Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prism: Enhancing Graphic Designers' Visual Research with Interactive Search Trails

Graphic designers often use the Web to collect images to use as inspiration and references for their work. Their resulting collections of images, however, typically do not retain important aspects of their visual research, such as their thought process when searching and all explored design avenues. Guided by an exploratory study with 14 expert graphic designers, we developed Prism - a system that supports a graphic designer's visual research on the Internet by automatically capturing all inspected images and annotating them with the designer's search trails. We evaluated Prism through a two-week field study with 11 expert designers. Our findings suggest that Prism's capture and display capabilities helped the designers to reify their design thinking, to better reflect on and compare alternative design ideas, and to collaborate with their colleagues and clients.
Attentional refreshing moderates the word frequency effect in immediate and delayed recall tasks

Using an online sample experiment, the study described herein addresses the fervent debate about the relationships between working memory and long‐term memory (LTM). We manipulated refreshing opportunities and LTM status of memoranda by varying, respectively, the type of span tasks (simple span with short or long lists versus complex span tasks) and the frequency of the memory words (low versus high). In accordance with the hypothesis that refreshing is involved particularly in complex rather than simple span tasks, the frequency effect in immediate recall tests was reduced in the former. Moreover, contrary to previous studies in which refreshing increases LTM effects in delayed recall tests, our data point in the opposite direction. However, the frequency effect was also reduced in the simple task with short lists, suggesting that refreshing might not be the only process underlying the reduction of frequency effect in delayed tests. Finally, no differences in delayed recall were found between the complex span task that affords refreshing opportunities and the other tasks, suggesting that another process than refreshing, probably consolidation, might be involved in delayed recall.
Bone morphogenetic protein 9 as a key regulator of liver progenitor cells in DDC‐induced cholestatic liver injury

Bone morphogenetic protein 9 (BMP9) interferes with liver regeneration upon acute injury, while promoting fibrosis upon carbon tetrachloride‐induced chronic injury. We have now addressed the role of BMP9 in 3,5 diethoxicarbonyl‐1,4 dihydrocollidine (DDC)‐induced cholestatic liver injury, a model of liver regeneration mediated by hepatic progenitor cell (known as oval cell), exemplified as ductular reaction and oval cell expansion.
ANN-based Collaborative Sensor Calibration and GA-approach to Sensor Mutation Management

Collaborative sensor data service is an emerging technology and it is beneficial to various applications including robotics, medicals, industry and military. Sensor collaborative analysis may improve technical issues such as verification of sensor data or reduction of data transmission. However, typical approaches to sensor collaboration are less satisfactory. It is in part because the procedures for sensor collaboration are pre-defined and less adaptive to dynamic changes in environment, or it is because the procedures are developed one time and deployed for many times. They are not satisfactorily adaptive to environmental changes, or are less efficient to work the sensors collaborative to cope with abrupt changes. To improve sensor collaboration adaptive to environment changes, this paper proposes a two-tier deep learning technique to enable sensor devices.
Evaluation of the KIT Lecture Translation System

To attract foreign students is among the goals of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). One obstacle to achieving this goal is that lectures at KIT are usually held in German which many foreign students are not sufficiently proficient in, as, e.g., opposed to English. While the students from abroad are learning German during their stay at KIT, it is challenging to become proficient enough in it in order to follow a lecture. As a solution to this problem we offer our automatic simultaneous lecture translation. It translates German lectures into English in real time. While not as good as human interpreters, the system is available at a price that KIT can afford in order to offer it in potentially all lectures. In order to assess whether the quality of the system we have conducted a user study. In this paper we present this study, the way it was conducted and its results. The results indicate that the quality of the system has passed a threshold as to be able to support students in their studies. The study has helped to identify the most crucial weaknesses of the systems and has guided us which steps to take next.
Walnuts and fatty fish influence different serum lipid fractions in normal to mildly hyperlipidemic individuals: a randomized controlled study.

