Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Endogenous context for visual processing of human faces and other objects

&NA; The human ability to quickly recognise faces and objects is an important skill. This skill may be facilitated by the prior existence of context‐setting functional brain states. MEG was used to test the hypothesis that such states may be defined neurophysiologically. One type of state was identified by evaluating deterministic features in the dynamics of pre‐stimulus brain activity in 10 individuals engaging in an object categorisation task. These states followed a statistical gamma‐distribution similar to that seen in models of percept duration of competing stimuli. Both an early (42 ms) and a late (440 ms) response were only seen for face stimuli that were presented during states in which the MEG data displayed low determinism. A second type of state was identified by evaluating amplitudes of pre‐stimulus brain activity. Between 140 and 150 ms, activity was highest for face as well as non‐face stimuli presented during a low amplitude state. These findings suggest that detectable states may provide an endogenous context for object processing, independently of experimental parameters.
Chemical Cross-Linking Detects Association of Insulin Receptors With Four Different Class I Human Leukocyte Antigen Molecules on Cell Surfaces

Class I major histocompatibility complex molecules have been shown to be physically associated with insulin receptor molecules on the surfaces of a number of different cell types. The class I human leukocyte antigen (human MHC) phenotype of B lymphoblasts correlates with the affinity of IR for insulin. This correlation could be the result of association of some but not other HLA molecules with IR, or could reflect differences in the way in which association with an HLA molecule affects the function of IR. To distinguish between these possibilities, this study isolated complexes of four different class I HLA molecules with IR. Expression of some of these molecules correlates with high-affinity IR, whereas expression of others correlates with 5- to 10-fold lower affinity IR. This study found that chemical cross-linking was necessary to stabilize HLA-IR complexes, and all four of the class I HLA molecules studied, HLA-A1, HLA-A2, HLA-B5, and HLA-B8, can form complexes with IR.
MLC++: a machine learning library in C++

We present MLC++, a library of C++ classes and tools for supervised machine learning. While MLC++ provides general learning algorithms that can be used by end users, the main objective is to provide researchers and experts with a wide variety of tools that can accelerate algorithm development, increase software reliability, provide comparison tools, and display information visually. More than just a collection of existing algorithms, MLC++ is can attempt to extract commonalities of algorithms and decompose them for a unified view that is simple, coherent, and extensible. In this paper we discuss the problems MLC++ aims to solve, the design of MLC++, and the current functionality. <<ETX>>
Large Machinery-Related Agricultural Injuries Across a Five-State Region in the Midwest

Objective: High agricultural injury related mortality and morbidity rates persist. This study addressed a knowledge gap regarding large machinery-related injury magnitude, consequences, and risk factors. Methods: From randomly selected Midwestern agricultural operations in 1999 and 2001, 7420 eligible households participated. Demographic, exposure, and injury data collected for four 6-month periods used a computer-assisted telephone interview. An a priori causal model enabled survey development, data analysis, and interpretation. Directed acyclic graphs, developed from this model, facilitated potential confounder identification for specific exposures in multivariate analyses. Results: The injury rate was 12.82 events per 1000 persons per year. Increased risk was associated with male gender, increasing age, state of residence, history of prior injury, and increasing hours worked per week. Conclusions: Large machinery-related agricultural injuries can result in significant consequences. Associated increased injury risks require further investigation and targeting of relevant interventions.
Incidence and Survival Outcome Following Femoral Artery Reconstruction During Endovascular Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair

Background: Planned or unplanned reconstruction of the common femoral artery (femoro-femoral crossover and/or patch closure) may be required following endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) stent graft deployment for arterial closure or maintenance of limb perfusion. The aim of this study was to examine the incidence of common femoral artery reconstruction (FAR) following EVAR and examine the effect on patient survival. Methods: A total of 178 patients undergoing EVAR were studied retrospectively. Results: In all, 31 patients (17.4%) underwent FAR; 16 (51.6%) femoro-femoral crossover, and 15 (48.4%) endarterectomy and patch closure. All cause survival in patients undergoing FAR was significantly poorer than those undergoing direct closure (P = .010). A total of 3 factors: the need for FAR (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.435, P = .006), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ([COPD] HR = 0.424, P = .002), and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) size (HR = 1.414, P = .005) were significantly and independently associated with survival on forward conditional analysis. Conclusions: Femoral artery reconstruction was performed in almost 1 in 5 patients undergoing EVAR and associated with decreased survival. Multidisciplinary teams should be aware of these findings when planning EVAR, especially in borderline candidates.
High-level underactuated nonlinear control for rotorcraft machines

This paper proposes a high-level underactuated nonlinear controller capable to guide a RUAV during a 3D flight. First, it presents a dynamic model to represent the dynamics of the aircraft, explicitly showing its underactuated character. Following, a suitable controller based on partial feedback linearization is designed for stabilizing the rotorcraft dynamics. A proof of the stability of the closed-loop control system in the sense of Lyapunov, including modeled disturbances and parametric errors, is also presented, as well as experimental results obtained with a quadrotor, which validate the proposed model and controller.
A Novel Non-agonist Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor γ (PPARγ) Ligand UHC1 Blocks PPARγ Phosphorylation by Cyclin-dependent Kinase 5 (CDK5) and Improves Insulin Sensitivity*

Background: PPARγ ligands can be used in numerous metabolic syndromes. Results: A novel non-agonist PPARγ ligand, UHC1 exhibited great beneficial effects on glucose metabolism and anti-inflammatory response. Conclusion: UHC1 shows anti-diabetic action by blocking CDK5-mediated PPARγ phosphorylation. Significance: UHC1 can be a novel therapeutic agent for use in type 2 diabetes and related metabolic disorders. Thiazolidinedione class of anti-diabetic drugs which are known as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) ligands have been used to treat metabolic disorders, but thiazolidinediones can also cause several severe side effects, including congestive heart failure, fluid retention, and weight gain. In this study, we describe a novel synthetic PPARγ ligand UNIST HYUNDAI Compound 1 (UHC1) that binds tightly to PPARγ without the classical agonism and which blocks cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5)-mediated PPARγ phosphorylation. We modified the non-agonist PPARγ ligand SR1664 chemically to improve its solubility and then developed a novel PPARγ ligand, UHC1. According to our docking simulation, UHC1 occupied the ligand-binding site of PPARγ with a higher docking score than SR1664. In addition, UHC1 more potently blocked CDK5-mediated PPARγ phosphorylation at Ser-273. Surprisingly, UHC1 treatment effectively ameliorated the inflammatory response both in vitro and in high-fat diet-fed mice. Furthermore, UHC1 treatment dramatically improved insulin sensitivity in high-fat diet-fed mice without causing fluid retention and weight gain. Taken together, compared with SR1664, UHC1 exhibited greater beneficial effects on glucose and lipid metabolism by blocking CDK5-mediated PPARγ phosphorylation, and these data indicate that UHC1 could be a novel therapeutic agent for use in type 2 diabetes and related metabolic disorders.
Agonistic and antagonistic properties of the bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist, Hoe 140, in isolated blood vessels from different species

