Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of a Sampling Area-Adjusted Adenosine Triphosphate Bioluminescence Assay Based on Digital Image Quantification to Assess the Cleanliness of Hospital Surfaces

Contaminated surfaces play an important role in the transmission of pathogens. We sought to establish a criterion that could indicate “cleanliness” using a sampling area–adjusted adenosine triphosphate (ATP) assay. In the first phase of the study, target surfaces were selected for swab sampling before and after daily cleaning; then, an aerobic colony count (ACC) plate assay of bacteria and antibiotic-resistant bacteria was conducted. ATP swabs were also tested, and the ATP readings were reported as relative light units (RLUs). The results of the ACC and ATP assays were adjusted according to the sampling area. During the second phase of the study, a new cleaning process employing sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC) was implemented for comparison. Using the criterion of 2.5 colony-forming units (CFU)/cm2, 45% of the sampled sites were successfully cleaned during phase one of the study. During phase two, the pass rates of the surface samples (64%) were significantly improved, except under stringent (5 RLU/cm2) and lax (500 RLU) ATP criteria. Using receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis, the best cut-off point for an area-adjusted ATP level was 7.34 RLU/cm2, which corresponded to culture-assay levels of <2.5 CFU/cm2. An area adjustment of the ATP assay improved the degree of correlation with the ACC-assay results from weak to moderate.
Variants in Iron Metabolism Genes Predict Higher Blood Lead Levels in Young Children

Background Given the association between iron deficiency and lead absorption, we hypothesized that variants in iron metabolism genes would predict higher blood lead levels in young children. Objective We examined the association between common missense variants in the hemochromatosis (HFE) and transferrin (TF) genes and blood lead levels in 422 Mexican children. Methods Archived umbilical cord blood samples were genotyped for HFE (H63D and C282Y) and TF (P570S) variants. Blood lead was measured at 24, 30, 36, 42, and 48 months of age. A total of 341 subjects had at least one follow-up blood lead level available and data available on covariates of interest for inclusion in the longitudinal analyses. We used random-effects models to examine the associations between genotype (HFE, TF, and combined HFE + TF) and repeated measures of blood lead, adjusting for maternal blood lead at delivery and child’s concurrent anemia status. Results Of 422 children genotyped, 17.7, 3.3, and 18.9% carried the HFE H63D, HFE C282Y, and TF P570S variants, respectively. One percent of children carried both the HFE C282Y and TF P570S variants, and 3% of children carried both the HFE H63D and TF P570S variants. On average, carriers of either the HFE (β = 0.11, p = 0.04) or TF (β = 0.10, p = 0.08) variant had blood lead levels that were 11% and 10% higher, respectively, than wild-type subjects. In models examining the dose effect, subjects carrying both variants (β = 0.41, p = 0.006) had blood lead 50% higher than wild-type subjects and a significantly higher odds of having a blood lead level > 10 μg/dL (odds ratio = 18.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.9–177.1). Conclusions Iron metabolism gene variants modify lead metabolism such that HFE variants are associated with increased blood lead levels in young children. The joint presence of variant alleles in the HFE and TF genes showed the greatest effect, suggesting a gene-by-gene-by-environment interaction.
Specific Enrichment of miRNAs in Arabidopsis thaliana Infected with Tobacco mosaic virus

Abstract RNA silencing is a broadly conserved machinery and is involved in many biological events. Small RNAs are key molecules in RNA silencing pathway that guide sequence-specific gene regulations and chromatin modifications. The silencing machinery works as an anti-viral defense in virus-infected plants. It is generally accepted that virus-specific small interfering (si) RNAs bind to the viral genome and trigger its cleavage. Previously, we have cloned and obtained sequences of small RNAs from Arabidopsis thaliana infected or uninfected with crucifer Tobacco mosaic virus. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) accumulated to a higher percentage of total small RNAs in the virus-infected plants. This was partly because the viral replication protein binds to the miRNA/miRNA* duplexes. In the present study, we mapped the sequences of small RNAs other than virus-derived siRNAs to the Arabidopsis genome and assigned each small RNA. It was demonstrated that only miRNAs increased as a result of viral infection. Furthermore, some newly identified miRNAs and miRNA candidates were found from the virus-infected plants despite a limited number of examined sequences. We propose that it is advantageous to use virus-infected plants as a source for cloning and identifying new miRNAs.
Image Up-Scaling: Based on Self Similarity and Local Information