BACKGROUND Increased consumption of n-3 (omega-3) fatty acids decreases the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD). OBJECTIVE The objective was to determine whether walnuts (plant n-3 fatty acid) and fatty fish (marine n-3 fatty acid) have similar effects on serum lipid markers at intakes recommended for primary prevention of CHD. DESIGN In a randomized crossover feeding trial, 25 normal to mildly hyperlipidemic adults consumed 3 isoenergetic diets ( approximately 30% total fat and <10% saturated fat) for 4 wk each: a control diet (no nuts or fish), a walnut diet (42.5 g walnuts/10.1 mJ), or a fish diet (113 g salmon, twice/wk). Fasting blood was drawn at baseline and at the end of each diet period and analyzed for serum lipids. RESULTS Serum total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol concentrations in adults who followed the walnut diet (4.87 +/- 0.18 and 2.77 +/- 0.15 mmol/L, respectively) were lower than in those who followed the control diet (5.14 +/- 0.18 and 3.06 +/- 0.15 mmol/L, respectively) and those who followed the fish diet (5.33 +/- 0.18 and 3.2 +/- 0.15 mmol/L, respectively; P < 0.0001). The fish diet resulted in decreased serum triglyceride and increased HDL-cholesterol concentrations (1.0 +/- 0.11 and 1.23 +/- 0.05 mmol/L, respectively) compared with the control diet (1.12 +/- 0.11 and 1.19 +/- 0.05 mmol/L, respectively) and the walnut diet (1.11 +/- 0.11 mmol/L, P < 0.05, and 1.18 +/- 0.05 mmol/L, P < 0.001, respectively). The ratios of total cholesterol:HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol:HDL cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B:apolipoprotein A-I were lower (P < 0.05) in those who followed the walnut diet compared with those who followed the control and fish diets. CONCLUSION Including walnuts and fatty fish in a healthy diet lowered serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations, respectively, which affects CHD risk favorably.
Does the Firms Mimetic Motives Affect the Customers Self-Determination Motivation?: A Cross-Level Integrative Perspective

Firms under pressure are motivated to mimic, such an imitation, whether it can affect customers self-identification process, and thus enhance customer loyalty, it has rarely been explored. Based on the concept of mimetic motives and Self-Determination Theory, the moderation effect of insurance companies mimetic motives to customers SDT can be investigated. Data are obtained from 289 customers and 30 team managers of an insurance company in Taiwan. A two-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) is adopted to examine the relationships between team managers and customers, appropriately adjusted for a nested structure. The empirical results of this study indicate that the moderation effect of mimetic motives on SDT to loyalty is significant and positive, suggesting that institutional processes are also an important factor in consumers behavior. This study has provided insights into marketing practices that self-determined motivation dominates the mediating mechanism between satisfaction and loyalty.
Measuring Endoplasmic Reticulum Signal Sequences Translocation Efficiency Using the Xbp1 Arrest Peptide

Secretory proteins translocate across the mammalian ER membrane co-translationally via the ribosome-sec61 translocation channel complex. Signal sequences within the polypeptide, which guide this event, are diverse in their hydrophobicity, charge, length, and amino acid composition. Despite the known sequence diversity in the ER-targeting signals, it is generally assumed that they have a dominant role in determining co-translational targeting and translocation initiation process. We have analyzed co-translational events experienced by secretory proteins carrying efficient, versus inefficient (poorly hydrophobic) signal sequences, using an assay based on Xbp1 peptide-mediated translational arrest. With this method we were able to measure the functional efficiency of ER signal sequences. We show that an efficient signal sequence experiences a two-phases event in which the nascent chain is pulled from the ribosome during its translocation, thus resuming translation and yielding full-length products. Conversely, the inefficient signal sequence experiences a single weaker pulling event, suggesting inadequate engagement by the translocation machinery of these marginally hydrophobic signal sequences.
Hypertension, inflammation and T lymphocytes are increased in a rat model of HELLP syndrome

Objective: An animal model of hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelet count (HELLP) was used to determine if T lymphocytes accompany hypertension and increased inflammatory cytokines. Methods: sFlt-1 (4.7 µg/kg/day) and sEndoglin (7 µg/kg/day) were infused into normal pregnant rats (HELLP rats) for 8 days. Results: HELLP was associated with increased mean arterial pressure (p = 0.0001), hemolysis (p = 0.044), elevated liver enzymes (p = 0.027), and reduced platelets (p = 0.035). HELLP rats had increased plasma levels of TNFα (p = 0.039), IL-6 (p = 0.038) and IL-17 (p = 0.04). CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes were increased. Conclusion: These data support the hypothesis that T cells are associated with hypertension and inflammation.
Selective parathyroid venous sampling in primary hyperparathyroidism: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Minimally invasive parathyroidectomy requires accurate preoperative localization techniques. There is considerable controversy about the effectiveness of selective parathyroid venous sampling (sPVS) in primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) patients. The aim of this meta‐analysis is to examine the diagnostic accuracy of sPVS as a preoperative localization modality in PHPT.
Predictors Associated With Post-Traumatic Hydrocephalus in Patients With Head Injury Undergoing Unilateral Decompressive Craniectomy

