Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Circuit architectures reviews for portable ECG signal analyzer

This paper discusses the circuit comparison of the electrocardiogram (ECG) heart rate detector for wearable biomedical devices. In this work, the QRS complex is used to calculate heart rate, representing the main component of the ECG signal. In order to achieve a high level of accuracy by the detector, the measured ECG signal must be free of noise. Typically, such noise originates from power line interferences and baseline wandering. To eliminate these noises, the ECG signal must be processed using the signal processing method. The ECG detection process can be divided into a preprocessing stage, which eliminates noise from the raw ECG signal, and the feature extraction stage, which extracts the QRS complex for heart rate calculation. Based on our analysis, the trade-off between complexity and accuracy in ECG signal architecture is important when designing a high-efficiency system.
Cognitive assessment across the continuum of care: the importance of occupational performance-based assessment for individuals post-stroke and traumatic brain injury.

BACKGROUND/AIM When working with individuals following stroke or traumatic brain injury, an important role of the occupational therapist is to assess the impact of cognitive impairment on their ability to engage in occupations and resume important life roles. The aim of this study was to survey therapists' reasons for selection of and challenges with using various cognitive assessment approaches, across the continuum of care, when working with individuals following stroke and traumatic brain injury. METHODS A cross-sectional survey, completed via post or online, with responses from 209 Australian occupational therapists was conducted. Participants included clinicians working in acute, inpatient rehabilitation and community settings. RESULTS Occupational performance-based assessments were ranked as the most important assessment method, with 69% of participants reporting using these assessments for more than 75% of their clients with cognitive impairment. Participants identified the lack of quantitative data provided by these assessments as a frequent challenge. The identification of cognitive deficits was the highest ranked reason for using cognitive screens and batteries. Challenges identified with using cognitive screens and batteries included difficulty linking assessment results to occupational performance, and difficulty using results to generate intervention strategies. The majority of participants reported using a combined approach to assessment, and used screens and batteries to support findings of occupational performance-based assessments. CONCLUSIONS Targeted efforts to further incorporate standardised occupational performance-based methods into clinical practice, research, and ongoing professional development is required to enhance occupational therapy services when working with individuals with cognitive impairment.
Optimal code rates for the Lorentzian channel: Shannon codes and LDPC codes

We take an information-theoretic approach to obtaining optimal code rates for error-control codes on a magnetic storage channel approximated by the Lorentzian channel. Code rate optimality is in the sense of maximizing the information-theoretic user density along a track. To arrive at such results, we compute the achievable information rates for the Lorentzian channel as a function of signal-to-noise ratio and channel density, and then use these information rate calculations to obtain optimal code rates and maximal linear user densities. We call such (hypothetical) optimal codes "Shannon codes. " We then examine optimal code rates on a Lorentzian channel assuming low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes instead of Shannon codes. We employ as our tool extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) charts, which provide a simple way of determining the capacity limit (or decoding threshold) for an LDPC code. We demonstrate that the optimal rates for LDPC codes coincide with those of Shannon codes and, more important, that LDPC codes are essentially capacity-achieving codes on the Lorentzian channel. Finally, we use the above results to estimate the optimal bit-aspect ratio, where optimality is in the sense of maximizing areal density.
The Evolution of Springtime Water Vapor Over Beijing Observed by a High Dynamic Raman Lidar System: Case Studies

Raman lidar is an effective technique to retrieve the vertical distribution of atmospheric water vapor. For the first time, we present water vapor profiles retrieved by a high dynamic Raman lidar system over the Beijing area for representative cases in spring 2014, within the framework of the Aerosol Multi-wavelength Polarization Lidar Experiment project. In springtime, water vapor content over Beijing is generally low but with a strong daily variability. Its evolution is strongly coupled with winds and aerosols, with clouds also exerting a distinct impact. Northwesterly winds is found to be the most important factor impacting the temporal variability of water vapor mixing ratio (WVMR), and WVMR is found to be negatively correlated with wind speed. Moreover, we find that clouds tend to cause significant increases in the standard deviation of WMVR measurement, and relative humidity sharply increase below the cloud base. During a typical pollution episode, water vapor strongly covaries with aerosols due to hygroscopic growth effect and transport mechanism. Both water vapor and aerosols exhibit the highest variability within the planetary boundary layer (PBL), where the development and dissipation of haze mainly occur. Within the PBL, water vapor and aerosol concentration demonstrate different evolution features at different altitudes during the haze process, with a delayed increase and early decrease for higher altitudes. Back trajectory analysis using the hybrid single-particle Lagrangian trajectory model indicates that this phenomenon is most likely associated with different sources of the air mass at different altitudes.
EVALUATING ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF DEALING WITH MISSING OBSERVATIONS - AN ECONOMIC APPLICATION

