, were observed with LAAM administration. CONCLUSIONS LAAM is an effective medication for the treatment of opiate dependence with clinical advantages due not only to the reduction of opiate use but also to the alternate-day dosing schedule. LAAM may be more effective than methadone in promoting abstinence from opiate use among patients for whom LAAM is an acceptable alternative to methadone.
Determinantes sociales de la salud de la OMS en mujeres mexicanas con el virus de papiloma

Uno de los temas centrales de la OMS es el analisis de los problemas de salud mediante el modelo de Determinantes Sociales de la Salud (DSS: inadecuadas condiciones economicas, ambientales y de alimentacion). El sistema sanitario de la OMS ha asociado algunas enfermedades tal como el Virus de Papiloma Humano (VPH) con los DSS. Desde el punto de vista de investigacion cuantitativa, los DSS reportados por la OMS son: 1) edad de inicio de la actividad sexual, 2) multiples companeros sexuales, 3) estrato socioeconomico y 4) sistema inmunitario debilitado. En Mexico, hasta el momento las investigaciones cualitativas en poblacion de mujeres mexicanas con VPH son nulas. Objetivos: identificar los DSS en mujeres mexicanas con VPH mediante una investigacion cualitativa. Material y Metodos: diseno cualitativo-descriptivo. La poblacion estuvo conformada por 1800 mujeres con VPH atendidas en consulta externa de un hospital de tercer nivel. De este total solo a 9 mujeres se seleccionaron para entrevista a profundidad (Metodo de Saturacion) Minayo. Mediante el metodo de saturacion se obtuvieron las unidades de significado, categorias y subcategorias. Resultados: se identificaron cinco categorias. 1. Determinantes conductuales, 2. Ingreso y situacion economica, 3. Educacion para la salud, 4. Estilos de vida y 5. Servicios de salud; utilizando el metodo de saturacion. De estas categorias se obtuvieron nueve subcategorias. Las categorias con mayor saturacion fueron: determinantes conductuales, (subcategorias: relacion de pareja y relacion sexual) e ingreso y situacion economica (subcategorias: apoyo economico de pareja e ingreso personal).
UK universities reluctant to collaborate with NHS for benefit of patients

The head of the UK’s first collaborative business venture between the NHS and academia has heavily criticised the reluctance of universities to get involved in health and boost patient care and outcomes. Professor Stephen Smith, who is chief executive and principal of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Britain’s first academic health science centre (AHSC), was speaking at the annual conference of the NHS Confederation, held in Manchester last week. Academic health science centres aim to speed up the translation of academic research into better and more effective treatment …
Velocity and temperature cross-scaling in turbulent thermal convection

We analyse simultaneous velocity and temperature measurements in turbulent thermal convection. Our results show the existence of a cross-scaling between the normalized velocity and temperature structure functions, as implied by the Bolgiano–Obukhov scaling, at the centre of the convection cell. We find that the cross-scaling exponents are, however, different from the values implied by the Bolgiano–Obukhov scaling.
What's Up Down There? Microbial Diversity in Caves Microorganisms in caves survive under nutrient-poor conditions and are metabolically versatile and unexpectedly diverse

In studying metabolic versatility, microbial ecologists often focus on those microbes that grow in extremes of temperature, osmolarity, pressure, and pH; however, these physical settings often contain microbes within high-energy systems such as sulfidic hot springs or photosynthetically driven biofilm communities. The vast majority of microbial species are not situated within such energetically favorable settings. Rather, they eke out existences under extremes of near-starvation or oligotrophy, defined as having less than 2 mg of total organic carbon (TOC) per liter. With diverse oligotrophic communities found in oceans, sediments, and within the subsurface, researchers are attempting to understand how various microbial species manage to live under such nutrient-poor conditions. Amid this heightened interest, access to such oligotrophic environments remains challenging, and doing research at such sites often requires very costly equipment, including oceangoing vessels or subsurface drilling equipment.
Cation conduction in the calcium release channel of the cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum under physiological and pathophysiological conditions.

OBJECTIVE The aim was to perform a theoretical and experimental study of the possible variations in Ca2+ current through the open cardiac sarcoplasmic reticular Ca2+ release channel under the ionic conditions associated with physiological and pathophysiological states. METHODS The sheep cardiac sarcoplasmic reticular Ca2+ release channel was purified and reconstituted into planar phospholipid bilayers for study under voltage clamp conditions. Single channel current-voltage relationships were measured under putative physiological conditions with 1, 5, and 10 mM intraluminal Ca2+. The mathematics of a computer model based on Eyring rate theory were extended to include the interactions of three permeant ions. RESULTS A model used previously to describe ionic conduction under simpler ionic conditions was able to predict the interaction of Ca2+, Mg2+, and K+ in the probable physiological range over the voltage range of interest. The predicted Ca2+ current under ionic conditions proposed to occur at the end of diastole is sensitive to relatively small changes in holding potential which suggests the need for adequate charge compensation across the sarcoplasmic reticular membrane. Theoretically, it was predicted that variations in intraluminal Ca2+, such as may occur in Ca2+ overload and other conditions, and variations in cytosolic Mg2+, which may occur in myocardial stunning, may significantly affect Ca2+ flux through the open Ca2+ release channel. CONCLUSIONS Variations in permeant ion concentration such as may occur in physiological and pathophysiological states may significantly affect the quantity of Ca2+ released from the cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum.
The fundamental theorem of algebra and complexity theory

1. The main goal of this account is to show that a classical algorithm, Newton's method, with a standard modification, is a tractable method for finding a zero of a complex polynomial. Here, by "tractable" I mean that the cost of finding a zero doesn't grow exponentially with the degree, in a certain statistical sense. This result, our main theorem, gives some theoretical explanation of why certain "fast" methods of equation solving are indeed fast. Also this work has the effect of helping bring the discrete mathematics of complexity theory of computer science closer to classical calculus and geometry. A second goal is to give the background of the various areas of mathematics, pure and applied, which motivate and give the environment for our problem. These areas are parts of (a) Algebra, the "Fundamental theorem of algebra," (b) Numerical analysis, (c) Economic equilibrium theory and (d) Complexity theory of computer science. An interesting feature of this tractability theorem is the apparent need for use of the mathematics connected to the Bieberbach conjecture, elimination theory of algebraic geometry, and the use of integral geometry. Before stating the main result, we note that the practice of numerical analysis for solving nonlinear equations, or systems of such, is intimately connected to variants of Newton's method; these are iterative methods and are called fast methods and generally speaking, they are fast in practice. The theory of these methods has a couple of components; one, proof of convergence and two, asymptotically, the speed of convergence. But, not usually included is the total cost of convergence. On the other hand, there is an extensive theory of search methods of solution finding. This means that a region where a solution is known to exist is broken up into small subsets and these are tested in turn by evaluation; the process is repeated. Here it is simpler to count the number of required steps and one has a good knowledge of the global speed of convergence. But, generally speaking, these are slower methods which are not used by the practicing numerical analyst. The contrast between the theory and practice of these methods, in my