Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A SOM projection technique with the growing structure for visualizing high-dimensional data

The Self-Organizing Map (SOM) is an efficient tool for visualizing high-dimensional data. In this paper, an intuitive and effective SOM projection method is proposed for mapping high-dimensional data onto the two-dimensional SOM structure with a growing self-organizing map. In the learning phase, a growing SOM is trained and the growing cell structure is used as the baseline framework. After the learning phase, the new projection method is used to map the input vector so that the input data is mapped to the structure of the SOM without having to plot the weight values, resulting in easy visualization of the data. The projection method is demonstrated on two data sets with promising results and a significantly reduced network size.
Proposal for M . Sc . Gas Phase Biomolecules : Structural Motifs Revealed by Ionization-Loss Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy

In recent years, much effort has been devoted to the measurement and modelling of the threedimensional structure and the folding abilities of biologically-relevant molecules, including neurotransmitters [1] and building blocks of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) [2]. Previous studies have shown that one can differentiate between the conformers of the same molecule by combing quantum computations with novel laser spectroscopies, employing double resonance or hole-burning techniques, which allow monitoring of electronic and vibrational spectra. The latter were obtained using infrared (IR) sources, using the method of infrared ion dip spectroscopy (IR-IDS) [3] in limited ranges (mainly covering hydride stretch vibrations).
Permeation and block of rat glur6 glutamate receptor channels by internal and external polyamines

1 Polyamine block of rat GluR6(Q) glutamate receptor channels was studied in outside‐out patches from transiently transfected HEK 293 cells. With symmetrical 150 mm Na+ and 30 μm internal spermine there was biphasic voltage dependence with 95% block at +40 mV but only 20% block at +140mV. Dose–inhibition analysis for external spermine also revealed biphasic block; the Ka at +40 mV (54 μm) was lower than at +80 (167μm) and –80 mV (78 μm). 2 For internal polyamines relief from block was most pronounced for spermine, weaker for N‐(4‐hydroxyphenylpropanoyl)‐spermine (PPS), and virtually absent for philanthotoxin 343 (PhTX 343), suggesting that permeation of polyamines varies with cross‐sectional width (spermine, 0.44 nm; PPS, 0.70 nm; PhTX 343, 0.75 nm). 3 With putrescine, spermidine, or spermine as sole external cations, inward currents at –120 mV confirmed permeation of polyamines. For bi‐ionic conditions with 90 mm polyamine and 150 mm Na+i reversal potentials were –12.4 mV for putrescine (permeability ratio relative to Na+, PPut/PNa= 0.42) and –32.7 mV for spermidine (PSpd/PNa= 0.07). Currents carried by spermine were too small to analyse accurately in the majority of patches. 4 Increasing [Na+]i from 44 to 330 mm had no effect on the potential for 50% block (V½) by 30 μm internal spermine; however, relief from block at positive membrane potentials increased with [Na+]i. In contrast, raising [Na+]o from 44 to 330 mm resulted in a depolarizing shift in V½, indicating a strong interaction between internal polyamines and external per meant ions. 5 The Woodhull infinite barrier model of ion channel block adequately described the action of spermine at membrane potentials insufficient to produce relief from block. For 30 μm internal spermine such analysis gave Kd(0)= 2.5 μm, z θ= 1.97; block by 30 μm external spermine was weaker and less voltage dependent (Kd(0)= 37.8 μm and zδ= 0.55); δ and θ are electrical distances measured from the outside and inside, respectively. 6 Fits of the Woodhull equation for a permeable blocker adequately described both onset and relief from block by spermine over a wide range of membrane potentials. However, the rate constants and zδ values estimated for block by internal spermine predicted much stronger external block than was measured experimentally, and vice versa. 7 An Eyring rate theory model with two energy wells and three barriers explained qualitatively many characteristic features of the action of polyamines on GluPvs, including biphasic I–V relationships, weaker block by external than internal spermine and low permeability.
Fatiga y fractura de aceros perlíticos con distinto grado de trefilado

