Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Targeted magnetic resonance imaging of Scavidin‐receptor in human umbilical vein endothelial cells in vitro

Current therapeutic approaches to treat cancer are often hampered by the lack of specificity of the drugs used for therapy. Scavidin, a novel fusion protein expressed on cell membranes, could be utilized for targeting of therapeutic molecules. Scavidin exploits the high binding affinity between avidin and biotin and is capable of mediating endocytosis of a bound ligand. In the current study we evaluated the efficiency of biotinylated ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) particles in Scavidin‐expressing human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) cultures in vitro as a novel receptor‐targeted magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent. Biotinylated USPIO (bUSPIO) were targeted to Scavidin adenovirus‐transduced HUVECs in vitro. Scavidin expressing cells were capable of binding and mediating endocytosis of the bUSPIO in vitro, which led to a significant decrease in T2 relaxation times, and a loss of signal intensity in comparison to controls. The findings were confirmed with Prussian blue staining for iron and detection of Scavidin by bound biotinylated horseradish peroxidase. Our data shows that biotinylated ligands target specifically to Scavidin‐expressing HUVEC in vitro. The utilization of Scavidin gene transfer ex vivo thus constitutes a platform for potential ligand delivery via cell therapy and time‐independent imaging of biologic processes. Magn Reson Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Sodium and calcium mechanisms of rhythmic bursting in excitatory neural networks of the pre‐Bötzinger complex: a computational modelling study

The neural mechanisms generating rhythmic bursting activity in the mammalian brainstem, particularly in the pre‐Bötzinger complex (pre‐BötC), which is involved in respiratory rhythm generation, and in the spinal cord (e.g. locomotor rhythmic activity) that persist after blockade of synaptic inhibition remain poorly understood. Experimental studies in rodent medullary slices containing the pre‐BötC identified two mechanisms that could potentially contribute to the generation of rhythmic bursting: one based on the persistent Na+ current (INaP), and the other involving the voltage‐gated Ca2+ current (ICa) and the Ca2+‐activated nonspecific cation current (ICAN), activated by intracellular Ca2+ accumulated from extracellular and intracellular sources. However, the involvement and relative roles of these mechanisms in rhythmic bursting are still under debate. In this theoretical/modelling study, we investigated Na+‐dependent and Ca2+‐dependent bursting generated in single cells and heterogeneous populations of synaptically interconnected excitatory neurons with INaP and ICa randomly distributed within populations. We analysed the possible roles of network connections, ionotropic and metabotropic synaptic mechanisms, intracellular Ca2+ release, and the Na+/K+ pump in rhythmic bursting generated under different conditions. We show that a heterogeneous population of excitatory neurons can operate in different oscillatory regimes with bursting dependent on INaP and/or ICAN, or independent of both. We demonstrate that the operating bursting mechanism may depend on neuronal excitation, synaptic interactions within the network, and the relative expression of particular ionic currents. The existence of multiple oscillatory regimes and their state dependence demonstrated in our models may explain different rhythmic activities observed in the pre‐BötC and other brainstem/spinal cord circuits under different experimental conditions.
Particulate Air Pollution, Progression, and Survival after Myocardial Infarction

Objective Several studies have examined the effect of particulate pollution (PM) on survival in general populations, but less is known about susceptible groups. Moreover, previous cohort studies have been cross-sectional and subject to confounding by uncontrolled differences between cities. Design We investigated whether PM was associated with progression of disease or reduced survival in a study of 196,000 persons from 21 U.S. cities discharged alive following an acute myocardial infarction (MI), using within-city between-year exposure to PM. We constructed city-specific cohorts of survivors of acute MI using Medicare data between 1985 and 1999, and defined three outcomes on follow-up: death, subsequent MI, and a first admission for congestive heart failure (CHF). Yearly averages of PM10 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter < 10 μm) were merged to the individual annual follow-up in each city. We applied Cox’s proportional hazard regression model in each city, with adjustment for individual risk factors. In the second stage of the analysis, the city-specific results were combined using a meta-regression. Results We found significant associations with a hazard ratio for the sum of the distributed lags of 1.3 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.2–1.5] for mortality, a hazard ratio of 1.4 (95% CI, 1.2–1.7) for a hospitalization for CHF, and a hazard ratio of 1.4 (95% CI, 1.1–1.8) for a new hospitalization for MI per 10 μg/m3 PM10. Conclusions This is the first long-term study showing a significant association between particle exposure and adverse post-MI outcomes in persons who survived an MI.
Scalable Arbitrary-Order PseudoSpectral Electromagnetic Solver

