Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lowering the sensory threshold and enhancing the responsivity of biomimetic hair flow sensors by electrostatic spring softening

We report improvements in detection limit and responsivity of biomimetic hair flow sensors by electrostatic spring-softening (ESS). Applying a DC voltage to our capacitive flow sensors results in a reduced sensory threshold, which gives an improvement for the flow detection limit of more than 30%. In addition, the mechanical transfer shows large (80% and more) voltage-controlled electro-mechanical amplification of the flow signal for frequencies below the sensor's resonance.
Development of the benefit finding in multiple sclerosis (MS) caregiving scale: a longitudinal study of relations between benefit finding and adjustment.

UNLABELLED Benefit finding (BF) is a meaning-making construct that has been shown to predict carer and care recipient adjustment. PURPOSE This longitudinal study investigated the dimensions, stability, and validity of the benefit finding in multiple sclerosis caregiving (BFiMSCare) scale. METHODS Participants were 232 carers of persons with MS and their care recipients. Questionnaires were completed at Time 1 and 12 months later (Time 2). RESULTS Factor analysis of the BFiMSCare scale revealed six psychometrically sound factors: enriched relationship; spiritual growth; family relations growth; life-style gains; inspiration; and relationship opportunities. Results of regression analyses indicated that the Time 1 BFiMSCare factors and the total score accounted for significant amounts of variance in each of the Time 1 positive adjustment outcomes (life satisfaction, positive affect, dyadic adjustment) and in Time 2 positive affect and dyadic adjustment. The BFiMSCare total score predicted all Time 2 adjustment domains (positive affect, dyadic adjustment, care recipient adjustment ratings of carer) except life satisfaction and distress, whereas the six factors as a block predicted positive affect and life satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS Findings delineate the dimensional structure of BF in caregiving and the differential links between BF dimensions and adjustment, and have implications for the measurement of BF.
Empowerment and Efficiency: Tenancy Reform in West Bengal

The paper analyzes the effect of agricultural tenancy laws offering security of tenure to tenants and regulating the share of output that is paid as rent on farm productivity. Theoretically, the net impact of tenancy reform is shown to be a combination of two effects: a bargaining power effect and a security of tenure effect. Analysis of evidence on how contracts and productivity changed after a tenancy reform program was implemented in the Indian state of West Bengal in the late 1970s suggests that tenancy reform had a positive effect on agricultural productivity there.
Introduction of transposon Tn901 into a plasmid of Anacystis nidulans: preparation for cloning in cyanobacteria.

We have used the TEM beta-lactamase transposon Tn901, located on Escherichia coli plasmid pRI46, to introduce in vivo a genetic marker into plasmid pUH24, present in the cyanobacterial strain Anacystis nidulans R-2. Restriction enzyme analysis and heteroduplex studies of the 8.3 x 10(6)-dalton plasmids pCH1-pCH5, present in the ampicillin-resistant A. nidulans R-2 colonies obtained after transformation with pRI46, demonstrated that these plasmids consist of the complete sequence of Tn901 inserted at different places into plasmid pUH24. The pUH24::Tn901 recombinant plasmids transform A. nidulans R-2 with a frequency of 10(-4)--10(-5) per microgram of plasmid DNA and contain a single cleavage site for the restriction enzyme Xho I. From pCH1 a plasmid of 5.5 x 10(6) daltons,pUC1, was constructed with only a part of the Tn901 sequence and an additional single cleavage site for the restriction enzyme BamHI. This plasmid, as well as plasmids pCH1-pCH5, are potentially useful as vectors for cloning genes in cyanobacteria and for studying cyanobacterial plasmid biology.
Intelligent Stolen Vehicle Detection using Video Sensing

This paper focuses on the problem of color recognition from natural images under various illumination conditions. The most likely colors of the vehicle are estimated in different regions of the car image around the plate and the results from these regions are fused using the famous Bayes' rule. The application of the information fusion enhanced color recognition technology in stolen vehicle identification is also proposed in this paper. The basic approach is based on jointly estimating the license plate characters and other features of the car like its color and type and matching them with the registered car databases. If there is an inconsistency, the proposed method classifies the vehicle under observation as possibly stolen.
Ontology-based information retrieval model for the semantic Web

In this paper, we describe ontology-based information retrieval model for the Semantic Web. By using OWL Lite as standard ontology language, which is a suitable tradeoff between expressivity of knowledge and complexity of reasoning problems, ontology is generated through translating and integrating domain ontologies. The terms defined in ontology are used as metadata to markup the Web's content; these semantic markups are semantic index terms for information retrieval. We can obtain the equivalent classes of semantic index terms by using description logic reasoner. The logical views of documents and user information needs, generated in terms of the equivalent classes of semantic index terms, can represent documents and user information needs well, so the performance of information retrieval can be improved effectively when suitable ranking function is chosen. The practicability of this model is discussed. Finally, the related works are introduced, and the conclusion and our future work are given.
Determinants of the Effectiveness of Antimicrobial Prophylaxis among Neurotrauma Patients at a Referral Hospital in Kenya: Findings and Implications