This paper compares methods to remedy missing value problems in survey data. The commonly used methods to deal with this issue are to delete observations that have missing values (case-deletion), replace missing values with sample mean (mean imputation), and substitute a fitted value from auxiliary regression (regression imputation). These methods are easy to implement but have potentially serious drawbacks such as bias and inefficiency. In addition, these methods treat imputed values as known so that they ignore the uncertainty due to 'missingness', which can result in underestimating the standard errors. An alternative method is Multiple Imputation (MI). In this paper, Expectation Maximization (EM) and Data Augmentation (DA) are used to create multiple complete datasets, each with different imputed values due to random draws. EM is essentially maximum-likelihood estimation, utilizing the interdependency between missing values and model parameters. DA estimates the distribution of missing values given the observed data and the model parameters through Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). These multiple datasets are subsequently combined into a single imputation, incorporating the uncertainty due to the missingness. Results from the Monte Carlo experiment using pseudo data show that MI is superior to other methods for the problem posed here.
Dynamics of Self-Assembling Systems: Analogy with Chemical Kinetics

In this article, we propose a new analyzing method for self-assembling systems. Its initial purpose was to predict the yield—the final amount of desired product—of our original self-assembling mechanical model. Moreover, the method clarifies the dynamical evolution of the system. In this method, the quantity of each intermediate product is adopted as state variables, and the dynamics that dominates the state variables is derived. The behavior of the system is reduced to a set of difference equations with a small degree of freedom. The concept is the same as in chemical kinetics or in population dynamics. However, it was never applied to self-assembling systems. The mathematical model is highly abstracted so that it is applicable to other self-assembling systems with only small modifications.
Umweltbewusstsein, ökonomische Anreize und Umweltverhalten. Empirische Befunde aus der Berner und Münchner Umweltbefragung

Dans quelle mesure les comportements ecologiques dans les situations de la vie quotidienne sont-ils influences par la prise de conscience de l'environnement, les connaissances en matiere d'ecologie, l'emotion generale que suscitent les pollutions et par les incitations economiques? A la lumiere de donnees obtenues par sondages realises dans la region de Berne et dans la ville de Munich, on evalue, a l'aide de procedures multivariees, la portee des effets de ces parametres ainsi que d'autres caracteristiques sociodemographiques sur le comportement ecologique personnel decrit par chacune des personnes interrogees
X-linked mental retardation syndrome with short stature, small hands and feet, seizures, cleft palate, and glaucoma is linked to Xq28.

Of the gene-rich regions of the human genome, Xq28 is the most densely mapped. Mutations of genes in this band are responsible for 10 syndromal forms of mental retardation and 5 nonsyndromal forms. Clinical and molecular studies reported here add an additional syndromic form of X-linked mental retardation (XLMR) to this region. The condition comprises short stature, small hands and feet, seizures, cleft palate, and glaucoma. One affected male died at age 19 years in status epilepticus, but others have survived to old age. Carrier females do not have somatic anomalies or mental impairment. The gene is localized to the terminal 8 Mb of Xq28 with markers distal to DXS8011 showing linkage to the disorder with a lod score of 2.11 at zero recombination.
Role of adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase in α-linolenic acid-induced intestinal lipid metabolism

Abstract n-3 Long-chain PUFA up-regulate intestinal lipid metabolism. However, whether these metabolic effects of PUFA on intestine are mediated by AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) remains to be elucidated. To determine the effects of α-linolenic acid (ALA) on intestinal fatty acid (FA) metabolism and whether these effects were affected by AMPK deletion, mice deficient in the catalytic subunit of AMPKα1 or AMPKα2 and wild-type (WT) mice were fed either a high-fat diet (HF) or HF supplemented with ALA (HF-A). The results showed that ALA supplementation decreased serum TAG content in WT mice. ALA also increased mRNA expression of genes (carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1a, acyl-CoA oxidase 1, medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, cytochrome P450 4A10 and pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase isoenzyme 4a) involved in intestinal lipid oxidation and mRNA expression of TAG synthesis-related genes (monoacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 2, diacylglycerol O-acyltransferases 1 and 2) in WT mice. Consistent with these, expression levels of phosphorylated AMPKα1 and AMPKα2 were also increased in WT mice after ALA addition. However, in the absence of either AMPKα1 or AMPKα2, ALA supplementation failed to increase intestinal lipid oxidation. In addition, no significant effects of either diet (HF and HF-A) or genotype (WT, AMPKα1–/– and AMPKα2–/–) on FA uptake in the intestine and faecal TAG output were observed. Our results suggest that AMPK is indispensable for the effects of ALA on intestinal lipid oxidation.
Towards an Analysis of Voice Features of Game Characters

