Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gestonurse: A multimodal robotic scrub nurse

A novel multimodal robotic scrub nurse (RSN) system for the operating room (OR) is presented. The RSN assists the main surgeon by passing surgical instruments. Experiments were conducted to test the system with speech and gesture modalities and average instrument acquisition times were compared. Experimental results showed that 97% of the gestures were recognized correctly under changes in scale and rotation and that the multimodal system responded faster than the unimodal systems. A relationship similar in form to Fitts's law for instrument picking accuracy is also presented.
On the Primary Constructions of Vectorial Boolean Bent Functions ∗

Vectorial Boolean bent functions, which possess the maximal nonlinearity and the minimum differential uniformity, contribute to optimum resistance against linear cryptanalysis and differential cryptanalysis for the cryptographic algorithms that adopt them as nonlinear components. This paper is devoted to the new primary constructions of vectorial Boolean bent functions, including four types: vectorial monomial bent functions, vectorial Boolean bent functions with multiple trace terms, H vectorial functions and H-like vectorial functions. For vectorial monomial bent functions, this paper answers one open problem proposed by E. Pasalic et al. and characterizes the vectorial monomial bent functions corresponding to the five known classes of bent exponents. For the vectorial Boolean bent functions with multiple trace terms, this paper answers one open problem proposed by A. Muratović-Ribić et al., presents six new infinite classes of explicit constructions and shows the nonexistence of the vectorial Boolean bent functions from F2n to F2k of the form ∑2k−2 i=1 Tr n k (ax (2i−1)(2k−1)) with n = 2k and a ∈ F2k . Moreover, H vectorial functions are further characterized. In addition, a new infinite class of vectorial Boolean bent function named as H-like vectorial functions are derived, which includes H vectorial functions as a subclass.
Sex‐related differences of cAMP‐specific PDE4B3 mRNA in oligodendrocytes following systemic inflammation

Sex‐related differences have been observed in the incidence and severity of several neurological diseases and in sepsis in humans. Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) has been shown to play an important role in modulating the inflammatory environment during neuroinflammation and importantly in protecting myelin from excitotoxic cell death. Considering the sexual dimorphism in the functional properties of oligodendrocytes and the importance of a systemic inflammation in the progression of multiple sclerosis, we focused on identifying possible sex‐related differences in the alterations previously reported for the two phosphodiesterase4B (PDE4B) splice‐variants (PDE4B2 and PDE4B3) mRNA expression during innate neuroinflammation. PDE4A, PDE4B, and PDE4D are present in oligodendrocytes and we have previously reported that PDE4B3 mRNA is readily expressed in both oligodendrocytes and neurons. In this study, we analyzed the influence of an intraperitoneal lipopolysaccharide injection on the distribution pattern and expression levels of the PDE4B mRNA splicing variants in both male and female mice brains. Clear differences were observed in PDE4B2 and PDE4B3 mRNA expression levels in males compared with females in a time‐dependent manner. Furthermore, we observed that the clear downregulation of PDE4B3 mRNA was reflected in a lower percentage of oligodendrocytes positive for this transcript which correlated with a decrease in inducible cAMP early repressor expression in female corpus callosum. © 2012Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Intrauterine Growth Retardation: Fetal Glucose Transport is Diminished in Lung but Spared in Brain