Background: Surgical site infections can occur adding to morbidity, mortality and costs, and can be particularly problematic in low and middle income countries. This includes infections in neurosurgical patients following surgery despite antimicrobial prophylaxis. The study aimed at measuring the incidence of surgical site infections (SSIs) and identifying factors that influence the effectiveness of antimicrobial prophylaxis in a leading hospital in Kenya. Methods: Prospective cohort study from April to July 2015 in the Neurosurgical ward of a leading referral hospital in Kenya. Adult head injury patients were recruited by universal sampling. Data was collected on prophylactic antibiotics and the occurrence of SSIs. Risk factors for infection were identified by logistic regression. Results: Eighty four patients were recruited, with 69 patients eventually analysed. Incidence of SSIs was 37.7% (n=26). The most common antibiotic used for prophylaxis was ceftriaxone. Patients on prophylaxis were less likely to be infected than those who did not receive prophylaxis; however, this was not statistically significant (RR 0.87, 95% CI 0.40-1.893). The presence of epidural haematoma was a risk factor for the development of SSIs (Crude RR 2.456, 95% CI 1.474-4.090). Overall, antimicrobial prophylaxis was effective only in patients who underwent evacuation of hematoma by craniotomy (risk reduction, 62.5% (CI, 29.0%-96.0%). Conclusion: Evacuation of haematomas through craniotomy increased the effectiveness of prophylaxis, and should be considered in the future. The rationale will be explored further to see if antibiotic prophylaxis can reduce SSIs in other patients with neuro trauma.
Robots predicting the Interruptibility of Humans

In this paper, we outline our research into the appropriate timing of robot interruptions of humans. This research is motivated by the rising popularity of collocated human robot task execution and the resulting need for robots to be mindful of human cognitive limitations. We draw inspiration from existing work in Psychology, Human Factors Research, HCI, Ubiquitous Computing, and build upon preliminary work in Robotics to present a paradigm for interruption that seeks to mitigate deleterious effects of unchecked robot interruptions.
What is the value of mycophenolate mofetil as induction and maintenance therapy in lupus nephritis?

Purpose of reviewMycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is an alternative to cyclophosphamide for the treatment of lupus nephritis. The precise role of MMF is under ongoing evaluation. This review provides an up-to-date summary of MMF and its use as remission induction and maintenance therapy for lupus nephritis. Recent findingsFor remission induction, recent randomized trial data suggest that MMF is at least as good as intravenous cyclophosphamide in terms of efficacy and safety. MMF may have superior efficacy to intravenous cyclophosphamide in black populations. Preliminary data suggest that MMF with tacrolimus may have added benefit over cyclophosphamide. For remission maintenance, limited evidence suggests that MMF is superior to quarterly intravenous cyclophosphamide and equivalent to azathioprine. SummaryMMF is likely to be noninferior to cyclophosphamide for the induction of remission in lupus nephritis. Early results suggest that MMF is equivalent to azathioprine for remission maintenance, although large randomized trial data are awaited to clarify the role. The optimal dosing strategy and duration of MMF treatment have not been established. The efficacy and safety of MMF in patients with severe renal impairment requires further investigation. Longer follow-up is required to fully assess the impact of MMF on renal survival and overall mortality.
Mre11 Complex and DNA Replication: Linkage to E2F and Sites of DNA Synthesis

ABSTRACT We show that the Mre11 complex associates with E2F family members via the Nbs1 N terminus. This association and Nbs1 phosphorylation are correlated with S-phase checkpoint proficiency, whereas neither is sufficient individually for checkpoint activation. The Nbs1 E2F interaction occurred near the Epstein-Barr virus origin of replication as well as near a chromosomal replication origin in the c-myc promoter region and was restricted to S-phase cells. The Mre11 complex colocalized with PCNA at replication forks throughout S phase, both prior to and coincident with the appearance of nascent DNA. These data suggest that the Mre11 complex suppresses genomic instability through its influence on both the regulation and progression of DNA replication.
Consequences on the two-stage approach: comparing treatments when survival curves may cross

