LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
CW DFB RT diode laser-based sensor for trace-gas detection of ethane using a novel compact multipass gas absorption cell

The development of a continuous wave (CW), thermoelectrically cooled (TEC), distributed feedback (DFB) laser diode based spectroscopic trace-gas sensor for ultra sensitive and selective ethane (C2H6) concentration measurements is reported. The sensor platform used tunable laser diode absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) and wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) as the detection technique. TDLAS was performed with an ultra-compact 57.6 m effective optical path length innovative spherical multipass cell capable of 459 passes between two mirrors separated by 12.5 cm. For an interference free C2H6 absorption line located at 2976.8 cm a 1σ minimum detection limit of 130 pptv with a 1 second lock-in amplifier time constant was achieved.
Mobile Augmented Reality Applications

Augmented reality have undergone considerable improvement in past years. Many special techniques and hardware devices were developed, but the crucial breakthrough came with the spread of intelligent mobile phones. This enabled mass spread of augmented reality applications. However mobile devices have limited hardware capabilities, which narrows down the methods usable for scene analysis. In this article we propose an augmented reality application which is using cloud computing to enable using of more complex computational methods such as neural networks. Our goal is to create an affordable augmented reality application suitable which will help car designers in by ’virtualizing’ car modifications.
AdaGAN: Boosting Generative Models

Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) [1] are an effective method for training generative models of complex data such as natural images. However, they are notoriously hard to train and can suffer from the problem of missing modes where the model is not able to produce examples in certain regions of the space. We propose an iterative procedure, called AdaGAN, where at every step we add a new component into a mixture model by running a GAN algorithm on a reweighted sample. This is inspired by boosting algorithms, where many potentially weak individual predictors are greedily aggregated to form a strong composite predictor. We prove that such an incremental procedure leads to convergence to the true distribution in a finite number of steps if each step is optimal, and convergence at an exponential rate otherwise. We also illustrate experimentally that this procedure addresses the problem of missing modes.
Incorporating traditional healing into an urban American Indian health organization: a case study of community member perspectives.

Facing severe mental health disparities rooted in a complex history of cultural oppression, members of many urban American Indian (AI) communities are reaching out for indigenous traditional healing to augment their use of standard Western mental health services. Because detailed descriptions of approaches for making traditional healing available for urban AI communities do not exist in the literature, this community-based project convened 4 focus groups consisting of 26 members of a midwestern urban AI community to better understand traditional healing practices of interest and how they might be integrated into the mental health and substance abuse treatment services in an Urban Indian Health Organization (UIHO). Qualitative content analysis of focus group transcripts revealed that ceremonial participation, traditional education, culture keepers, and community cohesion were thought to be key components of a successful traditional healing program. Potential incorporation of these components into an urban environment, however, yielded 4 marked tensions: traditional healing protocols versus the realities of impoverished urban living, multitribal representation in traditional healing services versus relational consistency with the culture keepers who would provide them, enthusiasm for traditional healing versus uncertainty about who is trustworthy, and the integrity of traditional healing versus the appeal of alternative medicine. Although these tensions would likely arise in most urban AI clinical contexts, the way in which each is resolved will likely depend on tailored community needs, conditions, and mental health objectives.
Chondroitin sulphate reduces both cartilage volume loss and bone marrow lesions in knee osteoarthritis patients starting as early as 6 months after initiation of therapy: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study using MRI

OBJECTIVE
To determine the effect of chondroitin sulphate (CS) treatment on cartilage volume loss, subchondral bone marrow lesions (BML), synovitis and disease symptoms in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA).


METHODS
In this pilot multicentre, randomised, double-blind, controlled trial in primary knee OA, 69 patients with clinical signs of synovitis were randomised to receive CS 800 mg or placebo once daily for 6 months followed by an open-label phase of 6 months in which patients in both groups received CS 800 mg once daily. Cartilage volume and BML were assessed by MRI at baseline and at 6 and 12 months; synovial membrane thickness was assessed at baseline and at 6 months.


RESULTS
The CS group showed significantly less cartilage volume loss than the placebo group as early as 6 months for the global knee (p=0.030), lateral compartment (p=0.015) and tibial plateaus (p=0.002), with significance persisting at 12 months. Significantly lower BML scores were found for the CS group at 12 months in the lateral compartment (p=0.035) and the lateral femoral condyle (p=0.044). Disease symptoms were similar between the two groups.


