Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increased hippocampal activation in mild cognitive impairment compared to normal aging and AD

Objective: To use fMRI to investigate whether hippocampal and entorhinal activation during learning is altered in the earliest phase of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: Three groups of older individuals were studied: 10 cognitively intact controls, 9 individuals at the mild end of the spectrum of MCI, and 10 patients with probable Alzheimer disease (AD). Subjects performed a face-name associative encoding task during fMRI scanning, and were tested for recognition of stimuli afterward. Data were analyzed using a functional-anatomic method in which medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions of interest were identified from each individual's structural MRI, and fMRI activation was quantified within each region. Results: Significantly greater hippocampal activation was present in the MCI group compared to controls; there were no differences between these two groups in hippocampal or entorhinal volumes. In contrast, the AD group showed hippocampal and entorhinal hypoactivation and atrophy in comparison to controls. The subjects with MCI performed similarly to controls on the fMRI recognition memory task; patients with AD exhibited poorer performance. Across all 29 subjects, greater mean entorhinal activation was found in the subgroup of 13 carriers of the APOE ε4 allele than in the 16 noncarriers. Conclusions: The authors hypothesize that there is a phase of increased medial temporal lobe activation early in the course of prodromal Alzheimer disease followed by a subsequent decrease as the disease progresses.
Engineering of voltage nonlinearity in high-k MIM capacitor for analog/mixed-signal ICs

It is demonstrated for the first time that voltage linearity coefficients (VCC) of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors can be engineered and virtually zero VCC can be achieved by using stacked insulator structure of high-K and SiO/sub 2/ dielectrics. Capacitance density of 6 fF/ /spl mu/m/sup 2/ and VCC of 14 ppm/V/sup 2/ achieved in this work are the best ever reported. The HfO/sub 2//SiO/sub 2/ stacked MIM shows excellent performance in other parameters as well, such as low leakage current, low TCC, and stable frequency dependence.
Global observation of vertical‐CLVD earthquakes at active volcanoes

Some of the largest and most anomalous volcanic earthquakes have non‐double‐couple focal mechanisms. Here, we investigate the link between volcanic unrest and the occurrence of non‐double‐couple earthquakes with dominant vertical tension or pressure axes, known as vertical compensated‐linear‐vector‐dipole (vertical‐CLVD) earthquakes. We determine focal mechanisms for 313 target earthquakes from the standard and surface wave catalogs of the Global Centroid Moment Tensor Project and identify 86 shallow 4.3 ≤ MW ≤ 5.8 vertical‐CLVD earthquakes located near volcanoes that have erupted in the last ~100 years. The majority of vertical‐CLVD earthquakes occur in subduction zones in association with basaltic‐to‐andesitic stratovolcanoes or submarine volcanoes, although vertical‐CLVD earthquakes are also located in continental rifts and in regions of hot spot volcanism. Vertical‐CLVD earthquakes are associated with many types of confirmed or suspected eruptive activity at nearby volcanoes, including volcanic earthquake swarms as well as effusive and explosive eruptions and caldera collapse. Approximately 70% of all vertical‐CLVD earthquakes studied occur during episodes of documented volcanic unrest at a nearby volcano. Given that volcanic unrest is underreported, most shallow vertical‐CLVD earthquakes near active volcanoes are likely related to magma migration or eruption processes. Vertical‐CLVD earthquakes with dominant vertical pressure axes generally occur after volcanic eruptions, whereas vertical‐CLVD earthquakes with dominant vertical tension axes generally occur before the start of volcanic unrest. The occurrence of these events may be useful for identifying volcanoes that have recently erupted and those that are likely to erupt in the future.
Analysis of FGFR3 gene mutations in multiple myeloma patients with t(4;14)

