Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relaxation response in femoral angiography.

Immediately before they underwent femoral angiography, 45 patients were given one of three types of audiotapes: a relaxation response tape recorded for this study, a tape of contemporary instrumental music, or a blank tape. All patients were instructed to listen to their audiotape during the entire angiographic procedure. Each audiotape was played through earphones. Radiologists were not told the group assignment or tape contents. The patients given the audiotape with instructions to elicit the relaxation response (n = 15) experienced significantly less anxiety (P less than .05) and pain (P less than .001) during the procedure, were observed by radiology nurses to exhibit significantly less pain (P less than .001) and anxiety (P less than .001), and requested significantly less fentanyl citrate (P less than .01) and diazepam (P less than .01) than patients given either the music (n = 14) or the blank (n = 16) control audiotapes. Elicitation of the relaxation response is a simple, inexpensive, efficacious, and practical method to reduce pain, anxiety, and medication during femoral angiography and may be useful in other invasive procedures.
Multiplex cDNA quantification method that facilitates the standardization of gene expression data

Microarray-based gene expression measurement is one of the major methods for transcriptome analysis. However, current microarray data are substantially affected by microarray platforms and RNA references because of the microarray method can provide merely the relative amounts of gene expression levels. Therefore, valid comparisons of the microarray data require standardized platforms, internal and/or external controls and complicated normalizations. These requirements impose limitations on the extensive comparison of gene expression data. Here, we report an effective approach to removing the unfavorable limitations by measuring the absolute amounts of gene expression levels on common DNA microarrays. We have developed a multiplex cDNA quantification method called GEP-DEAN (Gene expression profiling by DCN-encoding-based analysis). The method was validated by using chemically synthesized DNA strands of known quantities and cDNA samples prepared from mouse liver, demonstrating that the absolute amounts of cDNA strands were successfully measured with a sensitivity of 18 zmol in a highly multiplexed manner in 7 h.
Security evaluation of IT systems underlying critical networked infrastructures

Critical infrastructures have become highly dependent on information and communication technology (ICT). The drawback of this situation is that the consequences of disturbances of the underlying ICT networks may be serious as cascading effects can occur. This raises a high demand for security assurance, with a high importance assigned to security evaluations. In this paper we present an experiment-centric approach for the characterisation and assessment of security threats to information systems of industrial critical infrastructures. The description of the approach is followed with a presentation of the supporting hardware and software architecture.
Programming robots at the museum

We describe our experience exhibiting a human-size robot in a museum, encouraging visitors to interact with the robot and even program it to perform a sequence of timed poses. At the museum, users' programs were run on a real robot for all to see. The installation attracted and engaged visitors from age two to adult. The most intuitive of our interfaces was equally captivating for young and older visitors. We present the pros and cons of our interfaces and the engagement of visitors at the exhibit as lessons for other exhibitors who aim to achieve active prolonged engagement with robots in museum settings.
Causal discovery in multiple models from different experiments

A long-standing open research problem is how to use information from different experiments, including background knowledge, to infer causal relations. Recent developments have shown ways to use multiple data sets, provided they originate from identical experiments. We present the MCI-algorithm as the first method that can infer provably valid causal relations in the large sample limit from different experiments. It is fast, reliable and produces very clear and easily interpretable output. It is based on a result that shows that constraint-based causal discovery is decomposable into a candidate pair identification and subsequent elimination step that can be applied separately from different models. We test the algorithm on a variety of synthetic input model sets to assess its behavior and the quality of the output. The method shows promising signs that it can be adapted to suit causal discovery in real-world application areas as well, including large databases.
Rapport: Semantic-sensitive Namespace Management in Large-scale File Systems

Explosive growth in volume and complexity of data exacerbates the key challenge to effectively and efficiently manage data in a way that fundamentally improves the ease and efficacy of their use. Existing large-scale file systems rely on hierarchically structured namespace that leads to severe performance bottlenecks and renders it impossible to support real-time queries on multi-dimensional attributes. This paper proposes a novel semantic-sensitive scheme, called Rapport, to provide dynamic and adaptive namespace management and support complex queries. The basic idea is to build files’ namespace by utilizing their semantic correlation and exploiting dynamic evolution of attributes to support namespace management. Extensive tracedriven experiments validate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed schemes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work on semantic-sensitive namespace management for ultra-scale file systems.
Use of Simulated Inertia to Improve the Performance of a BEP Human-Computer Interface

