Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic classification of sleep stages from single-channel electroencephalogram

A portable and wearable yet low-power sleep monitoring system necessitates an automatic sleep scoring algorithm with the use of minimum number of recording channels. Computer-aided sleep staging is also important to eradicate the onus of sleep scorers of analyzing an enormous volume of data. The existing works on sleep scoring are either multichannel based or yield poor performance. Therefore, an automatic sleep scoring algorithm based on single channel EEG signals is yet to emerge. In this work, we utilize spectral features to extract discriminatory information from EEG signal segments. We then perform statistical analyses to find out the efficacy and the discriminatory capability of the selected features for various sleep states. Afterwards, we employ Adaptive Boosting to perform classification. The experimental outcomes perspicuously manifest that the proposed scheme is superior to state-of-the-art ones in accuracy.
A Novel Low-Loss Millimeter-Wave 3-dB 90° Ridge-Gap Coupler Using Large Aperture Progressive Phase Compensation

A novel millimeter-wave (mm-wave) 90° phase-compensated hybrid coupler using the ridge-gap waveguide (RGW) technology is studied and developed. The coupler is low-loss at mm-wave frequency bands, whereas using conventional transmission lines, such as microstrip or substrate integrated waveguides, yields relatively a high amount of insertion loss. The proposed coupler is designed using large coupling apertures, which with their phase variation over the apertures can compensate for the progressive phase of the coupler and achieve a low output-phase error. The ridge-gap 3-db 90° hybrid coupler is suitable for designing mm-wave beamforming networks, such as the Butler matrix beamformer, where the cross-over transmission lines present a difficulty in designing such networks. In this paper, the dispersion diagram of the RGW is extracted, and a multicoupling aperture technique is formulated for designing the coupler. The coupler is fabricated and measured. The simulated and measured results show a good agreement.
Colored Point Cloud Registration with Improved Hue-Assisted Normal Distributions Transform

63 DOI: 10.7763/IJCTE.2016. V8.1021  Abstract—This paper describes an improved Hue-Assisted Normal Distributions Transform (HANDT), which enhances the accuracy of the registration of point clouds. In our previous work, HANDT was developed to improve the speed and accuracy of registration by utilizing the hue from the huesaturation-value model. To improve the accuracy, the score function of HANDT is changed from the normal distribution function to the Mahalanobis distance function. In addition, the functions of the hue mean and variance are modified for the circular property of the hue. The performance of normal distributions transform (NDT), HANDT, and improved HANDT are evaluated by benchmark data sets. As a result, the translation and rotation errors of improved HANDT are lower than those of NDT and HANDT.
A membrane‐bound FRET‐based caspase sensor for detection of apoptosis using fluorescence lifetime and total internal reflection microscopy

A caspase sensor based on Förster resonance energy transfer between fluorescent proteins is reported. Enhanced cyan fluorescent protein anchored to the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane of living cells is optically excited by an evanescent electromagnetic field and transfers its excitation energy via a spacer (DEVD) to an enhanced yellow fluorescent protein. Upon apoptosis, DEVD is cleaved and energy transfer is disrupted, as proven by pronounced changes in fluorescence spectra and decay times. Fluorescence spectroscopy and lifetime imaging (FLIM) is combined with total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) for selective detection of this membrane‐bound caspase sensor. Fluorophores of the cytoplasm are thus excluded, and the signal‐to‐background ratio is increased considerably. In comparison with conventional or laser scanning microscopy, this permits long‐term observation of apoptosis in live cell cultures using very low absorption and avoiding light‐induced damages of the samples. © 2008 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry
Generalized local Voronoi diagram of visible region

A circular robot in unknown environment, populated by non-overlapping obstacles is considered. The robot is equipped with a discrete scanner e.g. laser range scanner. We present a method for local construction of a one-dimensional structure, similar to the generalized Voronoi diagram. We call this structure a generalized local Voronoi diagram (GLVD). GLVD is constructed from scan points of the visible region around the robot. We showed that GLVD partly matches, within the tolerances determined by the uncertainties of the scan points, the generalized Voronoi diagram generated by the free-form obstacles. The existence of a function, which groups the scan points into appropriate clusters, is required. The typical results of the experiments, conducted in the laboratory using SICK's laser range scanner PLS200, are presented.
Research on attribute reduction based on L-context

