Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multisensory and Modality-Specific Influences on Adaptation to Optical Prisms

Visuo-motor adaptation to optical prisms displacing the visual scene (prism adaptation, PA) is a method used for investigating visuo-motor plasticity in healthy individuals and, in clinical settings, for the rehabilitation of unilateral spatial neglect. In the standard paradigm, the adaptation phase involves repeated pointings to visual targets, while wearing optical prisms displacing the visual scene laterally. Here we explored differences in PA, and its aftereffects (AEs), as related to the sensory modality of the target. Visual, auditory, and multisensory – audio-visual – targets in the adaptation phase were used, while participants wore prisms displacing the visual field rightward by 10°. Proprioceptive, visual, visual-proprioceptive, auditory-proprioceptive straight-ahead shifts were measured. Pointing to auditory and to audio-visual targets in the adaptation phase produces proprioceptive, visual-proprioceptive, and auditory-proprioceptive AEs, as the typical visual targets did. This finding reveals that cross-modal plasticity effects involve both the auditory and the visual modality, and their interactions (Experiment 1). Even a shortened PA phase, requiring only 24 pointings to visual and audio-visual targets (Experiment 2), is sufficient to bring about AEs, as compared to the standard 92-pointings procedure. Finally, pointings to auditory targets cause AEs, although PA with a reduced number of pointings (24) to auditory targets brings about smaller AEs, as compared to the 92-pointings procedure (Experiment 3). Together, results from the three experiments extend to the auditory modality the sensorimotor plasticity underlying the typical AEs produced by PA to visual targets. Importantly, PA to auditory targets appears characterized by less accurate pointings and error correction, suggesting that the auditory component of the PA process may be less central to the building up of the AEs, than the sensorimotor pointing activity per se. These findings highlight both the effectiveness of a reduced number of pointings for bringing about AEs, and the possibility of inducing PA with auditory targets, which may be used as a compensatory route in patients with visual deficits.
Total Hip Arthroplasty in the Young: Special Emphasis on Post-SCFE Patients

Abstract: Slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) is a hip disorder of adolescence, which has the potential for profound implications into adulthood. SCFE patients are at risk of early joint degeneration and subsequent need for arthroplasty. The rate at which arthroplasty is required is not precisely known, but is estimated to be approximately 45% by 50 years after a slip. The femoral neck and shaft displace anteriorly and rotate externally relative to the femoral epiphysis, which remains fixed in the acetabulum. Stabilization of the physis is the goal of acute management. Despite such efforts, accelerated joint degeneration may occur over time. This progression is due to avascular necrosis, chondrolysis, or following years of femoroacetabular impingement. Total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total hip resurfacing (THR) are options for end-stage hip arthritis due to SCFE. THR is technically more challenging, with very limited ability to address deformity-related issues of impingement, decreased hip offset, and trochanteric malposition. THR, as in any metal on metal arthroplasty, may be associated with local metal sensitivity or systemic metal toxicity. Given the limited utility and potential risks, THR is currently not recommended in the majority of cases. THA, although historically demonstrating poor long-term implant performance in the young patient, has become a more reliable option recently. The potential benefits of THA are considerable, even for the young patient with end-stage hip degeneration. Certain cemented and many cementless stem designs show good long-term survival, as do current cementless cups. Advances in bearing surfaces promise to minimize wear and extend implant longevity. Ceramic on ceramic, metal on highly cross-linked polyethylene, and ceramic on highly cross-linked polyethylene bearing couples offer promise. Level of Evidence: Level V.
A note on maximum independent sets and minimum clique partitions in unit disk graphs and penny graphs: complexity and approximation

A unit disk graph is the intersection graph of a family of unit disks in the plane. If the disks do not overlap, it is also a unit coin graph or penny graph . It is known that finding a maximum independent set in a unit disk graph is a NP-hard problem. In this work we extend this result to penny graphs. Furthermore, we prove that finding a minimum clique partition in a penny graph is also NP-hard, and present two linear-time approximation algorithms for the computation of clique partitions: a 3 -approximation algorithm for unit disk graphs and a 2 -approximation algorithm for penny graphs.
Government of India Ministry of Commerce and Industry Directorate General of Foreign Trade

