Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Goniometric alignment of the normal knee joint and the factors which affect it.

OBJECTIVES Establishing a normative database for anterior plane knee joint alignment in a population is helpful in assessing patients with disorders of the knee joint specially osteoarthritis. Therefore we aimed at establishing the normal alignment in the Sri Lankan adult population using the goniometer which is an inexpensive and simple method of measurement. METHODS A total of 420 healthy adult volunteers (210 men and 210 women) above 25 years of age were recruited and the anterior plane knee alignment was measured using a hand held metal goniometer. RESULTS The mean knee joint alignment was 180.56° (SD 2.39) and 183.04° (SD 2.34) in males. The knee joints of the females were varus-oriented by, 2.48° than those of males (p< 0.0001). In the females the knee joint alignment showed a gradually varus inclination with increasing age (p< 0.05). Lifting heavy weights in males caused a significant varus inclination of the knee joint while BMI and squatting for long periods did not have an effect on the normal alignment. CONCLUSIONS Female knees are more varus inclined than that of males in the Sri Lankan participants and this inclination increases with age. Reasons for this could be genetic and lifestyle differences and may partly explain the reason for the predominance of varus osteoarthritis in Sri Lankan females.
Automatic Methods for the Detection of Accelerative Cardiac Defense Response

Cardiac Defense Response (CDR) is a basic psycho-physiological response related to startle reflex and preceding negative emotional states including fear. In the health-care context, the definition of methods to automatically identify the CDR is a relevant issue, because frequent CDR activations (not associated to proper danger stimuli) can pose the subject to health risk and eventually develop into severe psychophysical disorders. Therefore, providing tools for automatic identification of this defense mechanism can significantly help psychologists and caregivers in understanding the patient's mental and health status as well as patients themselves to self-regulate and self-control against excessive defense and stress responses. This work discusses and compares different methods and specifically proposes a novel algorithm designed to detect the CDR by analyzing the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. It is based on the extraction of specific features from a signal, directly generated from the ECG, which are compared against an ad-hoc computed reference CDR template. The proposed method has been tested on real ECG traces, a number of them containing full activations of the CDR pattern, and compared against other techniques, discussed in the paper, reaching an improvement of 10 percent in sensitivity, 18 percent in specificity, and 24 percent in precision with respect to the best performance of the other related methods.
Out-of-hours primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST-elevation myocardial infarction is not associated with excess mortality: a study of 3347 patients treated in an integrated cardiac network

Objectives Timely delivery of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) is the treatment of choice for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Optimum delivery of PPCI requires an integrated network of hospitals, following a multidisciplinary, consultant-led, protocol-driven approach. We investigated whether such a strategy was effective in providing equally effective in-hospital and long-term outcomes for STEMI patients treated by PPCI within normal working hours compared with those treated out-of-hours (OOHs). Design Observational study. Setting Large PPCI centre in London. Participants 3347 STEMI patients were treated with PPCI between 2004 and 2012. The follow-up median was 3.3 years (IQR: 1.2–4.6 years). Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary endpoint was long-term major adverse cardiac events (MACE) with all-cause mortality a secondary endpoint. Results Of the 3347 STEMI patients, 1299 patients (38.8%) underwent PPCI during a weekday between 08:00 and 18:00 (routine-hours group) and 2048 (61.2%) underwent PPCI on a weekday between 18:00 and 08:00 or a weekend (OOHs group). There were no differences in baseline characteristics between the two groups with comparable door-to-balloon times (in-hours (IHs) 67.8 min vs OOHs 69.6 min, p=0.709), call-to-balloon times (IHs 116.63 vs OOHs 127.15 min, p=0.60) and procedural success. In hospital mortality rates were comparable between the two groups (IHs 3.6% vs OOHs 3.2%) with timing of presentation not predictive of outcome (HR 1.25 (95% CI 0.74 to 2.11). Over the follow-up period there were no significant differences in rates of mortality (IHs 7.4% vs OFHs 7.2%, p=0.442) or MACE (IHs 15.4% vs OFHs 14.1%, p=0.192) between the two groups. After adjustment for confounding variables using multivariate analysis, timing of presentation was not an independent predictor of mortality (HR 1.04 95% CI 0.78 to 1.39). Conclusions This large registry study demonstrates that the delivery of PPCI with a multidisciplinary, consultant-led, protocol-driven approach provides safe and effective treatment for patients regardless of the time of presentation.
Reinforcement of Polyester with Renewable Ramie Fibers

