Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the performance of linear phase wavelet transforms in low bit-rate image coding

The behavior of linear phase wavelet transforms in low bit-rate image coding is investigated. The influence of certain characteristics of these transforms such as regularity, number of vanishing moments, filter length, coding gain, frequency selectivity, and the shape of the wavelets on the coding performance is analyzed. The wavelet transforms performance is assessed based on a first-order Markov source and on the image quality, using subjective tests. More than 20 wavelet transforms of a test image were coded with a product code lattice quantizer with the image quality rated by different viewers. The results show that, as long as the wavelet transforms perform reasonably well, features like regularity and number of vanishing moments do not have any important impact on final image quality. The influence of the coding gain by itself is also small. On the other hand, the shape of the synthesis wavelet, which determines the visibility of coding errors on reconstructed images, is very important. Analysis of the data obtained strongly suggests that the design of good wavelet transforms for low bit-rate image coding should take into account chiefly the shape of the synthesis wavelet and, to a lesser extent, the coding.
RNA-binding of the human cytomegalovirus transactivator protein UL69, mediated by arginine-rich motifs, is not required for nuclear export of unspliced RNA

The human cytomegalovirus protein pUL69 belongs to a family of regulatory factors that is conserved within the Herpesviridae and includes the proteins ICP27 of herpes simplex virus type 1 and EB2 of Epstein–Barr virus. ICP27 and EB2 have been shown to facilitate the nuclear export of viral mRNAs via interacting with the cellular mRNA export factor REF. Furthermore, direct RNA-binding of these proteins was found to be essential for their stimulating effects on mRNA export. Recently, we demonstrated that pUL69 shares common features with ICP27 and EB2 such as (i) nucleocytoplasmic shuttling and (ii) stimulation of nuclear RNA export via binding to the cellular mRNA export machinery. Here, we demonstrate that pUL69 can also interact with RNA both in vivo and in vitro via a complex N-terminal RNA-binding domain consisting of three arginine-rich motifs. Interestingly, the RNA-binding domain of pUL69 overlaps with both the NLS and the binding site of the cellular mRNA export factors UAP56 and URH49. While the deletion of the UAP56/URH49-binding site abolished pUL69-mediated RNA export, an RNA-binding deficient pUL69 mutant which still interacts with UAP56/URH49 retained its RNA export activity. This surprising finding suggests that, in contrast to its homologues, RNA-binding is not a prerequisite for pUL69-mediated nuclear RNA export.
Prevalence of Three-Rooted Mandibular First Molars among Indians Using SCT

Undetected extra roots or root canals are a major reason for failure of endodontic treatment. Failure to recognize an extra distolingual (DL) root in mandibular first molar may lead to incomplete debridement of the root canal system and eventually treatment failure. Therefore, it is crucial that atypical anatomy is identified before and during dental treatment. Spiral computed tomography (SCT) images can show 3D images, and therefore much detail can be used when traditional methods prevent adequate endodontic treatment. The overall incidence of DL roots on the mandibular first molars was 6.40% for all patients and 5.00% for all teeth, respectively. The occurrence of DL roots on the right side and on the left side showed a statistically significant difference. The bilateral incidence of symmetrical distribution of DL roots was 56.25%. The DL root canal orifice was separated from DB canal orifice by 2.79 ± 0.34 mm, from the MB canal orifice by 4.23 ± 0.81 mm, and from the ML canal orifice by 3.29 ± 0.52 mm. The high prevalence of the DL root in permanent mandibular first molars among the Indian population by using SCT and estimations of the interorifice distance of such teeth might be useful for successful endodontic treatments.
Does the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) Measure What it Intends to Measure? Validation of a Dutch Version of the eHEALS in Two Adult Populations

