Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk factors for pain in children with severe cognitive impairments

Diagnosing cause of pain in children with severe cognitive impairments is difficult due to their problems with communication. Identification of risk factors for specific pain etiologies might help professionals in this task. The aim of this study was to determine whether child‐related characteristics increase risk for specific types of pain. Participants were the caregivers of 41 females and 53 males with moderate to profound mental retardation, * who were aged 3 to 18 years 8 months (mean 10:1, SD 4:4) but who communicated at the level of a typical child of 13.8 months (SD 10 months): 44 of the children had cerebral palsy (CP) and 59 a seizure disorder. Caregivers reported the cause of children's episodes of pain for four 1‐week periods over 1 year. Logistic regression analyses were used to predict occurrence of specific types of pain using children's demographic, medical, and physical characteristics. Children had 406 episodes of pain due to accident, gastrointestinal conditions, musculoskeletal problems, infection, recurrent conditions, and common childhood causes. Results indicated that a unique set of risk factors predicted each pain type in this sample. Significant risk factors for pain included: lack of visual impairment and leg impairment (accidental pain); seizures, leg impairment, and greater number of medications (non‐accidental pain); being male and tube fed (musculoskeletal pain); age <7 years, absence of CP, visual impairment, and less frequent medical monitoring (infection pain); being female and with arm impairment (gastrointestinal pain); and being tube fed and taking fewer medications (common childhood pains). In most cases, models were more specific than sensitive, indicating that the significant predictors are more useful for eliminating potential pain causes. These results suggest that population risk factors may be helpful in structuring diagnostic investigations for individual children with severe cognitive impairments.
Hierarchical Matching of 3D Pedestrian Trajectories for Surveillance Applications

In this paper we propose a string-based approach to effectively represent trajectories in the 3D space. The strategy is coupled with a syntactical matching algorithm that allows evaluating the similarity of the retrieved data with pre-stored templates. The symbolic representation of the trajectory, is the core of the proposed system, which helps discriminating among different tracks using a modified version of the edit-distance. The hierarchical application of the algorithm on the spatial and temporal components helps detecting anomalous trajectories, and has proven to be robust in automatically learning new instances or classes of paths. We present the results achieved by performing a number of tests in an indoor lab used as a testbed for assisted living applications. The algorithm can discriminate among different classes of trajectories and can recognize actions and detect anomalies within the same class.
Texture analysis of post breast cancer lymphedema ultrasound images obtained using a portable device--a pilot study.

BACKGROUND Lymphedema is a common complaint of post-breast cancer treatment. Some prior ultrasound imaging studies of lymphedema-affected upper extremities focused upon estimating the thickness of the dermis and subcutis areas. In contrast, however, the reliability and validity of texture features derived from ultrasound images obtained using a low-cost portable ultrasound device have not been reported. This study examined the reliability and validity of the first and second order quantitative image texture measures, average pixel intensity and entropy, and compared their site-specific correlations. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 10 ultrasound images of an ipsilateral affected elbow and the corresponding unaffected contralateral elbow were obtained using a portable ultrasound device. A Graphical User Interface software package for image analysis was developed and tested. Entropy and average pixel intensity at six adjacent regions of interest corresponding to the dermis and subcutis areas were calculated. Entropy had smaller coefficients of variation for each image compared to average pixel intensity with the intracluster correlation reliability coefficient for entropy being twice that of average pixel intensity. Both measures discriminated between the affected and unaffected sites (p < 0.001). However, the correlation between the two measures differed for affected (r = -0.060, p = 0.667) and unaffected (r = +0.595, p < 0.001) sites. CONCLUSIONS The second order measure entropy is preferable to that of the first order average pixel intensity as a measure of image texture to characterize ultrasound images of extremity lymphedema.
Investigating the neuroanatomical substrate of pathological laughing and crying in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with multimodal neuroimaging techniques

Abstract Objective: Pathological laughing and crying (PLC) is common in several neurological and psychiatric diseases and is associated with a distributed network involving the frontal cortex, the brainstem and cortico-pontine-cerebellar circuits. By applying multimodal neuroimaging approach, we examined the neuroanatomical substrate of PLC in a sample of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Methods: We studied 56 non-demented ALS patients and 25 healthy controls (HC). PLC was measured in ALS using the Center of Neurologic Study Lability Scale (CNS-LS; cutoff score: 13). All participants underwent 3D-T1-weighted and 30-directional diffusion-weighted imaging at 3T. Voxel-based morphometry and tract-based spatial-statistics analysis was used to examine gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) differences between ALS patients with and without PLC (ALS-PLC and ALS-nonPLC, respectively). Comparisons were restricted to regions with detected differences between ALS and HC, controlling for age, gender, total intracranial volume and depressive symptoms. Results: In regions with significant differences between ALS and HC, ALS-PLC patients showed decreased GM volume in left orbitofrontal cortex, frontal operculum, and putamen and bilateral frontal poles, compared to ALS-nonPLC. They also had decreased fractional anisotropy in left cingulum bundle and posterior corona radiata. WM abnormalities were additionally detected in WM associative and ponto-cerebellar tracts (using a more liberal threshold). Conclusions: PLC in ALS is driven by both GM and WM abnormalities which highlight the role of circuits rather than isolated centers in the emergence of this condition. ALS is suggested as a useful natural experimental model to study PLC.
Caveolin-1 regulates cell polarization and directional migration through Src kinase and Rho GTPases

