Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validation of Tissue Microarrays Using P53 Immunohistochemical Studies of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Larynx

Tissue microarrays are a powerful new tissue-conserving technology in the study of cancer, allowing simultaneous study of a large number of tumor specimens. We sought to ascertain the utility of tissue microarrays in head and neck cancer pathology using squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx as a model system. Whole-specimen slides from 44 different laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas were stained for p53 expression. Microarrays were then generated by taking six 0.6-mm core biopsies from each of the 44 specimens. The whole sections and the microarrays were independently scored for p53 expression. Twenty-three (53%) of the 44 tumor specimens were positive for p53. Forty-four of the 264 core biopsies (17%) were not given a score because of the lack of tumor cells. Seventy-eight percent of the individual discs on the microarray had scores in agreement with those of the whole-section slides. Among biopsy discs with tumor cells present, 94.5% were in agreement with the whole-section slide. The average probability that four randomly chosen biopsy discs, considered together, would accurately identify the presence of p53 staining in a whole section was 0.97 (95% CI .93–1.0). We conclude that tissue microarrays for squamous cell carcinomas can accurately represent immunohistochemical results of whole-slide specimens when four or more samples are used. Tissue microarrays are an important technique that may be applied to immunohistochemical studies of head and neck cancer.
Fatty acid regulation of gene expression

Over the past 10 years it has become evident that fatty acids regulate cellular functions by modulating gene expression. Fatty acids and fatty acid metabolites exert some of their effects on gene expression by affecting the activity of nuclear transcription factors, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors and sterol regulatory element binding protein type 1. The present review describes the latest developments in the field, with particular emphasis on the physiological roles of the various peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor isotypes, including their implication in the control of proliferation and differentiation of normal and malignant cells, and on the mechanisms implicated in the regulation of sterol regulatory element binding protein type 1 activity by polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Cognitive Rehabilitation Interventions for Executive Function: Moving from Bench to Bedside in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury

Executive function mediated by prefrontally driven distributed networks is frequently impaired by traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a result of diffuse axonal injury and focal lesions. In addition to executive cognitive functions such as planning and working memory, the effects of TBI impact social cognition and motivation processes. To encourage application of cognitive neuroscience methods to studying recovery from TBI, associated reorganization of function, and development of interventions, this article reviews the pathophysiology of TBI, critiques currently employed methods of assessing executive function, and evaluates promising interventions that reflect advances in cognitive neuroscience. Brain imaging to identify neural mechanisms mediating executive dysfunction and response to interventions following TBI is also discussed.
Stressful Situations the First Six Months after a Stroke

The main purpose of this study is to categorize and analyze the most stressful situations perceived by stroke patients during a period of 6 months after experiencing a stroke. The events that have an impact on the subjective well-being and the intensity of the stress are also investigated. A clinic-based sample of 82 hospitalized stroke patients were studied 4 times after the stroke incident. They were asked to describe and appraise the most stressful event or situation that had affected them during the last 3 days. The data analysis was conducted according to phenomenological and hermeneutical methods. The study was approved by the Regional Committee for Ethics in Medical Research. The reported difficulties after a stroke have been separated into 5 categories: 1) impairments and disabilities in bodily functions; 2) communication and memory problems; 3) negative thoughts, depression and loneliness; 4) anxiety, fear, and worries; and 5) anger. Stressful situations in the first category were the most frequently reported, while those in the fourth category increased during the first 2 weeks after discharge, but decreased again within 3 months after the stroke. Encounters in the second category were less reported over time while those in the third category tended to become a more stable emotional state. Some interviewees expressed anger (category five). Few described relief or no difficulties at all. In total, the intensity of the stressful events decreased strongly. The increased occurrence of anxiety, fear, and worries during the first weeks after discharge from hospital gives rise to concern. These strains coincide with the withdrawal of health services.
Automatic labelling of touristic pictures using CNNs and metadata information

