Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
GMU: A Novel RNN Neuron and Its Application to Handwriting Recognition

Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) have been widely used in many sequential labeling fields. Decades of research fruits show that artificial neuron as the building blocks plays great role in its success. Different RNN neurons are proposed, such as long-short term memory (LSTM) and gated recurrent unit (GRU), and used in most applications let alone character recognition, to encode the long-term contextual dependencies. Inspired by both LSTM and GRU, a new structure named gated memory unit (GMU) is presented which carries forward their merits. GMU preserves the constant error carousels (CEC) which is devoted to enhance a smooth information flow. GMU also lends both the cell structure of LSTM and the interpolation gates of GRU. The proposed neuron is evaluated on both online English handwriting recognition and online Chinese handwriting recognition tasks in terms of parameter volumes, convergence and accuracy. The results show that GMU is of potential choice in handwriting recognition tasks.
Soil Nutrient Depletion Is Associated with the Presence of Burkholderia pseudomallei

ABSTRACT Burkholderia pseudomallei is a soil-dwelling bacterium and the cause of melioidosis, which kills an estimated 89,000 people per year worldwide. Agricultural workers are at high risk of infection due to repeated exposure to the bacterium. Little is known about the soil physicochemical properties associated with the presence or absence of the organism. Here, we evaluated the soil physicochemical properties and presence of B. pseudomallei in 6,100 soil samples collected from 61 rice fields in Thailand. The presence of B. pseudomallei was negatively associated with the proportion of clay, proportion of moisture, level of salinity, percentage of organic matter, presence of cadmium, and nutrient levels (phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and iron). The presence of B. pseudomallei was not associated with the level of soil acidity (P = 0.54). In a multivariable logistic regression model, the presence of B. pseudomallei was negatively associated with the percentage of organic matter (odds ratio [OR], 0.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.01 to 0.47; P = 0.007), level of salinity (OR, 0.06; 95% CI, 0.01 to 0.74; P = 0.03), and percentage of soil moisture (OR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.66 to 1.00; P = 0.05). Our study suggests that B. pseudomallei thrives in rice fields that are nutrient depleted. Some agricultural practices result in a decline in soil nutrients, which may impact the presence and amount of B. pseudomallei bacteria in affected areas. IMPORTANCE Burkholderia pseudomallei is an environmental Gram-negative bacillus and the cause of melioidosis. Humans acquire the disease following skin inoculation, inhalation, or ingestion of the bacterium in the environment. The presence of B. pseudomallei in soil defines geographic regions where humans and livestock are at risk of melioidosis, yet little is known about the soil properties associated with the presence of the organism. We evaluated the soil properties and presence of B. pseudomallei in 61 rice fields in East, Central, and Northeast Thailand. We demonstrated that the organism was more commonly found in soils with lower levels of organic matter and nutrients, including phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and iron. We also demonstrated that crop residue burning after harvest, which can reduce soil nutrients, was not uncommon. Some agricultural practices result in a decline in soil nutrients, which may impact the presence and amount of B. pseudomallei bacteria in affected areas.
CloudMix: Generating Diverse and Reducible Workloads for Cloud Systems

The prosperity of cloud computing offers commoninfrastructures to a wide range of applications. Understandingthese applications’ workload behaviors is the premise of designing,managing, and optimizing cloud systems. Considering theheterogeneity and diversity of cloud workloads, for the sake offairness, cloud benchmarks must be able to accurately replicatetheir behaviors in cloud systems, including both the usages ofcloud resources and the micro-architectural behaviors beyondthe virtualization layer. Furthermore, workloads spanning longdurations are usually required to achieve representativeness inevaluation. Hence the more challenging issue is to significantlyreduce the evaluation duration while still preserving their workloadcharacteristics.This paper presents our efforts towards generating cloudworkloads of diverse behaviors and reducible durations. Ourbenchmark tool, CloudMix, employs a repository of reducibleworkload blocks (RWBs) as the high level abstraction of workloadbehaviors, including usages of the two most important cloud resources(CPU and memory) and their pairing micro-architecturaloperations. CloudMix further introduces an efficient methodologyto combine RWBs to synthesize and replicate diverse cloudworkloads in real-world traces. The effectiveness of CloudMixis demonstrated by generating a variety of reducible workloadsaccording to a Google cluster trace and by applying theseworkloads in job scheduling optimization on Hadoop YARN.The evaluation results show: (i) when the workload durationsare reduced by 100 times, the replication errors of workloadbehaviors are smaller than 2.08%; (ii) when providing fastevaluations (workload durations are reduced by 10 to 100 times)to recommend the optimal setting in YARN job scheduling,the performance degradation in the recommended setting isjust 0.69% compared to that of the actual optimal setting.CloudMix is publicly available from the projec
Criterion Groups Validation of The Seashore Rhythm Test and Speech Sounds Perception Test For The Detection of Malingering in Traumatic Brain Injury

