Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intestinal schistosomiasis in pre school-aged children of Lake Albert, Uganda: diagnostic accuracy of a rapid test for detection of anti-schistosome antibodies.

BACKGROUND A sensitive and reliable rapid diagnostic test (RDT) which should have comparable diagnostic performance against reference host serological methods is urgently needed for use in point-of-care (POC) diagnosis of intestinal schistosomiasis in pre school-aged children. METHODS The diagnostic accuracy of a RDT incorporating Schistosoma mansoni cercarial transformation fluid (SmCTF) for anti-schistosome antibody detection was evaluated with serum samples from a cohort of children from Uganda: 42 children aged under the age of 3 years and 40 children aged between 3 and 5 years. The infection status of these children had been previously determined by inspection of quadruplicate Kato-Katz faecal smears, a single urine circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) dipstick and antibody titres to S. mansoni soluble egg antigen (SmSEA) with a commercially available ELISA. RESULTS Upon comparison with quadruplicate Kato-Katz the sensitivity and specificity of the RDT were 75.7% and 31.1%, respectively. When using the SmSEA-ELISA as an alternate reference test, the RDT achieved 81.3% sensitivity and 61.1% specificity. Sensitivity and specificity compared to the urine-CCA test was 74.5% and 32.3% respectively. Sensitivity differed significantly according to age group. CONCLUSIONS The performance of the RDT within this study appeared favourable when compared with the currently-available SmSEA-ELISA. Looking to the future a serological POC test would be particularly promising for use in disease mapping in younger children especially in guiding administration of praziquantel treatment in selective treatment settings.
Selecting strategies in particle swarm optimization by sampling-based landscape modality detection using inner products

In population-based optimization algorithms (POAs) such as particle swarm optimization (PSO), if landscape modality of an objective function can be identified, strategies of the POAs can be selected properly. We have proposed a method that estimates the landscape modality by sampling some points along a line and counting the number of changes in the objective values from increasing to decreasing and vice versa. In the method, the range of sampling on the line cannot be decided when the width of the search points in a dimension is zero. In this study, we propose to determine the range using inner products and also we propose to select a proper strategy according to the landscape modality: The gbest model is selected in unimodal landscape and the lbest model is selected in multimodal landscape. Also, a simple parameter selection for unimodal landscape is introduced. The advantage of the proposed method is shown by solving various problems including unimodal and multimodal problems and by comparing the results of the proposed method with those of the gbest and lbest model of PSO.
Integrated Fluidic-Chip Co-Design Methodology for Digital Microfluidic Biochips

Recently, digital microfluidic biochips (DMFBs) have revolutionized many biochemical laboratory procedures and received much attention due to their many advantages, such as high throughput, automatic control, and low cost. To meet the challenges of increasing design complexity, computer-aided-design (CAD) tools have been used to build DMFBs efficiently. Current CAD tools generally conduct a two-stage based design flow of fluidic-level synthesis followed by chip-level design to optimize fluidic behaviors and chip architecture separately. Nevertheless, existing fluidic-chip design gap will become even wider with a rapid escalation in the number of assay operations incorporated into a single DMFB. As more and more large-scale assay protocols are delivered in the current emerging marketplace, this problem may potentially restrict the effectiveness and feasibility of the entire DMFB realization and thus needs to be solved quickly. In this paper, we propose the first fluidic-chip co-design methodology for DMFBs to effectively bridge the fluidic-chip design gap. Our work provides a comprehensive integration throughout fluidic-operation scheduling, chip layout generation, control pin assignment, and wiring solution to achieve higher design performance and feasibility. Experimental results show the effectiveness, robustness, and scalability of our co-design methodology on a set of real-life assay applications.
Measurement of Corrosion and Temperature Using a Single-Pitch Bragg Grating Fiber Sensor

