Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of the High-Intensity Early Mobilization on Long-Term Functional Status of Patients with Mechanical Ventilation in the Intensive Care Unit

Objective Intensive care unit (ICU)-acquired weakness often occurs in patients with invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Early active mobility may reduce ICU-acquired weakness, improve functional status, and reduce disability. The aim of this study was to investigate whether high-intensity early mobility improves post-ICU discharge functional status of IMV patients. Methods 132 adult patients in the ICU who were undergoing IMV were randomly assigned into two groups with a ratio of 1 : 1, with one group received high-intensity early mobility (intervention group, IG), while the other group received conventional treatment (control group, CG). The functional status (Barthel Index (BI)), capacity of mobility (Perme score and ICU Mobility Scale (IMS)), muscle strength (Medical Research Council sum scores (MRC-SS)), mortality, complication, length of ICU stay, and duration of IMV were evaluated at ICU discharge or after 3-month of ICU discharge. Results The patient's functional status was improved (BI scores 90.6 ± 18.0 in IG vs. 77.7 ± 27.9 in CG; p=0.005), and capacity of mobility was increased (Perme score 17.6 ± 7.1 in IG vs. 12.2 ± 8.5 in CG, p < 0.001; IMS 4.7 ± 2.6 in IG vs. 3.0 ± 2.6 in CG, p < 0.001). The IG had a higher muscle strength and lower incidence of ICU-acquired weakness (ICUAW) than that in the CG. The incidence of mortality and delirium was also lower than CG at ICU discharge. However, there were no differences in terms of length of ICU stay, duration of IMV, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and venous thrombosis. Conclusions High-intensity early mobility improved the patient's functional status and increased capacity of mobility with IMV. The benefits to functional status remained after 3 month of ICU discharge. Other benefits included higher muscle strength, lower incidence of ICUAW, mortality, and delirium in IG.
Designed Measurements for Vector Count Data

We consider design of linear projection measurements for a vector Poisson signal model. The projections are performed on the vector Poisson rate, X∈ ℝn+, and the observed data are a vector of counts, Y ∈ ℤm+. The projection matrix is designed by maximizing mutual information between Y and X, I (Y; X). When there is a latent class label C ∈ {1,. , L) associated with X, we consider the mutual information with respect to Y and C, I(Y; C). New analytic expressions for the gradient of I(Y; X) and I(Y; C) are presented, with gradient performed with respect to the measurement matrix. Connections are made to the more widely studied Gaussian measurement model. Example results are presented for compressive topic modeling of a document corpora (word counting), and hyperspectral compressive sensing for chemical classification (photon counting).
A digital reconstruction of the sunken “Villa con ingresso a protiro” in the underwater archaeological site of Baiae

The Underwater Cultural Heritage represents a key aspect of our historical memory still little known due to a number of limitations imposed by the underwater environment. The aim of this paper is to explore the use of digital three-dimensional reconstructions to support the research about this immeasurable archaeological and historical resource. The whole virtual reconstruction process is described step by step, focusing on the iterative feedback allowing for reaching the best virtual reconstruction solutions, helping the archaeologists to better focus their reasoning through a detailed visual representation, and the technical experts to avoid misleading details in the final virtual reconstruction.
Treatment of Irradiated Mice with High-Dose Ascorbic Acid Reduced Lethality

Ascorbic acid is an effective antioxidant and free radical scavenger. Therefore, it is expected that ascorbic acid should act as a radioprotectant. We investigated the effects of post-radiation treatment with ascorbic acid on mouse survival. Mice received whole body irradiation (WBI) followed by intraperitoneal administration of ascorbic acid. Administration of 3 g/kg of ascorbic acid immediately after exposure significantly increased mouse survival after WBI at 7 to 8 Gy. However, administration of less than 3 g/kg of ascorbic acid was ineffective, and 4 or more g/kg was harmful to the mice. Post-exposure treatment with 3 g/kg of ascorbic acid reduced radiation-induced apoptosis in bone marrow cells and restored hematopoietic function. Treatment with ascorbic acid (3 g/kg) up to 24 h (1, 6, 12, or 24 h) after WBI at 7.5 Gy effectively improved mouse survival; however, treatments beyond 36 h were ineffective. Two treatments with ascorbic acid (1.5 g/kg × 2, immediately and 24 h after radiation, 3 g/kg in total) also improved mouse survival after WBI at 7.5 Gy, accompanied with suppression of radiation-induced free radical metabolites. In conclusion, administration of high-dose ascorbic acid might reduce radiation lethality in mice even after exposure.
Particle Methods as Message Passing

