Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance evaluation of contrast based image fusion techniqe over medical image

Image fusion is the technique in which more than one images are fused to create new image where all the objects are focus, so that the fuse image is more suitable for human and machine perception. For medical diagnosis purpose the edge & outlines of the interested object is more important than other information. In terms of this we proposed a new medical image fusion scheme based on mixing of maximum pixel replacement & contrast based method in wavelet domain & there effect by changing the resolution of image. The visual experiments and quantitative assessments demonstrate the effectiveness of this method compared to present image fusion schemes, specially for medical images.
Central Blockade of Oxytocin Receptors During Late Gestation Disrupts Systemic Release of Oxytocin During Suckling In Rats

There is evidence that the central oxytocin system is activated and undergoes reorganization before parturition. The present study was designed to determine the effects of central oxytocin receptor blockade during late gestation on parturition, pup growth, and oxytocin release during suckling. Female Sprague‐Dawley rats were implanted on gestation day 12–14 with Alzet® osmotic minipumps containing an oxytocin receptor antagonist (d(CH2)5, Tyr (Me)2, Orn8–vasotocin; OT‐X) or artificial cerebrospinal fluid (VEH), which was infused into the third cerebral ventricle. Pumps were removed within 24 h of parturition. Daily maternal body weight and food intake were monitored during gestation and lactation. The length of gestation, duration of parturition, pup number, litter weight and interbirth interval were recorded. Subsequently, pup number and litter weights were recorded daily until lactation day 10 or 11, when maternal and pup behaviour, and plasma oxytocin concentration before and during suckling were measured. Central oxytocin blockade had no effect on the timing of parturition, maternal behaviour, litter size, still births, or litter weights at birth. However, beginning on day 3 of lactation, average weights of litters of OT‐X females were significantly lower than litters of VEH‐treated females. Furthermore, while basal plasma oxytocin concentrations, oxytocin increases in response to suckling and dam/pup interactions did not differ between groups, a significant delay in suckling‐induced systemic oxytocin release was observed in OT‐X females. Finally, OT‐X dams weighed less than VEH dams during the postpartum observation period, although food intakes were similar. These data suggest that central actions of oxytocin during late gestation are necessary for the normal timing of systemic release of oxytocin during suckling, normal pup weight gain, and maintenance of maternal body weight.
Nasopharyngeal Gram-Negative bacilli colonization in brazilian children attending day-care centers

This study aimed at determining prevalence and resistance profile of Gram-negative bacilli isolated from nasopharynx of children attending day-care centers in Goiânia (Brazil). P. aeruginosa (100.0%), E. coli (50.0%), K. pneumoniae (35.3%), and E. aerogenes (16.7%) were the most frequent multi-drug resistant microorganisms isolated. No production of ESBL was detected.
Hierarchical task ordering for time reduction on KINARM assessment protocol

Advances in robotic technologies offer objective, highly reliable tools for assessment of brain function following stroke. KINARM is an exoskeleton device that uses a number of behavioral tasks to objectively quantify sensorimotor, proprioceptive and cognitive brain function. As more tasks are developed to more broadly assess different aspects of behavior using the robot, different strategies are required to reduce the overall assessment time. The present study investigates how non-linear hierarchical ordering theory can be applied to determine the ordering on a set of four tasks on the KINARM exoskeleton robot. Evaluation is based on task discretization, which determines whether an individual passes or fails a certain task on the robot. Results of the study suggest an ordering which determines the results of success or failure on a sensorimotor task for the unaffected arm of stroke survivors based on the assessment results of a ball drop object-hit task with 97% confidence. This can be used to reduce the assessment time by over eight minutes for a subgroup of stroke survivors compared to the current KINARM assessment protocol.
Multicolor Spectral Karyotyping of Human Chromosomes

The simultaneous and unequivocal discernment of all human chromosomes in different colors would be of significant clinical and biologic importance. Whole-genome scanning by spectral karyotyping allowed instantaneous visualization of defined emission spectra for each human chromosome after fluorescence in situ hybridization. By means of computer separation (classification) of spectra, spectrally overlapping chromosome-specific DNA probes could be resolved, and all human chromosomes were simultaneously identified.
Development of a questionnaire to measure patients' satisfaction with general practitioners' services.

