Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Peak oxygen uptake is not determined by cardiac noradrenaline spillover in heart failure.

AIMS We recently found that resting muscle sympathetic nerve activity is inversely related to peak oxygen uptake (VO(2) peak) in patients with heart failure, suggesting a peripheral neurogenic limit to exercise in heart failure. No such relationship was observed in healthy controls. To determine whether this observation is specific to sympathetic discharge to skeletal muscle, we tested the null hypothesis that VO(2) peak would not relate to resting cardiac noradrenaline spillover, which is also elevated in heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS We measured cardiac noradrenaline spillover at rest by a radiotracer technique and VO(2) peak, during cycle ergometry, by open circuit spirometry in 49 heart failure patients (mean age 54.4+/-1.4 (SE)). There was a significant relationship between age and peak VO(2) (P=0.022). There was no significant relationship between cardiac noradrenaline spillover and either absolute or relative VO(2) peak (P=0.136), with age included in a multiple linear regression model, and none between cardiac noradrenaline spillover and the percent predicted VO2) peak achieved (P=0.34). CONCLUSIONS Reduced exercise capacity in heart failure relates more closely to sympathetic traffic to skeletal muscle than to cardiac sympathetic outflow, as assessed by noradrenaline spillover. This finding lends further support to the concept of a predominantly peripheral neurogenic limit to exercise.
RadioMap Prefetching for Indoor Navigation in Intermittently Connected Wi-Fi Networks

Wi-Fi (or WLAN) based indoor navigation applications for mobiles rely on cloud-based services (s) that take care of a user’s (u) localization task using structures called RadioMaps (RMs). It is imperative for u to have a stable WiFi connection in order to either continuously receive location updates from s or to download RMs a priori for offline navigation. Wi-Fi networks however, suffer from intermittent connectivity due to poor network planning that results in sparse deployment of access points and effectively areas where Wi-Fi coverage cannot be guaranteed. This inherently affects the localization accuracy and therefore the navigation experience of users. In this paper, we propose an innovative framework for accurate and fast indoor localization over an intermittently connected WiFi network, coined Prefetching Localization (PreLoc). In Preloc, we prioritize the download of RM records based on knowledge acquired from historic traces of other users inside the same building. Instead of downloading the complete RM from s to u, we propose a Probabilistic Group Selection (PGS) strategy, which identifies RM records that have a higher probability of being necessary to a user moving inside a target area. We have evaluated our framework using a real prototype developed in Android, as well as realistic Wi-Fi traces we collected at the University of Cyprus. Our experimental study reveals that PreLoc using PGS and conventional fingerprint-based indoor positioning algorithms can yield accuracy that is as good as using the same algorithms with a complete RM, even under scenarios of weak Wi-Fi coverage. Keywords—Indoor Localization, Prefetching, Radiomaps
Artificial Bee Colony Optimization based Negative Selection Algorithms to Classify Iris Plant Dataset

This paper presents a new technique for classification of data. Artificial Immune System is the best technique to classify the data. Three main algorithms came under Artificial Immune System are (1) Clonal selection algorithms (CLONALG), (2) Negative selection algorithms (NSA), (3) Artificial immune networks (AINE). Negative selection algorithms is one of the best technique to classify the data. NSA works in two phases Training and Testing. Training is an optimization task so it is required to get the optimal value. In tradition training process NSA have some drawbacks like local minima and computational complexity. So to overcome this problem optimized data is to be used. Many optimization algorithms have been investigated, Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) optimization algorithm is one of the best algorithm. The proposed hybrid ABC and NSA can be applied to improve the global convergence behavior of the algorithm.The experimental results focus on Iris dataset plant and show that the proposed algorithm is more effective in classification of iris dataset when compared with other approaches. This method is more effective for random search and an effective hybridized method for artificial immune system optimization problem.
Slanted layered superlenses for subwavelength light manipulation