Numerical simulations have been critical in the recent rapid developments of advanced accelerator concepts. Among the various available numerical techniques, the ParticleIn-Cell (PIC) approach is the method of choice for self-consistent simulations from first principles, and although the fundamentals of the PIC method were established decades ago, improvements or variations still continue to arise nearly continuously. While spectral methods have been popular in the early PIC codes, the finite-difference time-domain method has become dominant. Recently, a novel parallelization strategy was proposed that takes advantage of the local nature of Maxwell equations that has the potential to combine spectral accuracy with finite-difference favorable parallel scaling. Due to its compute-intensive nature combined with adjustable accuracy and locality, the new solver promises to be especially well suited for emerging exascale systems. The new solver was recently extended to enable userprogrammability of the spatial and temporal order of accuracy at runtime, enabling a level of scalability and flexibility that is unprecedented for such codes. Keywords— High-Performance Computing, Particle-in-Cell Codes, Pseudo-Spectral Solver, Maxwell Equations Solver, Computational Scalability, Exascale Computing.
Accurate approximation algorithm for TOA-based maximum likelihood mobile location using semidefinite programming

The techniques of using wireless cellular networks to locate mobile stations have recently received considerable interest. The paper addresses the problem of maximum likelihood (ML) location estimation using (uplink) time-of-arrival (TOA) measurements. Under the standard assumption of Gaussian TOA measurement errors, ML location estimation is a nonconvex optimization problem in which the presence of local minima makes the search of the globally optimal solution hard. To circumvent this difficulty, we propose to approximate the ML problem by relaxing it to a convex optimization problem, namely semidefinite programming. Simulation results indicate that this semidefinite relaxation location estimator provides mean square position error performance close to the Cramer-Rao lower bound for a wide range of TOA measurement error levels.
Modified sift descriptor for image matching under interference

There remain many difficult problems in computer vision research such as object recognition, three dimensional reconstruction, object tracking, etc. And the basis of solving these problems relies on image matching. The scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm has been widely used for image matching application. The SIFT algorithm can successfully extract the most descriptive feature points in given input images taken under different viewpoints. However, the performance of the original SIFT algorithm degrades under the influence of noise. We propose to modify the SIFT algorithm to produce better invariant feature points for image matching under noise. We also propose to employ the Earth mover's distance (EMD) as the measurement of similarity between two descriptors. We present extensive experiment results to demonstrate the performance of the proposed methods in image matching under noise.
Situation based Data Distribution in a Distributed Environment Model

For advanced driver assistance systems (ADASs) knowledge of the environment plays a fundamental role. This also includes real-time data distribution and information about the current driving situation. A flexible situation model and a uniform situation analysis method are proposed to enable situation dependent information distribution, interpretation and fusion. This is a novel approach in the scope of automotive software. Waning from the proposed situation analysis an event-based programming model and a situation dependent data distribution is introduced. The introduction of driving situations to optimize data distribution and interpretation enables the ADAS developer to focus on their key algorithms. The proposed framework provides the distribution of the data and the situation analysis.
Harmony: Dynamic Heterogeneity-Aware Resource Provisioning in the Cloud

Data centers today consume tremendous amount of energy in terms of power distribution and cooling. Dynamic capacity provisioning is a promising approach for reducing energy consumption by dynamically adjusting the number of active machines to match resource demands. However, despite extensive studies of the problem, existing solutions for dynamic capacity provisioning have not fully considered the heterogeneity of both workload and machine hardware found in production environments. In particular, production data centers often comprise several generations of machines with different capacities, capabilities and energy consumption characteristics. Meanwhile, the workloads running in these data centers typically consist of a wide variety of applications with different priorities, performance objectives and resource requirements. Failure to consider heterogenous characteristics will lead to both sub-optimal energy-savings and long scheduling delays, due to incompatibility between workload requirements and the resources offered by the provisioned machines. To address this limitation, in this paper we present HARMONY, a Heterogeneity-Aware Resource Management System for dynamic capacity provisioning in cloud computing environments. Specifically, we first use the K-means clustering algorithm to divide the workload into distinct task classes with similar characteristics in terms of resource and performance requirements. Then we present a novel technique for dynamically adjusting the number of machines of each type to minimize total energy consumption and performance penalty in terms of scheduling delay. Through simulations using real traces from Google's compute clusters, we found that our approach can improve data center energy efficiency by up to 28% compared to heterogeneity-oblivious solutions.
Features of physician services databases in Canada.