The t(4;14)(p16.3;q32) in multiple myeloma (MM) leads to an apparent deregulation of the FGFR3 and WHSC1/MMSET genes. FGFR3 mutations, known to be associated with genetic skeletal disorders, have also been identified in a few cases of MM (mainly cell lines) with t(4;14). We investigated FGFR3 mutations in a series of 53 MM cases; 11 cases with t(4;14) and FGFR3 overexpression were analysed using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, while the remaining cases were studied at DNA level. The Arg248Cys mutation, which is associated with some lethal forms of skeletal disorders, was found in one case with t(4;14). Our results indicate that FGFR3 mutations occur in only a small fraction of MM cases with t(4;14).
Ablation of the tumor suppressor histidine triad nucleotide binding protein 1 is protective against hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury

The identification of cellular pathways capable of limiting ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury remains a frontier in medicine, and its clinical relevance is urgent. Histidine triad nucleotide binding protein 1 (HINT1) is a tumor suppressor that influences apoptosis. Because apoptotic pathways are a feature of I/R injury, we asked whether Hint1 influences hepatic I/R injury. Hint1−/− and C57BL/6 mice were subjected to 70% liver ischemia followed by reperfusion for 3 or 24 hours or to a sham operation. The serum aminotransferase levels, histological lesions, apoptosis, reactive oxygen species, and expression of B cell lymphoma 2–associated X protein (Bax), heme oxygenase 1 (HO‐1), interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), IL‐10, tumor necrosis factor‐a, Src, nuclear factor kappa B (p65/RelA), and c‐Jun were quantified. The responses to toll‐like receptor ligands and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase activity in Kupffer cells were compared in Hint1−/− mice and C57BL/6 mice. After I/R, the levels of serum aminotransferases, parenchymal necrosis, and hepatocellular apoptosis were significantly lower in Hint1−/− mice versus control mice. Furthermore, Bax expression decreased more than 2‐fold in Hint1−/− mice, and the increases in reactive oxygen species and HO‐1 expression that were evident in wild‐type mice after I/R were absent in Hint1−/− mice. The phosphorylation of Src and the nuclear translocation of p65 were increased in Hint1−/− mice, whereas the nuclear expression of phosphorylated c‐Jun was decreased. The levels of the protective cytokines IL‐6 and IL‐10 were increased in Hint1−/− mice. These effects increased survival after I/R in mice lacking Hint1. Hint1−/− Kupffer cells were less activated than control cells after stimulation with lipopolysaccharides. Conclusion: The Hint1 protein influences the course of I/R injury, and its ablation in Kupffer cells may limit the extent of the injury. (HEPATOLOGY 2011)
Multi-level Scheduling Algorithm Based on Storm

Hybrid deployment under current cloud data centers is a combination of online and offline services, which improves the utilization of the cluster resources. However, the performance of the cluster is often affected by the online services in the hybrid deployment environment. To improve the response time of online service (e.g. search engine), an effective scheduling algorithm based on Storm is proposed. At the component level, the algorithm dispatches the component with more influence to the optimal performance node. Inside the component, a reasonable resource allocation strategy is used. By searching the compressed index first and then filtering the complete index, the execution speed of the component is improved with similar accuracy. Experiments show that our algorithm can guarantee search accuracy of 95.94%, while increasing the response speed by 68.03%.
Pattern Directed Mining of Sequence Data

Sequence data arise naturally in many applications, and can be viewed as an ordering of events, where each event has an associated time of occurrence. An important characteristic of event sequences is the occurrence of episodes, i.e. a collection of events occurring in a certain pattern. Of special interest are frequent episodes, i.e. episodes occurring with a frequency above a certain threshold. In this paper, we study the problem of mining for frequent episodes in sequence data. We present a framework for efficient mining of frequent episodes which goes beyond previous work in a number of ways. First, we present a language for specifying episodes of interest. Second, we describe a novel data structure, called the sequential pattern tree (SP Tree), which captures the relationships specified in the pattern language in a very compact manner. Third, we show how this data structure can be used by a standard bottom-up mining algorithm to generate frequent episodes in an efficient manner. Finally, we show how the SP Tree can be optimized by sharing common conditions, and evaluating each such expression only once. We present the results of an evaluation of the proposed techniques.
Observations on the incidence of herds with non-visible lesioned tuberculin test reactors in south-west England