This paper introduces a method to improve the performance of a Bioelectrical Potential (BEP) based Human-computer interface. The BEP interface used was design to be used by physically challenged patients that remain with the ability to dexterously control a set of superficial muscles. The proposed method uses the BEP signal coming from superficial muscles as a force actuating over a simulated inertia on a cursor type interface. Also a simulated friction is implemented to improve stability of the movement of the cursor, and improve the naturalness of the feeling when using. The performance of the method is measured via an extension to 2D of the Fitts' law model and compared with 2 previously presented methods and improvement is shown.
Generalizing the Optimality of Multi-Step k-NN Query Processing with RASP Data Perturbation in the Cloud

With the wide deployment of public cloud computing infrastructures, using clouds to host data query services has become an appealing solution for the advantages on scalability and cost-saving. However, some data might be sensitive that the data owner does not want to move to the cloud unless the data confidentiality and query privacy are guaranteed. Due to diversity of applications, the database services in cloud must also support storage of multidimensional data. On the other hand, a secured query service should still provide efficient query processing and significantly reduce the in-house workload to fully realize the benefits of cloud computing. The base paper propose the RASP data perturbation method to provide secure and efficient range query and kNN query services for protected data in the cloud [1]. The kNN-R algorithm is designed to work with the RASP range query algorithm to process the kNN queries. But kNN-R algorithm will not work effectively in high dimensional data (complex objects such as spatial, temporal and multimedia data). In this paper, we integrate kNN-R algorithm and the traditional concept of R-optimality and propose a new multi-step RI kNN-R search algorithm that utilizes lowerand upper bounding distance information (Ilu) in the filter step.In order to reduce the number of candidates returned from the filter step which then have to be exactly evaluated in the refinement step is fundamental for the efficiency of the query process.
A New Method of Searching for Violin Modes

This paper presents a new method for searching of violin modes with the use of Fourier transform and recorded chromatic scales. The method is based on the presence of modal frequencies in the spectrum of violin sound. The algorithm was tested on the recordings of the instruments taking part in the 10th International Henryk Wieniawski violin making competition [7].
Reliability of 2 Implant Stability Measuring Methods in Assessment of Various Periimplant Bone Loss: An In Vitro Study With the Periotest and Osstell Mentor

Purpose:The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate reliability of the Periotest and Osstell Mentor in assessment of periimplant vertical and circular bone loss. Materials and Methods:Sixteen dental implants were embedded into acrylic resin blocks. The portion of resin around the implant neck was successively removed to mimic periimplant vertical and circular bone loss. Measurement values of 2 devices were compared by assessing the change of Periotest value (PTV) and Implant Stability Quotient (ISQ) values, by calculating correlation analysis and by means of regression analysis referring to increasing bone loss. Results:Both devices were able to discriminate differences of circular bone loss. However, PTVs were not noticeably changed in buccal, buccal-mesial, and buccal-mesial-distal bone loss. The differences in buccal and buccal-mesial bone loss were not discriminated by Osstell Mentor. As the range of bone loss was increased, there was a noticeable correlation of the PTV and ISQ values. Conclusions:The results of this study suggest that both diagnostic devices for implant stability are useful in detecting the circular bone loss. However, the clinical reliability of both devices for detecting the partial vertical bone loss is low.
Visualization of State Transition Graphs

A new method for the visualization of state transition graphs is presented. Visual information is reduced by clustering nodes, forming a tree structure of related clusters. This structure is visualized in three dimensions with concepts from cone trees and emphasis on symmetry. The resulting visualization makes it easier to relate features in the visualization of the state transition graph to semantic concepts in the corresponding process and vice versa.
Extension of reeds and shepp paths to a robot with front and rear wheel steer

This paper presents an algorithm for extending RS paths for a robot with both front and rear wheel steer. We call such robots as FR steer. The occurrence of such paths is due to the additional maneuver possible in such a robot which we call parallel steer, in addition to the ones already present in a vehicle with only front wheel steering. Hence we extend the optimal path set / , containing only a single element to a set : , containing n elements, thereby extending its configuration set along the optimal path from the initial to the final configuration. This extension of the set / to set : is made possible by introducing a special set, which we call the Parallel Steer (PS) Set. Such an extension of the configuration set would increase the size of the final configuration set achievable by a path that is optimal in free space. In the following discussion, we shall term all paths whose length is equal to an RS path as optimal.
Analytical solution and characteristics of vertical seismic displacement of truss cable structures

