Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Repository January 2014 Color Separation for Image Segmentation

Image segmentation is a fundamental problem in computer vision that has drawn intensive research attention during the past few decades, resulting in a variety of segmentation algorithms. Segmentation is often formulated as a Markov random field (MRF) and the solution corresponding to the maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) is found using energy minimization framework. Many standard segmentation techniques rely on foreground and background appearance models given a priori. In this case the corresponding energy can be efficiently optimized globally. If the appearance models are not known, the energy becomes NP-hard, and many methods resort to iterative schemes that jointly optimize appearance and segmentation. Such algorithms can only guarantee local minimum. Here we propose a new energy term explicitly measuring the L1 distance between object and background appearance models that can be globally maximized in one graph cut. Our method directly tries to minimize the appearance overlap between the segments. We show that in many applications including interactive segmentation, shape matching, segmentation from stereo pairs and saliency segmentation our simple term makes NP-hard segmentation functionals unnecessary and renders good segmentation performance both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Medication non-compliance and substance abuse in schizophrenia.

Sep 09 Compliance with a prescribed medication regimen is an important factor in determining effectiveness of treatment in schizophrenia. Presence of co-morbid substance abuse (use, harmful use or dependence) is one of the common reason most consistently associated with medication noncompliance. The rate of medication non-compliance among outpatients with schizophrenia has been reported to be as high as 50 percent whereas it is more than 60 percent in substance using schizophrenic patients. In addition, both medication non-compliance and substance abuse have been associated with frequent relapses, frequent rehospitalisation, high symptoms, cognitive impairment, poor outcome and increased cost of treatment. This study aimed to examine medication non-compliance and its association with substance abuse among patients having schizophrenia. (The data for this study were collected as part of master s dissertation).
Experiments with More Than One Random Factor: Designs, Analytic Models, and Statistical Power

&NA; Traditional methods of analyzing data from psychological experiments are based on the assumption that there is a single random factor (normally participants) to which generalization is sought. However, many studies involve at least two random factors (e.g., participants and the targets to which they respond, such as words, pictures, or individuals). The application of traditional analytic methods to the data from such studies can result in serious bias in testing experimental effects. In this review, we develop a comprehensive typology of designs involving two random factors, which may be either crossed or nested, and one fixed factor, condition. We present appropriate linear mixed models for all designs and develop effect size measures. We provide the tools for power estimation for all designs. We then discuss issues of design choice, highlighting power and feasibility considerations. Our goal is to encourage appropriate analytic methods that produce replicable results for studies involving new samples of both participants and targets.
The estimated sensitivity and specificity of compartment pressure monitoring for acute compartment syndrome.

BACKGROUND The aim of our study was to document the estimated sensitivity and specificity of continuous intracompartmental pressure monitoring for the diagnosis of acute compartment syndrome. METHODS From our prospective trauma database, we identified all patients who had sustained a tibial diaphyseal fracture over a ten-year period. A retrospective analysis of 1184 patients was performed to record and analyze the documented use of continuous intracompartmental pressure monitoring and the use of fasciotomy. A diagnosis of acute compartment syndrome was made if there was escape of muscles at fasciotomy and/or color change in the muscles or muscle necrosis intraoperatively. A diagnosis of acute compartment syndrome was considered incorrect if it was possible to close the fasciotomy wounds primarily at forty-eight hours. The absence of acute compartment syndrome was confirmed by the absence of neurological abnormality or contracture at the time of the latest follow-up. RESULTS Of 979 monitored patients identified, 850 fit the inclusion criteria with a mean age of thirty-eight years (range, twelve to ninety-four years), and 598 (70.4%) were male (p < 0.001). A total of 152 patients (17.9%) underwent fasciotomy for the treatment of acute compartment syndrome: 141 had acute compartment syndrome (true positives), six did not have it (false positives), and five underwent fasciotomy despite having a normal differential pressure reading, with subsequent operative findings consistent with acute compartment syndrome (false negatives). Of the 698 patients (82.1%) who did not undergo fasciotomy, 689 had no evidence of any late sequelae of acute compartment syndrome (true negatives) at a mean follow-up time of fifty-nine weeks. The estimated sensitivity of intracompartmental pressure monitoring for suspected acute compartment syndrome was 94%, with an estimated specificity of 98%, an estimated positive predictive value of 93%, and an estimated negative predictive value of 99%. CONCLUSIONS The estimated sensitivity and specificity of continuous intracompartmental pressure monitoring for the diagnosis of acute compartment syndrome following tibial diaphyseal fracture are high; continuous intracompartmental pressure monitoring should be considered for patients at risk for acute compartment syndrome.
calculations nitroxides by density-functional theory encapsulated in endofullerene 2 relaxation of H Predicting the paramagnet-enhanced NMR