A criterion-groups validation was used to determine the classification accuracy of the Seashore Rhythm Test (SRT) and Speech Sounds Perception Test (SSPT) in detecting malingered neurocognitive dysfunction (MND) in traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI patients were classified into the following groups: (1) Mild TBI Not-MND (n = 24); (2) Mild TBI MND (n = 27); and (3) Moderate/Severe TBI Not-MND (n = 23). A sample of 90 general clinical patients was utilized for comparison. Results showed that both SRT correct and SSPT errors differentiated malingerers from non-malingerers in the Mild TBI sample. At 96% specificity, sensitivities were 37% for SRT correct and 59% for SSPT errors. Joint classification accuracy showed that the best accuracy was achieved when using a cut-off associated with a 4% false positive error rate in the Mild TBI sample. Specificity was considerably lower in the Moderate/Severe TBI and General Clinical groups. The clinical application of these findings is discussed.
Deletion of IL-4Rα in the BALB/c mouse is associated with altered lesion topography and susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Abstract The regulation of cytokine expression by immune deviation from a pro-inflammatory to anti-inflammatory or “regulatory” milieu is crucial to the prevention of permanent central nervous system (CNS) damage in neuroinflammation. Earlier studies in the murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model pointed to an anti-inflammatory role for the Th2 cytokine, IL-4, which was not confirmed in IL-4Rα-deficient mice (IL-4Rα−/−). To examine the pathological consequences of loss of responsiveness to Th2 cytokines, we compared lesion evolution in IL-4Rα−/− and wild type (WT) BALB/c mice immunized with PLP180–199 and investigated how altering the magnitude of the antigen-specific autoimmune response in this model affected the pathology. We found that while changing the magnitude of the peripheral antigen-specific response differentially affected the incidence of clinical disease in WT BALB/c relative to IL-4Rα−/− mice, the differences in incidence did not correlate to differences in pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Additionally, although only approximately 75% of WT mice developed clinical disease, lesions were observed in 100% of the mice, principally in the cerebellum, mid-brain and cerebral hemispheres, and lesion load increased with increasing pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Despite being resistant to disease induction with increasing pro-inflammatory cytokine production, lesion incidence in IL-4Rα-deficient animals was equal to their WT counterparts. However, lesion severity in IL-4Rα-deficient animals was preferentially reduced in the mid-brain and cerebral hemispheres. From these studies, we conclude that signaling through IL-4Rα has little effect on regulating the peripheral pro-inflammatory cytokine profile in this EAE variant but has distinct effects on the determination of lesion topography.
Molecular Pathology of Pulmonary Edema in Forensic Autopsy Cases with Special Regard to Fatal Methamphetamine Intoxication

Pulmonary edema is a common finding in fatal methamphetamine intoxication. However, the underlying mechanism remains poorly understood. This study investigated the molecular pathology of alveolar damage involving pulmonary edema in forensic autopsy cases. Seven candidate reference genes (RPL13A, YWHAZ, GUSB, SDHA, GAPDH, B2M, and ACTB) were evaluated in the lung by the geNorm module in qBaseplus software. RPL13A, YWHAZ, and GUSB were identified as the most stable reference genes. Using these validated reference genes, intrapulmonary mRNA expressions of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1), claudin‐5 (CLDN‐5), and aquaporins (AQPs) were examined. Relative mRNA quantification using TaqMan real‐time PCR assay demonstrated higher expressions of all markers except for AQP‐5 in fatal METH intoxication cases. These findings suggested alveolar damage and compensatory response in fatal METH intoxication cases. Systematic analysis of gene expressions using real‐time qPCR is a useful tool in forensic death investigation.
Care Coordination and Multispecialty Teams in the Care of Colorectal Cancer Patients

