Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application of Thinned-Skull Cranial Window to Mouse Cerebral Blood Flow Imaging Using Optical Microangiography

In vivo imaging of mouse brain vasculature typically requires applying skull window opening techniques: open-skull cranial window or thinned-skull cranial window. We report non-invasive 3D in vivo cerebral blood flow imaging of C57/BL mouse by the use of ultra-high sensitive optical microangiography (UHS-OMAG) and Doppler optical microangiography (DOMAG) techniques to evaluate two cranial window types based on their procedures and ability to visualize surface pial vessel dynamics. Application of the thinned-skull technique is found to be effective in achieving high quality images for pial vessels for short-term imaging, and has advantages over the open-skull technique in available imaging area, surgical efficiency, and cerebral environment preservation. In summary, thinned-skull cranial window serves as a promising tool in studying hemodynamics in pial microvasculature using OMAG or other OCT blood flow imaging modalities.
Understanding TCP Behavior

Let T = τ + 1/C, where τ is the fixed propagation delay. Divide the time into intervals of T , starting from time t = 0. We number the intervals, starting from interval 0. Let the interval n be [nT, (n + 1)T ), for n = 0, 1, 2, . Let us further divide each interval into identical time slots, each of which is equal to the transmission time of a fixed-size packet, 1/C. We assume CT is an integer. Hence, each time interval contains CT time slots, which are numbered as time slot 0, 1, 2, . , CT −1. Let us first suppose the buffer size B is infinitely large, and define wn to be the maximum window size, qn to be the maximum queue length, and rn to be the total number of packets released in interval n. Let Q(t) be the queue size and W (t) be the window size at time t. The units for the above quantities are number of packets. Let the system starts at time t = 0 with an empty buffer and a window size 1. A packet is released at t = 0. The acknowledgement for the first packet arrives back at the source at t = T . Upon receiving an acknowledgement packet, the window size is increased by 1, and two new packets are immediately released. As long as the buffer becomes empty at the end of each interval upto interval n, by simple induction, we have wn = 2 n (1)
Preparation and characterization of P(VDF-TrFE)/Al203 nanocomposite

Hybrid nanocomposites based on crystalline nanoparticles dispersed in polymer matrix has been widely studied in the past few years because of the ability of these materials to combine both properties of organic polymer and inorganic nanoparticles. The aim of this work is to tune mechanical properties of piezoelectric polymer by adding nanoparticles to the matrix. In this paper alumina nanoparticles were dispersed in the copolymer P(VDF-TrFE) which exhibits high piezoelectric coefficient after polarization under high electric field without needing stretching during the polarization process‥ Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) demonstrate the high rate of well-dispersed nanoparticles. with ten percent of alumina nanoparticles added in the matrix. Piezoelectric measurements indicate that P(VDF-TrFE) may be filled up to 10 wt. % of alumina while keeping high piezoelectric properties and increasing of more than 10% the acoustic wave velocity of the material, measured by Brillouin spectroscopy. This work opens a wide range of applications using nanoparticles with nonlinear optical, pyroelectric, magnetic or ferroelectric properties.
Software restructuring: implementing a code abstraction transformation

Software restructuring is a form of perfective maintenance that modifies the structure of a program's source code. Its goal is increased maintainability to better facilitate other maintenance activities, such as adding new functionality to, or correcting previously undetected errors within a software system. Changes to the structure are introduced through the application of transformations. Manually transforming the source code may introduce undesirable as well as undetectable changes in the system's behaviour. It is very difficult to ensure that manual restructuring preserves functionality and guaranteeing it is almost impossible. The problems associated with manual restructuring can be addressed by using a restructuring tool to automatically apply transformations. The majority of restructuring tools apply transformations by manipulating abstract program representations and specify the conditions of the transformation in terms of the representation structure. The context entity graph as program representation was developed to support specific language constructs, but can be adapted to support a variety of programming languages. The implementation of a code abstraction transformation in terms of this structure is examined and various improvements are also suggested.
BacMap: an interactive picture atlas of annotated bacterial genomes

BacMap is an interactive visual database containing fully labeled, zoomable and searchable chromosome maps from more than 170 bacterial (archaebacterial and eubacterial) species. It uses a recently developed visualization tool (CGView) to generate high-resolution circular genome maps from sequence feature information. Each map includes an interface that allows the image to be expanded and rotated. In the default view, identified genes are drawn to scale and colored according to coding directions. When a region of interest is expanded, gene labels are displayed. Each label is hyperlinked to a custom ‘gene card’ which provides several fields of information concerning the corresponding DNA and protein sequences. Each genome map is searchable via a local BLAST search and a gene name/synonym search. BacMap is freely available at http://wishart.biology. ualberta.ca/BacMap/.
Categorical Document Frequency Based Feature Selection for Text Categorization

