Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phenotype definition and development—contributions from Group 7

The papers in Genetic Analysis Workshop 16 Group 7 covered a wide range of topics. The effects of confounder misclassification and selection bias on association results were examined by one group. Another focused on bias introduced by various methods of accounting for treatment effects. Two groups used related methods to derive phenotypic traits. They used different analytic strategies for genetic associations with non‐overlapping results (but because they used different sets of single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and significance criteria, this is not surprising). Another group relied on the well‐characterized definition of type 2 diabetes to show benefits of a novel predictive test. Transmission‐ratio distortion was the focus of another paper. The results were extended to show a potential secondary benefit of the test to identify potentially mis‐called SNPs. Genet. Epidemiol. 33 (Suppl. 1):S40–S44, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The evolutionary history of human chromosome

We report on a comparative molecular cytogenetic and in silico study on evolutionary changes in human chromosome 7 homologs in all major primate lineages. The ancestral mammalian homologs comprise two chromosomes (7a and 7b/16p) and are conserved in carnivores. The subchromosomal organization of the ancestral primate segment 7a shared by a lemur and higher Old World monkeys is the result of a paracentric inversion. The ancestral higher primate chromosome form was then derived by a fission of 7b/16p, followed by a centric fusion of 7a/7b as observed in the orangutan. In hominoids two further inversions with four distinct breakpoints were described in detail: the pericentric inversion in the human/African ape ancestor and the paracentric inversion in the common ancestor of human and chimpanzee. FISH analysis employing BAC probes confined the 7p22.1 breakpoint of the pericentric inversion to 6.8 Mb on the human reference sequence map and the 7q22.1 breakpoint to 97.1 Mb. For the paracentric inversion the breakpoints were found in 7q11.23 between 76.1 and 76.3 Mb and in 7q22.1 at 101.9 Mb. All four breakpoints were flanked by large segmental duplications. Hybridization patterns of breakpointflanking BACs and the distribution of duplicons suggest their presence before the origin of both inversions. We propose a scenario by which segmental duplications may have been the cause rather than the result of these chromosome rearrangements. D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
A Pressure Sensitive Home Environment

Homes could be equipped with unobtrusive pressure sensors to monitor older adults. This paper deals with the processing, analysis and communication of pressure sensor outputs that would enable such monitoring. An example is shown of an adult of 63 years who slept over top of a pressure sensor array. Her nocturnal respiratory rate was monitored via the pressure sensor array. Additionally, her bed time, rise time, and out-of-bed times were accurately recorded using the methods proposed herein. This information was presented through a secure Web interface, which would allow a caregiver simple and intuitive access to client data
Efficient car recognition policies

This paper addresses the challenges of producing recognition systems that consider both of these objectives. In general, a "(recognition) policy" specifies when to apply which "imaging operators", which can range from low-level edge-detectors and region-growers through high-level token-combination-rules and expectation-driven object-detectors. Given the costs of these operators and the distribution of possible images, we can determine both the expected cost and expected accuracy of any such policy. Our task is to find a maximally effective policy - typically one with sufficient accuracy, whose cost is minimal. We compare various ways to produce such policies in general, and show that policies that select the operators that maximize information gain per unit cost work effectively.
Prosody-based adaptive metaphoric head and arm gestures synthesis in human robot interaction

In human-human interaction, the process of communication can be established through three modalities: verbal, non-verbal (i.e., gestures), and/or para-verbal (i.e., prosody). The linguistic literature shows that the para-verbal and non-verbal cues are naturally aligned and synchronized, however the natural mechanism of this synchronization is still unexplored. The difficulty encountered during the coordination between prosody and metaphoric head-arm gestures concerns the conveyed meaning, the way of performing gestures with respect to prosodic characteristics, their relative temporal arrangement, and their coordinated organization in the phrasal structure of utterance. In this research, we focus on the mechanism of mapping between head-arm gestures and speech prosodic characteristics in order to generate an adaptive robot behavior to the interacting human's emotional state. Prosody patterns and the motion curves of head-arm gestures are aligned separately into parallel Hidden Markov Models (HMM). The mapping between speech and head-arm gestures is based on the Coupled Hidden Markov Models (CHMM), which could be seen as a multi-stream collection of HMM, characterizing the segmented prosody and head-arm gestures' data. An emotional state based audio-video database has been created for the validation of this study. The obtained results show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.
A Simple and Approximate Model for Nonsaturated IEEE 802.11 DCF

