Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Research on soft tissue deformation based on haptic feedback

To solve the problem of stability and accuracy of haptic feedback output in virtual surgery. We have made thorough study of soft tissue deformation with phantom desktop in virtual scene and systems analysis of factors which effect on soft tissue deformation. First of all, a haptic feedback model is constructed, which could express normal direction and surface friction as well as the tactile texture. Then, the numerical solution of haptic feedback model is obtained. At the same time, the haptic of the collision detection and response are improved, to return the accurate contact point location and interface normal vector. In this paper, take knee-joint skin as an example, analyses the effects which concluded by different haptic feedback model parameters. The result shows that the probability of puncture has been decreased, and it provides a reliable basis for the parameters of deformation.
Achieving equity in self-selected subsets of test items

On the basis of 18,462 students who took the 1989 Advanced Placement Chemistry Exam and the 618 students in Hawaii who replied to the AP Chemistry Survey and Test Kit, this dissertation has researched three major issues concerning students' choices of and performance on self-selected test items, as wen as on the technical aspects of equating the scores on chosen items. First, most students tended to choose the items representing the "core" content of a AP chemistry. However, contrary to the common expectations that students would perform better on the items they choose to answer, the mean scores on the more frequenly chosen "core" chemistry items were lower than the less frequently chosen "noncore" chemistry items. Interestingly, the choice patterns of the students of all ability levels were almost identical. Second, it can be concluded that students tended to choose items whose content was considered easier, more familiar and belonging to similar dimensions. They performed better on their chosen items. Finally, equating the scores on chosen items through IRT rather than using raw scores results in fme-tuned measures of student abilities and more accurate classifications of students.
Vaccination with cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitope‐containing peptide protects against a tumor induced by human papillomavirus type 16‐transformed cells

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) peptide epitopes can be used for immunization of mice against lethal virus infection. To study whether this approach can be successful against virus‐induced tumors we generated a B6 (H‐2b) tumorigenic cell line transformed by human papillomavirus (HPV). This virus is detected in over 90% of all human cervical cancers. To identify vaccine candidates, we generated a set of 240 overlapping peptides derived from the HPV type 16 (HPV16) oncogenes E6 and E7. These peptides were tested for their ability to bind H‐2Kb and H‐2Db MHC class I molecules. Binding peptides were compared with the presently known peptide‐binding motifs for H‐2Kb and H‐2Db and the predictive value of these motifs is shortly discussed. The high‐affinity H‐2Db‐binding peptide and putative CTL epitope E7 49‐57 (RAHYNIVTF) was used in vaccination studies against HPV 16‐transformed tumor cells. Immunization with peptide E7 49‐57 rendered mice insensitive to a subsequent challenge with HPV 16‐transformed tumor cells in vivo, and induced a CTL response which lysed the tumor cells in vitro.
Pregnancy termination in the control of the tibial hemimelia syndrome in Galloway cattle

A description is given of the symptoms, frequency and mode of inheritance of a lethal genetic defect in Galloway cattle known as the tibial hemimelia syndrome. Plans for the control of the defect are described, and the role of the Galloway test herd identified. Investigations in the test herd demonstrate that it is possible to detect the tibial hemimelia syndrome characteristics in 90-day-old fetuses and that those fetuses can be regularly and readily obtained undamaged by pregnancy termination using prostaglandin F2 alpha. The role of pregnancy termination in the control of the tibial hemimelia problem is discussed and ideas for its development presented.
Peptide Nucleic Acid Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization-Based Identification of Candida albicans and Its Impact on Mortality and Antifungal Therapy Costs

ABSTRACT The impact of rapid identification of Candida albicans blood isolates by peptide nucleic acid fluorescence in situ hybridization (PNA FISH) on the selection and expenditure of antifungal therapy was evaluated. PNA FISH was 100% sensitive and specific in the rapid identification of 31 out of 72 candidemias as C. albicans and resulted in a significant reduction of caspofungin usage, with an overall cost savings of $1,729 per patient.
Numerical simulations in 3-dimensions of reaction–diffusion models for brain tumour growth