La Tesis tiene por objeto el estudio del comportamiento de alambres fisurados de cero perlitico hipoeutectoide con distinto grado trefilado en procesos de fatiga (crecimiento subcritico de fisuras) y fractura (propagacion critica de fisuras) bajo solicitaciones de traccion en direccion axial. En el primer capitulo se realiza el planteamiento general del problema. El capitulo II se ha dedicado a la caracterizacion mecanica del acero, encontrando la evolucion de propiedades mecanicas en funcion del grado de trefilado. Tambien se ha realizado un analisis de la propagacion de fisuras por fatiga haciendo uso de la ley de Paris. Lo que permite asegurar que la resistencia a la fisuracion por fatiga de los aceros mejora con el trefilado. Se ha conseguido relacionar los distintos modos microscopicos de fractura por fatiga analizados fractograficamente mediante el microscopio electronico de barrido, con los regimenes dentro de los cuales se ha fisurado. El capitulo III esta dedicado al estudio de la fractura en alambres fisurados. Se ha decidido utilizar un criterio de fractura local uniparametrico basado en la carg maxima en rotura y en la profundidad de la fisura. La aplicacion de este criterio permite agrupar los aceros en dos grupos (debil y fuertemente trefilados) estableciendo la diferencia entre ambos conjuntos por un salto brusco en los valores de la tenacidad. Para los aceros con menor grado de trefilado la fractura tiene lugar en modo I, y a partir de un estadio de trefilado intermedio la fractura se produce en modo mixto. Desde el punto de vista microscopico, la extension de la zona de fractura ductil por crecimiento y coalescencia de microhuecos es funcion creciente del grado de trefilado cuando la fractura se produce en modo I. En el caso de fracturas en modo mixto, la extension de la zona de microhuecos se ve interrumpida por la aparicion del escalon de propagacion a 90.
Dyspepsia — An Underestimated Problem among End-stage Renal Disease Patients

Dyspepsia is the most common gastrointestinal disorder in primary medical assistance. In the general population, 40% of people will suffer from dyspepsia during their lifetime [1]. The most frequent category of dyspepsia is functional dyspepsia (FD). Among categories of dyspepsia, FD accounts for roughly 50% of the cases and is defined as dyspeptic symptoms not explained by structural or organic upper gastrointestinal disease [2]. The categories associated with organic alterations of the upper gastrointestinal tract are: reflux disease with normal endoscopy (20%); reflux esophagitis (20%); peptic ulcer disease (10%); and more rarely, Barret’s esophagus and malignancy [2].
An Objective Evaluation of Breast Symmetry and Shape Differences Using 3-Dimensional Images

Background:The concept of natural breast asymmetry is well known; however, actual documentation in the literature is limited. New technology is currently available which provides 3-dimensional surface images of the breast and the ability to qualitatively determine differences in breast size, shape, and contour. The purpose of this report is to objectively determine the extent to which this natural breast asymmetry exists. Methods:Eighty-seven women without a history of breast cancer or previous breast surgery were included. Images were obtained using 3dMD technology. Data points queried included age, parity, body mass index (BMI), ethnicity, and bra size. Left/right images were superimposed and the distance between the 2 surfaces, and contour was calculated. The degree of asymmetry was determined and comparisons were made. Similar differences in nipple-to-notch measurements were calculated and compared. Subjective evaluations were included for clinical relevance. Results:The average age was 49.6 years (range: 19–77), with an average BMI of 25 (range: 18.5–36.7). The average nipple to notch on the left was 24.3 cm and 23.8 cm on the right. The nipple-to-notch asymmetry was on average 3.2%, with the left breast measurement being greater the majority of the time (62%). The mean distance between each breast demonstrated consistent breast asymmetry, with an average measurement of +0.5 mm (left breast being larger than the right). The degree of breast asymmetry was documented by a root mean square value (RMS) of 5.93 mm. This was not related to age, parity, or ethnicity; however, it was significantly higher in those patients with larger BMI, cup size, and chest-wall circumference. Only 10% of women were found to have severe breast asymmetry on subjective evaluation, which correlated objectively with the RMS in that group being significantly higher at 9.8 mm (P < 0.05). There were no predictable patterns of asymmetry; however, the most common pattern was larger laterally and smaller medially, found in 32% of the women. Conclusion:Natural breast asymmetry does exist, demonstrated objectively using 3-dimensional surfaces images. The left breast is on average larger than the right, with differences in size and shape being consistent but fairly unpredictable. It is important that we know baseline differences in breast symmetry prior to objectively analyzing results following esthetic and reconstructive breast surgery.
3D Cardiac Electrical Activity Model

