Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Two‐week test–retest reliability of the Polar® RS800CX™ to record heart rate variability

Recently, research has validated the use of Polar® heart rate monitors as a tool to index heart rate variability (HRV). In the current investigation, we sought to evaluate the test–retest reliability of both time and frequency domain measures of HRV using the Polar® RS800CX™. Continuous HRV data were collected as 60 nominally healthy adults underwent a resting and orthostatic stress test. We evaluated reproducibility by means of the interclass correlation coefficient for absolute agreement and consistency, and the standard error of measurement. We found moderate reliable 2‐week test–retest reliability of HRV using the Polar® RS800CX™, results that are in line with previous studies that have validated the stability of HRV using other methods of measurement (e.g. electrocardiogram). Additionally, when examining different methods of spectral density estimation, we found that using the auto‐regressive transformation method provides the most stable indices of HRV. Taken together, our results suggest that the Polar® RS800CX™ is not only a valid method to record HRV, but also a reliable one, particularly when using the auto‐regressive transformation method.
Energy-Efficient LDPC Decoders Based on Error-Resiliency

Low density parity check (LDPC) codes are used in various communication standards. However, LDPC decoders are complex and power hungry. In this paper, we present an energy-efficient LDPC decoder based on statistical error compensation (SEC). Three different size LDPC codes, (50,25), (800,400), and (1800,900) were implemented with 5 iterations/block. Circuit simulations in a commercial 45nm process show that the SEC based LDPC decoder can operate at a supply voltage up to 38% less than the nominal voltage and tolerate up to 30× more errors over an SNR range of 3dB to 8dB, while maintaining less than 3× degradation in BER. This is equivalent with energy savings of 45.7% compared to conventional LDPC decoders, and 33.2% compared to a sign bit protected LDPC decoder.
Intrinsically-generated fluctuating activity in excitatory-inhibitory networks

Recurrent networks of non-linear units display a variety of dynamical regimes depending on the structure of their synaptic connectivity. A particularly remarkable phenomenon is the appearance of strongly fluctuating, chaotic activity in networks of deterministic, but randomly connected rate units. How this type of intrinsically generated fluctuations appears in more realistic networks of spiking neurons has been a long standing question. To ease the comparison between rate and spiking networks, recent works investigated the dynamical regimes of randomly-connected rate networks with segregated excitatory and inhibitory populations, and firing rates constrained to be positive. These works derived general dynamical mean field (DMF) equations describing the fluctuating dynamics, but solved these equations only in the case of purely inhibitory networks. Using a simplified excitatory-inhibitory architecture in which DMF equations are more easily tractable, here we show that the presence of excitation qualitatively modifies the fluctuating activity compared to purely inhibitory networks. In presence of excitation, intrinsically generated fluctuations induce a strong increase in mean firing rates, a phenomenon that is much weaker in purely inhibitory networks. Excitation moreover induces two different fluctuating regimes: for moderate overall coupling, recurrent inhibition is sufficient to stabilize fluctuations; for strong coupling, firing rates are stabilized solely by the upper bound imposed on activity, even if inhibition is stronger than excitation. These results extend to more general network architectures, and to rate networks receiving noisy inputs mimicking spiking activity. Finally, we show that signatures of the second dynamical regime appear in networks of integrate-and-fire neurons.
Interpreting Posterior Relative Risk Estimates in Disease-Mapping Studies