A new method to measure metal corrosion using a single-pitch Bragg grating sensor is presented. The prestrained Bragg grating that is only partially coated with a metal can be designed as a corrosion transducer, and the section without a metal coating can be used as a temperature sensor. After releasing the preloading, the two Bragg wavelengths reflecting from the Bragg grating are sufficiently separated and have no cross-talk problems between the corrosion and temperature signals. The principle of corrosion sensors is that environmental corrosion changes the coating thickness; consequently, the residual strain inside the section with a metal coating is released and then causes a Bragg wavelength shift. Since the temperature variation is obtained from the free section, the temperature effect in the Bragg grating corrosion sensor can be measured and compensated. Two analytical methods for the Bragg grating corrosion sensor are developed and they are in good agreement. Also, experimental data shows that Bragg grating corrosion sensors are feasible for a quantitative analysis.
Missense mutations at homologous positions in the fourth and fifth laminin A G-like domains of eyes shut homolog cause autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa

Purpose To describe two novel mutations in the eyes shut homolog (EYS) gene in two families with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (arRP) from Pakistan and Indonesia. Methods Genome-wide linkage and homozygosity mapping were performed using single nucleotide polymorphism microarray analysis in affected members of the two arRP families. Sequence analysis was performed to identify genetic changes in protein coding exons of EYS. Results In the Indonesian and Pakistani families, homozygous regions encompassing the EYS gene at 6q12 were identified, with maximum LOD scores of 1.8 and 3.6, respectively. Novel missense variants in the EYS gene (p.D2767Y and p.D3028Y) were found in the Pakistani and Indonesian families, respectively, that co-segregate with the disease phenotype. Interestingly, the missense variants are located at the same homologous position within the fourth and fifth laminin A G-like domains of EYS. Conclusions To date, mostly protein-truncating mutations have been described in EYS, while only few patients have been described with pathogenic compound heterozygous missense mutations. The mutations p.D2767Y and p.D3028Y described in this study affect highly conserved residues at homologous positions in laminin A G-like domains and support the notion that missense mutations in EYS can cause arRP.
MEMST: Cloning Memory Behavior using Stochastic Traces

Memory Controller and DRAM architecture are critical aspects of Chip Multi Processor (CMP) design. A good design needs an in-depth understanding of end-user workloads. However, designers rarely get insights into end-user workloads because of the proprietary nature of source code or data. Workload cloning is an emerging approach that can bridge this gap by creating a proxy for the proprietary workload (clone). Cloning involves profiling workloads to glean key statistics and then generating a clone offline for use in the design environment. However, there are no existing cloning techniques for accurately capturing memory controller and DRAM behavior that can be used by designers for a wide design space exploration. We propose Memory EMulation using Stochastic Traces, MEMST, a highly accurate black box cloning framework for capturing DRAM and MC behavior. We provide a detailed analysis of statistics that are necessary to model a workload accurately. We will also show how a clone can be generated from these statistics using a novel stochastic method. Finally, we will validate our framework across a wide design space by varying DRAM organization, address mapping, DRAM frequency, page policy, scheduling policy, input bus bandwidth, chipset latency, DRAM die revision, DRAM generation and DRAM refresh policy. We evaluated MEMST using CPU2006, BioBench, Stream and PARSEC benchmark suites across the design space for single-core, dual-core, quad-core and octa-core CMPs. We measured both performance and power metrics for the original workload and clones. The clones show a very high degree of correlation with the original workload for over 7900 data points with an average error of 1.8% and 1.6% for transaction latency and DRAM power respectively.
Evaluation of the plaque removal efficacy of a water flosser compared to string floss in adults after a single use.