Ramie (Boehmeria nivea) fiber is one of several lignocellulosic fibers with superior strength, but the least investigated, particularly as reinforcement in strong, tough polymeric composites. This paper presents mechanical properties for polyester reinforced with aligned ramie fibers up to 30% by volume. It was found that adding 30 vol% of ramie fibers increases the flexural strength of polyester about three times (212 ± 12 MPa vs. 63 ± 7 MPa) and tensile strength by a factor of two (89 ± 9 MPa vs. 53 ± 3 MPa). Polyester-ramie fiber composites also displayed a significant improvement in toughness. The impact energy values, as measured by Charpy and Izod impact tests, increased nearly two orders of magnitude for 30 vol% ramie fiber composite as compared to neat polyester. Additionally, fractographic studies revealed reasonable wetting of fibers by the polyester resin, and FTIR analysis confirmed a hydrophilic nature of ramie fibers. In spite of weak adhesion between hydrophilic fibers and hydrophobic matrix, composites of improved strength and toughness were demonstrated in this study. Limited fiber-matrix adhesion was reflected in preferential longitudinal propagation of cracks along the fiber/polyester interfaces, indicating also that most of the fracture area is associated with the fiber surface.
Blood pressure lowering, cardiovascular inhibitory and bronchodilatory actions of Achillea millefolium

Achillea millefolium Linn. (Asteraceae) is used in folk medicine for the treatment of overactive cardiovascular and respiratory ailments. This study describes its hypotensive, cardio‐depressant, vasodilatory and bronchodilatory activities. The crude extract of Achillea millefolium (Am.Cr) caused a dose‐dependent (1–100 mg/kg) fall in arterial blood pressure of rats under anaesthesia. In spontaneously beating guinea‐pig atrial tissues, Am.Cr exhibited negative inotropic and chronotropic effects. In isolated rabbit aortic rings, Am.Cr at 0.3–10 mg/mL relaxed phenylephrine (PE, 1 µm) and high K+ (80 mm)‐induced contractions, as well as suppressed the PE (1 µm) control peaks obtained in Ca++‐free medium, like that caused by verapamil. The vasodilator effect of Am.Cr was partially blocked by Nω‐nitro‐l‐arginine methyl ester in endothelium intact preparations. In guinea‐pig tracheal strips, Am.Cr inhibited carbachol (CCh, 1 µm) and K+‐induced contractions. These results indicate that Achillea millefolium exhibits hypotensive, cardiovascular inhibitory and bronchodilatory effects, thus explaining its medicinal use in hyperactive cardiovascular and airway disorders, such as hypertension and asthma. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Design Analysis of Slotted Diagonal Shape Patch Antenna with Hybrid Coupler

In this paper hybrid coupler connected diagonal shaped patch antenna with slot is examined. Theoretical performance is carried out using advanced system design (ADS) software. Measurement of antenna parameters like return loss, standing wave ratio also have been presented in this article. The measured values for the antenna are taken by agilent E5062A network analyzer. Simulated and measured results are having good agreement. The effect of excited two orthogonal modes with equal amplitude and 90 degree phase shift coupler connected with patch will produce circular polarization. The antenna is having gain of 3.319dB and the directivity of 6.98dB. The proposed antenna can be useful in wireless applications.
The Fast Convergence of Incremental PCA

We consider a situation in which we see samples in $\mathbb{R}^d$ drawn i.i. d. from some distribution with mean zero and unknown covariance A. We wish to compute the top eigenvector of A in an incremental fashion - with an algorithm that maintains an estimate of the top eigenvector in O(d) space, and incrementally adjusts the estimate with each new data point that arrives. Two classical such schemes are due to Krasulina (1969) and Oja (1983). We give finite-sample convergence rates for both.
Efficient estimation of the probability of small-disturbance instability of large uncertain power systems

Summary form only given; This paper proposes a methodology to efficiently estimate the probability of small-disturbance rotor angle instability of uncertain power systems. Traditional Monte Carlo (MC) approaches are computationally intensive and inefficient, particularly when used to study low probability conditions which result in small disturbance instabilities and develop into serious outage events high impact. The proposed methodology uses importance sampling to focus on conditions which contain the high information content required to make relevant decisions about low probability events. Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) is used to efficiently bound the search space and identify operating conditions leading to a marginally stable or unstable system response. The proposed approach is demonstrated on a model of a multi-area transmission network with a significant capacity of intermittent generation connected through a multi-terminal voltage source converter-based high voltage direct current (VSC-HVDC) grid. It is demonstrated that the methodology yields accurate results with just a small fraction of the sample points required using a conventional numerical MC approach.
DNS of flow past a stationary and oscillating cylinder at Re 1⁄4 10 000

Results of direct numerical simulations (DNS) are presented for turbulent flows past a stationary circular cylinder and past a rigid cylinder undergoing forced harmonic oscillations at Reynolds number Re 1⁄4 10 000. This significant increase in Reynolds number (compared to previous DNS) is accomplished by employing a multilevel-type parallel algorithm within the spectral element framework. Comparisons with the available experimental data show that the simulation has captured the flow physical quantities and the statistics of the cylinder wake correctly. r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Poster: Utility-Based Scheduling Algorithm for mixed traffic in wired-wireless hybrid networks

