Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How Laparoscopic Surgical Skills Training Impacts Eye Movement Patterns

Eye-tracking is a potential tool for assessing laparoscopic surgery skills, but the effects of laparoscopic training on eye movement measurements are not fully understood. To investigate this, we recruited 9 graduate students with no prior laparoscopic skills and used a repeated-measures ANOVA to analyze task performance and eye movement measures. Results showed that saccade duration, amplitude, velocity, and peak velocity increased while the number of fixations and saccades decreased significantly with training. These findings provide insights into developing an objective eye movement-based system for assessing laparoscopic surgical skills.
Analysis of Mitral Regurgitation Jet for Rheumatic Heart Disease Detection in Doppler Echocardiography

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a common condition in young children living in low- and middle-income countries where cardiology expertise is insufficiently available. Mitral regurgitation (MR) is an important imaging feature used to diagnose RHD. We present a new, automatic framework to detect and characterize the MR jet on color Doppler echocardiograms, followed by RHD detection. Our method includes (1) echocardiogram harmonization, (2) localization and characterization of the maximum MR jet, and (3) RHD detection. We evaluated the performance using 1,807 color Doppler echocardiograms from 511 children with MR on two acquisition views (parasternal and apical). We localized the maximum MR jet and measured the length with an accuracy similar to that of expert manual measurements (p-value = 0.83), resulting in an average accuracy of 0.86, sensitivity of 0.92, and specificity of 0.79 for RHD detection. Our automatic approach has the potential to detect RHD as reliably as expert clinicians.
A generic Lyapunov-based Observer for Double-Star-Chopper-Cell/Bridge-Cell Modular-Multilevel-Cascade-Converters

Modular Multilevel Cascade Converter (MMCC) have achieved a great importance in high voltage converter applications. As they require a high amount of capacitors whose voltages must be known for the control of the MMCC, many voltage sensors are needed. This paper presents a nonlinear Lyapunov-based observer for cell voltage estimation. The proposed observer does solely rely on the knowledge of the phase currents i.e. no voltage sensors are required and the convergence of the estimator is shown with a stability proof by Lyapunov. The performance of the observer is validated simulatively using MATLAB/Simulink.
Transformer-Based Multimodal Fusion for Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease Using Structural MRI And PET

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) are both the widely used imaging modalities for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Combining these two modalities allow using both anatomical and metabolic information for evaluating brain status. However, the commonly-used multimodal fusion strategy, i.e., through channel concatenation, cannot effectively exploit complementary information among these two modalities. To encourage effective information exchange between structural MRI (sMRI) and FDG-PET as used in our study for early AD diagnosis, we propose a novel transformer-based multimodal fusion framework. Specially, our proposed model composes of three parts: 1) Feature extraction based on adversarial training; 2) Feature fusion based on multimodal transformer through cross-attention mechanism; 3) Classification head based on full connection. By resorting to adversarial learning, the feature gap between two modalities becomes smaller, thus easing the cross-attention operation to achieve more effective fusion. In the experiment, we show that our model outperforms other representative models by a large margin.
Probabilistic Bitstream Generator based on Superparamagnetic Tunnel Junctions

Stochastic computing (SC) is an appealing approach to overcome the well-known limitations of traditional computing methods due to its smaller resource requirements and superior ability to handle noise. Ultimate CMOS-based stochastic circuits require considerable additional overheads and power consumption to generate and control the probabilistic bitstream. In this paper, we propose an innovative stochastic circuit that relies on superparamagnetic Tunnel Junctions, enabling concurrent sensing of the device as well as the tuning of the generated stochastic bitstreams. The proposed circuit is power efficient and shows robustness against process variations. The results demonstrate an improvement in the energy efficiency of up to x2 when compared to the related works.
Mechanical and Thermal Characterization of Additively Manufactured CNT/PLA Nanocomposites

