Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Texture-based quantification of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration from conventional T2-weighted MRI

Background Disc degeneration quantification is important for monitoring the effects of new therapeutic methods, such as cell and growth factor therapy. Magnetic resonance (MR) image texture reflects biochemical and structural tissue properties and has been used for differentiating between normal and pathological status in a variety of medical applications. Purpose To investigate the suitability of textural descriptors for the quantification of intervertebral disc degeneration using conventional T2-weighted magnetic resonance images of the lumbar spine. Material and Methods A 3 Tesla scanner was used, and conventional T2- weighted MR images were obtained, and a total of 255 lumbar discs were analyzed. An atlas-based method was used for segmenting the disc regions from the images. A set of first and second order statistics describing texture of each region were calculated. The validity and reliability of these descriptors for disc degeneration severity quantification was tested through their correlation with patient age and qualitative clinical grading of degeneration severity. Texture quantification results were compared to a widely accepted method for disc degeneration quantification based on the measurement of disc's mean signal intensity. Results Out of the set of texture descriptors tested, two descriptors quantifying image intensity inhomogeneity, i.e. the grey level standard deviation and co-occurrence derived sum of squares displayed the strongest association to patient age and clinical grading of disc degeneration severity (P < 0.001). This is attributed to these inhomogeneity descriptors' capability to capture the progressive loss of nucleus-annulus distinction in the degenerative progress. Statistical analysis indicates that these descriptors can effectively separate between early stages of degeneration. Quantitative measurements are highly repeatable (intraclass correlation >0.98). Conclusion Inhomogeneity descriptors could be a valuable tool for tracking the evolution of disc degeneration and monitoring the response to treatment in a simple, precise and repeatable manner.
Cellular levels, excretion, and synthesis rates of cyclic AMP in Escherichia coli grown in continuous culture

Changes in dilution rate did not elicit large and systematic changes in cellular cyclic AMP levels in Escherichia coli grown in a chemostat under carbon or phosphate limitation. However, the technical difficulties of measuring low levels of cellular cyclic AMP in the presence of a large background of extracellular cyclic AMP precluded firm conclusions in this point. The net rate of cyclic AMP synthesis increased exponentially with increasing dilution rate through either the entire range of dilution rates examined (phosphate limitation) or a substantial part of the range (lactose and glucose limitations). Thus, it is probable that growth rate regulates the synthesis of adenylate cyclase. The maximum rate of net cyclic AMP synthesis was greater under lactose than under glucose limitation, which is consistent with the notion that the uptake of phosphotransferase sugars is more inhibitory to adenylate cyclase than the uptake of other carbon substrates. Phosphate-limited cultures exhibited the lowest rate of net cyclic AMP synthesis, which could be due to the role of phosphorylated metabolites in the regulation of adenylate cyclase activity. Under all growth conditions examined, greater than 99.9% of the cyclic AMP synthesized was found in the culture medium. The function of this excretion, which consumed up to 9% of the total energy available to the cell and which evidently resulted from elaborate regulatory mechanisms, remains entirely unknown.
Erratum: A Phase 2 Multi-center, Open-label, Switch-over Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Abcertin® in Patients with Type 1 Gaucher Disease

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. pISSN 1011-8934 eISSN 1598-6357 http://dx.doi. org/10.3346/jkms.2015. 30.9. 1373 • J Korean Med Sci 2015; 30: 1373 CORRESPONDENCE
Firefly Synchronization in Ad Hoc Networks

In this article spontaneous synchronization observed in nature is applied to self-organized wireless networks. In South-East Asia huge swarms of fireflies emit light flashes in perfect synchrony. The underlying principle of this firefly synchronization scheme is reviewed and challenges related to the implementation in ad hoc networks are addressed. In particular, the effects of transmission delays and the constraint that a node cannot receive and transmit at the same time are studied.
Improving design problem formulations using machine learning

Most of machine learning in design has focussed on learning generalizations to predict some future behavior of the system under consideration. Such approaches have been applied primarily to the analysis and synthesis stages of designing. There has been little work done relating to the formulation stage. This paper applies a particular machine learning approach to the improvement of the formal description of the design formulation. It applies an evolutionary technique to the problem reformulation to improve the formulation. This results in both a near optimal problem formulation and an improvement in the solution synthesized from that formulation.
Measuring Testing Complexity