Objectives: To estimate the association between provider and team experience and adherence to guidelines, survival, and utilization among colorectal cancer patients in North Carolina. Subjects: The analysis cohort included 7295 patients diagnosed with incident stage II/III colorectal cancer between 2004 and 2013 who received surgery. Methods: Primary outcomes included adherence to guidelines: consultation with a medical oncologist (stage III), receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy (stage III), and receipt of surveillance colonoscopy posttreatment. Secondary outcomes included 5-year overall survival, number of surveillance radiology studies, any unplanned hospitalization, and any emergency department visit. The primary predictors were measures of provider volume and patient sharing across surgeons and medical oncologists. Regression analyses adjusted for patient and provider characteristics. Results: Patients whose surgeons shared >40% of their colorectal cancer patients in the previous year with a medical oncologist were (1) more likely to have had a consultation with a medical oncologist [marginal effect (ME)=13.3 percentage points, P-value<0.001], (2) less likely to receive a surveillance colonoscopy within 12 months (ME=3.5 percentage points, P-value=0.049), and (3) received more radiology studies (ME=0.254 studies, P-value=0.029). Patients whose surgeon and medical oncologist shared >20% of their colorectal cancer patients with each other in the previous year had a higher likelihood of receiving adjuvant chemotherapy (ME=11.5 percentage points, P-value<0.001) and surveillance colonoscopy within 12 months (ME=6.7 percentage points, P-value=0.030) and within 18 months (ME=6.2 percentage points, P-value=0.054). Conclusions: Our study shows that team experience is associated with patients’ quality of care, survival, and utilization.
Biological approaches to characterize the mode of action of two 5-nitroindazolinone prototypes on Trypanosoma cruzi bloodstream trypomastigotes

SUMMARY The phenotypic activity of two 5-nitroindazolinones, i.e. 2-benzyl-1-propyl (22) and 2-benzyl-1-butyl (24) derivatives, previously proposed as anti-Trypanosoma cruzi prototypes, was presently assayed on bloodstream trypomastigotes (BT) of the moderately drug-resistant Y strain. Further exploration of putative targets and cellular mechanisms involved in their activity was also carried out. Therefore, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution respirometry and flow cytometry procedures were performed on BT treated for up to 24 h with the respective EC50 value of each derivative. Results demonstrated that although 22 and 24 were not as active as benznidazole in this in vitro assay on BT, both compounds triggered important damages in T. cruzi that lead to the parasite death. Ultrastructural alterations included shedding events, detachment of plasma membrane and nuclear envelope, loss of mitochondrial integrity, besides the occurrence of a large number of intracellular vesicles and profiles of endoplasmic reticulum surrounding cytoplasmic organelles such as mitochondrion. Moreover, both derivatives affected mitochondrion leading to this organelle dysfunction, as reflected by the inhibition in oxygen consumption and the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. Altogether, the findings exposed in the present study propose autophagic processes and mitochondrial machinery as part of the mode of action of both 5-nitroindazolinones 22 and 24 on T. cruzi trypomastigotes.
A Content-Aware Metric for Stitched Panoramic Image Quality Assessment