For testing the efficacy of a treatment in a clinical trial (e.g. treatment vs. control), the Cox proportional hazards model is the well-accepted, conventional tool. When using this model, one must confirm that the required proportional hazards (PH) assumption holds true. If the PH assumption fails to hold, it may occur that upon examining a Kaplan-Meier (KM) plot, the survival curves appear to cross, suggesting long-term survival is higher among one group of patients. In this situation –given that the PH assumption does not hold, and given that the KM survival curves are observed to cross– there are options available, proposed as alternatives to the Cox PH model, which are used to test that a treatment yields better longterm survival. An important question which arises is whether the potential bias introduced by such a sequential model fitting procedure merits concern and, if so, what are effective mechanisms for correction. We investigate by means of simulation study and draw attention to the considerable drawbacks, with regards to power, of a simple resampling technique, the permutation adjustment, a natural recourse for addressing such challenges. Finally, we consider the recently proposed two-stage testing strategy of Qiu & Sheng (2008) and a new procedure based on permutation-adjusted bootstrap model averaging, as attractive alternatives.
Prospective, declarative, and nondeclarative memory in young adults with spina bifida

The consequences of congenital brain disorders for adult cognitive function are poorly understood. We studied different forms of memory in 29 young adults with spina bifida meningomyelocele (SBM), a common and severely disabling neural tube defect. Nondeclarative and semantic memory functions were intact. Working memory was intact with low maintenance and manipulation requirements, but impaired on tasks demanding high information maintenance or manipulation load. Prospective memory for intentions to be executed in the future was impaired. Immediate and delayed episodic memory were poor. Memory deficits were exacerbated by an increased number of lifetime shunt revisions, a marker for unstable hydrocephalus. Memory status was positively correlated with functional independence, an important component of quality of life. (JINS, 2007, 13, 312–323.)
The Development of an Instrument to Measure Social Support

This article describes the development of a new instrument, the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire, designed to measure multiple dimensions of social support. Based on Kahn's (1979) conceptual definitions of social support and definitions from network theory (Barnes, 1972), the instrument has three main variables—Total Functional, Total Network, and Total Loss—each with three subscales.Graduate and undergraduate nursing students were used as subjects in this phase of testing, which established high levels of test-retest reliability and internal consistency. The social desirability response bias was ruled out, and moderate levels of concurrent validity were found. Additional work to establish construct validity is needed. Two groups of students were compared to study the normative trend for this population, and differences were minimal except for recent losses and aid, reflecting the actual situations of the two groups.
Disgusting clusters: trypophobia as an overgeneralised disease avoidance response

ABSTRACT Individuals with trypophobia have an aversion towards clusters of roughly circular shapes, such as those on a sponge or the bubbles on a cup of coffee. It is unclear why the condition exists, given the harmless nature of typical eliciting stimuli. We suggest that aversion to clusters is an evolutionarily prepared response towards a class of stimuli that resemble cues to the presence of parasites and infectious disease. Trypophobia may be an exaggerated and overgeneralised version of this normally adaptive response. Consistent with this explanation, individuals with trypophobia, as well as comparison individuals, reported aversion towards disease-relevant cluster stimuli, but only the trypophobic group reported aversion towards objectively harmless cluster stimuli that had no relevance to disease. For both groups the level of aversion reported was predicted uniquely by a measure of disgust sensitivity. Scaled emotion ratings and open-ended responses revealed that the aversive response was predominantly based on the disease avoidance emotion, disgust. Many open-ended responses also described skin sensations (e.g. skin itching or skin crawling). These findings support the proposal that individuals with trypophobia primarily perceive cluster stimuli as cues to ectoparasites and skin-transmitted pathogens.
Microglia activation and cell death in response to diethyl‐dithiocarbamate acute administration

An increasing body of evidence suggests a role for activated microglia in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. Hence, it would be useful to have a better understanding of the significance of microglial activation for neuronal damage. Unfortunately, most models of microglial activation use invasive or long‐lasting insults, which make it difficult to evaluate the role played by microglia. We have instead developed a model for microglial activation by using brief exposure to the widely available neurotoxin diethyl‐dithiocarbamate (DDTC). Despite evidence for the neurotoxic nature of this substance, microglia involvement has not been hitherto investigated. After acute i.p. administration of DDTC at two different doses, microglia were already activated in selected areas of the rat brain (hippocampal dentate gyrus, entorhinal‐pyriform cortex and hypothalamus) after 1 hour, reaching a peak at 3–6 hours and subsided within 6–48 hours, depending on the brain region. Microglia activation was associated with interleukin‐1 beta immunopositivity between 3 and 6 hours and with up‐regulation of major histocompatibility complex class II expression between 24 and 48 hours. No significant changes in astrocyte immunostaining were detected between 6 hours and 6 days. The TUNEL procedure revealed the death of a limited number of cells in the above‐mentioned structures that peaked at 6h and then declined rapidly. Cell death was detected in sites with major, minor, or no microglial activation, indicating that these two events can occur concomitantly or independently. The study shows that the administration of DDTC provides a useful model for studying the implications of region‐specific reactivity of microglia and its differential interaction with neuronal damage. J. Comp. Neurol. 446:135–150, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Bis[2,4-dibromo-6-(n-propyliminomethyl)phenolato-κ2 N,O]cobalt(II)