Sr. No. Sr. in Appendix 5 Name of the agency 1 43 Intertek International Ltd. P.O. Box No.802 10 Wallace Johnson Street, 2nd Floor Freetown, Sierra Leone Tel: 232 (0) 22 227198 Fax: 232 (0) 22 228620 2 95 Worldwide Logistic, Survey and Inspection(WLSI) Group and Affiliates, 18 Keyport Crescent, Glendenning, NSW 2761, Sydney ( Australia ), Tel: 61-412262272, 61-412209123, 61-2-97645884, Fax: 61-2-97645885 Email: info@wlsi.us
The association between parent's and healthcare professional's behavior and children's coping and distress during venepuncture.

OBJECTIVES Examine the association between children's distress and coping during venepuncture with parent's and healthcare professional's behavior in a sample from the UK. METHODS Fifty children aged 7-16 years accompanied by a carer were videotaped while having venepuncture. Verbalizations of children, parents, and healthcare professionals were coded using the Child-Adult Medical Procedure Interaction Scale-Revised. RESULTS Children's distress was associated with child's age, anxiety, and distress promoting behavior of adults (R(2) = . 91). Children's coping was associated with age, anxiety, and coping promoting behaviors of adults (R(2) = . 57). Associations were stronger between healthcare professional's behavior and child coping; and between parent's behaviors and child distress. Empathizing, apologizing, and criticism were not frequently used by adults in this sample (<12%). CONCLUSION This study supports and extends previous research showing adult's behavior is important in children's distress and coping during needle procedures. Clinical implications and methodological issues are discussed.
A windowed local fdr estimator providing higher resolution and robust thresholds

Motivation: In microarray analysis, special consideration must be given to the issues of multiple statistical tests and typically p-values are adjusted to control family-wise error rate (FWER) or false discovery rate (FDR). FDR metrics have been suggested for controlling false positives, however, genes with p-values close to the threshold typically have a higher chance of being false positives than genes with very low p-values. The local FDR (fdr) metric gives the number of false positives in the vicinity of a test statistic. We propose a new fdr estimator that uses windows instead of binsand define heuristics that use the fluctuations in the estimator to determine robust thresholds for classifying differential expression. Results: Our fdr approach estimates the false discovery rate within a window of p-values. We present heuristics that derive robust fdr thresholds such that a significant change in the fdr threshold yields a small change in the number of rejected hypotheses. We compare these thresholds with thresholds from other approaches using two simulated datasets and one cancer microarray dataset. In the latter, our estimator finds two robust thresholds. Since our fdr estimator is an extension of the FDR metric, it can be used with many FDR estimation methods. Availability: An R function implementing the proposed estimator is available at this http URL Contact: james.schwaber@jefferson.edu Supplementary Information: Supplementary figures and code are available at this http URL
Univariate polynomial division with a remainder by means of evaluation and interpolation

The authors apply the evaluation-interpolation techniques of A. Toom (1963) to approximate polynomial division with a non-vanishing remainder. Surprisingly, this elementary technique immediately leads us to the same computations and to the same record parallel complexity estimates for this problem, O/sub A/(log m,m), as do far more sophisticated algorithms. The authors approach enables them to simplify the approximation error analysis too. <<ETX>>
SMAP-29 has two LPS-binding sites and a central hinge.