One key enabling component of immersive VR visual experience is the construction of panoramic images-each stitched into one large wide-angle image from multiple smaller viewpoint images captured by different cameras. To better evaluate and design stitching algorithms, a lightweight yet accurate quality metric for stitched panoramic images is desirable. In this paper, we design a quality assessment metric specifically for stitched images, where ghosting and structure inconsistency are the most common visual distortions. Specifically, to efficiently capture these distortion types, we fuse a perceptual geometric error metric and a local structure-guided metric into one. For the geometric error, we compute the local variance of optical flow field energy between the distorted and reference images. For the structure-guided metric, we compute intensity and chrominance gradient in highly-structured patches. The two metrics are content-adaptively combined based on the amount of image structures inherent in the 3D scene. Extensive experiments are conducted on our stitched image quality assessment (SIQA) dataset, which contains 408 groups of examples. Results show that the two parts of metrics complement each other, and the fused metric achieves 94.36% precision with the mean subjective opinion. Our SIQA dataset is made publicly available as part of the submission.
A qualitative analysis of the Three Good Things intervention in healthcare workers

Background Intensive care unit (ICU) personnel have an elevated prevalence of job-related burn-out and post-traumatic stress disorder, which can ultimately impact patient care. To strengthen healthcare workers’ skills to deal with stressful events, it is important to focus not only on minimising suffering but also on increasing happiness, as this entails many more benefits than simply feeling good. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the content of the ‘good things’ reported by healthcare workers participating in the ‘Three Good Things’ intervention. Methods In a tertiary care medical centre, a sample of 89 neonatal ICU (NICU) healthcare professionals registered for the online intervention. Of these, 32 individuals eventually participated fully in the 14-day online Three Good Things intervention survey. Daily emails reminded participants to reflect on and respond to the questions: “What are the three things that went well today? ” and “What was your role in bringing them about? ” To analyse their responses, we applied a thematic analysis, which was guided by our theoretical understanding of resilience. Results Involving more than 1300 statements, the Three Good Things responses of the 32 study participants, including registered nurses, physicians and neonatal nurse practitioners, led to the identification of three main themes: (1) having a good day at work; (2) having supportive relationships and (3) making meaningful use of self-determined time. Conclusions The findings show the personal and professional relevance of supportive relationships strengthened by clear communication and common activities that foster positive emotions. The Three Good Things exercise acknowledges the importance of self-care in healthcare workers and appears to promote well-being, which might ultimately strengthen resilience.
Surface modification and functionalization of nanostructured carbons

AbstrAct Purpose: Nanostructured carbon nanomaterials (e.g., nanocrystalline diamond films and particles, carbon nanotubes, carbon onions, fullerenes, etc.) are being extensively explored for numerous biomedical applications in surgical implants, therapy, drug delivery, and biosensoring due to their interesting physical, chemical, and biological properties. Such applications of carbon nanomaterials often require specific surface functionality to be introduced for better integration of these materials with physiological environment. In the last decade, substantial progress has been made in the development of controllable surface modification methods and in the introduction of different functional groups on the surface of carbon nanomaterials. Design/methodology/approach: This paper briefly overviews the surface modification and functionalization approaches for various carbon nanomaterials, and it focuses on the plasma modification and functionalization of nanocrystalline diamond films, diamond nanoparticles, and carbon nanospheres. The results on the surface characterization using FTIR and XPS techniques, and the preliminary studies of cellular response to these modified carbon nanomaterials are presented and discussed.
The study of doping concentration in ALYGA1-YN block layer based on multi quantum well of 313m LED

The structure of UVLED with three multi-quantum wells (MQW) of iAlyGa1-yN barrier - iAl0.20Ga0. 80N QW - iAlyGa1-yN barrier are studied by the SiLENSe software with various doping concentration of Mg in the block layer. This UVLED is emitted the wavelength of 312 nm for sterilization. The IEQ values was found to be stable with Nd= 5x1018 cm-3. The emitting wavelength of this structure is around 313nm. The components of Aluminum material in the block of AlyGa1-yN layer is test to 45% and 55% to predict the increasing of radiating wavelength over 314nm, which are in good agreement with the recent publication.
Temporal variation in circulating concentrations of organochlorine pollutants in a pelagic seabird breeding in the high Arctic