References 34.full. html#ref-list-1 http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing. org/content/371/1998/201106 This article cites 36 articles Subject collections (42 articles) spectroscopy  (36 articles) physical chemistry  (17 articles) computational chemistry  collections Articles on similar topics can be found in the following Email alerting service here in the box at the top right-hand corner of the article or click Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article sign up
System Response Time and User Satisfaction: An Experimental Study of Browser-based Applications

With rapid advances in hardware speed and data communication bandwidth, one might not expect to have to deal with issues such as response time and system performance. But these issues remain a very real concern today. Lengthy system response times may cause lower satisfaction and poor productivity among users. Lowered user satisfaction may lead to discontinued use of an application, especially in discretionary applications such as those found on the Internet. The intent of this experimental research is to (1) substantiate that slow system response time leads to dissatisfaction; (2) assess the point at which users may become dissatisfied with system response time; (3) determine a threshold at which dissatisfaction may lead to discontinued use of the application, and (4) determine if experience influences response time tolerance. The results showed that indeed satisfaction does decrease as response time increases. However, instant response was not perceived as making the system easier to use or learn. It also showed that for discretionary applications, there appears to be a level of intolerance in the 12-second response range. Background and Introduction With rapid advances in hardware speed and data communication bandwidth, one might not expect to have to deal with issues such as response time and system performance. But these issues remain a very real concern today. As systems become more powerful, their applications become more complex as users expect more functionality and richer information. While response time is recognized as a component in some application usability and human factors studies (Goodwin, 1987; Nielsen, 1994; Shneiderman, 1991; Shneiderman, 1998) users today face similar system response time issues that faced users a decade ago. As web developers experience slow response times due to lengthy downloads of graphic intensive material, they are redesigning the sites to minimize this overhead. This will not be an acceptable long-term solution to accommodating electronic commerce. The network may have pockets of high-speed access and adequate bandwidth, but overall high-speed access is unavailable and many of the sites may not have been designed to handle the traffic and data volume
HIV and Syphilis Infection Among Men Who Have Sex with Men — Bangkok, Thailand, 2005–2011

Although efforts to control the heterosexual human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic in Thailand had shown success by the late 1990s, HIV continued to spread in other risk groups, including men who have sex with men (MSM). In 2003, the Thailand Ministry of Public Health-U.S. CDC Collaboration (TUC) started surveillance among MSM in Bangkok, finding an HIV prevalence of 17.3%. By 2005, HIV prevalence in this group had risen to 28.3% and has since stabilized at around 30%. To obtain additional information about HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevalence and incidence in a clinic-based population of MSM, TUC, in collaboration with the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Center, analyzed data collected at the Silom Community Clinic (SCC), an HIV and STI testing center targeting MSM. This report describes trends in HIV and syphilis prevalence and incidence seen among SCC MSM clients during 2005-2011. At first clinic visit, the prevalence of HIV infection among 4,762 clients was 28.3% and of syphilis (all stages) was 9.8%. Among those returning for HIV or syphilis testing before the end of 2011, the incidence of HIV infection was 6.3 per 100 person-years (PY) and 3.6 per 100 PY for syphilis. These results show ongoing epidemics of HIV and syphilis infection in MSM in Bangkok, underscoring the urgent need for preventive interventions to reduce the spread of HIV and STI in this population.
An Embodiment Perspective on the Acquisition of Speech Perception

Abstract Understanding the potential relationships between perception and production is crucial to explanation of the nature of early speech acquisition. The ‘embodiment’ perspective suggests that mental activity in general cannot be understood outside of the context of body activities. Indeed, universal motor factors seem to be more responsible for the distribution of early production preferences regarding consonant place and manner, and use of the vowel space than the often considerable cross-language differences in input available to the perceptual system. However, there is evidence for a perceptual basis to the establishment of a language-appropriate balance of oral-to-nasal output by the beginning of babbling, illustrating the necessary contribution of ‘extrinsic’ perceptual information to acquisition. In terms of representations, at least one assumption that segmental units underlying either perception or production in early phases of acquisition may be inappropriate. Our work on production has shown that the dominant early organizational structure is a relatively unitary open-close ‘frame’ produced by mandibular oscillation. Consideration of the role of ‘intrinsic’ (self-produced) perceptual information suggests that this frame may be an important basis for perceptual as well as production organization.
SIX : Proposing an Alternative Skewness Index