We demonstrate numerically the operation of optical microelements consisting of metal-dielectric multilayers with slanted edges. We show examples of optical devices for imaging with sub-wavelength resolution, for focusing in a sub-wavelength-sized area, for manipulation of the state of polarisation, and for cross-coupling between the propagating and evanescent parts of the spatial spectrum. The multilayers that are used by us consist of silver and a high refractive index dielectric and may be regarded as optimised low-loss metamaterials with a large effective anisotropy, with reduced Fabry-Perot resonances, with impedance matched to the host medium and with diffraction-free properties. The metamaterials are designed by us with the transfer matrix method and with use of the framework of linear-shift-invariant systems, while the device as a whole is analysed using the finite difference time domain method.
Effect of Intensive Versus Standard Lipid-Lowering Treatment With Atorvastatin on the Progression of Calcified Coronary Atherosclerosis Over 12 Months: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind Trial

Background— Recent clinical trials have suggested that intensive versus standard lipid-lowering therapy provides for additional benefit. Electron-beam computed tomography provides the opportunity to quantify the progression of coronary artery calcification (CAC) in serial measurements. Methods and Results— In a multicenter, randomized, double-blind trial, 471 patients (age 61±8 years) who had no history of coronary artery disease and no evidence of high-grade coronary stenoses (>50% diameter reduction) were randomized if they had ≥2 cardiovascular risk factors and moderate calcified coronary atherosclerosis as evidenced by a CAC score ≥30. Patients were assigned to receive 80 mg or 10 mg of atorvastatin per day over 12 months. Progression of CAC volume scores could be analyzed in 366 patients. After pretreatment with 10 mg of atorvastatin for 4 weeks, 12 months of study medication reduced LDL cholesterol from 106±22 to 87±33 mg/dL in the group randomized to receive 80 mg of atorvastatin (P<0.001), whereas levels remained stable in the group randomized to receive 10 mg (108±23 at baseline, 109±28 mg/dL at the end of the study, P=NS). The mean progression of CAC volume scores, corrected for the baseline CAC volume score, was 27% (95% CI 20.8% to 33.1%) in the 80-mg atorvastatin group and 25% (95% CI 19.1% to 30.8%) in the 10-mg atorvastatin group (P=0.65). CAC progression showed no relationship with on-treatment LDL cholesterol levels. Conclusions— We did not observe a relationship between on-treatment LDL cholesterol levels and the progression of calcified coronary atherosclerosis. Over a period of 12 months, intensive atorvastatin therapy was unable to attenuate CAC progression compared with standard atorvastatin therapy. The possibility remains that the time window was too short to demonstrate an effect.
Sparse Matrix Factorization: Applications to Latent Semantic Indexing

Abstract : This article describes the use of Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) and some of its variants for the TREC Legal batch task. Both folding-in and Essential Dimensions of LSI (EDLSI) appeared as if they might be successful for recall-focused retrieval on a collection of this size. Furthermore, we developed a new LSI technique, one which replaces the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) with another technique for matrix factorization, the sparse column-row approximation (SCRA). We were able to conclude that all three LSI techniques have similar performance. Although our 2009 results showed significant improvement when compared to our 2008 results, the use of a better method for selection of the parameter K, which is the ranking that results in the best balance between precision and recall, appears to have provided the most benefit.
An Implantable Versatile Electrode-Driving ASIC for Chronic Epidural Stimulation in Rats

This paper presents the design and testing of an electrode driving application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) intended for epidural spinal cord electrical stimulation in rats. The ASIC can deliver up to 1 mA fully programmable monophasic or biphasic stimulus current pulses, to 13 electrodes selected in any possible configuration. It also supports interleaved stimulation. Communication is achieved via only 3 wires. The current source and the control of the stimulation timing were kept off-chip to reduce the heat dissipation close to the spinal cord. The ASIC was designed in a 0.18- μm high voltage CMOS process. Its output voltage compliance can be up to 25 V. It features a small core area (<;0.36 mm2) and consumes a maximum of 114 μW during a full stimulation cycle. The layout of the ASIC was developed to be suitable for integration on the epidural electrode array, and two different versions were fabricated and electrically tested. Results from both versions were almost indistinguishable. The performance of the system was verified for different loads and stimulation parameters. Its suitability to drive a passive epidural 12-electrode array in saline has also been demonstrated.
Treatment of chemical burns of the eye.