It is shown how particle methods can be viewed as message passing on factor graphs. In this setting, particle methods can readily be combined with other message-passing techniques such as the sum-product and max-product algorithm, expectation maximization, iterative conditional modes, steepest descent, Kaiman filters, etc. Generic message computation rules for particle-based representations of sum-product messages are formulated. Various existing particle methods are described as instances of those generic rules, i.e., Gibbs sampling, importance sampling, Markov-chain Monte Carlo methods (MCMC), particle filtering, and simulated annealing
Latent Dirichlet Markov allocation for sentiment analysis

In recent years probabilistic topic models have gained tremendous attention in data mining and natural language processing research areas. In the field of information retrieval for text mining, a variety of probabilistic topic models have been used to analyse content of documents. A topic model is a generative model for documents, it specifies a probabilistic procedure by which documents can be generated. All topic models share the idea that documents are mixture of topics, where a topic is a probability distribution over words. In this paper we describe Latent Dirichlet Markov Allocation Model (LDMA), a new generative probabilistic topic model, based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and Hidden Markov Model (HMM), which emphasizes on extracting multi-word topics from text data. LDMA is a four-level hierarchical Bayesian model where topics are associated with documents, words are associated with topics and topics in the model can be presented with single- or multi-word terms. To evaluate performance of LDMA, we report results in the field of aspect detection in sentiment analysis, comparing to the basic LDA model.
Automated Identification of Chromosome Segments Involved in Translocations by Combining Spectral Karyotyping and Banding Analysis

The identification of chromosome abnormalities is an essential part of diagnosis and treatment of genetic disorders such as chromosomal syndromes and many types of cancer. Modern cytogenetic imaging techniques have improved the study of chromosome aberrations but they are most often used as adjuncts to traditional G-banded karyotype analysis. Molecular cytogenetic techniques such as comparative genomic hybridization, multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization, and spectral karyotyping (SKY) are able to detect chromosome copy number changes and complex structural aberrations in cancers, particularly in hematological malignancies and solid tumors. However, banded chromosome analysis is essential to distinguish between normal and abnormal chromosomes. Currently available cytogenetic imaging software is designed to classify only normal chromosomes. The identification of the banded regions involved in the abnormal chromosomes is done manually. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to automate the banding analysis of abnormal chromosomes by comparing the information obtained by SKY for precise identification of translocation break points. Our algorithm is based on the dynamic time warping method in order to overcome the problems due to the nonrigid nature of chromosomes. The method has been implemented and successfully applied to detect chromosome translocations, deletions, and duplications in cell lines derived from solid tumors.
Online Energy Management Systems for Microgrids: Experimental Validation and Assessment Framework

Microgrids are energy systems that can work independently from the main grid in a stable and self-sustainable way. They rely on energy management systems to schedule optimally the distributed energy resources. Conventionally, the main research in this field is focused on scheduling problems applicable for specific case studies rather than in generic architectures that can deal with the uncertainties of the renewable energy sources. This paper contributes a design and experimental validation of an adaptable energy management system implemented in an online scheme, as well as an evaluation framework to quantitatively assess the enhancement attained by different online energy management strategies. The proposed architecture allows the interaction of measurement, forecasting and optimization modules, in which a generic generation-side mathematical problem is modeled, aiming to minimize operating costs and load disconnections. The whole energy management system has been tested experimentally in a test bench under both grid-connected and islanded mode. Also, its performance has been proved considering severe mismatches in forecast generation and load. Several experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed EMS, assessed by the corresponding average gap with respect to a selected benchmark strategy and ideal boundaries of the best and worst known solutions.
Feedback Communication Systems with Limitations on Incremental Redundancy

This paper explores feedback systems using incremental redundancy (IR) with noiseless transmitter confirmation (NTC). For IR-NTC systems based on {\em finite-length} codes (with blocklength $N$) and decoding attempts only at {\em certain specified decoding times}, this paper presents the asymptotic expansion achieved by random coding, provides rate-compatible sphere-packing (RCSP) performance approximations, and presents simulation results of tail-biting convolutional codes. The information-theoretic analysis shows that values of $N$ relatively close to the expected latency yield the same random-coding achievability expansion as with $N = \infty$. However, the penalty introduced in the expansion by limiting decoding times is linear in the interval between decoding times. For binary symmetric channels, the RCSP approximation provides an efficiently-computed approximation of performance that shows excellent agreement with a family of rate-compatible, tail-biting convolutional codes in the short-latency regime. For the additive white Gaussian noise channel, bounded-distance decoding simplifies the computation of the marginal RCSP approximation and produces similar results as analysis based on maximum-likelihood decoding for latencies greater than 200. The efficiency of the marginal RCSP approximation facilitates optimization of the lengths of incremental transmissions when the number of incremental transmissions is constrained to be small or the length of the incremental transmissions is constrained to be uniform after the first transmission. Finally, an RCSP-based decoding error trajectory is introduced that provides target error rates for the design of rate-compatible code families for use in feedback communication systems.
Unraveling Santa Barbara Basin Lithogenic Sediment Composition and Application to Southern California Quaternary Hydroclimate