The aim of this study is to develop a new, computationally-efficient, anatomically-realistic 3D bidomain cardiac electrical activity model using widely available software and standard low-cost hardware. The model incorporates whole-heart embedded in a human torso, spontaneous activation of sinoatrial node and specialized conduction system with heterogeneous action potential morphologies. The model is capable of generating realistic body surface electrocardiograms (ECGs) and is proposed as a useful tool for investigating some major issues in heart pathophys-iology and in stimulation; such as simulating and optimizing synchronized electrical cardioversion, defibrillation and pacing stimulation.
Relationship between Ca2+-affinity and shielding of bulk water in the Ca2+-pump from molecular dynamics simulations

The sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase transports two Ca2+ per ATP hydrolyzed from the cytoplasm to the lumen against a large concentration gradient. During transport, the pump alters the affinity and accessibility for Ca2+ by rearrangements of transmembrane helices. In this study, all-atom molecular dynamics simulations were performed for wild-type Ca2+-ATPase in the Ca2+-bound form and the Gln mutants of Glu771 and Glu908. Both of them contribute only one carboxyl oxygen to site I Ca2+, but only Glu771Gln completely looses the Ca2+-binding ability. The simulations show that: (i) For Glu771Gln, but not Glu908Gln, coordination of Ca2+ was critically disrupted. (ii) Coordination broke at site II first, although Glu771 and Glu908 only contribute to site I. (iii) A water molecule bound to site I Ca2+ and hydrogen bonded to Glu771 in wild-type, drastically changed the coordination of Ca2+ in the mutant. (iv) Water molecules flooded the binding sites from the lumenal side. (v) The side chain conformation of Ile775, located at the head of a hydrophobic cluster near the lumenal surface, appears critical for keeping out bulk water. Thus the simulations highlight the importance of the water molecule bound to site I Ca2+ and point to a strong relationship between Ca2+-coordination and shielding of bulk water, providing insights into the mechanism of gating of ion pathways in cation pumps.
Subjective Fatigue of C-141 Aircrews during Operation Desert Storm

Airlift crews were exposed to extended work periods, reduced sleep periods, night work, and circadian dysrhythmia caused by shift work and time-zone crossings during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. This research reveals the extent to which severe subjective fatigue was experienced by the crews during Operation Desert Storm. In addition, through the evaluation of long-term and short-term work and sleep histories, this research shows that recent sleep and flight histories are correlated with high fatigue levels. Furthermore, we found a tendency for fatigue to correspond with pilot error. We recommend that the training of personnel involved in long-duration operations include fatigue management strategies and, further, that work policies and environments be designed to take into account the importance of regular and restorative sleep when unusual duty hours are required.
Developing an Object Exchange Model Template for GRIDS distributed supply chain simulations

Supply chain management (SCM) is a series of activities, usually sequential, that an organisation, or a network of organisations, uses to deliver products and/or services to customers. With the globalisation of commercial markets, distributed supply chain (DSQ) simulation, connecting organisations from various parts of the world, has gained significance in supply chain management decision support. DSC simulation requires that information be transferred between individual simulations (interoperability) in a timely and consistent manner. In this work GRIDS (Generic Runtime Infrastructure for Distributed Simulation), an extensible, service-based RTI, is used to successfully transfer timely information between simulations. However, the question of what format this information should take still remains. This paper presents the development of an Object Exchange Model Template (OEMT), for DSC simulation in GRIDS. These are templates for standard object creation within a DSC simulation, so as to facilitate standard object transfers between the various simulations that compose a DSC simulation. The templates are stored in an Object Exchange Model Repository (OEMR) for easy access by all simulation builders intending to build a DSC simulation using GRIDS. The OEMT facilitates interoperability by providing a common "language" that can be used to share information (objects) between simulations. This approach can also facilitate data distribution management (DDM) services. The OEMT is intended to extend and complement the OMT of the High Level Architecture.
Retrieval of magneto-electric properties of unsymmetric metamaterials from measured S-parameters