ABSTRACT: “Uteroplacental insufficiency” often causes asymmetric fetal growth retardation. Glucose transporters control cell glucose utilization and thus may be critical in the control of fetal growth. We hypothesized that uteroplacental insufficiency might alter glucose transporter activity, protein, and gene expression and thereby affect discordant organ growth in small-for-gestational-age (SGA) fetuses. We performed bilateral uterine artery ligation in pregnant rats on d 19 of gestation (term-21.5 d) to cause uteroplacental insufficiency and obtained fetal brain and lung tissue on d 20. The brain mass of SGA fetuses did not differ from that of sham and normal fetuses, but lung mass was significantly diminished. Glucose transport, measured with [3H]2-deoxyglucose, was similar in glial cells and brain tissue of SGA, sham, and normal fetuses. In contrast, type II pneumocytes, lung fibroblasts, and lung tissue of SGA fetuses had significantly decreased glucose transport. The intrinsic activity of the glucose transporter (Km) was not altered in the brain or lung of SGA fetuses. Total glucose transporter protein measured by cytochalasin-B binding and glucose transporter 1 mRNA was diminished in SGA lung tissue and type II pneumocytes, but not in SGA brain tissue or glial cells. We could not detect glucose transporter 3 mRNA in significant quantity in any tissue. With uteroplacental insufficiency, glucose transport is differentially altered in lung and brain. Glucose transporter protein and gene expression are diminished in the lung and normal in the brain of SGA fetuses. These changes may contribute to fetal growth retardation and the phenomenon of “brain sparing. ”
Prevalence survey of filariasis in two villages in Chingleput district of Tamil Nadu.

A baseline survey of filariasis was conducted in two endemic villages in Chingleput district of Tamil Nadu, to obtain the prevalence rate of microfilaraemia and that of clinical filarial disease along with its various clinical patterns. Of the 2921 dejure population registered, in 2735 a comprehensive clinical examination for filariasis was carried out by a physician. In 2658 persons of those clinically examined, night blood samples were collected by finger prick. The results of the survey confirmed that the two village were highly endemic for filariasis, the prevalence rates of clinical disease and microfilaraemia being 20 and 12 per cent respectively. The endemicity rate was 31 per cent. Nocturnally periodic Wuchereria bancrofti was the only species identified. The major manifestations of clinical disease were lymphadenitis in the acute phase, hydrocele and oedema of the lower limbs in the chronic phase and involvement of the lower limbs in the elephantiasis phase. Among males with disease in the chronic phase, genital involvement was more than that of the lower limbs. The distributions of the patients by age in the three phases, although overlapping, suggested that the disease generally progressed with age from acute to chronic to elephantiasis phase. The microfilarial rate among persons with clinical disease was lower as compared to that among persons without disease. An entomological survey of one of the villages showed that Culex quinquefasciatus was the vector with high infection and infectivity rates.
Effects of Dietary Inclusion of Prebiotic, Probiotic and Synbiotic on the Intestinal Glucose Absorption of Broiler Chickens

3 Abstract: Due to growing concerns about antibiotic resistance and the potential for a ban for antibiotic growth promoters, there is an increasing interest in finding alternatives to antibiotics in poultry production. The effects of prebiotics and probiotics or direct fed microbials (DFM) on gut health and performance in poultry as well as other species are studied. The interactions between intestinal microbiota, the gut epithelium and the immune system are important in the competitive exclusion process. Such feed additives have already been shown to affect relevant functions of the intestinal mucosa such as lowering the secretory response to theophylline or stimulating sodium/glucose cotransport in rat, but knowledge of the plausible interactions between food contaminants and natural components has not yet been studied. In this study we examined the effects of prefeeding of a microbial feed additive (Lactobacillus sp.), prebiotic (chicory rich in inulin) and synbiotic feed additive (combination of probiotic strain Enterococcus faecium, prebiotic chicory rich in inulin and immune stimulating substances derived from sea algae) on glucose transport of isolated jejunal mucosa of broiler chicks in the presence or absence of deoxynivalenol by the Ussing chamber technique. The addition of glucose on the mucosal side in Ussing chamber produced a significant increase in short- circuit current (Isc) (P 0.05). While, the glucose addition after preincubation of the tissue with DON produced a higher increase in the Isc from the basal values in the prebiotic group (70%), probiotic group (20%) and the synbiotic group (26%) compared with the control group (13%), suggesting that the dietary prebiotic, probiotic and synbiotic supplementation of the broilers increased the glucose transport in the presence of DON which could be promising to reduce the alterations caused by DON on gut physiology. This may offer the host protection against the negative effects of DON on intestinal glucose absorption. Thus, this study supports the concept that probiotics, prebiotic and synbiotic may exert beneficial effects in the gastrointestinal tract.
Discovering personally semantic places from GPS trajectories

