Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design and development of a portable exoskeleton based CPM machine for rehabilitation of hand injuries

Human hand is easy to be injured. As physical rehabilitation therapy after a hand operation always takes a long time, the curative effect gets worse and the social and financial hardship with physical deterioration can be caused. A CPM machine is a mechanism based on the rehabilitation theory of continuous passive motion (CPM). To improve rehabilitation results and validate the CPM theory we have developed a portable exoskeleton based CPM machine. The device can be easily attached and also be adjusted to fit different hand sizes. And during the finger's flexion and extension motion the machine can always exert perpendicular forces on the finger phalanges. It can achieve the precise control of scope, force and speed of the moving fingers. Finally based on its mechanical structure, a kinematic validation and simulation including kinematic simulation and dynamic simulation have been carried out.
Spectral properties of the oxyferrous complex of the heme domain of cytochrome P450 BM-3 (CYP102).

Here we describe for the first time the formation of a complex of reduced CYP102 (cytochrome P450 BM-3) heme domain with molecular oxygen. To stabilize the oxycomplex, the experiments had to be done under argon atmosphere at cryogenic temperatures (-25 degrees C) in the presence of 50% glycerol. The spectral properties of this species were different from those of another P450-type autosuffisant enzyme, i.e., the neuronal nitric oxide synthase. On the contrary, the oxyferrous complex of CYP102 possesses spectral properties similar to those of complexes of microsomal cytochromes P450, e.g., CYP2B4.
Some studies on metamaterial transmission lines and their applications

This thesis work focuses mostly on investigating different potential applications of meta-transmission line (TL), particularly composite right/left handed (CRLH) TL and analyzing the new phenomena and applications of meta-TL, mostly left-handed (LH) TL, on other realization principle. The fundamental electromagnetic properties of propagation in the presence of left-handed material, such as the existence of backward wave, negative refraction and subwavelength imaging, are firstly illustrated in the thesis. The transmission line approach for left-handed material (LHM) design is provided together with a brief review of transmission line theory. As a generalized model for LHM TL, CRLH TL provides very unique phase response, such as dual-band operation, bandwidth enhancement, nonlinear dependence of the frequency, and the existence of critical frequency with zero phase velocity. Based on these properties, some novel applications of the now-existing CRLH transmission line are then given, including notch filters, diplexer, broadband phase shifters, broadband baluns, and dual band rat-ring couplers. In the design of notch filters and diplexers, CRLH TL shunt stub is utilized to provide high frequency selectivity because of the existence of critical frequency with zero phase velocity. The proposed wideband Wilkinson balun, which comprises of one section of conventional transmission lines and one section of CRLH-TL, is shown to have a 180°±10° bandwidth of 2.12 GHz centered at 1.5 GHz. In the analysis of the dual band rat-ring couplers, a generalized formulation of the requirements about impedances and electrical length of the branches are derived, and as an example, a compact dual-band rat-race coupler is designed utilizing the balanced CRLH TL. Furthermore, a low pass filter is also proposed and designed based on an Epson-negative Coplanar Waveguide (CPW). Various principles to realize the left-handed transmission line and composite right/left handed transmission line are investigated. The main conclusions are listed below: y Dual composite right/left handed (D-CRLH) transmission line, which is the dual structure of conventional CRLH TL, shows opposite handedness in the high frequencies and low frequencies with CRLH TL. Meanwhile, in the practical implementation, D-CRLH TL always shows a sharp stopband. A notch filter and a dual-band balun are designed based on D-CRLH TL. y The lattice type transmission line (LT-TL) shows the same magnitude response with the conventional right-handed (RH) TL, but a constant phase difference in the phase response over a wide frequency band. A wideband rat-race coupler is proposed as an application of the LT-TL. y Finger-shorted interdigital capacitors (FSIDCs) are …
Percolation in Voronoi tilings

