Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development and comparison of automated classifiers for glaucoma diagnosis using Stratus optical coherence tomography.

PURPOSE To develop and compare the ability of several automated classifiers to differentiate between normal and glaucomatous eyes based on the quantitative assessment of summary data reports from Stratus optical coherence tomography (OCT; Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc., Dublin, CA) in a Chinese population in Taiwan. METHODS One randomly selected eye from each of 89 patients with glaucoma and each of 100 age- and sex-matched normal individuals were included in the study. Measurements of glaucoma variables (retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and optic nerve head analysis results) were obtained by Stratus OCT. With the Stratus OCT parameters used as input, receiver operative characteristic (ROC) curves were generated by three methods, to classify eyes as either glaucomatous or normal: linear discriminant analysis (LDA), Mahalanobis distance (MD), and artificial neural network (ANN). The area under the ROC curve was optimized by principal component analysis (PCA). Classification accuracy was determined by cross validation. RESULTS The average visual field mean deviation was -0.7 +/- 0.6 dB in the normal group and -2.7 +/- 1.9 dB in the glaucoma group. The areas under the ROC curves were 0.824 (LDA), 0.849 (MD), 0.821 (ANN), 0.915 (LDA with PCA), 0.991 (MD with PCA), and 0.874 (ANN with PCA). CONCLUSIONS With Stratus OCT parameters used as input, automated classifiers show promise for discriminating between glaucomatous and normal eyes. MD measured from multivariate data can predict the severity of glaucoma through the construction of a measurement space. After PCA, implementation results show that the Mahalanobis space created by MD surpasses LDA and ANN in diagnosing glaucoma.
An EMG-position controlled system for an active ankle-foot prosthesis: an initial experimental study

Although below-knee prostheses have been commercially available for some time, today's devices are completely passive, and consequently, their mechanical properties remain fixed with walking speed and terrain. To improve the current performance of below-knee prostheses, we study the feasibility of using the amputee's residual limb EMG signals to control the ankle position of an active ankle-foot prosthesis. We propose two control schemes to predict the amputee's intended ankle position: a neural network approach and a muscle model approach. We test these approaches using EMG data measured from an amputee for several target ankle movement patterns. We find that both controllers demonstrate the ability to predict desired ankle movement patterns qualitatively. In the current implementation, the biomimetic EMG-controller demonstrates a smoother and more natural movement pattern than that demonstrated by the neural network approach, suggesting that a biologically-motivated, model-based approach may offer certain advantages in the control of active ankle prostheses.
Physicochemical Characteristics of Transferon™ Batches

Transferon, a biotherapeutic agent that has been used for the past 2 decades for diseases with an inflammatory component, has been approved by regulatory authorities in Mexico (COFEPRIS) for the treatment of patients with herpes infection. The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) of Transferon is based on polydispersion of peptides that have been extracted from lysed human leukocytes by a dialysis process and a subsequent ultrafiltration step to select molecules below 10 kDa. To physicochemically characterize the drug product, we developed chromatographic methods and an SDS-PAGE approach to analyze the composition and the overall variability of Transferon. Reversed-phase chromatographic profiles of peptide populations demonstrated batch-to-batch consistency from 10 representative batches that harbored 4 primary peaks with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 7%. Aminogram profiles exhibited 17 proteinogenic amino acids and showed that glycine was the most abundant amino acid, with a relative content of approximately 18%. Further, based on their electrophoretic migration, the peptide populations exhibited a molecular mass of about 10 kDa. Finally, we determined the Transferon fingerprint using a mass spectrometry tool. Because each batch was produced from independent pooled buffy coat samples from healthy donors, supplied by a local blood bank, our results support the consistency of the production of Transferon and reveal its peptide identity with regard to its physicochemical attributes.
Amygdalar activation associated with positive and negative facial expressions

Most theories of amygdalar function have underscored its role in fear. One broader theory suggests that neuronal activation of the amygdala in response to fear-related stimuli represents only a portion of its more widespread role in modulating an organism's vigilance level. To further explore this theory, the amygdalar response to happy, sad, angry, fearful, and neutral faces in 17 subjects was characterized using 3 T fMRI. Utilizing a random effects model and hypothesis-driven analytic strategy, it was observed that each of the four emotional faces was associated with reliable bilateral activation of the amygdala compared with neutral. These findings suggest a broader role for the amygdala in modulating the vigilance level during the perception of several negative and positive facial emotions.
Theorizing the relationship between UK schools and migrant parents of Eastern European origin: the parents’ perspective