The CD spectra of SMAP-29, an antimicrobial peptide from sheep, showed disordered structure in aqueous buffers, and significant helicity in membrane-like environments, including SDS micelles, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) dispersions, and trifluoroethanol buffer systems. A structure determined by NMR in 40% perdeuterated trifluoroethanol indicated that residues 8-17 were helical, residues 18-19 formed a hinge, and residues 20-28 formed an ordered, hydrophobic segment. SMAP-29 was flexible in 40% trifluoroethanol, forming two sets of conformers that differed in the relative orientation of the N-terminal domain. We used a chromogenic Limulus assay to determine the EC50 of the peptide (the concentration that bound 50% of the added LPS). Studies with full-length and truncated SMAP-29 molecules revealed that each end of the holopeptide contained an LPS-binding domain. The higher affinity LPS-binding domain was situated in the flexible N-terminal portion. LPS binding to full-length SMAP-29 showed positive cooperativity, so the EC50 of the peptide (2.6 microm) was considerably lower than that of the individual LPS-binding domains. LPS-binding studies with a mixture of truncated peptides revealed that this cooperativity was primarily intramolecular (i.e. involving the N- and C-terminal LPS-binding sites of the same peptide molecule). CAP-18[106 -142], an antimicrobial cathelicidin peptide of rabbits, resembled SMAP-29 in that it contained N- and C-terminal LPS-binding domains, had an EC50 of 2.5 microm, and bound LPS with positive cooperativity. We conclude that the presence of multiple binding sites that function cooperatively allow peptides such as SMAP-29 and CAP-18 to bind LPS with high affinity.
Magnetic core losses measurement instrumentations and a dynamic hysteresis loss model

Three typical types of magnetic lamination core loss measurement methods, the toroid tester, the standard Epstein frame and a single sheet tester, are first reviewed. Results of four types of testing (previous three plus a new Epstein frame for high flux density and frequency) are presented and compared. Comparisons among the measurements of different frames show discrepancies in the loss results. A general dynamic hysteresis core loss model is also presented. The model can calculate core losses based on the input parameters obtained from experimental measurements at only one single frequency in a thin lamination. The developed dynamic hysteresis model is simple and efficient, and has been shown to be very accurate compared with experiments.
Shared-Clock Methodology for Time-Triggered Multi-Cores

The co-operative design methodology has significant advantages when used in safety-related systems. Coupled with the time-triggered architecture, the methodology can result in robust and predictable systems. Nevertheless, use of a cooperative design methodology may not always be appropriate especially when the system possesses tight resource and cost constraints. Under relaxed constraints, it might be possible to maintain a co-operative design by introducing additional software processing cores to the same chip. The resultant multi-core microcontroller then requires suitable design methodologies to ensure that the advantages of timetriggered co-operative design are maintained as far as possible. This paper explores the application of a time-triggered distributed-systems protocol, called “sharedclock”, on an eight-core microcontroller. The cores are connected in a mesh topology with no hardware broadcast capabilities and three implementations of the shared-clock protocol are examined. The custom multi-core system and the network interfaces used for the study are also described. The network interfaces share higher level serialising logic amongst channels, resulting in low hardware overhead when increasing the number of channels.
Strategies for Improving Tourism English Teaching

Tourism is an emerging industry in China, known as the "sunrise industry" and "invisible trade". Though started late, with the rapid development of the national economy, it has been developing at an amazing speed. According to statistics, by the end of 2011, there were 23,690 travel agencies; the number of domestic and foreign tourists has grown exponentially every year. Particularly, inbound and outbound tourism market is booming. Europe, the United States and other English-speaking countries have become major tourist source markets of China; a large number of high-quality foreign tourism practitioners are urgently needed. Thus, tourism English teaching has played a very important role in the training of practitioners who are proficient in English, but also have high level tourism skills. Although at present, the education has accumulated a wealth of experience, has made significant progress, in the actual teaching, there are many problems existing. This article puts forward some constructive suggestions for improvement, combining with the local tourism resources.
Total-energy and band-structure calculations for the semimagnetic Cd1-xMnxTe semiconductor alloy and its binary constituents.