We consider a percolation process on a random tiling of ℝd into Voronoi cells based on points of a realization of a Poisson process. We prove the existence of a phase transition as the proportion p of open cells is varied and provide estimates for the critical probability pc. Specifically, we prove that for large d, 2−d(9d log d)−1 ≤ pc(d) ≤ C2−d$\sqrt{d}$ log d. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg. , 2005
Clustering Mixed Numeric and Categorical Data: A Cluster Ensemble Approach

Clustering is a widely used technique in data mining applications for discovering patterns in underlying data. Most traditional clustering algorithms are limited to handling datasets that contain either numeric or categorical attributes. However, datasets with mixed types of attributes are common in real life data mining applications. In this paper, we propose a novel divide-and-conquer technique to solve this problem. First, the original mixed dataset is divided into two sub-datasets: the pure categorical dataset and the pure numeric dataset. Next, existing well established clustering algorithms designed for different types of datasets are employed to produce corresponding clusters. Last, the clustering results on the categorical and numeric dataset are combined as a categorical dataset, on which the categorical data clustering algorithm is used to get the final clusters. Our contribution in this paper is to provide an algorithm framework for the mixed attributes clustering problem, in which existing clustering algorithms can be easily integrated, the capabilities of different kinds of clustering algorithms and characteristics of different types of datasets could be fully exploited. Comparisons with other clustering algorithms on real life datasets illustrate the superiority of our approach.
An Evaluation of In-CAR Speech Enhancement Techniques With Microphone Array Steering

In this paper, we evaluate a performance of in-car speech enhancement techniques with single channel signal processing and microphone array signal processing. We employ SS (Fourier Spectral Subtraction) and WSS (Wavelet Spectral Subtraction) as single channel signal processing and delay-and-sum beamformer, eigen beamformer, AMNOR (Adaptive Microphone array for NOise Reduction), S-AMNOR, Svc-AMNOR, and MV (Minimum Variance) beamformer as microphone array signal processing. In-car speech database designed by CIAIR (Center for Integrated Acoustic Information Research, Nagoya University) was used for this evaluation. It has numerous in-car speech signals with multiple microphones. Therefore, we evaluate a performance of in-car speech enhancement techniques with this database. As a result of evaluation experiments, we confirmed the performance of each technique in some conditions (for example, idling, side window (open/close), car-audio (on/off), air-conditioner (high/low/off), and so on) of in-car.
The Maudsley Hospital Memory Clinic

‘MIND DOC STORM: HE WANTS OLD FOLK FOR TESTS’ Thus screamed the headlines of a national tabloid newspaper (albeit on page 15) in late 1979. Raymond Levy had been planning to embark on a randomized controlled trial of the effects of high-dose lecithin in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. He had asked the local council permission to approach the clients of their residential homes. Councillors had opposed the application on the grounds that any experimentation on ‘their’ old people posed an unacceptable risk. Another newspaper reported that Dr Levy was:
Chilean Spanish version of the State Trait Cheerfulness Inventory (STCI-T-60, trait form): Individual and couple forms

Abstract The adaptation and validation of a Chilean Spanish version of the State Trait Cheerfulness Inventory (STCI-T-60) including a couple evaluation, is presented. The inventory was developed by Ruch (1990) to measure three traits (cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood), considered to enable exhilaration, which is the main indicator of the sense of humor experience. Ruch suggested studying basic temperamental traits and stable dispositions involved in the possibility of experiencing humor. The inventory was applied to three Chilean samples: a validation sample of 500 adults individuals, evaluated in a stratified manner considering gender, age and socio-economic level; a replication sample of 298 middle-class adults; and a couple sample of 53 middle-class couples. The results showed adequate internal consistency and solid validity of the constructs in all groups. The study contributes to research in the field of the sense of humor from local and transcultural perspectives. The validation of a couple form will contribute specifically contribute to the study of the sense of humor as a couple relational dynamic and its relations with other relational variables.
Variety in fruit and vegetable consumption and 10-year incidence of CHD and stroke

