Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quality of Working Life of Nurses and its Related Factors

Background: Nurses as the largest group of health care providers should enjoy a satisfactory quality of working life to be able to provide quality care to their patients. Therefore, attention should be paid to the nurses’ working life. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the quality of nurses' working life in Kashans' hospitals during 2012. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 nurses during 2012. The data-gathering instrument consisted of two parts. The first part consisted of questions on demographic information and the second part was the Walton’s quality of work life questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software. For statistical analysis T test and one way ANOVA were used. Results: The results of the study showed that 60% of nurses reported that they had moderate level of quality of working life while 37.1% and 2% had undesirable and good quality of working life, respectively. Nurses with associate degrees reported a better quality of working life than others. A significant relationship was found between variables such as education level, work experience, and type of hospital with quality of working life score (P < 0.05). No significant differences were observed between quality of working life score of nurses with employment status (P = 0.061), salary (P = 0.052), age, gender and marital status (P > 0.05). Conclusions: Nurses' quality of work life was at the moderate level. As quality of work life has an important impact on attracting and retaining employees, it is necessary to pay more attention to the nurses’ quality of work life and its affecting factors.
A practical MRI grading system for lumbar foraminal stenosis.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the reproducibility of a new grading system for lumbar foraminal stenosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Four grades were developed for lumbar foraminal stenosis on the basis of sagittal MRI. Grade 0 refers to the absence of foraminal stenosis; grade 1 refers to mild foraminal stenosis showing perineural fat obliteration in the two opposing directions, vertical or transverse; grade 2 refers to moderate foraminal stenosis showing perineural fat obliteration in the four directions without morphologic change, both vertical and transverse directions; and grade 3 refers to severe foraminal stenosis showing nerve root collapse or morphologic change. A total of 576 foramina in 96 patients were analyzed (from L3-L4 to L5-S1). Two experienced radiologists independently assessed the sagittal MR images. Interobserver agreement between the two radiologists and intraobserver agreement by one reader were analyzed using kappa statistics. RESULTS According to reader 1, grade 1 foraminal stenosis was found in 33 foramina, grade 2 in six, and grade 3 in seven. According to reader 2, grade 1 foraminal stenosis was found in 32 foramina, grade 2 in six, and grade 3 in eight. Interobserver agreement in the grading of foraminal stenosis between the two readers was found to be nearly perfect (kappa value: right L3-L4, 1.0; left L3-L4, 0.905; right L4-L5, 0.929; left L4-L5, 0.942; right L5-S1, 0.919; and left L5-S1, 0.909). In intraobserver agreement by reader 1, grade 1 foraminal stenosis was found in 34 foramina, grade 2 in eight, and grade 3 in seven. Intraobserver agreement in the grading of foraminal stenosis was also found to be nearly perfect (kappa value: right L3-L4, 0.883; left L3-L4, 1.00; right L4-L5, 0.957; left L4-L5, 0.885; right L5-S1, 0.800; and left L5-S1, 0.905). CONCLUSION The new grading system for foraminal stenosis of the lumbar spine showed nearly perfect interobserver and intraobserver agreement and would be helpful for clinical study and routine practice.
The Medical Journal of Australia

The Medical Journal of Australia ISSN: 0025-729X 19 January 2009 190 2 87-90 ©The Medical Journal of Australia 2009 www.mja. com.au Enduring Sport are of school, college, or professional players. To our knowledge, no populationbased studies have been published of hospital admissions for basketballor netballspecific injuries, representing the more severe end of the spectrum. We report a retrospective populationnetb Resu 22.2 age, [2384 forea forea
Emotion classification based on gamma-band EEG

In this paper, we use EEG signals to classify two emotions-happiness and sadness. These emotions are evoked by showing subjects pictures of smile and cry facial expressions. We propose a frequency band searching method to choose an optimal band into which the recorded EEG signal is filtered. We use common spatial patterns (CSP) and linear-SVM to classify these two emotions. To investigate the time resolution of classification, we explore two kinds of trials with lengths of 3s and 1s. Classification accuracies of 93.5% ± 6.7% and 93.0%±6.2% are achieved on 10 subjects for 3s-trials and 1s-trials, respectively. Our experimental results indicate that the gamma band (roughly 30–100 Hz) is suitable for EEG-based emotion classification.
Mutant ryanodine receptors in catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia generate delayed afterdepolarizations due to increased propensity to Ca2+ waves.