In this paper we propose a utility-based scheduling mechanism for mixed traffic in wireless networks to mitigate the problem that current scheduling algorithms cannot have a good performance in mixed traffic. The proposed algorithm called UBSA (Utility-Based Scheduling Algorithm) works in wired-wireless hybrid networks. Packets of diverse QoS (Quality of Service) classes are allocated to different queues with different priority factors on the basis of the selected utility functions which properly reflect the characters of different QoS classes. UBSA can not only adjust the bandwidth allocation reasonably but also modify the parameters of utility functions flexibly for different service classes, which will achieve finer adjustment, and consequently achieve superior performances. Simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm is more effective for supporting differentiated services in wired-wireless hybrid networks.
IMPROVEMENT IN VISUAL ACUITY AND CONTRAST SENSITIVITY IN PATIENTS WITH CENTRAL SEROUS CHORIORETINOPATHY AFTER MACULAR SUBTHRESHOLD LASER THERAPY

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to measure the improvement in vision and contrast sensitivity in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy after macular subthreshold laser therapy. Methods: Cases included in this clinical trial were patients diagnosed with acute central serous chorioretinopathy less than 1 month in duration. Each patient was randomized to either observation group or treatment group with subthreshold argon laser. First and sixth month of follow-up results were then recorded, and visual improvement and contrast sensitivity were compared between the two groups. Results: Of 37 patients with central serous chorioretinopathy, 25 were men and 12 were women with a mean age of 38.6 ± 5.9 years. At 6 months, mean best-corrected visual acuity improved from 0.26 to 0.03 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution in the laser group and from 0.12 to 0.04 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution in the observation group (P < 0.001). Except spatial frequencies of 18 cycles per degree (P = 0.207), the contrast sensitivity in spatial frequencies of 3, 6, and 12 cycles per degree was significantly more favorable in the laser group during the first and sixth month. Conclusion: Treatment of patients with acute central serous chorioretinopathy with subthreshold laser improved the best-corrected visual acuity and contrast sensitivity compared with those in the observation group. The laser group also showed a more rapid improvement. In both groups, best-corrected visual acuity improved in most patients after 6 months; however, the contrast sensitivity was significantly better in the treatment group.
Automated path generation for software fault localization

Localizing the cause(s) of an observable error lies at the heart of program debugging. Fault localization often proceeds by comparing the failing program run with some "successful" run (a run which does not demonstrate the error). An issue here is to generate or choose a "suitable" successful run; this task is often left to the programmer. In this paper, we present an efficient technique where the construction of the successful run as well its comparison with the failing run is automated. Our method constructs a successful program run by toggling the outcomes of some conditional branch instances in the failing run. If such a successful run exists, program statements for these branches are returned as bug report. In our experiments with the Siemens benchmark suite, we found that the quality of our bug report compares well with those produced by existing fault localization approaches where the programmer manually provides or chooses a successful run.
Randomized energy-based AODV protocol for wireless ad-Hoc network

MANET is one kind of non-infrastructure network which is composed of various mobile nodes. Due to the battery energy constraints in MANET, energy efficiency is an important factor while designing ad hoc wireless networks. Previous works tried to optimize the AODV protocol by proposing different schemes. In this paper, two solutions have been proposed to control the congestion problem of wireless ad-hoc network in MANET. Some changes have been made in the RREQ packet to calculate the drop factor. The energy-based proposed scheme has been simulated with network simulator 2.35. It is seen from the result that the solutions proposed has performed comparatively better than the traditional AODV with respect of packet delivery ratio, throughput and delay.
Feature space design for image recognition with image screening

This paper describes a two-stage recognition method that reduces the calculation load of correlation and improves recognition accuracy in statistical image recognition. It consists of an image screening and recognition stage. Image screening selects a candidate set of subimages that are similar to the object class using a lower dimensional feature vector. Since recognition is made for the selected subimages set using a higher dimensional feature vector, overall recognition efficiency is improved. The classifier in recognition designed from the selected subimages also improves recognition accuracy because selected subimages are less contaminated than the original ones. A screening criterion for measuring overall efficiency and accuracy of recognition is introduced to be exploited in designing the feature spaces of image screening and recognition. The results of experiments for the eye- and mouth-area detection in face images and text-area detection in document images show that the designed feature spaces improve recognition accuracy and more efficiency than does the conventional one-stage recognition method.
Design and evaluation of mouse cursors in a stereoscopic desktop environment