THE VAST amount of literature on chemical burns of the eye has clearly outlined certain fundamental concepts of the altered physiology present in such injuries, but the application of this information is yet difficult to attain. Our knowledge of the basic mechanisms involved in ocular burns was considerably advanced during the war years through the combined efforts of research workers in this country and abroad. The most noteworthy result of their efforts was the finding of a suitable specific treatment for eyes burned with lewisite (β-chlorovinyl-2-chloroarsine) by employing dimercaprol, commonly known as BAL (British antilewisite). After the fundamental investigations of the Oxford group that led to the use of dimercaprol for lewisite lesions of the skin, Mann 1 and other British investigators were the first to evaluate dimercaprol therapy for ocular lesions. More recently, calsulfhydryl (hydrosulfosol® 2 ) has received attention from ophthalmologists, following a report by Kuhn. 3 This investigator
Fruit-Specific Expression of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Tat Gene in Tomato Plants and Its Immunogenic Potential in Mice

ABSTRACT The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Tat protein is considered a potential candidate vaccine antigen. In an effort to design a strategy for noninvasive vaccination against HIV-1, we developed transgenic tomatoes expressing the Tat protein. Two independent plants testing positive in transgene detection analysis were selected and grown to maturity. Monoclonal antibodies against Tat recognized a protein of the expected size. Interestingly, expression of Tat seemed to be toxic to the plant, as in all cases the fruit exhibited underdeveloped reproductive structures and no seeds. Nine groups of 10 pathogen-free BALB/c male mice were primed either orally, intraperitoneally, or intramuscularly with 10 mg of tomato fruit extract derived from transgenic or wild-type plants and with 10 μg of Tat86 recombinant protein. Mice were immunized at days 0, 14, and 28, and given boosters after 15 weeks; sera were drawn 7 days after each booster, and the antibody titer was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. All three immunization approaches induced the development of a strong anti-Tat immunological response, which increased over time. Isotype subclass determination showed the presence of mucosal (immunoglobulin A) immunity soon after the beginning of the oral immunization protocol, and the data were confirmed by the presence of anti-Tat antibodies in fecal pellets and in vaginal washes. We also demonstrated that sera from immunized mice inhibited with high efficiency recombinant Tat-dependent transactivation of the HIV-1 long terminal repeat promoter. This neutralization activity might be relevant for the suppression of extracellular Tat activities, which play an important role in HIV disease development.
Identification of a frameshift mutation resulting in premature termination and loss of cell wall anchoring of the PAc antigen of Streptococcus mutans GS-5

Most strains of Streptococcus mutans possess a 190-kDa protein antigen (PAc) on their cell surfaces, while strain GS-5 produces extracellularly a 155-kDa PAc protein. The pac gene of strain GS-5 consists of 3,477 bp and codes for a protein of 1,158 amino acids. One insertion of an adenine into the 3,469th, 3,470th, or 3,471st position from the start codon results in a frameshift mutation at codon 1157 with subsequent termination after 3 additional codons.
Physiological and biochemical responses of a marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum exposed to 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide

The marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum is an important basal resource in the marine food chain and is used as a standard test organism in toxicological studies. In this study, in vivo experiments were performed to analyze the effects of 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ((C8mim)Br) on the growth, photosynthetic activity, and antioxidant enzymes of P. tricornutum using 96 h growth tests in a batch-culture system. The results showed that (C8mim)Br significantly inhibited the growth of P. tricornutum, with a 96 h EC50 of 8.89 mg l �1 , and likely restricts PSII electron transfer and light use efficiency of the diatom. With increasing (C8mim)Br concentrations, the soluble protein content in the diatom increased by 35.9, 58.5, 123.3, 197.7, and 207.0% in 5, 10, 20, 40, and 80 l �1 (C8mim)Br treatments relative to the controls, respectively. Concentrations of (C8mim)Br ≤10 mg l �1 caused a slight increase of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (from 16.37 to 23.04 U g �1 protein) in the diatom, but inhibited its activity at concentrations above 10 mg l �1 . These observations indicate that moderate (C8mim)Br stress (about 10 mg l �1 ) likely stimulates the synthesis of proteins and free radical quenching. The general increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) content suggests that the physiological effects of (C8mim)Br were caused by free radical genera- tion. Thus, potential risks exist if (C8mim)Br is accidentally released into the aquatic environment.
Relations Between Adolescent Ratings of Rothbart's Temperament Questionnaire and the HEXACO Personality Inventory

