Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deep optical observations of the fields of two nearby millisecond pulsars with the VLT

Optical pulses from the Crab pulsar were detectedby Cocke, Disney and Taylor (1969) within a yearof the discovery of the pulsar in the radio band(Staelin & Reifenstein, 1968) and the inauguration ofthe ﬁeld of pulsars by S. Jocelyn Bell and collabo-rators (Hewish et al. 1968). Since then, the number ofpulsars discovered in the radio band has gone up tonearly 1400 (ATNF pulsar catalogue), but the num-ber of pulsed counterparts detected in the high-energybands remains small. To date, in the optical bands,these remain 5, (Shearer & Golden 2002), and in theX-ray band 22, including 6 millisecond pulsars (MSP)(Becker & Aschenbach 2002). Multi-wavelength detectionof rotation-powered neutron stars provides observationalinput to the nature of the underlying mechanism of pulsarradiation, whether it is of thermal origin or due to radia-tion from accelerated particles in its magnetosphere (seee.g. Pavlov, Stringfellow, & Cordova 1996). Millisecond pulsars (MSP) are a special class, notonly because of their short spin periods, but also be-cause of their smaller surface magnetic ﬁeld, old age,and evolutionary history of spin-up due to accretion ofmass and angular momentum from a binary companion(Alpar et al., 1982). In the process, the star may havebeen resurrected from a state of hibernation into one ofdetectable pulsed radio emission. They represent a consid-erable extension of the parameter space of classical pul-sars, so diﬀerent radiation mechanisms may well be ac-tive in their magnetospheres. Their old age means thatthey have almost certainly radiated away any “fossil” heatfrom their original collapse or from their accretion epoch.
Ecosystem processes at the watershed scale: Influence of flowpath patterns of canopy ecophysiology on emergent catchment water and carbon cycling

Forest canopy water use and carbon cycling traits (WCT) can vary substantially and in spatially organized patterns, with significant impacts on watershed ecohydrology. In many watersheds, WCT may vary systematically along and between hydrologic flowpaths as an adaptation to available soil water, nutrients, and microclimate‐mediated atmospheric water demand. We hypothesize that the emerging patterns of WCT at the hillslope to catchment scale provide a more resistant ecohydrological system, particularly with respect to drought stress, and the maintenance of high levels of productivity. Rather than attempting to address this hypothesis with species‐specific patterns, we outline broader functional WCT groups and explore the sensitivity of water and carbon balances to the representation of canopy WCT functional organization through a modelling approach. We use a well‐studied experimental watershed in North Carolina where detailed mapping of forest community patterns are sufficient to describe WCT functional organization. Ecohydrological models typically use broad‐scale characterizations of forest canopy composition based on remotely sensed information (e.g., evergreen vs. deciduous), which may not adequately represent the range or spatial pattern of functional group WCT at hillslope to watershed scales. We use three different representations of WCT functional organizations: (1) restricting WCT to deciduous/conifer differentiation, (2) utilizing more detailed, but aspatial, information on local forest community composition, and (3) spatially distributed representation of local forest WCT. Accounting for WCT functional organization information improves model performance not only in terms of capturing observed flow regimes (especially watershed‐scale seasonal flow dynamics) but also in terms of representing more detailed canopy ecohydrologic behaviour (e.g., root zone soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and net canopy photosynthesis), especially under dry condition. Results suggest that the well‐known zonation of forest communities over hydrologic gradients is not just a local adaptation but also provides a property that regulates hillslope to catchment‐scale behaviour of water use and drought resistance.
Ultra-Fast Carotid CT-Angiography: Low Versus Standard Volume Contrast Material Protocol for a 128-Slice CT-System

Objectives:Noninvasive imaging is increasingly accepted for the evaluation of atherosclerotic disease of the carotid arteries. We sought to evaluate the feasibility of a low-contrast media volume protocol for carotid computed tomography angiography (CTA) using a 128-slice-spiral-computed tomography scanner with a gantry rotation time of 300 milliseconds. Methods and Materials:Thirty consecutive patients underwent CTA for the evaluation of the carotid vessels, with a 128-section scanner. Fifteen patients were examined with a standard volume contrast injection protocol (group A): 80 mL of contrast material (CM) were injected at 5 mL/s using the test bolus method to assess individual transit time. Another 15 patients were examined with a low-volume contrast media protocol (group B): 30 mL CM were injected at 4 mL/s using bolus tracking to trigger the CTA acquisition. In both groups, contrast administration was followed by a saline flush. Image quality and segmental vascular enhancement as well as the presence and degree of arterial stenosis were independently evaluated by 2 radiologists. Venous enhancement and streak artifacts at the thoracic inlet because of highly concentrated CM in the subclavian veins were evaluated in both groups. Kappa statistic and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to quantify interobserver variability. Qualitative data were compared using the Wilcoxon signed rank test and student t test was used to investigate differences in segmental vessel attenuation. Results:All studies were of diagnostic quality in both groups. Interobserver agreement was high (&kgr; = 0.82, group A; &kgr; = 0.78, group B). Attenuation measurement showed excellent interobserver correlation in both groups (r > 0.9). Mean enhancement values were slightly higher in group A, but without statistical significance when averaged for all segments (P = 0.06). Streak artifacts impaired evaluation of 13 adjacent arterial segments in 8 patients at the level of the thoracic inlet in group A. In group B, only 1 segment was rated insufficient by both radiologists. Venous enhancement was significantly lower in group B (P = 0.04). The low-contrast protocol proved to be the more robust method with constant high arterial enhancement, less streak artifacts at the thoracic inlet, and less venous overlay. Conclusion:Using the latest CT technology, optimal depiction of the craniocervical arteries can be archived with a low-volume (30 mL) CM protocol.
Modeling Trajectories with Recurrent Neural Networks