In this study, polylactic acid ((PLA) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were combined using a solvent casting method to create a homogeneous mixture of polymer nanocomposites. CNT with 1, 3 and 5 weight% were added to the PLA matrix. Afterwards, these mixtures were used to extrude filament of 1.75 mm diameter. The chemical characteristic, thermal stability, compressive strength, yield strength, modulus, and compressive strength at 30% of deformation of the printed 3D part using an extrusion-based 3D printer were investigated. MWCNT/PLA nanocomposites and PLA have comparable crystallinities. Melting and crystallization temperatures of PLA nanocomposites are increased with the addition of MWCNT content. Peak stress, yield strength, and modulus are all shown to increase in the prints up to 3% MWCNT before declining. These results reveal the potential of these nanocomposites for applications needing high mechanical strength and good thermal properties.
Here to Stay: Cyber Communication as a Complement in Social Work Practice

The digital age has revolutionized how individuals interact. The number of computer users has increased exponentially, along with expanding local and global networks and opportunities for learning, entertainment, and support. Most recently, cyber communication is becoming an important part of face-to-face social work practice as an administrative and therapeutic exchange between practitioners and clients, with both benefits and challenges. The purpose of this article is to present results of a study that used grounded theory to explore the application and adaptation of information and communication technology (ICT) in traditional clinical social work practice within organizations and private practice. The overwhelming finding was that it is no longer possible not to engage in the use of ICT. We discuss implications for practice, including clinical, practical, and ethical benefits and issues of ICT.
Effect of (cid:1) 2-Adrenergic Receptor Stimulation on Interleukin-18-Induced Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 Expression and Cytokine Production

(cid:1) -Adrenergic receptor (AR) agonists have been demonstrated to modulate the production of inflammatory mediators. Recent studies implied that (cid:1) 2-AR agonists might be useful for chronic inflammatory diseases caused by interleukin (IL)-18. In the present study, we found that norepinephrine, epinephrine, or isoproterenol down-regulated IL-18 (100 ng/ml)-induced inter- cellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 expression on monocytes in a dose-dependent manner (10 (cid:1) 8 –10 (cid:1) 4 M), but did not effect B7.1 and B7.2 expression after 24-h incubation. The modula- tory effect of these catecholamines on ICAM-1 expression was antagonized by (cid:1) 2-AR antagonist, but not by (cid:2) 1-, (cid:2) 2-, or (cid:1) 1-AR antagonist. (cid:1) 2-AR-selective agonists salbutanol and terbutaline down-regulated IL-18-induced ICAM-1 expression on monocytes, but (cid:2) 1-, (cid:2) 2-, or (cid:1) 1-AR agonist had no effect. In the same manner, salbutanol and terbutaline as well as norepi- nephrine, epinephrine, and isoproterenol regulated the IL-18-induced cytokine production, including IL-12, tumor necrosis factor- (cid:2) or interferon- (cid:3) through the stimulation of (cid:1) 2-AR. Together with the previous finding that ICAM-1/lymphocyte func- tion-associated antigen-1 interaction plays a crucial role in the IL-18-initiated cytokine network, the present study strongly suggested that the stimulation of (cid:1) 2-AR inhibited the IL-18-activated cytokine cascade through the inhibitory effect on ICAM-1 expression, contributing to finding a new method for clinical treatment. function-associated
Low-Pressure Microwave Plasma Sterilization of Slender Tube Inner Surfaces

To tackle the current issue of incomplete sterilization of slender medical devices, a microwave plasma sterilization device has been designed for studying the sterilization of the inner surface of slender tubes. The experimental device showed a good sterilization effect when the microwave frequency was 2.45 GHz, the microwave power was set to 200 W, the processing time was 10 minutes, and the oxygen-to-argon ratio was greater than 14.45%. The findings indicate a strong correlation between the sterilization effect of microwave plasma and the gas composition. The inclusion of oxygen emerges as a crucial factor in achieving microwave plasma sterilization. The experimental device successfully sterilizes the inner surface of the slender tube, thereby highlighting the extensive potential of microwave plasma.
LEXICAL FIELD OF ‘SAYING’ ON JAPANESE LEXEME IU

