Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Morphological Computation and Morphological Control: Steps Toward a Formal Theory and Applications

Morphological computation can be loosely defined as the exploitation of the shape, material properties, and physical dynamics of a physical system to improve the efficiency of a computation. Morphological control is the application of morphological computing to a control task. In its theoretical part, this article sharpens and extends these definitions by suggesting new formalized definitions and identifying areas in which the definitions we propose are still inadequate. We go on to describe three ongoing studies, in which we are applying morphological control to problems in medicine and in chemistry. The first involves an inflatable support system for patients with impaired movement, and is based on macroscopic physics and concepts already tested in robotics. The two other case studies (self-assembly of chemical microreactors; models of induced cell repair in radio-oncology) describe processes and devices on the micrometer scale, in which the emergent dynamics of the underlying physical system (e.g., phase transitions) are dominated by stochastic processes such as diffusion.
The Epidemiology of Low Back Pain in the Rest of the World: A Review of Surveys in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries

Study Design. A criteria‐based review of the literature. Summary of Background Data. The literature on the epidemiology of low back pain is accumulating, but for the most part studies are restricted to high‐income countries, which comprise less than 15% of the world's population. Little is known about the epidemiology of low back pain in the rest of the world. Objectives. To address the imbalance in the literature and to review the relatively few studies on the epidemiology of low back pain in low‐ and middle‐income countries. Rates from these studies are contrasted with rates from selected high‐income countries. In reviewing the literature, a hypothesis is tested: low back pain rates are higher in low‐income countries than in high‐income countries, not only because hard physical labor is more prevalent in low‐income countries, but also because, unlike high‐income countries, hard physical labor for older workers in low‐income countries often is unavoidable. Methods. Among other sources, articles for the review come from a search of the MEDLINE bibliographic database, with "back pain" and individual low‐ and middle‐income countries entered as key words. To avoid recall biases, findings specifically on point prevalence are reviewed. Results. Within the categories of low‐income and high‐income countries, low back pain rates vary twofold or more. In comparisons between these categories of countries, rates on the whole are higher among the general populations of selected high‐income countries than among rural low‐income populations; specifically, rates are 2‐4 times higher among Swedish, German, and Belgium general populations than among Nigerian, southern Chinese, Indonesian, and Filipino farmers. Within low‐income countries, rates are higher among urban populations than among rural populations and still higher among workers in particular worksites, referred to as "enclosed workshops. " Conclusions. The disparity in low back pain rates within categories of countries, high‐income and low‐income, calls attention to the high proportion of studies on the epidemiology of low back pain that are methodologically questionable. Recommendations are offered to improve the methodologic quality of this type of study. Conclusions may be drawn from comparisons between studies, although, in the absence of set methodologic standards, they are tentative. The considerably lower rates among populations of low‐income farmers compared with rates of the affluent populations of selected northern European countries indicate that, contrary to the hypothesis proposed here, hard physical labor itself is not necessarily related to low back pain. The higher rates in urban low‐income populations as compared with rates in rural low‐income populations and the sharply higher rates among workers in enclosed workshops of low‐income countries suggest a disturbing trend: low back pain prevalence may be on the rise among vast numbers of workers as urbanization and rapid industrialization proceed.
RNA Synthesis by Vesicular Stomatitis Virus and a Small Plaque Mutant: Effects of Cycloheximide

The synthesis of viral RNA by wild-type vesicular stomatitis virus (L1VSV) and a small, plaque-size mutant (S2VSV) was studied in vitro and in chicken embryo (CE) and mouse L-cell cultures. Virus-specific RNA synthesized in CE or L cells infected with either L1 or S2VSV at low multiplicity was of the same size classes, 12 to 15S, 28S, and 38S. The major differences were in the proportion of RNA produced of each size class. L1VSV always synthesized larger proportions of 38S RNA, and S2VSV produced larger proportions of 12 to 15S RNA. Both S2 and L1VSV exhibited RNA transcriptase activity in vitro and in cell culture. The products of the in vitro reaction were the same, 12 to 15S for both. The products of the virion-associated transcriptase in CE or L-cell cultures in the presence of cycloheximide were also the same for both viruses but differed from the in vitro products in that 28S and 12 to 15S RNA were made. The effects of addition of cycloheximide at various times after infection demonstrated that new protein synthesis is required early (0-2 h) for both S2 and L1VSV to initiate and maintain the normal rate of viral RNA synthesis. However, the overall rate of RNA synthesis in L1VSV infections became independent of protein synthesis after 2 h whereas the rate in S2VSV infections did not. With either virus, synthesis of 38S RNA did not occur in the absence of protein synthesis. Moreover, continuous 38S RNA production required continuous protein synthesis. Production of 38S RNA ceased within 30 min after addition of cycloheximide to S2− or L1VSV-infected CE or L cells that had already begun to synthesize the 38S form. The cycloheximide-induced cessation of 38S RNA synthesis was accompanied by a marked increase in production of 12 to 15S and 28S RNA in L1VSV-infected cells, but no increase in synthesis of small RNA species occurred in S2VSV-infected cells.
Immunological Responses of Hamsters in the Acquired Immune State to Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infection