In the title complex, [Co(C10H10Br2NO)2], the CoII atom lies on a twofold rotation axis, the N2O2 units having distorted tetrahedral coordination environments comprising two bidentate chelate 2,4-dibromo-6-(n-propyliminomethyl)phenolate Schiff base ligands [Co—N = 1.989 (3) Å, Co—O = 1.924 (2) Å and O/N—Co—O/N = 94.53 (10)–125.40 (15)°]. In the crystal structure, the molecules are linked via weak intermolecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds [3.334 (5) Å] and there are also short inversion-related intermolecular Br⋯Br contacts [3.4263 (6) Å]
A Multimedia Application: Spatial Perceptual Entropy of Multichannel Audio Signals

Usually multimedia data have to be compressed before transmitting, and higher compression rate, or equivalently lower bitrate, relieves the load of communication channels but impacts negatively the quality. We investigate the bitrate lower bound for perceptually lossless compression of a major type of multimedia—multichannel audio signals. This bound equals to the perceptible information rate of the signals. Traditionally, Perceptual Entropy (PE), based primarily on monaural hearing measures the perceptual information rate of individual channels. But PE cannot measure the spatial information captured by binaural hearing, thus is not suitable for estimating Spatial Audio Coding (SAC) bitrate bound. To measure this spatial information, we build a Binaural Cue Physiological Perception Model (BCPPM) on the ground of binaural hearing, which represents spatial information in the physical and physiological layers. This model enables computing Spatial Perceptual Entropy (SPE), the lower bitrate bound for SAC. For real-world stereo audio signals of various types, our experiments indicate that SPE reliably estimates their spatial information rate. Therefore, "SPE plus PE" gives lower bitrate bounds for communicating multichannel audio signals with transparent quality.
A 3.7GHz GaN HEMT Doherty power amplifier using digital predistortion linearization

In this study, we implemented a 3.7 GHz band Doherty amplifier based on GaN HEMTs which was linearized using a digital predistortion method. The forward and reverse models of the predistortion consist of simple polynomials whose coefficients are extracted using a conventional LMSE algorithm. Using two carrier signals based on IEEE 802.16e, whose PAR is 9.44 dB, an ACLR improvement of 10.74 dB was achieved to give an ACLR level of 41.74 dBc at an offset of 4.79 MHz. The overall efficiency of the Doherty power amplifier is 13.74% which represents a 2.44% improvement compared to that of a balanced class-AB power amplifier at an average power of 36 dBm.
Perivascular Epithelioid Cell Tumors (PEComas) of the Orbit

© 2017 The Korean Society of Pathologists/The Korean Society for Cytopathology This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. pISSN 2383-7837 eISSN 2383-7845 Perivascular Epithelioid Cell Tumors (PEComas) of the Orbit
Detection thresholds of structured noise in the presence of shot noise

An observer study was run to determine the detection thresholds of several representative examples of column fixed pattern noise, in the presence of varying levels of shot noise, which is known to mask structured noise. The data obtained were fit well at relevant shot noise levels by a simple model based on signal detection theory. Individual metrics of fixed pattern noise and shot noise, used in the masking equation, were computed from one dimensional integrations involving the capture noise power spectra (mapped to CIELAB space); the modulation transfer function of the display; the display pixel pitch; the viewing distance; and the S-CIELAB luminance contrast sensitivity function. The results of this work can be used to predict detection thresholds that can be added to photon transfer curves for the purpose of determining whether fixed pattern noise will be visible.
American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Position Statement: Interventional Musculoskeletal Ultrasound in Sports Medicine

Abstract:The use of diagnostic and interventional ultrasound has significantly increased over the past decade. A majority of the increased utilization is by nonradiologists. In sports medicine, ultrasound is often used to guide interventions such as aspirations, diagnostic or therapeutic injections, tenotomies, releases, and hydrodissections. This American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) position statement critically reviews the literature and evaluates the accuracy, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of ultrasound-guided injections in major, intermediate, and small joints, and soft tissues, all of which are commonly performed in sports medicine. New ultrasound-guided procedures and future trends are also briefly discussed. Based on the evidence, the official AMSSM position relevant to each subject is made.
Model-based 3D Hand Tracking with on-line Shape Adaptation

One of the shortcomings of the existing model-based 3D hand tracking methods is the fact that they consider a fixed hand model, i.e. one with fixed shape parameters. In this work we propose an online model-based method that tackles jointly the hand pose tracking and the hand shape estimation problems. The hand pose is estimated using a hierarchical particle filter. The hand shape is estimated by fitting the shape model parameters over the observations in a frame history. The candidate shapes required by the fitting framework are obtained by optimizing the shape parameters independently in each frame. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed method tracks the pose of the hand and estimates its shape parameters accurately, even under heavy noise and inaccurate shape initialization.