SUMMARY The herd incidence of confirmed Mycobacterium bovis infection in cattle in the south-west of England has been approximately ten times that of the remainder of England and Wales; this greater incidence has been attributed to infection from badgers. The incidence of herds with only non-visible lesioned tuberculin test reactors, from which M. bovis was not isolated, has also remained higherin the south-west region. The incidences of these latter unconfirmed incidents were compared in parishes in the south-west region in which M. bovis in cattle had been confirmed, and those where M. bovis had not been confirmed, for the period 1979–83. This analysis was carried out both for those parishes in which herds had been subjected to annual tuberculin testing and for those subjected to biennial tuberculin testing. The incidence of unconfirmed incidents was significantly higher in parishes in which confirmedincidents had occurred, and this difference was found in both the annual and biennially tested parishes. The relative risks for the incidence of unconfirmed incidents in annually and biennially tested parishes were 1*89 and 2–56, respectively. The incidence of unconfirmed incidents in biennially tested parishes was lower than in annually tested parishes. The incidence of non-specific tuberculin test reactor herds was estimated from tuberculin test results in the eastern region of England during a period when tuberculosis was not confirmed in cattle. A comparison of this incidence and that of unconfirmed incidents in the south-west region suggests that approximately 70% of the unconfirmed incidents in the south-west were related to exposure to M. bovis. The results of the analyses indicate that unconfirmed incidents cannot be completely ignored in epidemiological analyses and studies of bovine tuberculosis in the problem areas of the south-west region of England.
Sparse Weighted Constrained Energy Minimization for Accurate Remote Sensing Image Target Detection

Target detection is an important task for remote sensing images, while it is still difficult to obtain satisfied performance when some images possess complex and confusion spectrum information, for example, the high similarity between target and background spectrum under some circumstance. Traditional detectors always detect target without any preprocessing procedure, which can increase the difference between target spectrum and background spectrum. Therefore, these methods could not discriminate the target from complex or similar background effectively. In this paper, sparse representation was introduced to weight each pixel for further increasing the difference between target and background spectrum. According to sparse reconstruction error matrix of pixels on images, adaptive weights will be assigned to each pixel for improving the difference between target and background spectrum. Furthermore, the sparse weighted-based constrained energy minimization method only needs to construct target dictionary, which is easier to acquire. Then, according to more distinct spectrum characteristic, the detectors can distinguish target from background more effectively and efficiency. Comparing with state-of-the-arts of target detection on remote sensing images, the proposed method can obtain more sensitive and accurate detection performance. In addition, the method is more robust to complex background than the other methods.
Factors associated with life satisfaction in Japanese stroke outpatients

Purpose. To measure life satisfaction in Japanese stroke outpatients and randomly-sampled community residents and to investigate variables influencing their life satisfaction. Method. Data on the demographic and clinical profiles, Satisfaction in Daily Life (SDL), other measurements, were obtained from 869 stroke outpatients (552 males, 317 females) and 748 community-dwelling elderly (360 males, 388 females), aged 55 years and older. Differences in categorical variables and continuous variables were tested by chi-square test and ANCOVA with age as the covariate, respectively. Results. The 11 SDL items were subjected to a factor analysis, which extracted two factors. Factor 1 (F1), labeled as ‘satisfaction with one's own abilities’, included satisfaction with housework, self-care, gait, physical health, hobby and leisure, social intercourse and mental health. Factor 2 (F2), ‘satisfaction with external factors’, included satisfaction with partner/family relationship, economic state and social security, and house facilities. Both F1 and F2 scores were significantly lower for stroke outpatients (M = 19.7 and 10.9, respectively) than for community-dwelling elderly (M = 28.2 and 12.0, respectively) (p < 0.001). Living conditions were significantly associated with F2, but not with F1. Males living alone scored lowest on F2 than the others for both groups. Among stroke outpatients, both F1 and F2 scores differed significantly by the type of hemiparesis and the severity of aphasia. Conclusions. SDL of stroke outpatients, which was lower than community-dwelling elderly, differed by the type of hemiparesis, the severity of aphasia, and living conditions. The effects of living conditions might vary with gender.
Oscillation-based approach applied to a low-power analog front-end for an implantable cardiac device