Fuzzy concept lattice generated from fuzzy context (L-context) has been used in a number of fields, such as data mining, decision-making, information retrieval and so on. Recent works have achieved great success. In this paper, given a binary relation, we generated the fuzzy concept lattice. In order to make decision-making much easier, reducing the number of attributes without a large amount of information loss was preferred, a method of computing the similarity matrix was represented as well. We proposed an algorithm for attribute reduction and discussed the time complexity with comparison to the other algorithms afterwards. In the end, the method of computing choice value during decision-making was provided.
Joint Variable Selection of Mean-Covariance Model for Longitudinal Data

In this paper we reparameterize covariance structures in longitudinal data analysis through the modified Cholesky decomposition of itself. Based on this modified Cholesky decomposition, the within-subject covariance matrix is decomposed into a unit lower triangular matrix involving moving average coefficients and a diagonal matrix involving innovation variances, which are modeled as linear functions of covariates. Then, we propose a penalized maximum likelihood method for variable selection in joint mean and covariance models based on this decomposition. Under certain regularity conditions, we establish the consistency and asymptotic normality of the penalized maximum likelihood estimators of parameters in the models. Simulation studies are undertaken to assess the finite sample performance of the proposed variable selection procedure.
Bence Jones proteins and light chains of immunoglobulins. XV. Effect of corticosteroids on synthesis and excretion of Bence Jones protein.

The effect of corticosteroids and cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents on the excretion of Bence Jones protein was determined for periods of 1 - 62 mo in 29 patients with multiple myeloma and Bence Jones proteinuria. The amount of protein present in 24-h urine specimens collected before treatment and at frequent intervals during monthly treatment cycles was determined. Striking variations occurred in the amount of Bence Jones protein excretion; these changes were especially evident when 75 mg of prednisone were given daily for 7 days as part of a monthly chemotherapeutic regimen. Within the 7-day period seven patients showed essentially no decrease (<25%), whereas 13 and 9 patients had a moderate decrease (25-75%) or a marked decrease (>75%), respectively, in Bence Jones proteinuria as compared to pre-treatment values. The decrease in excretion of Bence Jones protein during this period was attributed mainly to corticosteroid therapy because of the transient nature of the response in most patients and the lack of such response in three patients when the hormone was omitted. Biosynthetic studies were performed to determine in vitro the effect of corticosteroids on Bence Jones protein synthesis. Plasma cells obtained from the bone marrow of 13 patients were incubated in a growth medium containing (14)C-labeled lysine and isoleucine and prednisone in concentrations up to 240 mug/ml, and the amount of Bence Jones protein synthesized was determined immunochemically. No differences in viability were apparent between untreated and prednisone-treated cells. The type of response exhibited by an individual patient in the percent decrease of Bence Jones protein excreted after 7 days of prednisone treatment was comparable to the percent decrease in newly-synthesized Bence Jones protein secreted by tumor cells when cultured in the presence of prednisone at a concentration of 120 mug/ml. The marked differences in the capacity of corticosteroids to affect Bence Jones protein synthesis appear to reflect a biochemical heterogeneity among plasma cell neoplasms.
Antibodies against Thrombospondin-Related Anonymous Protein Do Not Inhibit Plasmodium Sporozoite Infectivity In Vivo

ABSTRACT Thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (TRAP), a candidate malaria vaccine antigen, is required for Plasmodiumsporozoite gliding motility and cell invasion. For the first time, the ability of antibodies against TRAP to inhibit sporozoite infectivity in vivo is evaluated in detail. TRAP contains an A-domain, a well-characterized adhesive motif found in integrins. We modeled here a three-dimensional structure of the TRAP A-domain of Plasmodium yoelii and located regions surrounding the MIDAS (metal ion-dependent adhesion site), the presumed business end of the domain. Mice were immunized with constructs containing these A-domain regions but were not protected from sporozoite challenge. Furthermore, monoclonal and rabbit polyclonal antibodies against the A-domain, the conserved N terminus, and the repeat region of TRAP had no effect on the gliding motility or sporozoite infectivity to mice. TRAP is located in micronemes, secretory organelles of apicomplexan parasites. Accordingly, the antibodies tested here stained cytoplasmic TRAP brightly by immunofluorescence. However, very little TRAP could be detected on the surface of sporozoites. In contrast, a dramatic relocalization of TRAP onto the parasite surface occurred when sporozoites were treated with calcium ionophore. This likely mimics the release of TRAP from micronemes when a sporozoite contacts its target cell in vivo. Contact with hepatoma cells in culture also appeared to induce the release of TRAP onto the surface of sporozoites. If large amounts of TRAP are released in close proximity to its cellular receptor(s), effective competitive inhibition by antibodies may be difficult to achieve.
Column-Parallel Dynamic TDC Reallocation in SPAD Sensor Module Fabricated in 180nm CMOS for Near Infrared Optical Tomography