Effective feature selection methods are essential for improving the accuracy and efficiency of text categorization. Motivated by document frequency, we proposed a new filter-based feature selection approach, called categorical document frequency. The categorical document frequency displays the distribution of a term over each category. Mathematically, the variance of a term reflects the contribution of the term to categorization. Finally, the experiments are carried out on the Reuters-21578 standard text corpus. The results showed that the categorization performance of the proposed approach is similar or better than information gain and chi-square statistic. In addition, computational cost of this approach is lower than information gain and chi-square so that it is also well-suited for processing large-scale text data.
Evaluation of various mental task combinations for near-infrared spectroscopy-based brain-computer interfaces

Abstract. A number of recent studies have demonstrated that near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a promising neuroimaging modality for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). So far, most NIRS-based BCI studies have focused on enhancing the accuracy of the classification of different mental tasks. In the present study, we evaluated the performances of a variety of mental task combinations in order to determine the mental task pairs that are best suited for customized NIRS-based BCIs. To this end, we recorded event-related hemodynamic responses while seven participants performed eight different mental tasks. Classification accuracies were then estimated for all possible pairs of the eight mental tasks (C82=28). Based on this analysis, mental task combinations with relatively high classification accuracies frequently included the following three mental tasks: “mental multiplication,” “mental rotation,” and “right-hand motor imagery. ” Specifically, mental task combinations consisting of two of these three mental tasks showed the highest mean classification accuracies. It is expected that our results will be a useful reference to reduce the time needed for preliminary tests when discovering individual-specific mental task combinations.
Data driven approach to ECG signal quality assessment using multistep SVM classification

In response to the PhysioNet/CinC Challenge 2011: Improving the quality of ECGs collected using mobile phones we have developed an algorithm based on a decision support system. It combines couple of simple rules — in order to discard recordings of obviously low quality (i.e. high-amplitude noise, detached electrodes) with more sophisticated support vector machine (SVM) classification that deals with more difficult cases where simple rules are inefficient. It turns out that complicatedly computed features provide only small information gain and therefore we used for SVM classifier only time-lagged covariance matrix elements, which provide useful information about signal structure in time. Our results are 0.836.
A Note on Shapley Ratings in Brain Networks

We consider the problem of computing the in uence of a neuronal structure in a brain network. Abraham, Kotter, Krumnack, and Wanke (2006) computed this influence by using the Shapley value of a coalitional game corresponding to a directed network as a rating. Kotter, Reid, Krumnack, Wanke, and Sporns (2007) applied this rating to large-scale brain networks, in particular to the macaque visual cortex and the macaque prefrontal cortex. We introduce an alternative coalitional game that is more intuitive from a game theoretical point of view. We use the Shapley value of this game as an alternative rating to analyze the macaque brain networks and corroborate the findings of Kotter et al. (2007). Moreover, we show how missing information on the existence of certain connections can readily be incorporated into this game and the corresponding Shapley rating.
Person First, Student Second: Staff and Administrators of Color Supporting Students of Color Authentically in Higher Education

Abstract: In this qualitative study I explored the mentoring roles of staff and administrators for first-generation Black, Latinx, and Biracial students. Social reproduction theory (which assesses how inequality is perpetuated or disrupted generationally) was used to analyze social capital cultivated by mentors. Staff of Color nurtured the capital that students brought with them to college, and because of this students often turned to the staff for other forms of support, which opened the door for acquisition of cultural capital. White staff focused almost exclusively on students’ academic experiences, neglecting their backgrounds. Supporting students holistically and valuing their backgrounds establish authentic relationships that support students’ success.
Adding fake facts to ontologies

In this paper, we study how artificial facts can be added to an RDFS ontology. Artificial facts are an easy way of proving the ownership of an ontology: If another ontology contains the artificial fact, it has probably been taken from the original ontology. We show how the ownership of an ontology can be established with provably tight probability bounds, even if only parts of the ontology are being re-used. We explain how artificial facts can be generated in an inconspicuous and minimally disruptive way. Our demo allows users to generate artificial facts and to guess which facts were generated.
Voluntary exercise-induced changes in β2-adrenoceptor signalling in rat ventricular myocytes