Spin-polarized, self-consistent local-spin density total-energy and band-structure calculations have been performed for CdTe, antiferromagnetic (AF) MnTe in its NiAs structure, ferromagnetic (F) CdMnTe/sub 2/, and the hypothetical zinc-blende phase of MnTe in the F and AF spin arrangements. We find the following: (i) The alloy environment stabilizes a zinc-blende form of MnTe, hitherto unknown to exist in the phase diagram of pure MnTe. Its calculated Mn: Te bond length (2.70 +- 0.02 A) is very close to that observed in the alloy (2.73 A), but is substantially different from the Mn: Te bond length in pure (NiAs-type) MnTe (2.92 A). (ii) AF zinc-blende MnTe is more stable than F zinc-blende MnTe due to a reduced p-d repulsion in the upper valence states. (iii) F Cd/sub 1-//sub x/Mn/sub x/Te is more stable than its zinc-blende constituents CdTe + F MnTe, hence, once formed, this ordered alloy will not disproportionate. (iv) Nevertheless, AF CdMnTe/sub 2/ is more stable than its ferromagnetic counterpart, but it is unstable relative to its constituents CdTe + AF MnTe. Hence, if F CdMnTe/sub 2/ converts into AF CdMnTe/sub 2/, the latter will disproportionate into antiferromagnetic domains of MnTe. (v) The band structure of F zinc-blende MnTe andmore » F CdMnTe/sub 2/ predicts a novel type of negative (p-d) exchange splitting, whose origins are discussed in terms of a p-d repulsion mechanism. (vi) The calculated electronic states of Cd/sub 1-//sub x/Mn/sub x/Te show a vanishing optical bowing, a Mn d/sub up-arrow/ band at E/sub v/-2.5 eV and explains the observed optical transitions. « less
3D motion estimation of video objects using a priori data and 2D apparent motion

This paper deals with the estimation of the three dimensional motion of a locutor appearing in a real video sequence. This is done using a new head tracking method in which the head position is modeled by means of a parametric elliptic contour fitted by minimization of a suitable objective function. The ellipse is tracked using a Kalman approach and its successive positions allow the computation of the head's apparent motion. Finally, the three dimensional translatory movement is determined using the estimated apparent displacement and a priori information of head size.
Violent Scene Detection in Movies

As violence in movies has harmful influence on children, in this paper, we propose a vision-based algorithm to detect violent scenes in movies. Under our definition of violence, the task of violent scene detection is decomposed into action scene detection and bloody frame detection. While previous approaches addressed only the shot level of video structure, our approach works on a more semantic-complete scene structure of video. The input video (digital movie) is first segmented into several scenes. Based on the filmmaking characteristics of action scene, some features of the scene are extracted to be fed into the support vector machine for classification. Finally, the face, blood and motion information are integrated to determine whether the action scene has violent content. Experimental results show that the proposed approach works reasonably well in detecting most of the violent scenes. Compared with related work, our approach is computationally simple yet effective.
An Enhanced Extension to Wilkinson's Equivalent Random Technique with Application to Traffic Engineering

In this paper we present an enhanced extension to Wilkinson's equivalent random technique that allows one to easily compute the different levels of blocking that various streams of traffic see using the same trunk group. This empirical extension is based on a regression analysis and is superior to a similar extension by Katz. An application of our extension to system sizing problems in AUTOVON is presented. Previous sizing methods in the AUTOVON access area did not properly account for the peakedness of overflow traffic and thereby violated desired grades of service. The methods presented here overcome this problem, and yield a lower cost solution using fewer two-way trunks.
Testosterone and Coronary Artery Disease

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in most of the developed world despite advances in both prevention and treatment. At the same time, the incidence rates of cardiovascular disease differ greatly between the genders, with men more likely than women to manifest ischemic heart disease. This observation has prompted new research initiatives to explain the discrepancy in heart disease prevalence and incidence between the sexes. Whether androgens affect cardiovascular disease adversely remains a contentious issue, with some data pointing to a deleterious effect of androgens on lipid profiles, and other studies revealing androgens' possible benefits on cardiovascular function. This review will examine the relationship between the endogenous production of androgen as well as the exogenous replacement of testosterone in men and the possible links to cardiovascular disease. The role of testosterone in male cardiovascular health is not completely understood, and additional studies are needed to explain its effect on atherosclerosis and its complications.
Statistical considerations regarding the use of ratios to adjust data.