OBJECTIVE To compare the plaque removal efficacy of a water flosser to string floss combined with a manual toothbrush after a single use. METHODS Seventy adult subjects participated in this randomized, single-use, single-blind, parallel clinical study. Subjects were assigned to one of two groups; Waterpik Water Flosser plus a manual toothbrush (WF) or waxed string floss plus a manual toothbrush (SF). Each participant brushed for two minutes using the Bass technique. The WF group added 500 ml of warm water to the reservoir and followed the manufacturer's instructions, and the SF group used waxed string floss between each tooth, cleaning the mesial and distal surfaces as instructed. Subjects were observed to ensure they covered all areas and followed instructions. Scores were recorded for whole mouth, marginal, approximal, facial, and lingual regions for each subject using the Rustogi Modification of the Navy Plaque Index. RESULTS The WF group had a 74.4% reduction in whole mouth plaque and 81.6% for approximal plaque compared to 57.7% and 63.4% for the SF group, respectively (p < 0.001). The differences between the groups showed the water flosser was 29% more effective than string floss for overall plaque removal and approximal surfaces specifically (p < 0.001). The WF group was more effective in removing plaque from the marginal, lingual, and facial regions; 33%, 39%, and 24%, respectively (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION The Waterpik Water Flosser and manual toothbrush is significantly more effective than a manual brush and string floss in removing plaque from tooth surfaces.
Driver's distraction detection based on gaze estimation

Drivers easily get distracted by the activities happening around them such as texting, talking on mobile phone or talking to the neighbouring person. All these activities take driver's attention away from the road which may lead to accidents, cause harm to the driver, pedestrians and also other vehicles on the road. In this paper, a method is proposed to estimate the gaze of the driver and determine whether the driver is distracted or not. Driver's gaze direction is estimated as an indicator of his attentiveness. The driver's gaze estimation is done by detecting the gaze with the help of face, eye, pupil, eye corners and then the detected gaze is then categorized as whether the driver is distracted or not. The algorithm is developed in OpenCV and tested on a CPU platform (Intel core with 4 GB RAM). The processing time taken for the execution of a single frame is around one second. The gaze detection accuracy obtained is 75%.
TAZ Promotes PC 2 Degradation through a SCF-Trcp E 3 Ligase Complex †

TAZ Promotes PC2 Degradation through a SCF -Trcp E3 Ligase Complex † Yu Tian, Robert Kolb, Jeong-Ho Hong, John Carroll, Dawei Li, John You, Roderick Bronson, Michael B. Yaffe, Jing Zhou, and Thomas Benjamin* Department of Pathology and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115; Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139; and School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Anam-Dong, Seongbuk-Gu, Seoul 136-701, South Korea
Inference of human affective states from psychophysiological measurements extracted under ecologically valid conditions

Compared to standard laboratory protocols, the measurement of psychophysiological signals in real world experiments poses technical and methodological challenges due to external factors that cannot be directly controlled. To address this problem, we propose a hybrid approach based on an immersive and human accessible space called the eXperience Induction Machine (XIM), that incorporates the advantages of a laboratory within a life-like setting. The XIM integrates unobtrusive wearable sensors for the acquisition of psychophysiological signals suitable for ambulatory emotion research. In this paper, we present results from two different studies conducted to validate the XIM as a general-purpose sensing infrastructure for the study of human affective states under ecologically valid conditions. In the first investigation, we recorded and classified signals from subjects exposed to pictorial stimuli corresponding to a range of arousal levels, while they were free to walk and gesticulate. In the second study, we designed an experiment that follows the classical conditioning paradigm, a well-known procedure in the behavioral sciences, with the additional feature that participants were free to move in the physical space, as opposed to similar studies measuring physiological signals in constrained laboratory settings. Our results indicate that, by using our sensing infrastructure, it is indeed possible to infer human event-elicited affective states through measurements of psychophysiological signals under ecological conditions.
VARIABLES AFFECTING THE COMBUSTION EFFICIENCY OF A CLINICAL WASTE INCINERATION PROCESS

