Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Smartphones

Recent developments in mobile technologies have produced a new kind of device: a programmable mobile phone, the smartphone. In this article, the authors argue that the technological and social characteristics of this device make it a useful tool in social sciences, particularly sociology, social psychology, urban studies, technology assessment, and media studies. The device is willingly carried by a large fraction of people in developed countries, integrates a number of technologies for automatic observation, can be programmed to interact with the user, and can communicate with remote researchers. This allows unobtrusive and cost-effective access to previously inaccessible sources of data on everyday social behavior, such as physical proximity of people, phone calls, and patterns of movement. The authors describe three studies in human behavior that have augmented existing methods with the smartphone, two of which the authors conducted themselves. Based on their experience, the authors critically evaluate the improvements and threats to validity and reliability of smartphone-augmented methods. These approaches are rapidly becoming feasible for the social scientist, since research software for smartphones have been published in open source, which lowers the technical and economic investment needed for their utilization in research.
Autoimmune Hepatitis-related Cirrhosis: Clinical Features and Effectiveness of Immunosuppressive Treatment in Chinese Patients

Background: The long-term outcomes of patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) given the immunosuppressive treatment are considered to be preferable. However, little is known about the response of AIH patients with cirrhosis to immunosuppressive treatment. We assessed the effects of immunosuppressive therapy in Chinese AIH patients with cirrhosis from a tertiary hospital. Methods: Patients with a clinical diagnosis of AIH January 2000 and December 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Two-hundred and fourteen patients who were followed up and satisfied the simplified AIH criteria were included in the study. Among these patients, 87 presented with cirrhosis when initially diagnosed for AIH. Immunosuppressive treatments were employed in 57 AIH patients who did not present with cirrhosis and 39 patients who presented with cirrhosis. Initial responses to immunosuppressive treatment of patients with and without cirrhosis were analyzed. Independent risk factors were assessed for predicting the prognosis of patients. The t-test and Cox regression statistical analysis were used. Results: In total, 96 AIH patients including 39 with cirrhosis and 57 without cirrhosis underwent immunosuppressive therapy. The overall complete remission after initial immunosuppressive treatment was achieved in 81/96 patients (84.4%), whereas 9/96 (9.4%) achieved incomplete response, and 6/96 (6.3%) occurred treatment failure. Compared to noncirrhotic patients, patients who presented with cirrhosis responded to treatment to a comparable extent regarding complete response (noncirrhosis 50/57 [87.7%] vs. cirrhosis 31/39 [79.5%], P = 0.275), incomplete remission (noncirrhosis 4/57 [7.0%] vs. cirrhosis 5/39 [12.8%], P = 0.338), and treatment failure (noncirrhosis 3/57 [5.3%] vs. cirrhosis 3/39 [7.7%], P = 0.629). Importantly, the remission rate was comparable (54/57 [94.7%] and 36/39 [92.3%], P = 0.629) for noncirrhotic and cirrhotic patients after immunosuppressive therapy. Compared to patients who maintained remission (n = 19) after drug withdrawal, patients who experienced relapse (n = 17) had significantly higher levels of serum immunoglobulin G at entry (15.0 ± 6.5 g/L vs. 22.3 ± 5.8 g/L, t = 2.814, P = 0.004). Moreover, cirrhosis at presentation significantly increased the risk of disease exacerbation (hazard ratio [HR]: 4.603; P = 0.002). The treatment of immunosuppressant (HR: 0.058; P = 0.005) and the level of aspartate aminotransferase at presentation (HR: 1.002; P = 0.017) also increased the risk of disease progression. Conclusions: The efficacy of initial immunosuppressive treatment in AIH patients with cirrhosis is comparable to that in those without cirrhosis. Cirrhotic patients not treated by immunosuppressants have poor long-term outcomes.
The time course of the effects of constant‐angle and constant‐torque stretching on the muscle–tendon unit