Southern California is prone to intense precipitation events that result in flooding— events expected to become more extreme and frequent with anthropogenic climate change. Detrital terrestrial sediments preserved in marine basins that contain distinct geochemical identifiers of provenance can be used to identify the on-shore sources of flood deposits. Santa Barbara Basin (SBB), offshore of southern California, contains a continuous Holocene flood record that can provide insights into the frequency and changes in on-shore sources across time for such events. This study characterizes SBB-adjacent sediment sources using mineralogical, elemental, and radiogenic strontium (Sr) and neodymium (Nd) isotopic compositions of stream bed sediments. Modern and Holocene flood deposits and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) sediment samples collected from SBB sediment cores were similarly analyzed, and compared to the stream bed sediments to provide insight into areas of the catchment that are undergoing rapid denudation, and to elucidate changes in sediment transport into SBB during past eustatic sea level low stands. The Southern Slopes of the Santa Ynez Mountains, drained by the Ventura River and mountain streams, account for ~80% of SBB Holocene flood deposit sediment and together with the Western Santa Clara sub-catchment (Topatopa Mountains), is a primary source of flood sediment. The contribution from the Southern Slopes increased (to ~90%) during the LGM. The Santa Clara River appears to have bypassed SBB during the LGM sea level low stand, but this input loss was compensated by increased sediment flux from the Southern Slopes and the Channel Islands. In sum, the southern slopes of the Santa Ynez and Topatopa Mountains are particularly at-risk to denudation during flooding in southern California.
Probing the free energy landscape of the FBP28WW domain using multiple techniques

The free‐energy landscape of a small protein, the FBP 28 WW domain, has been explored using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with alternative descriptions of the molecule. The molecular models used range from coarse‐grained to all‐atom with either an implicit or explicit treatment of the solvent. Sampling of conformation space was performed using both conventional and temperature‐replica exchange MD simulations. Experimental chemical shifts and NOEs were used to validate the simulations, and experimental ϕ values both for validation and as restraints. This combination of different approaches has provided insight into the free energy landscape and barriers encountered by the protein during folding and enabled the characterization of native, denatured and transition states which are compatible with the available experimental data. All the molecular models used stabilize well defined native and denatured basins; however, the degree of agreement with the available experimental data varies. While the most detailed, explicit solvent model predicts the data reasonably accurately, it does not fold despite a simulation time 10 times that of the experimental folding time. The less detailed models performed poorly relative to the explicit solvent model: an implicit solvent model stabilizes a ground state which differs from the experimental native state, and a structure‐based model underestimates the size of the barrier between the two states. The use of experimental ϕ values both as restraints, and to extract structures from unfolding simulations, result in conformations which, although not necessarily true transition states, appear to share the geometrical characteristics of transition state structures. In addition to characterizing the native, transition and denatured states of this particular system in this work, the advantages and limitations of using varying levels of representation are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2009
Robotics and virtual reality: the development of a life-sized 3-D system for the rehabilitation of motor function

We have been developing and combining state-of-art devices that allow humans to visualize and feel synthetic objects superimposed on the real world. This effort stems from the need of platform for extending experiments on motor control and learning to realistic human motor tasks and environments, not currently represented in the practice of research. This paper's goal is to outline our motivations, progress, and objectives. Because the system is a general tool, we also hope to motivate researchers in related fields to join in. The platform under development, an augmented reality system combined with a haptic-interface robot, will be a new tool for contributing to the scientific knowledge base in the area of human movement control and rehabilitation robotics. Because this is a prototype, the system will also guide new methods by probing the levels of quality necessary for future design cycles and related technology. Inevitably, it should also lead the way to commercialization of such systems.
MAC with partially cooperating encoders and security constraints

We study a special case of Willems's two-user multiaccess channel with partially cooperating encoders from security perspective. This model differs from Willems's setup in that only one encoder, Encoder 1, is allowed to conference, Encoder 2 does not transmit any message, and there is an additional passive eavesdropper from whom the communication should be kept secret. For the discrete memoryless case, we establish inner and outer bounds on the rate-equivocation region. Furthermore, we show that these bounds coincide in the case of perfect secrecy, and so we characterize fully the secrecy capacity. For the Gaussian model, we establish lower and upper bounds on the perfect secrecy rate. We also show that these bounds agree in some extreme cases of cooperation between encoders. We illustrate our results through some numerical examples.
Mediterranean Diet and Type 2 Diabetes Risk in the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Study