A place is a locale that is frequently visited by an individual user and carries important semantic meanings (e.g. home, work, etc.). Many location-aware applications will be greatly enhanced with the ability of the automatic discovery of personally semantic places. The discovery of a user's personally semantic places involves obtaining the physical locations and semantic meanings of these places. In this paper, we propose approaches to address both of the problems. For the physical place extraction problem, a hierarchical clustering algorithm is proposed to firstly extract visit points from the GPS trajectories, and then these visit points can be clustered to form physical places. For the semantic place recognition problem, Bayesian networks (encoding the temporal patterns in which the places are visited) are used in combination with a customized POI (i.e. place of interest) database (containing the spatial features of the places) to categorize the extracted physical places into pre-defined types. An extensive set of experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches based on a dataset of real-world GPS trajectories.
Functional and work outcomes improve in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who receive targeted, comprehensive occupational therapy.

OBJECTIVE Work disability is a serious consequence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We conducted a 6-month, prospective randomized controlled trial comparing assessments of function, work, coping, and disease activity in employed patients with RA receiving occupational therapy intervention versus usual care. METHODS Employed patients with RA with increased perceived work disability risk were identified by the RA Work Instability Scale (WIS; score >or=10). Patients were stratified into medium- (score >or=10 and <17) and high-risk (>or=17) groups, then randomized into occupational therapy or usual care groups. Assessments were conducted at baseline and 6 months. The primary outcome was the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), a standardized patient self-report of function. Other outcomes included the disability index (DI) of the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ); Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28); RA WIS; EuroQol Index; visual analog scales (VAS) for pain, work satisfaction, and work performance; and days missed/month. Independent sample t-tests and Mann-Whitney U tests were used. RESULTS We recruited 32 employed patients with RA. At baseline the groups were well matched. At 6 months the improvement in the occupational therapy group was significantly greater than that in the usual care group for all functional outcomes (COPM performance P < 0.001, COPM satisfaction P < 0.001, HAQ DI P = 0.02) and most work outcomes (RA WIS [P = 0.04], VAS work satisfaction [P < 0.001], VAS work performance [P = 0.01]). Additionally, Arthritis Helplessness Index (P = 0.02), Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales II pain subscale (P = 0.03), VAS pain (P = 0.007), EuroQol Index (P = 0.02), EuroQol global (P = 0.02), and DAS28 (P = 0.03) scores significantly improved. CONCLUSION Targeted, comprehensive occupational therapy intervention improves functional and work-related outcomes in employed RA patients at risk of work disability.
Influence of edaphic factors on plant distribution and diversity in the arid area of Xinjiang, Northwest China

ABSTRACT The influence of edaphic factors on plant distribution is essential to community ecology and important for vegetation restoration and management in arid ecosystems. In this study, desert plant distribution and diversity as well as soil water, salinity, and nutrients were measured in the Ebinur Lake Wetland Nature Reserve (ELWNR) in arid Northwest China. We determined relationships between plant distribution and soil factors along a transect with increasing distance from the river and created optimal models using soil factors to explain variations in plant diversity. In general, soil factors decreased with increasing distance from the river. Soil volumetric water content (SVWC), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and sulfur (S) were closely related to plant distribution. According to canonical correspondence analysis, plants along the transect were divided into three groups: saline–alkaline tolerant, drought tolerant, and high P-demanding. SVWC, pH, soil organic carbon (C), N, P, and S account for 93.8% of the variations in plant diversity in the ELWNR. Compared with other soil factors, S explained the largest percentage of variations in diversity when single soil variables were considered in generalized additive models (R2 = 38.9%). Our results suggest increases in soil pH, P, N, and S would improve plant diversity significantly. We found differences among species groups in preference for habitat, and N and S content had a significant positive effect of on plant diversity, providing a scientific reference for plant restoration and saline soil remediation in desert ecosystems.
Title Adoptive transfer of antithyrotropin receptor ( TSHR ) autoimmunity fromTSHR knockout mice to athymic nude mice