AIMS Mutations in cardiac ryanodine receptors (RyR2s) are linked to catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), characterized by risk of polymorphic ventricular tachyarrhythmias and sudden death during exercise. Arrhythmias are caused by gain-of-function defects in RyR2, but cellular arrhythmogenesis remains elusive. METHODS AND RESULTS We recorded endocardial monophasic action potentials (MAPs) at right ventricular septum in 15 CPVT patients with a RyR2 mutation (P2,328S, Q4,201R, and V4,653F) and in 12 control subjects both at baseline and during epinephrine infusion (0.05 microg/kg/min). At baseline 3 and during epinephrine infusion, four CPVT patients, but none of the control subjects, showed delayed afterdepolarizations (DADs) occasionally coinciding with ventricular premature complexes. In order to study the underlying mechanisms, we expressed two types of mutant RyR2 (P2,328S and V4,653F) causing CPVT as well as wild-type RyR2 in HEK 293 cells. Confocal microscopy of Fluo-3 loaded cells transfected with any of the three RyR2s showed no spontaneous subcellular Ca(2+) release events at baseline. Membrane permeable cAMP analogue (Dioctanoyl-cAMP) triggered subcellular Ca(2+) release events as Ca(2+) sparks and waves. Cells expressing mutant RyR2s showed spontaneous Ca(2+) release events at lower concentrations of cAMP than cells transfected with wild-type RyR2. CONCLUSION CPVT patients show DADs coinciding with premature action potentials in MAP recordings. Expression studies suggest that DADs are caused by increased propensity of abnormal RyR2s to generate spontaneous Ca(2+) waves in response to cAMP stimulation. Increased sensitivity of mutant RyR2s to cAMP may explain the occurrence of arrhythmias during exercise or emotional stress in CPVT.
Image compression with geometrical wavelets

We introduce a sparse image representation that takes advantage of the geometrical regularity of edges in images. A new class of one-dimensional wavelet orthonormal bases, called foveal wavelets, are introduced to detect and reconstruct singularities. Foveal wavelets are extended in two dimensions, to follow the geometry of arbitrary curves. The resulting two dimensional "bandelets" define orthonormal families that can restore close approximations of regular edges with few non-zero coefficients. A double layer image coding algorithm is described. Edges are coded with quantized bandelet coefficients, and a smooth residual image is coded in a standard two-dimensional wavelet basis.
Coordinated control of senescence by lncRNA and a novel T-box3 co-repressor complex

Cellular senescence is a crucial tumor suppressor mechanism. We discovered a CAPERα/TBX3 repressor complex required to prevent senescence in primary cells and mouse embryos. Critical, previously unknown roles for CAPERα in controlling cell proliferation are manifest in an obligatory interaction with TBX3 to regulate chromatin structure and repress transcription of CDKN2A-p16INK and the RB pathway. The IncRNA UCA1 is a direct target of CAPERα/TBX3 repression whose overexpression is sufficient to induce senescence. In proliferating cells, we found that hnRNPA1 binds and destabilizes CDKN2A-p16INK mRNA whereas during senescence, UCA1 sequesters hnRNPA1 and thus stabilizes CDKN2A-p16INK. Thus CAPERα/TBX3 and UCA1 constitute a coordinated, reinforcing mechanism to regulate both CDKN2A-p16INK transcription and mRNA stability. Dissociation of the CAPERα/TBX3 co-repressor during oncogenic stress activates UCA1, revealing a novel mechanism for oncogene-induced senescence. Our elucidation of CAPERα and UCA1 functions in vivo provides new insights into senescence induction, and the oncogenic and developmental properties of TBX3. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.02805. 001
Buying private data without verification

