LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Voxel-based morphometric comparison between early- and late-onset mild Alzheimer's disease and assessment of diagnostic performance of z score images.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Voxel-based morphometry (VBM), used for detecting brain atrophy, permits comparison of local gray matter concentration at every voxel in an image between two groups. We sought to delineate the specific patterns of cerebral gray matter loss with regard to onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD) by using MR imaging and VBM and to evaluate the diagnostic performance of VBM with Z score images.


METHODS
Two groups of 30 patients with mild AD of different ages of onset were examined. Mean ages in the early- and late-onset groups were 60.2 +/- 5.2 and 71.5 +/- 2.6 years, respectively. Control subjects were aged-matched healthy volunteers. Regions of gray matter loss in early- and late-onset AD were examined with VBM. Diagnostic performance of Z score images obtained with the VBM method was evaluated in patients and control subjects by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (A(z)).


RESULTS
Both AD groups had significantly reduced gray matter in the bilateral medial temporal regions. In addition, the early-onset group had more severe gray matter loss in the bilateral parietal and posterior cingulate cortices and precuneus region. No difference was noted in diagnostic performance of Z score images between the early- (A(z) = 0.9435) and late-onset (A(z) = 0.9018) groups.


CONCLUSION
Differences were noted in the patterns of regional gray matter loss in patients with early-onset AD versus those with late-onset AD. Parietotemporal and posterior cingulate gray matter loss was found in early-onset AD but not in late-onset AD. Z score images obtained with VBM had a great diagnostic performance for mild AD and can be applied for detecting mild AD in clinical examinations.
What to Preserve? An Application of Diversity Theory to Crane Conservation

This paper attempts to demonstrate how "diversity theory" can be applied to the analysis of real-world conservation policies. The specific example chosen to serve as a paradigm concerns preservation priorities among the fifteen species of cranes living wild throughout the world. The example is sufficiently actual to show how diversity theory can be used operationally to frame certain critical conservation questions and to guide us toward answers by providing informative quantitative indicators of what to protect. At the same time the cranes example is rich enough that it illustrates nicely some broad general principles about the economics of diversity preservation.
Five minutes of extended assisted ventilation with an open umbilical trocar valve significantly reduces postoperative abdominal and shoulder pain in patients undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomy.

OBJECTIVE
Residual carbon dioxide contributes substantially to pain following laparoscopic surgery. We evaluated the effects of extended assisted ventilation (EAV) with an open umbilical trocar valve for five additional minutes following laparoscopic hysterectomy on postoperative abdominal and shoulder pain levels. We also examined whether a combination of EAV and trocar site infiltration (TSI) with lidocaine could further reduce postoperative pain levels.


STUDY DESIGN
In this prospective randomized trial, the effectiveness of EAV and EAV/TSI in reducing postoperative abdominal and shoulder pain were compared with that of a standard treatment regime in 283 patients undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomy (total or supracervical). Pain levels were evaluated by self-assessment questionnaire using a numeric rating scale (NRS) and by postoperative piritramid requirement, a surrogate parameter for postoperative analgesic drug requirement. The incidence of nausea and vomiting was also assessed.


RESULTS
Compared with the standard treatment regime, EAV reduced abdominal pain levels significantly at 3h (NRS score, 3.21 ± 1.56 vs. 4.73 ± 1.71) and 24h (3.82 ± 1.49 vs. 4.95 ± 1.68) postoperatively (both p < 0.01). EAV also significantly reduced shoulder pain at 24h (EAV vs. control, 4.28 ± 1.51 vs. 5.14 ± 1.49) and 48 h (3.64 ± 1.66 vs. 4.22 ± 1.43) postoperatively (both p < 0.01). Patients in the EAV group had significantly lower piritramid requirements compared with standard treatment at 3h post-operatively (4.28 ± 2.09 mg vs. 6.31 ± 2.21 mg; p<0.01). EAV/TSI showed no additional benefit in terms of pain reduction compared with EAV alone. Incidences of postoperative nausea and vomiting were not reduced by EAV or EAV/TSI.


