Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Mountain Bike Suspension Systems on Energy Expenditure, Physical Exertion, and Time Trial Performance During Mountain Bicycling

The purpose of this 3-Phase study was to investigate the effects of suspension systems on muscular stress, energy expenditure, and time trial performance during mountain biking. Three suspension systems were tested, a rigid frame bike (RIG), a suspension fork bike (FS), and a front and rear suspension bike (FSR). Phase I and II consisted of cycling at 16.1 km.hr-1 over a flat, bumpy course for 63 min. Phase III consisted of ascending (ATT), descending (DTT), and cross country (XTT) time trials. Phase I assessed muscular stress by 24 h change in CK, Phase II assessed HR, VO2, VE, and Phase III assessed performance responses to the suspension systems. The 24 hr change in CK was greater for RIG than FS and FSR (+91.9 +/- 79.5 IU vs +8.6 +/- 17.5 IU and +9.7 +/- 21.8 IU). Mean HR was greater for RIG than FS and FSR (153.7 +/- 15.6 bpm vs 146.7 +/- 15.4 bpm, 146.3 +/- 16.2 bpm). Subjects rode significantly faster on FS than FSR and RIG during the XTT (30.9 +/- 2.0 min vs 32.3 +/- 3.6 min, 32.3 +/- 3.2 min). Subjects RPE was lower for FSR than FS and RIG, however, no differences were observed for VO2, VE, ATT, or DTT. Cyclists incurred less muscular stress, indicated by CK and HR, when riding the FS and FSR. Although the FS and FSR weigh from 0.7 to 2.2 kg more than RIG, no differences were observed for energy expenditure and that riding the FS in a XTT resulted in a faster finishing time than FSR or RIG.
From Anarchy to Sustainable Development: Scrum in Less than Ideal Conditions

In early 2008, Pyxis Technologies was contracted in the third of a series of projects distributed between Canada and France. This project dwarfed its predecessors in scope and complexity. In over more than a year, it involved more than 30 people in 3 cities. With contributors separated by distance and time zones, organizations and expertise, the challenges faced ranged from organizing and coordinating the teams with Scrum and managing the evolution of the product. Through attention to problems and a willingness to adapt, the team has steered clear of any project-ending problems and managed to maintain a sustainable development pace. This is our story and what we’ve learned along the way.
Intersection Graphs of Segments

Abstract Intersection graphs of segments (the class SEG) and of other simple geometric objects in the plane are considered. The results fall into two main areas: how difficult is the membership problem for a given class and how large are the pictures needed to draw the representations. Among others, we prove that the recognition of SEG-graphs is of the same complexity as the decision of solvability of a system of strict polynomial inequalities in the reals, i.e., as the decision of a special existentially quantified sentence in the theory of real closed fields, and thus it belongs to PSPACE. If the segments of the representation are restricted to lie in a fixed number ( k ) of directions, we show that the corresponding recognition problem is NP-complete for every k ≥ 2. As for the size of representations, we show that the description of any segment representation, specifying the coordinates of the endpoints, may require exponential number of digits for certain n -vertex graphs. One of our main tools is a lemma, saying that given a representation R of a graph by segments, one may construct a larger graph whose each segment representation contains a homeomorphic copy of R .
Implementation and Performance Analysis of Convolution Error Correcting Codes with Code Rate=1/2

Channel coding plays a vital role for the maintenance of quality and reliability in data delivery in a communication system. Practical applications of channel coding includes the area of deep space communication, satellite communication, wireless communication, data transmission etc. Convolution coding is one of large class among them. The main aim of this paper is to elucidate the main features of Convolution coding. This paper explicating the charming reasons which make use of this coding scheme very fluent in long distance communication. Accuracy of data is rationed due to surge in noise level. Various features and performance criteria of encoder and decoder has been discussed which give a pertinent ideas to design convolution code. The code is implemented and analysed with varying the Constraint length, number of memory register at code rate=1/2 in AWGN channel.
Relationships between compressional‐wave and shear‐wave velocities in clastic silicate rocks

New velocity data in addition to literature data derived from sonic log, seismic, and laboratory measurements are analyzed for clastic silicate rocks. These data demonstrate simple systematic relationships between compressional and shear wave velocities. For water-saturated clastic silicate rocks, shear wave veloci­ ty is approximately linearly related to compressional wave velocity and the compressional-to-shear velocity ratio decreases with increasing compressional velocity. Laboratory data for dry sandstones indicate a nearly constant compressional-to-shear velocity ratio with rigidity approximately equal to bulk modulus. Ideal models for regular packings of spheres and cracked solids exhibit behavior similar to the observed water­ saturated and dry trends. For dry rigidity equal to dry bulk modulus, Gassmann's equations predict velocities in close agreement with data from the water-saturated
Role of Information Systems in Empowering Innovation Networks