Most of the currently used image up-scaling algorithms are based on interpolation method. As the structural information is ignored, the result image will be blurred while sharp edges are interpolated smoothly. In our paper, we proposed a fast and local structure based algorithm, combined with improvement on up-sampling techniques, to enhance up-scaling image quality. The up-scaling process are guided through the self similarity computing. The structural information of image is retained effectively in this process. Experiments prove that our method has an obvious improvement on quality of result images, especially for details of texture rendering.
The Effect of Dielectric Capping on Few-Layer Phosphorene Transistors: Tuning the Schottky Barrier Heights

Phosphorene is a unique single elemental semiconductor with two-dimensional layered structures. In this letter, we study the transistor behavior on mechanically exfoliated few-layer phosphorene with the top-gate. We achieve a high ON-current of 144 mA/mm and hole mobility of 95.6 cm2/V·s. We deposit Al2O3 by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and study the effects of dielectric capping. We observe that the polarity of the transistors alternated from p-type to ambipolar with Al2O3 grown on the top. We attribute this transition to the changes for the effective Schottky barrier heights for both electrons and holes at the metal contact edges, which is originated from fixed charges in the ALD dielectric.
Cannabis use and destructive periodontal diseases among adolescents.

AIM The aim of this experiment was to investigate the association between cannabis use and destructive periodontal disease among adolescents. MATERIAL AND METHODS Data from a population screening examination carried out among Chilean high school students from the Province of Santiago were used to determine whether there was an association between the use of cannabis and signs of periodontal diseases as defined by (1) the presence of necrotizing ulcerative gingival (NUG) lesions or (2) the presence of clinical attachment loss (CAL) > or =3 mm. The cannabis exposures variables considered were "Ever use of cannabis" (yes/no) and "Regular use of cannabis" (yes/no). The associations were investigated using multiple logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, gender, paternal income, paternal education, frequency of tooth-brushing and time since last dental visit. RESULTS Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that "Ever use of cannabis" was significantly negatively associated with the presence of NUG lesions (OR=0.47 [0.2;0.9]) among non-smokers only. No significant associations were observed between the presence of CAL > or =3 mm and cannabis use in either of the smoking groups. CONCLUSIONS There was no evidence to suggest that the use of cannabis is positively associated with periodontal diseases in this adolescent population.
Analysis of position tracking in torque control of humanoid robots considering joint elasticity and time delay

This study investigates the position tracking performance of torque controlled humanoid robots in the presence of joint elasticity and time delay in torque command. One of the main purposes using torque control for humanoid robots is to achieve compliant behaviors on uncertain external disturbance such as uneven terrain and interaction with human. On the other hand, high performance of position tracking is also required to implement motion control of robots. In this study, the effects of joint elasticity and time delay in torque command area investigated in terms of position tracking. First, a joint model is derived and validated, which reflects the elasticity and time delay. Frequency response analysis is exploited to theoretically evaluate the performance of the control system for position tracking. This joint model with the elasticity and time delay is used to estimate the limitations in the controller design for our torque controlled humanoid robot. Theoretical analysis and its comparison with experimental results demonstrate that the joint elasticity and time delay significantly affect the system performance.
Automatic document metadata extraction using support vector machines