The purpose of the present study was to examine the time course of passive range of motion (PROM), passive torque (PASTQ), and musculo‐tendinous stiffness (MTS) responses during constant‐angle (CA) and constant‐torque (CT) stretching of the leg flexors. Eleven healthy men [mean ± standard deviation (SD): age = 21.5 ± 2.3 years] performed 16 30‐s bouts of CA and CT stretching of the leg flexors. PROM, PASTQ, and MTS were measured during stretches 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16. For PROM and PASTQ, there were no differences between CA and CT stretching treatments (P > 0.05); however, there were stretch‐related differences (P < 0.001). PROM increased following one 30‐s bout of stretching (collapsed across CA and CT stretching) with additional increases up to 8 min of stretching. PASTQ decreased following one 30‐s bout of stretching (collapsed across CA and CT stretching) and continued to decrease up to 4 min of stretching. In contrast, only the CT stretching treatment resulted in changes to MTS (P < 0.001). MTS decreased after one 30‐s bout of CT stretching, with subsequent decreases in MTS up to 6 min of stretching. These results suggested that CT stretching may be more appropriate than a stretch held at a constant muscle length for decreasing MTS.
Adherence to medication after liver transplantation in Scotland: A pilot study

This study assessed adherence to medication after liver transplantation and consisted of 2 components: a retrospective audit involving the examination of the Scottish national database, and a preliminary study assessing psychological factors implicated in poor adherence. In order to first establish an idea of the extent of poor adherence within the Scottish liver transplant population, a retrospective audit was carried out on all patients (N = 435) who received transplants before November 2003. Adherence was assessed by attendance at follow‐up clinic appointments, blood immunosuppressant levels, and episodes of cellular rejection. It was found that attendance and immunosuppressant levels were often suboptimal and that nonadherence may have contributed to retransplantation and death. Cellular (acute) rejection after 6 months was associated with higher mortality. Explanations as to why liver transplant patients may not take their medication as recommended were then explored in detailed psychological assessments of 33 liver transplant recipients. The results indicated that low self‐reported patient adherence was related to greater concerns regarding the potential adverse effects of medication, and a stronger belief that medicines in general are harmful. In addition, the greater the effect the transplantation had on patients' lives and the more it affected them emotionally, the less adherent the patients were likely to be. The results highlight potential areas that, if confirmed in a larger study, might be targeted in a psychological intervention to improve patient adherence and thereby transplantation outcomes. Liver Transpl 12:1862‐1868, 2006. © 2006 AASLD.
Energy Efficient Protocols for Harvested Wireless Sensor Networks. (Pile de protocoles pour des réseaux des capteurs avec récupération d'énergie)

This thesis concerns energy efficient protocols for harvested wireless sensor networks. It is a part of an industrial Internet of Things project. STMicroelectronics started the GreenNet project with the objective to develop and design a new generation of harvesting smart objects to be integrated in the Internet of Things. The GreenNet platform is novel with respect to the existing solutions due to its small size that implies a small energy buffer and small harvesting capabilities. This aspect makes the standard protocols and precedent solutions not directly applicable on this extremely low power platform. In this dissertation, we analyse standard protocols and existing solutions to identify their issues in the gn platform. Then, we provide protocol and algorithm adaptations to make feasible the concept of auto configurable and sustainable networks of GreenNet nodes. We proposed MCBT, an energy efficient protocol for the bootstrap procedure. It enables low power nodes to be enrolled in mh mc wireless sensor networks thanks to the network support for enrolling new nodes. It represents an energy efficient solution that extends the standard protocol. We proposed STADA, a sustainable algorithm to adapt the node activity according to the available energy and traffic conditions. STADA is based on a weighted function that takes into account the energy present in the battery, the energy harvesting rate, and network traffic. In this way, the algorithm takes into account all main parameters to adapt the energy consumption and improve the node performance. To make the harvested network more efficient according to light variations, we proposed a novel metric that makes the path choice a simple process. With the Expected Delay, we synthesize all network parameters in a single monotonic variable that facilitates the path choice in mh harvesting wireless sensor networks. All proposed solutions are designed to work with standard beacon-enabled IEEE 802.15. 4 protocols and are easily portable on the future version of IEEE 802.15. 4e. We validated the proposed protocols with emulations and simulations. The evaluation results shown better performance in terms of energy consumption and quality of service.
Detecting qualitative interaction: A Bayesian approach

