Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tensor-Based Formulation and Nuclear Norm Regularization for Multienergy Computed Tomography

The development of energy selective, photon counting X-ray detectors allows for a wide range of new possibilities in the area of computed tomographic image formation. Under the assumption of perfect energy resolution, here we propose a tensor-based iterative algorithm that simultaneously reconstructs the X-ray attenuation distribution for each energy. We use a multilinear image model rather than a more standard stacked vector representation in order to develop novel tensor-based regularizers. In particular, we model the multispectral unknown as a three-way tensor where the first two dimensions are space and the third dimension is energy. This approach allows for the design of tensor nuclear norm regularizers, which like its 2D counterpart, is a convex function of the multispectral unknown. The solution to the resulting convex optimization problem is obtained using an alternating direction method of multipliers approach. Simulation results show that the generalized tensor nuclear norm can be used as a standalone regularization technique for the energy selective (spectral) computed tomography problem and when combined with total variation regularization it enhances the regularization capabilities especially at low energy images where the effects of noise are most prominent.
The Effects of Montmorency Tart Cherry Concentrate Supplementation on Recovery Following Prolonged, Intermittent Exercise

This study investigated Montmorency tart cherry concentrate (MC) supplementation on markers of recovery following prolonged, intermittent sprint activity. Sixteen semi-professional, male soccer players, who had dietary restrictions imposed for the duration of the study, were divided into two equal groups and consumed either MC or placebo (PLA) supplementation for eight consecutive days (30 mL twice per day). On day 5, participants completed an adapted version of the Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle Test (LISTADAPT). Maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC), 20 m Sprint, counter movement jump (CMJ), agility and muscle soreness (DOMS) were assessed at baseline, and 24, 48 and 72 h post-exercise. Measures of inflammation (IL-1-β, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, hsCRP), muscle damage (CK) and oxidative stress (LOOH) were analysed at baseline and 1, 3, 5, 24, 48 and 72 h post-exercise. Performance indices (MVIC, CMJ and agility) recovered faster and muscle soreness (DOMS) ratings were lower in the MC group (p < 0.05). Additionally, the acute inflammatory response (IL-6) was attenuated in the MC group. There were no effects for LOOH and CK. These findings suggest MC is efficacious in accelerating recovery following prolonged, repeat sprint activity, such as soccer and rugby, and lends further evidence that polyphenol-rich foods like MC are effective in accelerating recovery following various types of strenuous exercise.
SAR image denoising via Bayesian wavelet shrinkage based on heavy-tailed modeling

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images are inherently affected by multiplicative speckle noise, which is due to the coherent nature of the scattering phenomenon. This paper proposes a novel Bayesian-based algorithm within the framework of wavelet analysis, which reduces speckle in SAR images while preserving the structural features and textural information of the scene. First, we show that the subband decompositions of logarithmically transformed SAR images are accurately modeled by alpha-stable distributions, a family of heavy-tailed densities. Consequently, we exploit this a priori information by designing a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimator. We use the alpha-stable model to develop a blind speckle-suppression processor that performs a nonlinear operation on the data and we relate this nonlinearity to the degree of non-Gaussianity of the data. Finally, we compare our proposed method to current state-of-the-art soft thresholding techniques applied on real SAR imagery and we quantify the achieved performance improvement.
Time course of changes in breathing pattern in morphine‐ and oxycodone‐induced respiratory depression

The time course of changes in breathing pattern in opioid‐induced respiratory depression was characterised for two opioids. Intravenous morphine (0.039 mg.kg−1 bolus + 0.215 mg.kg−1.h−1 infusion) and oxycodone (0.05 mg.kg−1 bolus + 0.275 mg.kg−1.h−1 infusion) were administered to six healthy male volunteers for 2 h in a random, double‐blind and cross‐over fashion. Monitoring included pulse oximetry and noninvasive respiratory‐inductive plethysmography for the measurement of breathing pattern. The total amounts of drugs given were 35.1 (0.0) mg [mean (SD)] morphine and 41.3 (8.0) mg oxycodone. Four of the six oxycodone infusions had to be stopped at 99 (14) min because of respiratory depression as judged by pulse oximetry. No morphine infusions were stopped. The first changes in breathing pattern were a decrease in respiratory rate and an increase in the contribution of the rib cage to tidal volume, while the compensatory increase in tidal volume became evident later. A decrease in minute ventilation and inspiratory duty cycle were also found.
Stress leads to prosocial action in immediate need situations