Automatic metadata generation provides scalability and usability for digital libraries and their collections. Machine learning methods offer robust and adaptable automatic metadata extraction. We describe a support vector machine classification-based method for metadata extraction from header part of research papers and show that it outperforms other machine learning methods on the same task. The method first classifies each line of the header into one or more of 15 classes. An iterative convergence procedure is then used to improve the line classification by using the predicted class labels of its neighbor lines in the previous round. Further metadata extraction is done by seeking the best chunk boundaries of each line. We found that discovery and use of the structural patterns of the data and domain based word clustering can improve the metadata extraction performance. An appropriate feature normalization also greatly improves the classification performance. Our metadata extraction method was originally designed to improve the metadata extraction quality of the digital libraries Citeseer [S. Lawrence et al., (1999)] and EbizSearch [Y. Petinot et al., (2003)]. We believe it can be generalized to other digital libraries.
Seasonal Variation in Spectral Response of Submerged Aquatic Macrophytes: A Case Study at Lake Starnberg (Germany)

Submerged macrophytes are important structural components of freshwater ecosystems that are widely used as long-term bioindicators for the trophic state of freshwater lakes. Climate change and related rising water temperatures are suspected to affect macrophyte growth and species composition as well as the length of the growing season. Alternative to the traditional ground-based monitoring methods, remote sensing is expected to provide fast and effective tools to map submerged macrophytes at short intervals and over large areas. This study analyses interrelations between spectral signature, plant phenology and the length of growing season as influenced by the variable water temperature. During the growing seasons of 2011 and 2015, remote sensing reflectance spectra of macrophytes and sediment were collected systematically in-situ with hyperspectral underwater spectroradiometer at Lake Starnberg, Germany. The established spectral libraries were used to develop reflectance models. The combination of spectral information and phenologic characteristics allows the development of a phenologic fingerprint for each macrophyte species. By inversion, the reflectance models deliver day and daytime specific spectral signatures of the macrophyte populations. The subsequent classification processing chain allowed distinguishing species-specific macrophyte growth at different phenologic stages. The analysis of spectral signatures within the phenologic development indicates that the invasive species Elodea nuttallii is less affected by water temperature oscillations than the native species Chara spp. and Potamogeton perfoliatus.
Performance analysis of turbo-coded APSK modulations over nonlinear satellite channels

This paper investigates the performance of M-ary amplitude-phase shift keying (APSK) digital modulation over typical nonlinear satellite channels. The effect of the satellite nonlinearity is studied, and distortion pre- and post-compensation techniques for coded APSK are presented. Moreover, clock timing, signal amplitude and carrier phase recovery schemes are discussed. For the latter, a new class of non turbo decoder-aided closed-loop phase synchronizers featuring good performance and low complexity is studied. Finally, an end-to-end coded APSK system simulator inclusive of the satellite channel model and synchronization sub-systems is discussed and its performance compared to standard trellis-coded QAM concatenated with Reed-Solomon codes, showing a remarkable gain in both power and spectral efficiency. Coded APSK, recently selected for the new standard -DVB-S2- for digital video broadcasting and interactive broadband satellite services, is shown to represent a powerand spectral-efficient solution for satellite nonlinear channels
Protective Effect of N‐Acetylcysteine on Rat Liver Cell Membrane During Methanol Intoxication

Methanol is oxidized in‐vivo to formaldehyde and then to formate, and these processes are accompanied by the generation of free radicals. We have studied the effect of N‐acetylcysteine on liver cell membrane from rats intoxicated with methanol (3.0 g kg−1).
Multilocular Pyogenic Liver Abscess with Poorly Liquefied Content: A Potential Therapeutic Concern

Pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) is the most frequent, potentially life-threatening type of visceral abscess, with an increasing incidence worldwide [1,2]. The etiologies and microbiological spectrum show distinct regional differences around the world. Klebsiella pneumoniae is the most common causative pathogen of PLA in eastern Asian countries [3-5], whereas Streptococcus spp. predominates in Europe, Canada, and Australia [6-10]. However, recently, Klebsiella pneumoniae has become a more frequent causative pathogen of PLA in Western countries [11,12].
Visual loss and visual hallucinations in patients with age-related macular degeneration (Charles Bonnet syndrome).