Modeling trajectory data is a building block for many smart-mobility initiatives. Existing approaches apply shallow models such as Markov chain and inverse reinforcement learning to model trajectories, which cannot capture the long-term dependencies. On the other hand, deep models such as Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) have demonstrated their strength of modeling variable length sequences. However, directly adopting RNN to model trajectories is not appropriate because of the unique topological constraints faced by trajectories. Motivated by these findings, we design two RNN-based models which can make full advantage of the strength of RNN to capture variable length sequence and meanwhile to address the constraints of topological structure on trajectory modeling. Our experimental study based on real taxi trajectory datasets shows that both of our approaches largely outperform the existing approaches.
Prediction of forearm muscle activity during gripping

Occupational exposure is typically assessed by measuring forces and body postures to infer muscular loading. Better understanding of workplace muscle activity levels would aid in indicating which muscles may be at risk for overexertion and injury. However, electromyography collection in the workplace is often not practical. Therefore, a set of equations was developed and validated using data from two separate days to predict forearm muscle activity (involving six wrist and finger muscles) from grip force and posture of the wrist (flexed, neutral and extended) and forearm (pronated, neutral, supinated). The error in predicting activation levels of each forearm muscle across the range of grip forces, using the first day data (root mean square error; RMSEmodel), ranged from 8.9% maximal voluntary electrical activation (MVE) (flexor carpi radialis) to 11% MVE (extensor digitorum communis). Grip force was the main contributor to predicting muscle activity levels, explaining over 70% of the variance in flexor activation levels and up to 60% in extensor activation levels, respectively. Inclusion of gender as a variable in the model improved estimates of flexor but not extensor activity. While posture itself explained minimal variance in activation without grip force (<10% MVE), wrist and forearm posture were required (with grip force) to explain over 70% of the variance of all six muscles. The validation process indicated good day-to-day reliability of each equation, with similar error for flexor muscle models but slightly higher error in the extensor models when predicting activity levels for the second day of data (RMSEvalid ranging from 8.9% to 12.7% MVE). Detailed error analysis during validation revealed that inclusion of posture in the model effectively decreased error at grip forces above 25% maximum, but was detrimental at very low grip forces. This study presents a potential new tool to estimate forearm muscle loading in the workplace using grip force and posture, as a surrogate to use of a complex biomechanical model.
Orthogonal space-time block code from amicable complex orthogonal design

Amicable complex orthogonal design (ACOD), which is the complex version of amicable orthogonal design first reported in Wolfe (1976) is proposed and its existence is proven. Using ACOD, new orthogonal space-time block codes (O-STBC) for four and eight transmit antennas are constructed. Their maximum achievable code rates are proven to be as high as the existing O-STBC designs. In addition, the new O-STBC are shown to have better practical implementation features than the existing O-STBC, as they do not require any transmit antenna to be turned off intermittently (which is beneficial for the power amplifier design), and they do not have irrational-number coefficients inside the codeword (which simplifies the hardware implementation).
Homoharringtonine for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia

Background: The anticancer activity of the natural alkaloid homoharringtonine (HHT) was first recognized by Chinese investigators. HHT exerts its activity through inhibition of protein synthesis and promotion of apoptosis. Methods: The authors reviewed the most relevant preclinical and clinical studies involving patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) receiving therapy with either natural HHT or omacetaxine mepesuccinate (Ceflatonin, Myelostat, CGX-653), a semisynthetic subcutaneously bioavailable form of HHT presently under development for the treatment of CML. Results: Prior to the advent of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) imatinib mesilate, controlled clinical studies established HHT as the most active therapy in CML after failure of IFN-a for patients who were not candidates for allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Preliminary results from Phase II studies suggest that omacetaxine mepesuccinate is active in patients with imatinib-resistant CML, including those carrying the T315I mutation, which renders imatinib and second-generation TKIs ineffective. Conclusion: These encouraging results have propelled the development of several Phase II/III trials both in Europe and in the US to further delineate the activity of omacetaxine mepesuccinate in patients with CML who are resistant to TKI therapy.
Using content features to enhance performance of user-based collaborative filtering performance of user-based collaborative filtering