Stress clearly influences decision making, but the effects are complex. This review focuses on the potential for stress to promote prosocial decisions, serving others at a temporary cost to the self. Recent work has shown altruistic responses under stress, particularly when the target’s need is salient. We discuss potential mechanisms for these effects, including emotional contagion and offspring care mechanisms. These neurobiological mechanisms may promote prosocial—even heroic—action, particularly when an observer knows the appropriate response and can respond to a target in need. The effects of stress on behavior are not only negative, they can be adaptive and altruistic under conditions that promote survival and well-being at the individual and group level.
Review the Impact of Advertising and Sale Promotion on Brand Equity

Today, establishing and achieving to strong and powerful brand is one of the priority for any organization, because it follows a lot of benefits. The strong brand gives the possibility to company for setting itself in the market, avoiding the company expose to danger by competitive actions and having important role in cooperating and supporting the brand expansion chances. In measuring and evaluating the brand equity, active marketing researchers firstly review the concept of brand equity which is indicated the significant value of brand for producer, retailer and consumer. Brand equity derives from the consumer’s perception from that brand and this perception is changed by some factors. Brand equity couldn’t be realized and understood without considering its resources i.e. factors which are effective in the creation and formation of the brand equity in consumer’s memory. In this research we tried to present a functional and clear definition of brand equity and its dimensions. Generally, in this paper, we have dealt with the review of effective factors such as advertising and sale promotion in order to know how these marketing tools affect on the brand equity. Finally, the widespread use of advertising and reduction of sale promotion is suggested for brand equity. This paper also is presented some suggests for future researches.
NF1 Deletion Generates Multiple Subtypes of Soft-Tissue Sarcoma That Respond to MEK Inhibition

Soft-tissue sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of tumors arising from connective tissue. Recently, mutations in the neurofibromin 1 (NF1) tumor suppressor gene were identified in multiple subtypes of human soft-tissue sarcomas. To study the effect of NF1 inactivation in the initiation and progression of distinct sarcoma subtypes, we have developed a novel mouse model of temporally and spatially restricted NF1-deleted sarcoma. To generate primary sarcomas, we inject adenovirus containing Cre recombinase into NF1flox/flox; Ink4a/Arfflox/flox mice at two distinct orthotopic sites: intramuscularly or in the sciatic nerve. The mice develop either high-grade myogenic sarcomas or malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST)-like tumors, respectively. These tumors reflect the histologic properties and spectrum of sarcomas found in patients. To explore the use of this model for preclinical studies, we conducted a study of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway inhibition with the MEK inhibitor PD325901. Treatment with PD325901 delays tumor growth through decreased cyclin D1 mRNA and cell proliferation. We also examined the effects of MEK inhibition on the native tumor stroma and find that PD325901 decreases VEGFα expression in tumor cells with a corresponding decrease in microvessel density. Taken together, our results use a primary tumor model to show that sarcomas can be generated by loss of NF1 and Ink4a/Arf, and that these tumors are sensitive to MEK inhibition by direct effects on tumor cells and the surrounding microenvironment. These studies suggest that MEK inhibitors should be further explored as potential sarcoma therapies in patients with tumors containing NF1 deletion. Mol Cancer Ther; 12(9); 1906–17. ©2013 AACR.
Diabetes care and outcomes for American Indians and Alaska natives in commercial integrated delivery systems: a SUrveillance, PREvention, and ManagEment of Diabetes Mellitus (SUPREME-DM) Study

Objective To compare cardiovascular disease risk factor testing rates and intermediate outcomes of care between American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) patients with diabetes and non-Hispanic Caucasians enrolled in nine commercial integrated delivery systems in the USA. Research design and methods We used modified Poisson regression models to compare the annual testing rates and risk factor control levels for glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and systolic blood pressure (SBP); number of unique diabetes drug classes; insulin use; and oral diabetes drug medication adherence between insured AI/AN and non-Hispanic white adults with diabetes aged ≥18 in 2011. Results 5831 AI/AN patients (1.8% of the cohort) met inclusion criteria. After adjusting for age, gender, comorbidities, insulin use, and geocoded socioeconomic status, AI/AN patients had similar rates of annual HbA1c, LDL-C, and SBP testing, and LDL-C and SBP control, compared with non-Hispanic Caucasians. However, AI/AN patients were significantly more likely to have HbA1c >9% (>74.9 mmol/mol; RR=1.47, 95% CI 1.38 to 1.58), and significantly less likely to adhere to their oral diabetes medications (RR=0.90, 95% CI 0.88 to 0.93) compared with non-Hispanic Caucasians. Conclusions AI/AN patients in commercial integrated delivery systems have similar blood pressure and cholesterol testing and control, but significantly lower rates of HbA1c control and diabetes medication adherence, compared with non-Hispanic Caucasians. As more AI/ANs move to urban and suburban settings, clinicians and health plans should focus on addressing disparities in diabetes care and outcomes in this population.
Real-time simulation of a PMSM drive in faulty modes with validation against an actual drive system

This paper presents real-time simulation results of a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine (PMSM) Drive in faulty and non-standard modes and validates these against an actual industrial PMSM drive system. The paper will put emphasis on the test of special and faulty modes in PMSM drives. Results of real-time simulation of a PMSM drive with an open phase and in passive mode (with all IGBTs switched off) will be presented. These working modes are usually difficult to simulate in real-time because of the fixed-causality models used in the real-time simulator.
Depinning of semiflexible polymers.