Pembakaran merupakan satu kaedah pelupusan dianggap terbaik bagi pembuangan sisa klinikal terutamanya sisa buangan patologi. Operasi yang cekap bagi sesuatu pembakar itu penting bagi memastikan keberkesanan pemusnahan sisa buangan tersebut. Pembolehubah seperti kadar kemasukan sisa (sisa), kedua-dua suhu pembakaran bagi kebuk pembakaran primer (PCC) dan kebuk pembakaran sekunder (SCC), bahan api dan udara bagi pembakaran memainkan peranan penting dalam mempengaruhi prestasi proses pembakaran. Kecekapan pembakaran iaitu salah satu petunjuk prestasi proses pembakaran yang ditentukan oleh kewujudan emisi karbon monoksida dan karbon dioksida selepas SCC perlulah sentiasa diawasi. Justeru itu, satu kajian meninjau hubungan di antara pembolehubah yang mempengaruhi kecekapan pembakaran seperti sisa, suhu dan bahan api telah dijalankan menggunakan analisis regresi yang ditentusahkan menggunakan ANOVA. Keputusan kajian menunjukkan bahawa sisa, suhu pembakaran bagi kebuk pembakaran primer dan kebuk pembakaran sekunder menyumbang kepada kecekapan pembakaran bagi proses ini. Korelasi di antara pembolehubah ini juga dikaji dan dibincangkan.
CKS protein overexpression renders tumors susceptible to a chemotherapeutic strategy that protects normal tissues

The cyclin-dependent kinase-interacting proteins Cyclin-dependent Kinase Subunit 1 and 2 (CKS1 and 2) are frequently overexpressed in cancer and linked to increased aggressiveness and poor prognoses. We previously showed that CKS protein overexpression overrides the replication stress checkpoint activated by oncoproteins. Since CKS overexpression and oncoprotein activation/overexpression are often observed in the same tumors, we have hypothesized that CKS-mediated checkpoint override could enhance the ability of premalignant cells experiencing oncoprotein-induced replication stress to expand. This tumor advantage, however, could represent a vulnerability to exploit therapeutically. Here, we first show in vitro that CKS protein overexpression selectively sensitizes tumor-derived cell lines to nucleoside analog-mediated toxicity under replication stress conditions. A treatment combination of the nucleoside analog gemcitabine and an agent that induces replication stress (thymidine or methotrexate) resulted in selective targeting of CKS protein-overexpressing tumor-derived cells while protecting proliferative cells with low CKS protein levels from gemcitabine toxicity. We validated this strategy in vivo and observed that Cks2-overexpressing mammary tumors in nude mice were selectively sensitized to gemcitabine under conditions of methotrexate-induced replication stress. These results suggest that high CKS expression might be useful as a biomarker to identify subgroups of cancer patients who might benefit from the described therapeutic approach.
BandArb: mitigating the effects of thermal and process variations in silicon-photonic network

The resonant wavelengths of the μrings, the basic components of nanophotonic interconnects, can drift because of process variations (PV) and thermal fluctuation (TF), which may paralyze μrings because of the limited correction capability of current technology. Failed μrings cause network bandwidth loss, which renders the network unreliable. To mitigate this problem, this paper proposes BandArb that allocates the bandwidth at runtime according to demand and temperature. BandArb first re-assigns the μrings to resonant wavelengths in each network node to tackle both static and dynamic variations at a coarse (a few milliseconds) granularity. Next, fine-grained wavelength arbitration is used to maximize bandwidth utilization. Evaluation with synthetic traces shows that coarse-grained BandArb can recover 95% of the bandwidth lost to PV and TF, while fine-grained BandArb can improve the network throughput by up to 18% over coarse-grained BandArb.
Packrats parse in packs

We present a novel but remarkably simple formulation of formal language grammars in Haskell as functions mapping a record of pro- duction parsers to itself. Thus formulated grammars are first-class objects, composable and reusable. We also provide a simple parser implementation for them, based on an improved packrat algorithm. In order to make the grammar manipulation code reusable, we introduce a set of type classes mirroring the existing type classes from Haskell base library, but whose methods have rank-2 types.
A Weighted Multi-Sequence Markov Model For Brain Lesion Segmentation