OBJECTIVE To study the association between adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern (MDP) and risk of developing type 2 diabetes, across European countries. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We established a case-cohort study including 11,994 incident type 2 diabetic case subjects and a stratified subcohort of 15,798 participants selected from a total cohort of 340,234 participants with 3.99 million person-years of follow-up, from eight European cohorts participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. The relative Mediterranean diet score (rMED) (score range 0–18) was used to assess adherence to MDP on the basis of reported consumption of nine dietary components characteristic of the Mediterranean diet. Cox proportional hazards regression, modified for the case-cohort design, was used to estimate the association between rMED and risk of type 2 diabetes, adjusting for confounders. RESULTS The multiple adjusted hazard ratios of type 2 diabetes among individuals with medium (rMED 7–10 points) and high adherence to MDP (rMED 11–18 points) were 0.93 (95% CI 0.86–1.01) and 0.88 (0.79–0.97), respectively, compared with individuals with low adherence to MDP (0–6 points) (P for trend 0.013). The association between rMED and type 2 diabetes was attenuated in people <50 years of age, in obese participants, and when the alcohol, meat, and olive oil components were excluded from the score. CONCLUSIONS In this large prospective study, adherence to the MDP, as defined by rMED, was associated with a small reduction in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in this European population.
Requirements of Affective Information Systems in the Industrial Domain

Recently, semantic technologies improved the information access to massive amounts of data in various manners. Also industrial domains benefit from semantic approaches. Information now can be accessed more precisely and is directly linked with related data. However, the actual support for humans to access suitable content at time is still in its infancy. In this paper, we motivate a number of requirements for extending current state-of-the-art information systems in order to support human-aware information access. The requirements are based on the experiences we made during the introduction of industrial information systems over the last years.
Computational Geometry

Lösung: Man kann die Ebene mit Sechsecken überdecken. Nimmt man die Mittelpunkte der Sechsecke als Punkte für ein Voronoidiagramm, dann haben alle genau 6 Nachbarn, und die Voronoi Polygone sind gerade die Sechsecke. Gäbe es eine Punkteverteilung, bei der jeder Punkt mehr als sechs Nachbarn hätte, dann könnte man die Punkte so hinschieben, dass die Voronoi Polygone regelmässige n-Ecke mit n > 6 wären. Eine solche Überdeckung der Ebene gibt es aber nicht (wie man sich leicht aus einer Betrachtung der Winkel überlegen kann).
Water Pollution: Impact of Pollutants and New Promising Techniques in Purification Process

Abstract Water is a critical resource in the lives of people who both benefit from its use and who are harmed by its misuse and unpredictability (flooding, droughts, salinity, acidity, and degraded quality). Water is a finite and vulnerable resource. Consequently, consumption of polluted water puts lives and livelihoods at risk because water has no substitute. There are many ways in which water intended for human consumption can get polluted. These include wastes from industries like mining and construction, food processing, radioactive wastes from power generating industries, domestic and agricultural wastes and by various microbiological agents. Nowadays, water is being purified by various methods but research is being conducted to look for more reliable and cheaper methods that can purify water at an affordable cost. Various techniques have been developed like utilizing rechargeable polymer beads, seeds of Moringa Oleifera tree, aerobic granular sludge technology, resin based treatment and two-pronged water treatment technology.
Integrating plant litter quality, soil organic matter stabilization, and the carbon saturation concept

Labile, ‘high‐quality’, plant litters are hypothesized to promote soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization in mineral soil fractions that are physicochemically protected from rapid mineralization. However, the effect of litter quality on SOM stabilization is inconsistent. High‐quality litters, characterized by high N concentrations, low C/N ratios, and low phenol/lignin concentrations, are not consistently stabilized in SOM with greater efficiency than ‘low‐quality’ litters characterized by low N concentrations, high C/N ratios, and high phenol/lignin concentrations. Here, we attempt to resolve these inconsistent results by developing a new conceptual model that links litter quality to the soil C saturation concept. Our model builds on the Microbial Efficiency‐Matrix Stabilization framework (Cotrufo et al., 2013) by suggesting the effect of litter quality on SOM stabilization is modulated by the extent of soil C saturation such that high‐quality litters are not always stabilized in SOM with greater efficiency than low‐quality litters.
Automatic Event Reference Identification

Event reference identification is often treated as a sentence level classification task. However, several different event references can occur within a single sentence. We present a set of experiments involving real world event reference identification at the word level in newspaper and newswire documents, addressing the issue of effective text representation for classification of events using support vector machines. Our final system achieved an F-score of 0.764, significantly exceeding that of our baseline system. Additionally we achieved a marginally higher performance than a more complex comparable system.