ABSTRACT We work with a well-known model of reaction–diffusion type for brain tumour growth and accomplish full 3-dimensional (3d) simulations of the tumour in time on two types of imaging data, the 3d Shepp–Logan head phantom image and an MRI T1-weighted brain scan from the Internet Brain Segmentation Repository. The source term is such that we have logistic growth. These simulations are obtained using standard finite difference approximations with novel calculations to increase speed and accuracy. Moreover, biological background to the model, its well-posedness together with a variational formulation are given. The variational formulation enable the feasibility of different derivations and modifications of the model.
Evaluating Progress Toward an Equal Opportunity Goal: Assessing the German Educational Reforms of the First Decade of the 21st Century

The first Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results on language literacy administered in Germany in 2000 shocked the nation bringing about some fundamental reforms in the education system. A e4 billion plan to reform the schooling system involved intensified parent and teacher training, increases in the number of schooling hours and changes in the way student performance was evaluated. By way of measuring the extent of the improvements, this paper proposes and implements new techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of the reforms in the context of a social justice imperative when outcomes before and after their introduction are not cardinally comparable. Fundamental changes in the structure of the dependency of child outcomes on circumstances were detected with some qualified improvements in equality of opportunity over the period.
Estimation of serum, salivary immunoglobulin G, immunoglobulin A levels and total protein, hemoglobin in smokeless tobacco chewers and oral submucous fibrosis patients

Background: Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a debilitating, potentially cancerous oral condition. Although areca nut is the most important causative agent, it is also considered that the disease is immunologically mediated. Aim of the Study: To establish that autoimmunity and nutritional deficiency play a role in the etiopathogenesis of OSMF. Objectives of the Study: To show that serum immunoglobulin markers (immunoglobulin-G [IgG], immunoglobulin-A [IgA]) and nutritional parameters such as total serum protein (TSP), Hemoglobin (Hb) play a role in causing OSMF and also to correlate serum, salivary IgG, IgA levels in OSMF patients. Settings and Design: A case-control study was done with 50 patients (25 patients who were provisionally diagnosed as OSMF - Group I, and 25 patients who were chronic smokeless tobacco chewers and who did not have any intraoral lesion - Group II). Materials and Methods: Five milliliters of blood and saliva were collected from both the groups. Quantitative analysis of serum, and salivary IgG, IgA was done by turbidometric immunoassay. TSP and Hemoglobin (Hb) were estimated by spectrophotometry. Statistical Analysis: Results were analyzed by independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: All patients of OSMF showed significant (P < 0.01) increase in serum IgG, IgA, and salivary IgG levels as compared to smokeless tobacco chewers. The salivary IgA levels showed a significant decrease in OSMF patients (P < 0.05). TSP and Hb levels showed significant (P < 0.01) decrease in OSMF patients as compared to smokeless tobacco chewers. Conclusion: The elevation of immunoglobulin levels supports the concept of autoimmunity. The decrease in TSP and Hb suggests that nutritional deficiency plays a defined role in the occurrence as well as a further progression of OSMF.
Is it worth hyperaccumulating Ni on non-serpentine soils? Decomposition dynamics of mixed-species litters containing hyperaccumulated Ni across serpentine and non-serpentine environments.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Nickel (Ni)-hyperaccumulating species produce high-Ni litters and may potentially influence important ecosystem processes such as decomposition. Although litters resembling the natural community conditions are essential in order to predict decomposition dynamics, decomposition of mixed-species litters containing hyperaccumulated Ni has never been studied. This study aims to test the effect of different litter mixtures containing hyperaccumulated Ni on decomposition and Ni release across serpentine and non-serpentine soils. METHODS Three different litter mixtures were prepared based on the relative abundance of the dominant species in three serpentine soils in the island of Lesbos, Greece where the Ni-hyperaccumulator Alyssum lesbiacum is present. Each litter mixture decomposed on its original serpentine habitat and on an adjacent non-serpentine habitat, in order to investigate whether the decomposition rates differ across the contrasted soils. In order to make comparisons across litter mixtures and to investigate whether additive or non-additive patterns of mass loss occur, a control non-serpentine site was used. Mass loss and Ni release were measured after 90, 180 and 270 d of field exposure. KEY RESULTS The decomposition rates and Ni release had higher values on serpentine soils after all periods of field exposure. The recorded rapid release of hyperaccumulated Ni is positively related to the initial litter Ni concentration. No differences were found in the decomposition of the three different litter mixtures at the control non-serpentine site, while their patterns of mass loss were additive. CONCLUSIONS Our results: (1) demonstrate the rapid decomposition of litters containing hyperaccumulated Ni on serpentine soils, indicating the presence of metal-tolerant decomposers; and (2) imply the selective decomposition of low-Ni parts of litters by the decomposers on non-serpentine soils. This study provides support for the elemental allelopathy hypothesis of hyperaccumulation, presenting the potential selective advantages acquired by metal-hyperaccumulating plants through litter decomposition on serpentine soils.
Does display sensitivity influence motor latency determination?