OBJECTIVE The use of ratios to adjust data (i.e. 'index' variables) is common in obesity and related research. The rationale for the use of ratios often seems to be the desire to control or eliminate the influence of the variable in the denominator. The purpose of this paper is to gain a greater appreciation of the statistical assumptions underlying ratios and their impact on data interpretation. RESULTS We demonstrate the limitations of the indiscriminant use of ratios to adjust data. Specifically, we show that: (1) given linearity, a zero intercept between the numerator and denominator are necessary and sufficient conditions for a ratio to remove the confounding effects of the denominator; (2) seemingly minor departures from a zero intercept can have major consequences on the ratio's ability to control for the denominator; (3) the ratio of two normally distributed variables cannot be normally distributed, and this may violate the assumptions of subsequent parametric statistical analyses; (4) the use of ratios affects the error distribution of the data which may also violate the assumptions of subsequent parametric statistical analyses; (5) the use of ratios cannot easily take nonlinear effects between the numerator and denominator into account; (6) the use of ratios can introduce spurious correlations among the ratios and other variables; (7) the use of ratios can create interpretive difficulties. We also clarify that the mean of ratios is not necessarily equivalent to the ratio of the means of the numerator and denominator. Finally, we present and discuss formulae for the reliability of ratios and residuals. CONCLUSION Because of the above issues, we question the indiscriminant use of ratios and advocate that investigators consider regression-based approaches as alternatives.
Chronic transplantation of olfactory ensheathing cells promotes partial recovery after complete spinal cord transection in the rat

The goal of this study was to ascertain whether olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) were able to promote axonal regeneration and functional recovery when transplanted 45 days after complete transection of the thoracic spinal cord in adult rats. OECs promoted partial restitution of supraspinal pathways evaluated by motor evoked potentials and modest recovery of hindlimb movements. In addition, OEC grafts reduced lumbar reflex hyperexcitability from the first month after transplantation. Histological results revealed that OECs facilitated corticospinal and raphespinal axons regrowth through the injury site and into the caudal spinal cord segments. Interestingly, raphespinal but not corticospinal fibers regenerated long distances through the gray matter and reached the lower lumbar segments (L5) of the spinal cord. However, delayed OEC grafts failed to reduce posttraumatic astrogliosis. In conclusion, the beneficial effects found in the present study further support the use of OECs for treating chronic spinal cord injuries. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ghost removing for HDR real-time video stream generation

High dynamic range (HDR) imaging generation from a set of low dynamic range images taken in different exposure times is a low cost and an easy technique. This technique provides a good result for static scenes. Temporal exposure bracketing cannot be applied directly for dynamic scenes, since camera or object motion in bracketed exposures creates ghosts in the resulting HDR image. In this paper we describe a real-time ghost removing hardware implementation on high dynamic range video ow added for our HDR FPGA based smart camera which is able to provide full resolution (1280 x 1024) HDR video stream at 60 fps. We present experimental results to show the efficiency of our implemented method in ghost removing.
Reasoning with Consistent Probabilities

The objective of the present paper is twofold: first, to establish explicit conditions for the elicitation of consistent a priori and conditional probabilities for a set of events representing pieces of evidence and hypotheses. Furthermore, an algorithm is proposed which uses these consistent input probabilities to compute lower and upper bounds for higher order joint probabilities. Secondly, problems concerning the aggregation and propagation of probabilistic estimates are considered. It is shown how these could be solved by using the higher order joint probabilities obtained for the elements of the so-called complete set of mutually exclusive atomic events. representing a rule as How to determine a consistent higher order joint probability such as etc. These are usually answered under the very much restrictive assumption that all E. 's represent independent evidence. Also it is often forgotten that although the input probabilities might have been elicited in a consistent way, the resulting higher order joint probabilities might not be consistent at all.