Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
X-ray and optical-to-infrared follow-up observations of the transient X-ray burster SAX J1810.8-2609

We have performed a ROSAT follow-up observation of the X-ray transient SAX J1810.8–2609 on 1998 March 24 and detected a bright X-ray source (named RX J1810.7–2609) which was not detected during the ROSAT all-sky survey in September 1990. Optical-to-infrared follow-up observations of the 10″ radius ROSAT HRI X-ray error box revealed one variable object (R=19.5±0.5 on March 13, R>21.5 on 1998 August 27) which we tentatively propose as the optical/IR counterpart of RX J1810.7–2609≡SAX J1810.8–2609.
Exploiting program microarchitecture independent characteristics and phase behavior for reduced benchmark suite simulation

Modern architecture research relies heavily on detailed pipeline simulation. Simulating the full execution of an industry standard benchmark can take weeks to complete. Simulating the full execution of the whole benchmark suite for one architecture configuration can take months. To address this issue researchers have examined using targetted sampling based on phase behavior to significantly reduce the simulation time of each program in the benchmark suite. However, even with this sampling approach, simulating the full benchmark suite across a large range of architecture designs can take days to weeks to complete. The goal of this paper is to further reduce simulation time for architecture design space exploration. We reduce simulation time by finding similarity between benchmarks and program inputs at the level of samples (100M instructions of execution). This allows us to use a representative sample of execution from one benchmark to accurately represent a sample of execution of other benchmarks and inputs. The end result of our analysis is a small number of sample points of execution. These are selected across the whole benchmark suite in order to accurately represent the complete simulation of the whole benchmark suite for design space exploration. We show that this provides approximately the same accuracy as the SimPoint sampling approach while reducing the number of simulated instructions by a factor of 1.5.
Statistical validation of the brief International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core Set for osteoarthritis based on a large international sample of patients with osteoarthritis

With the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), the impact of health conditions on functioning and disability can be described. A Comprehensive and a Brief ICF Core Set for osteoarthritis (OA) were developed. Our specific aims were to validate the Brief ICF Core Set for OA using a novel approach, i.e., to identify ICF categories that best explain patients' functioning, and to propose a statistically validated version.
Verification of Unconstrained Handwritten Words at Character Level

In this paper we present a verification module that has as input the output provided by a word recognizer which is based on the segmentation-recognition paradigm. The word recognizer models words as the concatenation of character hidden Markov models (HMMs) and it provides at the output a list with the Top N best word hypotheses, including their likelihoods and the segmentation points of the words into sub words, which ideally should be characters. The verification module uses the segmentation points provided by the word recognizer for each word hypothesis to extract different features from each sub word. A classifier based on a multilayer perceptron neural network assigns a character class (A-Z) and estimates the a posteriori probability to each sub word that make up a word. Further, both the character class and the a posteriori probabilities are combined with the original output of the word recognizer to re-rank the word hypothesis into the Top N list. Experimental results show that the verification module improves the Top 1 recognition rate in 3.9% for an 85,092-word recognition task.
Registration of head volume images using implantable fiducial markers

Describes an extrinsic-point-based, interactive image-guided neurosurgical system designed at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, as part of a collaborative effort among the Departments of Neurological Surgery, Computer Science, and Biomedical Engineering. Multimodal image-to-image (II) and image-to-physical (IP) registration is accomplished using implantable markers. Physical space tracking is accomplished with optical triangulation. The authors investigate the theoretical accuracy of point-based registration using numerical simulations, the experimental accuracy of their system using data obtained with a phantom, and the clinical accuracy of their system using data acquired in a prospective clinical trial by 6 neurosurgeons at 4 medical centers from 158 patients undergoing craniotomies to respect cerebral lesions. The authors can determine the position of their markers with an error of approximately 0.4 mm in X-ray computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) images and 0.3 mm in physical space. The theoretical registration error using 4 such markers distributed around the head in a configuration that is clinically practical is approximately 0.5-0.6 mm. The mean CT-physical registration error for the: phantom experiments is 0.5 mm and for the clinical data obtained with rigid head fixation during scanning is 0.7 mm. The mean CT-MR registration error for the clinical data obtained without rigid head fixation during scanning is 1.4 mm, which is the highest mean error that the authors observed. These theoretical and experimental findings indicate that this system is an accurate navigational aid that can provide real-time feedback to the surgeon about anatomical structures encountered in the surgical field.
Functional annotation of hypothetical proteins – A review

