Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impairment in Flexible Regulation of Speed and Accuracy in Children with ADHD

Abstract Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by poor adaptation of behavior to environmental demands, including difficulties in flexibly regulating behavior. To understand whether ADHD is associated with a reduction of strategic flexibility in modulating speed and accuracy, we used a perceptual decision-making task that required participants to randomly stress either fast or accurate responding. Thirty-one drug-free boys with ADHD combined-type (mean age: 10.2 years) and 33 healthy control boys (mean age: 10.7 years), matched for age and IQ, participated. Both reaction time and accuracy data were analyzed. Our findings demonstrated significantly lower accuracy in ADHD children than in controls when switching from speed to accuracy instructions. This deficit was directly associated with hyperactivity symptoms but not with inattention. Our results showed that ADHD is associated with a deficit in dynamically switching response strategy according to task demands on a trial-to-trial basis. (JINS, 2013, 19, 1–5)
An Intelligent Food-Intake Monitoring System Using Wearable Sensors

The prevalence of obesity worldwide presents a great challenge to existing healthcare systems. There is a general need for pervasive monitoring of the dietary behaviour of those who are at risk of co-morbidities. Currently, however, there is no accurate method of assessing the nutritional intake of people in their home environment. Traditional methods require subjects to manually respond to questionnaires for analysis, which is subjective, prone to errors, and difficult to ensure consistency and compliance. In this paper, we present a wearable sensor platform that autonomously provides detailed information regarding a subject's dietary habits. The sensor consists of a microphone and a camera and is worn discretely on the ear. Sound features are extracted in real-time and if a chewing activity is classified, the camera captures a video sequence for further analysis. From this sequence, a number of key frames are extracted to represent important episodes during the course of a meal. Results show a high classification rate of chewing activities, and the visual log demonstrates a detailed overview of the subject's food intake that is difficult to quantify from manually-acquired food records.
The Complementary Nature of Coordination Dynamics: Self-organization and Agency

A dual lumen catheter, for insertion into a vein of a patient for use in haemodialysis treatments, having first and second portions defining a shorter intake lumen and a longer return lumen. The intake lumen is closed at its end and receives blood through at least one opening in the side wall of the catheter and the second lumen includes the second portion which is of smaller cross-section than the first portion. Also described is a catheter having an intake lumen and a return lumen in which the return lumen has a tip of different stiffness from the main body of the catheter, the intake lumen being closed at its end and receiving fluid through an opening in the side wall of the catheter.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: prognostic factors and survival analysis in 128 Egyptian patients

Abstract Background: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an important cause of disability and death in patients of all ages. Egyptian children may differ from Western and Asian patients in the pattern of hypertrophy distribution, clinical manifestations, and risk factors. Objectives: The aim of our study was to report the clinical characteristics and outcomes of Egyptian children with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy studied over a 7-year duration and to determine whether the reported adult risk factors for sudden cardiac death are predictive of the outcome in these affected children. Study design and methods: This retrospective study included 128 hypertrophic cardiomyopathy children. The data included personal history, family history, physical examination, baseline laboratory measurements, electrocardiogram, and Holter and echocardiographic results. Logistic regression analysis was used for the detection of risk factors of death. Results: Fifty-one out of 128 patients died during the period of the study. Of the 51 deaths, 36 (70.5%) occurred in patients presenting before 1 year of age. Only eight patients had surgical intervention. Extreme left ventricular hypertrophy, that is, interventricular septal wall thickness or posterior wall thickness Z-score >6, sinus tachycardia, and supraventricular tachycardia were found to be independent risk factors for prediction of death in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Conclusions: At our Egyptian tertiary care centre, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy has a relatively worse prognosis when compared with reports from Western and Asian series. Infants have a worse outcome than children presenting after the age of 1 year. A poorer prognosis in childhood hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is predicted by an extreme left ventricular hypertrophy, the presence of sinus tachycardia, and supraventricular tachycardia.
Mapping the horizon: techniques to optimize tumor resection before and during surgery.

Although a primary tenet of neurosurgical oncology is that survival can improve with greater tumor resection, this principle must be tempered by the potential for functional loss after radical removal. Current neurosurgical innovations aim to improve our anatomical, physiological, and functional understanding of the surgical region of interest to prevent potential neurological morbidity during resection. We review current and future imaging modalities as well as state-of-theart intraoperative techniques that can facilitate extent of resection while minimizing the associated morbidity profile.
Novel Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Isolate from a Wild Chimpanzee