The present study explored short‐term temporal variations in circulating concentrations of 3 legacy organochlorines with different physicochemical properties (polychlorinated biphenyl 153 [PCB‐153], p,p′‐dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene [DDE], and hexachlorobenzene [HCB]) in breeding kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) in a colony in Svalbard (78°N), Norwegian Arctic. Concentrations were measured in blood of a large number (n = 412–521 blood samples, depending on the data analyses) of prebreeding, incubating, and chick‐rearing birds over a period of 5 yr (2007–2011). The PCB‐153 concentrations were equal in male and female blood in the prebreeding period, whereas females had significantly lower concentrations during incubation and chick rearing, probably because of their ability to eliminate organochlorines through egg laying. A similar temporal pattern was observed with DDE, although the lower concentrations in incubating females were not significant. Males and females had similar concentrations of HCB over all reproductive stages. The concentrations of all 3 compounds varied greatly between years. The concentrations of PCB‐153 tended to decline over the study period, whereas concentrations of HCB showed an increasing trend, especially among chick‐rearing males late in the season. Concentrations of PCB‐153 increased approximately 2.5 times from the prebreeding to the chick‐rearing period, concurrent with mobilization of body lipids (reduced body mass). A similar, but less pronounced trend was found for HCB. For DDE, however, kittiwakes had the highest concentrations in the prebreeding period, suggesting relatively high exposure in their winter areas. The present study documented large variations in circulating concentrations of legacy organochlorines among and within breeding seasons in kittiwakes, but the alterations within seasons were relatively consistent from year to year. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:442–448. © 2016 SETAC
Targeting neuronal dysfunction in schizophrenia with nicotine: Evidence from neurophysiology to neuroimaging

Patients with schizophrenia self-administer nicotine at rates higher than is self-administered for any other psychiatric illness. Although the reasons are unclear, one hypothesis suggests that nicotine is a form of ‘self-medication’ in order to restore normal levels of nicotinic signaling and target abnormalities in neuronal function associated with cognitive processes. This brief review discusses evidence from neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies in schizophrenia patients that nicotinic agonists may effectively target dysfunctional neuronal circuits in the illness. Evidence suggests that nicotine significantly modulates a number of these circuits, although relatively few studies have used modern neuroimaging techniques (e.g. functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)) to examine the effects of nicotinic drugs on disease-related neurobiology. The neuronal effects of nicotine and other nicotinic agonists in schizophrenia remain a priority for psychiatry research.
Online detection of moisture in heatset printing: Liquid transfer to printed image and non-image areas

Abstract In the present study, near-infrared sensors are used to investigate moisture variations on paper in the heatset web offset printing process. The moisture content was determined from both non-image and image printed areas at multiple locations along the printing line. The amount of water based liquid (fountain solution) transferred to the two studied areas as well as the internal moisture content of the paper was investigated in terms of near-infrared absorbance response. In order to achieve absolute moisture content estimates, the sensors were calibrated for the respective measurement regions. It was found that the moisture content was higher in the areas with printing ink compared to those without. The heatset drying had a stronger moisture drying effect on the non-image areas. The tests were performed in both a laboratory and a full-scale heatset offset printing environment.
Design, Synthesis, and Anti‐HIV‐1 Evaluation of a Novel Series of 1,2,3,4‐Tetrahydropyrimidine‐5‐Carboxylic Acid Derivatives

A series of tetrahydropyrimidine derivatives (2a – 2l) were designed, synthesized, and screened for anti‐HIV‐1 properties based on the structures of HIV‐1 gp41 binding site inhibitors, NB‐2 and NB‐64. A computational study was performed to predict the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and drug‐likeness features of the studied molecules. Docking studies revealed that the carboxylic acid group in the molecules forms salt bridges with either Lys574 or Arg579. Physiochemical properties (e.g., molecular weight, number of hydrogen bond donors, number of hydrogen bond acceptors, and number of rotatable bonds) of the synthesized compounds confirmed and exhibited that these compounds were within the range set by Lipinski's rule of five. Compounds 2e and 2k with 4‐chlorophenyl substituent and 4‐methylphenyl group at C(4) position of the tetrahydropyrimidine ring was the most potent one among the tested compounds. This suggests that these compounds may serve as leads for development of novel small‐molecule HIV‐1 inhibitors.