This paper describes the evaluation of an oscillation-based approach specially thought for testing a low-power analog system that monitors an implantable biomedical device (intelligent stent). Fault simulation analysis has been performed on the basic blocks of the CUT, and oscillation parameters (frequency and amplitude) have been measured at the output of the last system block, an oscillator. Taking advantage of fault reflection from the rest of the blocks, the proposed testing method will avoid the need of adding extra circuitry to convert the different partitions of the CUT into oscillators, reducing circuit complexity and possible performance degradation. The results obtained show that a good fault coverage figure for catastrophic faults can be achieved.
Hepatitis A virus hemagglutination and a test for hemagglutination inhibition antibodies

Like enteroviruses, hepatitis A virus (HAV) hemagglutinated various species of erythrocytes under similar conditions. HAV-specific antibodies in both acute- and convalescent-phase sera were found to inhibit hemagglutination. The HAV hemagglutination inhibition test can be used for diagnosis, epidemiological surveillance, and vaccine assessment.
Recognition and analysis of emotion transition in mandarin speech signal

Language is one and probably most important means for communication between human beings. The human emotion usually accompanies with speech. So human speech identification is not only involving language syntax and meaning but also the emotion at that moment. In this paper, we study the long sentence speech corpus emotion recognition using various speech segmentation approaches, and try to detect the emotion transition point from the continuous speech. In the experiments, we apply three different speech segmentation methods to the continuous Mandarin emotional speech. These methods include uniform, endpoint detection, and whole sentence segmentation. There are five emotions being investigated, including anger, happiness, sadness, boredom, and neutral. We then employ two classification algorithms, the conventional K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and weighted discrete-KNN (WD-KNN), in the recognition phase. From to the experimental results, we find that the WD-KNN yields an average recognition rate of 73% for the used testing sentences.
Virtual Cinematography Using Optimization and Temporal Smoothing

The problem of automatic virtual cinematography is often approached as an optimization problem. By identifying the extrema of an objective function matching some desired parameters, such as those common in live action photography or cinematography, a suitable camera pose or path can be automatically determined. With several constraints on function form, multiple objective functions can be combined into a single optimizable function, which can be further extended to model the smoothness of the found camera path using an active contour model. Finally, these virtual cinematographic techniques can be used to ﬁnd paths in either live or scripted scenes with relatively low computational cost.
Reusable Multi-Stage Multi-Secret Sharing Scheme based on Asmuth-Bloom Sequence

Two secret sharing schemes that use Asmuth-Bloom sequence and are based on Chinese Reminder Theorem (CRT) are proposed in this paper. The first scheme is designed for the case of a single secret and the second one is an extension of the first scheme to the case of multi-secrets. Novelty of the proposed schemes is that the shares of the participants are reusable i.e. same shares are applicable even with a new secret. Also only one share needs to be kept by each participant even for the multi-secret sharing scheme. Further, the schemes are capable of verifying the honesty of the participants including the dealer. Correctness of the schemes is also discussed.
Consumer Sovereignty: A Unified Theory of Antitrust and Consumer Protection Law