Abstract Objective Consuming a variety of fruit and vegetables provides many different micronutrients and bioactive compounds. Whether this contributes to the beneficial association between fruit and vegetables and incident CHD and stroke is unknown. Design Prospective population-based cohort study. Setting The Netherlands. Subjects Men and women (n 20 069) aged 20–65 years. Participants completed a validated 178-item FFQ, including nine fruit and thirteen vegetable items. Variety in fruit and vegetables was defined as the sum of different items consumed at least once per 2 weeks over the previous year. Hazard ratios (HR) for variety in relation to incident CHD and stroke were calculated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models additionally adjusted for quantity of fruit and vegetables. Results Variety and quantity in fruit and vegetables were highly correlated (r = 0·81). Variety was not associated with total energy intake (r = −0·01) and positively associated with nutrient intakes, particularly vitamin C (r = 0·70). During 10 years of follow-up, 245 cases of CHD and 233 cases of stroke occurred. Variety in vegetables (HR per 2 items = 1·05; 95 % CI 0·94, 1·17) and in fruit (HR per 2 items = 1·00; 95 % CI 0·87, 1·15) were not related to incident CHD. Variety in vegetables (HR per 2 items = 0·93; 95 % CI 0·83, 1·04) and in fruit (HR per 2 items = 1·03; 95 % CI 0·89, 1·18) were also not related to incident stroke. Conclusions More variety in fruit and vegetable consumption was associated with higher intakes of fruit and vegetables and micronutrients. Independently of quantity, variety in fruit and vegetables was related neither to incident CHD nor to incident stroke.
Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) became a new epidemic of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Diabetic nephropathy is one of the leading causes of end-stage renal failure as a result of the diabetes epidemic worldwide. AIM: The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of CKD in the Republic of Macedonia and its association with diabetes mellitus. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was a part of a study conducted in 2006 in terms of screening for early detection of kidney disease. It was a cross-sectional study based on a random sample of patients aged > 20, consecutively consulting their primary physician for any cause. Fifty physicians throughout the country were included in the study. A total of 2637 patients have been analyzed based on integrity data. GFR was estimated using corrected values of serum creatinine and calculating kidney function by the Cockroft & Gault formula, adjusted for body surface using the Gehan & George formula. Patients with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) less than 60 ml/min were considered as having CKD. Blood pressure, body weight, height, serum creatinine, glucose, hemoglobin, hematocrit, urinalysis and medical history for presence of cardiovascular diseases or diabetes were also assessed. RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects was 45.97 ± 16.55 SD and 17.97% were older than 60. Regarding gender, 44.14% were males. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus was 13.9%. Subjects with CKD (eGFR less than 60 ml/min) were 7.53% of the total. Subjects aged 60 or above, had 20 times higher risk of having CKD (eGFR less than 60 ml/min/1.73 m2). Out of the total group of subjects, 13.9% had diabetes mellitus and they had 3.13 times higher risk of having CKD stage 3-5 (eGFR less than 60 ml/min/1.73 m2) when compared to non-diabetics. The results showed that diabetes was significantly more associated with lower eGFR (less than 60 ml/min/1.73 m2) in younger subjects (age less than 60) compared to older ones (odds ratio 3.29 versus 1.21). CONCLUSION: Our study showed that chronic kidney disease is frequent in the Republic of Macedonia and is associated with older age and diabetes. Diabetes had a significantly stronger association with CKD at younger age.
An Exploration of the Linguistic Knowledge for Semantic Relation Extraction in Spanish Marcos Garcia Center for Research in Information Technologies ( CITIUS )

A common strategy for Question Answering systems uses high quality ontologies or databases in order to efficiently answer questions. Some approaches to build or enrich these databases rely on machine learning classifiers for obtaining semantically related terms from unstructured text. These classifiers are based on features that may contain several kinds of linguistic knowledge: from orthographic or lexical information to more complex features, including PoS-tags, syntactic dependencies or semantic information. In this paper we select four main types of linguistic features and systematically evaluate their performance on semantic Relation Extraction. Although the combination of some types of linguistic features allows us to improve the f-score of the classifiers, we observed that by adjusting the positive/negative ratio of the training examples, we can build high quality classifiers with just a single type of linguistic feature, based on generic lexico-syntactic patterns. Experiments were carried out with the Spanish version of Wikipedia.
A FAST, STABLE AND ACCURATE NUMERICAL METHOD FOR THE BLACK–SCHOLES EQUATION OF AMERICAN OPTIONS