PURPOSE The condition in which visual hallucinations (VHs) are solely associated with a visual impairment is termed Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS). The study was undertaken to investigate whether the extent of visual acuity (VA) loss and central visual field loss predisposes a patient with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to develop a CBS VH and, in addition, whether the progression in loss is mirrored in the complexity of the VHs reported. VH phenomenology and CBS prevalence were also examined. METHODS Sixty-six patients (age range, 63-96 years, mean +/- SD 81.2 +/- 7.1 years) with bilateral AMD were questioned as to whether they had experienced any hallucinatory episodes exclusive to vision. The four-point primary inclusion criterion ensured that all patients had bilateral AMD, a bilateral central scotoma, best monocular VA poorer than or equal to 0.6 logMAR (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) and intact cognition (using the Mini Mental State Examination for the Blind and the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status). The patients who did not report VH were classified into the non-VH group, with the remainder in the VH group. An extended Institute of Psychiatry Structural Interview characterized the phenomenology of the VH. A secondary inclusion criterion subdivided the VH group into the apparent CBS group, in which personal medical history may have contributed to VH generation, and the manifest CBS group, where VHs were solely as a result of the visual loss. RESULTS Fifty-three patients met the primary inclusion criterion: 32 were classified into the non-VH group and 21 into the VH group. The VH group were slightly younger (median difference, 4 years, P = 0.03) and appeared to have a lower VA (median difference, 0.20 logMAR, P = 0.08) and a more extensive visual field loss (P = 0.06) than did the non-VH group. However, when these variables were evaluated simultaneously by logistic regression, only age emerged as a statistically significant predictor of VH (odds ratio 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.8-0.99, P = 0.03). The prevalence of apparent CBS and manifest CBS in the AMD population was found to be 25% and 15%, respectively. With no clinical and phenomenological differences between the two CBS groups, the secondary inclusion criterion was withdrawn, the VH group was renamed the CBS group, and a prevalence of 40% was recalculated. Of the 82 visual phenomena experienced by the CBS group, 21 were classified as simple VHs and 39 as complex VHs, with the remainder classified as either entopic phenomena or visual inference. Patients who experienced both simple and complex VHs appeared to have a greater visual field loss (P = 0.06) compared with those patients who reported either solely simple or solely complex VHs. CONCLUSIONS The extent of visual loss did not appear to be a predictor for the likelihood of a patient with AMD experiencing a CBS VH, nor was the progression of loss reflected in the complexity of the VHs reported.
Impact of Shoreline Changes to the Coastal Development

The coast zone is one of the most fragile area in Malaysia and can be affected easily due to environmental threats. This study mainly focuses on analysis impact of shoreline changes on coastal development using Geographical Information System (GIS) approach to produce geospatial visualization and identify the changes areas along Sabak Bernam to Kuala Selangor. This study evaluates the shoreline changes using topographic maps in 1993 and SPOT 5 satellite images in 2013. The major findings of this study were the highest impact that caused by erosion was from Sungai Burung to Sungai Panchang Bedena and the development that have been affected in this area for 5 years (2018) and 10 years (2023) ahead were residential area, school and aquaculture activities. However, the lowest impact of erosion was occurred from Sungai Nipah to Sungai Nibong and there was no development affected in the year 2018 till 2023. The results obtained from this study are very important for the government’s future policy and the development strategy along coastal area and at the same time it helping in dealing with the phenomenon of sea level rise and climate change.
On image auto-annotation with latent space models

Image auto-annotation, i.e., the association of words to whole images, has attracted considerable attention. In particular, unsupervised, probabilistic latent variable models of text and image features have shown encouraging results, but their performance with respect to other approaches remains unknown. In this paper, we apply and compare two simple latent space models commonly used in text analysis, namely Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) and Probabilistic LSA (PLSA). Annotation strategies for each model are discussed. Remarkably, we found that, on a 8000-image dataset, a classic LSA model defined on keywords and a very basic image representation performed as well as much more complex, state-of-the-art methods. Furthermore, non-probabilistic methods (LSA and direct image matching) outperformed PLSA on the same dataset.
The hysterical character in psychoanalytic theory. Evolution and confusion.