CONCLUSION
EAV was found to be an effective and safe method to reduce postoperative pain levels in patients undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomy.
Toward intelligent flight control

Flight control systems can benefit by being designed to emulate functions of natural intelligence. Intelligent control functions fall in three categories. Declarative actions involve decision making, providing models for system monitoring , goal planning, and systemlscenario identification. Procedural actions concern skilled behavior and have parallels in guidance, navigation, and adaptation. Reflexive actions are more or less spontaneous and are similar to inner-loop control and estimation. Intelligent flight control systems will contain a hierarchy of expert systems, procedural algorithms, and computational neural networks, each expanding on prior functions to improve mission capability, to increase the reliability and safety of flight, and to ease pilot workload.
Progressive preclinical interstitial lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis.

BACKGROUND
Early detection and treatment for interstitial lung disease (ILD) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may ameliorate disease progression. The objective of this study was to identify asymptomatic lung disease and potential therapeutic targets in patients having RA and preclinical ILD (RA-ILD).


METHODS
Sixty-four adults with RA and 10 adults with RA and pulmonary fibrosis (RAPF) were referred to the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, and underwent high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and pulmonary physiology testing. Proteins capable of modulating fibrosis were quantified in alveolar fluid.


RESULTS
Twenty-one of 64 patients (33%) having RA without dyspnea or cough had preclinical ILD identified by HRCT. Compared with patients without lung disease, patients with RA-ILD had statistically significantly longer histories of cigarette smoking (P< .001), increased frequencies of crackles (P= .02), higher alveolar-arterial oxygen gradients (P= .004), and higher HRCT scores (P< .001). The HRCT abnormalities progressed in 12 of 21 patients (57%) with RA-ILD. The alveolar concentrations of platelet-derived growth factor-AB and platelet-derived growth factor-BB were statistically significantly higher in patients having RA-ILD (mean [SE], 497.3 [78.6] and 1473 [264] pg/mL, respectively) than in patients having RA without ILD (mean [SE], 24.9 [42.4] and 792.7 [195.0] pg/mL, respectively) (P< .001 and P=.047, respectively). The concentrations of interferon gamma and transforming growth factor beta(2) were statistically significantly lower in patients having RAPF (mean [SE], 5.59 [1.11] pg/mL and 0.94 [0.46] ng/mL, respectively) than in patients having RA without ILD (mean [SE], 14.1 [1.9] pg/mL and 2.30 [0.39] ng/mL, respectively) (P=.001 and P=.006, respectively) or with preclinical ILD (mean [SD], 11.4 [2.6] pg/mL and 3.63 [0.66] ng/mL, respectively) (P=.04 and P=.007, respectively). Compared with patients having stable RA-ILD, patients having progressive RA-ILD had statistically significantly higher frequencies of treatment using methotrexate and higher alveolar concentrations of interferon gamma and transforming growth factor beta(1) (P=.046, P=.04, and P=.04, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
Asymptomatic preclinical ILD, which is detectable by HRCT, may be prevalent and progressive among patients having RA. Cigarette smoking seems to be associated with preclinical ILD in patients having RA, and treatment using methotrexate may be a risk factor for progression of preclinical ILD. Quantification of alveolar proteins indicates that potential pathogenic mechanisms seem to differ in patients having RA-ILD and symptomatic RAPF.
Synthesis and properties of zirconium carbide film on graphite

In this study, synthesis and properties of zirconium carbide on graphite will be introduced. CVD temperature and H 2 flow affect properties of ZrC film. The increased temperature and increased size of crystal ZrC reduce flatness of the surface; contrarily, the increased flow of H 2 and decreased size of crystal flatten the surface of porous film. The obtained results showed that CVD condition is suitable for producing uniform, consistent and flat ZrC film: temperature 1200 o C; H 2 flow at 20 ml/min; flows of Ar, gas at 30, 80 ml/min, respectively; ZrCl 4 8 g/time, CVD time 1 hour.  Phase components of ZrC film mainly consist of two principal phases ZrC and carbon. Film thickness ranges from 10.5-15.5 mm; film coating is uniform, non-crack, and highly compact and the film’s medium hardness is 1943 kG/mm 2 . Keywords: Zirconium carbide, film, graphite, CVD.
Multiliteracies: interrogating competing discourses

