Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DESCRIBING FOREST STANDS USING TERRESTRIAL LASER-SCANNING

A method for extracting forest parameters is described in this paper. The 3D point clouds derived from phase difference laser scanners in forests were processed in a step-wise separation. The first step contains basic filter methods to reduce raw data which, separates isolated points or deletes those artefacts resulting from the ambiguity problem. The next step includes using algorithms to isolate the main object categories of forest stands: terrain and trees. A digital terrain model (DTM) is calculated as a triangulated irregular network (TIN). Based on this, the point clouds are sliced at different heights above ground and included co-ordinates are projected in 2D layers. The following steps use image analysis methods to derive the single tree positions and diameters in the different layers. A Hough-transformation is used for the detection of the trees and a circle approximation is used to localise the tree exactly. For a precise model of a tree stem, a triangulation is conducted using the power crust algorithm. The developed methods enable one to measure some of the standard forest inventory parameters. Unfortunately, important parameters such as tree species and tree height have not yet been extracted from the scanning data. Indeed, for the acceptance as a standard method, these parameters play a key role. Further work has to investigate an automatic way to extract these parameters from the point cloud.
[The European Psychiatric Association (EPA) guidance on suicide treatment and prevention].

UNLABELLED Suicide is a major public health problem in the WHO European Region accounting for over 150,000 deaths per year. Suicidal crisis: Acute intervention should start immediately in order to keep the patient alive. DIAGNOSIS An underlying psychiatric disorder is present in up to 90% of people who completed suicide. Comorbidity with depression, anxiety, substance abuse and personality disorders is high. In order to achieve successful prevention of suicidality, adequate diagnostic procedures and appropriate treatment for the underlying disorder are essential. TREATMENT Existing evidence supports the efficacy of pharmacological treatment and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in preventing suicidal behaviour. Some other psychological treatments are promising, but the supporting evidence is currently insufficient. Studies show that antidepressant treatment decreases the risk for suicidality among depressed patients. However, the risk of suicidal behaviour in depressed patients treated with antidepressants exists during the first 10-14 days of treatment, which requires careful monitoring. Short-term supplementary medication with anxiolytics and hypnotics in the case of anxiety and insomnia is recommended. TREATMENT with antidepressants of children and adolescents should only be given under supervision of a specialist. Long-term treatment with lithium has been shown to be effective in preventing both suicide and attempted suicide in patients with unipolar and bipolar depression. TREATMENT with clozapine is effective in reducing suicidal behaviour in patients with schizophrenia. Other atypical antipsychotics are promising but more evidence is required. TREATMENT team: Multidisciplinary treatment teams including psychiatrist and other professionals such as psychologist, social worker, and occupational therapist are always preferable, as integration of pharmacological, psychological and social rehabilitation is recommended especially for patients with chronic suicidality. Family: The suicidal person independently of age should always be motivated to involve family in the treatment. Social support: Psychosocial treatment and support is recommended, as the majority of suicidal patients have problems with relationships, work, school and lack functioning social networks. SAFETY A secure home, public and hospital environment, without access to suicidal means is a necessary strategy in suicide prevention. Each treatment option, prescription of medication and discharge of the patient from hospital should be carefully evaluated against the involved risks. Training of personnel: Training of general practitioners (GPs) is effective in the prevention of suicide. It improves treatment of depression and anxiety, quality of the provided care and attitudes towards suicide. Continuous training including discussions about ethical and legal issues is necessary for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals.
Surgical management of giant herniated thoracic discs: analysis of 20 cases.

OBJECT The authors evaluated the clinical and surgical outcomes obtained in patients with giant herniated thoracic discs (HTDs), defined as occupying more than 40% of the spinal canal. Surgery-related considerations and functional outcomes in patients with small- and medium-sized HTDs were compared. METHODS The authors reviewed 140 cases of surgically treated HTDs, 20 (14%) of which were giant. Before and after surgery, all patients underwent computerized tomography myelography, magnetic resonance imaging, or both. Functional outcomes were assessed using the Frankel grading system preoperatively, immediately after surgery, and at long-term follow-up examination. The results observed in patients with giant HTDs were compared with those with small- and medium-sized HTDs. The mean overall follow-up period was 2.6 years. Sixty-six patients (47%) presented with myelopathy, including 19 (95%) with a giant HTD. Of the latter, 16 (80%) underwent anterior, eight thoracoscopic, and eight open thoracotomy approaches. Four patients (20%) with laterally oriented giant HTDs within the spinal canal underwent surgery via a posterolateral approach. Based on analysis of long-term follow-up data, 53% of patients with giant HTDs improved neurologically by one Frankel grade. Progression of myelopathy was arrested in 42%, and in 5% the Frankel grade worsened by one. In patients with small- and medium-sized HTDs, the Frankel grade improved by one in 77%, stabilized in 23%, and worsened in 0%. Patients with giant HTDs who underwent thoracoscopic surgery had worse short- and long-term functional outcomes than those in whom open thoracotomy was performed. CONCLUSIONS Patients with giant HTDs presented more frequently with myelopathy and experienced worse functional outcomes than those with smaller HTDs. Based on their experience, the authors recommend open thoracotomy rather than thoracoscopy for the treatment of midline giant HTDs.
Ionic Basis for the Antagonism between Adenosine and Isoproterenol on Isolated Mammalian Ventricular Myocytes