BACKGROUND It is now a requirement that patients' satisfaction with the services obtained from their general practitioner should be surveyed. AIM The aim of the study was to produce a reliable and valid multidimensional patient satisfaction questionnaire that could be used in general practice. METHOD Items were originally derived from patients' responses to open-ended questions. The resulting 148-item Likert-scale questionnaire was completed by 1193 patients. General satisfaction items were removed from the set, and responses to remaining items underwent factor analysis. Subscales were produced from items representing each factor. Reliability and validity of each subscale were examined. RESULTS Five subscales with a total of 40 items resulted from the factor analysis: doctors, access, nurses, appointments and facilities. Each subscale was internally reliable (Cronbach's alpha coefficient between 0.73 and 0.95), and initial tests of validity suggested that all subscales were valid. CONCLUSION The study has resulted in a 40-item scale that has been found to be reliable and valid after initial tests. Further work to test the reliability and validity of the final version of the patient satisfaction questionnaire is described.
Adaptive Fuzzy Control of Multilateral Asymmetric Teleoperation for Coordinated Multiple Mobile Manipulators

This paper addresses adaptive fuzzy control for multimaster-multislave teleoperation for multiple mobile manipulators carrying a common object in a cooperative manner that subjected to asymmetric time-varying delays and model parameter uncertainties. In the proposed control framework, a novel switched error filtering is designed. By introducing the filtering output in the control torque design, the complete closed-loop master/slave systems are modeled as a special class of switched system that are composed of two subsystems, i.e., the local master (slave) dynamics with well-defined auxiliary variable and the switched error filter subsystem, which is fairly different from the existing subsystem decomposition method. Utilizing the Lyapunov-Krasovskii method, the complete closed-loop master (slave) system is proved to be state-independent input-to-output stable. The proposed scheme has overcome some application limitations existing in the literature. It is shown that the position tracking errors and the parameter estimation errors can remain bounded under the proposed control laws, which are validated by simulation studies.
Intrinsic image extraction based on deconvolutional neural networks

Intrinsic image decomposition provides an important way to analyse the real characteristics of the objects in images. However, it is an ill-posed problem, where two outputs, shading and reflectance, are extracted from only one given image. Therefore extra constraints such as the consistence of color, texture and shape are always applied to solve this problem. Due to the superb feature extraction ability, deep learning neural networks improve the performance of many computer vision tasks, including intrinsic image analysis. However, the pixel-bypixel reconstruction of reflectance and shading is still a challenge for the traditional classification-oriented deep neural network. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end double stream neural network to reconstruct the reflectance and shading simultaneously. For the proposed neural network, features from different layers are applied for the reconstruction which can enhance the introduction of details. Meanwhile the constraint from double stream also can improve the accuracy. In the experiments, the proposed network shows its effectiveness based on the training and evaluation on a dataset of real images.
Home Circadian Phase Assessments with Measures of Compliance Yield Accurate Dim Light Melatonin Onsets.

STUDY OBJECTIVES There is a need for the accurate assessment of circadian phase outside of the clinic/laboratory, particularly with the gold standard dim light melatonin onset (DLMO). We tested a novel kit designed to assist in saliva sampling at home for later determination of the DLMO. The home kit includes objective measures of compliance to the requirements for dim light and half-hourly saliva sampling. DESIGN Participants were randomized to one of two 10-day protocols. Each protocol consisted of two back-to-back home and laboratory phase assessments in counterbalanced order, separated by a 5-day break. SETTING Laboratory or participants' homes. PARTICIPANTS Thirty-five healthy adults, age 21-62 y. INTERVENTIONS N/A. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Most participants received at least one 30-sec epoch of light > 50 lux during the home phase assessments (average light intensity 4.5 lux), but on average for < 9 min of the required 8.5 h. Most participants collected every saliva sample within 5 min of the scheduled time. Ninety-two percent of home DLMOs were not affected by light > 50 lux or sampling errors. There was no significant difference between the home and laboratory DLMOs (P > 0.05); on average the home DLMOs occurred 9.6 min before the laboratory DLMOs. The home DLMOs were highly correlated with the laboratory DLMOs (r = 0.91, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Participants were reasonably compliant to the home phase assessment procedures. The good agreement between the home and laboratory dim light melatonin onsets (DLMOs) demonstrates that including objective measures of light exposure and sample timing during home saliva sampling can lead to accurate home DLMOs. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION Circadian Phase Assessments at Home, http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01487252, NCT01487252.
The Term Structure of Interest Rates and Macro Economy: Evidence from the Pre- and Post- Crisis Periods