There is currently much interest in conducting spatial analyses of health outcomes at the small-area scale. This requires sophisticated statistical techniques, usually involving Bayesian models, to smooth the underlying risk estimates because the data are typically sparse. However, questions have been raised about the performance of these models for recovering the “true” risk surface, about the influence of the prior structure specified, and about the amount of smoothing of the risks that is actually performed. We describe a comprehensive simulation study designed to address these questions. Our results show that Bayesian disease-mapping models are essentially conservative, with high specificity even in situations with very sparse data but low sensitivity if the raised-risk areas have only a moderate (< 2-fold) excess or are not based on substantial expected counts (> 50 per area). Semiparametric spatial mixture models typically produce less smoothing than their conditional autoregressive counterpart when there is sufficient information in the data (moderate-size expected count and/or high true excess risk). Sensitivity may be improved by exploiting the whole posterior distribution to try to detect true raised-risk areas rather than just reporting and mapping the mean posterior relative risk. For the widely used conditional autoregressive model, we show that a decision rule based on computing the probability that the relative risk is above 1 with a cutoff between 70 and 80% gives a specific rule with reasonable sensitivity for a range of scenarios having moderate expected counts (~ 20) and excess risks (~1.5- to 2-fold). Larger (3-fold) excess risks are detected almost certainly using this rule, even when based on small expected counts, although the mean of the posterior distribution is typically smoothed to about half the true value.
Obliterative bronchiolitis: varying presentations and clinicopathological correlation

In obliterative bronchiolitis, inflammation and fibrosis lead to narrowing or occlusion of bronchiolar lumina. To determine how bronchiolar structural alterations relate to lung physiology, 19 patients with a pathological diagnosis of obliterative bronchiolitis were studied. The bronchiolar inflammatory and fibrotic features were correlated to the clinical presentation, and lung function tests. Eleven patients demonstrated airflow limitation, one had a restrictive pattern and one had a mixed pattern, two had isolated gas trapping, but four had normal spirometry. Mild-to-moderate bronchiolar inflammation was invariably present. It involved 60% of bronchioles subepithelially and 54% in the adventitia. Subepithelial fibrosis was observed in 15 patients and adventitial in 12. Adventitial bronchiolar inflammation correlated with forced expiratory volume in one second and forced vital capacity and inversely correlated with residual volume. Subepithelial fibrosis inversely correlated with subepithelial and adventitial inflammation. High-resolution computed tomography in 10 patients revealed inspiratory (five out of 10) and expiratory air trapping (five out of five), ground glass opacities (seven out of 10), bronchial wall thickening (five out of 10), bronchiectasis (two out of 10) and centrilobular nodules (two out of 10). The present study suggests that inflammation and fibrosis occurs in bronchioles at different time points in the disease process, or that there is no transition between these types of pathology in the same patient. No correlation was observed between the degree of bronchiolar fibrosis and the degree of airflow limitation.
Reactivation in Working Memory: An Attractor Network Model of Free Recall

The dynamic nature of human working memory, the general-purpose system for processing continuous input, while keeping no longer externally available information active in the background, is well captured in immediate free recall of supraspan word-lists. Free recall tasks produce several benchmark memory phenomena, like the U-shaped serial position curve, reflecting enhanced memory for early and late list items. To account for empirical data, including primacy and recency as well as contiguity effects, we propose here a neurobiologically based neural network model that unifies short- and long-term forms of memory and challenges both the standard view of working memory as persistent activity and dual-store accounts of free recall. Rapidly expressed and volatile synaptic plasticity, modulated intrinsic excitability, and spike-frequency adaptation are suggested as key cellular mechanisms underlying working memory encoding, reactivation and recall. Recent findings on the synaptic and molecular mechanisms behind early LTP and on spiking activity during delayed-match-to-sample tasks support this view.
Abscon 112 Toward more Robustness