We present a theoretical analysis of a simple model of the depinning of an anchored semiflexible polymer from a fixed planar substrate in 1+1 dimensions. We consider a polymer with a discrete sequence of pinning sites along its contour. Using the scaling properties of the conformational distribution function in the stiff limit and applying the necklace model of phase transitions in quasi-one-dimensional systems, we obtain a melting criterion in terms of the persistence length, the spacing between pinning sites, a microscopic effective length that characterizes a bond, and the bond energy. The limitations of this and other similar approaches are discussed. We also consider the general problem of thermal depinning in 1+d dimensions. In the case of force-induced unbinding, it is shown that the bending rigidity favors the unbinding through a "lever-arm effect. "
Demographic expansion of parasitic nematodes of livestock based on mitochondrial DNA regions that conflict with the infinite‐sites model

Mitochondrial ND4 sequences of populations of four species of parasitic nematodes of livestock were subjected to demographic analyses. Deviation from selective neutrality was detectable using the frequency spectrum of segregating sites and highly negative neutrality statistics. However, the mitochondrial data sets do not comply with the infinite‐sites model that underlies these tests, and as a consequence, it was not established whether these features are solely a result of population expansion, or whether aspects of the molecular evolution of these mitochondrial regions are also involved. Coalescent analyses based on Fu's Fs neutrality test, which incorporated estimates of rate heterogeneity, the transition–transversion ratio and nucleotide bias, as well as analyses that are fairly robust to deviations from the infinite‐sites model supported population expansion. Also analyses that do not depend on the infinite‐sites model suggested historical population expansion of these nematodes. The very similar time since expansion, the absence of signatures of positive selection in ND4 and the logical association with human demography imply that selective sweeps of mitochondrial variants are less probable, and that expansion is the most likely scenario for the parasitic nematodes of livestock. The methods used to characterize the expansion have different assumptions and emphasize different aspects of expansions. The resulting restrictions on the interpretation of expansions are outlined.
Estimating Temporal Dynamics of Human Emotions

Sentiment analysis predicts a one-dimensional quantity describing the positive or negative emotion of an author. Mood analysis extends the one-dimensional sentiment response to a multi-dimensional quantity, describing a diverse set of human emotions. In this paper, we extend sentiment and mood analysis temporally and model emotions as a function of time based on temporal streams of blog posts authored by a specific author. The model is useful for constructing predictive models and discovering scientific models of human emotions.
Evaluation of an RF wearable device for non-invasive real-time hydration monitoring

In this paper, we validate a novel wearable device for real time non-invasive hydration monitoring. An experiment was carried out on three sets of 12 subjects under various exercise intensities to identify how the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) captured with the device relates to the change in the body hydration, body water loss percentage (BWL%). A linear regression correlation R2 of 0.77 and a third degree polynomials correlation (R2=0.83) between ΔRSSI and BWL% is established based on the observation of the experiment, which implies that the hydration status can be quantized as body water loss by measuring ΔRSSI. Therefore, the technique and device is verified to be a potentially solid solution for wearable non-invasive real-time hydration monitoring device.
Survival in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis The Role of Psychological Factors

Objective: Examining the relationship between psychological status and survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Our hypothesis is that psychological distress is associated with greater mortality and shorter survival time than psychological well-being. Design: Cross-sectional, longitudinal. The baseline evaluations used were disease severity and 10 psychometric tests. A psychological status score was derived from these tests. Survival status was monitored for 3.5 years. Interviewers were blinded to other interviews and data analysis. Setting: Patient's residence. Patients: The criteria for eligibility were diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis by a neurologist, dementia or alcoholism absent, communication in English, and any severity or length of disease. It was a volunteer sample consisting of 144 patients from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis clinics or community-based amyotrophic lateral sclerosis support groups. In this sample 66% were men, 94% were white, mean age at diagnosis was 55 years, 79% were married, 60% had some college education, and 61% died during the study. Interventions: None. Main Outcome Measures: End points: mortality during study, survival time from intake to last follow-up. Results: Comparison between high and low psychological score groups: 32% of high and 82% of low died; survival curves were significantly different. Controlling for confounding factors (length of illness, disease severity, age), patients with psychological distress had a greater risk of mortality (relative risk, 6.76; 95% confidence limits, 1.69 to 27.12) and greater likelihood of dying in any given time period (relative risk, 2.24; 95% confidence limits, 1.08 to 4.64) than those with psychological well-being. Conclusion: Adjusting for confounding factors, psychological status is strongly related to outcome in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Further studies on psychological status should be done to confirm its prognostic value.
Awareness and utilization of protective eye device among welders in a southwestern Nigeria community.