The complete human genome sequences in the public database provide ways to understand the blue print of life. As of June 29, 2006, 27 archaeal, 326 bacterial and 21 eukaryotes is complete genomes are available and the sequencing for 316 bacterial, 24 archaeal, 126 eukaryotic genomes are in progress. The traditional biochemical/molecular experiments can assign accurate functions for genes in these genomes. However, the process is time-consuming and costly. Despite several efforts, only 50-60 % of genes have been annotated in most completely sequenced genomes. Automated genome sequence analysis and annotation may provide ways to understand genomes. Thus, determination of protein function is one of the challenging problems of the post-genome era. This demands bioinformatics to predict functions of un-annotated protein sequences by developing efficient tools. Here, we discuss some of the recent and popular approaches developed in Bioinformatics to predict functions for hypothetical proteins.
Through the Joy of Learning: Diary of 1000 Adult Learners

Contents Foreword by Sue Townsend Introduction Acknowledgements Part 1. Dear Diary - twenty-eight complete diaries Bernard Prunty Liliana Fiorentino Ann Mitchell Nigel Padley Christine Luke Karen Holtom 'Something for Me' Group Hubert Jefferson Barbara Hodgson Bob Smith Lesley Goulden English for Work Course May Banham Margaret Dobson Peter Rolls Silvia Schiavone Celia Scott Hayley Morris Anonymous from Macclesfield Nan Lawson Kathleen Chapman Julie Smithson Charles Nicholson Mary Gilmartin Joy Ball Beginners' Drawing Course Sue Dyson Janet Knight A selection of facsimile pages and illustrations from the Diaries Part 2. Adults Learning - extracts from the collection of diaries organised into four thematic sections Introduction Motivations Challenges Learning Experiences Achievements Afterward Working with the diaries Further Reading Abbreviations Index _________________________________
Practical Approach to Condition Monitoring of MV Drives

In modern plants one encounters a combination of very intelligent assets, traditional simple but critical assets, as well as access to process control and automation system. All existing information should be combined in order to optimize life cycle management of assets and thus to reduce maintenance costs and improve process/asset performance. This need determines some basic features of modern condition monitoring systems. Large drives are frequently used to power critical equipment, thus maintaining them in good running order is essential. In the process of performing their control function, drives collect and produce large quantity of data, which can be used in condition monitoring context.
A novel LLC integrated three-port DC-DC converter for stand-alone PV/battery system

By integrating an interleaved bidirectional Buck/Boost circuit and a full-bridge LLC resonant circuit, a three-port converter is proposed for stand-alone PV/Battery system. The full-bridge switching unit is shared, and system cost and size are reduced. All primary switches operate under ZVS and all secondary diodes can achieve ZCS-OFF, leading to reduced switching losses. In addition, the input current ripple is small, which is favorable for interfacing renewable energy sources. Both the operation principle and operation modes are presented. Then this paper analyzes the gain and soft switching characteristics. Finally, a 500W prototype is built and tested to verify all considerations.
Structural basis of differences in isoform-specific gating and lidocaine block between cardiac and skeletal muscle sodium channels.

Voltage-gated Na(+) channels underlie rapid conduction in heart and skeletal muscle. Cardiac sodium channels open and close over more negative potentials than do skeletal muscle sodium channels; heart channels are also more sensitive to lidocaine block. The structural basis of these differences is poorly understood. We mutated nine isoform-specific micro1 (rat skeletal muscle) channel residues in domain IV to those at equivalent locations in hH1 (human cardiac) channels. Channel constructs were expressed in tsA-201 cells and screened for changes in gating and lidocaine sensitivity. Only L1373E, located in the linker between the S1 and S2 transmembrane segments, shifted activation gating and use-dependent block by lidocaine toward that seen in hH1. The converse mutation, hH1-E1555L, shifted the phenotype of hH1 to resemble that of micro1. Therefore, we identified a previously unsuspected glutamate-to-leucine isoform-specific variant site (i.e., 1555 in hH1 and 1373 in micro1) that significantly influences gating and drug block in sodium channels. The identification of the residue at this position plays a major role in shaping the responses of sodium channels to voltage and to lidocaine, helping to rationalize the distinctive behavior of cardiac sodium channels.
Analysis of High-Resolution Microelectrode EEG Recordings in an Animal Model of Spontaneous Limbic Seizures

We perform a systematic data analysis on high resolution (0.5–12 kHz) multiarray microelectrode recordings from an animal model of spontaneous limbic epilepsy, to investigate the role of high frequency oscillations and the occurrence of early precursors for seizures. Results of spectral analysis confirm the importance of very high frequency oscillations (even greater than 600 Hz) in normal (healthy) and abnormal (epileptic) hippocampus. Furthermore, we show that the measures of Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA) and Recurrence Time Statistics (RTS) are successful in indicating, rather uniquely, the onset of ictal state and the occurrence of some warnings/precursors during the pre-ictal state, in contrast to the linear measures investigated.
Online Sentiment and Topic Dynamics Tracking over the Streaming Data