Conventionally, individual differences have been assessed using temperament measures for infants and children, and personality measures for adults. We chose to explore both temperament and personality to see whether a convergence exists specifically during adolescence. A sample of 225 adolescents completed Rothbart's Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire–Revised (EATQ–R), a 4-factor temperament scale, and the HEXACO Personality Inventory–Revised (HEXACO PI–R), a 6-factor personality scale. As hypothesized, we found significant relations between the 2 measures. However, there were some important differences between the 2 measures regarding Honesty–Humility, Openness, and Frustration that highlight the unique contributions of both instruments to understanding and measuring adolescent individual differences. As there is a relatively scant history of measuring temperament or personality in adolescence, it is sometimes difficult for researchers to decide which instrument is most appropriate. The results reported here suggest that either the EATQ–R or the HEXACO PI–R could be appropriate, depending on the specific research questions being asked.
Medical Image Segmentation Based on Wavelet Analysis and Gradient Vector Flow

Medical image segmentation is one of the key technologies in computer aided diagnosis. Due to the complexity and diversity of medical images, the wavelet multi-scale analysis is introduced into GVF (gradient vector flow) snake model. The modulus values of each scale and phase angle values are calculated using wavelet transform, and the local maximum points of modulus values, which are the contours of the object edges, are obtained along phase angle direction at each scale. Then, location of the edges of the object and segmentation is implemented by GVF snake model. The experiments on some medical images show that the improved algorithm has small amount of computation, fast convergence and good robustness to noise.
Caenorhabditis elegans as a Model Host for Staphylococcus aureus Pathogenesis

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus, an important pathogen of humans and other warm-blooded animals, is also capable of killing the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Here, we show that C. elegans organisms that are fed S. aureus die over the course of several days in a process that is correlated with the accumulation of bacteria within the nematode digestive tract. Several S. aureus virulence determinants known or speculated to be important in mammalian pathogenesis, including the quorum-sensing global virulence regulatory system agr and the global virulence regulator sarA, the alternative sigma factor σB, alpha-hemolysin, and V8 serine protease, are required for full pathogenicity in nematodes. In addition, several defined C. elegans mutants were examined for susceptibility to S. aureus infection. Enhanced susceptibility to S. aureus killing was observed with loss-of-function mutations in the C. elegans genes esp-2/sek-1 and esp-8/nsy-1, which encode components of a conserved p38 MAP kinase signaling pathway involved in nematode defense against multiple pathogens. These results suggest that key aspects of S. aureus pathogenesis have been conserved, irrespective of the host, and that specific C. elegans host factors can alter susceptibility to this gram-positive human pathogen.
Joint Data-Aided Carrier Frequency Offset, Phase Offset, Amplitude and SNR Estimation for Millimeter-Wave MIMO Systems

This work is devoted to solve the problem of estimating the carrier frequency offset, phase offset, amplitude, and SNR between two mmWave transceivers. The Cram\'{e}r-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) for the different parameters is provided first, as well as the condition for the CRLB to exist, known as Regularity Condition. Thereafter, the problem of finding suitable estimators for the parameters is adressed, for which the proposed solution is the Maximum Likelihood estimator (ML).
Modeling of rock friction: 1. Experimental results and constitutive equations