OBJECTIVE To determine the level of awareness and practice of use of protective eye devices among welders in Ile-Ife. METHODS This is a cross-sectional descriptive study of 405 consenting welders. A pretested proforma was utilized to obtain information on sociodemographic characteristics, as well as awareness and use of protective eye device. RESULTS The age of the respondents ranged from 16 to 80 years. The mean age was 39 ± 13 years. A large proportion (315, 78%) of the welders was aged between 21 and 50 years. The youngest group aged ≤ 20 years accounted for 15 (4%) of all welders, while the oldest group aged > 60 years accounted for 21 (5.2%). 402 were males (99.3%) and three were females (0.7%). Three hundred thirty-six (83%) of the welders had practiced for 6 years and above. There was a high level of awareness of protective eye devices among the welders (367, 90.6%), being higher among arc welders compared with gas welders (P < 0.001). Less than half (186, 45.9%) of the welders possessed protective eye devices. Of these, only 39 (9.6%) made use of the devices always. Some of the reasons for not using the protective eye devices include discomfort and poor visibility (56, 13.6%) and inadequate appreciation of the necessity to wear it (49, 12.1%). CONCLUSION The findings of this study suggest that a significant proportion of welders in Ile-Ife were not utilizing protective eye device. Health education and awareness campaigns about the importance and benefits of utilizing protective eye devices are recommended.
Exploring the performance potential of Itanium/spl reg/ processors with ILP-based scheduling

HP and Intel's Itanium processor family (IPF) is considered as one of the most challenging processor architectures to generate code for. During global instruction scheduling, the compiler must balance the use of strongly interdependent techniques like code motion, speculation and predication. A too conservative application of these features can lead to empty execution slots, contrary to the EPIC philosophy. But overuse can cause resource shortage which spoils the benefit. We tackle this problem using integer linear programming (ILP), a proven standard optimization method. Our ILP model comprises global, partial-ready code motion with automated generation of compensation code as well as vital IPF features like control/data speculation and predication. The ILP approach can-with some restrictions-resolve the interdependences between these decisions and deliver the global optimum. This promises a speedup for compute-intensive applications as well as some theoretically funded insights into the potential of the architecture. Experiments with several hot functions from the SPEC benchmarks show substantial improvements: our postpass optimizer reduces the schedule lengths produced by Intel's compiler by about 20-40%. The resulting speedup of these routines is 16% on average.
Macular pigmentation of uncertain aetiology revisited: two case reports and a proposed algorithm for clinical classification

Ashy dermatosis, erythema dyschromicum perstans, lichen planus pigmentosus and idiopathic eruptive macular pigmentation are various types of acquired macular hyperpigmentation disorders of the skin described in literature. However, a global consensus on the definitions of these entities is lacking. We report two cases of acquired macular (hyper)pigmentation of uncertain aetiology diagnosed as ashy dermatosis and attempt to clarify the various confusing nosologies based on existing literature. We infer that acquired small and large macular pigmentation of uncertain aetiology should be considered separate from that associated with lichen planus. We also propose a diagnostic algorithm for patients with acquired macular hyperpigmentation.
Gaze Fixation System for the Evaluation of Driver Distractions Induced by IVIS

We present a method to monitor driver distraction based on a stereo camera to estimate the face pose and gaze of a driver in real time. A coarse eye direction is composed of face pose estimation to obtain the gaze and driver's fixation area in the scene, which is a parameter that gives much information about the distraction pattern of the driver. The system does not require any subject-specific calibration; it is robust to fast and wide head rotations and works under low-lighting conditions. The system provides some consistent statistics, which help psychologists to assess the driver distraction patterns under influence of different in-vehicle information systems (IVISs). These statistics are objective, as the drivers are not required to report their own distraction states. The proposed gaze fixation system has been tested on a set of challenging driving experiments directed by a team of psychologists in a naturalistic driving simulator. This simulator mimics conditions present in real driving, including weather changes, maneuvering, and distractions due to IVISs. Professional drivers participated in the tests.