Schools may be particularly challenged in the building of relationships with immigrant families because of a potentially heightened mutual lack of knowledge or understanding about the other party’s cultural norms (e.g. Crozier & Davis, 2007). In the context of increased immigration from Eastern and Central European states, this study seeks to initiate the development of model of multi-cultural family-school interaction drawing on existing frameworks drawn from the fields of education, psychology and sociology. With the intention of establishing the nature of migrant parents’ constructions of their relationships with their children’s schools, we carried out in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 10 parents of school age children who had migrated to the UK from Eastern and Central Europe within the past 10 years. The key themes from the interviews indicated that the parents’ expectations of their children’s schooling appear to clash with those of the UK school system and that this is amplified by perceptions of poor communication, inadequate school-parent cooperation & marginalisation. Through the use of existing theoretical frameworks it was established that there is potential for improved practice though development of a model though this must take account of the full contextual complexity of the relationships.
Combined Loss of Hey1 and HeyL Causes Congenital Heart Defects Because of Impaired Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition

Congenital heart defects affect almost 1% of human newborns. Recently, mutations in Notch ligands and receptors have been found to cause a variety of heart defects in rodents and humans. However, the molecular effects downstream of Notch are still poorly understood. Here we report that combined inactivation of Hey1 and HeyL, two primary target genes of Notch, causes severe heart malformations, including membranous ventricular septal defects and dysplastic atrioventricular and pulmonary valves. These defects lead to congestive cardiac failure with high lethality. We found both genes to be coexpressed with Notch1, Notch2 and the Notch ligand Jagged1 in the endocardium of the atrioventricular canal, representing the primary source of mesenchymal cells forming membraneous septum and valves. Atrioventricular explants from Hey1/HeyL deficient mice exhibited impaired epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Although epithelial to mesenchymal transition was initiated regularly, full transformation into mesenchymal cells failed. This was accompanied by reduced levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 expression and reduced cell density in endocardial cushions in vivo. We further show that loss of Hey2 leads to very similar deficiencies, whereas a Notch1 null mutation completely abolishes epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Thus, the Hey gene family shows overlap in controlling Notch induced endocardial epithelial to mesenchymal transition, a process critical for valve and septum formation.
Lack of an association between SNPs within the cholinergic receptor genes and smoking behavior in a Czech post-MONICA study

Smoking has a significant heritable component of approximately 30–60%. Recent genome wide association studies have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the nicotinic cholinergic receptor subunits 3 (rs578776), 5 (rs16969968) and β3 (rs6474412), which are associated with nicotine dependence in Western European populations. To analyze the association in a Czech population, we genotyped 1,191 males and 1,368 females (post-MONICA study). The WHO protocol was used to examine smoking status and the number of cigarettes smoked per day. There were 32.1% current and 27.6% past smokers among the males and 22.5% current and 13.8% past smokers among the females. We have not confirmed the original results: the SNPs rs16969968 (p = 0.07), rs578776 (p = 0.16) and rs6474412 (p = 0.76) were not associated with smoking status (never-smokers vs. ever-smokers) in the entire population, if a codominant model of analysis was used. This result was valid for both the male and female subpopulations if analyzed separately and adjusted for age. Finally, in ever-smokers, the number of cigarettes smoked per day was also independent of different genotypes, regardless of which polymorphism (and gender) was analyzed (the lowest p value was 0.49). The association between the cholinergic receptors–nicotinic subunits (-3, -5 and -ß3), and smoking behavior may be population-dependent.
Public Management Ethics Standards in a Transnational World

Abstract Recently international organizations have established international standards for public ethical conduct to be implemented in several countries for more consistent public management ethics. The authors examine regional and international efforts to establish ethics frameworks, reasons for the emerging ethical standards, and emerging global values. Finally, they offer observations about the emerging standards, the social construction process guiding this phenomenon in the absence of shared foundational beliefs, and future prospects.
Endothelium-specific overexpression of class III deacetylase SIRT1 decreases atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice.

AIMS Hazardous environmental and genetic factors can damage endothelial cells to induce atherosclerotic vascular disease. Recent studies suggest that class III deacetylase SIRT1 may promote cell survival via novel antioxidative mechanisms. The current study tested the hypothesis that SIRT1, specifically overexpressed in the endothelium, is atheroprotective. METHODS AND RESULTS Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were used to study the effects of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) on SIRT1 expression. Endothelial cell-specific SIRT1 transgenic (SIRT1-Tg) mice were used to study the effects of SIRT1 on aortic vascular tone. SIRT1-Tg mice were crossed with apolipoprotein E null (apoE(-/-)) mice to obtain SIRT1-Tg/apoE(-/-) mice for the analysis of atherogenesis in the presence of endothelial overexpression of SIRT1. SIRT1 expression in HUVECs was increased by the treatment with oxidative LDL. Adenoviral-mediated overexpression of SIRT1 was protective of apoptosis of HUVECs. Calorie restriction increased, whereas high-fat diet decreased, the SIRT1 expression in mouse aortas. In SIRT1-Tg mice, high fat-induced impairment in endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation was improved compared with that of wild-type littermates. This was accompanied by an upregualtion of aortic endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression in the SIRT1-Tg mice. The SIRT1-Tg/apoE(-/-) mice had less atherosclerotic lesions compared with apoE(-/-) controls, without affecting blood lipids and glucose levels. CONCLUSION These results suggest that endothelium-specific SIRT1 overexpression likely suppresses atherogenesis via improving endothelial cell survival and function.
On the formation of gamma-coherent cell assemblies by oriens lacunosum-moleculare interneurons in the hippocampus