This paper describes the three main improvements made to the solver Abscon 109 [9]. The new version, Abscon 112, is able to automatically break some variable symmetries, infer allDifferent constraints from cliques of variables that are pair-wise irreflexive, and use an optimized version of the STR (Simple Tabular Reduction) technique initially introduced by J. Ullmann for table constraints. 1 From Local to Global Variable Symmetries In [10], we have proposed to automatically detect variable symmetries of CSP instances by computing for each constraint scope a partition exhibiting locally symmetrical variables. From this local information that can be obtained in polynomial time, we can build a so-called lsv-graph whose automorphisms correspond to (global) variable symmetries. Interestingly enough, our approach allows us to disregard the representation (extension, intension, global) of constraints. Besides, the size of the lsv-graph is linear wrt the number of constraints (and their arity). To break symmetries from the generators returned by a graph automorphism algorithm, a classical approach is to post lexicographic ordering constraints defined on two vectors of variables. We have proposed a new variant of an algorithm enforcing GAC (generalized arc consistency) on such constraints which is able to deal with shared variables. This algorithm is quite simple to implement and well-adapted to general-purpose constraint solvers. Our experimental results show the robustness of the overall approach with different search heuristics: on a large number of series, more instances can be solved while the cpu time required for symmetry identification is observed as negligible. These results confirm that automatically breaking symmetries constitutes a significant breakthrough for black-box CSP solvers. In order to show the practical interest of this approach, we have then conducted an extensive experimentation on a cluster of Xeon 3.0GHz with 1GiB of RAM under Linux. Here, performance is measured in terms of cpu time (in seconds) and number of visited nodes. We have integrated to the classical MAC algorithm, that is to say the algorithm that maintains (generalized) arc consistency at each node of the search tree, several variants of the symmetry breaking ha l-0 08 70 84 1, v er si on 1 8 O ct 2 01 3 Author manuscript, published in "3rd International Constraint Solver Competition (CSC'08), Sydney : Australia (2008)"
Outsourcing Tasks Online: Matching Supply and Demand on Peer-to-Peer Internet Platforms

We study the growth of online peer-to-peer markets. Using data from TaskRabbit, an expanding marketplace for domestic tasks at the time of our study, we show that growth varies considerably across cities. To disentangle the potential drivers of growth, we look separately at demand and supply imbalances, network effects, and geographic heterogeneity. First, we find that supply is highly elastic: in periods when demand doubles, sellers perform almost twice as many tasks, prices hardly increase, and the probability of requested tasks being matched falls only slightly. The first result implies that in markets where supply can accommodate demand fluctuations, growth relies on attracting buyers at a faster rate than sellers. Second and perhaps most surprisingly, we find no evidence of network effects in matching: doubling the number of buyers and sellers only doubles the number of matches. Third, we show that the cities where market fundamentals promote efficient matching of buyers and sellers are also those that are the fastest growing. This heterogeneity in matching efficiency is related to two measures of market thickness: geographic density (buyers and sellers living close together) and level of task standardization (buyers requesting homogeneous tasks). Our results have two main implications for peer-to-peer markets in which network effects are limited by the local and time-sensitive nature of the services exchanged. First, marketplace growth largely depends on strategic geographic expansion. Second, a competitive rather than winner-take-all equilibrium may arise in the long run. This paper was accepted by Bruno Cassiman, business strategy.
How Many Objects are You Worth? Quantification of the Self-Motion Load on Multiple Object Tracking

Perhaps walking and chewing gum is effortless, but walking and tracking moving objects is not. Multiple object tracking is impaired by walking from one location to another, suggesting that updating location of the self puts demands on object tracking processes. Here, we quantified the cost of self-motion in terms of the tracking load. Participants in a virtual environment tracked a variable number of targets (1–5) among distractors while either staying in one place or moving along a path that was similar to the objects’ motion. At the end of each trial, participants decided whether a probed dot was a target or distractor. As in our previous work, self-motion significantly impaired performance in tracking multiple targets. Quantifying tracking capacity for each individual under move versus stay conditions further revealed that self-motion during tracking produced a cost to capacity of about 0.8 (±0.2) objects. Tracking your own motion is worth about one object, suggesting that updating the location of the self is similar, but perhaps slightly easier, than updating locations of objects.
Reliability of the Functional Mobility Scale for Children with Cerebral Palsy