Title Adoptive transfer of antithyrotropin receptor (TSHR) autoimmunity from TSHR knockout mice to athymic nude mice Author(s) Nakahara, Mami; Johnson, Kristian; Eckstein, Anja; Taguchi, Ryo; Yamada, Masanobu; Abiru, Norio; Nagayama, Yuji Citation Endocrinology, 153(4), pp.2034-2042; 2012 Issue Date 2012-04-01 URL http://hdl.handle. net/10069/29075 Right Copyright © 2012 by The Endocrine Society. NAOSITE: Nagasaki University's Academic Output SITE
Impact of Oil Well Cement Exposed to H2S Saturated Fluid and Gas at High Temperatures and Pressures: Implications for Acid Gas Injection and Co-Sequestration

Abstract Experimental difficulties and safety issues while working with H2S under acid gas exposure conditions (HPHT) have greatly limited the understanding of their impacts on wellbore integrity. To address this, an experimental study was designed to prepare and maintain H2S gas and H2S –containing fluids exposure experiments under relevant subsurface conditions. In this study, several cement formulations (Class H neat and pozzolan amended cements) were cured under subsurface (downhole) conditions and then exposed to H2S for a period of 28 days at a temperature of 50°C and pressure of 15 MPa. The cement was exposed to both an H2S saturated fluid and gaseous H2S to simulate existing wellbores that came into contact with an acid gas injection plume under reservoir conditions. The ensuing cement alteration products were determined by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and ICP-OES. The exposed cement underwent significant physical and chemical alteration via sulfate formation and decalcification. Both the neat and 35:65 pozzolan amended cement were decalcified with a complete loss of structural integrity, while the 65:35 pozzolan cement, although still intact, lost much of its integrity. The integrity of the exposed cement samples increased with an increasing pozzolan addition suggesting that pozzolan amended cements would be beneficial in wellbores expected to come in contact with H2S environments.
Operative Treatment of Haglund Syndrome With Central Achilles Tendon-Splitting Approach.

Haglund syndrome is characterized by chronic posterior heel pain associated with a posterosuperior calcaneal prominence. We assessed the clinical and radiologic outcomes after operative treatment of Haglund syndrome using the central tendon-splitting approach. Fifteen feet in 15 patients were investigated retrospectively after surgery. Of the 15 patients, 14 were males (93.3%) and 1 was female (6.7%). Their mean age was 33.1 ± 8.2 (range 20 to 50) years. The mean follow-up duration was 3.5 ± 1.5 years (range 24 to 90 months). The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle-hindfoot Scale and Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment-Achilles scores were investigated to assess the clinical outcomes. Patient satisfaction was assessed at the latest follow-up visit. The lateral talo-first metatarsal angle, calcaneal pitch angle, Fowler-Philip angle, and parallel pitch line were measured to assess the foot shape and radiographic outcomes. Clinically, the mean American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle-hindfoot scale score increased from 62.1 ± 7.5 preoperatively to 92.5 ± 3.5 at the latest follow-up visit. The mean Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment-Achilles score increased from 53.2 ± 7.4 to 89.6 ± 3.4. All patients were satisfied with the operative results. Radiographically, all patients had cavus feet with an increased lateral talo-first metatarsal angle (mean +5.9° ± 5.0°) and calcaneal pitch angle (mean 26.0° ± 3.8°). The mean Fowler-Philip angle decreased from 58.9° ± 15.0° to 32.5° ± 7.2° postoperatively, and the positive parallel pitch line had changed to a negative value in all cases. Operative treatment with the central tendon-splitting approach appears to be safe and satisfactory for intractable Haglund syndrome.
Future changes in extreme precipitation indices over Korea