It is known that display sensitivity can affect onset latency measurement of compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs). We compared two display sensitivities with respect to intrarater and interrater reliability and measured to what degree display sensitivity influences the motor latency. We asked seven raters to mark the onset points of median CMAPs from 24 patients printed with display sensitivities of 5 mV/division and 0.5 mV/division on paper. The onset latencies were measured, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated. Most of the raters had excellent intrarater repeatability within a single sensitivity display setting. In contrast, the intrarater reliability using two different sensitivity settings was poor. ICCs calculated for interrater reliability were 0.93 at 0.5 mV/division and 0.91 at 5 mV/division. On average, the latencies measured at 5 mV/division were about 0.3 ms longer. We conclude that reliability of latency measurement is excellent at either sensitivity; however, it is important to use a consistent sensitivity in order to avoid making measuring errors. Muscle Nerve, 2009
Robust Interpretation in Dialogue by Co Contextual Fea

We present an approach to dialogue management and interpretation that evaluates and selects amongst candidate dialogue moves based on features at multiple levels. Multiple interpretation methods can be combined, multiple speech recognition and parsing hypotheses tested, and multiple candidate dialogue moves considered to choose the highest scoring hypothesis overall. We integrate hypotheses generated from shallow slot-filling methods and from relatively deep parsing, using pragmatic information. We show that this gives more robust performance than using either approach alone, allowing n-best list reordering to correct errors in speech recognition or parsing.
The shared epitope hypothesis. An approach to understanding the molecular genetics of susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis.

Aucun gene HLA seul n'a ete identifie comme conferant un risque de maladie. Distinction et definition des sous-types DR4. Role de la 3eme region hypervariable de DRβ1. Relation entre risque de pemphigus et DW1eme et DRW6eme, et relation entre susceptibilite a la polyarthrite rhumatoide et un groupe d'epitopes trouves dans les sous-types non DW10 de DR4
Evaluating the impact of continuing professional education on healthcare practice: the rhetoric and the reality