We propose an approximate model for a nonsaturated IEEE 802.11 DCF network that is simpler than others that have appeared in the literature. Our key simplification is that the attempt rate in the nonsaturated setting can be approximated by scaling the attempt rate of the saturated setting with an appropriate factor. Use of different scaling factors leads to variants of the model for a small buffer and an infinite buffer. We develop a general fixed-point analysis that we demonstrate can have nonunique solutions for the infinite buffer model variant under moderate traffic. Nevertheless, in an asymptotic regime that applies to light traffic, we are able to prove uniqueness of the fixed point and predict the offered load at which the maximum throughput is achieved. We verify our model using ns-2 simulation and show that our MAC access delay results are the most accurate among related work, while our collision probability and throughput results achieve comparable accuracy to (D. Malone et al., 2007), (K. Duffy et al., 2007).
A comparison of the cardiopulmonary effects of continuous versus bolus infusion of recombinant interleukin-2 in sheep.

The systemic administration of recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) is used for the treatment of patients with far advanced cancer. However, treatment may be limited by a so-called "third space" syndrome. Whether these side effects are due to the total dose used or the method of administration is unclear. To define whether the continuous (Group 2) or bolus (Group 3) i.v. infusion of 9 x 10(5) units/kg rIL-2 over 72 h is associated with similar toxicities, we established a chronic sheep model and monitored changes in systemic and pulmonary vascular pressures, cardiac function, and gas exchange. At 72 h lung lymph flow, lymph/plasma protein ratios, lung histology, and extravascular lung water/dry lung weight were obtained. In both groups the infusion of rIL-2 resulted in an increase in high protein lung lymph flow, an increase in cardiac output, and a decrease in systemic vascular resistance. Large lymphoid cells were found by histology to be infiltrating the lung interstitium. In Group 2, in addition, there were mild pulmonary hypertension [pulmonary artery pressures increased from 14 +/- 5 to 22 +/- 6 mmHg (P less than 0.05)], systemic hypotension [81 +/- 7 compared to a baseline of 95 +/- 9 mmHg (P less than 0.01)], and worsening gas exchange. We conclude that a 72-h continuous or bolus infusion of equivalent doses of rIL-2 are associated with cardiopulmonary toxicity; however, pulmonary hypertension, systemic hypotension, and gas exchange are worse in animals receiving the continuous infusion.
A Framework for Computer Performance Evaluation Using Benchmark Sets

Benchmarking is a widely used approach to measure computer performance. Current use of benchmarks only provides running times to describe the performance of a tested system. Glancing through these execution times provides little or no information about system strengths and weaknesses. A novel benchmarking methodology is proposed to identify key performance parameters; the methodology is based on measuring performance vectors. A performance vector is a vector of ratings that represents delivered performance of primitive operations of a system. In order to measure performance vectors, a geometric model is proposed which defines system behavior using the concepts of support points, context lattice, and operating points. In addition to the performance vector, other metrics derivable from the geometric model include the variation in system performance and the compliance of benchmarks. Using this methodology, the performance vectors of the Sun SuperSPARC (desktop workstation) and the Cray C90 (vector supercomputer) are evaluated using the SPEC benchmarks and the Perfect Club, respectively. The proposed methodology respects several practical constraints and issues in benchmarking. The instrumentation required is minimal. The benchmarks used are realistic (not synthetic) in order to reflect the delivered (not peak) performance. Finally, operations in the performance vector are not measured individually since there may be significant interplay in their executions.
Cultural styles, relational schemas, and prejudice against out-groups.

Two studies provide evidence that Latins (i.e., Mexicans and Mexican Americans) are guided by a concern with socioemotional aspects of workplace relations to a far greater degree than are Anglo-Americans. The focus on socioemotional considerations results in Latins having a relatively greater preference for workgroups having a strong interpersonal orientation. Preferred relational style had a far greater impact on preferences for workgroups and judgments about their likely success than did the ethnic composition of the workgroups for both Latins and Anglo-Americans. Evidence that the two groups differ markedly in relational schemas comes from examination of suggestions about how group performance could be improved, judgments about whether a focus on socioemotional concerns necessarily entails a reduction in task focus, and recall for socioemotional aspects of workgroup interactions. Implications for the dynamics of intercultural contact are discussed.
Parental Health Literacy and Asthma Education Delivery During a Visit to a Community-Based Pediatric Emergency Department: A Pilot Study