CONCLUSION
CS treatment significantly reduced the cartilage volume loss in knee OA starting at 6 months of treatment, and BML at 12 months. These findings suggest a joint structure protective effect of CS and provide new in vivo information on its mode of action in knee OA.
Endothelial repair capacity and apoptosis are inversely related in obstructive sleep apnea

PURPOSE
To investigate the impact of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on endothelial repair capacity and apoptosis in the absence of potentially confounding factors including obesity.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
Sixteen patients with a body mass index <30 and newly diagnosed OSA and 16 controls were studied. Circulating levels of endothelial progenitor cells, a marker of endothelial repair capacity, and endothelial microparticles, a marker of endothelial apoptosis, were quantified before and after four-week therapy with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Endothelial cell apoptotic rate was also quantified in freshly harvested venous endothelial cells. Vascular reactivity was measured by flow-mediated dilation.


RESULTS
Before treatment, endothelial microparticle levels were greater and endothelial progenitor cell levels were lower in patients with OSA than in controls (P < 0.001 for both). Levels of endothelial microparticles and progenitors cells were inversely related (r = -0.67, P < 0.001). Endothelial progenitor cell levels increased after effective treatment (P = 0.036).


CONCLUSIONS
In the absence of any co-morbid conditions including obesity, OSA alone impairs endothelial repair capacity and promotes endothelial apoptosis. These early endothelial alterations may underlie accelerated atherosclerosis and increased cardiovascular risk in OSA.
Visual acuity as measured with Landolt C chart and Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) chart

We compared the Landolt C chart checked under normal clinical conditions and the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) chart, using standard clinical research protocols for subjects with normal vision, cataract and maculopathy. This prospective, comparative study was approved by the hospital Institutional Review Board. Patients with cataract and maculopathy were included, with the normal fellow eyes analyzed as normal vision group. Differences between the two charts were analyzed using Student’s t-test. Normal and cataract eyes showed no statistically significant differences between methods. In the maculopathy group, ETDRS acuity (0.714 ± 0.393) was better than Landolt C acuity (0.845 ± 0.579), but the differences were not statistically significant (p = 0.152). Furthermore, if after dividing visual acuity into subgroups, >20/200 and ≤20/200 by Landolt C acuity, the latter subgroup had significant differences between the two tests (p < 0.001). ETDRS acuity (1.014 ± 0.319) was better than Landolt C acuity (1.419 ± 0.385). The average acuity difference was 4 lines. For maculopathy patients with VA ≤ 20/200, the ETDRS chart had a better score than the Landolt C chart.
View-independent coding of face identity in frontal and temporal cortices is modulated by familiarity: an event-related fMRI study

Face recognition is a unique visual skill enabling us to recognize a large number of person identities, despite many differences in the visual image from one exposure to another due to changes in viewpoint, illumination, or simply passage of time. Previous familiarity with a face may facilitate recognition when visual changes are important. Using event-related fMRI in 13 healthy observers, we studied the brain systems involved in extracting face identity independent of modifications in visual appearance during a repetition priming paradigm in which two different photographs of the same face (either famous or unfamiliar) were repeated at varying delays. We found that functionally defined face-selective areas in the lateral fusiform cortex showed no repetition effects for faces across changes in image views, irrespective of pre-existing familiarity, suggesting that face representations formed in this region do not generalize across different visual images, even for well-known faces. Repetition of different but easily recognizable views of an unfamiliar face produced selective repetition decreases in a medial portion of the right fusiform gyrus, whereas distinct views of a famous face produced repetition decreases in left middle temporal and left inferior frontal cortex selectively, but no decreases in fusiform cortex. These findings reveal that different views of the same familiar face may not be integrated within a single representation at initial perceptual stages subserved by the fusiform face areas, but rather involve later processing stages where more abstract identity information is accessed.
Fast-food habits, weight gain, and insulin resistance (the CARDIA study): 15-year prospective analysis

BACKGROUND
Fast-food consumption has increased greatly in the USA during the past three decades. However, the effect of fast food on risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes has received little attention. We aimed to investigate the association between reported fast-food habits and changes in bodyweight and insulin resistance over a 15-year period in the USA.


METHODS
Participants for the CARDIA study included 3031 young (age 18-30 years in 1985-86) black and white adults who were followed up with repeated dietary assessment. We used multiple linear regression models to investigate the association of frequency of fast-food restaurant visits (fast-food frequency) at baseline and follow-up with 15-year changes in bodyweight and the homoeostasis model (HOMA) for insulin resistance.


FINDINGS
Fast-food frequency was lowest for white women (about 1.3 times per week) compared with the other ethnic-sex groups (about twice a week). After adjustment for lifestyle factors, baseline fast-food frequency was directly associated with changes in bodyweight in both black (p=0.0050) and white people (p=0.0013). Change in fast-food frequency over 15 years was directly associated with changes in bodyweight in white individuals (p<0.0001), with a weaker association recorded in black people (p=0.1004). Changes were also directly associated with insulin resistance in both ethnic groups (p=0.0015 in black people, p<0.0001 in white people). By comparison with the average 15-year weight gain in participants with infrequent (less than once a week) fast-food restaurant use at baseline and follow-up (n=203), those with frequent (more than twice a week) visits to fast-food restaurants at baseline and follow-up (n=87) gained an extra 4.5 kg of bodyweight (p=0.0054) and had a two-fold greater increase in insulin resistance (p=0.0083).