Development, angiogenesis, wound healing, and metastasis all involve the movement of cells in response to changes in the extracellular environment. To determine whether caveolin-1 plays a role in cell migration, we have used fibroblasts from knockout mice. Caveolin-1–deficient cells lose normal cell polarity, exhibit impaired wound healing, and have decreased Rho and increased Rac and Cdc42 GTPase activities. Directional persistency of migration is lost, and the cells show an impaired response to external directional stimuli. Both Src inactivation and p190RhoGAP knockdown restore the wild-type phenotype to caveolin-1–deficient cells, suggesting that caveolin-1 stimulates normal Rho GTP loading through inactivation of the Src–p190RhoGAP pathway. These findings highlight the importance of caveolin-1 in the establishment of cell polarity during directional migration through coordination of the signaling of Src kinase and Rho GTPases.
Simulation and Implementation of DVR for Voltage Sag Compensation

Power quality is one of major concerns in the present era. It has become important, especially, with the introduction of sophisticated devices, whose performance is very sensitive to the quality of power supply. Power quality problem is an occurrence manifested as a nonstandard voltage, current or frequency that results in a failure or mis-operation of end user equipments. One of the major problems dealt here is the voltage sag. To solve this problem, custom power devices such as Distribution Static Compensator (D-STATCOM), Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR), and Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC) are used. In this paper, DVR, which is the most efficient and effective modern custom power device used in power distribution networks, is employed because of its lower cost, smaller size, and fast dynamic response to the disturbance. This paper presents the simulation analysis of a DVR in MATLAB / SIMULINK environment and its hardware implementation for voltage sag compensation. The results showed clearly the performance of the DVR in mitigating voltage sags
Incremental Algorithms for Approximate Compilation

Compilation is an important approach to a range of inference problems, since it enables linear-time inference in the size S of the compiled representation. However, the main drawback is that S can be exponentially larger than the size of the original function. To address this issue, we propose an incremental, approximate compilation technique that guarantees a sound and space-bounded compilation for weighted boolean functions, at the expense of query completeness. In particular, our approach selectively compiles all solutions exceeding a particular threshold, given a range of weighting functions, without having to perform inference over the full solution-space. We describe incremental, approximate algorithms for the prime implicant and DNNF compilation languages, and provide empirical evidence that these algorithms enable space reductions of several orders-of-magnitude over the full compilation, while losing relatively little query completeness.
Change control for product line software engineering

Product line software engineering (PLSE) has proved to be an effective way to benefit from code reuse, leading to improved development efficiency, time-to-market, and product quality. In PLSE, a set of related products is developed by combining reused core assets with product-specific custom assets. Core assets implement most product functionality, and support variable functionality. Custom assets integrate a product's core assets, instantiate variation points, and implement functionality unique to the product. PLSE poses challenges for change control. Software engineering change control is related to configuration management (CM), and is concerned with planning, coordinating, tracking, and managing the impact of change to software artifacts (e.g. source code). The root cause of change control problems for PLSE is that core assets are shared between products that have different stakeholders. Core assets must satisfy the sometimes conflicting needs of these stakeholders. This position paper lists some specific change control problems characteristic of, or exacerbated by, PLSE and some of their solutions. These were observed during the author's prior experience working in a company that adopted PLSE and maintained product lines.
Berkeley Elementary Functions Test Suite

A peak power ratio generator is described for measuring, in combination with a conventional power meter, the peak power level of extremely narrow pulses in the gigahertz radio frequency bands. The present invention in a preferred embodiment utilizes a tunnel diode and a back diode combination in a detector circuit as the only high speed elements. The high speed tunnel diode provides a bistable signal and serves as a memory device of the input pulses for the remaining, slower components. A hybrid digital and analog loop maintains the peak power level of a reference channel at a known amount. Thus, by measuring the average power levels of the reference signal and the source signal, the peak power level of the source signal can be determined.
Emergent specialization in the extended multi-rover problem