Open innovation networks, which involve a diverse set of partners, are vital for developing new products and services, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Information systems play a significant role in empowering such networks throughout the entire open innovation process. The full article presents the case of an innovation network in the medical device industry, and identifies the key IS functionalities needed and provides guidelines for CIOs to facilitate innovating in networks.
Semimembranosus ganglion cyst

Ganglion cysts are tumor-like lesions in the soft tissues, generated by mucoid degeneration of the joint capsule, tendon or tendon sheaths on the dorsum of hand, wrist and foot. However, an intratendinous origin for a ganglion cyst is extremely rare. During dissection of the popliteal fossa, a cyst of 2.5 cm×2 cm×0.5 cm was observed in the tendon of right semimembranosus, 3.5 cm above the insertion of the muscle. Contrast X-ray revealed the cyst as not communicating with the knee joint or any adjacent bursae. Histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of ganglion cyst.
microRNAs as prime players in a combinatorial view of evolution

microRNA-mediated gene regulation allows the establishment of complex circuitries acting in many different phases of development and differentiation. MicroRNA genes and their target sites are under Darwinian selection and the idea that microRNAs can act as prime players in determining species identity has been recently speculated. By studying the 3’-untranslated regions (UTRs) of orthologous neuronal genes, we found that, at variance with house-keeping genes, the density of miRNA target sites involved in complex cell networks increased from invertebrates to human, paralleling the increase in species complexity. This suggests that genes contributing to complex cellular functions had a selective advantage for acquiring and potentiate miRNA-mediated regulation.
Ultralong Haul 1.28-Tb/s PM-16QAM WDM Transmission Employing Hybrid Amplification

In order to cope with the foreseeable capacity crunch next-generation optical transmission systems aim to utilize higher order quadrature amplitude modulation formats to achieve spectral efficiency (SE) higher than the current commercial systems. In particular, transmission rates as high as 1 Tb/s are envisioned, employing superchannel configuration achieved by closer than standard 50 GHz placement of Nyquist filtered wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) channels. Moreover, increase in symbol rate of each subcarrier in a superchannel is desired to reduce the number of components per Tb/s and, consequently, overall cost. In this regard, we addressed a series of challenges namely intersymbolinterference (ISI) induced by low-pass filtering of digital-to-analog converter (DAC), intrasuperchannel crosstalk penalties, and selected suitable forward error correction (FEC) code considering limitations of electronic components. Digital preemphasis is employed to mitigate DAC induced ISI, a subcarrier spacing of 1.2 × symbol rate is chosen to limit crosstalk penalties below 0.5 dB in Q2 and a FEC overhead of 23% is established limiting transponder count to four, achieving 1 Tb/s net data rate. The superchannel is assigned a 200-GHz optical spectrum to achieve a SE of 5.0 b/s/Hz, and WDM transmission performance is evaluated over three different kinds of fibers: standard single-mode fiber (SSMF), large area pure silica core fiber (LAPSCF), and large effective area fiber (LEAF), having span lengths of 95/121, 82/164, and 81 km, respectively. The maximum reach of 1-Tb/s superchannel with 8 × 100-Gb/s WDM channels at pre-FEC threshold of 3.37 × 10-2 was found to be 1110, 1921, and 789 km for SSMF, LAPSCF, and LEAF, respectively. Further improvement in transmission performance is achieved by employing hybrid EDFA-Raman amplification, and achievable distance was extended to 2054, 2952, and 1341 km for SSMF, LAPSCF, and LEAF, respectively, at pre-FEC threshold. Mitigation of a nonlinear phase noise employing single-channel digital back propagation resulted in extension of maximum reach up to 2262, 3349, and 1530 km for SSMF, LAPSCF, and LEAF, respectively.
Incorporating the extracellular matrix : new opportunities in cancer research

At least 80% of cancers are carcinomas, or tumours of the epithelia. Traditionally, cell transformation to a cancerous stage was evaluated by anchorage dependent growth, an assay more suited for fibroblasts. More recently, the role of the extracellular matrix (ECM), already established in normal epithelial biology, has come to the fore in the study of carcinomas [1]. The extracellular matrix is composed of several protein families, notably laminins, collagens and fibronectin. This note will be concentrating on ECM proteins most relevant to cancer research.
Design of FIR digital filters with minimum weight representation

This paper proposes an algorithm for the iterative design of FIR digital filters whose coefficients have minimum weight representation. The total number of nonzero bits is limited. In each iteration the coefficient vector is up-dated so that some sets of the amplitude ripples become smaller. The direction is found by solving linear simultaneous equations. The method evaluates the normalized peak ripples in the minimax sense. Several examples show that the proposed method yields superior filter responses compared to the conventional methods.
Performance evaluation of multi-beam massive MIMO using multi-level modulation

Massive MIMO transmission has been attracted much attention as one of key technologies in next-generation mobile communication system, because it enables improvement in service area and interference mitigation by simple signal processing. Multi-beam massive MIMO configuration has proposed that utilizes the beam selection with high power in analog part and blind algorithm such as constant modulus algorithm (CMA) which does not need channel sate information (CSI) is applied in digital part. In this paper, in order to achieve the further higher transmission rate, the amplitude and phase compensation scheme is proposed when using the CMA with amplitude and phase modulation scheme.
Circulating adiponectin levels and mortality in elderly men with and without cardiovascular disease and heart failure.