Content-based and collaborative filtering methods are the most successful solutions in recommender systems. Content-based method is based on item’s attributes. This method checks the features of user's favourite items and then proposes the items which have the most similar characteristics with those items. Collaborative filtering method is based on the determination of similar items or similar users, which are called item-based and user-based collaborative filtering, respectively.In this paper we propose a hybrid method that integrates collaborative filtering and content-based methods. The proposed method can be viewed as user-based Collaborative filtering technique. However to find users with similar taste with active user, we used content features of the item under investigation to put more emphasis on user’s rating for similar items. In other words two users are similar if their ratings are similar on items that have similar context. This is achieved by assigning a weight to each rating when calculating the similarity of two users.We used movielens data set to access the performance of the proposed method in comparison with basic user-based collaborative filtering and other popular methods.
Multicenter randomized controlled clinical trial to evaluate cardioprotection of dexrazoxane versus no cardioprotection in women receiving epirubicin chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer.

PURPOSE Dexrazoxane was found effective in reducing doxorubicin cardiotoxicity when given at a dose ratio (dexrazoxane: doxorubicin) of 20:1. Preclinical studies indicated that dexrazoxane at a dose ratio of 10 to 15:1 also protected against epirubicin-induced cardiotoxicity. The main objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of dexrazoxane, given at a dose ratio of 10:1 against epirubicin cardiotoxicity. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred sixty-two advanced breast cancer patients were randomized to receive epirubicin-based chemotherapy with or without dexrazoxane. Patients who had previously received adjuvant chemotherapy that contained anthracyclines were treated with cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2 intravenously (IV), epirubicin 60 mg/m2 IV, and fluorouracil 600 mg/m2 IV, on day 1 every 3 weeks. The other patients were treated with epirubicin 120 mg/m2 IV on day 1 every 3 weeks. Cardiac toxicity was defined as clinical signs of congestive heart failure, a decrease in resting left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) to < or = 45%, or a decrease from baseline resting LVEF of > or = 20 EF units. RESULTS One hundred sixty patients were evaluated. Cardiotoxicity was recorded in 18 of 78 patients (23.1%) in the control arm and in six of 82 (7.3%) in the dexrazoxone arm. The cumulative probability of developing cardiotoxicity was significantly lower in dexrazoxane-treated patients than in control patients (P = .006; odds ratio, 0.29; 95% confidence limit [CL], 0.09 to 0.78). Noncardiac toxicity, objective response, progression-free survival, and overall survival were similar in both arms. CONCLUSION Dexrazoxane given at a dexrazoxane:epirubicin dose ratio of 10:1 protects against epirubicin-induced cardiotoxicity and does not affect the clinical activity and the noncardiac toxicity of epirubicin. The clinical use of dexrazoxane should be recommended in patients whose risk of developing cardiotoxicity could hamper the eventual use and possible benefit of epirubicin.
Attitude of Students towards Statistics Application

Objective – This study aims to investigate the factors that influence the students’ statistics acceptance and its relationship. Methodology/Technique – Method used to conduct this research is quantitative and this study is using simple random sampling technique. Findings – The findings of this study show that, out of three investigated independent variables, only two variables turned out to be influential in predicting student’s statistics acceptance among undergraduate students of program Bachelor of Science Information System Management (Hons) Faculty of Information Management Shah Alam, Malaysia. Novelty – This study only caters students who took statistics with no mathematics qualification required in the entry level of the program enrolment.
Authentic Tasks: A Participatory Action Research Study on a Teaching Method for the Inclusive Classroom.

The way in which education is taught is forever changing. Therefore, a new method in which content is delivered is a central component in examining areas for improvement. In this paper, participatory action research (PAR) was used to investigate authentic tasks in the inclusive tenth and eleventh grade classroom. The purpose of this study was to determine whether authentic tasks improved the academic performance and social interaction of regular and special education students in this type of setting. The research questions were; How does the use of authentic tasks impact the social interactions of general education and special education students in an inclusive tenth and eleventh grade biology classroom, and How does the use of authentic tasks impact the academic performance of general education and special education students in an inclusive tenth and eleventh grade biology classroom? This research provided a foundation in observational, survey, and interview data on authentic tasks in the inclusive setting in an effort to find meaning in the effectiveness of teacher-created authentic tasks versus the conventional method of textbook work. The study was conducted in a suburban New Jersey high school using an inclusive biology class consisting of 12 students, 10 of whom were participants in the study. Two surveys and one interview were conducted to triangulate the data collected. The results reflected that social interaction was increased as a result of using authentic tasks. The data collected regarding authentic tasks on academic performance did not appear to greatly improve or impede marking period results. Further exploration regarding academic performance for an entire school year would be recommended as a future study. Academic performance is conventionally measured by quantitative means. This study can be used as a foundation to provide educational professionals a new way to examine their students’ academic performance and social interaction. A TEACHING METHOD FOR THE INCLUSIVE CLASSROOM 3
Time-Optimal Synthesis for Left-Invariant Control Systems on SO(3)