This paper studies the dynamics of risk-neutral skewness in the S&P 500 index (SPX) market. We use a state-preference pricing approach to develop a forwardlooking market symmetric index (SIX). SIX, as an ex ante risk-neutral measure, estimates how negatively skewed the SPX market return distribution is in the next 30 days. Using SPX options data from 1996 to 2013, we conduct a horse race between SIX and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) SKEW index. We study the contemporaneous relationship between the daily change of risk-neutral volatility and skewness of the index return and find a negative relationship between the risk-neutral volatility and skewness, where the former is modelled by VIX and the latter by SIX. The opposite is found between VIX and SKEW. We investigate the predictability of these ex ante skewness measures on the one-day ahead SPX market returns. We show that only the daily change of SIX adds significant explanatory power on the one-day ahead return. The same is not found with SKEW. Furthermore, we find that SIX is a biased but e cient forecast of future physical skewness, while there is no statistically significant relationship for SKEW. Our results suggest that SIX is an important indicator of institutional anxiety regarding stock market uncertainty, and is a useful complement to the existing VIX index.
Influences of Remote Coulomb and Interface-Roughness Scatterings on Electron Mobility of InGaAs  nMOSFET With High-k Stacked Gate Dielectric

A physics-based electron-mobility model including remote Coulomb scattering by fixed charge in high-k dielectric and remote interface-roughness scattering originated from the fluctuation of high-k /interlayer interface is established for InGaAs MOSFET, and the validity of the model is confirmed by good agreement between simulated results and experimental data. Effects of structural and physical parameters of the devices on the electron mobility are analyzed using the model, and the results show that smoother high-k /interlayer interface, reasonably high permittivities for the interlayer and high-k dielectric, and less fixed charge in the high-k dielectric are desired to enhance the electron mobility and simultaneously keep further scaling of equivalent oxide thickness.
Adoptive transfer of immunity to oral challenge with virulent salmonellae in innately susceptible BALB/c mice requires both immune serum and T cells

The mechanisms of immunity to salmonellae conferred by immunization with live vaccines were studied by adoptive transfer using the mouse-virulent strain Salmonella typhimurium C5 and innately susceptible BALB/c (ltys) mice. This organism cannot establish a sublethal infection in naive BALB/c mice. Animals immunized 2 to 3 months earlier with the S. typhimurium SL3261 aroA live vaccine were used as donors of serum, spleen cells, and mesenteric lymph node cells for naive recipients which were challenged orally with the virulent C5 strain. Simultaneous transfer of both immune serum and immune cells was necessary for protection. Simultaneously depleting the donors of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells by administration of antisera in vivo prior to cell harvesting showed that T cells were necessary for protection. The results demonstrate that both antibody and T cells are required for recall of immunity to oral challenge with virulent salmonellae in innately susceptible mice and suggest that the ability to elicit opsonizing antibody in addition to cell-mediated immunity is important for optimal protection induced by salmonella vaccines.
The Formation of Flakes

An understanding of the mechanics involved in flake formation provides an opportunity for deriving more behavioral information from flake and flake scar morphology. The mechanics of flake formation are directly relevant to the identification of prehistoric flaking techniques and stone tool use. In this paper we provide a model of flake formation that accounts for much of the variation in flake morphology. Flakes can form in a number of ways and despite popular belief they are not all of the conchoidal variety. The bending flake is common in use wear though it is often misidentified as a conchoidal flake. A third major type of flake, the compression flake, is a common product of bipolar impact. To account for the wide variation in flake morphology we follow a tripartite scheme of flake formation comprising initiation, propagation, and termination phases, within which different mechanisms can operate.
Evaluación de la atención en deportistas de artes marciales

El objetivo del estudio fue determinar las diferencias en el desempeno de una tarea de atencion en relacion con la pericia en artes marciales. Participaron 12 deportistas de artes marciales expertos y 13 novatos. Se les aplico el Test of Variables of Attention (Greenberg, 1996) y se analizaron los datos de la prueba para cada variable, condicion y segmentos en los que se divide, con un metodo estadistico no-parametrico de permutaciones. Las comparaciones intergrupos indicaron una tendencia a que el puntaje global de Trastorno por Deficit de Atencion e Hiperactividad (TDAH) de la prueba fuera mejor en los expertos que en los novatos. Se hizo un analisis intragrupo para conocer el comportamiento de cada grupo a lo largo de la prueba; los resultados indicaron que los deportistas expertos muestran mayor consistencia en el numero de aciertos y tiempos de reaccion a lo largo de la prueba, lo que se traduce como un mejor desempeno cuando se compara con la forma en que los deportistas novatos responden a la tarea. Los resultados sugieren que el entrenamiento fisico y mental de las disciplinas de artes marciales podria producir una mejora en las capacidades de atencion de los deportistas.
DIFFERENTIAL RESPONSIVENESS TO HORMONES OF C3H AND A MOUSE MAMMARY TISSUES IN ORGAN CULTURE.