Since the birth of Software Industry there is a special interest in measuring the effort in terms of time and cost that a task requires. Nowadays, since applications are essential for Industry, the software developers need to measure different kind of aspects: quality, cost, reliability, etc. Complexity is another important aspect in which software engineers are interested. But, what does we mean with “complexity” of a software piece? Basili [1] defines complexity as a measure of the resources used by a system while interacting with a piece of software to perform a given task. If the interacting system is a computer, then complexity is defined as the execution time and storage required to perform the computation described by the program. If the interacting system is a programmer then complexity is defined as the difficulty of performing tasks such as coding, debugging, testing or refactoring. In this abstract we propose a new meaning for complexity: the difficulty of testing a program. Such a measure of complexity, which we call Testing Complexity, could be useful to decide which is the best way of generating a test suite for the piece of work. It could be useful, for example, to decide the parameters of an evolutionary test data generator [3] prior to its execution. Our new complexity measure predicts the behaviour of an automatic test data generator based on random testing [2]. The measure is based on a Markov model of the program that is used for estimating the probability of traversing the branches of the program. In order to confirm the quality of our new complexity measure, we performed an empirical study using a benchmark of 1800 test programs automatically generated.
Dependence between path-length and size in random digital trees

We study the size and the external path length of random tries and show that they are asymptotically independent in the asymmetric case but strongly dependent with small periodic fluctuations in the symmetric case. Such an unexpected behavior is in sharp contrast to the previously known results on random tries that the size is totally positively correlated to the internal path length and that both tend to the same normal limit law. These two dependence examples provide concrete instances of bivariate normal distributions (as limit laws) whose correlation is $0$, $1$ and periodically oscillating. Moreover, the same type of behaviors is also clarified for other classes of digital trees such as bucket digital trees and Patricia tries.
Prevention of school bullying: the important role of autonomy-supportive teaching and internalization of pro-social values.

BACKGROUND This study examined students' perceptions of autonomy-supportive teaching (AST) and its relations to internalization of pro-social values and bullying in class. AIMS We hypothesized that: (1) teachers' AST, which involves provision of rationale and taking the student's perspective, would relate positively to students' identified internalization of considerateness towards classmates, and would relate negatively to external regulation (considerateness to obtain rewards or avoid punishments); (2) students' identified regulation would relate negatively to self-reported bullying in class, whereas external regulation would relate positively to bullying; and (3) the relation between teachers' AST and student bullying would be mediated by students' identification with the value of considerateness towards others. SAMPLE The sample consisted of 725 junior high school students (50% females) in Grades 7 and 8 from 27 classes in four schools serving students from lower-middle to middle-class socioeconomic backgrounds. METHOD The participants completed questionnaires assessing the variables of interest. RESULTS Correlational analysis supported the hypotheses. Moreover, mediational analyses using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) demonstrated that identified regulation mediates the negative relation between AST and self-reported bullying in class. The mediational hypothesis was supported at the between-class level and at the within-class level. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that school policy aimed at bullying reduction should go beyond external control that involves external rewards and sanctions and should help teachers acquire autonomy-supportive practices focusing on students' meaningful internalization.
Context-aware horror video scene recognition via cost-sensitive sparse coding

Along with the ever-growing Web, horror video sharing through the Internet has affected our children's psychological health. Most of current horror video filtering researches pay more attention to the extraction of global features or selection of an optimal classifier, while neglecting the underlying contexts in a scene. In this paper, a novel cost-sensitive sparse coding (CSC) model is proposed to address the context inside scene and interrelations between audio-visual features simultaneously. The model essentially includes two aspects: one is to construct inner contextual structure among frames from same scene based on a ϵ-graph; the other one is to extend the classic sparse coding technique into a cost-sensitive sparse coding model for graph pattern classification as well as audio-visual features fusion through graph kernel. The experiments on various video scenes demonstrate that our method's performance is superior to the other existing algorithm.
Get With the Guidelines–Stroke Is Associated With Sustained Improvement in Care for Patients Hospitalized With Acute Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack

Background— Adherence to evidence-based guidelines for treatment of stroke or transient ischemic attack is suboptimal. We sought to establish whether participation in Get With the Guidelines–Stroke was associated with improvements in adherence. Methods and Results— This prospective, nonrandomized, national quality improvement program measured adherence to guideline recommendations in 322 847 hospitalized patients discharged with a diagnosis of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack. A volunteer sample of 790 US academic and community hospitals participated from 2003 through 2007. The main outcome measures were change in adherence over time to 7 prespecified performance measures and a composite measure (total number of interventions provided in eligible patients divided by total number of care opportunities among eligible patients). Generalized estimating equations were used to identify factors associated with improvement. Participation in Get With the Guidelines–Stroke was associated with improvements in the 7 individual and 1 composite measures from baseline to the fifth year: intravenous thrombolytics (42.09% versus 72.84%), early antithrombotics (91.46% versus 97.04%), deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis (73.79% versus 89.54%), discharge antithrombotics (95.68% versus 98.88%), anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation (95.03% versus 98.39%), lipid treatment for low-density lipoprotein >100 mg/dL (73.63% versus 88.29%), smoking cessation (65.21% versus 93.61%), and composite (83.52% versus 93.97%) (P<0.0001 for all comparisons). Multivariate analysis showed that time in Get With the Guidelines–Stroke was associated with a 1.18-fold yearly increase in the odds of fulfilling care opportunities that was independent of secular trends. Conclusions— Get With the Guidelines–Stroke participation was associated with increased adherence to all stroke performance measures. Markedly improved stroke care was seen in all hospitals regardless of size, geography, and teaching status.
Nerve growth factor prevents toxic neuropathy in mice