Background The Internet increases the availability of health information, which consequently expands the amount of skills that health care consumers must have to obtain and evaluate health information. Norman and Skinner in 2006 developed an 8-item self-report eHealth literacy scale to measure these skills: the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS). This instrument has been available only in English and there are no data on its validity. Objectives The objective of our study was to assess the internal consistency and the construct and predictive validity of a Dutch translation of the eHEALS in two populations. Methods We examined the translated scale in a sample of patients with rheumatic diseases (n = 189; study 1) and in a stratified sample of the Dutch population (n = 88; study 2). We determined Cronbach alpha coefficients and analyzed the principal components. Convergent validity was determined by studying correlations with age, education, and current (health-related) Internet use. Furthermore, in study 2 we assessed the predictive validity of the instrument by comparing scores on the eHEALS with an actual performance test. Results The internal consistency of the scale was sufficient: alpha = . 93 in study 1 and alpha = . 92 in study 2. In both studies the 8 items loaded on 1 single component (respectively 67% and 63% of variance). Correlations between eHEALS and age and education were not found. Significant, though weak, correlations were found between the eHEALS and quantity of Internet use (r = .24, P = .001 and r = .24, P = .02, respectively). Contrary to expectations, correlations between the eHEALS and successfully completed tasks on a performance test were weak and nonsignificant: r = . 18 (P = .09). The t tests showed no significant differences in scores on the eHEALS between participants who scored below and above median scores of the performance test. Conclusions The eHEALS was assessed as unidimensional in a principal component analysis and the internal consistency of the scale was high, which makes the reliability adequate. However, findings suggest that the validity of the eHEALS instrument requires further study, since the relationship with Internet use was weak and expected relationships with age, education, and actual performance were not significant. Further research to develop a self-report instrument with high correlations with people’s actual eHealth literacy skills is warranted.
Promoting functions to type families in Haskell

Haskell, as implemented in the Glasgow Haskell Compiler (GHC), is enriched with many extensions that support type-level programming, such as promoted datatypes, kind polymorphism, and type families. Yet, the expressiveness of the type-level language remains limited. It is missing many features present at the term level, including case expressions, anonymous functions, partially-applied functions, and let expressions. In this paper, we present an algorithm - with a proof of correctness - to encode these term-level constructs at the type level. Our approach is automated and capable of promoting a wide array of functions to type families. We also highlight and discuss those term-level features that are not promotable. In so doing, we offer a critique on GHC's existing type system, showing what it is already capable of and where it may want improvement. We believe that delineating the mismatch between GHC's term level and its type level is a key step toward supporting dependently typed programming.
Impact of Clay DNAPL Interactions on Transport and Storage of Chlorinated Solvents in Low Permeability Zones

Abstract : The objective of this research was to examine clay-DNAPL waste interactions as a contributor to the accumulation of chlorinated compound contamination in subsurface clay lenses and layers. The results showed that contact between DNAPL waste and Na-smectitic clay materials caused a contraction of the clays basal space, producing cracking, in a time frame on the order of weeks. The hypothesized mechanism is syneresis, involving the sorption of the surfactants from the waste onto the clay surface and the solvation of the surfactants aggregates. Numerical simulations suggest that even a small amount of cracking, and the time-variable dissolution of the DNAPL stored in the cracks into the surrounding clay matrix, extends the remediation time by decades.15. SUBJECT
Diagnostic Precision of Anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae Antibodies and Perinuclear Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

AIMS:The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic precision of antiSaccharomyces cerevisiae (ASCA) and perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (pANCA) in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and evaluate their discriminative ability between ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). METHODS:Meta-analysis of studies reporting on ASCA and pANCA in IBD was performed. Sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios (LR+, LR–) were calculated for different test combinations for CD, UC, and for IBD compared with controls. Meta-regression was used to analyze the effect of age, DNAse, colonic CD, and assay type.RESULTS:Sixty studies comprising 3,841 UC and 4,019 CD patients were included. The ASCA+ with pANCA– test offered the best sensitivity for CD (54.6%) with 92.8% specificity and an area under the ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curve (AUC) of 0.85 (LR+ = 6.5, LR– = 0.5). Sensitivity and specificity of pANCA+ tests for UC were 55.3% and 88.5%, respectively (AUC of 0.82; LR+ = 4.5, LR– = 0.5). Sensitivity and specificity were improved to 70.3% and 93.4% in a pediatric subgroup when combined with an ASCA– test. Meta-regression analysis showed decreased diagnostic precision of ASCA for isolated colonic CD (RDOR = 0.3). CONCLUSIONS:ASCA and pANCA testing are specific but not sensitive for CD and UC. It may be particularly useful for differentiating between CD and UC in the pediatric population.
New bounds for π(x)