Protective effects of vaccination of hamsters against Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection, evaluated according to the recovery of mycoplasmas and histopathological changes in the respiratory tract after challenge infection, persisted for at least 6 months after the final vaccination. Serum antibody levels reached a maximum in the second week after the last vaccination and decreased markedly between the first and the third months, but increased again in sera obtained from animals given booster injections. Metabolism‐inhibiting antibodies were detected in bronchial washings of animals showing high resistance obtained by vaccinal or passive immunization. Antiserum transfer was also effective for protection but cell‐mediated immune responses were not demonstrated in any animals up to 6 months after the vaccination. Even after 10 months, suppression of both mycoplasmal proliferation and lung lesions was apparent, and a single dose of the vaccine induced a significant booster effect. These findings suggest that (1) humoral immunity is more important than cell‐mediated immunity in resistance of hamsters to M. pneumoniae pneumonia, and (2) the antibody secreted in the respiratory tract may be involved in the local defense mechanisms.
Evidence that a Metabolic Microcompartment Contains and Recycles Private Cofactor Pools

ABSTRACT Microcompartments are loose protein cages that encapsulate enzymes for particular bacterial metabolic pathways. These structures are thought to retain and perhaps concentrate pools of small, uncharged intermediates that would otherwise diffuse from the cell. In Salmonella enterica, a microcompartment encloses enzymes for ethanolamine catabolism. The cage has been thought to retain the volatile intermediate acetaldehyde but allow diffusion of the much larger cofactors NAD and coenzyme A (CoA). Genetic tests support an alternative idea that the microcompartment contains and recycles private pools of the large cofactors NAD and CoA. Two central enzymes convert ethanolamine to acetaldehyde (EutBC) and then to acetyl-CoA (EutE). Two seemingly peripheral redundant enzymes encoded by the eut operon proved to be essential for ethanolamine utilization, when subjected to sufficiently stringent tests. These are EutD (acetyl-CoA to acetyl phosphate) and EutG (acetaldehyde to ethanol). Obligatory recycling of cofactors couples the three reactions and drives acetaldehyde consumption. Loss and toxic effects of acetaldehyde are minimized by accelerating its consumption. In a eutD mutant, acetyl-CoA cannot escape the compartment but is released by mutations that disrupt the structure. The model predicts that EutBC (ethanolamine-ammonia lyase) lies outside the compartment, using external coenzyme B12 and injecting its product, acetaldehyde, into the lumen, where it is degraded by the EutE, EutD, and EutG enzymes using private pools of CoA and NAD. The compartment appears to allow free diffusion of the intermediates ethanol and acetyl-PO4 but (to our great surprise) restricts diffusion of acetaldehyde.
An optimal control approach to the approximation of fundamental solution groups for lossless wave equations

An approximation for the fundamental solution group for a general class of lossless wave equations is constructed using a recently developed concept of max-plus fundamental solution semigroup that arises in optimal control. In particular, by identifying all solutions of a bounded approximation of a wave equation of interest with the characteristic equations associated with a Hamiltonian, an auxiliary optimal control problem is constructed. As the dynamic programming evolution of the value function of this optimal control problem encapsulates evolution of all possible solutions of the aforementioned characteristic equations, and hence the approximating wave equation of interest, a max-plus fundamental solution semigroup for the optimal control problem can be used to construct the fundamental solution group for this wave equation.
Barriers to Physical Activity in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: Relationship to Physical Activity and Screen Time.

BACKGROUND Individual, social, and community barriers to physical activity (PA) experienced by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make PA participation more difficult and may contribute to increased screen time. METHODS We compared the prevalence of parent-reported barriers to PA among 58 typically developing (TD) children and 53 children with an ASD, 3 to 11 years, and assessed the association between barriers and PA participation and screen time among children with ASD. RESULTS Parents of children with ASD reported significantly more barriers than parents of TD children. Based on parent-report, 60% of children with ASD required too much supervision compared with no TD children (P < .001). Parents of children with ASD were more likely to report that adults lack skills needed to include their child (58%), that their child has few friends (45%), and that other children exclude their child (23%). The number of parent-reported barriers to PA was inversely correlated with the hours spent in PA per year (r = -0.27, P = .05) and positively related to total screen time (r = .32, P < .03). CONCLUSIONS These findings underscore the need for community-based PA programs designed to meet the special requirements of this population and policies that compel schools and other government-supported organizations for inclusion and/or targeted programming.
The Politics of Central Bank Appointments