A major problem for optical biomedical imaging methods, e.g. near-infrared optical tomography (NIROT), using time resolved SPAD sensors is a slow acquisition time, resulting in motion artefacts and decreased patient comfort. We present a new SPAD sensor module optimised for the NIROT application. Dynamic TDC reallocation is employed to reduce the die area occupied by timing circuitry whilst also minimising the probability of photon pileup. High pixel PDE is achieved with a wide spectral range SPAD and cascoded passive quenching circuit. The sensor is fabricated in a 180nm CMOS process, enabling an image acquisition time in the NIROT application of 3.8 seconds per source and wavelength pair.
A novel two stage single channel speech enhancement technique

A two stage novel speech enhancement algorithm is presented in this paper using speech and noise spectral estimators with hybrid a priori SNR combined with perceptual weighting filter. The first stage is designed such that it improves the performance of Minimum Mean Square Error Short-Time Spectral Amplitude (MMSE-STSA) estimator by using hybrid a priori SNR and combining statistical estimators of the spectral magnitude of the speech and noise. A perceptual weighting filter is designed and used as a second stage to improve the intelligibility of the processed speech signal. The performance of proposed scheme is tested and results indicate the performance of the proposed algorithm is better than several other MMSE-STSA algorithms available in literature.
The SWEET gene family in Hevea brasiliensis – its evolution and expression compared with four other plant species

SWEET proteins play an indispensable role as a sugar efflux transporter in plant development and stress responses. The SWEET genes have previously been characterized in several plants. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of this gene family in the rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis. There are 36 members of the SWEET gene family in this species, making it one of the largest families in plant genomes sequenced so far. Structure and phylogeny analyses of these genes in Hevea and in other species demonstrated broad evolutionary conservation. RNA‐seq analyses revealed that SWEET2, 16, and 17 might represent the main evolutionary direction of SWEET genes in plants. Our results in Hevea suggested the involvement of HbSWEET1a, 2e, 2f, and 3b in phloem loading, HbSWEET10a and 16b in laticifer sugar transport, and HbSWEET9a in nectary‐specific sugar transport. Parallel studies of RNA‐seq analyses extended to three other plant species (Manihot esculenta, Populus trichocarpa, and Arabidopsis thaliana) produced findings which implicated MeSWEET10a, 3a, and 15b in M. esculenta storage root development, and the involvement of PtSWEET16b and PtSWEET16d in P. trichocarpa xylem development. RT‐qPCR results further revealed that HbSWEET10a, 16b, and 1a play important roles in phloem sugar transport. The results from this study provide a foundation not only for further investigation into the functionality of the SWEET gene family in Hevea, especially in its sugar transport for latex production, but also for related studies of this gene family in the plant kingdom.
An efficient implementation and evaluation of robust face sequence matching

This paper presents a robust and efficient matching method for face sequences obtained from videos. Face information is quite important especially for news programs, dramas, and movies. Face sequence matching for such videos enables many multimedia applications including content-based face retrieval, automated face annotation, automated video authoring, etc. However face sequences in videos are subject to variations in lighting conditions, pose, face expression, etc., which cause difficulty in face matching. These problems are tackled to achieve robust face sequence matching applicable to real video domains, and its efficient implementation is presented. The paper proves the proposed method achieves good performance in actual video domains. In addition, by combination with the high-dimensional index structure, the algorithm achieves practical computational time, as well as scalability against increase of the number of faces.
Nomogram prediction for the survival of the patients with small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a subtype of lung cancer with poor prognosis. In this study, we aimed to build a nomogram to predict the survival of individual with SCLC by incorporating significant clinical parameters. METHODS The patients with SCLC were enrolled from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (GMUFAH) between 2009 and 2013. We identified and incorporated the independent prognostic factors to build a nomogram to predict the survival of SCLC patients. The predictive accuracy and discriminative ability of the nomogram were evaluated by concordance index (C-index) and calibration curve. We also compared the accuracy of the built model with the 7th AJCC TNM and VALSG staging system. The nomogram was further validated in an independent cohort of 80 patients with SCLC from Cancer Center of Guangzhou Medical University (GMUCC) between 2009 and 2013. RESULTS A total of 275 patients with SCLC were included in the primary cohort, and seven independent prognostic factors were identified including age, N stage, metastasis status, histology, platelets to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neuron specific enolase (NSE) and CYFRA21-1 as independent prognostic factors after using Cox regression model. A nomogram incorporating these prognostic factors was subsequently built. The calibration curves for possibilities of 1-, 2-year overall survival (OS) revealed optimal agreement between nomogram prediction and actual observation. The C-index of this nomogram was higher than that of TNM and VALSG staging system in both primary and validation cohort (nomogram vs. TNM, primary cohort 0.68 vs. 0.65, P<0.01, validation cohort 0.66 vs. 0.62, P<0.05; nomogram vs. VALSG, primary cohort 0.68 vs. 0.66, P<0.01, validation cohort 0.66 vs. 0.64, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS In this study, we established and validated a novel nomogram for the prediction of OS for the patients with SCLC. This model could provide more accurate individual prediction of survival probability of SCLC than the existing staging systems.
Metabolic syndrome epidemic.