Consider the control system $(\Sigma)$ given by $\dot x=x(f+ug)$, where $x\in SO(3)$, $|u|\leq 1$, and $f,g\in so(3)$ define two perpendicular left-invariant vector fields normalized so that $\|f\|=\cos(\al)$ and $\|g\|=\sin(\al)$, $\al\in ]0,\pi/4[$. In this paper, we provide an upper bound and a lower bound for $N(\alpha)$, the maximum number of switchings for time-optimal trajectories of $(\Sigma)$. More precisely, we show that $N_S(\al)\leq N(\al)\leq N_S(\al)+4$, where $N_S(\al)$ is a suitable integer function of $\al$ such that $N_S(\al)\stackrel{\lower2pt\hbox{{\smash{$\sim$}}}}{\mbox{{\tiny $\al\to 0$}}}\pi/(4\alpha). $ The result is obtained by studying the time-optimal synthesis of a projected control problem on $\RR P^2$, where the projection is defined by an appropriate Hopf fibration. Finally, we study the projected control problem on the unit sphere $S^2$. It exhibits interesting features which will be partly rigorously derived and partially described by numerical simulations.
GEMOX‐R regimen is a highly effective salvage regimen in patients with refractory/relapsing diffuse large‐cell lymphoma: a phase II study

Objectives: The prognosis of old or immunocompromised patients with refractory or relapsing diffuse large‐cell lymphoma (DLCL) is very poor as the current standard of salvage therapy with autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is not feasible for most of them. New active regimens with an acceptable toxicity profile are needed. We aim to report the results of a phase II trial of the GEMOX‐R regimen in DLCL.
MAIA: The role of innate behaviors when picking flowers in Minecraft with Q-learning

Recent advances in reinforcement learning research has achieved human level performance in playing video games (Mnih et al., 2015). This inspired me to understand the methods of reinforcement learning (RL) and investigate whether there is any basis for those methods in neurobiology and animal learning theories. The current study shows how RL is based on theories of animal conditioning and that there is solid evidence for neurobiological correlates with RL algorithms, primarily in the basal ganglia complex. This motivated a simple perceptron-based model of the basal ganglia called Q-tron, which utilizes the Q-learning algorithm. Additionally, I wanted to explore the hypothesis that adding an innate behavior to a Q-learning agent would increase performance. Thus four different agents were tasked with picking red flowers in the video game Minecraft where performance was measured as quantity of actions needed to pick a flower. A “pure” Q-learner called PQ used only the Q- tron model. MAIA (Minecraft Artificial Intelligence Agent) used the Q-tron model together with an innate behavior causing it to try picking when it saw red. Two mechanisms of the innate behavior were tested, creating MAIA1 and MAIA2, respectively. The fourth agent called random walker (RW) chose actions at random and acted as a baseline performance measure. We show that both MAIA versions have better performance than PQ, and MAIA1 has performance comparable to RW. Additionally, we show a difference in performance between MAIA1 and MAIA2 and argue that this shows the importance of investigations into the precise mechanisms underlying innate behaviors in animals in order to understand learning in general.
Catheter Ablation of Arrhythmias in Ebstein's Anomaly: A Multicenter Study

Catheter Ablation in Ebstein's Anomaly. Introduction: In patients with Ebstein's anomaly (EA) arrhythmias are frequently encountered. Although most arrhythmias can be targeted with catheter ablation, specific issues render the procedure more challenging in EA. This study examines the mechanisms of the different arrhythmias related to EA and the outcome after catheter ablation.
Stable walking with asymmetric legs

Asymmetric leg function is often an undesired side-effect in artificial legged systems and may reflect functional deficits or variations in the mechanical construction. It can also be found in legged locomotion in humans and animals such as after an accident or in specific gait patterns. So far, it is not clear to what extent differences in the leg function of contralateral limbs can be tolerated during walking or running. Here, we address this issue using a bipedal spring-mass model for simulating walking with compliant legs. With the help of the model, we show that considerable differences between contralateral legs can be tolerated and may even provide advantages to the robustness of the system dynamics. A better understanding of the mechanisms and potential benefits of asymmetric leg operation may help to guide the development of artificial limbs or the design novel therapeutic concepts and rehabilitation strategies.