In this paper, a new inverse algorithm is proposed for retrieving the effective parameters of unsymmetric metamaterials from three measurements of S-parameters. Analytic expressions for the effective properties of unsymmetric metamaterials are formulated in terms of ABCD matrix. With simulated or measured S-parameters for unsymmetric metamaterials, the effective parameters are retrieved
Detection and quantitation of human immunodeficiency virus-infected peripheral blood mononuclear cells by flow cytometry

A flow cytometric assay has been developed to detect and quantitate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from HIV-seropositive patients. Peripheral blood was obtained from patients attending an acquired immune deficiency syndrome clinic, and mononuclear cells were separated by centrifugation onto Ficoll-Hypaque. The cell layer at the interface was removed, washed in phosphate-buffered saline without Ca2+ and Mg2+, and fixed with 90% methanol, and intracellular HIV antigens were detected by indirect immunofluorescence with monoclonal antibodies to HIV antigens as the primary antibody and fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated goat anti-mouse immunoglobulin G F(ab')2 antibody as the secondary antibody. DNA content was determined by propidium diiodide staining after RNase treatment. These fluorochrome-treated cells were analyzed for two-color fluorescence by flow cytometry. The results showed that HIV-infected cells in peripheral blood that have been treated with monoclonal antibodies to the p24 or nef antigens of HIV can be detected and quantitated by flow cytometry. The percentage of p24 antigen-positive mononuclear cells had a significant correlation (P = 0.0001) with the clinical status of the patient, i.e., those with a high percentage of p24 antigen-positive cells had a poorer prognosis than those with a lower percentage of p24 antigen-positive mononuclear cells. In addition, for those in Centers for Disease Control groups III and IV, there was an inverse correlation between the percentage of p24 antigen-positive mononuclear cells and the number of T4 cells. However, cell-associated antigen detection by flow cytometry did not correlate with detection of antigen in sera of HIV-seropositive patients by the standard antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. This lack of correlation was probably due to the presence of immune complexes in the sera of HIV-seropositive patients. These results suggest that flow cytometry can be used as a rapid, sensitive, and quantitative assay system for the determination of the antigen status of HIV-seropositive patients and that it may be more useful as an indicator of disease progression than the currently used antigen detection methods.
Prefabrication of a vascularized nerve graft by vessel implantation: Preliminary report of an experimental model

Regeneration through vascularized nerve grafts (VNG) seems to be better than nonvascularized nerve grafts (NVNG), especially in hostile beds. We report on an experimental technique of prefabrication of VNG by direct vessel implantation. An arteriovenous fistula was created in the groin region with autologous vein grafts in the Wistar rat model, and implanted into the sciatic nerve. Five weeks later the sciatic VNG was elevated on the prefabricated pedicle. The flap was free‐transferred orthotopically over a silicone sheet to impede plasmatic imbibition. Flap viability at 3 days was complete. India ink injection of the AV fistula resulted in capillary ink filling within the nerve and surrounding tissues. Histologic sections of the flap were examined, revealing its neovascularity. In an ongoing study, the regeneration through this prefabricated VNG is being compared to native VNG. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Does Increased Duration of Exclusive Breastfeeding Protect Against Helicobacter pylori Infection? The Newcastle Thousand Families Cohort Study at Age 49-51 Years