We propose a dynamic joint sentiment-topic model (dJST) which is able to effectively track sentiment and topic dynamics over the streaming data. Both topic and sentiment dynamics are captured by assuming that the current sentiment-topic specific word distributions are generated according to the word distributions at previous epochs. We study three different ways of accounting for such dependency information, (1) Sliding window where the current sentiment-topic-word distributions are dependent on the previous sentiment-topic specific word distributions in the last S epochs; (2) Skip model where history sentiment-topic-word distributions are considered by skipping some epochs in between; and (3) Multiscale model where previous long-and short-timescale distributions are taken into consideration. We derive efficient online inference procedures to sequentially update the model with newly arrived data and show the effectiveness of our proposed model on the Mozilla add-on reviews crawled between 2007 and 2011.
Design of ring convolutional trellis codes for MAP decoding of MPEG-4 images

We propose a trellis-coded modulation system using continuous-phase frequency-shift keying (CPFSK) and ring convolutional codes for transmitting the bits generated by an embedded zerotree wavelet encoder. Improved performance is achieved by using maximum a posteriori decoding of the zerotree symbols, and ring convolutional trellis codes are determined for this decoding method. The CPFSK transmitter is decomposed into a memoryless modulator and a continuous phase encoder over the ring of integers modulo 4; the latter is combined with a polynomial convolutional encoder over the same ring. In the code design process, a search is made of the combined trellis, where the branch metrics are modified to include the source transition matrix. Simulation results of image transmission are provided using the optimized system, including mismatched channel cases.
An Approach to Manage Reconfiguration in Fault-Tolerant Distributed Systems

This paper deals with dynamic resource management for real–time dependability–critical distributed systems. Requirements for such kind of systems span many domains such as time, survivability, and scalability and point out formidable challenges in terms of their fulfillment. An architecture is proposed, based on the agent distributed infrastructure Lira, and enriched with statistical models for decision-making capabilities. The aim of the proposed architecture is to provide adaptive system reconfiguration, resorting to a hierarchy of resource managers to cope with fault tolerance and scalability issues.
Unsupervised detection of liver lesions in CT images

This work presents an automatic approach for liver lesions detection in CT images. In this approach, liver is first segmented using fast and reliable semi-automatic technique. After liver segmentation, lesion detection is formulated as an unsupervised segmentation approach to alleviate tedious user interaction or prior learning requirements. The Meanshift clustering technique is utilized to separate different liver tissues in each CT slice. Consequently, a rule-based system is proposed to automatically and dynamically estimate healthy and unhealthy tissues distributions, and produces initial estimation of defected tissue. Finally, the graph cuts algorithm is employed to refine the initial detection and produces the finial lesions. Validation of the proposed approach using 15 patients' CT data shows high detection rate of 93%, which makes it an efficient initial opinion in the diagnosis process.
Improved current-mode control with single-cycle load transient

Non-linear single-cycle load transient improvement structures are proposed for current-mode controlled converters. Two popular variable-frequency current-mode controls are Constant On-Time (COT) and Ramp Pulse Modulation (RPM) due to their fast transient response. However, conventional COT and RPM both need multiple steps to increase the inductor current during load step-up transient. The fastest transient response is a single-cycle response. In this paper, two methods are proposed to achieve single-cycle load transient for current-mode control by improving the present control structures. For both methods of improvement, the operation mechanism of the control remains unchanged during steady-state. The proposed improvements can be used for RPM and COT in single-phase and multiphase.
Metal emitter SiGe:C HBTs

SiGe:C heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) offer high cut-off frequencies, f/sub T/, but low open base breakdown voltages, BV/sub CEO/, due to the relatively high current gain, h/sub FE/. In this paper, we show that the integration of a metal emitter, made by complete silicidation of a mono-emitter, increases the base current, I/sub B/ without reducing the collector current, I/sub C/. Hence, the BV/sub CEO/ is increased without affecting the f/sub T/. Furthermore, this metal emitter reduces the emitter series resistance, R/sub E/, and increases the f/sub T/ compared with a mono-emitter. SiGe:C HBTs with f/sub T/=230GHz and BV/sub CEO/=1.8V have been realised using a metal emitter in a self-aligned integration scheme.
The Effects of the Handwriting Without Tears Program on the Handwriting of Students in Inclusion Classrooms

THE EFFECTS OF THE HANDWRITING WITHOUT TEARS® PROGRAM ON THE HANDWRITING OF STUDENTS IN INCLUSION CLASSROOMS By Lisa L. Owens, M.S. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2004 Major Director: Dr. Janet H. Watts Associate Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy Many handwriting programs are currently used in schools, but little research has been conducted on their effectiveness. A quasi-experimental non-equivalent comparison group pretest posttest design examined effects of the Handwriting Without Tears® program with special and general education students enrolled in inclusion classrooms. Two experimental classes received instruction with the HWT® method while two comparison classes received instruction using traditional methods. Handwriting performance was measured using the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment. One-way analysis of covariance tested the differences between rates of handwriting improvement for experimental and comparison groups while controlling for pretest scores. Students in the experimental classes showed no statistically significant improvement in overall handwriting skill compared to the classes receiving traditional handwriting instruction. However, the HWT® program was found to be effective in improving the areas of size (p = .008) and spacing (p = .014) within a 10-week period, regardless of educational status or gender.
Curcumin inhibits WT1 gene expression in human leukemic K562 cells