This paper introduces the collective neuro evolution (CONE) method, and compares its efficacy for designing specialization, with a conventional neuro-evolution (NE) method. Specialization was defined at both the individual agent, and at the agent group level. The CONE method was tested comparatively with the conventional NE method in an extension of the multi-rover task domain, where specialization exhibited at both the individual and group level is known to benefit task performance. In the multi-rover domain, the task was for many agents (rovers) to maximize the detection and evaluation of points of interest in a simulated environment, and to communicate gathered information to a base station. The goal of the rover group was to maximize a global evaluation function that measured performance (fitness) of the group. Results indicate that the CONE method was appropriate for facilitating specialization at both the individual and agent group levels, where as, the conventional NE method succeeded only in facilitating individual specialization. As a consequence of emergent specialization derived at both the individual and group levels, rover groups evolved by the CONE method were able to achieve a significantly higher task performance, comparative to groups evolved by the conventional NE method.
Overproduction of a 37-kilodalton cytoplasmic protein homologous to NAD+-linked D-lactate dehydrogenase associated with vancomycin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus

We previously reported the isolation of a laboratory-derived Staphylococcus aureus mutant, 523k, that has constitutive low-level resistance to vancomycin (MIC = 5 micrograms/ml) and teicoplanin (MIC = 5 micrograms/ml) and elaborates a ca. 39-kDa cytoplasmic protein that was not detected in the parent strain 523 (MIC = 1 micrograms/ml). We have now detected the protein in strain 523 by immunoblotting with antiserum raised against the protein. Consistent with our initial observations, densitometric analysis of the immunoblots revealed an increased production of the protein in 523k compared with that of the susceptible parent 523. The 5' region of the gene encoding the protein of interest was identified by nucleotide sequencing a PCR product amplified from the genome of 523k with degenerate primers designed to encode the amino acid sequence of proteolytic peptides obtained from the protein. The remainder of the gene was identified by library screening, PCR, and nucleotide sequencing. The gene encodes a 36.7-kDa protein with homology to a family of bacterial NAD+-dependent, D-specific 2-hydroxyacid dehydrogenases which includes both D-lactate dehydrogenase and the enterococcal vancomycin resistance protein VanH and is therefore designated ddh. Increased production of the product of ddh, Ddh, was associated with increased D-lactate dehydrogenase activity in 523k, a finding which suggested that Ddh is likely to be the D-lactate dehydrogenase previously identified in S. aureus. The increased D-lactate dehydrogenase activity in strain 523k and the structural similarities among Ddh, D-lactate dehydrogenase, and VanH suggest that overproduction of Ddh might play a role in vancomycin resistance in this strain.
Symbolic synthesis of clock-gating logic for power optimization of synchronous controllers

Recent results have shown that dynamic power management is effective in reducing the total power consumption of sequential circuits. In this paper, we propose a bottom-up approach for the automatic extraction and synthesis of dynamic power management circuitry starting from structural logic-level specifications. Our techniques leverage the compact BDD-based representation of Boolean and pseudo-Boolean functions to detect idle conditions where the clock can be stopped without compromising functional correctness. Moreover, symbolic techniques allow accurate probabilistic computations; in particular, they enable the use of non-equiprobable primary input distributions, a key step in the construction of models that match the behavior of real hardware devices with a high degree of fidelity. The results are encouraging, since power savings of up to 34% have been obtained on standard benchmark circuits.
Fair Scheduling for Data Collection in Mobile Sensor Networks with Energy Harvesting

We consider the problem of data collection from a network of energy harvesting sensors, applied to tracking mobile assets in rural environments. Our application constraints favor a fair and energy-aware solution, with heavily duty-cycled sensor nodes communicating with powered base stations. We study a novel scheduling optimization problem for energy harvesting mobile sensor network, that maximizes the amount of collected data under the constraints of radio link quality and energy harvesting efficiency, while ensuring a fair data reception. We show that the problem is NP-complete and propose a heuristic algorithm to approximate the optimal scheduling solution in polynomial time. Moreover, our algorithm is flexible in handling progressive energy harvesting events, such as with solar panels, or opportunistic and bursty events, such as with Wireless Power Transfer. We use empirical link quality data, solar energy, and WPT efficiency to evaluate the proposed algorithm in extensive simulations and compare its performance to state-of-the-art. We show that our algorithm achieves high data reception rates, under different fairness and node lifetime constraints.
On demand Gamma-Knife strategy can be safely combined with BRAF inhibitors for the treatment of melanoma brain metastases.