INTERPRETATION
Fast-food consumption has strong positive associations with weight gain and insulin resistance, suggesting that fast food increases the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Cognitive behavior therapy and pharmacotherapy for insomnia: a randomized controlled trial and direct comparison.

BACKGROUND
Chronic sleep-onset insomnia is a prevalent health complaint in adults. Although behavioral and pharmacological therapies have been shown to be effective for insomnia, no placebo-controlled trials have evaluated their separate and combined effects for sleep-onset insomnia. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of behavioral and pharmacological therapy, singly and in combination, for chronic sleep-onset insomnia.


METHODS
This was a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial that involved 63 young and middle-aged adults with chronic sleep-onset insomnia. Interventions included cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), pharmacotherapy, or combination therapy compared with placebo. The main outcome measures were sleep-onset latency as measured by sleep diaries; secondary measures included sleep diary measures of sleep efficiency and total sleep time, objective measures of sleep variables (Nightcap sleep monitor recorder), and measures of daytime functioning.


RESULTS
In most measures, CBT was the most sleep effective intervention; it produced the greatest changes in sleep-onset latency and sleep efficiency, yielded the largest number of normal sleepers after treatment, and maintained therapeutic gains at long-term follow-up. The combined treatment provided no advantage over CBT alone, whereas pharmacotherapy produced only moderate improvements during drug administration and returned measures toward baseline after drug use discontinuation.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that young and middle-age patients with sleep-onset insomnia can derive significantly greater benefit from CBT than pharmacotherapy and that CBT should be considered a first-line intervention for chronic insomnia. Increased recognition of the efficacy of CBT and more widespread recommendations for its use could improve the quality of life of a large numbers of patients with insomnia.
Electronic tap changer for 500 kVA/10 kV distribution transformers: design, experimental results and impact in distribution networks

A distribution transformer tap changer with continuous operation of tap changing and control of the secondary voltage brings a remarkable improvement in power supply quality, keeping the voltage in the net constant. Design and practical evaluation of the electronic tap changer for a three-phase 10 kV distribution power transformer are described in the paper. Finally, its technical and economical feasibility in the distribution network is studied.
Using a Hazard Quotient to Evaluate Pesticide Residues Detected in Pollen Trapped from Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) in Connecticut 

Analysis of pollen trapped from honey bees as they return to their hives provides a method of monitoring fluctuations in one route of pesticide exposure over location and time. We collected pollen from apiaries in five locations in Connecticut, including urban, rural, and mixed agricultural sites, for periods from two to five years. Pollen was analyzed for pesticide residues using a standard extraction method widely used for pesticides (QuEChERS) and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometric analysis. Sixty pesticides or metabolites were detected. Because the dose lethal to 50% of adult worker honey bees (LD50) is the only toxicity parameter available for a wide range of pesticides, and among our pesticides there were contact LD50 values ranging from 0.006 to >1000 μg per bee (range 166,000X), and even among insecticides LD50 values ranged from 0.006 to 59.8 μg/bee (10,000X); therefore we propose that in studies of honey bee exposure to pesticides that concentrations be reported as Hazard Quotients as well as in standard concentrations such as parts per billion. We used both contact and oral LD50 values to calculate Pollen Hazard Quotients (PHQ = concentration in ppb ÷ LD50 as μg/bee) when both were available. In this study, pesticide Pollen Hazard Quotients ranged from over 75,000 to 0.01. The pesticides with the greatest Pollen Hazard Quotients at the maximum concentrations found in our study were (in descending order): phosmet, Imidacloprid, indoxacarb, chlorpyrifos, fipronil, thiamethoxam, azinphos-methyl, and fenthion, all with at least one Pollen Hazard Quotient (using contact or oral LD50) over 500. At the maximum rate of pollen consumption by nurse bees, a Pollen Hazard Quotient of 500 would be approximately equivalent to consuming 0.5% of the LD50 per day. We also present an example of a Nectar Hazard Quotient and the percentage of LD50 per day at the maximum nectar consumption rate.
Simultaneous evaluation of abstinence and relapse using a Markov chain model in smokers enrolled in a two-year randomized trial

BACKGROUND
GEE and mixed models are powerful tools to compare treatment effects in longitudinal smoking cessation trials. However, they are not capable of assessing the relapse (from abstinent back to smoking) simultaneously with cessation, which can be studied by transition models.


METHODS
We apply a first-order Markov chain model to analyze the transition of smoking status measured every 6 months in a 2-year randomized smoking cessation trial, and to identify what factors are associated with the transition from smoking to abstinent and from abstinent to smoking. Missing values due to non-response are assumed non-ignorable and handled by the selection modeling approach.