We consider the problem of designing a survey to aggregate non-verifiable information from a privacy-sensitive population: an analyst wants to compute some aggregate statistic from the private bits held by each member of a population, but cannot verify the correctness of the bits reported by participants in his survey. Individuals in the population are strategic agents with a cost for privacy, ie, they not only account for the payments they expect to receive from the mechanism, but also their privacy costs from any information revealed about them by the mechanism's outcome---the computed statistic as well as the payments---to determine their utilities. How can the analyst design payments to obtain an accurate estimate of the population statistic when individuals strategically decide both whether to participate and whether to truthfully report their sensitive information' We design a differentially private peer-prediction mechanism [Miller et al. 2005] that supports accurate estimation of the population statistic as a Bayes-Nash equilibrium in settings where agents have explicit preferences for privacy. The mechanism requires knowledge of the marginal prior distribution on bits bi, but does not need full knowledge of the marginal distribution on the costs ci, instead requiring only an approximate upper bound. Our mechanism guarantees ε-differential privacy to each agent i against any adversary who can observe the statistical estimate output by the mechanism, as well as the payments made to the n-1 other agents j ≠ i. Finally, we show that with slightly more structured assumptions on the privacy cost functions of each agent [Chen et al. 2013], the cost of running the survey goes to 0 as the number of agents diverges.
Competing to Share Expertise: The Taskcn Knowledge Sharing Community

"Witkeys" are websites in China that form a rapidly growing web-based knowledge market. A user who posts a task also offers a small fee, and many other users submit their answers to compete. The Witkey sites fall in-between aspects of the now-defunct Google Answers (vetted experts answer questions for a fee) and Yahoo Answers (anyone can answer or ask a question). As such, these sites promise new possibilities for knowledge-sharing online communities, perhaps fostering the freelance marketplace of the future. In this paper, we investigate one of the biggest Witkey websites in China, Taskcn.com. In particular, we apply social network prestige measures to a novel construction of user and task networks based on competitive outcomes to discover the underlying properties of both users and tasks. Our results demonstrate the power of this approach: Our analysis allows us to infer relative expertise of the users and provides an understanding of the participation structure in Taskcn. The results suggest challenges and opportunities for this kind of knowledge sharing medium.
Ultra low-power analog Morlet wavelet filter in 0.18 /spl mu/m BiCMOS technology

A novel procedure to implement the wavelet transform using analog circuitry is presented. First, an approximation is used to calculate the transfer function of the filter, whose impulse response is the required wavelet. Next, to meet low-power low-voltage requirements, we optimize the state-space description of the filter with respect to dynamic range, sensitivity and sparsity. The filter design that follows is based on an orthonormal ladder structure and employs log-domain integrators as main building blocks. Measurements demonstrate that it approximates the required wavelet base (i.e. Morlet) in an excellent way. The tenth-order log-domain filter operates from a 1.5-V supply voltage and a total bias current of 4.3/spl mu/A.
Lazy Gaussian Process Committee and its Application in Real-Time Trajectory Prediction ✩

A significant problem of Gaussian process (GP) is its unfavorable scaling with a large amount of data. To overcome this issue, we present a novel GP approximation scheme for online regression. Our model is based on a combination of multiple GPs with random hyperparameters. The model is trained by incrementally allocating new examples to a selected subset of GPs. The selection is carried out efficiently by optimizing a submodular function. Experiments on real-world data sets showed that our method outperforms existing online GP regression methods in both accuracy and efficiency. The applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated by the mouse-trajectory prediction in an Internet banking scenario.
Translational Vestibulo‐Ocular Reflex Evoked by a “Head Heave” Stimulus