ABSTRACT This study examined inter-rater reliability of the Functional Mobility Scale (FMS) for children with cerebral palsy (CP) and the presence of rater bias. A consecutive sample of 118 children with CP, 2–18 years old (mean 10.3 years, SD 3.6), was recruited from a hospital setting. Children were classified using the gross motor function classification system (GMFCS) with 13 in Level I, 49 in Level II, 44 in Level III, and 12 in Level IV. Each child was independently scored on the FMS by two raters. Raters were randomly assigned from a sample of 44 orthopaedic surgeons, hospital-based physiotherapists, and community-based physiotherapists. Quadratic weighted kappa coefficients for mobility ratings varied from 0.86 to 0.92 for the three distances, indicating substantial chance corrected agreement. Levels of agreement were similar when administering the scale in person and by telephone, suggesting that the FMS can be administered by either method. There was a tendency for surgeons to rate mobility higher than physiotherapists, however, only one of the comparisons was statistically significant. The FMS is a reliable tool that can be used by clinicians to assess mobility in children with CP.
Idiopathic tumefactive chronic pancreatitis: clinical profile, histology, and natural history after resection.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Little is known about subjects with idiopathic tumefactive chronic pancreatitis (TCP), that is, chronic pancreatitis whose clinical presentation, usually with a mass or obstructive jaundice, suggests cancer. METHODS We independently reviewed clinical data and histology of 45 TCP (27 idiopathic, 18 alcohol induced) resected at Mayo Clinic (January 1985-March 2001). Follow-up data were obtained from medical records and mailed questionnaires. RESULTS Compared with alcoholic subjects, idiopathic TCP patients were older (58 +/- 2 vs. 48 +/- 3 yr, P < 0.001), had shorter symptom duration (median 3 vs. 24 wk, P < 0.001), were more likely to have no or mild abdominal pain (70% vs. 17%, P = 0.001), and were more often jaundiced (67% vs. 33%, P = 0.02). Three distinct histologic patterns were identified in TCP. Typical CP (n = 19) showed lobular atrophy, fat necrosis, and ductal changes (dilatation, protein plugs, and stones). Lymphoplasmacytic sclerosing pancreatitis (LPSP) (n = 14) was characterized by periductal lymphoplasmacytic infiltration, obliterative phlebitis, and cholangitis with edema. Idiopathic duct-centric CP (IDCP) (n = 12) had neutrophil-predominant lobular inflammation, without phlebitis. On correlation of clinical and histologic diagnosis, 17 of 18 (94%) patients with alcohol-induced TCP had typical CP, and 25 of 27 (93%) with idiopathic TCP had LPSP or IDCP. LPSP and IDCP were indistinguishable clinically except for higher incidence of jaundice in LPSP (93% vs. 42%, P = 0.005). In idiopathic TCP no recurrence of symptoms was observed after resection (median follow-up 49 mo). CONCLUSIONS Idiopathic TCP is clinically and histologically distinct from alcohol-induced TCP. It is unclear whether LPSP and IDCP, 2 unique patterns of histologic injury observed in idiopathic TCP, are part of the spectrum of the same disease or represent 2 or more different entities. Resection of mass prevents recurrence of symptoms in idiopathic TCP.
Effects of Cyberprogram 2.0 on "face-to-face" bullying, cyberbullying, and empathy.

BACKGROUND The considerable prevalence of cyberbullying and its noxious effects on all those concerned reveals the need for programs to prevent and/or intervene in this type of violence. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of Cyberprogram 2.0 on "face-to-face" bullying, cyberbullying, and empathy. METHOD A sample of 176 adolescents of the Basque Country (Spain), aged between 13 and 15 years, who studied Compulsory Secondary Education, was used. Of them, 93 were randomly assigned to the experimental condition, and 83 to the control condition. The study used a pretest-posttest repeated measures design with a control group. Before and after the program, two assessment instruments were administered. RESULTS The results confirmed that the program significantly stimulated: (a) a decrease in the amount of bullying and cyberbullying behaviors suffered and/or carried out (level of victimization, perpetration, aggressive-victimization); and (b) an increase in the capacity for empathy. CONCLUSIONS The study provides evidence of the effectiveness of Cyberprogram 2.0 to prevent and reduce bullying and cyberbullying. The discussion analyzes aspects of the program that may account for the significant intervention effects.
Push-Sum Distributed Dual Averaging for convex optimization