In a standard desktop environment a mouse has proven to be an efficient interaction device. However, when working with stereoscopic content, the shape and behavior of a standard 2D mouse cursor is not suitable, as depth conflicts between the cursor and the content can lead to confusion. In this paper, we show that specific 3D cursors can increase accuracy and user comfort. We first discuss several situations in which traditional cursors fail and explain their limitations and shortcomings. Based on these observations, we propose new mouse cursors that are designed for the use in a stereoscopic environment. In particular, we investigate the integration of the cursor in the scene in terms of occlusion, depth matching and shape and propose a new cursor that adapts to the 3D scene. We conducted an experiment to investigate accuracy, speed and comfort of the various interaction solutions.
The Geographical Life of Search

This article describes a geographical study on the usage of a search engine, focusing on the traffic details at the level of countries and continents. The main objective is to understand from a geographic point of view, how the needs of the users are satisfied, taking into account the geographic location of the host in which the search originates, and the host that contains the Web page that was selected by the user in the answers. Our results confirm that the Web is a cultural mirror of society and shed light on the implicit social network behind search. These results are also useful as input for the design of distributed search engines.
Adder circuits using symmetric and asymmetric FinFETs

In this paper we are examining different configurations and circuit topologies for adder circuits using both symmetric and asymmetric work-function FinFET transistors. Based on extensive characterization data, for the carry generation of a mirror full adder using symmetric devices, both leakage current and delay are decreased by 25% and 50% respectively compared to results in the literature. For the 14 transistor (14T) full adder topology, both leakage and delay are decreased by 23% and 29% respectively compared to the mirror topology. The 14T adder topology, using asymmetric devices without any additional power supply, achieves reduction in leakage by 85% with a small degradation of 7% in delay. All simulations are based on 25nm FinFET technology using the University of Florida UFDG model.
Tsinghua University at the Summarization Track of TAC 2008

This paper presents our extractive summarization systems at the update summarization track of TAC 2008. We proposed two novel methods, one is based on the information distance theory, and the other is based on the sentence centrality which derives from the centrality concept in the graph theory. The evaluation results show that the two submitted runs are very competitive to generate extractive summaries.
Bayesian framework for semantic classification of outdoor vacation images

Grouping images into (semantically) meaningful categories using low-level visual features is still a challenging and important problem in content-based image retrieval. Based on these groupings, effective indices can be built for an image database. In this paper, we cast the image classification problem in a Bayesian framework. Specifically, we consider city vs. landscape classification, and further, classification of landscape into sunset, forest, and mountain classes. We demonstrate how high-level concepts can be understood from specific low-level image features, under the constraint that the test images do belong to one of the delineated classes. We further demonstrate that a small codebook (the optimal size is selected using the MDL principle) extracted from a vector quantizer, can be used to estimate the class-conditional densities needed for the Bayesian methodology. Classification based on color histograms, color coherence vectors, edge direction histograms, and edge-direction coherence vectors as features shows promising results. On a database of 2,716 city and landscape images, our system achieved an accuracy of 95.3 percent for city vs. landscape classification. On a subset of 528 landscape images, our system achieves an accuracy of 94.9 percent for sunset vs. forest and mountain classification, and 93.6 percent for forest vs. mountain classification. Our final goal is to combine multiple 2- class classifiers into a single hierarchical classifier.
Zircon Adaptive Software on SGI ® Altix ® UV 1000 for High Performance Data Analytics

* 30 Galesi Drive, Suite 202B, Wayne, NJ 07470, USA † 46555 Landing Parkway, Fremont, CA 94538, USA Abstract Software developers and architects creating and upgrading their code to run on new processor architectures for embedded market segments are trying to harness the processing power available from these multi-core platforms. These market segments include fraud detection, market risk analysis, digital image processing, storage, and many others. Unfortunately, legacy applications in these domains cannot leverage the parallelism inherent in multi-core systems without extensive remodeling and reprogramming. Despite the price/performance ad-vantages of these systems, it is hard to accelerate and scale the performance of applications to take advantage of the additional processing power.
Dual-phase 18F-FDG PET in Peripheral Nerve Schwannoma: Incidental Findings in an Asymptomatic Individual for Cancer Screening

A 54-year-old female had 18F-FDG PET for cancer screening during health examination. The early PET images showed abnormal soft tissue uptake in the right thigh while the delayed images showed persistent uptake in the same area. Though the SUV on the delayed images is slightly lower than that of the early images, it is still as high as 3.59, so further workup of the lesion is recommended. The lesion was subsequently excised and proved to be a schwannoma. The change of SUV between the early and delayed images is different from that has been reported in literature and may reflect a wide range variation of FDG uptake that cannot be used to reliably differentiate benign from malignant lesions. With the addition of a concurrent CT scan in a PET/CT scanner, we were able to precisely locate the lesion hence made the PET report more valuable and would likely benefit the patient by saving additional imaging and correlation and facilitate further management. For cancer screening we suggested a more prudent practice by including the lower extremities in the scanning field.