So far, there is no analytical solution for the vertical seismic displacement of truss cable structures via modal superposition spectrum method. First, according to the first author’s previous work, the first eight symmetric and anti-symmetric frequencies and corresponding mode shapes are given. Then, the shape curves of maximum vertical seismic displacement of truss cable structure with 40m, 65m and 72m spans are presented by modal superposition spectrum method. Finally, the correctness of the above analytical solutions is verified by the results of FEM simulations. It is found that: (1) the presented analytical solutions of vertical seismic displacement of truss cable structures are of high accuracy and are simple and practical; (2) The maximum vertical seismic displacement curve of the truss cables has three shapes, which depends on the fundamental frequency and spans. It is found that for the truss cables, the maximum seismic displacement does not necessarily occur in the mid-span. This new finding should attract the attention of engineering designer when designing long-span truss cables.
Lateral Humeral Condyle Fractures in Children: A Comparison of Two Approaches to Treatment

The treatment of lateral condyle fractures in children remains controversial. This study investigates whether minimally displaced lateral condyle fractures should be treated surgically and compares different techniques of operative management. The authors retrospectively reviewed medical charts and radiographs of 97 children from two international centers whose therapeutic modalities differed, noting demographic data, fracture features, treatment modalities, complications, and clinical and radiographic results. Long-arm immobilization alone resulted in additional fracture displacement and a higher number of nonunions than did surgical management. The authors conclude that displaced fractures should be fixed surgically with two smooth or threaded Kirschner wires; they can pass through the ossific nucleus of the capitellum if necessary, but they must engage the far cortex. If patients are likely to be noncompliant with treatment, the wires should be buried under the skin to avoid the risk of infection, but this procedure necessitates a second surgery for removal of fixation.
Minmax Regret Algorithms for Uncertain PCmax Problem with Interval Processing Times

We consider P| |Cmax scheduling problem where it is assumed that processing times of tasks are not known apriori, but they belong to the intervals of known bounds. The worst-case absolute regret is used to evaluate the resulting uncertain NP-hard problem. We prove that no approximation algorithm exists for solving that version of the problem and present two heuristic algorithms. We report the results of the computational experiments comparing elaborated algorithms.
Size and time-resolved growth rate measurements of 1 to 5 nm freshly formed atmospheric nuclei

This study presents measurements of size and time-resolved particle diameter growth rates for freshly nu- cleated particles down to 1 nm geometric diameter. Novel data analysis methods were developed, de-coupling for the first time the size and time-dependence of particle growth rates by fitting the aerosol general dynamic equation to size distributions obtained at an instant in time. Size distributions of freshly nucleated total aerosol (neutral and charged) were measured during two intensive measurement campaigns in different environments (Atlanta, GA and Boulder, CO) us- ing a recently developed electrical mobility spectrometer with a diethylene glycol-based ultrafine condensation parti- cle counter as the particle detector. One new particle forma- tion (NPF) event from each campaign was analyzed in de- tail. At a given instant in time during the NPF event, size- resolved growth rates were obtained directly from measured size distributions and were found to increase approximately linearly with particle size from 1 to 3 nm geometric di- ameter, increasing from 5.5± 0.8 to 7.6± 0.6 nm h 1 in At- lanta (13:00) and from 5.6± 2 to 27± 5 nm h 1 in Boulder (13:00). The resulting growth rate enhancement0, defined as the ratio of the observed growth rate to the growth rate due to the condensation of sulfuric acid only, was found to increase approximately linearly with size from 1 to 3 nm geometric diameter. For the presented NPF events, values for 0 had lower limits that approached 1 at 1.2 nm geometric diame- ter in Atlanta and 3 at 0.8 nm geometric diameter in Boul- der, and had upper limits that reached 8.3 at 4.1 nm geometric diameter in Atlanta and 25 at 2.7 nm geometric diameter in Boulder. Nucleated particle survival probability calculations comparing the effects of constant and size-dependent growth indicate that neglecting the strong dependence of growth rate on size from 1 to 3 nm observed in this study could lead to a significant overestimation of CCN survival probability.
Changing Land-Use from Pinus Elliottii to Eucalyptus Bentamii in Southwest Louisiana Affects Understory Vegetation Richness, Diversity, and Functional Diversity Patterns