We studied the effects of adenosine and isoproterenol on membrane currents of isolated bovine and guinea pig ventricular myocytes with a two-microelectrode voltage clamp technique. Adenosine (50 μM to 0.2 mM) alone had no effect on any of the membrane currents measured, but it antagonized the effects induced by 10 nM isoproterenol. Peak calcium membrane current was augmented by isoproterenol from a control of 4.8 ± 0.6 to 8.6 ± 0.8 nA and adenosine reduced it to 5.7 ± 0.7 nA (mean ± SEM of six cells). The inactivation time constant was not altered by isoproterenol alone or isoproterenol plus adenosine, and neither was the voltage dependence of peak calcium membrane current. Thus, the changes caused by isoproterenol could be described as an increase in maximal calcium conductance from 0.86 ± 0.7 to 1.55 ± 6.04 mS/cm2 and partially antagonized by adenosine to 0.97 ± 0.04 mS/cm2. Isoproterenol also increased the non-inactivating component of calcium membrane current from 17 ± 1 to 24 ± 4percent;, and adenosine reduced it to 18 ± 2percent; (n = 4). The steady state activation and inactivation Variables remained unchanged. Consistent with these effects on calcium membrane current, adenosine completely antagonized the isoproterenol-induced increase of the slow action potentials obtained in sodium-free medium. Isoproterenol increased the steady state outward currents abpotentials between −90 and −30 mV (i.e., probable iK1). Adenosine alone had no effect on potassium membrane current, but it antagonized the effects of isoproterenol. Slow action potentials in. 25 mM potassium were enhanced by isoproterenol, but were only moderately attenuated by adenosine. Accordingly, in 25 mM potassium the isoproterenol-induced changes in membrane currents were not antagonized by adenosine. This lack of inhibition by adenosine of the isdproterenol effects in 25 mM potassium could not be mimicked by 1-minute-long conditioning prepulses to −45 mV. The results indicate that adenosine by itself (absence of isoproterenol) has no effect on maximal calcium conductance, that the isoproterenol-induced increase in cyclic adenosine 3′,5′-monophosphate, which leads to an increase in maximal calcium conductance, is antagonized by adenosine, and that such action can account for the ability of adenosine to attenuate the stimulatory effects of isoproterenol.
Using Cohesion and Coupling for Software Remodularization

Refactoring and, in particular, remodularization operations can be performed to repair the design of a software system and remove the erosion caused by software evolution. Various approaches have been proposed to support developers during the remodularization of a software system. Most of these approaches are based on the underlying assumption that developers pursue an optimal balance between cohesion and coupling when modularizing the classes of their systems. Thus, a remodularization recommender proposes a solution that implicitly provides a (near) optimal balance between such quality attributes. However, there is still no empirical evidence that such a balance is the desideratum by developers. This article aims at analyzing both objectively and subjectively the aforementioned phenomenon. Specifically, we present the results of (1) a large study analyzing the modularization quality, in terms of package cohesion and coupling, of 100 open-source systems, and (2) a survey conducted with 29 developers aimed at understanding the driving factors they consider when performing modularization tasks. The results achieved have been used to distill a set of lessons learned that might be considered to design more effective remodularization recommenders.
Socially aware cluster formation and radio resource allocation in D2D networks

Due to the popularity of mobile user devices, D2D communications become a key technology to improve local services in the next generation cellular networks. However, the benefits count on efficient radio resource allocation between cellular links and D2D links, which poses critical challenges. By exploiting the network knowledge extracted from underlying mobile social networks (MSNs), this article proposes a socially aware D2D communication scheme to improve the spectrum and energy efficiency in cellular networks. First, by jointly considering the social and network knowledge, we propose a cluster formation scheme to categorize a group of UEs into multiple D2D clusters. Within each cluster, highly spectrum-efficient D2D multicasting (from the cluster head, i.e., a D2D transmitter UE to multiple cluster member UEs) is enabled. Next, a half-duplex scheme and a full-duplex scheme are proposed to coordinate the channel sharing between the cellular links and the D2D links. Simulation results show that the proposed schemes can form D2D clusters rationally among a group of UEs, and therefore largely increase the spectrum and energy efficiency of the network.
How To Break Anonymity of the Netflix Prize Dataset