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by gram-positive bacteria known as the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC). MTBC include several human-associated lineages and several variants adapted to domestic and, more rarely, wild animal species. We report an M. tuberculosis strain isolated from a wild chimpanzee in Côte d’Ivoire that was shown by comparative genomic and phylogenomic analyses to belong to a new lineage of MTBC, closer to the human-associated lineage 6 (also known as M. africanum West Africa 2) than to the other classical animal-associated MTBC strains. These results show that the general view of the genetic diversity of MTBC is limited and support the possibility that other MTBC variants exist, particularly in wild mammals in Africa. Exploring this diversity is crucial to the understanding of the biology and evolutionary history of this widespread infectious disease.
An Implicit Plan Overrides an Explicit Strategy during Visuomotor Adaptation

The relationship between implicit and explicit processes during motor learning, and for visuomotor adaptation in particular, is poorly understood. We set up a conflict between implicit and explicit processes by instructing subjects to counter a visuomotor rotation using a cognitive strategy in a pointing task. Specifically, they were told the exact nature of the directional perturbation, a rotation that directed them 45° counterclockwise from the desired target, and they were instructed to counter it by aiming for the neighboring clockwise target, 45° away. Subjects were initially successful in completely negating the rotation with this strategy. Surprisingly, however, they were unable to sustain explicit control and made increasingly large errors to the desired target. The cognitive strategy failed because subjects simultaneously adapted unconsciously to the rotation to the neighboring target. Notably, the rate of implicit adaptation to the neighboring target was not significantly different from rotation adaptation in the absence of an opposing explicit strategy. These results indicate that explicit strategies cannot substitute for implicit adaptation to a visuomotor rotation and are in fact overridden by the motor planning system. This suggests that the motor system requires that planned and executed trajectories remain congruous in visual space, and enforces this correspondence even at the expense of an opposing explicit task goal.
Orchestrating the Data-Plane of Virtual LTE Core Networks

Growing demand for data and increasing number of devices are drastically changing the scale of operation in mobile networks. Future services and business models require efficient provisioning with enhanced traffic management. It is hard to meet these requirements on today's mobile networks that are deployed over specialized hardware. While operators are keen to adopt NFV (Network Function Virtualization) to virtualize their networks, virtualized mobile network deployments face a few technical barriers. To address these challenges, we design SCOPE that effectively applies concepts from SDN and distributed systems to realize NFV-based LTE core networks. Using centralized allocation, SCOPE effectively manages the resources across multiple telecom data-centers in a way to meet the traffic requirements. To enforce the computed al- locations, SCOPE includes flexible and efficient mechanisms to configure the data-plane. With full compliance to 3GPP- based protocols, SCOPE ensures faster and cost-effective deployments. The efficacy of SCOPE is shown using a prototype implementation and large-scale simulations.
Art-based rendering with continuous levels of detail

In previous work [6], we presented an algorithm for rendering virtual scenes using art-based styles. We demonstrated the ability to render fur, grass, and trees in a stylized manner that evoked the complexity of these textures without representing all their components explicitly. We achieved this with stroke-based procedural textures that generated detail elements, or graftals, just as needed. Our implementation had several drawbacks. First, each new graftal texture required a procedural implementation that included writing code. Also, graftals were regenerated in each frame in a way that led to excessive introduction and elimination of graftals even for small changes in camera parameters. Lastly, our system provided no way to continuously vary the properties of graftals, including color, size, or stroke width. Such an ability could be used to achieve better frame-to-frame coherence, or more generally to animate graftals. In this paper, we present a new framework for graftal textures that addresses these issues. Our new framework allows all major decisions about graftal look and behavior to be specified in a text file that can be edited by a designer. We have achieved greater frameto-frame coherence by using graftals that remain in fixed positions on the model surface. The look and behavior of graftals as they appear or disappear can now be animated to create smooth transitions. Finally, we introduce the concept of tufts which manage the multiresolution behavior of graftals according to the specifications of the scene designer.
Constitutively Nuclear FOXO3a Localization Predicts Poor Survival and Promotes Akt Phosphorylation in Breast Cancer

Background The PI3K-Akt signal pathway plays a key role in tumorigenesis and the development of drug-resistance. Cytotoxic chemotherapy resistance is linked to limited therapeutic options and poor prognosis. Methodology/Principal Findings Examination of FOXO3a and phosphorylated-Akt (P-Akt) expression in breast cancer tissue microarrays showed nuclear FOXO3a was associated with lymph node positivity (p = 0.052), poor prognosis (p = 0.014), and P-Akt expression in invasive ductal carcinoma. Using tamoxifen and doxorubicin-sensitive and -resistant breast cancer cell lines as models, we found that doxorubicin- but not tamoxifen-resistance is associated with nuclear accumulation of FOXO3a, consistent with the finding that sustained nuclear FOXO3a is associated with poor prognosis. We also established that doxorubicin treatment induces proliferation arrest and FOXO3a nuclear relocation in sensitive breast cancer cells. Induction of FOXO3a activity in doxorubicin-sensitive MCF-7 cells was sufficient to promote Akt phosphorylation and arrest cell proliferation. Conversely, knockdown of endogenous FOXO3a expression reduced PI3K/Akt activity. Using MDA-MB-231 cells, in which FOXO3a activity can be induced by 4-hydroxytamoxifen, we showed that FOXO3a induction up-regulates PI3K-Akt activity and enhanced doxorubicin resistance. However FOXO3a induction has little effect on cell proliferation, indicating that FOXO3a or its downstream activity is deregulated in the cytotoxic drug resistant breast cancer cells. Thus, our results suggest that sustained FOXO3a activation can enhance hyperactivation of the PI3K/Akt pathway. Conclusions/Significance Together these data suggest that lymph node metastasis and poor survival in invasive ductal breast carcinoma are linked to an uncoupling of the Akt-FOXO3a signaling axis. In these breast cancers activated Akt fails to inactivate and re-localize FOXO3a to the cytoplasm, and nuclear-targeted FOXO3a does not induce cell death or cell cycle arrest. As such, sustained nuclear FOXO3a expression in breast cancer may culminate in cancer progression and the development of an aggressive phenotype similar to that observed in cytotoxic chemotherapy resistant breast cancer cell models.
Uncovered Background Prediction in Interframe Coding

Various interframe coding methods have been devised to reduce the cost of television signal transmission. Some degradation still remains, however, because prediction efficiency is lowered in uncovered background areas which appear behind moving objects. This paper proposes an uncovered background predictive coding algorithm, which increases prediction efficiency. Prediction efficiency is evaluated by using a simple signal model and real television signals. Experimental results show that the information generation rate is reduced to 78 percent as compared to that of previous frame predictive coding when the displacement is 10 pels/frame.
ß-Adrenergic Stimulation Increases RyR2 Activity via Intracellular Ca2+ and Mg2+ Regulation

Here we investigate how ß-adrenergic stimulation of the heart alters regulation of ryanodine receptors (RyRs) by intracellular Ca2+ and Mg2+ and the role of these changes in SR Ca2+ release. RyRs were isolated from rat hearts, perfused in a Langendorff apparatus for 5 min and subject to 1 min perfusion with 1 µM isoproterenol or without (control) and snap frozen in liquid N2 to capture their phosphorylation state. Western Blots show that RyR2 phosphorylation was increased by isoproterenol, confirming that RyR2 were subject to normal ß-adrenergic signaling. Under basal conditions, S2808 and S2814 had phosphorylation levels of 69% and 15%, respectively. These levels were increased to 83% and 60%, respectively, after 60 s of ß-adrenergic stimulation consistent with other reports that ß-adrenergic stimulation of the heart can phosphorylate RyRs at specific residues including S2808 and S2814 causing an increase in RyR activity. At cytoplasmic [Ca2+] <1 µM, ß-adrenergic stimulation increased luminal Ca2+ activation of single RyR channels, decreased luminal Mg2+ inhibition and decreased inhibition of RyRs by mM cytoplasmic Mg2+. At cytoplasmic [Ca2+] >1 µM, ß-adrenergic stimulation only decreased cytoplasmic Mg2+ and Ca2+ inhibition of RyRs. The Ka and maximum levels of cytoplasmic Ca2+ activation site were not affected by ß-adrenergic stimulation. Our RyR2 gating model was fitted to the single channel data. It predicted that in diastole, ß-adrenergic stimulation is mediated by 1) increasing the activating potency of Ca2+ binding to the luminal Ca2+ site and decreasing its affinity for luminal Mg2+ and 2) decreasing affinity of the low-affinity Ca2+/Mg2+ cytoplasmic inhibition site. However in systole, ß-adrenergic stimulation is mediated mainly by the latter.
Modelling the Future with Event Choice DATALOG

This paper presents a rule-based declarative database language which extends stratiﬁed DATALOG to express events and nondeterministic state transitions, by using various types of choice to model uncertainty in dynamic rules. The proposed language, called Event Choice DATALOG ( DATALOG ev ! for short), is particularly suitable to formulate queries on the evolution of a knowledge base on the basis of a given sequence of events that are envisioned to occur in the future. The semantics of a DATALOG ev ! program is given by means of rule rewriting which transforms it into a DATALOG program with choice and a particular form of XY-stratiﬁcation, called XYZ-stratiﬁcation, that uses a pair of temporal arguments to handle evolution.
Finding Hope in the Darkness: Stories of Two Chinese Newcomers Enrolled in a Canadian High School

Hope has been described as the ability to envision a future in which one wishes to participate. A burgeoning body of research consistently points to the vital role hope plays in learning and successful change. Employing narrative inquiry (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000), in this paper, we explore two Chinese newcomer students’ stories of hope as they face the many challenges of undertaking a Canadian education. Findings indicate the value of communicating teachers’ belief in students, making hope more visible by inviting students to tell their stories of hope, and understanding hope as a process that evolves as students’ lives unfold. Resume L’espoir a ete decrit comme etant la capacite d’imaginer un futur dans lequel il est possible de participer. Il existe un secteur de recherche en pleine croissance qui insiste sur le role vital que joue l’espoir, aussi bien dans l’apprentissage que dans les changements personnels positifs. Dans cet article, nous cherchons a explorer, au travers du recit (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000), l’histoire de deux nouveaux arrivants chinois et l’espoir qu’ils developpent tout en affrontant les defis de leur education canadienne. Les resultats montrent qu’il est important que les professeurs communiquent la confiance qu’ils ont envers leurs eleves, qu’il doivent rendre l’espoir visible en les invitant a raconter leurs histoires et qu’il est tout aussi important de comprendre que l’espoir se developpe au fil de la vie. Introduction Hoping for a better education and future, thousands of Chinese youth leave home to study overseas. Children as young as fourteen years old arrive in Canada alone. Billeted with Canadian home-stay families, this is often the first time these Chinese youth have ever lived away from home. The hopes that energized their journeys to Canada rarely match the realities encountered as these students struggle to adjust to Canadian culture, families, education, and living and studying in English. Psycho-educational research identifies hope as a key motivational and learning factor (Cheavens, Michael, & Snyder, 2005), enhancing learning and adjustment. While no research has examined the experience of hope for Chinese newcomer high school students to Canada, the importance of agency, motivation, and hope in the face of incredible adjustments is clear (Hubble, Duncan, & Miller, 1999). This narrative inquiry (Clandinin &
Using a Domain-Independent Reactive Planner to Implement a Medical Dialogue System

APE is a domain-independent reactive planning system used to build dialogue systems. Turns in the dialogue may include graphical actions as well as typed text. While APE runs fast and is easy to use, it is more powerful than many other dialogue managers because it can handle multi-turn plans, update plans during execution, and generate nested discourse constructs. Although APE is intended for creating dialogues containing hierarchical, multi-turn plans, it can be used to implement any dialogue system. In this paper we describe the motivation for the APE system, its internals and its uses. We illustrate the use of APE with CAPE, an APE-based system that tutors medical students on blood pressure regulation.
Optimal tracking control for an AC-DC power converter

This paper presents an optimal controller in order to achieve trajectory tracking for the DC output voltage of an AC-DC power converter, which is described by nonlinear dynamics. The synthesized optimal control law comes from solving the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation for state-dependent coefficient factorized nonlinear systems. The proposed controller results in a state feedback optimal control law plus a time varying term, which minimizes a quadratic performance index. In order to illustrate the tracking to a desired reference, the controller is applied to an AC-DC converter, considering two cases: fixed and variable frequency for the input voltage source. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the control scheme.
High Performance Algorithms for Multiple Streaming Time Series

Data arriving in time order (a data stream) arises in fields ranging from physics to finance to medicine to music, to name a few. Often the data comes from sensors (in physics and medicine for example) whose data rates continue to improve dramatically as sensor technology improves. Furthermore, the number of sensors is increasing, so analyzing data between sensors becomes ever more critical in order to distill knowledge from the data. Fast response is desirable in many applications (e.g. to aim a telescope at an activity of interest or to perform a stock trade). In applications such as finance, recent information, e.g. correlation, is of far more interest than older information, so analysis over sliding windows is a desired operation. These three factors---huge data size, fast response, and windowed computation---motivated this work. Our intent is to build a foundational library of primitives to perform online or near online statistical analysis, e.g. windowed correlation, incremental matching pursuit, burst detection, on thousands or even millions of time series. Beside the algorithms, we also propose the concept of "uncooperative" time series, whose power spectra are spread over all frequencies with any regularity. Previous work showed how to do windowed correlation with Fast Fourier Transforms and Wavelet Transforms, but such techniques don't work for uncooperative time series. This thesis will show how to use sketches (random projections) in a way that combines several simple techniques---sketches, convolution, structured random vectors, grid structures, combinatorial design, and bootstrapping---to achieve high performance, windowed correlation over a variety of data sets. Experiments confirm the asymptotic analysis. To conduct matching pursuit (MP) over time series windows, an incremental scheme is designed to reduce the computational effort. Our empirical study demonstrates a substantial improvement in speed. In previous work, Zhu and Shasha introduced an efficient algorithm to monitor bursts within windows of multiple sizes. We implemented it in a physical system by overcoming several practical challenges. Experimental results support the authors' linear running time analysis.