The research discusses the lexical semantics words in lexeme iu (言う) in Japanese, the lexical relation and the meaning feature, which are found of each word in a semantics field. Lexeme iu (言う) is literally interpreted by word ‘say’. In kanji (言う), there are common meaning and derivative meaning (hyponim and synonym) which form a lexical field. The data are taken from kind of sources such as e-newspapers and scientific journals with limitation for lexeme formed by one kanji letter. As the result of research finds lexical field of Iu in lexemes hanasu, shaberu, kataru, noberu, osharu, tsutaeru, mousu, yobu, tsuku sasou, maneku, benjiru, ronjiru, chikau, chigiru, utau, shou suru, sasayaku, uwasa suru, sakebu, wameku. Lexical field is formed by the lexical relation of synonymy and hyponimy.
Growth Performance and Nutrient Digestibility of Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822) Fed Diets Fortified with Tamarindus indica Pulp and Leaf Meal

The global disapproval on the adverse effects of synthetic drugs necessitated research into efficacious alternatives that will enhance growth of food fish. This study was conducted to examine the growth performance of Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822) fingerlings on diets fortified with tamarind pulp and leaf. The fingerlings (n = 900, 5.73±0.1 g) were randomly distributed into 10 groups of 100 L tanks with borehole water in a static renewal system. Fish were fed test diets fortified with 0.0 % (positive control), 2 g oxytetracycline kg -1 diet (negative control) and four varying levels (5, 10, 15, 20 g.kg -1 diets) each of tamarind pulp or leaf meal at 3 % body weight daily for 84 days. Fortification of the diets with tamarind significantly enhanced ( P ˂0.05) weight gain, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio, nitrogen metabolism and survival rate, with the best performance at 20 g pulp and 10 g leaf. The highest apparent nutrient digestibility, profit index and benefit cost ratio were also obtained at these two treatments. Feed conversion ratio was significantly reduced ( P ˂0.05) while protein efficiency ratio increased in fish fed tamarind-fortified diets. Thus, inclusion of tamarind pulp and leaf promoted digestibility of nutrients, and consequently the growth performance, in Clarias gariepinus .
Experimental Analysis and Empirical Model of the Complex Permittivity of Five Organic Soils at 1.4 GHz in the Temperature Range From −30 °C to 25 °C

The dielectric measurements were made for five organic soils taken from the tundra territories of Alaska, Yamal, and Taimyr, with the content of organic matter varying from 35% to 80%. The measurements were carried out in the temperature range from −30 °C to 25 °C, frequencies from 0.45 to 16 GHz and soil moisture from close to zero to the field moisture capacity. The refractive mixing model was applied to fit the measurements of the soil’s complex refractive index (CRI) as a function of soil moisture, with the values of temperature being fixed. As a result, a respective dielectric model was developed. The amounts of bound and transient water in the thawed and frozen soils were introduced as parameters of the developed model and derived as a function of temperature and content of soil organic matter. The other parameters which concern the CRIs of soil solids as well as bound, transient, and liquid soil water or ice components were derived as a function of temperature. The errors of the proposed model estimated in terms of the values of normalized root-mean-sqaure error for the real and imaginary parts of the soil complex relative permittivity appeared to be 6%–7% and 23%, respectively. The proposed dielectric model can be applied in active and passive remote sensing, in particular, for the SMOS, SMAP, and Aquarius missions after testing in ground-based experiments.
When We Have to Get Along: Depolarizing Impacts of Cross-Cutting Social Media

Drawing upon spiral of silence theory and Brewer’s extension of social identity theory, an online experiment with adult Republican and Democrat participants ( N = 407) found that the less favorable a national opinion climate Americans perceived, the warmer they felt toward out-group partisans. Addressing media effects, when these partisans browsed an online forum, in which they were in the minority (versus the majority), they tended to perceive a less favorable national opinion climate and in turn to report warmer attitudes toward out-group partisans, as observed in an indirect effects model examining change in the key variables. To ensure external validity, the forum used stimuli harvested from a complete corpus of Reddit posts collected between 2016 and 2018, with a sampling technique incorporating latent space modeling.
Clustering algorithms for categorical data