Gamma frequency (30–80 Hz) network oscillations have been observed in the hippocampus during several behavioral paradigms in which they are often modulated by a theta frequency (4–12 Hz) oscillation. Interneurons of the hippocampus have been shown to be crucially involved in rhythms generation, and several subtypes with distinct anatomy and physiology have been described. In particular, the oriens lacunosum-moleculare (O-LM) interneurons were shown to synapse on distal apical dendrites of pyramidal cells and to spike preferentially at theta frequency, even in the presence of gamma-field oscillations. O-LM cells have also recently been shown to present higher axonal ramification in the longitudinal axis of the hippocampus. By using a hippocampal network model composed of pyramidal cells and two types of interneurons (O-LM and basket cells), we show here that the O-LM interneurons lead to gamma coherence between anatomically distinct cell modules. We thus propose that this could be a mechanism for coupling longitudinally distant cells excited by entorhinal cortex inputs into gamma-coherent assemblies.
Learning to adapt in dialogue systems : data-driven models for personality recognition and generation

Dialogue systems are artefacts that converse with human users in order to achieve some task. Each step of the dialogue requires understanding the user's input, deciding on what to reply, and generating an output utterance. Although there are many ways to express any given content, most dialogue systems do not take linguistic variation into account in both the understanding and generation phases, i.e. the user's linguistic style is typically ignored, and the style conveyed by the system is chosen once for all interactions at development time. We believe that modelling linguistic variation can greatly improve the interaction in dialogue systems, such as in intelligent tutoring systems, video games, or information retrieval systems, which all require specific linguistic styles. Previous work has shown that linguistic style affects many aspects of users' perceptions, even when the dialogue is task-oriented. Moreover, users attribute a consistent personality to machines, even when exposed to a limited set of cues, thus dialogue systems manifest personality whether designed into the system or not. Over the past few years, psychologists have identified the main dimensions of individual differences in human behaviour: the Big Five personality traits. We hypothesise that the Big Five provide a useful computational framework for modelling important aspects of linguistic variation. This thesis first explores the possibility of recognising the user's personality using data-driven models trained on essays and conversational data. We then test whether it is possible to generate language varying consistently along each personality dimension in the information presentation domain. We present PERSONAGE: a language generator modelling findings from psychological studies to project various personality traits. We use PERSONAGE to compare various generation paradigms: (1) rule-based generation, (2) overgenerate and select and (3) generation using parameter estimation models-a novel approach that learns to produce recognisable variation along meaningful stylistic dimensions without the computational cost incurred by overgeneration techniques. We also present the first human evaluation of a data-driven generation method that projects multiple stylistic dimensions simultaneously and on a continuous scale.
A survey of superthermal electron flux depressions, or “electron holes,” within the illuminated Martian induced magnetosphere

Since Mars lacks a global intrinsic magnetic field, the solar wind interacts directly with the Martian upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The presence of localized intense remnant crustal magnetic fields adds to this interaction, making the Martian plasma system a unique environment within the solar system. Rapid reductions in the electron flux, referred to as “electron holes,” occur within the Martian induced magnetosphere (IM). We present a statistical analysis of this phenomenon identified from proxy measurements of the electron flux derived from measurements by the Analyser of Space Plasmas and Energetic Neutral Atoms Electron Spectrometer experiment on board the Mars Express (MEX) spacecraft. The study is completed for the period of 9 February 2004 to 9 May 2014. Electron holes are observed within the IM in more than 56% of MEX orbits during this study period, occurring predominantly at altitudes less than 1300 km, with the majority in the negative X Mars‐Centric Solar Orbital direction. The spatial distribution above the surface of Mars is observed to bear close resemblance to that of the crustal magnetic fields as predicted by the Cain et al. [ ] magnetic field model, suggesting that they play an important role in the formation of these phenomena.
Tracking Sentiment in Mail: How Genders Differ on Emotional Axes