Animation and game are very popular in Japan. Many works in animation and game have been released, and many characters have been produced. It is an important factor to select appropriate voice actors so that we can appropriately impress the characters. Based on this idea, we recorded voice performance from portable games and calculated vocal acoustic features. A goal of this study is to develop a system to recommend characteristics of voice actors from a personality of a character.
Comparison of Mediterranean sea level variability as given by three baroclinic models

We compare the results of three baroclinic models with the aim of evaluating their skills in reproducing Mediterranean long-term sea level variability. The models are an ocean-ice coupled forced global model (ORCA), a regional forced ocean model (OM8) and a regional coupled atmosphere-ocean model (MITgcm). Model results are compared for the period 1961–2000 against hydrographic observations for water mass properties and steric sea level, and against satellite altimetry data and a reconstruction for sea level. All models represent the temperature variability of the upper layers reasonably well, but exhibit a considerable positive drift in the temperature of the deep layers due to an imbalance between the surface heat flux and the heat flux through Gibraltar. OM8 and MITgcm simulate the process of dense water formation better than ORCA thanks to their higher resolution in the model grid and in the atmospheric forcings. Concerning sea level variability, MITgcm is the only model that simulates well the inter-annual sea level variability associated with the Eastern Mediterranean Transient. However, none of the models is able to reproduce other features that have clear signatures on sea level. The inter-annual variability of Mediterranean mean sea level is better reproduced by the ORCA model because it is the only one considering the mass contribution from the Atlantic. The lack of that component in the regional models is a major shortcoming to reproduce Mediterranean sea level variability. Finally, mean sea level trends are overestimated by all models due to the spurious warming drift in the deep layers.
Minimum Dispersion Constrained Nonnegative Matrix Factorization to Unmix Hyperspectral Data

This paper considers the problem of unsupervised spectral unmixing for hyperspectral image analysis. Each observed pixel is assumed to be a noisy linear mixture of pure material spectra, namely, endmembers. The mixing coefficients, usually called abundances, are constrained to positive and summed to unity. The proposed unmixing approach is based on the nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) framework, which considers the physical constraints of the problem, including the positivity of the endmember spectra and abundances. However, the basic NMF formulation has degenerated solutions and suffers from nonconvexity limitations. We consider here a regularization function, called dispersion, which favors the solution such that the endmember spectra have minimum variances. Such a solution encourages the recovered spectra to be flat, preserving the possible spectral singularities (peaks and sharp variations). The regularized criterion is minimized with a projected gradient (PG) scheme, and we propose a new step-size estimation technique to fasten the PG convergence. The derived algorithm is called MiniDisCo, for minimum dispersion constrained NMF. We experimentally compare MiniDisCo with the recently proposed algorithm. It is shown to be particularly robust to the presence of flat spectra, to a possible a priori overestimation of the number of endmembers, or if the amount of observed spectral pixels is low. In addition, experiments show that the considered regularization correctly overcomes the degeneracy and nonconvexity problems, leading to satisfactory unmixing accuracy. We include a comparative analysis of a real-world scene.
Neural integration of reward, arousal, and feeding: Recruitment of VTA, lateral hypothalamus, and ventral striatal neurons

The ability to control neuronal activity using light pulses and optogenetic tools has revealed new properties of neural circuits and established causal relationships between activation of a single genetically defined population of neurons and complex behaviors. Here, we briefly review the causal effect of activity of six genetically defined neural circuits on behavior, including the dopaminergic neurons DA in the ventral tegmental area (VTA); the two main populations of medium‐sized spiny neurons (D1‐ and D2‐positive) in the striatum; the giant Cholinergic interneurons in the ventral striatum; and the hypocretin‐ and MCH‐ expressing neurons in the lateral hypothalamus. We argue that selective spatiotemporal recruitment and coordinated spiking activity among these cell type‐specific neural circuits may underlie the neural integration of reward, learning, arousal and feeding. © 2011 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 2011
Global patterns of introduction effort and establishment success in birds