Differences in treatment effects between centers in a multi‐center trial may be important. These differences represent treatment by subgroup interaction. Peto defines qualitative interaction (QI) to occur when the simple treatment effect in one subgroup has a different sign than in another subgroup: this interaction is important. Interaction where the treatment effects are of the same sign in all subgroups is called quantitative and is often not important because the treatment recommendation is identical in all cases. A hierarchical model is used here with exchangeable mean responses to each treatment between subgroups. The posterior probability of QI and the corresponding Bayes factor are proposed as a diagnostic and as a test statistic. The model is motivated by two multi‐center trials with binary responses. The frequentist power and size of the test using the Bayes factor are examined and compared with two other commonly used tests. The impact of imbalance between the sample sizes in each subgroup on power is examined, and the test based on the Bayes factor typically has better power for unbalanced designs, especially for small sample sizes. An exact test based on the Bayes factor is also suggested assuming the hierarchical model. The Bayes factor provides a concise summary of the evidence for or against QI. It is shown by example that it is easily adapted to summarize the evidence for ‘clinically meaningful QI,’ defined as the simple effects being of opposite signs and larger in absolute value than a minimal clinically meaningful effect. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A study of SMI 32‐stained pyramidal cells, parvalbumin‐immunoreactive chandelier cells, and presumptive thalamocortical axons in the human temproal neocortex

Immunocytochemical studies in the primate neocortex have shown that particular populations of pyramidal cells can be identified by antibody SMI 32 that recognizes a nonphosphorylated epitope of neurofilament protein, while chandelier cells (a powerful type of cortical inhibitory interneuron) and presumptive thalamocortical axons can be identified by antibodies directed against the calcium‐binding protein parvalbumin (PV). We used these antibodies in correlative light and electron microscopic immunocytochemical studies to analyze certain aspects of the synaptic circuitry of human temporal neocortex. In sections cut in the tangential plane, many PV‐immunoreactive chandelier cell axon terminals and apical dendrites of SMI 32‐stained pyramidal cells were distributed in small clusters. Combination of immunocytochemistry for PV and SMI 32 revealed four subpopulations of pyramidal cells with regard to the immunocytochemical staining by SMI 32 and the innervation of their axon initial segments by PV‐positive or ‐negative chandelier cell axon terminals, but there were differences in the concentration and proportion of these subpopulations by layers. Furthermore, we present electron microscopic evidence suggesting that the characteristic layer III dense band of PV‐immunoreactive puncta is made up mainly of presumptive thalamocortical axon terminals. Besides, coincidence was found between the dense PV‐immunoreactive band and the dendritic plexus formed by the SMI 32‐stained pyramidal cells in the lower half of layer III, which leads us to think that they are probably a major target of PV‐immunoreactive thalamic terminations. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cardiorespiratory and anesthetic effects of propofol and thiopental in dogs.