Objective Post-traumatic hydrocephalus (PTH) makes recovery from head trauma after decompression more complicated and is associated with high risks of clinical deterioration and poor outcomes. The aim of this study was to verify the predictors associated with the development of PTH in patients with head injury undergoing unilateral decompressive craniectomy (DC). Methods Among traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients who underwent unilateral DC between January 2013 and December 2016, the clinical medical records, radiological information, and changes of patients’ conditions in the 3-month after injury were reviewed retrospectively. Results 183 TBI patients after unilateral DC were analyzed, and 50 (27.32%) of them suffered PTH based on head CT scans. Univariate and multivariable analyses revealed that older age (p = 0.002), the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score at admission (p < 0.001), intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH; p = 0.008), post-traumatic cerebral infarction (PCI; p = 0.007), and postoperative meningitis (p = 0.016) were independent predictors for the hydrocephalus after DC. Receiver operating characteristic curves were created and the area under the curve (AUC) were calculated to further assess the accuracy of the variables for predicting PTH. The AUC was 0.836 for the combined all five independent factors (95% confidence interval: 0.775–0.887). Conclusion TBI patients who undergo unilateral DC with advanced age, lower GCS score at admission, coexisting IVH, PCI, and/or postoperative meningitis should be closely monitored at follow-up assessments for earlier prediction of PTH.
On Effective Capacity and Effective Energy Efficiency in Relay-Assisted Wireless Networks

The tremendous proliferation of smart phones and other smart devices has spurred the explosive growth of delay-sensitive high-rate multimedia services, which significantly increases energy consumption in wireless cellular networks. Therefore, it is an important yet challenging issue to carry out resource allocation for cellular networks to meet the quality of service requirement in terms of high data rate and, at the same time, achieve high energy efficiency. In this paper, two resource allocation approaches are proposed, where user selection and power allocation are jointly considered, to maximize effective capacity (EC) and effective energy efficiency (EEE), respectively, for a relay-assisted downlink of cellular networks. Channel estimation errors are taken into account to make the proposed approaches more practical. Moreover, to solve the EC maximization problem efficiently, we develop an optimal algorithm based on Lagrange method and Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions, and derive closed-form optimal solutions for user selection and power allocation at both the base station and relays. For the EEE maximization problem, an iterative algorithm based on the Dinkelbach method is developed to find the optimal solutions. Theoretical analysis and simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approaches in terms of EC, EEE, and delay bound violation probability.
Measuring peripheral oxytocin and vasopressin in nonhuman primates

Studying the neural and hormonal changes that modulate behavior is critical to understanding social relationships. Of particular interest is measuring oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) peripherally, and preferably, non‐invasively, in nonhuman primates. Due to these peptides’ neural origin and their stimulation of brain areas that influence social behavior, there has been debate whether peripheral measures in blood, urine, and saliva reflect central levels in the brain. This review elucidates the challenges of OT measurement and the solutions that provide valuable data on OT's role in social behavior. This review discusses the recent studies in rhesus macaques which indicate that exogenous OT delivered by nasal spray results in increased OT in cerebrospinal fluid, and it notes the new methodologies that can measure both endogenous and exogenous OT simultaneously, which thereby determine the source of measured OT in biological fluids. Next, this review highlights the utility of measuring urinary OT by summarizing the results of clearance rate studies in humans and marmosets, which characterize the timing that circulating OT enters urine and illustrate that endogenous releasers of OT also increase urinary OT. With the ability to reliably measure OT and AVP in urine and in blood, we can now study free‐ranging captive, and non‐captive primates to answer questions about the biology of social bonding that were not possible before. One procedural concern that this review also highlights is whether extraction of the peptides prior to assay is needed, as the values are higher in samples that have not been extracted. Studies indicate that extractions eliminate the interfering compounds that cause higher values. Across studies, to ensure the reliability of measuring OT for nonhuman primates, this review makes suggestions based on empirical evidence for how to correctly preserve samples and emphasizes the need to validate each assay for individual species.
Behavior Analysis of NLI Models: Uncovering the Influence of Three Factors on Robustness

Natural Language Inference is a challenging task that has received substantial attention, and state-of-the-art models now achieve impressive test set performance in the form of accuracy scores. Here, we go beyond this single evaluation metric to examine robustness to semantically-valid alterations to the input data. We identify three factors - insensitivity, polarity and unseen pairs - and compare their impact on three SNLI models under a variety of conditions. Our results demonstrate a number of strengths and weaknesses in the models’ ability to generalise to new in-domain instances. In particular, while strong performance is possible on unseen hypernyms, unseen antonyms are more challenging for all the models. More generally, the models suffer from an insensitivity to certain small but semantically significant alterations, and are also often influenced by simple statistical correlations between words and training labels. Overall, we show that evaluations of NLI models can benefit from studying the influence of factors intrinsic to the models or found in the dataset used.
Structural Validity and Measurement Invariance of the Pearlin Mastery Scale in Spanish-Speaking Primary Care Patients