The minimal hormonal requirements for maintenance of structure and for initiation of secretion in organ cultures of prelactating mammary tissues from C3H mice were determined. The responses of strain A mice to hormonal combinations effective on C3H tissues were compared with the latter. A minimal combination of aldosterone +insulin (1 + 5 μg/ml, respectively) permitted explant survival without inducing secretion. In C3H mammary tissues, the minimal concentrations of pituitary hormones required for initiation of secretion were influenced by parity. Prelactating lobules from parous pregnant mice were uniformly maximally stimulated by mammotropin (= prolactin, 0.5 μg/ml), or somatotropin (1 μg/ml), or mammotropin+somatotropin (0.5 μg/ml), in the presence of aldosterone +insulin (1 + 5 μg/ml, respectively). Tissues from nulliparous pregnant mice required, in addition to aldosterone+insulin (1+5 μg/ml, respectively), mammotropin (1 μg/ml), or somatotropin (2 μg/ml), or mammotropin + somatotropin (0.5 μg/ml) fo.
SMU-2 and SMU-1, Caenorhabditis elegans Homologs of Mammalian Spliceosome-Associated Proteins RED and fSAP57, Work Together To Affect Splice Site Choice

ABSTRACT Mutations in the Caenorhabditis elegans gene smu-2 suppress mec-8 and unc-52 mutations. It has been proposed that MEC-8 regulates the alternative splicing of unc-52 transcripts, which encode the core protein of perlecan, a basement membrane proteoglycan. We show that mutation in smu-2 leads to enhanced accumulation of transcripts that skip exon 17, but not exon 18, of unc-52, which explains our finding that smu-2 mutations suppress the uncoordination conferred by nonsense mutations in exon 17, but not in exon 18, of unc-52. We conclude that smu-2 encodes a ubiquitously expressed nuclear protein that is 40% identical to the human RED protein, a component of purified spliceosomes. The effects of smu-2 mutation on both unc-52 pre-mRNA splicing and the suppression of mec-8 and unc-52 mutant phenotypes are indistinguishable from the effects of mutation in smu-1, a gene that encodes a protein that is 62% identical to human spliceosome-associated protein fSAP57. We provide evidence that SMU-2 protects SMU-1 from degradation in vivo. In vitro and in vivo coimmunoprecipitation experiments indicate that SMU-2 and SMU-1 bind to each other. We propose that SMU-2 and SMU-1 function together to regulate splice site choice in the pre-mRNAs of unc-52 and other genes.
The toll-like receptor 4 Asp299Gly variant and tuberculosis susceptibility in HIV-infected patients in Tanzania

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) plays an important role in the pattern recognition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and polymorphisms in the TLR4 gene influence the function of the receptor. We therefore investigated in a cohort of HIV-infected Tanzanian patients whether the Asp299Gly TLR4 polymorphism is associated with the development of active tuberculosis. We found a greater risk of developing active tuberculosis as well as a reduction in CD4 T-cell counts in patients with the Asp299Gly TLR4 polymorphism.
Pragmatic trials of complex psychosocial interventions: methodological challenges

Having first introduced the pragmatic health care trial, the discussion then focuses on a selected list of technical problems that are important for the design, analysis and inference from such trials. The first is lack of independence of participants’ outcomes do to clustering either arising from a cluster randomized design or to the way treatment is delivered (therapist and group effects). The second and third concern the implications of non-adherence to treatment and subsequent loss to follow-up, particularly, when non-adherence is associated with missing outcome data. Finally, it is argued that pragmatism and a desire for a scientific explanation should not be regarded as mutually exclusive.
The Lack of Accumulation of Senile Plaques or Amyloid Burden in Alzheimer's Disease Suggests a Dynamic Balance Between Amyloid Deposition and Resolution

Aβ, a nearly insoluble peptide, is generally assumed to irreversibly deposit and accumulate as senile plaques (SP) during the course of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have studied temporal neocortex of normal elderly subjects, AD patients, and elderly Down syndrome (DS) patients to determine whether Aβ accumulates with age or with increasing duration of illness. We measured the number, size distribution, and total area (amyloid burden) of Aβ immunoreactive deposits using computerized image analysis techniques. We found far fewer SP in normal control subjects than in AD patients, who in turn have fewer SP than elderly DS patients. No measure of Aβ correlated with age in the control subjects, nor duration of illness in AD or DS patients. These data indicate that Aβ may not continue to accumulate during these disease processes and support the view that the amount of Aβ observed at autopsy may reflect competing processes of deposition and resolution of amyloid.
Scanning and transmission electron microscopy microstructure characterization of mechanically alloyed Nb–Ti–Al alloys

Results are presented of an investigation of the microstructure development during mechanical alloying and following consolidation of an Nb15Ti15Al alloy. The alloy was synthesized from elemental as well as pre‐alloyed powders. The microstructure of this material was examined by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X‐ray diffraction. The use of pre‐alloyed TiAl powder for synthesis of the Nb15Ti15Al alloy meant that a much shorter time was required to complete the mechanical alloying process compared with the synthesis of elemental powders. The investigation indicates that three phases were present in the consolidated materials: the Nb solid solution, the Nb3Al intermetallic phase and the dispersoid.