Monetary delegation to independent central banks is the institutional standard for responsible monetary policy making. Governments overcome their own high inflation biases by delegating policy-making discretion to conservative central bankers with political independence and long terms of appointment. With a formal model of central bank appointments and monetary policy making, I provide results suggesting this canonical result hinges on widespread, empirically false assumptions about the nature of central bank preferences and the economic environment in which monetary policy making occurs. During periods of heightened monetary uncertainty, delegation to an independent central bank is a less effective institutional solution to achieving inflation goals than extant theory suggests. Under realistic economic conditions, monetary delegation can result in economic outcomes even worse than those we would expect if the government had maintained discretion. I test several predictions from the model drawing appointments and monetary policy voting records from central banks in Hungary and the United Kingdom.
A method for assessing emergency department performance using patient outcomes.

OBJECTIVE To determine the rates of correct patient disposition after an ED evaluation. METHODS In a university pediatric hospital, a 25% random sample of ED patients for 4 consecutive months was reviewed, after exclusion of minor injuries and patients triaged to the nonurgent clinic. Patients were categorized into one of 4 outcomes on the basis of inpatient resource use: appropriate admission, inappropriate admission, appropriate release, or inappropriate release. A 10% random sample of released patients was contacted by telephone to detect patients who sought care elsewhere after ED release. RESULTS 642 of 2,682 ED patients (23.9%) were admitted; 159 (24.7%) were inappropriately admitted, and 26 (1.3%) were inappropriately released. The correct identification of the need for hospitalization (sensitivity) was 94.9%, and for release (specificity) 92.7%. Overall, the correct classification rate was 93.1%. Inappropriate admissions were associated with diagnoses of trauma, seizures, and burns. CONCLUSION Inappropriate admissions occur at a substantial rate and occur more commonly than inappropriate releases. The correct disposition of patients is a practical and meaningful outcome-based measure of the quality of ED care. This methodology is suitable for use in other EDs.
Reducing average and peak temperatures of VLSI CMOS digital circuits by means of heuristic scheduling algorithm

This paper presents a BPD (balanced power dissipation) heuristic scheduling algorithm applied to VLSI CMOS digital circuits/systems in order to reduce the global computational demand and provide balanced power dissipation of computational units of the designed digital VLSI CMOS system during the task assignment stage. It results in reduction of the average and peak temperatures of VLSI CMOS digital circuits. The elaborated algorithm is based on balanced power dissipation of local computational (processing) units and does not deteriorate the throughput of the whole VLSI CMOS digital system.
Event Template Generation for News Articles

In this paper we focus on event extraction from Tamil news article. This system utilizes a scoring scheme for extracting and grouping event-specific sentences. Using this scoring scheme eventspecific clustering is performed for multiple documents. Events are extracted from each document using a scoring scheme based on feature score and condition score. Similarly event specific sentences are clustered from multiple documents using this scoring scheme. The proposed system builds the Event Template based on user specified query. The templates are filled with event specific details like person, location and timeline extracted from the formed clusters. The proposed system applies these methodologies for Tamil news articles that have been enconverted into UNL graphs using a Tamil to UNL-enconverter. The main intention of this work is to generate an event based template. Keywords—Event Extraction, Score based Clustering, Segmentation, Template Generation.
Novel and emerging strategies for longitudinal data collection.

PURPOSE To describe novel and emerging strategies practiced globally in research to improve longitudinal data collection. ORGANIZING CONSTRUCT In research studies, numerous strategies such as telephone interviews, postal mailing, online questionnaires, and electronic mail are traditionally utilized in longitudinal data collection. However, due to technological advances, novel and emerging strategies have been applied to longitudinal data collection, such as two-way short message service, smartphone applications (or "apps"), retrieval capabilities applied to the electronic medical record, and an adapted cloud interface. In this review, traditional longitudinal data collection strategies are briefly described, emerging and novel strategies are detailed and explored, and information regarding the impact of novel methods on participant response rates, the timeliness of participant responses, and cost is provided. We further discuss how these novel and emerging strategies affect longitudinal data collection and advance research, specifically nursing research. CONCLUSIONS Evidence suggests that the novel and emerging longitudinal data collection strategies discussed in this review are valuable approaches to consider. These strategies facilitate collecting longitudinal research data to better understand a variety of health-related conditions. Future studies, including nursing research, should consider using novel and emerging strategies to advance longitudinal data collection. CLINICAL RELEVANCE A better understanding of novel and emerging longitudinal data collection strategies will ultimately improve longitudinal data collection as well as foster research efforts. Nurse researchers, along with all researchers, must be aware of and consider implementing novel and emerging strategies to ensure future healthcare research success.
The effect of participation in Denmark’s Innovation Network program