The concept of the hysterical character in psychoanalytic theory is a source of widespread confusion both to general psychiatrists and to psychoanalysts. This communication attempts to clarify the concept by reviewing its evolution. Special attention is paid to the changing theories (and methods) within psychoanalysis itself which have led to the varying observations and formulations. It is felt that the current psychoanalytic understanding of the hysterical character is descriptively rich and clinically valuable. Nevertheless, because of semantic difficulties, confusion persists.
University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics Do You Smile with Your Nose? Stylistic Variation in Twitter Emoticons Do You Smile with Your Nose? Stylistic Variation in Twitter Emoticons Do You Smile with Your Nose? Stylistic Variation in Twitter Emoticons

On the surface, emoticons seem to convey emotional stances, so we expect smiles and frowns to be used differently from one another. But there are other systematic patterns of variation in emoticons that are not easily described by terms like " friendly " or " sad ". This paper analyzes the 28 most frequent emoticons in use in American English tweets. People vary in their use of eyes, mouth shape, face direction, and whether or not they represent a nose in the face. And we see these in groups other than smiles—in variants of frowns and winks, for example. This paper focuses on nose and non-nose users, demonstrating that the variants correspond to different types of users, tweeting with different vocabularies. Emoticons are not simply representations of internal emotional states. They are more interactive in nature, positioning authors and audiences around propositions. The meaning of a given emoticon goes beyond its affective stance. For example, emoticons have variants that have greater or lesser affinities to standard language. Researchers who are interested in style, stance, affect, computer mediated communication, variation, context, and sentiment analysis will find ample grist for their mills.
On hybrid systems and closed-loop MPC systems

The following five classes of hybrid systems were proved by W.P.M.H. Heemels et al. (2001) to be equivalent: linear complementarity (LC) systems, extended linear complementarity (ELC) systems, mixed logical-dynamical (MLD) systems, piecewise affine (PWA) systems and max-min-plus-scaling (MMPS) systems. Some of the equivalences were obtained under additional assumptions, such as boundedness of system variables. In this paper, for closed-loop linear or hybrid plants with model-predictive control (MPC) based on a linear model and fulfilling linear constraints on the input and state variables, we provide a simple and direct proof that the closed-loop system (cl-MPC) is a subclass of any of the former five classes of hybrid systems. This result opens up the use of tools developed for hybrid systems (such as stability, robust stability and safety analysis tools) to study the closed-loop properties of MPC.
State of charge estimation using an unscented filter for high power lithium ion cells

High power lithium ion batteries are increasingly used in power tools, hybrid electric vehicles and military applications, as a transient power source capable of delivering instant energy, around a relatively fixed state of charge (SOC). Maintaining the battery within pre‐specified limits for SOC is important, since lithium ion batteries are prone to safety and/or performance issues during overcharge or rapid discharge below the cut‐off voltages. With an increase in the number of cells used in the battery, SOC has a crucial role in cell balancing and optimization of the pack performance. Several techniques have been proposed for the SOC estimation. Most of the existing literature supports an empirical model based on either an electric circuit, arbitrary pole placement or an analytical expression with an arbitrary set of parameters. In spite of their simplicity, the empirical battery models do not provide information on the physical cell limitations. Alternatively, a rigorous electrochemical cell model, aimed at incorporating transport, kinetic and thermodynamic limitations, can be used to estimate parameters that hold a physical significance and hence provide an accurate measure of the cell performance. However, the demand for onboard estimation devices requires estimation techniques that are computationally efficient. In this work, estimation of the SOC of a lithium ion cell using an unscented filtering algorithm is illustrated. The relative advantages and disadvantages of the proposed methodology are briefly discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.