The term ‘multiliteracies’ was coined by the New London Group in 1996 to describe the emergence of new literacies and changing forms of meaning making in contemporary contexts of increased cultural and linguistic diversity. The proliferation of powerful, multimodal literacies means that previous conceptions of literacy as ‘writing and speech’ are collapsing. Educators and researchers worldwide are rethinking literacy pedagogy to enable students to participate fully in our dynamic, technological and culturally diverse societies. This paper interrogates competing discourses that have arisen in academic literature during the decade since multiliteracies originated. This scholarly debate is timely because multiliteracies are receiving increasing international interest in literacy research, pedagogy and educational policy.
Pose-Space Animation and Transfer of Facial Details

This paper presents a novel method for real-time animation of highly-detailed facial expressions based on a multi-scale decomposition of facial geometry into large-scale motion and fine-scale details, such as expression wrinkles. Our hybrid animation is tailored to the specific characteristics of large- and fine-scale facial deformations: Large-scale deformations are computed with a fast linear shell model, which is intuitively and accurately controlled through a sparse set of motion-capture markers or user-defined handle points. Fine-scale facial details are incorporated using a novel pose-space deformation technique, which learns the correspondence of sparse measurements of skin strain to wrinkle formation from a small set of example poses. Our hybrid method features real-time animation of highly-detailed faces with realistic wrinkle formation, and allows both large-scale deformations and fine-scale wrinkles to be edited intuitively. Furthermore, our pose-space representation enables the transfer of facial details to novel expressions or other facial models.
An Exploration of Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions of Learning to Teach while Using Asynchronous Discussion Board

Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their own learning are important to the ways they integrate technology into their practices. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the pre-service teachers’ perspectives of asynchronous discussion board (ADB) as a tool of learning to teach. ADB was integrated into two literacy courses for 33 pre-service teachers over 16 weeks. Data were collected through oral interviews, written reflections, and participants’ postings on the discussion board. The data were analyzed using Chi’s (1997) framework of verbal analysis method. The findings indicated that the participants perceived ADB as an important tool of learning to teach because it promoted situated learning, facilitated a social construction of knowledge, and afforded customized learning experiences.
Distribution Matching Losses Can Hallucinate Features in Medical Image Translation

This paper discusses how distribution matching losses, such as those used in CycleGAN, when used to synthesize medical images can lead to mis-diagnosis of medical conditions. It seems appealing to use these new image synthesis methods for translating images from a source to a target domain because they can produce high quality images and some even do not require paired data. However, the basis of how these image translation models work is through matching the translation output to the distribution of the target domain. This can cause an issue when the data provided in the target domain has an over or under representation of some classes (e.g. healthy or sick). When the output of an algorithm is a transformed image there are uncertainties whether all known and unknown class labels have been preserved or changed. Therefore, we recommend that these translated images should not be used for direct interpretation (e.g. by doctors) because they may lead to misdiagnosis of patients based on hallucinated image features by an algorithm that matches a distribution. However there are many recent papers that seem as though this is the goal.
On the dynamic model of a two-wheeled inverted pendulum robot

Currently existing dynamic models for a two-wheeled inverted pendulum mobile robot have some common mistakes. In order to find where the errors of the dynamic model are induced, Lagrangian method and Kane's method are compared in deriving the equation of motion. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the effect of the incorrect terms. Finally, a complete dynamic model is proposed without any error and missing terms.
Evaluating web site design