Objective: The objective of the study was to compare change in asthma knowledge among parents with low or adequate health literacy after video or written asthma education delivered during their child's asthma-related emergency department (ED) visit. Methods: We recruited a convenience sample of parents presenting to the ED with their asthmatic child 2 to 14 years old. Parents were randomized to receive video (intervention) or written (active-control) asthma education materials. Health literacy levels were determined using the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine tool. Asthma knowledge was evaluated at enrollment and 6-week telephone follow-up. Differences in knowledge scores were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed rank tests; &khgr;2 tests were used for comparisons of categorical variables. Results: Of 150 eligible parents, 129 participated (86%), and 117 were eligible for follow-up. Telephone follow-up was completed with 86 parents (74%). Health literacy levels were low in 31% of the parents. High asthma knowledge scores at enrollment were achieved by 33% of low-literacy and 59% of adequate-health-literacy parents (P = 0.025). Improvement in knowledge was realized for low-literacy parents regardless of the type of education (P < 0.001). Parents with adequate health literacy showed increased knowledge scores only after viewing the video. Conclusions: Asthma education materials distributed at the time of an ED visit increase parental knowledge about the disease. Video-based asthma education appears promising as a tool for increasing asthma knowledge in both low- and adequate-health-literacy parents.
How to misuse AODV: a case study of insider attacks against mobile ad-hoc routing protocols

We present a systematic analysis of insider attacks against mobile ad-hoc routing protocols, using the Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) protocol as an example. It identifies a number of attack goals and then studies how to achieve these goals through misuses of the routing messages. To facilitate the analysis, we classify the insider attacks into two categories: atomic misuses and compound misuses. Atomic misuses are performed by manipulating a single routing message, which cannot be further divided; compound misuses are composed of combinations of atomic misuses and possibly normal uses of the routing protocol. The analysis results reveal several classes of insider attacks, including route disruption, route invasion, node isolation, and resource consumption. We also describe simulation results that demonstrate the impact of these attacks.
Locality-aware predictive scheduling of network processors

Demands for flexible processing have moved generalpurpose processing into the data path of networks. Processor schedulers have a great impact on the pegormance of these real-time systems. We present measurements that show that the workload of a network processor is highly regular and predictable. Processing time predictions, based on these measurements, can be used in scheduling together with information about locality in the instruction stream to signijicantly improve throughput performance. We propose two scheduling schemes, Locality-Aware and Locality-Aware Predictive, that try to avoid cold caches when scheduling packets for processors. Simulations of the schedulers using packet processing times obtained from an operational network processor show the tradeoffs between the algorithms and their pe@ormance improvements over First-Come-FirstServe scheduling.
Brief treatment with the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist mifepristone normalizes the reduction in neurogenesis after chronic stress

In rodents, stress suppresses adult neurogenesis. This is thought to involve activation of glucocorticoid receptors in the brain. In the present study, we therefore questioned whether glucocorticoid receptor blockade by mifepristone can normalize the effects of chronic stress on adult neurogenesis. Rats received mifepristone on the last 4 days of a 21‐day chronic unpredictable and inescapable stress regimen. Neurogenesis was analysed by stereological quantification of adult‐generated cell survival (bromodeoxyuridine), young neuronal survival (doublecortin) and cell proliferation (Ki‐67). The results show that only 4 days of mifepristone treatment normalized the stress‐induced reductions in neurogenesis. Importantly, mifepristone by itself had no effect on neurogenesis. We conclude that, contrary to other compounds interfering with the effects of chronic stress on neurogenesis, like antidepressants, the normalizing effects of mifepristone on neurogenesis are rapid and particularly potent in a high stress environment. This neurogenic action of mifepristone could potentially contribute to its clinical mechanism of action.
Optimal RR-Interval Data Length for Entropy based Heart Rate Variability Analysis

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is defined as the variations between consecutive instantaneous heart rates that occur in the heart as a consequence of a complex internal dynamic balance. Nonlinear analysis of HRV is helpful to assess the cardiac health noninvasively. Approximate Entropy and Sample Entropy are mathematical algorithms to measure the predictability or repeatability with in a time series. This paper compares the approximate entropy and sample entropy on different data lengths, which are 20 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes and 2 minutes respectively. In addition it has been observed that the measuring time of sample entropy can be reducing beyond 5 minutes. General Terms Heart Rate Variability, Approximate Entropy, Sample Entropy.
Expression of Curiosity in Social Robots: Design, Perception, and Effects on Behaviour

Curiosity-the intrinsic desire for new information-can enhance learning, memory, and exploration. Therefore, understanding how to elicit curiosity can inform the design of educational technologies. In this work, we investigate how a social peer robot's verbal expression of curiosity is perceived, whether it can affect the emotional feeling and behavioural expression of curiosity in students, and how it impacts learning. In a between-subjects experiment, 30 participants played the game LinkIt! , a game we designed for teaching rock classification, with a robot verbally expressing: curiosity, curiosity plus rationale, or no curiosity. Results indicate that participants could recognize the robot's curiosity and that curious robots produced both emotional and behavioural curiosity contagion effects in participants.
Developing a New Kidney Allocation Policy: The Rationale for Including Life Years from Transplant

An unfortunate fact of organ transplantation is that there are not enough deceased donor kidneys for everyone who might benefit. The question of how to best allocate such a scarce medical resource remains unclear. However, I believe that there are two important guideposts that can be used to help in the development of kidney allocation policy. The first is the precedent of balancing utility and justice in organ allocation and the second is the OPTN Final Rule.
Prevalence of Body Dysmorphic Disorder Symptoms and Body Weight Concerns in Patients Seeking Abdominoplasty.