We present a new class of statistical de-anonymization attacks against high-dimensional micro-data, such as individual preferences, recommendations, transaction records and so on. Our techniques are robust to perturbation in the data and tolerate some mistakes in the adversary's background knowledge. We apply our de-anonymization methodology to the Netflix Prize dataset, which contains anonymous movie ratings of 500,000 subscribers of Netflix, the world's largest online movie rental service. We demonstrate that an adversary who knows only a little bit about an individual subscriber can easily identify this subscriber's record in the dataset. Using the Internet Movie Database as the source of background knowledge, we successfully identified the Netflix records of known users, uncovering their apparent political preferences and other potentially sensitive information.
Effects of sixteen weeks exercise training on left ventricular dimensions and function in young athletes

Background: Exercise training-induced hemodynamic and electrophysiological changes in the myocardium lead to physiological left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy with preserved cardiac contractility and function, how much exact duration and intensity is enough for that? , is still not known. This must be known to clinician as the increasing involvement of young athletes in intensive training regimens. Aims & Objective: To evaluate morphological changes in heart by echocardiography with sixteen weeks of exercise. Materials and methods: Study comprises of sixteen weeks duration and was done on the students of physical education.This was a longitudinal study in which eighty-five subjects (43 male, 20.11 yrs ±1.137, 42 female, 19.81 yrs ± 1.89) were assessed using echocardiography and Medical Graphics CPX-D (for aerobic power) before the start of exercise program and at the end of exercise program. Statistical analysis was done using paired t test using Graph pad prism 5 software. Results: No significant change was found in left ventricular morphology and ejection fraction after exercise program. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the exercise training over a period of sixteen weeks doesn’t influence cardiovascular morphology, but causes improvement in aerobic power.
Short-term outcomes of laparoscopic and open ventral hernia repair: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Although laparoscopic repair of ventral hernia has become increasingly popular, its outcomes relative to open repair have not been well characterized. For this reason, we performed a meta-analysis of studies comparing open and laparoscopic ventral (including incisional) hernia repair. HYPOTHESIS Laparoscopic ventral hernia repair results in better short-term outcomes than open ventral hernia repair. DATA SOURCES Structured MEDLINE search for published studies. One unpublished study was also identified. STUDY SELECTION Studies were selected on the basis of study design (comparison of laparoscopic and open ventral hernia repair). The 3 main outcome measures were perioperative complications, operative time, and length of hospital stay. Of 83 potential studies identified by abstract review, 8 (10%) met the inclusion criteria. DATA EXTRACTION Two reviewers assessed each article to determine eligibility for inclusion and, where appropriate, abstracted information on patient characteristics and main outcome measures. DATA SYNTHESIS Across 8 studies, 390 patients underwent open repair and 322 underwent laparoscopic repair. Perioperative complications were less than half as likely to occur in patients undergoing laparoscopic repair (14% vs 27%; P =.03; odds ratio, 0.42; 95% confidence interval, 0.29-0.68). Average length of stay was shorter in the laparoscopic group (2.0 vs 4.0 days; P =.02). No statistically significant difference in operative times was noted between laparoscopic and open repair (99 vs 96 minutes; P =.38). CONCLUSIONS Laparoscopic ventral hernia repair offers lower complication rates and shorter length of stay than open repair. However, randomized controlled trials and studies with long-term follow-up are needed to confirm these findings and to assess long-term rates of hernia recurrence.
The Big Picture of UX is Missing in Scrum Projects

The Scrum development process has gained increasing popularity during the last decade. At the same time user experience (UX) has emerged as an important quality feature. However, the integration of UX related activities into Scrum projects has not been without problems, and this area needs to be further examined. This paper describes the results from two in depth interviews with knowledgeable UX specialists working in Scrum projects in the prodauct development industry. It describes their ways of working generally with UX, their experiences from UX evaluations and the challenges encountered from their UX work. The main concern when working with UX in Scrum projects is that the big picture of UX is often lacking. Finally, the paper discusses the differences and similarities between the experiences from the UX specialists.
Recognizing Gestures by Learning Local Motion Signatures of HOG Descriptors

We introduce a new gesture recognition framework based on learning local motion signatures (LMSs) of HOG descriptors introduced by [1]. Our main contribution is to propose a new probabilistic learning-classification scheme based on a reliable tracking of local features. After the generation of these LMSs computed on one individual by tracking Histograms of Oriented Gradient (HOG) [2] descriptor, we learn a codebook of video-words (i.e., clusters of LMSs) using k-means algorithm on a learning gesture video database. Then, the video-words are compacted to a code-book of codewords by the Maximization of Mutual Information (MMI) algorithm. At the final step, we compare the LMSs generated for a new gesture w.r. t. the learned code-book via the k-nearest neighbors (k-NN) algorithm and a novel voting strategy. Our main contribution is the handling of the N to N mapping between codewords and gesture labels within the proposed voting strategy. Experiments have been carried out on two public gesture databases: KTH [3] and IXMAS [4]. Results show that the proposed method outperforms recent state-of-the-art methods.
Clinical utility of rivaroxaban in stroke prevention associated with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation – patient considerations