The webpage aesthetics is one of the factors that affect the way people are attracted to a site. But two questions emerge: how can we improve a webpage's aesthetics and how can we evaluate this item? In order to solve this problem, we identified some of the theory that is underlying graphic design, gestalt theory and multimedia design. Based in the literature review, we proposed principles for web site design. We also propose a tool to evaluate web design.
Soluble Forms and Ligands of the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End-Products in Patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: An Observational Prospective Study

BACKGROUND
The main soluble form of the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (sRAGE) is elevated during acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). However other RAGE isoforms and multiple ligands have been poorly reported in the clinical setting, and their respective contribution to RAGE activation during ARDS remains unclear. Our goal was therefore to describe main RAGE isoforms and ligands levels during ARDS.


METHODS
30 ARDS patients and 30 mechanically ventilated controls were prospectively included in this monocenter observational study. Arterial, superior vena cava and alveolar fluid levels of sRAGE, endogenous-secretory RAGE (esRAGE), high mobility group box-1 protein (HMGB1), S100A12 and advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) were measured in duplicate ELISA on day 0, day 3 and day 6. In patients with ARDS, baseline lung morphology was assessed with computed tomography.


RESULTS
ARDS patients had higher arterial, central venous and alveolar levels of sRAGE, HMGB1 and S100A12, but lower levels of esRAGE and AGEs, than controls. Baseline arterial sRAGE, HMGB1 and S100A12 were correlated with nonfocal ARDS (AUC 0.79, 0.65 and 0.63, respectively). Baseline arterial sRAGE, esRAGE, S100A12 and AGEs were associated with severity as assessed by PaO2/FiO2.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first kinetics study of levels of RAGE main isoforms and ligands during ARDS. Elevated sRAGE, HMGB1 and S100A12, with decreased esRAGE and AGEs, were found to distinguish patients with ARDS from those without. Our findings should prompt future studies aimed at elucidating RAGE/HMGB1/S100A12 axis involvement in ARDS.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01270295.
Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach

(PDF) Computer Architecture A Quantitative Approach Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, Fifth Edition, explores the ways that software and technology in the cloud are accessed by digital media, such as cell phones, computers, tablets, and other mobile devices. The book, which became a part of Intel's 2012 recommended reading list for developers, covers the revolution of mobile computing.
Predictors of change in unmet supportive care needs in cancer.

OBJECTIVE
Patient Reported Outcome (PRO) assessments can assist health professionals to tailor their health practices to the individual needs of patients and improve patient care over time. The present study assessed prospective predictors of unmet supportive care needs in cancer patients over a six-month period.


METHODS
Participants were recruited from a regional cancer treatment centre in Australia and completed the Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS) at recruitment (n=439; 61.4% response rate) and six months follow-up (n=396). Hierarchical logistic regression was used to identify predictors of change in unmet needs across each supportive care domain. Predictor variables were socio-demographic, treatment and psychosocial factors including depression, anxiety, social support, and patient satisfaction.


RESULTS
Unmet needs were reported by approximately two-thirds of patients at baseline and half of patients at six months follow-up. Having unmet needs at baseline was the strongest predictor of unmet needs at six months. Longer time since diagnosis was a consistent predictor of greater unmet needs, associated with change in physical/daily living, psychological and health system and information unmet needs over time. By contrast, a complex relationship was found in that patient satisfaction, psychosocial and treatment characteristics predicted higher needs in some domains and lower needs in others.


CONCLUSIONS
Unmet supportive care needs persist over time and psychological needs may emerge later in the illness continuum. Interventions to meet the needs of longer term cancer survivors are needed and should closely articulate with reported supportive care needs.
Human motion tracking for rehabilitation - A survey

Human motion tracking for rehabilitation has been an active research topic since the 1980s. It has been motivated by the increased number of patients who have suffered a stroke, or some other motor function disability. Rehabilitation is a dynamic process which allows patients to restore their functional capability to normal. To reach this target, a patients’ activities need to be continuously monitored, and subsequently corrected. This paper reviews recent progress in human movement detection/tracking systems in general, and existing or potential application for stroke rehabilitation in particular. Major achievements in these systems are summarised, and their merits and limitations individually presented. In addition, bottleneck problems in these tracking systems that remain open are highlighted, along with possible solutions. # 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Crisis in the periodic Lorentz gas.