Regular exercise is beneficial to cardiovascular health. We tested whether mild voluntary exercise training modifies key myocardial parameters [ventricular mass, intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i) handling and the response to β‐adrenoceptor (β‐AR) stimulation] in a manner distinct from that reported for beneficial, intensive training and pathological hypertrophic stimuli. Female rats performed voluntary wheel‐running exercise for 6–7 weeks. The mRNA expression of target proteins was measured in left ventricular tissue using real‐time reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction. Simultaneous measurement of cell shortening and [Ca2+]i transients were made in single left ventricular myocytes and the inotropic response to β1‐ and β2‐AR stimulation was measured. Voluntary exercise training resulted in cardiac hypertrophy, the heart weight to body weight ratio being significantly greater in trained compared with sedentary animals. However, voluntary exercise caused no significant alteration in the size or time course of myocyte shortening and [Ca2+]i transients or in the mRNA levels of key proteins that regulate Ca2+ handling. The positive inotropic response to β1‐AR stimulation and the level of β1‐AR mRNA were unaltered by voluntary exercise but both mRNA levels and inotropic response to β2‐AR stimulation were significantly reduced in trained animals. The β2‐AR inotropic response was restored by exposure to pertussis toxin. We propose that in contrast to pathological stimuli and to beneficial, intense exercise training, modulation of Ca2+ handling is not a major adaptive mechanism in the response to mild voluntary exercise. In addition, and in a reversal of the situation seen in heart failure, voluntary exercise training maintains the β1‐AR response but reduces the β2‐AR response. Therefore, although voluntary exercise induces cardiac hypertrophy, there are distinct differences between its effects on key myocardial regulatory mechanisms and those of hypertrophic stimuli that eventually cause cardiac decompensation.
Comparing Gibbs , EM and SEM for MAP Inference in Mixture Models

Abstract Classic inference algorithms such as Gibbs sampling and EM often perform well in practice, but selecting between them when scaling a model to large datasets is difficult. In particular, Gibbs sampling is easy to distribute, but difficult to parallelize, while EM is easy parallelize, but difficult to distribute. Remarkably, the relatively obscure stochastic EM (SEM) combines the computational strengths of the two methods, without inheriting any of their weaknesses. Indeed, we highlight these strengths by deriving the three algorithms on a simple, yet representative (of the general class) mixture model. We also demonstrate empirically that the MAP solutions found by the three algorithms are comparable across a wide variety of parameter settings; further, SEM appears more robust to poor initialization.
An Experimental Study of Vietnamese Question Answering System

The development of World Wide Web calls for how to efficiently exploit the information. Mostly, current search engines return a set of related documents which contain keywords. However, users expect the exact and concrete answer for each question. Therefore, it is necessary to build an automatic question answering system (QA). In this paper, we focus on building a QA for Vietnamese. This task especially becomes more and more difficult because of the lack of available tools for processing Vietnamese text. Based on previous research for English, this paper proposed an implementation for Vietnamese question answering system by combining SnowBall system [1] and semantic relation extraction using search engines [4]. The experimental results on travelling domain proved that this proposed method is sufficient for Vietnamese question answering system. We achieved 89.7% precision and 91.4% ability to give the answers when testing on travelling domain
Auditing to Keep Online Storage Services Honest

A growing number of online service providers offer to store customers' photos, email, file system backups, and other digital assets. Currently, customers cannot make informed decisions about the risk of losing data stored with any particular service provider, reducing their incentive to rely on these services. We argue that third-party auditing is important in creating an online service-oriented economy, because it allows customers to evaluate risks, and it increases the efficiency of insurance-based risk mitigation. We describe approaches and system hooks that support both internal and external auditing of online storage services, describe motivations for service providers and auditors to adopt these approaches, and list challenges that need to be resolved for such auditing to become a reality.
An Assemblage�?Theoretic Perspective on the Internationalization Processes of Family Firms

Much scholarly attention has been paid to the internationalization of family firms. In this paper, I contend that our knowledge remains limited because of a dominant focus on decision making. I problematize this dominant focus in the literature, propose assemblage theory as a new lens through which to examine family business internationalization, and draw attention to new research questions constructed around the conceptualization of internationalization as a destabilizing influence on family firm logics and routines. In doing so, I pay particular attention to processes associated with internationalization triggers, geographic distance, cultural differences and the family firm as an unfamiliar market actor, and to temporal considerations associated with these processes.
Automatic layout based verification of electrostatic discharge paths