In this work we improve the algorithm of Han and Wu [SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 41 (2003), 2081–2095] for American Options with respect to stability, accuracy and order of computational effort. We derive an exact discrete artificial boundary condition (ABC) for the Crank–Nicolson scheme for solving the Black–Scholes equation for the valuation of American options. To ensure stability and to avoid any numerical reflections we derive the ABC on a purely discrete level.Since the exact discrete ABC includes a convolution with respect to time with a weakly decaying kernel, its numerical evaluation becomes very costly for large-time simulations. As a remedy we construct approximate ABCs with a kernel having the form of a finite sum-of-exponentials, which can be evaluated in a very efficient recursion. We prove a simple stability criteria for the approximated artificial boundary conditions.Finally, we illustrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method on several benchmark examples and compare it to previously obtained discretized ABCs of Mayfield and Han and Wu.
Melatonin protects against taurolithocholic‐induced oxidative stress in rat liver

Cholestasis, encountered in a variety of clinical disorders, is characterized by intracellular accumulation of toxic bile acids in the liver. Furthermore, oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of bile acids. Taurolithocholic acid (TLC) was revealed in previous studies as the most pro‐oxidative bile acid. Melatonin, a well‐known antioxidant, is a safe and widely used therapeutic agent. Herein, we investigated the hepatoprotective role of melatonin on lipid and protein oxidation induced by TLC alone and in combination with FeCl3 and ascorbic acid in rat liver homogenates and hepatic membranes. The lipid peroxidation products, malondialdehyde and 4‐hydroxyalkenals (MDA + 4‐HDA), and carbonyl levels were quantified as indices of oxidative damage to hepatic lipids and proteins, respectively. In the current study, the rise in MDA + 4‐HDA levels induced by TLC was inhibited by melatonin in a concentration‐dependent manner in both liver homogenates and in hepatic membranes. Melatonin also had protective effects against structural damage to proteins induced by TLC in membranes. These results suggest that the indoleamine melatonin may potentially act as a protective agent in the therapy of those diseases that involve bile acid toxicity. J. Cell. Biochem. 110: 1219–1225, 2010. Published 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Faults in Linux 2.6

In August 2011, Linux entered its third decade. Ten years before, Chou et al. published a study of faults found by applying a static analyzer to Linux versions 1.0 through 2.4. 1. A major result of their work was that the drivers directory contained up to 7 times more of certain kinds of faults than other directories. This result inspired numerous efforts on improving the reliability of driver code. Today, Linux is used in a wider range of environments, provides a wider range of services, and has adopted a new development and release model. What has been the impact of these changes on code quality? To answer this question, we have transported Chou et al.’s experiments to all versions of Linux 2.6; released between 2003 and 2011. We find that Linux has more than doubled in size during this period, but the number of faults per line of code has been decreasing. Moreover, the fault rate of drivers is now below that of other directories, such as arch. These results can guide further development and research efforts for the decade to come. To allow updating these results as Linux evolves, we define our experimental protocol and make our checkers available.
Geographical data collection in sensor networks with self-organizing transaction cluster-heads

This paper proposes 2G, a flexible and energy-efficient data collection protocol for sensor networks for increasing network lifetime. To this end, it integrates self-organizing data aggregation mechanisms based on geographical and cluster-based routing, and transaction cluster-head (TCH). A TCH is a location-based role, dynamically assigned to a node for the duration of handling a request-response transaction that targets its region of the network. TCH nodes collect raw sensor readings from their local regions and forward the answers containing aggregated data using geographical routing. A prototype of 2G was implemented on MICAz motes, and experimental results in realistic conditions proved that data collection reaches significantly higher delivery rates than with GEAR, the geographical routing protocol leveraged by 2G. Additionally, simulation results for larger scale networks demonstrate that 2G outperforms GEAR in terms of network lifetime.
ATOMIC HYDROGEN PROPERTIES OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI HOST GALAXIES: H i IN 16 NUCLEI OF GALAXIES (NUGA) SOURCES