RESULTS
Smokers receiving high-intensity disease management (HDM), of male gender, lower daily cigarette consumption, higher motivation and confidence to quit, and having serious attempts to quit were more likely to become abstinent (OR = 1.48, 1.66, 1.03, 1.15, 1.09 and 1.34, respectively) in the next 6 months. Among those who were abstinent, lower income and stronger nicotine dependence (OR = 1.72 for ≤ vs. > 40 K and OR = 1.75 for first cigarette ≤ vs. > 5 min) were more likely to have relapse in the next 6 months.


CONCLUSIONS
Markov chain models allow investigation of dynamic smoking-abstinence behavior and suggest that relapse is influenced by different factors than cessation. The knowledge of treatments and covariates in transitions in both directions may provide guidance for designing more effective interventions on smoking cessation and relapse prevention.
Temperature, development and establishment potential of Thrips palmi (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in the United Kingdom

In order to manage the risks posed to domestic crop production by quarantine pests such as Thrips palmi, their potential to establish in a new environment must be assessed. The thermal requirements for development of T. palmi were determined and com­ pared with UK temperatures, to estimate its potential for development under UK conditions. Temperature and rate of development of T. palmi from egg to adult were linearly related between 15 and 30°C, allowing calculation of an overall threshold of 10.1°C, and a sum of effective temperatures of 194 degree-days. In the UK, development of T. palmi would be possible outdoors during the sum­ mer when a maximum of up to four or five generations could occur. Comparison of these data with those of the recently established and biologically similar pest, Frankliniella occidentalis, shows that establishment of T. palmi in the UK is unlikely to be limited by an inability to complete the life cycle during the favourable season.
An Improved LLF Scheduling for Reducing Maximum Heap Memory Consumption by Considering Laxity Time

Real-time embedded systems are often designed as multiprocessor systems in order to achieve both low power consumption and high-performance. Also, they are often implemented as multitasking systems in order to meet deadline constraints of response times for multiple external inputs. However, multitasking systems often increase heap memory consumption allocated for temporal use, because the allocated memories for tasks often remain allocated simultaneously when the tasks are suspended for switching to the other task. In order to reduce memory consumption in real-time multitasking, in this paper we propose an improved real-time scheduling algorithm based on LLF (Least Laxity First) to reduce maximal heap memory consumption by controlling multitask scheduling, without modifying the processing order of each task. The proposed algorithm firstly performs LLF schedulability analysis (proposed in [5]) in each scheduling cycle and then switches between LLF and our proposed Least Memory Consumption First (LMCF) scheduling policies appropriately according to the analysis result. The proposed LMCF scheduling assumes that the amount of the heap memory allocation in the next step near future for each task can be predicted and according to the prediction it selects the least ones as many as the number of the processors for schedule. We evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm by comparing the heap memory reduction ratio of the proposed algorithm with that of LLF scheduling.
Genetic algorithm approach for solving a cell formation problem in cellular manufacturing

Please cite this article in press as: Mahdav with Applications (2008), doi:10.1016/j.esw Cellular manufacturing (CM) is an industrial application of group technology concept. One of the problems encountered in the implementation of CM is the cell formation problem (CFP). The CFP attempted here is to group machines and parts in dedicated manufacturing cells so that the number of voids and exceptional elements in cells are minimized. The proposed model, with nonlinear terms and integer variables, cannot be solved for real sized problems efficiently due to its NP-hardness. To solve the model for real-sized applications, a genetic algorithm is proposed. Numerical examples show that the proposed method is efficient and effective in searching for optimal solutions. The results also indicate that the proposed approach performs well in terms of group efficacy compared to the well-known existing cell formation methods. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Development of an Automated Wireless Tension Force Estimation System for Cable-stayed Bridges

Cable-supported bridges rely on the use of steel cables to support the bridge deck and load on it. Cable tension forces are monitored during construction to assist the alignment of cables and to ensure no cables are overloaded. Given that the cables are critical load carrying elements, it is prudent to routinely monitor the levels of cable tensions during operation. With current measurement methods being costly and labor-intensive, this article proposes an automated and low-cost wireless sensor system for continuous monitoring of the cable tension based on the vibration signature of the cable. A vibration-based tension force estimation method using a peak picking algorithm is explored by embedding it in the computational core of a wireless sensor. Welch’s method to average Fourier spectra from the segments of a long time history signal is employed to remove the non-stationarity of a shortduration acceleration record, which is a limit of the memory-constrained wireless sensor. A series of laboratory tests are conducted on a slender braided steel cable with a variety of cable sags and tension forces. Excellent agreements have been found between the actual tensions and those estimated by the present wireless system.