BACKGROUND Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is one of the most common psychiatric conditions found in patients seeking cosmetic surgery, and body contouring surgery is most frequently sought by patients with BDD. OBJECTIVES To estimate the prevalence and severity of BDD symptoms in patients seeking abdominoplasty. METHODS Ninety patients of both sexes were preoperatively divided into two groups: patients with BDD symptoms (n = 51) and those without BDD symptoms (n = 39) based both on the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Examination (BDDE) and clinical assessment. Patients in the BDD group were classified as having mild to moderate or severe symptoms, according to the BDDE. Body weight and shape concerns were assessed using the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ). RESULTS The prevalence of BDD symptoms was 57%. There were significant associations between BDD symptoms and degree of body dissatisfaction, level of preoccupation with physical appearance, and avoidance behaviors. Mild to moderate and severe symptoms of BDD were present in 41% and 59% of patients, respectively, in the BDD group. It was found that the more severe the symptoms of BDD, the higher the level of concern with body weight and shape (P < .001). Patients having distorted self-perception of body shape, or distorted comparative perception of body image were respectively 3.67 or 5.93 times more likely to show more severe symptoms of BDD than those with a more accurate perception. CONCLUSIONS Candidates for abdominoplasty had a high prevalence of BDD symptoms, and body weight and shape concerns were associated with increased symptom severity.
Volume accumulated double gate junctionless MOSFETs for low power logic technology applications

The work highlights the potential benefits of operating Junctionless (JL) Double Gate (DG) MOSFETs in the volume accumulation mode. An optimized 20 nm JL MOSFET in volume accumulation achieves impressive intrinsic delay value of 9 ps and on-off current ratio of ~106 at a gate and drain bias of 0.4 V (subthreshold region). These values are significantly better than traditional JL MOSFETs designed with higher doping concentration (≥ 1019 cm-3). The maximum sensitivity of threshold voltage is limited to 3.5% for a 10% change in device parameters. The constraints for gate workfunction are less stringent in volume accumulated JL MOSFETs. A JL 6T-SRAM cell achieves an impressive read and hold noise margins of 156 mV and 364 mV along with a write-ability current of 20 μA at a supply voltage of 0.8 V. The paper presents new viewpoints for the design and optimization of junctionless transistors and circuits for low power logic technology applications.
Model Based Critique of Justifications for Action

Justifications for actions can typically be critiqued on a number of grounds. Critiques of such justifications can be structured using an argumentation scheme for practical reasoning and associated critical questions. The form that the critiques can take in a computational system, however, depends crucially on the semantic underpinnings of the scheme. We describe a semantic model which, we argue, can support a rich and systematic critique of justifications for actions presented using a argumentation scheme specifically designed to support practical reasoning. The approach has been realised as a Prolog program, and the paper is illustrated by a running example and fragments of the code for the application.
Native gel electrophoresis of human telomerase distinguishes active complexes with or without dyskerin

Telomeres, the ends of linear chromosomes, safeguard against genome instability. The enzyme responsible for extension of the telomere 3′ terminus is the ribonucleoprotein telomerase. Whereas telomerase activity can be reconstituted in vitro with only the telomerase RNA (hTR) and telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), additional components are required in vivo for enzyme assembly, stability and telomere extension activity. One such associated protein, dyskerin, promotes hTR stability in vivo and is the only component to co-purify with active, endogenous human telomerase. We used oligonucleotide-based affinity purification of hTR followed by native gel electrophoresis and in-gel telomerase activity detection to query the composition of telomerase at different purification stringencies. At low salt concentrations (0.1 M NaCl), affinity-purified telomerase was ‘supershifted’ with an anti-dyskerin antibody, however the association with dyskerin was lost after purification at 0.6 M NaCl, despite the retention of telomerase activity and a comparable yield of hTR. The interaction of purified hTR and dyskerin in vitro displayed a similar salt-sensitive interaction. These results demonstrate that endogenous human telomerase, once assembled and active, does not require dyskerin for catalytic activity. Native gel electrophoresis may prove useful in the characterization of telomerase complexes under various physiological conditions.