Categorical datasets in many domains, such as biology or software analysis, have a rich underlying cluster structure. Categorical clustering methods that are motivated by uncovering interesting local cluster structure could produce high clustering quality, and potentially help analysts to study hidden roles of objects in a dataset. This thesis presents several clustering algorithms for categorical data. First, we introduce the HIERDENC algorithm for hierarchical density-based clustering of categorical data. Then, we present the MULIC algorithm, which is a faster simplification of HIERDENC. MULIC is designed for categorical datasets with a multi-layered structure, such as protein interaction data. Our experimental evaluation of MULIC on such datasets shows that it can uncover their underlying structure better than other algorithms and has comparable runtimes. Next, we present the MULICsoft algorithm for clustering large software systems. MULICsoft is an extension of MULIC that incorporates in the clustering process information on a software system's runtime execution. We evaluate MULICsoft on a large open-source system. MULICsoft is able to produce decompositions that are close to those created by system experts. We continue with the BILCOM algorithm which is an extension of MULIC. BILCOM is used for clustering mixed categorical and numerical biomedical data. We apply BILCOM to datasets of mixed types, such as hepatitis, thyroid disease and yeast gene expression data with Gene Ontology annotations. The results show that BILCOM can partition these datasets significantly better than using just categorical or numerical type. Finally, we present the M-BILCOM algorithm, which is an extension of BILCOM for clustering mixed numerical and low quality categorical data. M-BILCOM incorporates in the clustering process the confidence on the categorical values' correctness. We apply M-BILCOM to yeast gene expression data with Gene Ontology-annotations and GO Evidence codes representing evidence on the annotations' correctness.
Going in the right direction Cellular mechanisms underlying root halotropism

The increase in soil salinity worldwide is a driver to investigate the cellular mechanisms behind salt tolerance, with the aim to develop new approaches to increase crop resilience. Recently, phospholipase D ζ proteins have been implicated in the response of plant roots to salt stress. Although involvement of both PLDζ1 and PLDζ2 isoforms has been found, their exact roles remain elusive, nor it is clear whether they exhibit redundant functions during salt stress. Here, we investigated salt responses of a pldζ2- and pldζ1/pldζ2- double mutant and compared the results with recent data of pldζ1 (Chapter 4). The pldζ1/pldζ2 mutant was found to largely exhibit the same phenotype as pldζ1 in PIN2 polarity and inhibition of root hair length by salt. On the other hand, the double mutant phenocopied the pldζ2 single mutant with respect to the number of PIN2 containing vesicles in response to salt stress and during early halotropism. No additive phenotypes were observed for the double mutant. Increased root hair length and less effect of salt on root hair length were found in all PLDζ mutants. These effects were largest in the pldζ2 line. These results indicate that PLDζ1 and PLDζ2 are involved in different cellular processes in the salt stress response.
Temporal Selection is Suppressed, Delayed, and Diffused During the Attentional Blink

How does temporal selection work, and along what dimensions does it vary from one instance to the next? We explored these questions using a phenomenon in which temporal selection goes awry. In the attentional blink, subjects fail to report the second of a pair of targets (T1 and T2) when they are presented at stimulus onset asyn-chronies (SOAs) of roughly 200 to 500 ms. We directly tested the properties of temporal selection during the blink by analyzing distractor intrusions at a fast rate of item presentation. Our analysis shows that attentional selection is (a) suppressed, (b) delayed, and (c) diffused in time during the attentional blink. These effects are dissociated by their time course: The measure of each effect returns to the baseline value at a different SOA. Our results constrain theories of the attentional blink and indicate that temporal selection varies along at least three dissociable dimensions: efficacy, latency, and precision.
Quick on the Draw: Liquidity Risk Mitigation in Failing Banks