In this article we provide new explicit Chebyshev's bounds for the prime counting function $\psi(x)$. The proof relies on two new arguments: smoothing the prime counting function which allows to generalize the previous approaches, and a new explicit zero density estimate for the zeros of the Riemann zeta function.
Characterization of the East Asian Variant of Aldehyde Dehydrogenase-2

The East Asian variant of mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) exhibits significantly reduced dehydrogenase, esterase, and nitroglycerin (GTN) denitrating activities. The small molecule Alda-1 was reported to partly restore low acetaldehyde dehydrogenase activity of this variant. In the present study we compared the wild type enzyme (ALDH2*1) with the Asian variant (ALDH2*2) regarding GTN bioactivation and the effects of Alda-1. Alda-1 increased acetaldehyde oxidation by ALDH2*1 and ALDH2*2 approximately 1.5- and 6-fold, respectively, and stimulated the esterase activities of both enzymes to similar extent as the coenzyme NAD. The effect of NAD was biphasic with pronounced inhibition occurring at ≥5 mm. In the presence of 1 mm NAD, Alda-1 stimulated ALDH2*2-catalyzed ester hydrolysis 73-fold, whereas the NAD-stimulated activity of ALDH2*1 was inhibited because of 20-fold increased inhibitory potency of NAD in the presence of the drug. Although ALDH2*2 exhibited 7-fold lower GTN denitrating activity and GTN affinity than ALDH2*1, the rate of nitric oxide formation was only reduced 2-fold, and soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) activation was more pronounced than with wild type ALDH2 at saturating GTN. Alda-1 caused slight inhibition of GTN denitration and did not increase GTN-induced sGC activation in the presence of either variant. The present results indicate that Alda-1 stimulates established ALDH2 activities by improving NAD binding but does not improve the GTN binding affinity of the Asian variant. In addition, our data revealed an unexpected discrepancy between GTN reductase activity and sGC activation, suggesting that GTN denitration and bioactivation may reflect independent pathways of ALDH2-catalyzed GTN biotransformation.
In-Vivo Measurement of Muscle Tension: Dynamic Properties of the MC Sensor during Isometric Muscle Contraction

Skeletal muscle is the largest tissue structure in our body and plays an essential role for producing motion through integrated action with bones, tendons, ligaments and joints, for stabilizing body position, for generation of heat through cell respiration and for blood glucose disposal. A key function of skeletal muscle is force generation. Non-invasive and selective measurement of muscle contraction force in the field and in clinical settings has always been challenging. The aim of our work has been to develop a sensor that can overcome these difficulties and therefore enable measurement of muscle force during different contraction conditions. In this study, we tested the mechanical properties of a “Muscle Contraction” (MC) sensor during isometric muscle contraction in different length/tension conditions. The MC sensor is attached so that it indents the skin overlying a muscle group and detects varying degrees of tension during muscular contraction. We compared MC sensor readings over the biceps brachii (BB) muscle to dynamometric measurements of force of elbow flexion, together with recordings of surface EMG signal of BB during isometric contractions at 15° and 90° of elbow flexion. Statistical correlation between MC signal and force was very high at 15° (r = 0.976) and 90° (r = 0.966) across the complete time domain. Normalized SD or σN = σ/max(FMC) was used as a measure of linearity of MC signal and elbow flexion force in dynamic conditions. The average was 8.24% for an elbow angle of 90° and 10.01% for an elbow of angle 15°, which indicates high linearity and good dynamic properties of MC sensor signal when compared to elbow flexion force. The next step of testing MC sensor potential will be to measure tension of muscle-tendon complex in conditions when length and tension change simultaneously during human motion.
Texture Segmentation using 2-D Gabor Elementary Functions