AbstractAim:Wilms' tumor1 (WT1) gene is highly expressed in leukemic blast cells of myeloid and lymphoid origin. Thus, WT1 mRNA and protein serve as promising tumor markers for the detection of leukemia and monitoring of disease progression. The purpose of this study was to investigate the modulating effects of curcumin on WT1 gene expression in the human leukemic cell line K562.Methods:The cytotoxicity of curcumin on the K562 cell line was evaluated by using 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2 thiazoyl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The K562 cell line was treated with a non-cytotoxic dose of curcumin (5,10, or 15 μmol/L) for 13 d. The expression levels of WT1 protein and WT1 mRNA were assessed by Western blot analysis and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively.Results:Curcumin had a cytotoxic effect on K562 leukemic cells with an inhibitory concentration at 50% (IC50) of approximately 20 μg/mL (54.3 μmol/L). Non-cytotoxic doses of curcumin, at concentrations of 5,10, and 15 μmol/L for 2 d, decreased the level of WT1 protein and WT1 mRNA in the K562 cell line in a dose-dependent manner. Similarly, curcumin at a concentration of 10 μmol/L significantly decreased the level of WT1 protein and mRNA in a time-dependent manner.Conclusion:The inhibitory effects of curcumin are associated with a decrease in the levels of both WT1 protein and WT1 mRNA. The current study provides a molecular basis for future clinical trials in leukemic patients. Thus, curcumin could be a promising chemotherapeutic agent for human leukemia.
Byte-Addressable Update Scheme to Minimize the Energy Consumption of PCM-Based Storage Systems

In recent years, phase-change memory (PCM) has generated a great deal of interest because of its byte addressability and nonvolatility properties. It is regarded as a good alternative storage medium that can reduce the performance gap between the main memory and the secondary storage in computing systems. However, its high energy consumption on writes is a challenging issue in the design of battery-powered mobile computing systems. To reduce the energy consumption, we exploit the byte addressability and the asymmetric read-write energy/latency of PCM in an energy-efficient update scheme for journaling file systems. We also introduce a concept called the 50% rule to determine/recommend the best update strategy for block updates. The proposed scheme only writes modified data, instead of the whole updated block, to PCM-based storage devices without extra hardware support. Moreover, it guarantees the sanity/integrity of file systems even if the computing system crashes or there is a power failure during the data update process. We implemented the proposed scheme on the Linux system and conducted a series of experiments to evaluate the scheme. The results are very encouraging.
VRank: A Context-Aware Approach to Vulnerability Scoring and Ranking in SOA

With the rapid adoption of the concepts of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), sophisticated business processes and tasks are increasingly realized through composing distributed software components offered by different providers. Though such practices offer advantages in terms of cost-effectiveness and flexibility, those components are not immune to vulnerabilities. It is therefore important for the administrator of some composed service to evaluate the threats of such vulnerabilities accordingly within limited available information. Since almost all the existing efforts (e.g., CVSS) fail to consider specific context-aware information which is the specific character of SOA, they could not be adopted into SOA for scoring vulnerabilities. In this paper, we present VRank, a novel framework for the scoring and ranking of vulnerabilities in SOA. Different from existing efforts, for a given vulnerability, VRank not only considers its intrinsic properties (e.g., exploitability), but also takes into account the contexts of the services having this vulnerability, e.g., what roles they play in the composed service and how critical it is to the security objective of the service. The resulting scoring and ranking of vulnerabilities are thus highly relevant and meaningful to the composed service. We present the detailed design of VRank, and compare it with CVSS. Our experiments indicate VRank is able to provide much more useful ranking lists of vulnerabilities for complex composed services.
Detection of specific RNA sequences in yeast by in situ colony hybridization

Recently a convenient method for detection of specific RNA sequences in bacteria has been developed (Ivanov and Gigova, 1986) but the original protocol was inapplicable to microorganisms with a rigid cell wall. Here we report a modification of the RNA colony hybridization for use with yeast. The modified method includes the following consecutive procedures: (a) treatment of the yeast colonies on the membrane filter with 10% SDS at 65°C for 30 min; (b) treatment of the same filter with 3 × SSC, 10% formaldehyde at 65°C for 30 min; (c) hybridization with 32 P‐labelled oligonucleotide or (DNA) specific for the RNA sequence of interest. The intensity of the radioactive signals thus obtained is comparable with that of the E. colsi colonies.