We propose a technique for fusing the output of multiple Magnetic Resonance (MR) sequences to robustly and accurately segment brain lesions. It is based on an augmented multi-sequence hidden Markov model that includes additional weight variables to account for the relative importance and control the impact of each sequence. The augmented framework has the advantage of allowing 1) the incorporation of expert knowledge on the a priori relevant information content of each sequence and 2) a weighting scheme which is modied adaptively according to the data and the segmentation task under consideration. The model, applied to the detection of multiple sclerosis and stroke lesions shows promising results.
Morphological Features and Melting Behavior of Nanocomposites Based on Isotactic Polypropylene and Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes

Nanocomposites based on low molar mass isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and a low concentrations (1-2 wt %) of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were studied using thermal analysis, optical and electronic microscopy, and X-ray diffraction/scattering techniques. It was first determined that MWCNT decrease induction time and act as nucleating agents of the iPP crystals during nonisothermal crystallization. One of the consequences of the nucleation effect was that the original spherulitic morphology of iPP was transformed into a fibrillar-like. The corresponding long period of the original well-defined lamellar structure slightly increased suggesting the formation of thicker crystals in samples containing MWCNT. The nature of the {alpha}-iPP crystalline structure was not affected by MWCNT. After nonisothermal crystallization, two melting endotherms were present during thermal scanning of the iPP/MWCNT nanocomposites their proportion changing with the heating rate. After resolving the total DSC signal in its components using MDSC, the overall evolution of such behavior could be explained in terms of the melting/recrystallization mechanism.
Mould Fluxes Viscosity and Surface Tension Influence on the Wear Mechanisms of Al2O3-C Nozzle

A deep understanding of the mould flux effect on the wear mechanisms of Al2O3-C nozzles (AG) is relevant to avoid premature damage and to decrease the cost of black refractories in the industry. In this paper, a post mortem study on a nozzle was carried out to identify the causes of the wear mechanisms during the continuous casting of billets. Physical properties such as viscosity and surface tension of the mould fluxes were determined at operation temperature (1550oC), in order to correlate with microstructural results obtained by light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Also dihedral angle φ measurements were carried out at high magnification by SEM. Applying EDS analysis the infiltrated mould flux chemical composition was determined. The study was completed by EBSD. The EBSD technique contributed to increase the knowledge on wear mechanisms because of the possibility of identifying and localizing phases together with crystalline condition. The phases, the grain orientations and the properties of grain boundaries, have a large influence on the corrosion behaviour. Therefore, it is essential to have a characterization technique that can provide information such as: grain size, orientation, misorientation angle and the present phases. In this context, EBSD can provide relevant information on crystallographic and structural analysis of AG nozzle including the insert of ZrO2-C.
Distance in Motion: Response Trajectories Reveal the Dynamics of Number Comparison

Cognitive and neuroscientific evidence has challenged the widespread view that perception, cognition and action constitute independent, discrete stages. For example, in continuous response trajectories toward a target response location, evidence suggests that a decision on which target to reach for (i.e., the cognition stage) is not reached before the movement starts (i.e., the action stage). As a result, instead of a straight trajectory to the correct target response, movement trajectories may curve toward competing responses or away from inhibited responses. In the present study, we examined response trajectories during a number comparison task. Participants had to decide whether a target number was smaller or larger than 5. They had to respond by moving to a left or a right response location. Replicating previous results, response trajectories were more curved toward the incorrect response location when distance to 5 was small (e.g., target number 4) than when distance to 5 was large (e.g., target number 1). Importantly, we manipulated the response mapping, which allowed us to demonstrate that this response trajectory effect results from the relative amount of evidence for the available responses across time. In this way, the present study stresses the tight coupling of number representations (i.e., cognition) and response related processes (i.e., action) and shows that these stages are not separable in time.