Abstract: The gain and symmetry of vestibulo‐ocular reflexes for high‐frequency, high‐acceleration movements of the head are altered following unilateral vestibular lesions. These changes have been well characterized for rotational head movements (thrusts), and provide reliable markers of dysfunction in individual semicircular canals. Alterations in the vestibulo‐ocular reflex (VOR) evoked by lateral, whole‐body translations have also been observed. In an approach directed at the development of a bedside test of otolith function, we have recorded (scleral search coil) the VOR evoked by brief, high‐acceleration lateral translations (heaves). We delivered these stimuli manually and also developed a “head sled” device that minimizes any rotational contaminating component of the stimulus. Our geometrical analysis of the stimuli enables us to take into account the translational and rotational components of the movement, and to calculate an ideal response required for stabilization of images on the fovea at different fixation distances. We observed a tracking response (visually assisted VOR) that was close to ideal for image stabilization when these methods were used to analyze responses to slow, low‐amplitude lateral translations of the head. When applied to rapid, high‐acceleration (0.5 g) translations, the VOR was found to be less than compensatory in subjects with normal vestibular function. In a patient with unilateral vestibular hypofunction following intratympanic gentamicin injections, both the rotational and the translational VOR were asymmetric. Responses for translations toward the treated side had lower gain than those for translations toward the normal side. These findings provide a basis for further development of this technique as a clinical test and as a method for quantitative evaluation of otolith function.
Wireless communication to monitor the rotating electrical machines

Electrical machine monitoring is important to protect motor from unexpected problems. Today, using wireless communication for electrical machines is interesting for both real time monitoring and diagnosis purposes. In this paper, our contribution is to study a new technique to monitor the rotating electrical machines using wireless communication IEEE 802.11. The protocol IEEE 802.11 is recommended for this type of applications because it provides a faster connection and better security. Using the application of wireless communication to monitor the rotating electrical machines is not self-evident, as the ElectroMagnetic Compatibility (EMC) problem between devices isn't necessarily guaranteed. So, a study of the electromagnetic field to obtain a good reliability for wireless communication is crucial. This paper studies the effect of the rotating electrical machine flux. This study, based on Finite Element Method (FEM) offers much more information on the phenomena characterizing the operation of electrical machines. Finally, the experimental results of rotating component are built to validate the feasibility of the proposed system and to study electromagnetic wave propagation characteristics of both stationary and rotating transmitter inside and outside electrical machine.
Effect of cell density on binding and uptake of low density lipoprotein by human fibroblasts

The effect of cell density on low density lipoprotein (LDL) binding by cultured human skin fibroblasts was investigated. Bound LDL was visualized by indirect immunofluorescence. Cellular lipid and cholesterol were monitored by fluorescence in cells stained with phosphine 3R and filipin, respectively. LDL binding and lipid accumulation were compared in cells in stationary and exponentially growing cultures, in sparsely and densely plated cultures, in wounded and non-wounded areas of stationary cultures, and in stationary cultures with and without the addition of lipoprotein-deficient serum. We conclude that LDL binding and cholesterol accumulation induced by LDL are influenced by cell density. It appears that, compared to rapidly growing cells, quiescent (noncycling) human fibroblasts exhibit fewer functional LDL receptors.
Temporal and Spatial Predictability of an Irrelevant Event Differently Affect Detection and Memory of Items in a Visual Sequence

We examined how the temporal and spatial predictability of a task-irrelevant visual event affects the detection and memory of a visual item embedded in a continuously changing sequence. Participants observed 11 sequentially presented letters, during which a task-irrelevant visual event was either present or absent. Predictabilities of spatial location and temporal position of the event were controlled in 2 × 2 conditions. In the spatially predictable conditions, the event occurred at the same location within the stimulus sequence or at another location, while, in the spatially unpredictable conditions, it occurred at random locations. In the temporally predictable conditions, the event timing was fixed relative to the order of the letters, while in the temporally unpredictable condition; it could not be predicted from the letter order. Participants performed a working memory task and a target detection reaction time (RT) task. Memory accuracy was higher for a letter simultaneously presented at the same location as the event in the temporally unpredictable conditions, irrespective of the spatial predictability of the event. On the other hand, the detection RTs were only faster for a letter simultaneously presented at the same location as the event when the event was both temporally and spatially predictable. Thus, to facilitate ongoing detection processes, an event must be predictable both in space and time, while memory processes are enhanced by temporally unpredictable (i.e., surprising) events. Evidently, temporal predictability has differential effects on detection and memory of a visual item embedded in a sequence of images.
Dexmedetomidine ameliorates the inflammatory immune response in rats with acute kidney damage