1 Hoe 140, a recently described bradykinin B2 antagonist, and NPC 567 from an earlier generation of bradykinin B2 antagonists, were tested in rabbit and sheep isolated blood vessels. 2 In rabbit jugular vein, a bradykinin B2 preparation, NPC 567 was an antagonist (apparent pA2: 8.67 ± 0.16) with marked residual agonistic activity (log[EC50]: −7.29 ± 0.13). Hoe 140 was a potent non‐competitive antagonist devoid of agonistic properties (slope of the Schild plot: 2.02; estimated pA2: 9.04). 3 In rabbit aorta, a bradykinin B1 preparation, NPC 567 was a competitive antagonist (pA2: 6.32 ± 0.13) but Hoe 140 was ineffective. The two antagonists did not show any agonistic properties in this tissue. 4 In sheep femoral artery without endothelium, bradykinin and Hoe 140 induced contractions with identical efficacy and similar potency (log[EC50]: −8.05 ± 0.12, −7.73 ± 0.10; maximal contraction in % of KCl [60 mm]: 59.5 ± 15.1, 62.0 ± 13.1; for bradykinin and Hoe 140, respectively). In contrast NPC 567 was an extremely weak agonist. The contractile responses to bradykinin and Hoe 140 were inhibited by NPC 567 (apparent pKB: 6.89 ± 0.22 and 6.58 ± 0.08 versus bradykinin and Hoe 140, respectively) but not by a B1 bradykinin antagonist, suggesting that the receptor involved was a bradykinin B2 receptor. 5 In sheep femoral artery with endothelium, bradykinin induced a biphasic response: an endothelium‐dependent relaxation and a contraction which were both inhibited by NPC 567 (apparent pKB: 7.10 ± 0.15) and Hoe 140 (pA2: 8.38 ± 0.12). As bradykinin B2 receptor antagonists, Hoe 140 and NPC 567 were less potent in the sheep femoral artery than in the rabbit jugular vein. Neither Hoe 140 nor NPC 567 were agonists for the endothelial receptor. 6 This study demonstrates that Hoe 140, a new bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist, is more selective and more potent than NPC 567; however, it may possess, depending on the tissue studied, marked residual agonistic properties. Furthermore, bradykinin B2 receptors are subject to important species specificity. Finally, two different bradykinin B2 receptor subtypes may coexist in the sheep femoral artery with endothelium.
A simple method for estimating the noise level in a signal region of an MR image.

PURPOSE A simple extension to the NEMA MS-1 "difference of neighboring pixels" SNR method is presented, which can accurately determine the noise level within a signal region over a wide range of noise levels, image nonuniformities, and artifact levels, as demonstrated by simple simulations and experimental phantom images. METHODS The new method computes difference of neighboring pixels in the read, phase, and diagonal directions. The variance of these three sets of pixel differences appear to contain the simple sum of the underlying variance of noise and any additional component unique to the read and phase directions, respectively, while the diagonal set of pixel differences contains all three components. By solving a set of three equations with three unknowns, it is possible to extract the components and isolate the desired noise variance term. RESULTS Simulations show that the technique produces good results even when various artifact mechanisms present singly or jointly. Experimental results also demonstrate the technique works well but, depending on the severity of the artifact, cannot be guaranteed to always produce accurate results. CONCLUSIONS Simulations and experimental results show the method to be accurate and robust. This method is applicable to multichannel receiver images, but not parallel reconstructed images.
Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Trial of Glycine Adjuvant Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia

Background It has been proposed that schizophrenia is associated with underactivity of brain glutamatergic neurotransmission, especially at the level of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subtype of glutamate receptor. Glycine potentiates NMDA receptor-mediated neurotransmission, indicating that it may serve as an effective therapeutic agent in the treatment of schizophrenia. Method Eleven treatment-resistant patients with chronic schizophrenia completed a double-blind placebo-controlled, six-week, randomly assigned, crossover treatment trial of 0.8 g/kg body weight/day of glycine, added to their prior antipsychotic treatment. Results Glycine was well tolerated, resulted in significantly increased serum glycine levels and induced a mean 36 (7%) reduction in negative symptoms (P < 0.0001). Significant improvments were also induced in depressive and cognitive symptoms. The greatest reduction in negative symptoms was registered in the patients who had the lowest baseline serum glycine levels. Conclusions These results extend previous findings and suggest an additional approach to the pharmacotherapy of negative symptoms and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.
100 MHz DC-DC switching converter with tracking control