This article is about the relationship between antitrust and consumer protection law. Its purpose is to define each area of law, to delineate the boundary between them, to show how they interact with each other, and to show how they ultimately support one another as the two component parts of an overarching unity: effective consumer choice (also called consumer sovereignty). Consumer choice only is effective when two fundamental conditions are present. There must be a range of consumer options made possible through competition, and consumers must be able to choose effectively among these options. The antitrust laws are intended to ensure that the marketplace remains competitive, unimpaired by practices such as price fixing or anticompetitive mergers. The consumer protection laws are then intended to ensure that consumers can choose effectively from among those options, with their critical faculties unimpaired by such violations as deception or the withholding of material information. Protection at both levels is needed to ensure that a market economy can continue to operate effectively.Legal protection of this sort is required only when the free market is not working properly. This article will demonstrate that antitrust violations stem from market failures in the general marketplace external to consumers, whereas consumer protection violations flow from market failures that take place, in a sense, "inside the consumer's heads. "This approach provides a coherent theoretical platform from which antitrust and consumer protection law may be better understood and applied. It also has significant practical consequences, many of which are explored in this article. This article is a companion piece to "Using the Consumer Choice to Antitrust Law," 74 Antitrust Law Journal 175 (2007), which can be found at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1121459.
Christenson, S. and Reschly, A. (Eds.) (2010). Handbook of school-family partnership. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. [Book review]

Book review of: Christenson, S. and Reschly, A. (Eds.) (2010). Handbook of school-family partnership. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. 544 p., ISBN 10: 0-415- 96376 / ISBN 13: 978-0-415-96376-3.
A Remedy for Numerical Difficulty Associated with Virtual Auxiliary Terminations

The concept of virtual auxiliary termination presented in 2006 APMC is further verified by an experiment of a three-port circulator to illustrate the remedy on solving its three-port scattering parameters from two-port measurements. In the results of first step, the reconstructed scattering parameters show apparent inaccuracy at certain frequency points. An indicator of accuracy is then studied. For those frequency points suffering from numerical difficulty, a remedy is formulated using Newton's method. The final results show good agreement with those of the benchmark.
Input Saturation Treatments: A Performance Comparison of Direct Adaptive Control and θ - D Control Methodologies

Input saturation is an operating condition that is well known to the control community for its "side effects" which cause both conventional and adaptive controllers to lose their control performance (i.e., agility/bandwidth and command tracking) as well as stabilization capability. Characterizing the effects of input saturation via the angle of domain attraction and/or Eigen-values shifting as a function of input amplitude variation (in addition to frequency dependency of linear system) can be useful in providing directions for developing conventional treatments to the fixed-gain controller design paradigm. However, on-line treatment or adaptive control treatment to input saturation has shown limited proven success. This paper presents an effective adaptive control treatment to input saturation using two types of controllers: direct adaptive control and θ-D control. Detailed descriptions of both controllers formulated for spacecraft (SC) attitude control are provided, and design guidelines for both direct adaptive control and θ-D controllers are also included as generalized rules for selecting the initial sets of respective adaptation parameters (i.e., initial weighting matrices for both control laws). Their effective treatments are characterized, analyzed, and interpreted via a quadratic Lyapunov based function and Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) optimization based technique, respectively. Dynamic stability behavior in the context of adaptive control via simulation based approach is also captured for both θ-D and direct adaptive control approaches. Their asymptotic stability behaviors via simulation based approach reflect the theoretical Lyapunov framework. The effectiveness of these two solutions is then demonstrated via a nonlinear SC environment subject to two classes of input saturations: (1) actuator authority limit and (2) attitude and rate error limits which a traditional fixed-gain proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller fails to stabilize using similar operating conditions,. It is worth pointing out here that both θ-D and direct adaptive controllers are robust enough to handle nominal operating conditions and input saturation situations without relying on other control augmentation schemes (e.g., pseudo control hedging (PCH), direct adaptive control+PID, PCH+neural network based) as presently offered by mainstream controllers. Both proposed control laws are attractive and directly applicable to future missions like aerocapture vehicle technology demonstration which requires not only adaptive robust performance and high precision orbit entry and exit (based on a single pass constraint) but also the ability to solve the guidance and control in a truly integrated guidance and control (IGC) sense. As a result, they offer a low risk and low cost design feature for aerocapture technology and practically help achieving the design within its constraint and accelerated schedule timeline.