(2007). Evaluating the impact of continuing professional education on healthcare practice: the rhetoric and the reality. Nurse Education Today, 27(6) pp. 515–517. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c [not recorded] Version: [not recorded] Link(s) to article on publisher's website: Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online's data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. Despite a significant global investment in continuing professional education (CPE) in nursing and health care (Jordan, 2000) and a lack of empirical evidence of its effectiveness (Clark, 2005; Attree, 2006), it has nevertheless continued to be a focus of UK government lifelong learning strategies. For example, the Department of Health in England asserted that 'Every aspect of healthcare delivery and strategies for health depends on the education and skills of individual staff. Investment in their learning and personal development is, in a real sense, spending on patients and is essential to the future quality of the health service' (DoH, 2002, p.7, our emphasis). However, in the current climate of needs-led education and outcomes-driven health services, not just in the UK but worldwide , those responsible for developing and delivering CPE simply cannot afford to rely on such rhetoric to safeguard the ongoing support for CPE across the health services, however much we would like to do so! It is imperative that we are able to articulate the added value of CPE to direct patient and client care to employers, those commissioning healthcare education as well as potential students. Our own experience in this area (Draper and Clark, 2006; Draper et al., 2007) leads us to believe that the situation internationally may not be significantly different. It could perhaps be argued that it is already too late in the UK because of the significant cuts in CPE that have already happened in the past year: a 10% cut in training by strategic health authorities (SHAs) in the 2006/07 financial year. SHAs are also planning to take more than £117million from the training budget in the current (2007/08) financial year, with some SHAs cutting their budget in order to boost reserves (News item, page 7). In response, the Editor of the HSJ makes the case that 'training drives up performance and productivity, which translates into higher-quality, more effective and safer care' (Vize, 2007, p.3). …
Drum Transcription via Joint Beat and Drum Modeling Using Convolutional Recurrent Neural Networks

Existing systems for automatic transcription of drum tracks from polyphonic music focus on detecting drum instrument onsets but lack consideration of additional meta information like bar boundaries, tempo, and meter. We address this limitation by proposing a system which has the capability to detect drum instrument onsets along with the corresponding beats and downbeats. In this design, the sys-tem has the means to utilize information on the rhythmical structure of a song which is closely related to the desired drum transcript. To this end, we introduce and compare different architectures for this task, i.e., recurrent, convolutional, and recurrent-convolutional neural networks. We evaluate our systems on two well-known data sets and an additional new data set containing both drum and beat annotations. We show that convolutional and recurrent-convolutional neural networks perform better than state-of-the-art methods and that learning beats jointly with drums can be beneﬁcial for the task of drum detection.
Optically Induced Calcium-Dependent Gene Activation and Labeling of Active Neurons Using CaMPARI and Cal-Light

The advent of optogenetic methods has made it possible to use endogeneously produced molecules to image and manipulate cellular, subcellular, and synaptic activity. It has also led to the development of photoactivatable calcium-dependent indicators that mark active synapses, neurons, and circuits. Furthermore, calcium-dependent photoactivation can be used to trigger gene expression in active neurons. Here we describe two sets of protocols, one using CaMPARI and a second one using Cal-Light. CaMPARI, a calcium-modulated photoactivatable ratiometric integrator, enables rapid network-wide, tunable, all-optical functional circuit mapping. Cal-Light, a photoactivatable calcium sensor, while slower to respond than CaMPARI, has the capacity to trigger the expression of genes, including effectors, activators, indicators, or other constructs. Here we describe the rationale and provide procedures for using these two calcium-dependent constructs (1) in vitro in dissociated primary neuronal cell cultures (CaMPARI & Cal-Light); (2) in vitro in acute brain slices for circuit mapping (CaMPARI); (3) in vivo for triggering photoconversion or gene expression (CaMPARI & Cal-Light); and finally, (4) for recovering photoconverted neurons post-fixation with immunocytochemistry (CaMPARI). The approaches and protocols we describe are examples of the potential uses of both CaMPARI & Cal-Light. The ability to mark and manipulate neurons that are active during specific epochs of behavior has a vast unexplored experimental potential.
Validity and Reliability of the eHealth Analysis and Steering Instrument