A 100 MHz switching power supply with two-loop control is proposed for radio frequency power amplifiers. The power supply has a tracking bandwidth of 5 MHz and an estimated efficiency of 80%. The two-loop topology consists of a buck converter with an inner loop for one-cycle control and an outer loop that contains a PI compensator. With the two loops a stable feedback control is obtained with an excellent tracking. The VLSI two-loop feedback controller topology uses high-speed high-efficiency voltage comparator and current conveyors as their building blocks. AMI 0.5 mum CMOS technology is used. The converter performance is verified by means of simulations.
Visualizing cellular processes at the molecular level by cryo-electron tomography

The cellular landscape rapidly changes throughout the biological processes that transpire within a cell. For example, the cytoskeleton is remodeled within fractions of a second. Therefore, reliable structural analysis of the cell requires approaches that allow for instantaneous arrest of functional states of a given process while offering the best possible preservation of the delicate cellular structure. Electron tomography of vitrified but otherwise unaltered cells (cryo-ET) has proven to be the method of choice for three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of cellular architecture at a resolution of 4-6 nm. Through the use of cryo-ET, the 3D organization of macromolecular complexes and organelles can be studied in their native environment in the cell. In this Commentary, we focus on the application of cryo-ET to study eukaryotic cells – in particular, the cytoskeletal-driven processes that are involved in cell movements, filopodia protrusion and viral entry. Finally, we demonstrate the potential of cryo-ET to determine structures of macromolecular complexes in situ, such as the nuclear pore complex.
Pharmacokinetics of E‐6087, a new anti‐inflammatory agent, in rats and dogs

The pharmacokinetics of E‐6087, a newly developed cyclooxygenase‐2 inhibitor, was studied in rats and dogs after single oral and intravenous doses. In both animal species, E‐6087 was characterized by a long elimination half‐life (20–35 h), a low plasma clearance (0.10–0.22 l h−1 kg−1) and a relatively large volume of distribution (2–6 l kg−1). Oral bioavailability was lower in dogs than in rats whereas a faster elimination was found in rats. Multiple peaks were present regardless of administration route and animal species, suggesting the existence of enterohepatic circulation. Gender effect on the pharmacokinetics of E‐6087 was only found in rats, with greater exposure and longer elimination in females than in males. Food intake reduced the bioavailability (∼22%) with no apparent changes in the absorption rate. After oral dosing of 1, 5 and 25 mg kg−1 to rats, linearity was lost at the highest dose due to the low aqueous solubility of E‐6087. Drug absorption was improved by micronization. E‐6087 and E‐6132, (a pharmacologically active metabolite), showed different pharmacokinetics. The higher percentage of E‐6087 at early times suggests that E‐6087 is the main compound responsible for in vivo activity, although E‐6132 would contribute to the activity at later times. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Human herpesvirus 6: relevance of infection in the immunocompromised host

Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is highly seroprevalent and primary infection usually occurs in early childhood. Two variants of HHV-6 exist (A and B) which have colinear and highly homologous genomes. Similar to other herpesviruses, HHV-6 has enhanced pathogenicity in the immunocompromised host. In solid organ and bone marrow transplant recipients, active HHV-6 infection is common and case reports suggest the virus can cause disease, including encephalitis and bone marrow suppression. Prospective studies, however, suggest that the overall burden of HHV-6 disease after transplantation is more focused on indirect effects, such as triggering allograft rejections. There is growing evidence for interactions among the beta-herpesviruses (cytomegalovirus, HHV-6 and HHV-7), resulting in an increased risk of cytomegalovirus disease and opportunistic infections. HHV-6 has been proposed as a cofactor in HIV disease although there are contradictory findings on its ability to upregulate HIV replication. The virus may be susceptible to existing antiviral agents, although clinical trials are required to determine if therapeutic intervention is beneficial.
End-to-End Error Probability and Diversity Analysis of AF-Based Dual-Hop Cooperative Relaying in a Poisson Field of Interferers at the Destination