INTRODUCTION Physician services databases (PSDs) are a valuable resource for research and surveillance in Canada. However, because the provinces and territories collect and maintain separate databases, data elements are not standardized. This study compared major features of PSDs. METHODS The primary source was a survey of key informants that collected information about years of data, patient/provider characteristics, database inclusions/exclusions, coding of diagnoses, procedures and service locations. Data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information's (CIHI) National Physician Database were used to examine physician remuneration methods, which may affect PSD completeness. Survey data were obtained for nine provinces and two territories. RESULTS Most databases contained post-1990 records. Diagnoses were frequently recorded using ICD-9 codes. Other coding systems differed across jurisdictions and time, although all PSDs identified in-hospital services and distinguished family medicine from other specialties. Capture of non-fee-for-service records varied and CIHI data revealed an increasing proportion of non-fee-for-service physicians over time. CONCLUSION Further research is needed to investigate the potential effects of PSD differences on comparability of findings from pan-Canadian studies.
Play Behavior of the Golden-Headed Lion Tamarin in Brazilian Cocoa Agroforests

During play, primates may become more vulnerable to predation. Our goal was to examine the potential role of predation risk on the play behavior of 3 groups of golden-headed lion tamarin, Leontopithecus chrysomelas, in shaded cocoa agroforest (cabruca) of Southern Bahia, Brazil. We identified the preferred (and safer) locations on vertical strata during playtime and investigated if frequency and duration of play differed according to group size. All groups preferred to play on the lower levels of vertical strata, which may be perceived as either a safer environment or as a more suitable location for play due to the vegetation structure. The smallest group played less than the others, while the largest group played more and for longer periods. Our data suggest that predation risk can influence where play takes place as well as its frequency and length.
Torque sensorless control in multidegree-of-freedom manipulator

A torque sensorless control for a multi-degree-of-freedom manipulator is described. In the method, two disturbance observers are applied to each joint. One is used to realize a robust motion controller. The other is used to obtain a sensorless torque controller. A robust acceleration controller based on the disturbance observer is shown. To obtain the sensorless torque control, it is necessary to calculate the reaction torque when the mechanical system performs a force task. The calculation method for the reaction torque is explained. Then the method is expanded to workspace force control in the multi-degree-of-freedom manipulator. Several experimental results are shown to confirm the validity of the proposed sensorless force controller. >
Conceptualizing a Novel Quasi-Continuous Bayesian Phylogeographic Framework for Spatiotemporal Hypothesis Testing

Continuous phylogeography is a growing approach to studying the spatiotemporal origins of RNA viruses because of its realistic spatial reconstruction advantages over discrete phylogeography. While the generalized linear model has been demonstrated as an effective tool for simultaneously assessing the drivers impacting viral diffusion in discrete phylogeography, there is no similar testing method in the continuous phylogeographic framework. In this paper, we take a step toward bridging that gap by conceptualizing a novel quasi-continuous approach which enables the addition of discrete locations beyond the known sampling locations of the virus. Our model, when fully developed into phylogeographic software, will enable spatiotemporal hypothesis testing of viral diffusion without being strictly limited to observed sampling locations. This model can still assess the impact of local epidemiological variables on virus spread and could provide public health agencies with more realistic estimates of key predictors and locations by utilizing a more continuous landscape.
The effect of acute temperature increases on the cardiorespiratory performance of resting and swimming sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka)

SUMMARY The mechanism underlying the decrease in aerobic scope in fish at warm temperatures is not fully understood and is the focus of this research. Our study examined oxygen uptake and delivery in resting, swimming and recovering sockeye salmon while water temperature was acutely increased from 15°C to 24°C in 2°C h–1 increments. Fish swam at a constant speed during the temperature change. By simultaneously measuring oxygen consumption (ṀO2), cardiac output (Q̇) and the blood oxygen status of arterial and venous blood, we were able to determine where in the oxygen cascade a limitation appeared when fish stopped sustained swimming as temperature increased. High temperature fatigue of swimming sockeye salmon was not a result of a failure of either oxygen delivery to the gills or oxygen diffusion at the gills because oxygen partial pressure (PO2) and oxygen content (CO2) in arterial blood did not decrease with increasing temperature, as would be predicted for such limitations. Instead, arterial oxygen delivery (TaO2) was initially hampered due to a failure to adequately increase Q̇ with increasing temperature. Subsequently, lactate appeared in the blood and venous PO2 remained constant.
The Heidelberg Airborne Imaging DOAS Instrument (HAIDI) – a novel imaging DOAS device for 2-D and 3-D imaging of trace gases and aerosols