In this paper, we present a system that automatically recognizes pictures of landmarks in Singapore and combine the output with metadata information extracted from the picture if available in order to provide tourists with information about the recognized places. In detail, the system combines GPS information from the image metadata with a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based image recognition system to caption the image, where the GPS information is used to verify the caption given by the CNN, making the system more robust. For the training of the CNN, a total of ∼67000 images were automatically downloaded from different search engines including Google, Flickr and Bing which were then filtered down to ∼330 images per landmark to preserve the quality of the training dataset (e.g. removing repeated or confusing images), and then artificially augmented. After optimization, our CNN achieves a F1 score of 81% over a set of 6 different but very challenging locations, with each being a popular landmark in Singapore. With this combined system, the system can accurately tell the user where the image was taken and what the landmark in the image is. In addition, we created a database that provides background information for many landmarks (including, but not limited to the 6 landmarks used for training), such as their historic al or cultural significance. In order to make the system ac cessible and intuitive, it was integrated into a website where a Google Map is generated showing the results of the recognition and metadata information.
Saie’i Ritual Tracking System Using Geo-Fencing Technique

Hajj and Umrah are holy events that are performed by millions of Muslim pilgrims all around the world every year. Saie’i is part of a ritual that should be performed by the pilgrims to complete their Hajj and Umrah. Upon performing the Saie'i ritual, a few pilgrims encountered problems. The most common problems are difficulties remembering how many rounds of Saie'i ritual had been performed and the appropriate prayer to recite. As a result of our research, we have decided to support the Saie'i ritual by providing an automatic tracker of the pilgrims while they perform their ritual. A study on location tracking with a global positioning system (GPS) for tracking a real-time location and guided support system has been conducted with the geo-fencing technique. A prototype has been developed and tested in Persiaran Venice 2 Seri Manjung, Perak, simulating the real Saie’i location in Mecca. With the ability to track the user's movement together with smart guidance, this prototype will give great help to the pilgrims and related agencies in handling such an important activity during Umrah and Hajj.
Susceptibility of Skin and Soft-tissue Isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes to Topical Antibiotics: Indications of Clonal Spread of Fusidic Acid-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus (SA) isolates (n=255) from outpatients with skin and soft-tissue infections were collected in 3 different areas in Norway. Group A streptococci (GAS, n=68) were isolated from skin or pharyngotonsillar specimens from outpatients. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of bacitracin, fusidic acid and mupirocin were tested using the E-test. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns of fusidic acid-sensitive (FusS) and -resistant (FusR) SA were compared. All GAS isolates showed MIC of bacitracin of =1.0 mg/l, of mupirocin of =0.125 mg/l and of fusidic acid 1.0–4.0 mg/l. All the SA showed MIC of mupirocin =0.5 mg/l and of bacitracin of =2.0 mg/l, 91% with MIC=16 mg/l. FusR was shown by 32.5% of the SA strains with similar prevalence rates in 3 different geographical areas of Norway. One particular PFGE pattern (type 1) was shown by 76% of the FusR SA. SA of type 1 belonged to phage group II and produced exfoliative toxins. Thus, the results demonstrated a high prevalence of FusR among SA causing skin infections and that this was mainly due to dissemination of clonally related FusR SA.
The Effects of a 10-day Altitude Training Camp at 1828 Meters on Varsity Cross-Country Runners

Altitude training has been shown to alter blood lactate (BL) levels due to alterations resulting from acclimatization. This study aims to estimate the impact of altitude training on BL changes immediately following an incremental treadmill test and during recovery before and after 10-day altitude training at approximately 1828 meters. Eight varsity cross-country runners performed an incremental treadmill test (ITT), pre and post-altitude training. Resting and post-warm-up BL values were recorded. During ITT, heart rate (HR), oxygen saturation (SpO2), and time to exhaustion were monitored. BL was also measured post-ITT at 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 minutes. The average of all BL values was higher following altitude intervention (8.8 ± 4.6 mmol/L) compared to pre-intervention (7.4 ± 3.3 mmol/L). These differences were statistically significant (t(6) = −2.40, p = . 026). BL immediately (0 minutes) after the ITT was higher following the altitude intervention (13.6 ± 3.6 mmol/L) compared to pre-intervention (9.7 ± 3.8 mmol/L) and was statistically significant (t(7) = −3.30, p = . 006). Average HR during the ITT was lower following the altitude intervention (176.9 ± 11.1 bpm) compared to pre (187 ± 9.5 bpm), these differences were statistically significant (t(28)= 18.07, p= <. 001. Time to exhaustion was longer after the intervention, however was not statistically significant p = 0.13. These findings indicate that a 10 - day altitude intervention at 1828 meters may benefit varsity cross-country runners. The higher post-exercise BL may be attributed to more anaerobic contributions. Lower HR may suggest a larger stroke volume and/or more efficient O2 carrying capacity.
Pseudo Huber Functions-Based NMPC for Tracking of Agricultural Harvester

The nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) based on pseudo-Huber functions is studied for the trajectory tracking problem of agricultural harvesters. For the unstable value of the huber function, an improved pseudo-Huber functions is designed to get better stability and control accuracy. The pseudo-Huber function, and the quadratic punishment function are combine to construct cost function. The trigonometric function of heading error is introduced to avoid the problem of heading circling. The dynamic model of the harvester is raised, and the nonlinear solver CasADi is used to optimize the solution of the controller. Subsequently, simulation is carried out in the straight line and the steering trajectory, and a new evaluation index is proposed to prove the effectiveness of the controller. In comparison with the traditional NMPC based on error cost function, the tracking accuracy is obviously improved.
Multi-strategy optimization of HHO algorithm for path planning of warehouse robots

Aimed at path planning of warehouse robots in a storage environment, this paper proposes a multi-strategy Harris Hawks Optimization algorithm (HHO). To better deal with the uneven population distribution caused by the high randomness of individual initialization, an escape energy updating mechanism was proposed to improve population information exchange. Considering that the global optimal individual was not chosen as the guide to update location in the searching process, a searching mechanism is designed based on the maximum and minimum of the individual location, which effectively improves the tightness in the searching process. The adaptive elastic factor is introduced to disturb the current local individual and realize the rapid escape from the local optimal. After the tests of 23 benchmark functions, the multi-strategy HHO algorithm is proved to be superior to HHO in convergence speed and accuracy. Lastly, the proposed HHO algorithm is applied to three different scale warehouse grid environments, which further verifies its applicability to the high-dimensional path planning problem, and effectively improves warehouse operation efficiency.
Explicit bit minimization for motion-compensated video coding

Compares methods for choosing motion vectors for motion-compensated video compression. The primary focus is on videophone and videoconferencing applications, where very low bit rates are necessary, where the motion is usually limited, and where the frames must be coded in the order they are generated. the authors provide evidence, using established benchmark videos of this type, that choosing motion vectors to minimize codelength subject to (implicit) constraints on quality yields substantially better rate-distortion tradeoffs than minimizing notions of prediction error. They illustrate this point using an algorithm within the p/spl times/64 standard. They show that using quadtrees to code the motion vectors in conjunction with explicit codelength minimization yields further improvement. They describe a dynamic-programming algorithm for choosing a quadtree to minimize the codelength. <<ETX>>
A multilayer ontology-based hybrid recommendation model

We propose a novel hybrid recommendation model in which user preferences and item features are described in terms of semantic concepts defined in domain ontologies. The concept, item and user spaces are clustered in a coordinated way, and the resulting clusters are used to find similarities among individuals at multiple semantic layers. Such layers correspond to implicit Communities of Interest and enable enhanced recommendations.
p-Adic formal series and primitive polynomials over finite fields

In this paper, we investigate the Hansen-Mullen conjecture with the help of some formal series similar to the Artin-Hasse exponential series over p-adic number fields and the estimates of character sums over Galois rings. Given n we prove, for large enough q, the Hansen-Mullen conjecture that there exists a primitive polynomial f(x) = x n - a 1 x n-1 + . + (-1) n a n over Fq of degree n with the m-th (0 < m < n) coefficient a m fixed in advance except when m = n+1/2 if n is odd and when m = n/2, n/2 + 1 if n is even.
Differentiation of a human monocytic cell line associated with increased production of Rift Valley fever virus by infected cells

Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus is a cause of significant human and animal disease in many parts of Africa. In some cases, it causes a hemorrhagic fever, which is frequently fatal. Prior studies have shown that RVF virus productively infects peritoneal macrophages from susceptible rat strains. The U937 human monocytic cell line was used to determine the effect of monocytic cell differentiation on the degree of viral production by cell cultures infected with RVF virus. Differentiation of U937 cells to more mature monocytic cells by phorbol ester resulted in production of 10 times more infectious virions in comparison with undifferentiated cells. These studies imply that monocytic cell differentiation increases permissiveness for RVF virus production.
Social support, the presence of barriers and ideas for the future from students with disabilities in the higher education system in Croatia