We present a comprehensive spectroscopic imaging survey of the distribution and kinematics of atomic hydrogen (H i) in 16 nearby spiral galaxies hosting low luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGN), observed with high spectral and spatial resolution (resolution: ∼20″, ∼5 km s−1) using the NRAO Very Large Array (VLA). The sample contains a range of nuclear types ranging from Seyfert to star-forming nuclei, and was originally selected for the NUclei of GAlaxies project (NUGA)—a spectrally and spatially resolved interferometric survey of gas dynamics in nearby galaxies designed to identify the fueling mechanisms of AGN and the relation to host galaxy evolution. Here we investigate the relationship between the H i properties of these galaxies, their environment, their stellar distribution, and their AGN type. The large-scale H i morphology of each galaxy is classified as ringed, spiral, or centrally concentrated; comparison of the resulting morphological classification with the AGN type reveals that ring structures are significantly more common in low-ionization narrow emission-line regions (LINER) than in Seyfert host galaxies, suggesting a time evolution of the AGN activity together with the redistribution of the neutral gas. Dynamically disturbed H i disks are also more prevalent in LINER host galaxies than in Seyfert host galaxies. While several galaxies are surrounded by companions (some with associated H i emission), there is no correlation between the presence of companions and the AGN type (Seyfert/LINER).
Inference of gene regulatory networks and compound mode of action from time course gene expression profiles

MOTIVATION Time series expression experiments are an increasingly popular method for studying a wide range of biological systems. Here we developed an algorithm that can infer the local network of gene-gene interactions surrounding a gene of interest. This is achieved by a perturbation of the gene of interest and subsequently measuring the gene expression profiles at multiple time points. We applied this algorithm to computer simulated data and to experimental data on a nine gene network in Escherichia coli. RESULTS In this paper we show that it is possible to recover the gene regulatory network from a time series data of gene expression following a perturbation to the cell. We show this both on simulated data and on a nine gene subnetwork part of the DNA-damage response pathway (SOS pathway) in the bacteria E. coli. CONTACT dibernardo@tigem.it SUPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at http://dibernado.tigem.it
High Performance Fault-Tolerant Routing Algorithm for NoC-Based Many-Core Systems

Networks-on-Chip (NoCs) has become a promising approach for the on-chip communication infrastructure of many-core Systems-on-Chip (SoCs). Faults may occur in the NoC both at the router and link level. There are many fault-tolerant approaches presented both in the off-chip and on-chip networks. Some approaches disable some healthy components in order to form a specific shape and others not. Regardless of all varieties, there has always been a common assumption among them. Most of all traditional fault-tolerant methods are based on rerouting packets around a faulty node or region. These approaches affect the performance significantly not only by taking longer paths but also by creating hotspot around a fault. The focus of this paper is to maintain the performance of NoC in the presence of faults. The presented method takes advantage of a fully adaptive routing algorithm using one and two virtual channels along the X and Y dimensions. This method is able to tolerate all cases of one-faulty node without losing the performance of NoC. According to the experimental results, this presented fault-tolerant routing algorithm is able to support up to six faulty nodes in the 8×8 mesh network by up to 98% reliability.
X-RAY DETERMINATION OF THE STRUCTURE OF GLASS

A method has been developed for analyzing the X-ray diffraction patterns of amorphous solids, and the atomic arrangement in two simple glasses has been completely worked out. In SO2, for example, each silicon is tetrahedrally surrounded by 4 oxygens at a distance 1.60 A, and each oxygen is shared between two such tetrahedral groups. The mutual orientation of the two groups about their common direction of bonding is random, and hence it is a random three-dimensional network which is built up. The configuration does not repeat at regular intervals and hence is noncrystalline; it is this feature which distinguishes the glassy state from the crystalline.