Abstract. Many relevant processes in tropospheric chemistry take place on rather small scales (e.g., tens to hundreds of meters) but often influence areas of several square kilometer. Thus, measurements of the involved trace gases with high spatial resolution are of great scientific interest. In order to identify individual sources and sinks and ultimately to improve chemical transport models, we developed a new airborne instrument, which is based on the well established Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) method. The Heidelberg Airborne Imaging DOAS Instrument (HAIDI) is a passive imaging DOAS spectrometer, which is capable of recording horizontal and vertical trace gas distributions with a resolution of better than 100 m. Observable species include NO2, HCHO, C2H2O2, H2O, O3, O4, SO2, IO, OClO and BrO. Here we give a technical description of the instrument including its custom-built spectrographs and CCD detectors. Also first results from measurements with the new instrument are presented. These comprise spatial resolved SO2 and BrO in volcanic plumes, mapped at Mt. Etna (Sicily, Italy), NO2 emissions in the metropolitan area of Indianapolis (Indiana, USA) as well as BrO and NO2 distributions measured during arctic springtime in context of the BRomine, Ozone, and Mercury EXperiment (BROMEX) campaign, which was performed 2012 in Barrow (Alaska, USA).
Two-handed marking menus for multitouch devices

We investigate multistroke marking menus for multitouch devices and we show that using two hands can improve performance. We present two new two-handed multistroke marking menu variants in which users either draw strokes with both hands simultaneously or alternate strokes between hands. In a pair of studies we find that using two hands simultaneously is faster than using a single, dominant-handed marking menu by 10--15%. Alternating strokes between hands doubles the number of accessible menu items for the same number of strokes, and is similar in performance to using a one-handed marking menu. We also examine how stroke direction affects performance. When using thumbs on an iPod Touch, drawing strokes upwards and inwards is faster than other directions. For two-handed simultaneous menus, stroke pairs that are bilaterally symmetric or share the same direction are fastest. We conclude with design guidelines and sample applications to aid multitouch application developers interested in using one- and two-handed marking menus.
24-GHz microstrip grid array antenna excited by capacitive slot

This paper presents the design of a 24 GHz microstrip grid array antenna excited by capacitive coupling slot on Rogers 5880 substrate. The dimension of the antenna is 70mm×70mm×0.787mm. The capacitive coupling slot of 15mm×0.3mm is located in the middle of the ground plane. Simulation results in Ansoft HFSS indicate that its 10 dB impedance bandwidth is 2.95 GHz from 22 GHz to 24.95 GHz, the maximal peak realized gain is 18 dBi at 24.4 GHz and 3 dB gain bandwidth is 2.15 GHz from 23.03 GHz to 25.18 GHz with broadside radiation patterns at 24 GHz. This work demonstrates that slot excitation is an effective excitation method for microstrip grid array antennas.
Density-Adaptive Range-Free Localization in Large-Scale Sensor Networks

Location information is crucial for many applications in wireless sensor networks. While many types of localization algorithms have been proposed in the literature, the limitations on the cost and hardware of sensors have made range-free localization schemes more practical than the others. However, the previous range-free schemes have seldom considered the impact of the local node density on the single hop range (SHR) estimation. In this paper, using the local node density we redefine the SHR. On top of the new SHR, we propose a novel correction scheme, namely SHR correction scheme (SCS), for multi-hop range-free distance estimation and localization. Compared with the other range-free distance estimation and localization methods, SCS reduces the range estimation and localization error significantly, even when the number of anchors is low.
A Practical Method of Estimating Stature of Bedridden Female Nursing Home Patients

Accurate measurement of stature is important for the determination of several nutritional indices as well as body surface area (BSA) for the normalization of creatinine clearances. Direct standing measurement of stature of bedridden elderly nursing home patients is impossible, and stature as recorded in the chart may not be valid. An accurate stature obtained by summing five segmental measurements was compared to the stature recorded in the patient's chart and calculated estimates of stature from measurement of a long bone (humerus, tibia, knee height). Estimation of stature from measurement of knee height was highly correlated (r = 0.93) to the segmental measurement of stature while estimates from other long‐bone measurements were less highly correlated (r = 0.71 to 0.81). Recorded chart stature was poorly correlated (r = 0.37). Measurement of knee height provides a simple, quick, and accurate means of estimating stature for bedridden females in nursing homes.
Enabling Relaying Over Heterogeneous Backhauls in the Uplink of Wireless Femtocell Networks

In this paper, we develop novel two-tier interference management strategies that enable macrocell users (MUEs) to improve their performance, with the help of open-access femtocells. To this end, we propose a rate-splitting technique using which the MUEs optimize their uplink transmissions by dividing their signals into two types: a coarse message that is intended for direct transmission to the macrocell base station and a fine message that is decoded by a neighboring femtocell and subsequently relayed over a heterogeneous (wireless/wired) backhaul. For deploying the proposed technique, we formulate a non-cooperative game between the MUEs in which each MUE can decide on its relaying femtocell while maximizing a utility function that captures both the achieved throughput and the expected backhaul delay. Simulation results show that the proposed approach yields up to 125% rate improvement and up to 2 times delay reduction with wired backhaul and, 150% rate improvement and up to 10 times delay reduction with wireless backhaul, relative to classical interference management approaches, with no cross-tier cooperation.