The Pearlin Mastery (PM) Scale is frequently used in health research to assess individuals’ personal mastery or the extent to which they believe they are in control of their own lives. It has been adapted from English into multiple languages including Spanish. However, no studies have assessed the psychometric properties of Spanish translations of the scale. This analysis evaluated structural validity and measurement invariance of the original Spanish translation of the PM Scale in two groups of Spanish-speaking individuals receiving primary care at community clinics in Florida. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated that the 5-item version used in the literature yields a unidimensional factor structure as expected; however, multiple-group CFA revealed that the PM Scale items did not load equivalently on the factor across samples. This indicates that the Spanish version of the PM Scale may not measure mastery consistently across groups, possibly due to differences in respondents’ semantic understanding of items or differences in the meaning of the construct itself. Findings suggest that researchers seeking to measure personal mastery in Spanish-speaking participants from diverse cultural backgrounds should consider alternative approaches including the development of new instruments.
Correlation between imageological characteristics and pathological patterns of mini-nodule lung cancer

This study aims to explore the relationship between the imageological characteristics and the pathological patterns in patients with mini-nodule lung cancer, and to investigate the threshold value for predicating the pathological patterns with invasive characteristic from the imageological aspect. A total of 137 lung cancer patients were selected to record the characteristics of the maximum diameter, density, blood-supply, vacuole and mini-lobules and analyze their relationships with pathological patterns. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis was applied to predicate the threshold value of lung cancer invasiveness. There were significant differences in the maximum diameter, density, blood supply, sublobe, burr and pleural indentation syndrome of the nidi in lung cancer patients with different pathological patterns (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Further analysis on the relationships between the above characteristics and lung cancer invasiveness showed that lung cancer invasiveness was in moderate correlation with the nodular density (r=0.589, P=0.000), in low connection with nodular size (r=0.368, P=0.000) and in extremely weak association with blood supply, sublobe, burr and pleural indentation syndrome (r<0.3). ROC analysis on the nodular size and density indicated that the area under ROC curve, sensitivity and specificity of nodular size were 0.700, 0.861, and 0.431 respectively, with threshold value being 12.50 mm, while those of nodular density were 0.831, 0.806 and 0.769, with threshold value being 37.50%, respectively. Imageological characteristics, especially the nodular size and density, have certain predictable value in the invasiveness of mini-nodule lung cancer.
Impaired Mandibular Function in Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type II

The aim of the study is to assess mandibular function in young patients with spinal muscular atrophy type II. A total of 12 children and young adults with spinal muscular atrophy type II and 12 healthy matched controls participated. The mandibular function impairment was moderate to severe in 50% of patients. A limited mouth opening (≤30 mm) was observed in 75% of the patients. In patients with a severe reduction of the mandibular range of motion the temporomandibular joint mainly rotated during mouth opening instead of the usual combination of rotation and sliding. The severity of the limited active mouth opening correlated with the severity of the disease (motor function measure scores). This study shows that mandibular dysfunction is common among young patients with spinal muscular atrophy type II. Early recognition of mandibular dysfunction may help to prevent complications such as aspiration as a result of chewing problems.
Sliding mode observer and controller for Performance improvement of Brushless DC Motor

Abstract— The present paper proposes a control scheme comprising of a new sliding mode controller (SMC) with sliding mode observer (SMO) for improved performance of a Brushless DC (BLDC) motor. The SMO is used to estimate rotor speed and rotor position using terminal voltages and currents of the BLDC motor. The error between actual and estimated currents taken as the sliding surface from which the back emf is estimated which is further used to estimate rotor position and speed. The SMC consists of both speed control and current control loops where the reference to the currents is derived from speed error using PI controller. The speed error and current error together comprises the sliding surface. The proposed SMC is an alternative to second order SMC and it eliminates the derivative of the sliding variable for speed control thus eliminating complexity while preserving the benefits. The simulation results of the proposed scheme are compared with those of the conventional scheme to prove its effectiveness. Keyword-BLDC Motor, Sliding mode controller, Sliding mode observer
Beamspace direction finding based on the conjugate gradient algorithm

Motivated by the performance of the direction finding algorithm based on the conjugate gradient (CG) method and the advantages of operating in beamspace, we develop a new beamspace direction finding algorithm, which we refer to as the beamspace conjugate gradient (BS CG) method. The recently developed Krylov subspace-based CG direction finding algorithm utilizes a non-eigenvector basis and yields a superior resolution performance for closely-spaced sources under severe conditions. However, its computational complexity is similar to the eigenvector-based methods. In order to save computational resources, we perform a beamspace transformation, which additionally leads to significant improvements in terms of the resolution capability and the estimation accuracy. A comprehensive complexity analysis and simulation results demonstrate the excellent performance of the proposed method and show its lower computational complexity.