We study how banks limit their exposure to liquidity risk by eliminating consumer access to cancelable credit lines. Using a proprietary set of transaction-level HELOC data from eight banks, we find that banks are more likely to revoke credit lines exhibiting “early warning signals” of borrower risk. Banks respond to these same borrower and loan characteristics more aggressively shortly before bank failure, when capital and liquidity risks increase. We find no evidence that consumers draw down HELOCs near failure. Existing borrower relationships have no adverse effects on unstressed banks’ credit revocation decisions. As failure approaches, banks are more likely to cut HELOCs of borrowers with greater ability to demand liquidity. Our results shed light on how banks manage liquidity risk and indicate that lending relationships do not benefit borrowers during idiosyncratic bank stress.
Staging and Surveillance of Testicular Cancer

The ACR Committee on Appropriateness Criteria and its expert panels have developed criteria for determining appropriate imaging examinations for diagnosis and treatment of specified medical condition(s). These criteria are intended to guide radiologists, radiation oncologists and referring physicians in making decisions regarding radiologic imaging and treatment. Generally, the complexity and severity of a patient’s clinical condition should dictate the selection of appropriate imaging procedures or treatments. Only those examinations generally used for evaluation of the patient’s condition are ranked. Other imaging studies necessary to evaluate other co-existent diseases or other medical consequences of this condition are not considered in this document. The availability of equipment or personnel may influence the selection of appropriate imaging procedures or treatments. Imaging techniques classified as investigational by the FDA have not been considered in developing these criteria; however, study of new equipment and applications should be encouraged. The ultimate decision regarding the appropriateness of any specific radiologic examination or treatment must be made by the referring physician and radiologist in light of all the circumstances presented in an individual examination
Synthesis, spectroscopic properties and photodynamic activity of a novel Zn(II) phthalocyanine substituted by fluconazole

(ZnPcF) was synthesized by a two-step procedure starting from 4-nitrophthalonitrile. First, phthalonitrileazole derivative was prepared by a nucleophilic ipso-nitro substitution reaction between 4nitrophthalonitrile and fluconazole. The cyclotetramerization of phthalonitrile-azole with Zn(II) acetate in the presence of 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4. 0]undec-7-ene (DBU) results in the formation of the ZnPcF as mixtures of constitutional isomers with 23% yield. Absorption and fluorescence spectroscopic studies were analyzed in different media. The results show that ZnPcF is lowly soluble in polar solvents or in reverse micellar systems. However, addition of HCl produce an increase in the monomerization of ZnPcF in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF)/water (10% v/v) and in benzene/benzyl-n-hexadecyldimethyl ammonium chloride (BHDC) 0.1 M/water (W0=10). A value of 0.19 was calculated for the fluorescence quantum yield (φF) of this photosensitizer in DMF/water (10%)/HCl 1.2 mM. The photodynamic activity of ZnPcF was evaluated using 9,10-dimethylanthracene (DMA). An enhancement in the singlet molecular oxygen, O2(∆g), production was obtained in acidified DMF/water or BHDC micellar system, which represent a appropriate system to induce monomerization of ZnPcF.
How do students solve reversible thinking problems in mathematics?

Reversible thinking is a cognitive activity in finding a solution to a problem by arranging the direction of logical thinking from the end to the starting point. Reversible thinking requires a student to think logically in two ways. Therefore, reversible thinking influences students' success in solving problems. This study aims to identify students' thinking processes in solving problems that require reversible thinking ability. This research was conducted on junior high school students in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, using test instruments, interviews, and documentation studies. The tests given consisted of two types of problems, including tests on forward-thinking problems and tests on reversible thinking problems. The research subjects were students with high average mathematics scores in their class. The study found that students could answer the tests on forward-thinking problem-solving very well but could not work on similar questions with the backward-thinking process. Based on the interview results, one of the causes for the need for more backward-thinking ability is the limited learning resources or context when students first learn the concept.