In this paper, we provide mathematical frameworks to the analysis of amplify-and-forward dual-hop cooperative relaying protocols in the presence of Nakagami-m fading and additive Gaussian noise at the relay, as well as additive Gaussian noise and symmetric alpha-stable interference at the destination. Quasi-static and fast-varying interference scenarios are investigated, which arise, e.g., when either the same or different interferers are active during the broadcast and relaying phases, respectively. A maximal ratio combining demodulator is studied, by assuming that the aggregate interference is either unknown (interference-oblivious) or can be estimated (interference-aware) at the destination. Closed-form expressions of the end-to-end moment generating function are provided, and the achievable diversity order is studied for different setups. The diversity order is shown to depend on the path-loss exponent of the interfering network. Under the assumption that the transmit-powers of cooperative and interfering networks are independent, it is proved that the interference-aware maximal ratio diversity combiner is capable of achieving second-order diversity only asymptotically, as the amplitude path-loss exponent tends to one.
Traffic behavior analysis and modeling of sub‐networks

In this paper, the characteristics of sub‐network traffic is analyzed from the correlation point of view. It is easy to see that the traffic histogram of a sub‐network has a 24‐hour seasonal variation due to daily usage behavior. The auto correlation factor (ACF) and partial auto correlation factor (PACF) tests are applied first to examine the correlation of the traffic among consecutive hours and the correlation with a specific hour. The seasonal auto‐regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model is applied to characterize the above properties of the network traffic. Modeling performance is evaluated by examining the coincidence of the histogram and the moving average of traffic volume between the actual traffic collected from the network and the traffic generated by the proposed model. The experimental results illustrate that the proposed model can effectively capture traffic behaviors of the sub‐network and can then be used as a suitable traffic model for analysis of Internet performance. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Chaos Analysis of Transcranial Doppler Signals for Feature Extraction

In this study, chaos theory tools were used for feature extraction from Transcranial Doppler (TCD) signals. The surrogates data sets of the TCD signals which were used for the nonlinearity analysis were extracted as the first feature set. The nonlinear cross prediction errors which were used for the stationary analysis were also extracted for the TCD signals as another feature set. The chaotic invariant features like correlation dimension, maximum Lyapunov exponent, recurrence quantification measures etc. give quantitative values of complexity of the TCD signals. The correlation dimension and maximum Lyapunov exponent were already used as features for classification of TCD signals in the literature. As another chaotic feature set, the statistical quantitative values were extracted from the recurrence plots. The correct calculation of the time delay and the minimum embedding dimension is crucial to correctly estimate all of the chaotic features. These two data were calculated via mutual information and false nearest neighbours approaches, respectively. The space-time separation plots were used in order to find the ideal dimension of Theiler window w which is another important value for the correct estimate of chaotic measures. The reconstructed chaotic attractors with 3-D embedding and 1-step time delay represent the visual phase space portrait of the TCD signals. The attractors were also suggested as another candidate feature set.
Preliminary results of computer aided system with the 2nd-generation narrow-band imaging for endoscopic screening of colorectal neoplasms

We propose a novel computer recognition system with magnifying narrow-band imaging (NBI) colonoscopy to predict pathologic diagnosis of colorectal neoplasms. In this work, we propose a system based on the sparse representation of features derived from the Bank of Binarized Statistical Image Features (B-BSIF). The BSIF code of a pixel is considered as a local descriptor of the image intensity pattern in the pixel's surroundings. Two-dimensional autocorrelation coefficients were used to represent the interpixel correlation of image for further differentiation. A two-layered support vector machine (SVM) is then used to classify the type of colorectal neoplasm. Finally, the prediction results will be considered to determine the final prediction differential diagnosis result. Experimental results show that the proposed computer-aided system can achieved with high diagnostic performance for predicting the histology of colorectal tumors by using NBI magnifying colonoscopy.
Assessment Plans and Writing across the MIS Curriculum

A key to success for management information systems (MIS) graduates is good communication skills, especially writing skills. An effort to incorporate writing assignments and instruction into a sequence of MIS courses at a major midwestern university is having the unintended but substantial benefit of helping the MIS program create an assessment plan that includes all elements required by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), and the regional accrediting agencies. The process used to develop the assessment and writing plans is described and discussed in this research-in-progress summary.