The direct factor Xa inhibitor rivaroxaban was the first within the group of orally available direct factor Xa inhibitors to gain clinical approval for oral anticoagulation in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation in 2011. The –xabans, as drugs from the group of oral direct factor Xa inhibitors are often referred to, comprise currently three drugs (apixaban, edoxaban, and rivaroxaban) with clinical approval for a variety of clinical indications that require oral anticoagulation therapy. The number of patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation requiring long-term oral anticoagulation therapy for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism is predicted to increase up to five times by 2050. Many of these patients will be within the elderly and aging population that is at a higher risk of stroke and also at a higher risk for bleeding events. This requires novel options for efficient and safe oral anticoagulation, and rivaroxaban is one of the novel oral anticoagulants that have been shown to be at least as effective as vitamin K antagonists in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. Furthermore, like all of the novel oral anticoagulants, rivaroxaban provides a significant reduction in intracerebral hemorrhage compared with vitamin K antagonists such as warfarin. The clinical utility of oral anticoagulation with rivaroxaban in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation is discussed here, along with special patient considerations, including impaired renal function, switching from a vitamin K antagonist, and patients with concomitant acute coronary syndrome.
Caregiver’s Burden of the Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury

Insufficient attention towards caregivers has resulted in the emergence of psychological and health complaints. Affliction tethers more towards spouses as compared to parents and females as compared to males. The role of sibling care givers was found to be no different from parents or spouses. Marital relationships were found to suffer the most, with the caregiver leaving the traumatic brain injury (TBI) patient in his time of need. The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and family assessment device (FAD) predicted a correlation between patient variables and caregiver discontent. The Blacks/Hispanics proved to cope better with stress and their caregiver roles as compared to Whites. Time elapsed since the injury was found to relieve distress, while the surprising severity of the injury has no recorded impact. Social support or rather a lack of it has been seen to have an impact on family homeostasis, which can further be deteriorated by substance abuse by the patient. The therapeutic intervention found to be most advantageous was the D'Zurilla and Nezu social problem-solving model. Current evidence suggests that emphasis should be given on proper education and encouragement of caregivers before discharge of TBI patients from hospital to reduce the incidence of stressors. Additionally, counseling sessions should be led by professionally led support groups for dealing with psychological symptoms and peer-led group to eliminate social insecurities of caregivers.
Disialogangliosides GD2 and GD3 are involved in the attachment of human melanoma and neuroblastoma cells to extracellular matrix proteins

Human melanoma cells express relatively large amounts of the disialogangliosides GD3 and GD2 on their surface whereas neuroblastoma cells express GD2 as a major ganglioside. Monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) directed specifically to the carbohydrate moiety of GD3 and GD2 inhibit melanoma and neuroblastoma cell attachment to various substrate adhesive proteins, e.g. collagen, vitronectin, laminin, fibronectin, and a heptapeptide, glycyl-L-arginyl-glycyl-L-aspartyl-L-seryl-L-prolyl- L-cysteine, which constitutes the cell attachment site of fibronectin. Cells that are preattached to a fibronectin substrate can also be induced to detach and round up in the presence of purified anti- ganglioside Mab. Moreover, when melanoma cells that contain both GD2 and GD3 are incubated with Mabs directed to both of these molecules an additive inhibition is observed. The specificity of this inhibition is demonstrated since Mabs of various isotypes directed to either protein or carbohydrate epitopes on a number of other major melanoma or neuroblastoma cell surface antigens have no effect on cell attachment. A study of the kinetics involved in this inhibition indicates that significant effects occur during the first 5 min of cell attachment, suggesting an important role for GD2 and GD3 in the initial events of cell-substrate interactions. The role of gangliosides in cell attachment apparently does not directly involve a strong interaction with fibronectin since we could not observe any binding of radiolabeled fibronectin or fragments of the molecule known to contain the cell attachment site to melanoma gangliosides separated on thin-layer chromatograms. An alternative explanation would be that gangliosides may play a role in the electrostatic requirements for cell-substrate interactions. In this regard, controlled periodate oxidation of terminal, unsubstituted sialic acid residues on the cell surface not only specifically destroys the antigenic epitopes on GD2 and GD3 recognized by specific Mabs but also inhibits melanoma cell and neuroblastoma cell attachment. In fact, the periodate-induced ganglioside oxidation and the inhibition of cell attachment are equally dose dependent. These data suggest that cell-substratum interactions may depend in part on the electrostatic environment provided by terminal sialic acid residues of cell surface gangliosides and possibly other anionic glycoconjugates.