The attractor of the nonequilibrium Lorentz gas covers the whole of the accessible phase space at small values of the field. Here we investigate the transition from this state to a state with fractal support, corresponding to a discontinuity in the box dimension as a function of field. A number of numerical techniques are employed, the most effective involving symbolic dynamics. It is found that above the transition, the dynamics is effectively irreversible in a manner not evident below the transition. A similar crisis occurs at different spacings and rotation angles. @S1063-651X~96!10111-2#
Parameterized maneuver learning for autonomous helicopter flight

Many robotic control tasks involve complex dynamics that are hard to model. Hand-specifying trajectories that satisfy a system's dynamics can be very time-consuming and often exceedingly difficult. We present an algorithm for automatically generating large classes of trajectories for difficult control tasks by learning parameterized versions of desired maneuvers from multiple expert demonstrations. Our algorithm has enabled the successful execution of several parameterized aerobatic maneuvers by our autonomous helicopter.
Empirical Analysis of Detection Cascades of Boosted Classifiers for Rapid Object Detection

Recently Viola et al. have introduced a rapid object detection scheme based on a boosted cascade of simple feature classifiers. In this paper we introduce and empirically analysis two extensions to their approach: Firstly, a novel set of rotated haar-like features is introduced. These novel features significantly enrich the simple features of [6] and can also be calculated efficiently. With these new rotated features our sample face detector shows off on average a 10% lower false alarm rate at a given hit rate. Secondly, we present a through analysis of different boosting algorithms (namely Discrete, Real and Gentle Adaboost) and weak classifiers on the detection performance and computational complexity. We will see that Gentle Adaboost with small CART trees as base classifiers outperform Discrete Adaboost and stumps. The complete object detection training and detection system as well as a trained face detector are available in the Open Computer Vision Library at sourceforge.net [8].
Cancer caregiving tasks and consequences and their associations with caregiver status and the caregiver’s relationship to the patient: a survey

Seriously ill patients often depend on their informal caregivers to help and support them through the disease course. This study investigated informal cancer caregivers’ experiences of caregiving tasks and consequences and how caregiver status (primary vs. non-primary caregiver) and the caregiver’s relationship to the patient (spouse/partner, etc.) are related to these experiences. In a cross-sectional questionnaire study, randomly selected cancer patients with a range of diagnoses and disease stages were invited to pass on the ‘Cancer Caregiving Tasks, Consequences and Needs Questionnaire’ (CaTCoN) to 1–3 of their caregivers. A total of 590 caregivers related to 415 (55% of 752 eligible) cancer patients participated. Large proportions of caregivers experienced substantial caregiving workload, e.g., provision of psychological support (74%), as well as a range of negative consequences, most commonly stress (59%). Some caregivers experienced personal growth, but relatively large proportions did not. Caregiver status and the caregiver’s relationship to the patient were associated with some caregiving aspects. Primary caregivers experienced the highest caregiving workload, and non-primary caregivers experienced most problems with getting time off from work. Spouses/partners and/or parents experienced the highest workload, most lack of time for social relations, most financial difficulties, and had the greatest need for seeing a psychologist. They furthermore experienced the highest degree of personal growth and had the smallest need for living a normal life while being a caregiver. Yet, regarding the majority of caregiving aspects, no associations with caregiver status or the caregiver’s relationship to the patient were found. Overall, the findings confirm that cancer caregiving is burdensome. The primary and the closest caregivers seemed to take on most caregiving tasks, but, contrary to expectations, regarding the majority of caregiving consequences non-primary and more distant caregivers were affected to the same degree as the primary and closest caregivers. Initiatives and interventions to support not only the primary caregivers are therefore warranted.