BACKGROUND Both Gamma-Knife radiosurgery (GKRS) and BRAF inhibitors (BRAF-I) have been shown to be useful in melanoma patients with brain metastases (BMs), thus suggesting that it could be interesting to combine their respective advantages. However, cases of radiosensitization following conventional radiation therapy in BRAF-I treated patients have raised serious concerns about the real feasibility and risk/benefit ratio of this combination. PATIENTS AND METHODS Review by two independent observers of brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) follow-up pictures, and volume and edema quantifications, and survival assessment in all patients who had been treated by GKRS and BRAF-I at a single institution. RESULTS Among 53 GKRS carried out in 30 patients who ever received BRAF-I and GKRS, 33 GKRS were carried out in 24 patients while under BRAF-I treatment, from which only 4 with an interruption of BRAF-I. The 20 other GKRS were carried out in 15 patients (including 9 of the 24) before initiation of BRAF-I treatment. No case of radiation-induced necrosis and no scalp radiation dermatitis occurred. A >20% increase in volume was observed in 35 of the 263 BM treated by GKRS (13.3%), but only 3 clear-cut edemas and 3 hemorrhages were detected within 2 months after GKRS, and 4 edemas and 7 hemorrhages later. Neither the MRI features nor the incidence of the volume changes, hemorrhage and edema were deemed unexpected for melanoma BM treated by GKRS. Median survival from first GKRS under BRAF-I and first dose of BRAF-I were 24.8 and 48.8 weeks, respectively. CONCLUSION This series does not show immediate radiotoxicity nor radiation recall, in melanoma patients with BRAF-I whose BMs are treated by GKRS. Interrupting BRAF-I for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) of BM seems useless, although it is still advised for other radiation therapies. The potential benefit of combining SRS and BRAF-I can be safely tested.
Cultural, Economic and Societal Impacts on Users’ Behaviour and Mobile Broadband Adoption Trends

The diverse range of Internet enabled devices both mobile and fixed has not only impacted the global economy but the very fabric of human communications and lifestyles. The ease of access and lowered cost has enabled hitherto diametrically opposed people to interact and influence each other globally. The consequence of which is the dire need to address the way culture affects interaction with information systems across the world. The many facets of which encompasses human behaviour, socio-economic and cultural factors including lifestyles and the way of interaction with the information system. The study group involved participants from Bangladesh and the United Kingdom to ascertain the users’ behavioural patterns and mobile broadband technology diffusion trends.
Optimizing Sensor Networks in the Energy-Latency-Density Design Space

In wireless sensor networks, energy efficiency is crucial to achieving satisfactory network lifetime. To reduce the energy consumption significantly, a node should turn off its radio most of the time, except when it has to participate in data forwarding. We propose a new technique, called sparse topology and energy management (STEM), which efficiently wakes up nodes from a deep sleep state without the need for an ultra low-power radio. The designer can trade the energy efficiency of this sleep state for the latency associated with waking up the node. In addition, we integrate STEM with approaches that also leverage excess network density. We show that our hybrid wakeup scheme results in energy savings of over two orders of magnitude compared to sensor networks without topology management. Furthermore, the network designer is offered full flexibility in exploiting the energy-latency-density design space by selecting the appropriate parameter settings of our protocol.
A Temporal Evolutionary Object-Oriented Data Model and Its Query Language for Medical Image Management

A temporal evolutionary object-oriented data model (TEDM) for medical image data is presented in this paper. The images (e.g. X-rays, CT scans, hlR scans, etc.) and their features are represented as objects in the data model. A high-level declarative temporal evolutionary query language (TEQL) integrated with the data model is proposed which provides the user with the capabilities of querying on the temporal evolutionary contents of the med- ical images. Our proposed model and language constructs can be applied to application domains that exemplify the evolutionary transformations of objects.
Assay for Pathogen-Associated Molecular Pattern (PAMP)-Triggered Immunity (PTI) in Plants

To perceive potential pathogens in their environment, plants use pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) present on their plasma membranes. PRRs recognize conserved microbial features called pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and this detection leads to PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI), which effectively prevents colonization of plant tissues by non-pathogens1,2. The most well studied system in PTI is the FLS2-dependent pathway3. FLS2 recognizes the PAMP flg22 that is a component of bacterial flagellin. Successful pathogens possess virulence factors or effectors that can suppress PTI and allow the pathogen to cause disease1. Some plants in turn possess resistance genes that detect effectors or their activity, which leads to effector-triggered immunity (ETI)2. We describe a cell death-based assay for PTI modified from Oh and Collmer4. The assay was standardized in N. benthamiana, which is being used increasingly as a model system for the study of plant-pathogen interactions5. PTI is induced by infiltration of a non-pathogenic bacterial strain into leaves. Seven hours later, a bacterial strain that either causes disease or which activates ETI is infiltrated into an area overlapping the original infiltration zone. PTI induced by the first infiltration is able to delay or prevent the appearance of cell death due to the second challenge infiltration. Conversely, the appearance of cell death in the overlapping area of inoculation indicates a breakdown of PTI. Four different combinations of inducers of PTI and challenge inoculations were standardized (Table 1). The assay was tested on non-silenced N. benthamiana plants that served as the control and plants silenced for FLS2 that were predicted to be compromised in their ability to develop PTI.