BACKGROUND High adiponectin levels have been associated with reduced cardiovascular risk but have been shown to predict mortality in those at high risk for vascular disease. We examined the relationship between adiponectin levels and mortality in older men with and without diagnosed cardiovascular disease (CVD) and heart failure. METHODS Prospective study of 4046 men aged 60 to 79 years drawn from general practices in 24 British towns and followed up for a mean of 6 years, during which 734 deaths occurred. The men were divided into the following groups according to the presence of physician-diagnosed CVD and heart failure: (1) those with no CVD or heart failure; (2) those with CVD but without heart failure; and (3) those with heart failure (with or without CVD). RESULTS After adjustment for a wide range of baseline characteristics, adiponectin levels were positively associated with significantly increased all-cause and CVD mortality in men with no diagnosed CVD or heart failure (top third vs bottom third adjusted relative risk, 1.55 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.19-2.02; P = . 002 for trend] vs 1.53 [95% CI, 1.03-2.27; P = . 02 for trend]), as well as in men with diagnosed heart failure ([adjusted relative risk, 2.37 [95% CI, 0.64-8.79; P = .04 for trend] vs 3.43 [95% CI, 0.54-21.70; P = .008 for trend]). No association was seen in those with diagnosed CVD without heart failure. Adjustment for weight loss and renal function made minor differences to these relationships. CONCLUSIONS In older men, high adiponectin levels are associated with increased all-cause and CVD mortality in those with heart failure and those free of CVD. Such observations suggest that adiponectin levels may reflect a balance of both protective and harmful factors.
A new generation of high voltage pulsed power converters

Improving efficiency and flexibility in pulsed power supply technologies are the most substantial concerns of pulsed power systems specifically for plasma generation. Recently, the improvement of pulsed power supply becomes of greater concern due to extension of pulsed power applications to environmental and industrial areas. A current source based topology is proposed in this paper which gives the possibility of power flow control. The main contribution in this configuration is utilization of low-medium voltage semiconductor switches for high voltage generation. A number of switch-diode-capacitor units are designated at the output of topology to exchange the current source energy into voltage form and generate a pulsed power with sufficient voltage magnitude and stress. Simulations have been carried out in Matlab/SIMULINK platform to verify the capability of this topology in performing desired duties. Being efficient and flexible are the main advantages of this topology.
Learning dialogue structures from a corpus

This paper demonstrates some aspects of a plan processor which is a subcomponent of the dialogue module of verb-mobil. We describe how we transfer results from the research area of grammar extraction for the semi-automatic acquisition of plan operators for turn classes. We exploit statistical knowledge acquired during learning the grammar and incorporate top down predictions to enhance the correct analysis of turn classes described. A rst evaluation shows a relative recognition rate of around 70% on unseen data.
Large-Scale Normal Coordinate Analysis for Molecular Structures

We apply truncated RQ-iteration (TRQ) and the Jacobi--Davidson (JD) method to perform vibrational (eigenvalue) analysis for large-scale molecular systems. Both algorithms employ a preconditioned iterative solver to construct a low-dimensional subspace that contains desired vibrational modes. We discuss several strategies for speeding up the eigenvalue calculation. In particular, we illustrate how to construct effective preconditioners and analyze the quality of these preconditioners. We show that convergence can be improved by choosing appropriate shifts and deflating the translational and rotational modes. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the efficiency of our computation.
Variation in ICU risk-adjusted mortality: impact of methods of assessment and potential confounders.