In this paper we extract the factors that shape the yield curve and we relate them with macroeconomy. We examine whether the term structure can predict future economic activity by applying a range of econometric approaches both in pre- and post- crisis periods. Furthermore, we assess the strength of the yield curve forecasting power on economic activity for Eurozone. In addition, we analyze the effect of increased market risk in the term structure and economic activity whereas we evaluate the impact of monetary policy in the term structure. We find that the forecasting performance of term structure deteriorates in the post-crisis period and that credit spreads forecast better Eurozone industrial production. Also, as we find, one significant explanation for the change in predictability during pre- and post- crisis periods is due to the effect of market risk on the term structure during the post-crisis period. Finally, we argue that monetary policy determines significantly the term structure either by conventional or unconventional measures.
Developing a low-cost general-purpose device for the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things concept relies on physical objects being Internet-enabled. This paper describes a device to allow an object to be Internet-enabled using wired-Ethernet, using an inexpensive and power-efficient implementation based on a port of the Contiki operating system (for use with the Texas Instruments LM3S6965 processor). We demonstrate that it is possible to run the Contiki operating system on an Ethernet-enabled microprocessor and that such a low-cost device is suitable for inclusion in consumer products as well as further Internet of Things research projects.
U.S. subsidy effects on production of solar technology research: Using a new measure to assess policy impacts

Solar technology has advanced substantially in recent years, and policymakers interested in reducing climate change hope these improvements will continue. Nevertheless, only one measure, patent counts, has been widely used to identify the rate of improvement, and scant research has assessed the effectiveness of efforts to increase it. In this paper, the number of articles published on solar energy during each month in 1986-2009 is calculated to create a more detailed supplement to patent counts, and these article counts are used to assess certain relevant subsidies. A combination of counting articles manually and naïve Bayesian classification is used to overcome the difficulties of identifying which articles are relevant. The resulting monthly article counts are modeled as a function of two major subsidy types. The largest U.S. subsidy for renewable energy, the Production Tax Credit, appears to be as much as half as effective at encouraging solar technology research as federal solar research subsidies, despite the fact that the tax credit is given to electricity producers rather than to researchers and goes mostly to non-solar energy sources. This finding may be considered a preliminary example of the use of monthly solar article counts.
Lactic acid fermentation in a recycle batch reactor using immobilized Lactobacillus casei.

Lactic acid production by recycle batch fermentation using immobilized cells of Lactobacillus casei subsp. rhamnosus was studied. The culture medium was composed of whey treated with an endoprotease, and supplemented with 2.5 g/L of yeast extract and 0.18 mM Mn(2+) ions. The fermentation set-up comprised of a column packed with polyethyleneimine-coated foam glass particles, Pora-bact A, and connected with recirculation to a stirred tank reactor vessel for pH control. The immobilization of L. casei was performed simply by circulating the culture medium inoculated with the organism over the beads. At this stage, a long lag period preceded the cell growth and lactic acid production. Subsequently, for recycle batch fermentations using the immobilized cells, the reducing sugar concentration of the medium was increased to 100 g/L by addition of glucose. The lactic acid production started immediately after onset of fermentation and the average reactor productivity during repeated cycles was about 4.3 to 4.6 g/L . h, with complete substrate utilization and more than 90% product yield. Sugar consumption and lactate yield were maintained at the same level with increase in medium volume up to at least 10 times that of the immobilized biocatalyst. The liberation of significant amounts of cells into the medium limited the number of fermentation cycles possible in a recycle batch mode. Use of lower yeast extract concentration reduced the amount of suspended biomass without significant change in productivity, thereby also increasing the number of fermentation cycles, and even maintained the D-lactate amount at low levels. The product was recovered from the clarified and decolorized broth by ion-exchange adsorption.
New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation in Bacteremia Is Not Associated with C-Reactive Protein, but Is an Indicator of Increased Mortality during Hospitalization

Background: Several studies have associated elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels to the occurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF). We sought to estimate the frequency and prognostic impact of AF in patients with bacteremia, and to study the possible association between AF and CRP as well as between AF and mortality in this population. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated patient charts of patients with bacteremia with Escherichia coli or Streptococcus pneumoniae admitted to the Aker University Hospital in Oslo between 1994 and 2004. Known cardiac risk factors for AF, signs and mode of conversion of AF, and, if applicable, date of death were registered, as were characteristics of infection, such as systemic inflammatory response syndrome and white blood cell count. Initial CRP values were categorized into 4 strata. Odds ratios of the 3 highest CRP categories compared with the lowest were obtained from logistic models adjusting for known cardiac risk factors for AF as well as possible factors that may have had an impact on the odds ratios for the different CRP levels. Cox regression analysis was used to compare new-onset AF and death during the first 2 weeks after hospitalization. Results: A total of 672 patient charts were studied; 104 patients (15.4%) had new-onset AF. Peak incidence of new-onset AF occurred on the day of admission. Peak CRP values were reached during the following 2 days. High CRP level at admission did not predict the occurrence of AF. The observed mortality was higher among patients with new-onset AF (p = 0.001) during the first 2 weeks after hospitalization, but this effect disappears when adjusted for relevant factors. Conclusions: The frequency of new-onset AF in bacteremia is substantial. Initial CRP levels or white blood cell count do not seem to predict new-onset AF, as opposed to systemic inflammatory response syndrome. On the other hand, in patients with bacteremia, new-onset AF should be viewed as an indicator of increased mortality and morbidity.
A Bridge Too Far – A New Approach for Informed Exploration in Q-Learning