This paper examines how students with disabilities in Croatia perceive support, experience barriers and propose ways forward for equality of opportunities in the higher education system. In qualitative interviews, students were satisfied with the informal support they received from family and friends but dissatisfied with the formal support they received from universities and the government. Obstacles to inclusion included: inadequate transport and finance to attend university and minimal adaptation of buildings, toilets, lifts, classrooms and dormitories. Students proposed: investment in adapting buildings, personal assistants, educational grants and transport; coordination within the formal systems from national government to universities and non-governmental organisations; and measures to increase disability awareness for academics, professionals and other students within higher education. The situation for students with disabilities in Croatia is a reminder for those working in countries where policy and practice is relatively advanced that many disability battles are still to be won in newer nations.
Enhancing performance of heterogeneous cloud radio access networks with efficient user association

Heterogeneous cloud radio access network (H-CRAN) is proposed as a cost-effective paradigm to meet the ever-increasing mobile data traffic demand, where the key idea is applying cloud computing technologies in a heterogeneous network (HetNet) to improve both spectral and energy efficiencies of the cellular system. In this paper, we investigate how to provide as many as possible users with QoS-guaranteed services in the H-CRAN. Our optimization task is to maximize the number of users with rate requirements for a given set of access points with bandwidth and transmission power budgets. We develop a novel user association strategy, where we present a Reference Power concept and develop an approximation algorithm to address the intractable user association problem. Numerical results indicate that our proposed user association strategy can not only increase the fully satisfied users significantly as compared to other methods, but also fulfill the capacity potential of the H-CRAN.
Optimizing Ergonomics in Mobile Device Design: Enhancing User Comfort and Usability

Mobile phones are evolving at a faster pace than ever. Notable instances are on how users hold their smartphones which can also affect the user's comfort. Even with the latest and trendy design innovations, smartphones still encounter challenges due to their physical design. This paper focuses on the investigation on how the ergonomics in a mobile phone's physical design can affect the user's preference. As part of its data gathering procedure, survey questionnaires were handed out to mobile phone users which then reveal their preferences, taking into account factors such as user comfort, usability, and satisfaction in utilizing their preferred mobile device. After analysis of the data gathered, where factors such as one-handed use of smartphones and its thickness were considered, the overall results have shown that the physical parameters of mobile devices are negatively correlated with the ergonomic aspects.
Effects of “Free-Environment” Rearing upon Exploratory Behavior

Previous research (8) by the authors indicated that there was no significant difference in amount of maze exploration between rats raised in normal lab cages and those reared in cages designed to allow minimal sensory and/or behavioral stimulation. It was concluded that the findings lend support to the position that exploratory behavior is dependent upon exteroceptive stimulation in the "novel" testing situation and that it is relatively unaffected by variations in the rat's non-test environment, e.g., rearing conditions. The present study attempts to increase the range of this conclusion by comparing the exploratory behavior of rats reared in normal environments with those reared in "freeenvironments" allowing a wide range of sensory and behavioral stimulation.
Super resolution of time-of-flight depth images under consideration of spatially varying noise variance

In this paper we propose a novel way of using time-of-flight camera depth and intensity images to produce a higher resolution depth image with prior knowledge of spatial noise distribution, which is correlated with the incident light falling on each pixel. The proposed method is compared to well-established methods, and results with real image data are presented.
A Mechanical Design Principle for Tissue Structure and Function in the Airway Tree

With every breath, the dynamically changing mechanical pressures must work in unison with the cells and soft tissue structures of the lung to permit air to efficiently traverse the airway tree and undergo gas exchange in the alveoli. The influence of mechanics on cell and tissue function is becoming apparent, raising the question: how does the airway tree co-exist within its mechanical environment to maintain normal cell function throughout its branching structure of diminishing dimensions? We introduce a new mechanical design principle for the conducting airway tree in which mechanotransduction at the level of cells is driven to orchestrate airway wall structural changes that can best maintain a preferred mechanical microenvironment. To support this principle, we report in vitro radius-transmural pressure relations for a range of airway radii obtained from healthy bovine lungs and model the data using a strain energy function together with a thick-walled cylinder description. From this framework, we estimate circumferential stresses and incremental Young's moduli throughout the airway tree. Our results indicate that the conducting airways consistently operate within a preferred mechanical homeostatic state, termed mechanical homeostasis, that is characterized by a narrow range of circumferential stresses and Young's moduli. This mechanical homeostatic state is maintained for all airways throughout the tree via airway wall dimensional and mechanical relationships. As a consequence, cells within the airway walls throughout the airway tree experience similar oscillatory strains during breathing that are much smaller than previously thought. Finally, we discuss the potential implications of how the maintenance of mechanical homeostasis, while facilitating healthy tissue-level alterations necessary for maturation, may lead to airway wall structural changes capable of chronic asthma.