OBJECTIVE To compare cardiorespiratory and anesthesia effects of IV administered propofol and thiopental in dogs. ANIMALS 6 healthy mixed-breed dogs. PROCEDURE Each dog was anesthetized with isoflurane, then a thermistor catheter was inserted in the pulmonary artery. After a minimum of 2.5 hours of recovery, a catheter was placed in a cephalic vein for administration of lactated Ringer's solution and drugs. Propofol (8 mg/kg of body weight) or thiopental (19.4 mg/kg) was administered to each dog in a randomized crossover design study. All dogs were intubated and allowed to breathe 100% oxygen spontaneously. Heart rate and rhythm; systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressures; respiratory rate; end-tidal carbon dioxide concentration; tidal volume; and reflexes (toe web pinch, palpebral response, and jaw tone) were measured before and every 2 minutes for the first 10 minutes, then at 15, 30, and 60 minutes after drug administration. Cardiac output was determined at 0, 2, 6, 10, 15, 30, and 60 minutes, and blood samples were collected at 0, 2, 10, and 30 minutes. Time to endotracheal extubation, head lift, and ability to sit sternally and walk unaided were recorded. RESULTS 3 of 6 dogs in each group were apneic after drug administration. Reflexes were decreased similarly for both anesthetic agents, but were not completely lost. Time to sternal position and walking unaided were significantly shorter in response to propofol. CONCLUSION Anesthesia was rapid; however, respiratory depression and apnea were major adverse effects associated with propofol and thiopental. Propofol has the advantage of inducing rapid, coordinated anesthesia recovery.
Results regarding the levels of Cry1Ab protein in transgenic corn tissue (MON810) and the fate of Bt protein in three soil types

Since the introduction of insect-resistant crops in 1996, cultivation of this group of genetically modified crops has grown substantially. There are many Bt corn events in field trials, but only one is commercialized on the Romanian market. The levels of the protein in plant tissue would be valuable in determining the protein concentration to which nontarget organisms may be exposed. The soil fate of the Bt protein is a key parameter governing exposure of nontarget organisms in this environment. The objectives of our study were: (i) to investigate the impact of the soil type on Bt expression levels in transgenic corn tissue (leaves, roots seed); (ii) to monitor the time-dependent degradation of the cry1Ab protein in three soil types favorable for corn growing, with different physicochemical characteristics. Detection and quantification of Cry1Ab protein in tissue (leaves, roots and seeds) and soil extracts was conducted using ELISA method with a commercially available test system for detecting Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac proteins (QuantiPlate Kit for Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac; Agdia), following the recommended protocol of the manufacturer. To evaluate the potential of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry1Ab protein accumulation in soil, transgenic corn containing event MON 810 encoding the cry1Ab gene was grown in greenhouse conditions in pots containing three types of soil. At the end of growing period, the corn plants were incorporated into the soil. During vegetative period and at different time points after biomass incorporation, soil samples were collected from pots, and the level of Cry1Ab protein in these samples was determined using ELISA assay. Regarding Bt protein content, there is no difference between plants grown in different soils types. The lowest Bt protein content was quantified in senescent tissue and in seeds. The average chart for test soils shows an initial Bt protein increase after incorporating the plant biomass into the greenhouse soil pots, with the Cry1Ab concentration peaking at about 6 -9 weeks after incorporation, and declining slowly towards the 12-15 week (3-4 months) sampling interval. Overall, our results supports the conclusion that the Cry1Ab protein does not persist or accumulate in soil after incorporation in the soil of Bt corn plants expressing this protein.
Anti‐obesity effects of long‐chain omega‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids

Animal studies suggest that increased consumption of the long‐chain omega‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, can protect against the development of obesity in animals exposed to an obesogenic diet and reduce body fat when already obese. There is also evidence that increased intakes of these fatty acids can reduce body fat in humans, but human studies are relatively few and have generally been conducted over short time periods with small sample sizes, making it difficult to draw definitive conclusions. Reported reductions in body fat may result from appetite‐suppressing effects, adipocyte apoptosis and changes of gene expression in skeletal muscle, heart, liver, intestine and adipose tissues that suppress fat deposition and increase fat oxidation and energy expenditure. We conclude that increased intakes of long‐chain omega‐3 fatty acids may improve body composition, but longer‐term human studies are needed to confirm efficacy and determine whether increasing omega‐3 intakes might be an effective strategy to combat obesity.
Bone extraction in X-ray images by analysis of line fluctuations