Many texture-segmentation schemes use an elaborate bank of filters to decompose a textured image into a joint space/spatial-frequency representation. Although these schemes show promise, and although some analytical work has been done, the relationship between texture differences and the filter configurations required to distinguish them remain largely unknown. This paper examines the issue of designing individual filters. Using a 2-D texture model, we show analytically that applying a properly configured bandpass filter to a textured image produces distinct output discontinuities at texture boundaries; the analysis is based on Gabor elementary functions, but it is the bandpass nature of the filter that is essential. Depending on the type of texture difference, these discontinuities form one of four characteristic signatures: a step, ridge, valley, or a step change in average local output variation. Accompanying experimental evidence indicates that these signatures are useful for segmenting an image. The analysis indicates those texture characteristics that are responsible for each signature type. Detailed criteria are provided for designing filters that can produce quality output signatures. We also illustrate occasions when asymmetric filters are beneficial, an issue not previously addressed. >
Quantitative Evaluation of Confidence Measures in a Machine Learning World

Confidence measures aim at detecting unreliable depth measurements and play an important role for many purposes and in particular, as recently shown, to improve stereo accuracy. This topic has been thoroughly investigated by Hu and Mordohai in 2010 (and 2012) considering 17 confidence measures and two local algorithms on the two datasets available at that time. However, since then major breakthroughs happened in this field: the availability of much larger and challenging datasets, novel and more effective stereo algorithms including ones based on deep learning and confidence measures leveraging on machine learning techniques. Therefore, this paper aims at providing an exhaustive and updated review and quantitative evaluation of 52 (actually, 76 considering variants) stateof- the-art confidence measures - focusing on recent ones mostly based on random-forests and deep learning - with three algorithms on the challenging datasets available today. Moreover we deal with problems inherently induced by learning-based confidence measures. How are these methods able to generalize to new data? How a specific training improves their effectiveness? How more effective confidence measures can actually improve the overall stereo accurac?
EXPERIMENTAL ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN CEBUS MONKEYS

Atherosclerosis has been produced in Cebus monkeys by dietary means. This disease has been produced by feeding diets high in cholesterol and low in sulfur amino acids over periods of 18 to 30 weeks. Within 2 to 8 weeks this regimen caused the concentration of cholesterol in the serum to rise to 300 to 800 mg. per cent. The hypercholesterolemia could be largely prevented by feeding 1 gm. per day of dl-methionine or l-cystine as supplements to the diet. After the serum concentration had become elevated, it could be restored to normal by feeding 1 gm. of dl-methionine but only partially restored by 0.5 gm. of l-cystine daily. The vascular lesions were in the ascending aorta but extended from the valves of the left ventricle to the proximal portions of the carotid and femoral arteries. Minimal lesions have been observed in the coronary arteries. The aortic lesions were chiefly characterized by the presence of lipid-laden phagocytes and increase in collagen and elastic fibers. The lipids were in part cholesterol derivatives. Visceral cholesterolosis was not associated with this disease.
Physical education for students with spina bifida: mothers' perspectives.

This study described the meaning 7 mothers of children with spina bifida ascribed to their children's physical education, the mothers' roles in the schools, and the importance of the IEP in home and school communication. The stories of 4 mothers of elementary and 3 mothers of secondary aged children were gathered using the phenomenological methods of semistructured interviews, artifacts, and field notes. The thematic analysis revealed three themes: a good thing but . , connection to sports, and beyond the curriculum. The mothers valued their children's participation in physical education and provided instrumental support to teachers and teaching associates. They also valued sport as an avenue for developing sport specific skills, which in turn enriched the school experience. The findings are discussed within the context of Peters' (1996) model of disablement.
An Automatic Equalizer Based on Forward–Flyback Converter for Series-Connected Battery Strings