ABSTRACT This paper investigates Denmark’s Innovation Network program which aims to foster cooperation and knowledge sharing on research and innovation between knowledge institutions and companies in an effort to promote knowledge-based growth and productivity. Consistent with recent research on the effects of business network formation, this paper finds that participation in the Innovation Network increases labor productivity and total factor productivity by almost 7 and 13 percent respectively after four years. In addition, participants in the Innovation Network program are about 5 percentage points more likely to participate in other Danish innovation programs in the subsequent four years, explaining one mechanism by which the Innovation Network facilitates productivity growth. Generally, those firms with lower than (industry) median levels of full time equivalent employees realize the largest benefits from program participation. Despite small sample sizes, evidence that particular networks experience even larger gains is presented.
A reliable performance measure to differentiate China’s actively managed open-end equity mutual funds

ABSTRACT We compare different fund performance measures to examine which performance measures can generate risk-adjusted returns between high ranked and low ranked China’s actively managed open-end equity mutual funds. Our results show that only the six-factor (five factors (market, size, b/m, profitability & Investment facotrs) plus a momentum factor) alpha as the performance measure meets the criteria. Separated by the six-factor alpha, better performing funds have a larger asset under management, a better past 6-month cumulative return, a better stock picking ability, and a higher percentage of hybrid funds. Through our sample period from July 2004 to December 2015, the highest ranked quintile funds generate a monthly risk-adjusted return of 0.24% more than the lowest ranked quintile funds and the six-factor alpha reliably selects a better fund portfolio in both bear and bull markets on the basis of both fund return and holding data. Furthermore, our results from fund trading data show that funds with the highest six-factor alpha rank demonstrate a better trading skill in bear markets, suggesting that those better performing funds exhibit their market timing and stock picking abilities when investors need them most.
Improvement of FK506 Production in Streptomyces tsukubaensis by Genetic Enhancement of the Supply of Unusual Polyketide Extender Units via Utilization of Two Distinct Site-Specific Recombination Systems

ABSTRACT FK506 is a potent immunosuppressant that has a wide range of clinical applications. Its 23-member macrocyclic scaffold, mainly with a polyketide origin, features two methoxy groups at C-13 and C-15 and one allyl side chain at C-21, due to the region-specific incorporation of two unusual extender units derived from methoxymalonyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) and allylmalonyl-coenzyme A (CoA), respectively. Whether their intracellular formations can be a bottleneck for FK506 production remains elusive. In this study, we report the improvement of FK506 yield in the producing strain Streptomyces tsukubaensis by the duplication of two sets of pathway-specific genes individually encoding the biosyntheses of these two extender units, thereby providing a promising approach to generate high-FK506-producing strains via genetic manipulation. Taking advantage of the fact that S. tsukubaensis is amenable to two actinophage (ΦC31 and VWB) integrase-mediated recombination systems, we genetically enhanced the biosyntheses of methoxymalonyl-ACP and allylmalonyl-CoA, as indicated by transcriptional analysis. Together with the optimization of glucose supplementation, the maximal FK506 titer eventually increased by approximately 150% in comparison with that of the original strain. The strategy of engineering the biosynthesis of unusual extender units described here may be applicable to improving the production of other polyketide or nonribosomal peptide natural products that contain pathway-specific building blocks.
Radical scavenging activity of Crocus sativus L. extract and its bioactive constituents

Radical scavenging activity is involved in aging processes, antiinflammatory, anticancer and wound healing activity. Hence, in the present study the DPPH radical scavenging activity of a natural product that possesses biological properties, an extract of Crocus sativus L. (saffron), grown in Crocos, Kozani (Greece), and some of its bioactive constituents (crocin, safranal) was studied.
Attentional Problems and Older Drivers

At a society level, there is a responsibility to meet the mobility needs of a growing population of older adults. Simultaneously, it is understood that some older adults will experience behavioral and/or physical changes that may preclude driving at some point in their lives. Because most older adults rely on the automobile to maintain their mobility and independence, there is sometimes reluctance to stop driving when impairments develop. Recent research has been aimed at finding ways to distinguish those drivers who may pose a threat to their own safety, as well as the safety of other road users, from the vast majority of competent drivers. These studies have indicated that measures of visual attention and cognitive function have been successful in distinguishing between these two groups. Finally, because visual attention skills can be improved with training, these findings have important implications for further evaluation of interventions to enhance the skills that underlie safe driving.