Direct shear experiments on ground surfaces of a granodiorite from Raymond, California, at normal stresses of ∼6 MPa demonstrate that competing time, displacement, and velocity effects control rock friction. It is proposed that the strength of the population of points of contacts between sliding surfaces determines frictional strength and that the population of contacts changes continuously with displacements. Previous experiments demonstrate that the strength of the contacts increases with the age of the contacts. The present experiments establish that a characteristic displacement, proportional to surface roughness, is required to change the population of contacts. Hence during slip the average age of the points of contact and therefore frictional strength decrease as slip velocity increases. Displacement weakening and consequently the potential for unstable slip occur whenever displacement reduces the average age of the contacts. In addition to this velocity dependency, which arises from displacement dependency and time dependency, the experiments also show a competing but transient increase in friction whenever slip velocity increases. Creep of the sliding surface at stresses below that for steady state slip is also observed. Constitutive relationships are developed that permit quantitative simulation of the friction versus displacement data as a function of surface roughness and for different time and velocity histories. Unstable slip in experiments is controlled by these constitutive effects and by the stiffness of the experimental system. It is argued that analogous properties control earthquake instability.
Force-based robot learning of pouring skills using parametric hidden Markov models

Robot learning from demonstration faces new challenges when applied to tasks in which forces play a key role. Pouring liquid from a bottle into a glass is one such task, where not just a motion with a certain force profile needs to be learned, but the motion is subtly conditioned by the amount of liquid in the bottle. In this paper, the pouring skill is taught to a robot as follows. In a training phase, the human teleoperates the robot using a haptic device, and data from the demonstrations are statistically encoded by a parametric hidden Markov model, which compactly encapsulates the relation between the task parameter (dependent on the bottle weight) and the force-torque traces. Gaussian mixture regression is then used at the reproduction stage for retrieving the suitable robot actions based on the force perceptions. Computational and experimental results show that the robot is able to learn to pour drinks using the proposed framework, outperforming other approaches such as the classical hidden Markov models in that it requires less training, yields more compact encodings and shows better generalization capabilities.
Trace Amounts of Furan-2-Carboxylic Acids Determine the Quality of Solid Agar Plates for Bacterial Culture

Background Many investigators have recognised that a significant proportion of environmental bacteria exist in a viable but non-culturable state on agar plates, and some researchers have also noticed that some of such bacteria clearly recover their growth on matrices other than agar. However, the reason why agar is unsuitable for the growth of some bacteria has not been addressed. Methodology/Principal Findings According to the guide of a bioassay for swarming inhibition, we identified 5-hydroxymethylfuran-2-carboxylic acid (5-HMFA) and furan-2-carboxylic acid (FA) as factors that inhibit bacterial swarming and likely inhibit extracellular polysaccharide production on agar. The furan-2-carboxylic acids 5-HMFA and FA effectively inhibited the swarming and swimming of several environmental bacteria at concentrations of 1.8 and 2.3 µg L−1 (13 and 21 nmol L−1), respectively, which are equivalent to the concentrations of these compounds in 0.3% agar. On Luria-Bertani (LB) plates containing 1.0% agar that had been previously washed with MeOH, a mixture of 5-HMFA and FA in amounts equivalent to their original concentrations in the unwashed agar repressed the swarming of Escherichia coli K12 strain W3110, a representative swarming bacterium. Conclusions/Significance Agar that contains trace amounts of 5-HMFA and FA inhibits the proliferation of some slow-growing or difficult-to-culture bacteria on the plates, but it is useful for single colony isolation due to the ease of identification of swarmable bacteria as the non-swarmed colonies.
A recommender system infrastructure to allow educational metadata reasoning

This work presents a recommender infrastructure for educational material that is described with metadata. For its operation we propose the use of the OBAA standard, an extension to IEEE LOM that provides interoperability among hardware platforms. We also suggest the need in reusing the user profiles information that are available through FOAF metadata and extend them with personalized educational information. In order to test this infrastructure, we proposed Lassique, an application that makes reasoning over a metadata ontology to filter educational material suggested by a Collaborative Filtering Algorithm.