Balancing exploration and exploitation is a key challenge in reinforcement learning. Currently, most approaches use uninformed exploration, where only the greedy choices are changed by the agent experience and learning but exploration does not. Here, we present an alternative approach to exploration where the agent learns the exploration value of states and actions. Unlike other methods, this is done with initialization playing little or no rule, hence depending very little on explicit prior knowledge of the problem. Moreover, we provide a generalization that emphasize the difference of the two problems to which many former methods correspond. We show that our algorithm outperforms standard methods in both bridge-problem and maze-like problems.
Double Labeling of Oligonucleotide Probes for Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (DOPE-FISH) Improves Signal Intensity and Increases rRNA Accessibility

ABSTRACT Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with singly labeled rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes is widely applied for direct identification of microbes in the environment or in clinical specimens. Here we show that a replacement of singly labeled oligonucleotide probes with 5′-, 3′-doubly labeled probes at least doubles FISH signal intensity without causing specificity problems. Furthermore, Cy3-doubly labeled probes strongly increase in situ accessibility of rRNA target sites and thus provide more flexibility for probe design.
The Application of New Product Development Tools in Industry: The Case of Singapore

Literature suggests that new product development (NPD) is critical for industrial firms to gain a competitive advantage. Intriguingly, the systematic application of NPD tools in industry, despite the extensive effort that has been invested and the benefits that can be obtained, remains mostly uncommon. By conducting ten semi-structured interviews with selected academics and industrialists and using a sample of 67 industrial firms in Singapore for questionnaire survey, this empirical study investigates the diffusion and adoption of NPD tools in industry. It also probes the factors which may affect the application of NPD tools. Our findings reveal that the application of NPD tools is still under-exploited in most of the industrial companies in Singapore. Although the application of NPD tools is affected by many factors, the most significant are management support in the company and the innovativeness orientation of the company. Surprisingly, we found that the usefulness of tools has little influence on whether a tool is adopted or not
An intramolecular interaction within the lipid kinase Fab1 regulates cellular phosphatidylinositol 3,5-bisphosphate lipid levels

There is an intramolecular interaction in the lipid kinase Fab1 in which the upstream CCR domain contacts the Fab1 kinase region. Selected dominant-active alleles disrupt this interaction and result in elevated PI(3,5)P2. These findings suggest a regulatory mechanism that contributes to dynamic control of cellular PI(3,5)P2 synthesis.
Structural Federal Deficits and Interest Rates: Some Causality and Co-Integration Tests

The relationship between federal budget deficits and interest rates has been the focus of extensive research. Recently, Cebula [4] examined this relationship empirically and concluded that "the federal budget deficit does in fact exercise a positive and significant impact upon the nominal Moody's Aaa-rated corporate bond rate" [4, 208]. Such a finding is at odds with the great majority of recent empirical studies in this area. ' If valid, this finding assigns to large deficits significant adverse effects on both private investment (crowding-out), and on trade balance (via an overvalued dollar). Given these profound public policy implications, Cebula's finding warrants further examination.
Investigation of Antimicrobial Peptide Genes Associated with Fungus and Insect Resistance in Maize

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small defense proteins present in various organisms. Major groups of AMPs include beta-barrelin, hevein, knottin, lipid transfer protein (LTP), thionin, defensin, snakin, and cyclotide. Most plant AMPs involve host plant resistance to pathogens such as fungi, viruses, and bacteria, whereas a few plant AMPs from the cyclotide family carry insecticidal functions. In this research, a genome-wide investigation on antimicrobial peptide genes in maize genome was conducted. AMPs previously identified from various plant species were used as query sequences for maize genome data mining. Thirty-nine new maize AMPs were identified in addition to seven known maize AMPs. Protein sequence analysis revealed 10 distinguishable maize AMP groups. Analysis of mRNA expression of maize AMP genes by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) revealed different expression patterns in a panel of 10 maize inbred lines. Five maize AMP genes were found significantly associated with insect or fungus resistance. Identification of maize antimicrobial peptide genes will facilitate the breeding of host plant resistance and improve maize production.