It has been demonstrated that dexmedetomidine (Dex) can protect patients with acute kidney injury from experiencing further tissue damage, however its mechanism of action remains unclear. The present study investigated the immune modulatory functions of Dex in rats with acute kidney injury (AKI) induced via injection of lipopolysaccharide into the tail vein. ELISA analysis showed that Dex reduced the levels of inflammatory cytokines in rats with AKI in a dose dependent manner. Furthermore, the regulatory effects of Dex on cytokine production disappeared when the α-2 adrenergic receptor antagonist Yohimbine (YOH) was added. For a detailed investigation on how Dex regulates the immune response in rats with AKI, the impact of Dex on the viability of splenocytes and lymphocytes was determined and it was determined that Dex did not influence splenocyte and lymphocyte viability. In addition, ELISA tests showed that Dex regulated the production of the T-helper (Th) 17 cytokines interleukin (IL)-17 and IL-23, but not the Th1 cytokine tumor necrosis factor α, in splenocytes and lymphocytes. To confirm whether Dex functioned as an α-2-adrenergic receptor in these immune regulations, YOH was administered together with Dex. When Dex and YOH were administered together, the regulatory functions of Dex were reduced, confirming that Dex acted as an agonist on the α-2-adrenergic receptor. Thus the results of the current study may provide novel insights regarding how Dex modulates immune functions in AKI.
Similarity measures of intuitionistic fuzzy sets based on cosine function for the decision making of mechanical design schemes

Based on cosine function and the information carried by the membership degrees, nonmembership degree and hesitancy degree in intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs), this paper proposes two new cosine similarity measures and weighted cosine similarity measures between IFSs. Then, we give the comparative analysis of various trigonometric similarity measures by several numerical examples to illustrate the effectiveness of the developed cosine similarity measures of IFSs. Furthermore, we develop a decision- making method using the weighted cosine similarity measures for choosing mechanical design schemes (alternatives). Finally, a decision-making example on choosing mechanical design schemes is given to demonstrate the applications and efficiency of the proposed decision-making method.
Consumer Opinions of a Stance Control Knee Orthosis

Stance control knee orthoses (SCOs) have become very popular recently. However, there is little information regarding opinions of actual orthosis users. The purpose of this study was to quantify the users' opinions of a SCO, and see whether factors found important for knee orthoses in past studies hold true for a stance control orthosis as well. A standardized survey was employed as part of a larger field trial study of the Dynamic Knee Brace System, a SCO developed by the authors. The Dynamic Knee Brace System scored well in areas of effectiveness, operability, and dependability, but areas in need of improvement included weight, cosmesis, and donning and doffing. These findings match well with previous knee orthosis studies. This study shows that wearing a stance control knee orthosis can be a positive experience for an orthosis user.
Analysis of the /spl Sigma/-/spl Delta/ pulsed digital oscillator for MEMS

The aim of this paper is the analysis, simulation, and experimental verification of the /spl Sigma/-/spl Delta/ pulsed digital oscillator (PDO) topology. As it has been shown in previous works, the oscillation frequency and output spectrum in the PDO depend on the sampling frequency, the natural frequency of the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonator and its damping factor. Here, extensive discrete-time simulations have been carried out which show that the normalized oscillation frequency as a function of the normalized natural frequency of the resonator is very similar to a distorted Devil's Staircase fractal. This nonlinear behavior is a direct consequence of the damping losses of the MEMS resonator. Analytical conditions for a perfect oscillation at the natural frequency of the resonator are also calculated. For this set of what we call "perfect" frequencies, it is also shown that the energy transfer from the electrical to the mechanical domain is maximum. Then a more generalized structure of the oscillator is considered and the drawn conclusions are tested against experimental results obtained from an oscillator prototype which uses a MEMS resonator with thermoelectric actuation and piezoresistive position sensing.