BACKGROUND Federal and state agencies are considering ICU performance assessment and public reporting; however, an accurate method for measuring performance must be selected. In this study, we determine whether a substantial variation in ICU mortality performance still exists in modern ICUs, and compare the predictive accuracy, reliability, and data burden of existing ICU risk-adjustment models. METHODS A retrospective chart review of 11,300 ICU patients from 35 California hospitals from 2001 to 2004 was performed. We calculated standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for each hospital using the mortality probability model III (MPM(0) III), the simplified acute physiology score (SAPS) II, and the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) IV risk-adjustment models. We compared discrimination, calibration, data reliability, and abstraction time for the models. RESULTS Regardless of the model used, there was a large variation in SMRs among the ICUs studied. The discrimination and calibration were adequate for all risk-adjustment models. APACHE IV had the best discrimination (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC], 0.892) compared to MPM(0) III (AUC, 0.809), and SAPS II (AUC, 0.873; p < 0.001). The models differed substantially in data abstraction times, as follows: MPM(0)III, 11.1 min (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.7 to 13.4); SAPS II, 19.6 min (95% CI, 17.0 to 22.2); and APACHE IV, 37.3 min (95% CI, 28.0 to 46.6). CONCLUSIONS We found substantial variation in the ICU risk-adjusted mortality rates that persisted regardless of the risk-adjustment model. With unlimited resources, the APACHE IV model offers the best predictive accuracy. If constrained by cost and manual data collection, the MPM(0) III model offers a viable alternative without a substantial loss in accuracy.
Stimulation of bone marrow colony growth in vitro by human urine.

Using a new technic of bone marrow culture in agar, urine samples from 50 humans have been tested for their ability to stimulate the formation of granulocyte—mononuclear cell growth in vitro. Significant colony stimulating activity has been found with 25 out of 50 unconcentrated urine samples from both normal humans and patients with a variety of disease states.
The effect of temperature on the sodium and potassium permeability changes in myelinated nerve fibres of Xenopus laevis

The purpose of the present investigation was to determine the effects which changes in temperature have on the constants governing the permeability changes in the myelinated nerve fibre. Voltage clamp experiments were carried out with the node under investigation at various temperatures. The membrane current records so obtained were then analysed as in previous investigations (Frankenhaeuser, 1960, 1963) and the rate constants am, Pm' Oh /Ah, oan and fn, and the permeability constants PNa and P'K were calculated. The temperature coefficients (Qlo) were then determined from these data.
Hypothesis-Driven Approach for the Identification of Fecal Pollution Sources in Water Resources

Water resource management must strive to link catchment information with water quality monitoring. The present study attempted this for the field of microbial fecal source tracking (MST). A fecal pollution source profile based on catchment data (e.g., prevalence of fecal sources) was used to formulate a hypothesis about the dominant sources of pollution in an Austrian mountainous karst spring catchment. This allowed a statistical definition of methodical requirements necessary for an informed choice of MST methods. The hypothesis was tested in a 17-month investigation of spring water quality. The study followed a nested sampling design in order to cover the hydrological and pollution dynamics of the spring and to assess effects such as differential persistence between parameters. Genetic markers for the potential fecal sources as well as microbiological, hydrological, and chemo−physical parameters were measured. The hypothesis that ruminant animals were the dominant sources of fecal pollution in the catchment was clearly confirmed. It was also shown that the concentration of ruminant markers in feces was equally distributed in different ruminant source groups. The developed approach provides a tool for careful decision-making in MST study design and might be applied on various types of catchments and pollution situations.
Neuropharmacological Treatment of Mental Dysfunction in Parkinson’s Disease

Many patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) experience significant cognitive and mood impairment -even early in the course of the disease. These mental impairments are only partially responsive to levodopa treatment and are often as disabling as the motor impairment, particularly in mid and late stages of the disease. Investigators have recently begun a search for new agents that can effectively treat mental dysfunction of PD. Although there have been only a handful of properly controlled clinical trials of interventions targeted at amelioration of mental dysfunction in PD, progress has been made. Based on the available evidence, targeting catecholaminergic and cholinergic function may be an effective strategy for amelioration of cognitve, mood and psychiatric disturbances in PD.
Integrating perspectives on vocal performance and consistency

SUMMARY Recent experiments in divergent fields of birdsong have revealed that vocal performance is important for reproductive success and under active control by distinct neural circuits. Vocal consistency, the degree to which the spectral properties (e.g. dominant or fundamental frequency) of song elements are produced consistently from rendition to rendition, has been highlighted as a biologically important aspect of vocal performance. Here, we synthesize functional, developmental and mechanistic (neurophysiological) perspectives to generate an integrated understanding of this facet of vocal performance. Behavioral studies in the field and laboratory have found that vocal consistency is affected by social context, season and development, and, moreover, positively correlated with reproductive success. Mechanistic investigations have revealed a contribution of forebrain and basal ganglia circuits and sex steroid hormones to the control of vocal consistency. Across behavioral, developmental and mechanistic studies, a convergent theme regarding the importance of vocal practice in juvenile and adult songbirds emerges, providing a basis for linking these levels of analysis. By understanding vocal consistency at these levels, we gain an appreciation for the various dimensions of song control and plasticity and argue that genes regulating the function of basal ganglia circuits and sex steroid hormones could be sculpted by sexual selection.