With the widespread use of email, we now have access to unprecedented amounts of text that we ourselves have written. In this paper, we show how sentiment analysis can be used in tandem with effective visualizations to quantify and track emotions in many types of mail. We create a large word--emotion association lexicon by crowdsourcing, and use it to compare emotions in love letters, hate mail, and suicide notes. We show that there are marked differences across genders in how they use emotion words in work-place email. For example, women use many words from the joy--sadness axis, whereas men prefer terms from the fear--trust axis. Finally, we show visualizations that can help people track emotions in their emails.
Architecture of rifted continental margins and break-up evolution: insights from the South Atlantic, North Atlantic and Red Sea–Gulf of Aden conjugate margins

Abstract The tectonosedimentary development of the South Atlantic is compared with the Central Atlantic margins, which are associated with major episodes of magmatism during the Mesozoic continental break-up. Subsequently, the Cenozoic break-up in the North Atlantic led to the formation of the volcanic Norwegian–Greenland conjugate margins. The DSDP boreholes in the magma-poor Iberian–Newfoundland margins have confirmed the occurrence of exhumed mantle at the ocean–continent transition. This possibility has been suggested for the South Atlantic margins, but still lacks confirmation from drilling. The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden may be considered as natural laboratories to study the break-up processes and formation of divergent continental margins. Using key geological and geophysical data, we compare some of the structures observed in incipient stages of basin formation between the African and the Arabian plates with the structures observed in older sedimentary basins associated with the Gondwana break-up. We also analyse deep seismic reflection profiles and potential field data at the continent–ocean boundary of these conjugate margins, using palinspastic reconstructions to define the corresponding seismic pairs. We conclude that the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden display remarkable differences to the Iberian–Newfoundland margins, and notable similarities with the South Atlantic margins.
Ultrasound Current Source Density Imaging using a clinical intracardiac catheter

Radiofrequency catheter ablation for treatment of cardiac arrhythmia requires pre-surgical mapping of the heart's activation wave. However, modern cardiac mapping systems continue to suffer from significant limitations. We have proposed Ultrasound Current Source Density Imaging (UCSDI) as a new modality to map reentry currents in the heart. In this study, we focus on interfacing UCSDI with a clinical intra-cardiac catheter - a key step towards translating UCSDI to the clinic for guiding cardiac ablation therapy. Sensitivity of UCSDI combined with the catheter was tested in a tissue mimicking phantom and fresh excised porcine hear tissue. Effect of the recoding distance on the detection of UCSDI was also investigated. Sensitivity of UCSDI with catheter was 4.7 μV/mA (R2 = 0.999) in cylindrical gel (0.9% NaCl), and 3.2 μV/mA (R2 = 0.92) in porcine heart tissue. The AE signal was detectable more than 25 mm away from the source in cylindrical gel (0.9% NaCl).
Fault Prediction of Unlabeled Program Modules

—Software metrics and fault data belonging to a previous software version are used to build the software fault prediction model for the next release of the software. Until now, different classification algorithms have been used to build this kind of models. However, there are cases when previous fault data are not present; and hence, supervised learning approaches cannot be applied. In this study, we propose a fully automated technique which does not require an expert during the prediction process. In addition, it is not required to identify the number of clusters before the clustering phase, as required by K-means clustering method. Software metrics thresholds are used to remove the expert necessity. Our technique first applies X-means clustering method to cluster modules and identifies the best cluster number. After this step, the mean vector of each cluster is checked against the metrics thresholds vector. A cluster is predicted as fault-prone if at least one metric of the mean vector is higher than the threshold value of that metric. In addition to X-means clustering-based method, we made experiments with pure metrics thresholds method, fuzzy clustering, and K-means clustering-based methods. Experiments reveal that unsupervised software fault prediction can be fully automated and effective results can be produced using X-means clustering with software metrics thresholds. Three datasets, collected from Turkish white-goods manufacturer developing embedded controller software, have been used for the validation.
Identifying the elements of entrepreneurial opportunity constructs

There is plenty of debate in the entrepreneurship literature regarding entrepreneurial opportunity. There also has been a lack of construct clarity. These two issues have combined to stifle progress in understanding this important phenomenon. We believe that across these debates there are many underlying commonalities and potential for more clear constructs. In this article, we review how scholars have defined and operationalized entrepreneurial opportunity and opportunity-related processes in order to better understand what they really mean when they say ‘opportunity’. We found a total of 102 definitions and 51 operationalizations from 105 articles published in leading entrepreneurship and management journals. A total of 81 elements were identified across the definitions and operationalizations and compiled into an integrated process model. The model incorporates what seemed to be disparate views into a single unifying model. Comparison between conceptual definitions and operationalizations reveals many elements that are missing either conceptual or empirical attention. The model will help scholars more easily identify and build upon prior research. To that effect, numerous suggestions for future research are discussed and are summarized in a table.