Background eHealth services can contribute to individuals’ self-management, that is, performing lifestyle-related activities and decision making, to maintain a good health, or to mitigate the effect of an (chronic) illness on their health. But how effective are these services? Conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) is the golden standard to answer such a question, but takes extensive time and effort. The eHealth Analysis and Steering Instrument (eASI) offers a quick, but not dirty alternative. The eASI surveys how eHealth services score on 3 dimensions (ie, utility, usability, and content) and 12 underlying categories (ie, insight in health condition, self-management decision making, performance of self-management, involving the social environment, interaction, personalization, persuasion, description of health issue, factors of influence, goal of eHealth service, implementation, and evidence). However, there are no data on its validity and reliability. Objective The objective of our study was to assess the construct and predictive validity and interrater reliability of the eASI. Methods We found 16 eHealth services supporting self-management published in the literature, whose effectiveness was evaluated in an RCT and the service itself was available for rating. Participants (N=16) rated these services with the eASI. We analyzed the correlation of eASI items with the underlying three dimensions (construct validity), the correlation between the eASI score and the eHealth services’ effect size observed in the RCT (predictive validity), and the interrater agreement. Results Three items did not fit with the other items and dimensions and were removed from the eASI; 4 items were replaced from the utility to the content dimension. The interrater reliabilities of the dimensions and the total score were moderate (total, κ=.53, and content, κ=.55) and substantial (utility, κ=.69, and usability, κ=.63). The adjusted eASI explained variance in the eHealth services’ effect sizes (R2=.31, P<.001), as did the dimensions utility (R2=.49, P<.001) and usability (R2=.18, P=.021). Usability explained variance in the effect size on health outcomes (R2=.13, P=.028). Conclusions After removing 3 items and replacing 4 items to another dimension, the eASI (3 dimensions, 11 categories, and 32 items) has a good construct validity and predictive validity. The eASI scales are moderately to highly reliable. Accordingly, the eASI can predict how effective an eHealth service is in regard to supporting self-management. Due to a small pool of available eHealth services, it is advised to reevaluate the eASI in the future with more services.
Thunderstorm day and ground flash density in Malaysia

The frequent occurrence of lightning related accidents in Malaysia is a major concern to the public and the utility companies. The rate of lightning deaths is believed to be about ten times greater than that of the USA. A general knowledge of the lightning flash distribution will assist the intelligent public to make informed decisions regarding personal safety and protection of their assets. The Malaysian Meteorological Service (MMS) has been collecting data on thunderstorm day level for more than three decades. A private utility company has also been collecting data on the lightning flash density for nearly a decade using a lightning detection network. This paper takes a look at the available data and develops two maps on the thunderstorm day and lightning flash density levels for several key locations in the country. These maps will give the readers an insight into the risks associated with the thunderstorm in relation to their location.
Human papilloma virus DNA detected in case of inverted squamous papilloma of the lacrimal sac.

Figure 3 The bopsy shows the edge ofa necrotic lesion with a moderately dense superficial and deep mononuclear infiltrate present interstitialy and within pilosebaceous structures. (Haematoxylin and eosin, magnification X10.) Although present perivascularly the infiltrate is particularly targeted on pilosebaceous structures with involved follicles showing partial or complete destruction. Many of the cels invading the follicles are large, atypical, and contain hyperchromatic nuclei. Several of the partially disruptedfollicles contain cystic spaces which stain positive for mucin.
Change and Stasis: The Institutionalisation of Developing Country Mitigation in the International Climate Regime

The ability of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to negotiate an effective agreement for the post-2020 period is highly dependent on whether developing countries should take on binding mitigation commitments. This analysis combines an historical with a discursive institutionalist perspective to trace the conflict around developing country mitigation that accompanies the climate change regime since its inception. The article shows that early decisions on the subject matter shaped the regime until now. At the same time, the discourse and more recent decisions concerning developing country mitigation indicate gradual changes nevertheless. In particular, the Conferences of the Parties in Bali 2007 and Durban 2011 produced outcomes that changed the institutional architecture of the regime significantly. The development of the climate regime regarding developing country mitigation is hence marked by both periods of change and stasis.