Taxol is a promising new antitumor drug with therapeutic use that is limited by a toxic sensory neuropathy. Taxol is also cytotoxic to dorsal root ganglion neurons in vitro, but this effect is prevented by cotreatment with the trophic protein, nerve growth factor. We sought to develop an animal model and then to determine whether nerve growth factor can prevent taxol neuropathy in vivo. Administration of taxol to mice resulted in a profound sensory neuropathy characterized by decreases in dorsal root ganglion content of the peptide neurotransmitter, substance P, elevated threshold to thermally induced pain, and diminished amplitude of the compound action potential in the caudal nerve. Coadministration of nerve growth factor prevented all of these sings of neurotoxicity. These findings suggest that administration of nerve growth factor may prevent certain toxic sensory neuropathies.
Tracing middle school students' understanding of probability: a longitudinal study

OF THE DISSERTATION . ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . iv DEDICATION . v LIST OF TABLES . viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . ix CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING TO REASON PROBABILISTICALLY . 1 1.2 CONCEPTIONS OF PROBABILITY . 2 1.3 THE PROBLEM . 4 1.4 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS . 6 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE AND LIMITATIONS . 7 CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW . 8 2.1 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK . 8 2.1.1 Rutgers Longitudinal Study . 8 2.1.2 The Growth of Mathematical Understanding . 9 2.2 LITERATURE REVIEW . 11 2.2.1 The Development of Probabilistic Reasoning . 11 2.2.2 Misconceptions . 16 2.2. 3 Effects of Instruction . 25 2.2. 4 Assessment . 49 2.2. 5 Directions for Future Research . 51 CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY . 53 3.1 SETTING . 53 3.2 SAMPLE . 55 3.3 DATA COLLECTION . 56 3.3.1 Observations . 56 3.3.2 Documents . 56 3.3.3 Interviews . 56 3.4 DATA ANALYSIS . 57 3.4.1 Video analysis . 57 3.4.2 Coding . 59 3.4. 3 Reporting Results . 61 3.5 VALIDITY . 61 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS . 62 4.1 PROBABILITY SESSIONS AND INTERVIEWS IN GRADE 6. 63 4.1.1 Activity 1A Game With One Die . 63 4.1.2 Chris’ Game . 70 4.1.3 Activity 2A Game With Two Dice . 71 4.1.4 Racing Game With Two Dice . 83 4.1.5 Summary of Grade 6 Results . 84 4.2 PROBABILITY SESSIONS AND INTERVIEWS IN GRADE 7. 85 4.2.1 Activity 3A Game With Two Pyramidal Dice . 85 4.2.2 Activity 4A Game With Three Pyramidal Dice . 108 4.2. 3 Racing Games With Three Pyramidal Dice . 144 4.2. 4 Summary of Grade 7 Results . 145
Genetic Algorithm with Fast Greedy Heuristic for Clustering and Location Problems

Authors propose new genetic algorithm for solving the planar p-median location problem and k-means clustering problem. The ideas of the algorithm are based on the genetic algorithm with greedy heuristic for the p-median problem on networks and information bottleneck (IB) clustering algorithms. The proposed algorithm uses the standard k-means procedure or any other similar algorithm for local search. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm in comparison with known algorithms was proved by experiments on large-scale location and clustering problems.
Image retrieval using wavelet transform and shape decomposition

In this paper, we propose an image retrieval system that uses both local and global shape features to retrieve the most similar images from the database. To obtain both features, some pre-processing steps, such as object segmentation using Minimum Error Thresholding and border extraction, are firstly carried out. After that, the Grid Based method is used to extract the global shape feature. The system divides the image into smaller areas and extracts local features by applying discrete wavelet transform and singular value decomposition. Finally, we compute the similarities between the global and local features of the query image and all the images in the database to give the most possible candidate matches as a result. The experimental results show the strengths and effectiveness of the proposed system.
Ankle movements during normal gait evaluated by flexible electrogoniometer