In this study, the regional climate of the Korean Peninsula is dynamically downscaled using a high‐resolution regional climate model forced by two representative concentration pathway scenarios of Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version 2‐Atmosphere and Ocean (HadGEM2‐AO) using multiple regional climate models. Changes in extreme precipitation indices are investigated. Through the evaluation of the present climate, a multi‐model ensemble reasonably reproduces the long‐term climatology of extreme precipitation indices over South Korea despite some systematic errors. Both mean and extreme precipitation intensities for 80 years in the future (2021–2100) increase compared to those of the present. However, the increasing rates of indices related to precipitation intensities are different according to sub‐period, season, and emission scenarios. Mean and extreme precipitation intensities of the future climate increase during the summer when most extreme precipitation events occur over the Korean Peninsula. Also, abnormal extreme precipitation can increase during future summers due to increasing variances of indices related to extreme precipitation intensity. Increasing extreme summer precipitation over South Korea is proportional to the increases in convective precipitation compared to non‐convective precipitation. This indicates that future changes in summer precipitation, with regard to intensity and frequency, over South Korea, among representative concentration pathway scenarios, are more related to a change in convective instability rather than synoptic condition.
Seasonal Sensitivity of the Hadley Cell and Cross‐Hemispheric Responses to Diabatic Heating in an Idealized GCM

The seasonal sensitivity of the Hadley cell to localized diabatic forcing is studied using a dry idealized atmospheric general circulation model. Sensitivities are broadly consistent with Hadley cell responses in observations and climate models to El Niño–Southern Oscillation and global warming‐like forcings. However, the exact seasonal sensitivity patterns highlight the importance of reducing the uncertainty in the size and position of expected anthropogenic forcings to understand how the atmospheric circulation will respond. The sensitivities reveal cross‐hemispheric Hadley cell responses that project onto the eddy‐driven jets and storm tracks. For summer hemisphere heating, the winter Hadley cell extent and jet latitude responses are highly correlated. For winter hemisphere heating, the summer Hadley cell extent and jet speed responses are highly correlated. These seasonal differences arise due to the contrast between the dominant winter Hadley cell and weaker summer Hadley cell.
Diagnostic performance and costs of Capilia TB for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex identification from broth‐based culture in Bangkok, Thailand

Objectives Broth‐based culture (BBC) systems are increasingly being used to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) in resource‐limited. We evaluated the performance, time to detection and cost of the Capilia TB identification test from broth cultures positive for acid‐fast bacilli (AFB) in Thailand.
Joint Inference in Information Extraction

The goal of information extraction is to extract database records from text or semi-structured sources. Traditionally, information extraction proceeds by first segmenting each candidate record separately, and then merging records that refer to the same entities. While computationally efficient, this approach is suboptimal, because it ignores the fact that segmenting one candidate record can help to segment similar ones. For example, resolving a well-segmented field with a less-clear one can disambiguate the latter's boundaries. In this paper we propose a joint approach to information extraction, where segmentation of all records and entity resolution are performed together in a single integrated inference process. While a number of previous authors have taken steps in this direction (eg., Pasula et al. (2003), Wellner et al. (2004)), to our knowledge this is the first fully joint approach. In experiments on the CiteSeer and Cora citation matching datasets, joint inference improved accuracy, and our approach outperformed previous ones. Further, by using Markov logic and the existing algorithms for it, our solution consisted mainly of writing the appropriate logical formulas, and required much less engineering than previous ones.
Extrinsic and Intrinsic Performance of Vertical InAs Nanowire MOSFETs on Si Substrates

This paper presents dc and RF characterization as well as modeling of vertical InAs nanowire (NW) MOSFETs with L<sub>G</sub>=200 nm and Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>/HfO<sub>2</sub> high-κ dielectric. Measurements at V<sub>DS</sub>=0.5 V show that high transconductance (g<sub>m</sub>=1.37 mS/μm), high drive current (I<sub>DS</sub>=1.34 mA/μm), and low ON-resistance (R<sub>ON</sub>=287 Ωμm) can be realized using vertical InAs NWs on Si substrates. By measuring the 1/f-noise, the gate area normalized gate voltage noise spectral density, S<sub>VG</sub>·L<sub>G</sub>·W<sub>G</sub>, is determined to be lowered by one order of magnitude compared with similar devices with a high-κ film consisting of HfO<sub>2</sub> only. In addition, with a virtual source model we are able to determine the intrinsic transport properties. These devices (L<sub>G</sub>=200 nm) show a high injection velocity (v<sub>inj</sub>=1.7×10<sup>7</sup> cm/s) with a performance degradation for array FETs predominantly due to an increase in series resistance.