viii CHAPTER 1. BACKGROUND . 1 1.1. FOREST PLANTATIONS, BIODIVERSITY, AND FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY . 1 1.2. EUCALYPTUS SILVICULTURE . 2 1.3. OBJECTIVES . 5 1.4. REFERENCES . 6 CHAPTER 2. GENERAL METHODS . 10 2.1. SITE DESCRIPTION . 10 2.2. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN . 13 2.3. VEGETATION SURVEYS . 14 2.4. LEAF AREA INDEX AND TOTAL DAILY RADIATION UNDER CANOPY . 15 2.5. OVERSTORY CHARACTERISTICS . 16 2.6. SOIL SAMPLING AND ANALYSIS . 16 2.7. REFERENCES . 16 CHAPTER 3. UNDERSTORY VEGETATION RICHNESS AND DIVERSITY OF EUCALYPTUS BENTHAMII AND PINUS ELLIOTTII PLANTATIONS IN THE MID-SOUTH U.S. . 20 3.
Effective monitoring for biodiversity conservation

ii Declaration by author . iv Publications during candidature . v Publications included in this thesis . v Contributions by others to the thesis . vi Statement of parts of the thesis submitted to qualify for the award of another degree . vii Acknowledgements . viii
Synthesis and secretion of growth hormone in the rat anterior pituitary. II. Properties of the isolated growth hormone storage granules.

Partially purified storage granule fractions obtained from rat anterior pituitaries have been utilized to study some properties of the isolated growth hormone granules during incubation in vitro . The isolated granules showed optimal stability at room temperature in the pH range 5.5-6.5 and dissolved progressively with time at a rate which was unaffected by the presence of EDTA, EGTA, ouabain, magnesium ions, or by resuspension in hypotonic media. However, the granules were partially stabilized by the presence of calcium, tyramine or adenosine phosphates; ATP was most effective of the agents tested and induced almost complete stability. Agents known to stimulate the secretion of growth hormone from the intact cells, cyclic 39,59-AMP, dibutyryl cyclic 39,59-AMP, theophylline or high potassium concentrations, were each without significant effect on the isolated granules. The granule fraction was ineffective indegrading added 125 I-growth hormone over a pH range of 4.5-8.5 and was unable specifically to bind exogenous 125 I-growth hormone. Further experiments to elucidate a possible cytological role of nucleotides in stabilization of growth hormone during storage granule formation demonstrated that adenine nucleotides were not constituents of the isolated granules, nor were they secreted into the incubation medium concomitantly with growth hormone. Depletion of intracellular ATP levels has previously been shown to prevent the formation of growth-hormone storage granules, and it is suggested that one role of the nucleotide may be to facilitate the formation and stabilization of storage granules in the Golgi complex by interacting with the growth hormone to induce its precipitation.
Monte Carlo tree search with temporal-difference learning for general video game playing

General Video Game Playing (GVGP) is a problem where the objective is to create an agent that can play multiple games with different properties successfully with no prior knowledge about them. Being an important sub-field in General Artificial Intelligence, GVGP has drawn a considerable amount of interest, and the research in this field got intensified with the release of General Video Game AI framework and competition. As of today, even though this problem has been approached with many different techniques, it is still far from being solved. Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) is one of the most promising baseline approaches in literature. In this study, MCTS algorithm is enhanced with a recently developed temporal- difference learning method, namely True Online Sarsa(lambda) to make it able to exploit domain knowledge by using past experience. Experiments show that the proposed modifications improve the performance of MCTS significantly in GVGP, and applications of reinforcement learning techniques in this domain is a promising subject that needs to be further researched.
Volatiles produced by soil-borne endophytic bacteria increase plant pathogen resistance and affect tritrophic interactions.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by soil microorganisms influence plant growth and pathogen resistance. Yet, very little is known about their influence on herbivores and higher trophic levels. We studied the origin and role of a major bacterial VOC, 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BD), on plant growth, pathogen and herbivore resistance, and the attraction of natural enemies in maize. One of the major contributors to 2,3-BD in the headspace of soil-grown maize seedlings was identified as Enterobacter aerogenes, an endophytic bacterium that colonizes the plants. The production of 2,3-BD by E. aerogenes rendered maize plants more resistant against the Northern corn leaf blight fungus Setosphaeria turcica. On the contrary, E. aerogenes-inoculated plants were less resistant against the caterpillar Spodoptera littoralis. The effect of 2,3-BD on the attraction of the parasitoid Cotesia marginiventris was more variable: 2,3-BD application to the headspace of the plants had no effect on the parasitoids, but application to the soil increased parasitoid attraction. Furthermore, inoculation of seeds with E. aerogenes decreased plant attractiveness, whereas inoculation of soil with a total extract of soil microbes increased parasitoid attraction, suggesting that the effect of 2,3-BD on the parasitoid is indirect and depends on the composition of the microbial community.