This paper proposes an automatic any-cells-to-any-cells battery equalizer, which merges the forward and flyback converters through a common multiwinding transformer. The windings of the transformer are divided into two groups, which have opposite polarities. The principles of the proposed equalizer are that the equalization in one group is achieved based on forward conversion and the balancing between the two different groups is based on flyback conversion, by which the magnetic energy stored in the transformer can be automatically reset without using additional demagnetizing circuits. Moreover, only one MOSFET and one primary winding are required for each cell, resulting in smaller size and lower cost. One pair of complementary control signals is employed for all MOSFETs, and energy can be automatically and directly delivered from any high-voltage cells to any low-voltage cells without the requirement of cell monitoring circuits, thereby leading to a high balancing efficiency and speed. The proposed topology can achieve the global equalization for a long battery string through connecting the secondary sides of transformers without the need of additional components for the equalization among modules, which also overcomes the mismatching problem of multiple windings. The validity of the proposed equalizer is verified through experiments, and the balancing efficiency can reach up to 89.4% over a wide range of conditions.
Tropical Cyclone–Induced Ocean Response: A Comparative Study of the South China Sea and Tropical Northwest Pacific*,+

AbstractThe thermocline shoals in the South China Sea (SCS) relative to the tropical northwest Pacific Ocean (NWP), as required by geostrophic balance with the Kuroshio. The present study examines the effect of this difference in ocean state on the response of sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll concentration to tropical cyclones (TCs), using both satellite-derived measurements and three-dimensional numerical simulations. In both regions, TC-produced SST cooling strongly depends on TC characteristics (including intensity as measured by the maximum surface wind speed, translation speed, and size). When subject to identical TC forcing, the SST cooling in the SCS is more than 1.5 times that in the NWP, which may partially explain weaker TC intensity on average observed in the SCS. Both a shallower mixed layer and stronger subsurface thermal stratification in the SCS contribute to this regional difference in SST cooling. The mixed layer effect dominates when TCs are weak, fast-moving, and/or small; .
Accurate Structural Correlations from Maximum Likelihood Superpositions

The cores of globular proteins are densely packed, resulting in complicated networks of structural interactions. These interactions in turn give rise to dynamic structural correlations over a wide range of time scales. Accurate analysis of these complex correlations is crucial for understanding biomolecular mechanisms and for relating structure to function. Here we report a highly accurate technique for inferring the major modes of structural correlation in macromolecules using likelihood-based statistical analysis of sets of structures. This method is generally applicable to any ensemble of related molecules, including families of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) models, different crystal forms of a protein, and structural alignments of homologous proteins, as well as molecular dynamics trajectories. Dominant modes of structural correlation are determined using principal components analysis (PCA) of the maximum likelihood estimate of the correlation matrix. The correlations we identify are inherently independent of the statistical uncertainty and dynamic heterogeneity associated with the structural coordinates. We additionally present an easily interpretable method (“PCA plots”) for displaying these positional correlations by color-coding them onto a macromolecular structure. Maximum likelihood PCA of structural superpositions, and the structural PCA plots that illustrate the results, will facilitate the accurate determination of dynamic structural correlations analyzed in diverse fields of structural biology.
Optimal resource allocation for multimedia application providers in multi-site cloud

Cloud-based multimedia applications have been widely used in recent years. With the advance of globalization, application providers hope to offer services at multiple sites serving users all over the world. The key challenge is how to effectively manage resource allocation and workload balancing. In this paper, we study the optimal resource allocation problem in multi-site cloud. Specifically, we jointly optimize the global workload assignment and the local VM allocation to minimize the resource cost under the service response time requirements. Moreover, we propose a greedy algorithm to efficiently apply our study in a practical way. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed optimal resource allocation scheme can optimally allocate resources and balance workload to achieve the minimal resource cost for multimedia application providers.