A health care crisis of epidemic proportion faces western industrialized societies. From Reaven’s1 early description of “syndrome X,” both the prevalence and general awareness of what is now known as the metabolic syndrome have risen rapidly. The importance and complexity of the metabolic syndrome as one of the major health care issues currently facing society are eloquently discussed in the present issue of Circulation by Drs Haffner and Taegtmeyer2 and Reilly and Rader.3 The consensus opinion expressed by these thought leaders is startling in both magnitude and implication. Although estimates of prevalence are critically dependent on the exact definition used, the metabolic syndrome has reached epidemic proportion. Using the 5 clinically evident diagnostic criteria (abdominal adiposity, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL, hypertension, and fasting hyperglycemia) set forth by the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), prevalence of the metabolic syndrome currently exceeds 20% of individuals who are at least 20 years of age, and 40% of the population >40 years of age. The NCEP requires that at least 3 …
Perspectives on the development of a magnetic navigation system for remote control of electrophysiology catheters.

Development of the magnetic navigation system was motivated by the need for accurate catheter manipulation during complex ablation procedures that may include targets that are difficult to reach. The first step in the development of this technology was to demonstrate the feasibility of catheter navigation without affecting the stability of diagnostic catheters, the quality of intracardiac and surface recordings, or the ability to perform diagnostic pacing manoeuvres. Preliminary studies confirmed the safety and efficacy of the magnetic navigation system for these basic requirements.1 The next step demonstrated the feasibility of this system for cardiac mapping and ablation in patients with supraventricular tachycardia.2 The ability to perform remote navigation was not a primary objective, but it is a very attractive attribute for prolonged studies because it reduces operator fatigue and radiation exposure. Innovative technologies develop incrementally because experience inevitably identifies problems that require improvement on the original design of the system. The initial prototype of the magnetic navigation system, which was only used in animal studies, had an orthogonal array of electromagnets that were inactive when the power was deactivated. The array encircled the torso in a configuration that was too small for human subjects. The fluoroscopy system was built by Stereotaxis using an early version of flat plate technology, but the images did not have the quality required for clinical use. During mapping procedures, a computer interface was used by the operator to set vectors in the right anterior oblique and left anterior oblique radiographic images. The software was rudimentary by today's standards. The …
A Primal-Proximal Heuristic Applied to the Unit-Commitment Problem

This paper is devoted to the numerical resolution of unit-commitment problems. More precisely we present the French model optimizing the daily production of electricity. Its resolution is done is two phases: first a Lagrangian relaxation solves the dual to find a lower bound; it also gives a primal relaxed solution. The latter is used in the second phase for a heuristic resolution based on a primal proximal algorithm. This second step comes as an alternative to an earlier approach based on augmented Lagrangian (i.e. a dual proximal algorithm). We illustrate the method with some real-life numerical results. A companion paper is devoted to a theoretical study of the heuristic in the second phase. Key-words: Unit-commitment problem, proximal algorithm, Lagrangian relaxation, primal-dual heuristics EDF R&D, 1 avenue du Général de Gaulle, 92141 Clamart; louis.dubost@edf.fr EDF, 9 route de la porte de Buc, 78005 Versailles; robert.gonzalez@rte-france.com Inria Rhône-Alpes; claude.lemarechal@inrialpes.fr Une heuristique primale-duale appliquéee à la production électrique Résumé : Cet article concerne l’optimisation de la production électrique en France. Nous présentons le modèle utilisé par EdF. Sa résolution se fait en deux phases: tout d’abord une relaxation lagrangienne donne une borne inférieure du coût optimal, ainsi qu’une solution du problème primal relaxé. Cette dernière est injectée dans la seconde phase pour une optimisation heuristique utilisant un algorithme proximal primal. Une approche antérieure pour cette seconde phase utilisait le lagrangien augmenté, c’est à dire un algorithme proximal dual. Nous illustrons la méthode par quelques résultats numériques tirés du réel. L’heuristique primale-duale a fait l’objet d’une étude théorique, publiée par ailleurs. