Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury Leads to Distinct Temporal Cardiac Remodeling in Normal versus Diabetic Mice

Diabetes is associated with higher incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) and increased propensity for subsequent events post-MI. Here we conducted a temporal analysis of the influence of diabetes on cardiac dysfunction and remodeling after ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury in mice. Diabetes was induced using streptozotocin and IR performed by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery for 30 min followed by reperfusion for up to 42 days. We first evaluated changes in cardiac function using echocardiography after 24 hours reperfusion and observed IR injury significantly decreased the systolic function, such as ejection fraction, fractional shortening and end systolic left ventricular volume (LVESV) in both control and diabetic mice. The longitudinal systolic and diastolic strain rate were altered after IR, but there were no significant differences between diabetic mice and controls. However, a reduced ability to metabolize glucose was observed in the diabetic animals as determined by PET-CT scanning using 2-deoxy-2-(18F)fluoro-D-glucose. Interestingly, after 24 hours reperfusion diabetic mice showed a reduced infarct size and less apoptosis indicated by TUNEL analysis in heart sections. This may be explained by increased levels of autophagy detected in diabetic mice hearts. Similar increases in IR-induced macrophage infiltration detected by CD68 staining indicated no change in inflammation between control and diabetic mice. Over time, control mice subjected to IR developed mild left ventricular dilation whereas diabetic mice exhibited a decrease in both end diastolic left ventricular volume and LVESV with a decreased intraventricular space and thicker left ventricular wall, indicating concentric hypertrophy. This was associated with marked increases in fibrosis, indicted by Masson trichrome staining, of heart sections in diabetic IR group. In summary, we demonstrate that diabetes principally influences distinct IR-induced chronic changes in cardiac function and remodeling, while a smaller infarct size and elevated levels of autophagy with similar cardiac function are observed in acute phase.
Intermediate Level FPGA Reconfiguration for an Online EHW Pattern Recognition System

We propose a field programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation for a run-time adaptable evolvable hardware classifier system. Previous implementations have been based on a high-level virtual reconfigurable circuit technique which requires many FPGA resources. We therefore apply an intermediate level reconfiguration technique which consists of using the FPGA lookup tables as shift registers for reconfiguration purposes. This leads to significant resource savings, reducing the classifier circuit size to less than one third of the original implementation. This in turn has made it possible to implement a larger, more accurate classifier than before, giving 97.5% recognition accuracy for a face image application. Experiments also show that a reduction of data element resolution can lead to further resource savings while still maintaining high classification accuracy.
A simple analysis of halo density profiles using gravitational lensing time delays

Gravitational lensing time delays depend upon the Hubble constant and the density distribution of the lensing galaxies. This allows one to either model the lens and estimate the Hubble constant, or to use a prior on the Hubble constant from other studies and investigate what the preferred density distribution is. Some studies have required compact dark matter halos (constant M/L ratio) in order to reconcile gravitational lenses with the HST/WMAP value of the Hubble constant (72 ± 8k m s −1 Mpc −1 and 72 ± 5k m s −1 Mpc −1 , respectively). This is in direct contradiction with X-ray, stellar dynamical, and weak lensing studies, which all point towards extended halos and isothermal density profiles. In this work, we examine an up-to-date sample of 13 lensing galaxies resulting in a data set consisting of 21 time delays. We select systems in which there is a single primary lensing galaxy (e.g. excluding systems undergoing mergers). Analysis is performed using analytic models based upon a power-law density profile (ρ ∝ r −η )o f which the isothermal profile is a special case (η = 2). This yields a value of η = 2.11 ± 0.12 (3σ) for the mean profile when modeling with a prior on the Hubble constant, which is only consistent with isothermality within 3σ. Note that this is a formal error from our calculations, and does not include the impact of sample selection or simplifications in the lens modeling. We conclude that time delays are a useful probe of density profiles, in particular as a function of the environment in which the lens resides, when combined with a prior on the Hubble constant.
Hypersensitivity to oxygen and shortened lifespan in a Drosophila mitochondrial complex II mutant

Oxidative stress is implicated as a major cause of aging and age-related diseases, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, as well as ischemia-reperfusion injury in stroke. The mitochondrial electron transport chain is the principal source of reactive oxygen species within cells. Despite considerable medical interest, the molecular mechanisms that regulate reactive oxygen species formation within the mitochondrion remain poorly understood. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of a Drosophila mutant with a defect in subunit b of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH; mitochondrial complex II). The sdhB mutant is hypersensitive to oxygen and displays hallmarks of a progeroid syndrome, including early-onset mortality and age-related behavioral decay. Pathological analysis of the flight muscle, which is amongst the most highly energetic tissues in the animal kingdom, reveals structural abnormalities in the mitochondria. Biochemical analysis shows that, in the mutant, there is a complex II-specific respiratory defect and impaired complex II-mediated electron transport, although the other respiratory complexes remain functionally intact. The complex II defect is associated with an increased level of mitochondrial hydrogen peroxide production, suggesting a possible mechanism for the observed sensitivity to elevated oxygen concentration and the decreased lifespan of the mutant fly.
A Formal Model for Metamorphic Relation Decomposition

Metamorphic testing has been achieved great application breakthrough in many different domains in the last decades and great deals of valuable metamorphic relations (Mrs) were generated for different software and programs. When one tries to reuse these Mrs in different domain at different abstraction levels, textual descriptions are not informative and expressive enough. Based on these observations, we propose a formal model for MR through improving the definition of testing success. With the formal model, we construct a decomposition model for MR, and provide three sub-relations for decrease complexity of MR.
Monetary Policy, Inflation Illusion and the Taylor Principle – An Experimental Study

We develop a simple experimental setting to evaluate the role of the Taylor principle, which holds that the nominal interest rate has to respond more than one-for-one to fluctuations in the inflation rate. In our setting, the average inflation rate fluctuates around the inflation target if the computerized central bank obeys the Taylor principle. If the Taylor principle is violated, then the average inflation rate persistently deviates from the target. We find that these deviations from the target are less pronounced, if inflation rates cannot be as readily observed as nominal interest rates. This result is consistent with the interpretation that subjects underestimate the influence of inflation on the real return to savings if the inflation rate is only observed ex post.
Tool-body assimilation model using a neuro-dynamical system for acquiring representation of tool function and motion

In this paper, we propose a tool-body assimilation model that implements a multiple time-scales recurrent neural network (MTRNN). Our model allows a robot to acquire the representation of a tool function and the required motion without having any prior knowledge of the tool. It is composed of five modules: image feature extraction, body model, tool dynamics feature, tool recognition, and motion recognition. Self-organizing maps (SOM) are used for image feature extraction from raw images. The MTRNN is used for body model learning. Parametric bias (PB) nodes are used to learn tool dynamic features. The PB nodes are attached to the neurons of the MTRNN to modulate the body model. A hierarchical neural network (HNN) is implemented for tool and motion recognition. Experiments were conducted using OpenHRP3, a robotics simulator, with multiple tools. The results show that the tool-body assimilation model is capable of recognizing tools, including those having an unlearned shape, and acquires the required motions accordingly.
Kinematics and Structure of the Starburst Galaxy NGC 7673

The morphology and kinematics of the luminous blue starburst galaxy NGC 7673 are explored using the WIYN (Wisconsin-Indiana-Yale-NOAO) 3.5 m telescope. Signs of a past kinematic disturbance are detected in the outer galaxy; the most notable feature is a luminous ripple located 1. ′55 from the center of NGC 7673. Subarcsecond imaging in B and R filters also reveals red dust lanes and blue star clusters that delineate spiral arms in the bright inner disk, and narrowband Hα imaging shows that the luminous star clusters are associated with giant H II regions. The Hα kinematics measured with echelle imaging spectroscopy using the WIYN DensePak fiber array imply that these H II regions are confined to a smoothly rotating disk. The velocity dispersion in ionized gas in the disk is σ ~ 24 km s-1, which sets an upper boundary on the dispersion of young stellar populations. Broad emission components with σ ~ 63 km s-1 found in some regions are likely produced by mechanical power supplied by massive, young stars; a violent starburst is occurring in a kinematically calm disk. Although the asymmetric outer features point to a merger or interaction as the starburst trigger, the inner disk structure constrains the strength of the event to the scale of a minor merger or weak interaction that occurred at least an outer disk dynamical timescale in the past.
SensiTV: Smart EmotioNal System for Impaired People's TV

In this paper, an innovative solution is presented: a smart emotional system for impaired people's TV. It aims to accompany the cognitive information contained in a movie, with the affective content. The affect is then communicated to the movie viewers in ways compatible for people with hearing and/or visual impairments, to let them experience all of the sensations offered by the movie. To do so, emotion recognition techniques are used to classify movie scenes into seven basic emotions. These emotions are then represented, in realtime, while the movie is playing, to the viewers, using environmental lights, emotional subtitles and a second screen application that integrates vibrations, emoticons and background music.
Rapid and Reliable HPLC Method for the Simultaneous Determination of Dihydroxyacetone, Methylglyoxal and 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural in Leptospermum Honeys

A reliable determination of dihydroxyacetone, methylglyoxal and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural is essential to establishing the commercial value and antimicrobial potential of honeys derived from the Leptospermum species endemic to Australia and New Zealand. We report a robust method for quantitation of all three compounds in a single HPLC run. Honey samples (n = 6) that are derivatized with o-(2,3,4,5,6-Pentafluorobenzyl) hydroxylamine were quantitated against a stable anisole internal standard. Linear regression analysis was performed using calibration standards for each compound (n = 6) and results indicated a high degree of accuracy (R2 = 0.999) for this method. The reliability of some commercial methylglyoxal solutions were found to be questionable. Effective quantitation of methylglyoxal content in honey is critical for researchers and industry, and the use of some commercial standards may bias data. Two accurate methylglyoxal standards are proposed, including a commercial standard and a derivative that can be prepared within the laboratory.
Vividness of Visual Imagery and Incidental Recall of Verbal Cues, When Phenomenological Availability Reflects Long-Term Memory Accessibility

The relationship between vivid visual mental images and unexpected recall (incidental recall) was replicated, refined, and extended. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to generate mental images from imagery-evoking verbal cues (controlled on several verbal properties) and then, on a trial-by-trial basis, rate the vividness of their images; 30 min later, participants were surprised with a task requiring free recall of the cues. Higher vividness ratings predicted better incidental recall of the cues than individual differences (whose effect was modest). Distributional analysis of image latencies through ex-Gaussian modeling showed an inverse relation between vividness and latency. However, recall was unrelated to image latency. The follow-up Experiment 2 showed that the processes underlying trial-by-trial vividness ratings are unrelated to the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ), as further supported by a meta-analysis of a randomly selected sample of relevant literature. The present findings suggest that vividness may act as an index of availability of long-term sensory traces, playing a non-epiphenomenal role in facilitating the access of those memories.
Using hierarchical models to analyse clinical indicators: a comparison of the gamma-Poisson and beta-binomial models.

BACKGROUND Clinical indicators (CIs) are used to assess, compare and determine the potential to improve the care provided by hospitals and physicians. The results for Australian hospitals in 1998-2000 have been reported using a new methodology. The gamma-Poisson hierarchical model was used to correct for the effects of sampling variation by obtaining the empirical Bayesian shrunken estimates for the CI proportions for each hospital. Then, an estimate of the potential system gains that could be achieved if the mean proportion was shifted to the 20th centile is obtained for each of the 185 CIs. The results are sed to prioritize quality improvement activity. OBJECTIVES To describe the 20th centile method of calculating potential system gains in the health care system; to determine the impact of using the beta-binomial model rather than the gamma-Poisson model to obtain shrunken estimates for the CI proportions; and to compare the computationally simpler Method of Moments (MoM) with the maximum likelihood (ML) method for parameter estimation. METHODS The formulae for the gamma-Poisson and beta-binomial shrinkage estimators were compared analytically. Each of the shrinkage estimators and the two methods of parameter estimation were applied to the Obstetric and Gynecological CIs, and the results compared. RESULTS The comparison of the formulae for the two shrinkage estimators showed that the gamma-Poisson model results in: greater shrinkage towards the overall mean. This was verified empirically using the clinical indicators. Additionally, the MoM was not a viable alternative to the ML method. CONCLUSIONS The gamma-Poisson model provided smaller estimates of the potential system gains by up to 6.7% of the numerator for the clinical indicators. The difference in estimation increased with increasing mean proportions and between-hospital variation. We recommend that the beta-binomial model should be used on the basis of both theoretical and empirical grounds.
A Survey for Spectroscopic Binaries among Very Low Mass Stars

We report on the results of a survey for radial velocity variability in a heterogeneous sample of very low mass stars and brown dwarfs. One distinguishing characteristic of the survey is its time span, which allows an overlap between spectroscopic binaries and those that can be found by high angular resolution imaging. Despite our relatively low velocity precision, we are able to place a new constraint on the total binary fraction in these objects, which suggests that they are more likely the result of extending the same processes at work at higher masses into this mass range, rather than a distinct mode of formation. Our basic result is that there are 6 ± 2 out of 53, or 11%, spectroscopic binaries in the separation range 0-6 AU, nearly as many as resolved binaries. This leads to an estimate of an upper limit of 26% ± 10% for the binary fraction of very low mass objects (it is an upper limit because of the possible overlap between the spectroscopic and resolved populations). A reasonable estimate for the very low mass binary fraction is 20%-25%. We consider several possible separation and frequency distributions, including the one found for GK stars, a compressed version of that, a version of the compressed distribution truncated at 15 AU, and a theoretical distribution that considers the evaporation of small-N clusters. We conclude that the latter two bracket the observations, which may mean that these systems form with intrinsically smaller separations due to their smaller mass and then are truncated due to their smaller binding energy. We do not find support for the "ejection hypothesis" as their dominant mode of formation, particularly in view of the similarity in the total binary fraction compared with slightly more massive stars and the difficulty this mechanism has in producing numerous binary systems. Our conclusions must be viewed as tentative until studies with larger and better-posed samples and higher velocity precision are conducted.
How to Avoid Over-Estimating Capital Charge for Operational Risk?

Intense reflections are being conducted at the moment regarding the way to pool heterogeneous data coming from both banks' internal systems and industry-pooled databases. We propose here a sound methodology. As it relies on maximum likelihood principle, it is thus statistically rigorous and should be accepted by supervisors. We believe that it solves the most part of data heterogeneity and scaling issues.
rpanel: Simple Interactive Controls for R Functions Using the tcltk Package

In a variety of settings it is extremely helpful to be able to apply R functions through buttons, sliders and other types of graphical control. This is particularly true in plotting activities where immediate communication between such controls and a graphical display allows the user to interact with a plot in a very effective manner. The tcltk package provides extensive tools for this and the aim of the rpanel package is to provide simple and well documented functions which make these facilities as accessible as possible. In addition, the operations which form the basis of communication within tcltk are managed in a way which allows users to write functions with a more standard form of parameter passing. This paper describes the basic design of the software and illustrates it on a variety of examples of interactive control of graphics. The tkrplot system is used to allow plots to be integrated with controls into a single panel. An example of the use of a graphical image, and the ability to interact with this, is also discussed.
Age‐related cognitive effects of ECT and ECT‐induced mood improvement in depressive patients

This explorative study investigated the interaction between electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatment‐effect, reduced depression, and neuropsychological outcome in relation to age. Follow‐up neuropsychological assessment was conducted with depressive patients treated with ECT. From a potential sample of 45 patients, the neuropsychological measures (pre‐ECT, three times post‐ECT, up to 12 months) and clinical data from the remaining 21 patients who completed all assessments were evaluated (mean age=56.76; SD=14.12; range, 33–79). ECT resulted in a decrease in the depression scores. A distinct impact of ECT and depression decrease on cognitive domains was found. Depression alleviation was mainly associated with improvement in cognitive domains such as memory, information processing, and executive function. ECT improved cognitive domains such as information processing and perception. Short‐term cognitive improvement was greater in older patients but showed an increase similar to that at long‐term follow‐up in younger patients (<60). Current findings provide evidence that ECT may improve cognitive functioning in nondemented elderly, which has strong clinical relevance concerning the use of ECT. Depression and Anxiety 23:93–101, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Formal Model of Requirements

This paper introduces a methodology to analyze the safety of timed discrete event systems. Our case-study is the level crossing, a critical component for the safety of railway systems. First, our goal is to take out the forbidden state highlighted by a p-time Petri net modelling. This model deals with the requirements of the considered system and has to contain all the constraints that have to be respected. Then we describe a process identified as a solution for the system functioning. This method consists in exploring all the possible behaviors of the system by means of the construction of state classes. Finally, we check if the proposed process corresponds to the model of requirements previously built.
Reversible watermarking technique to enhance security of a biometric authentication system

For every biometric template protecting technique, non-reversibility, accuracy, and revocability are essential features. Several template protecting techniques like bio-hash or biometric crypto system are used to transform raw biometric features into alternative form known as protected template [2]. As the protected templates are non-reversible, biometric verification is done in a transform domain. Tampered or stolen protected template may cause false validation; therefore its authentication in the database is essential. Reversible watermarking technique provides one such effective mechanism. Watermark protected templates are stored in the database at the time of its enrollment. During verification phase, incoming query template is compared with many database templates until a match is established. This verification technique increase complexity and burden on a biometric authentication system. In this paper, we propose a tag based template searching in reversible watermarking technique to check authenticity and reduce burden on biometric authentication system. In the proposal, rotation, scale and translation (RST) invariant features of biometric image are used for tagging the data. Watermark reversibility in the proposed method ensures that its presence do not affect native biometric authentication. Moreover presence of watermark in the biometric template provides security against replay attack.