Objective: To evaluate ankle movements of healthy individuals walking on a treadmill, by means of a flexible electrogoniometer. Method: Dorsiflexion and plantar flexion and eversion/inversion movements were recorded for 90 seconds at a velocity of 5.0 km/h. Ten healthy young men of mean age 21.4 ± 2.99 years and mean height 1.62 ± 0.22 meters took part in this study. The data were analyzed descriptively (mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum). In the sagittal plane, the gait cycle was analyzed at three times, taking the movement peaks: foot flat (FF), midstance (M) and toe off (TO). The inversion and eversion angles corresponding to these phases were identified, as well as movement peaks during gait cycles. Inter and intra-subject coefficients of variability (CV) were calculated. Results: The mean values for the sagittal plane, for the left and right ankles were, respectively: 7o and 4o at FF, 2o and 7o at M, and 24o and 19o at TO. For the frontal plane, the results were inversion of 5o and 3o FF, 4o and 5o at M, and 15o and 16o at TO. The peak values were inversion of 17o and 18o and eversion of 1o. The maximum intrasubject CV was 0.39, and the maximum inter-subject CV was 0.44. Conclusion: The results obtained from the electrogoniometer were relatively similar to data reported in the literature for the sagittal plane, but not for the frontal plane. The discrepancies between studies measuring ankle movements suggest the need for standardization of the recording procedures.
A Novel Approach of Groupwise fMRI-Guided Tractography Allowing to Characterize the Clinical Evolution of Alzheimer's Disease

Guiding diffusion tract-based anatomy by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we aim to investigate the relationship between structural connectivity and functional activity in the human brain. To this purpose, we introduced a novel groupwise fMRI-guided tractographic approach, that was applied on a population ranging between prodromic and moderate stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The study comprised of 15 subjects affected by amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), 14 diagnosed with AD and 14 elderly healthy adults who were used as controls. By creating representative (ensemble) functionally guided tracts within each group of participants, our methodology highlighted the white matter fiber connections involved in verbal fluency functions for a specific population, and hypothesized on brain compensation mechanisms that potentially counteract or reduce cognitive impairment symptoms in prodromic AD. Our hope is that this fMRI-guided tractographic approach could have potential impact in various clinical studies, while investigating white/gray matter connectivity, in both health and disease.
Combining Conventional Cryptography with Information Theoretic Security

This paper highlights security issues that can arise when incorrect assumptions are made on the capabilities of an eavesdropper. In particular, we analyze a channel model based on a split Binary Symmetric Channel (BSC). Corresponding security parameters are chosen based on this channel model, and assumptions on the eavesdroppers capabilities. A gradual relaxation of the restrictions on the eavesdropper's capabilities will be made, and the resulting loss of security will be quantified. An alternative will then be presented that is based on stochastic encoding and creating artificially noisy channels through the usage of private keys. The artificial channel will be constructed through a deterministic process that will be computationally intractable to reverse.
Prolonged controlled mechanical ventilation in humans triggers myofibrillar contractile dysfunction and myofilament protein loss in the diaphragm

Background Prolonged controlled mechanical ventilation (CMV) in humans and experimental animals results in diaphragm fibre atrophy and injury. In animals, prolonged CMV also triggers significant declines in diaphragm myofibril contractility. In humans, the impact of prolonged CMV on myofibril contractility remains unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of prolonged CMV on active and passive human diaphragm myofibrillar force generation and myofilament protein levels. Methods and results Diaphragm biopsies were obtained from 13 subjects undergoing cardiac surgery (control group) and 12 brain-dead organ donors (CMV group). Subjects in each group had been mechanically ventilated for 2–4 and 12–74 h, respectively. Specific force generation of diaphragm myofibrils was measured with atomic force cantilevers. Rates of force development (Kact), force redevelopment after a shortening protocol (Ktr) and relaxation (Krel) in fully activated myofibrils (pCa2+=4.5) were calculated to assess myosin cross-bridge kinetics. Myofilament protein levels were measured with immunoblotting and specific antibodies. Prolonged CMV significantly decreased active and passive diaphragm myofibrillar force generation, Kact, Ktr and Krel. Myosin heavy chain (slow), troponin-C, troponin-I, troponin-T, tropomyosin and titin protein levels significantly decreased in response to prolonged CMV, but no effects on α-actin, α-actinin or nebulin levels were observed. Conclusions Prolonged CMV in humans triggers significant decreases in active and passive diaphragm myofibrillar force generation. This response is mediated, in part, by impaired myosin cross-bridge kinetics and decreased myofibrillar protein levels.