Segmentation of X-ray bone images is of concern in many medical applications such as detection of osteoporosis and bone fractures. Segmentation of such images is a challenging process. Varying brightness throughout the image makes it difficult to separate bones from background and soft tissue. Costume made as well as standard segmentation methods, such as active contour and region growing, have been applied to bone X-ray images. Although each method could perform well for some images, due to variety of bone structures and lighting conditions none of these methods can be considered as complete. In this paper we present a new bone segmentation method in which an image goes through preprocessing steps such as noise cancellation and edge detection. Analysis of intensity fluctuations in all rows of the image results in more accurate segmentation of bone regions. Visual evaluation show that the proposed algorithm segments bones better than conventional and some recent bone segmentation approaches.
Shear Strengthening of RCT-Joints Using CFRP Composites

The rehabilitation of RC columns jacketed with carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) composites for improving shear strength, confinement, and ductility has received considerable attention. However, research for improving the shear capacity of beam-column T-joints using FRP composite materials is still in the early stages. The present paper describes the experimental results of 14 1/3-scale tests of concrete beam-column joints. The variables considered were the composite system, the fiber orientation, and the surface preparation. The tests have demonstrated the viability of carbon FRP composites for their use in improving the shear capacity of the joints as evidenced by the experimental results. Based on these experimental results, a design aid was developed for T-joints with inadequate confinement and shear reinforcement.
Effects of the high-power pain threshold ultrasound technique in the elderly with latent myofascial trigger points: a double-blind randomized study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE The high-power pain threshold ultrasound (HPPTUS) technique has been introduced as a novel treatment method in patients with myofascial trigger points (MTrPs). The aim of the current study was to compare the therapeutic effects of HPPTUS with those of the conventional ultrasound technique in elderly patients with latent MTrPs on the upper trapezius muscles of at least 1 side. MATERIAL AND METHODS Forty-one participants received 8 treatment sessions with conventional ultrasound (n=19) or with the HPPTUS technique (n=22) for 4 consecutive weeks. Outcome variables included visual analog scale (VAS) scores, pressure pain threshold (PPT), and range of motion (ROM). The data were analyzed using repeated analysis of variance (ANOVA) measurements. RESULTS The VAS scores recorded 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks after HPPTUS were significantly lower than the baseline scores in both groups. The ROM (after 3 and 4 weeks) and PPT (after 4 weeks) values also significantly increased from their baseline values in both groups. On comparing the techniques, there were no significant differences in the VAS (p=0.296), PPT (p=0.768), and ROM (p=0.822) values, although both techniques showed therapeutic effects for 4 weeks (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION The results indicate that the HPPTUS technique in same manner as treatment of active MTrPs is not superior to the conventional ultrasound technique in the treatment of the elderly patients with the latent MTrPs.
Downlink Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access With Limited Feedback

In this paper, we analyze downlink non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) networks with limited feedback. Our goal is to derive appropriate transmission rates for rate adaptation and minimize outage probability of minimum rate for the constant-rate data service, based on distributed channel feedback information from receivers. We propose an efficient quantizer with variable-length encoding that approaches the best performance of the case where perfect channel state information is available everywhere. We prove that in the typical application with two receivers, the losses in the minimum rate and outage probability decay at least exponentially with the minimum feedback rate. We analyze the diversity gain and provide a sufficient condition for the quantizer to achieve the maximum diversity order. For NOMA with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula> receivers where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K > 2$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, we solve the minimum rate maximization problem within an accuracy of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\epsilon $ </tex-math></inline-formula> in time complexity of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O\left ({K\log \frac {1}{\epsilon }}\right )$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and then, we apply the previously proposed quantizers for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K = 2$ </tex-math></inline-formula> to the case of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K > 2$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of our proposed quantizers and the accuracy of the analytical results.