Objective: Helicobacter pylori acquired in childhood is an important risk factor for gastric carcinoma. Once colonization is established, infection may be carried for life. This study used prospectively recorded, detailed information on infant feeding and investigated the potential link between duration of exclusive breastfeeding in infancy and seropositivity at age 50 years, as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Methods: H. pylori seropositivity at age 50 years was investigated among 407 individuals born in Newcastle in May and June 1947 and related to the duration of exclusive breastfeeding after adjusting for measures of socioeconomic status and adverse housing conditions at birth. Results: Duration of exclusive breastfeeding in infancy was significantly associated with H. pylori seropositivity (odds ratio per 30 days, 0.88; 95% confidence interval, 0.78 to 0.98). The significant protective trend was only seen among men (odds ratio per 30 days, 0.78; 95% confidence interval, 0.65 to 0.95), with no significant effect seen among women. Conclusion: Increased duration of exclusive breastfeeding in infancy may have a long-term protective effect against chronic H. pylori infection and hence the risk of gastric carcinoma. Although further research is required, particularly as to why a significant effect was only seen among men, the results provide additional support for the concept that breastfeeding may have long-term influences on health and that human milk is the ideal complete first diet for human infants.
Contactless Heart Rate Monitoring Using A Standard RGB Camera

Video photo-plethysmography (VPG) methods have been used over the years to monitor the heart rate. In this work, we report the usage of two different algorithms to extract cardiac signals from the recorded videos. Video recordings on six different subjects have been carried out at two different experimental setup conditions-front view and side view. Tests are also performed at three different Region of Interest (ROI)-forehead, cheek, and the carotid region. Results suggest that the carotid region offers the best performance in terms of accuracy. The accuracy rate remained consistently high on almost all the trials that underwent side view measurements. It is also noteworthy to mention that in many cases, the green channel exhibited much more accurate results than its counterpart sRGB color space.
Transitory changes in plasma progestins, estradiol, and luteinizing hormone approaching ovulation in the bovine.

Progestins, estradiol, and luteinizing hormone were measured by radioimmunoassay in bovine plasma samples collected from indwelling jugular catheters daily on days minus 6 to minus 4, every 6 h on days minus 3 and minus 2, and every 2 h from day minus 1 to ovulation. Least squares analyses characterized time trends within animals and interrelationships between these hormones. Plasma progestins decreased from 5.7 ng/ml at day minus 6 to . 07 ng at the peak of luteinizing hormone. No preovulatory peripheral increase in plasma progestins was detected. Estradiol increased from 2 pg/ml at day minus 4 to 6 pg at minus 12 h and then increased abruptly to 7.4 pg at the peak of luteinizing hormone. This matter increase in estradiol was synchronous with the acute preovulatory surge of luteinizing hormone. Association was positive between estradiol and luteinizing hormone, but negative between progestins and estradiol. Estradiol decreased 50% by 5 h following the peak of luteinizing hormone with a return to base (2 pg) at 14 h. An increase of . 1 ng luteinizing hormone/ml plasma per day was linear from day minus 6 to 8 h prior to the luteinizing hormone peak. Luteinizing hormone increased to a peak of 13.5 ng/ml and remained elevated for 10.5 h. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that an increase at proestrus in estradiol rather than progestins triggers the preovulatory surge of luteinizing hormone in the bovine.
PMBANet: Progressive Multi-Branch Aggregation Network for Scene Depth Super-Resolution

Depth map super-resolution is an ill-posed inverse problem with many challenges. First, depth boundaries are generally hard to reconstruct particularly at large magnification factors. Second, depth regions on fine structures and tiny objects in the scene are destroyed seriously by downsampling degradation. To tackle these difficulties, we propose a progressive multi-branch aggregation network (PMBANet), which consists of stacked MBA blocks to fully address the above problems and progressively recover the degraded depth map. Specifically, each MBA block has multiple parallel branches: 1) The reconstruction branch is proposed based on the designed attention-based error feed-forward/-back modules, which iteratively exploits and compensates the downsampling errors to refine the depth map by imposing the attention mechanism on the module to gradually highlight the informative features at depth boundaries. 2) We formulate a separate guidance branch as prior knowledge to help to recover the depth details, in which the multi-scale branch is to learn a multi-scale representation that pays close attention at objects of different scales, while the color branch regularizes the depth map by using auxiliary color information. Then, a fusion block is introduced to adaptively fuse and select the discriminative features from all the branches. The design methodology of our whole network is well-founded, and extensive experiments on benchmark datasets demonstrate that our method achieves superior performance in comparison with the state-of-the-art methods. Our code and models are available at https://github.com/Sunbaoli/PMBANet_DSR/.