Theory suggests that introduction effort (propagule size or number) should be a key determinant of establishment success for exotic species. Unfortunately, however, propagule pressure is not recorded for most introductions. Studies must therefore either use proxies whose efficacy must be largely assumed, or ignore effort altogether. The results of such studies will be flawed if effort is not distributed at random with respect to other characteristics that are predicted to influence success. We use global data for more than 600 introduction events for birds to show that introduction effort is both the strongest correlate of introduction success, and correlated with a large number of variables previously thought to influence success. Apart from effort, only habitat generalism relates to establishment success in birds.
Robust model based predictive controller design for NCSs with long time varying delays in feedback channels

An off-line optimization, on-line execution robust model predictive control algorithm (RMPC) is designed for networked control systems (NCSs) with long time varying delays in feedback channels. Invariant sets are predetermined via off-line optimization, and on-line controller gains are selected according to system states. Predicted values are used to compensate data dropouts. Simulations and comparisons show effectiveness of the designed controller.
Qigong exercise for the symptoms of Parkinson's disease: A randomized, controlled pilot study

Irrespective of limited evidence, not only traditional physiotherapy, but also a wide array of complementary methods are applied by patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). We evaluated the immediate and sustained effects of Qigong on motor and nonmotor symptoms of PD, using an add‐on design. Fifty‐six patients with different levels of disease severity (mean age/standard deviation [SD], 63.8/7.5 years; disease duration 5.8/4.2 years; 43 men [76%]) were recruited from the outpatient movement disorder clinic of the Department of Neurology, University of Bonn. We compared the progression of motor symptoms assessed by Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale motor part (UPDRS‐III) in the Qigong treatment group (n = 32) and a control group receiving no additional intervention (n = 24). Qigong exercises were applied as 90‐minute weekly group instructions for 2 months, followed by a 2 months pause and a second 2‐month treatment period. Assessments were carried out at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months. More patients improved in the Qigong group than in the control group at 3 and 6 months (P = 0.0080 at 3 months and P = 0.0503 at 6 months; Fisher's exact test). At 12 months, there was a sustained difference between groups only when changes in UPDRS‐III were related to baseline. Depression scores decreased in both groups, whereas the incidence of several nonmotor symptoms decreased in the treatment group only. © 2005 Movement Disorder Society
Ranking product aspects through sentiment analysis of online reviews

Abstract The electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) is one of the most important among all the factors affecting consumers’ behaviours. Opinions towards a product through online reviews will influence purchase decisions of other online consumers by changing their perceptions on the product quality. Furthermore, each product aspect may impact consumers’ intentions differently. Thus, sentiment analysis and econometric models are incorporated to examine the relationship between purchase intentions and aspect-opinion pairs, which enable the weight estimation for each product aspect. We first identify product aspects and reduce dimensions to extract aspect-opinion pairs. Next the information gain is calculated for each aspect through entropy theory. Based on sentiment polarity and sentiment strength, we formulate an econometric model by integrating the information gain to measure the aspect’s weight. In the experiment, we track 386 digital cameras on Amazon for 39 months, and results show that the aspect weight for digital cameras is detected more precisely than TF-ID and HAC algorithms. The results will bridge product aspects and consumption intention to facilitate e-WOM-based marketing.
Two-hop AF MIMO relay systems with direct link - transceiver design based on new protocol

In this paper, we study the transceiver design for two-hop amplify-and-forward (AF) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) relay systems using a new strategy, in which the source sends data at both time intervals. We propose a new alternating approach to design the transceiver and relay matrices based on the minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) criterion. We show through numerical simulations that the proposed system has a lower bit-error-rate compared with existing MIMO AF relay systems.
Transovarial and trans-stadial transmission of Rickettsiae africae in Amblyomma variegatum ticks.

Rickettsia africae, a spotted fever group rickettsia, is the causative agent of African tick bite fever, transmitted by hard ticks of the Amblyomma genus [1]. Whereas Amblyomma hebraeum, a tick found in large ruminants and wildlife species, is the most common vector of R. africae in southern Africa, epidemiological evidence indicates that Amblyomma variegatum is the predominant vector for the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, and theWest Indies [1]. R. africae has also been detected in Amblyomma lepidum from the Sudan and from Djibouti [2]. The rates of R. africae infection in ticks in endemic area are typically high, and may reach 100% [3]. Cattle, wild game and other ungulates constitute the principal hosts of the Amblyomma vectors, although larvae and nymphs may also parasitize birds and rodents. These ticks are known to readily bite humans. In 1991, Kelly and Mason demonstrated that A. hebraeum ticks collected in Zimbabwe and naturally infected by R. africae were capable of maintaining the rickettsia through trans-stadial and transovarial transmission over two generations [4]. The objective of this work was to establish laboratory colonies of A. variegatum ticks infected by R. africae to examine the vertical transmission of the rickettsia in ticks.