Recently there has been a significant amount of research on developing consensus based algorithms for distributed optimization motivated by applications that vary from large scale machine learning to wireless sensor networks. This work describes and proves convergence of a new algorithm called Push-Sum Distributed Dual Averaging which combines a recent optimization algorithm [1] with a push-sum consensus protocol [2]. As we discuss, the use of push-sum has significant advantages. Restricting to doubly stochastic consensus protocols is not required and convergence to the true average consensus is guaranteed without knowing the stationary distribution of the update matrix in advance. Furthermore, the communication semantics of just summing the incoming information make this algorithm truly asynchronous and allow a clean analysis when varying intercommunication intervals and communication delays are modelled. We include experiments in simulation and on a small cluster to complement the theoretical analysis.
Impact of Age on Stent Strut Coverage and Neointimal Remodeling as Assessed by Optical Coherence Tomography

AbstractWhile older age associates with adverse percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) outcomes, detailed information relating age to stent strut coverage and neointimal characteristics is lacking.One hundred nineteen patients with 123 sirolimus-eluting stents (SESs) were divided into 3 groups: group A (⩽55 years), group B (56–65 years), and group C (>65 years). At 6 and 12 months of follow-up, optical coherence tomography was performed to assess strut coverage and neointimal remodeling.At 6 months, the proportion of uncovered struts increased with age: 6.1% in group A versus 7.3% in group B versus 11.7% in group C (P < 0.001) while the proportion of embedded struts decreased: 72.1% versus 57.0% vs. 55.0%, respectively (P < 0.001). Mean neointimal thicknesses were 90 &mgr;m versus 60 &mgr;m versus 60 &mgr;m, respectively (P < 0.001), and neointimal areas were 0.82 mm2 versus 0.52 mm2 versus 0.57 mm2 (P < 0.001). At 12 months, the proportion of uncovered struts increased with age (3.9% vs. 3.3% vs. 4.9 %; P < 0.001), while mean neointimal thicknesses were 100 versus 70 versus 80 &mgr;m (P < 0.001) and neointimal areas were 0.87 versus 0.60 versus 0.67 mm2 (P < 0.001). Patients ⩽55 years receiving SES showed highest strut coverage and neointimal repair rate compared with the other 2 groups. A “catch-up phenomenon” appeared to occur in the oldest patients, as in the first 6 months the neointima showed lowest endothelial cell coverage and lowest neointimal proliferation rate, whereas from 6 to 12 months, the highest neointimal proliferation rate was seen in the oldest patients.
Prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia intestinalis in Swimming Pools, Atlanta, Georgia

Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia intestinalis have been found in swimming pool filter backwash during outbreaks. To determine baseline prevalence, we sampled pools not associated with outbreaks and found that of 160 sampled pools, 13 (8.1%) were positive for 1 or both parasites; 10 (6.2%) for Giardia sp. , 2 (1.2%) for Cryptosporidium spp. , and 1 (0.6%) for both.
THE CHEMISTRY OF DAYLIGHT VISION

1. While several reports of photosensitive pigments from the retinas of animals possessing large numbers of cone cells have been published, the only study which could be confirmed was Wald's discovery of iodopsin, a red-sensitive pigment from chicken eyes. 2. In its chemical properties, such as the range of pH stability and the effect of polar organic solvents, iodopsin resembles rhodopsin but is considerably more labile. 3. A partial purification from inert yellow impurities has been effected by prehardening the retinas in pH 4.9 acetate buffer before extraction by 2 per cent digitonin. Rhodopsin was an inevitable contaminant in most methods of extraction, but could be reduced to about 10 per cent of the absorption due to iodopsin by extraction of unhardened retinas with 4 per cent Merck's saponin in ¾ saturated magnesium sulfate for about 1 hour. 4. The rate of bleaching of iodopsin was found to be first order and linear with respect to energy. 5. The bleaching effectiveness spectrum of iodopsin was determined with the aid of color filters of known energy transmission, and shows a maximum at 560 mµ in the yellow green with a lower plateau in the blue. The spectrum is in good agreement with the sensitivity of the human cones except for the wavelength of maximum bleaching effectiveness. The maximum sensitivity of the human cones is found at 540 mµ. 6. Previous reports of changes in pH and inorganic phosphate level of retinas due to bleaching could not be confirmed.