This work describes an ESD path verification methodology based on layout parasitic extraction. This approach was implemented in Cadence DFII. It provides information about the preferred ESD path between two pads and estimates the peak pad to pad voltage. The path can also be overlaid on the layout view. The methodology was applied to a 0.5 um BiCMOS design to improve its ESD robustness. In that case, weak ESD paths overlooked during conventional design reviews were identified and corrected. The ESD robustness improved from 1.0 kV to 2.5 kV and 100 V to 250 V for HBM and MM respectively.
INFLUENCE OF FUNDAMENTAL WAVEFORM ON PERCEIVED VOLUME AND PITCH IN AUDIBLE GRAPHS

This paper will describe an issue that arose in the implementation of graph sonication in an accessible mathematics product developed by the NASA Learning Technologies team at the Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas. The software provides text descriptions and audible displays of 2-dimensional graphs of equations, raw data, or simulations, and these audible displays make use of pitch to indicate the height component(s) of the curve. It is therefore important for us to provide the clearest possible pitch cue over a wide (4 octave) spectrum. One signicant barrier to use of a relatively wide frequency range is the fact that pure tones are attenuated signicantly in the lower frequencies by inexpensive sound systems common on personal computers. In this paper, we describe several approaches to the problem of choosing waveforms which clearly communicate pitch while remaining audible at low frequencies. We end by describing our compromise solution and by offering researchers an applet-based tool for further experimentation.
A Feeling Person's Game Affect and Voter Information Processing and Learning in a Campaign

We have developed and carried out a complex experiment using a dynamic information board (Lau and Redlawsk, 2001) in which subjects experienced a primary election campaign under varying conditions of emotional involvement and manipulation. In addition to manipulating potential emotional responses to candidates, we have developed measures to help us understand the implications of these emotional responses for voter information search, acquisition, and learning. Here we report on two basic analyses of these data. First, we want to look at the extent to which subjects can accurately recall their emotional responses to candidate information after the fact, and second we wish to establish just how “sticky” initial evaluations of candidates are in the face of countervailing information. We demonstrate that post-hoc measures of affective reactions are good, but not perfect, approximations of affect as it would be reported if measured immediately. The overall level of anxiety, whether through the anxiety threat manipulation or through congruency manipulation, increased the rate at which subjects incorrectly recalled having felt something when they did not report feeling that way immediately after viewing the information. Moreover, there were high levels of errors of recalling felt affect for all subjects. Finally, we find that affect has a non-linear effect on voting – by manipulating subject-candidate agreement, we are able to demonstrate a clear bias against rational updating.
Screening for Familial Colorectal Cancer Risk amongst Colonoscopy Patients New to an Open-Access Endoscopy Center

Purpose. We evaluated a questionnaire to aid in the recognition of CRC risk, as well as patient interest in their risk status within an open-access endoscopy center. Methods. A questionnaire was administered to new patients presenting for colonoscopy from May 2007 to February 2008. 287 patients were enrolled. Family history was evaluated using Amsterdam 1, II, and Revised Bethesda criteria. Recognition of risk and referral for counseling was assessed. Patients' interest to be contacted by a genetic counselor was also assessed. Results. 13.2 % (38/287) of patients met Revised Bethesda criteria. Of these, 18 (47.4 %) were previously told about their increased risk for CRC. Only 1 patient who met Revised Bethesda criteria (2.6 %) was previously referred for genetics, whereas none of the 3 patients who met Amsterdam I or II criteria were referred. 23.7 % of high-risk patients did not want to be contacted if found to be at increased risk for cancer. Conclusion. In our open-access endoscopy system, a significant number of high-risk patients remain unidentified and underreferred for genetic counseling due to numerous barriers. Our findings lend support to taking a public health approach to identifying those at risk for Lynch syndrome by implementing universal screening of all CRC specimens.
Classification of Remote Sensing Optical and LiDAR Data Using Extended Attribute Profiles

Extended Attribute Profiles (EAPs), which are obtained by applying morphological attribute filters to an image in a multilevel architecture, can be used for the characterization of the spatial characteristics of objects in a scene. EAPs have proved to be discriminant features when considered for thematic classification in remote sensing applications especially when dealing with very high resolution images. Altimeter data (such as LiDAR) can provide important information, which being complementary to the spectral one can be valuable for a better characterization of the surveyed scene. In this paper, we propose a technique performing a classification of the features extracted with EAPs computed on both optical and LiDAR images, leading to a fusion of the spectral, spatial and elevation data. The experiments were carried out on LiDAR data along either with a hyperspectral and a multispectral image acquired on a rural and urban area of the city of Trento (Italy), respectively. The classification accuracies obtained pointed out the effectiveness of the features extracted by EAPs on both optical and LiDAR data for classification.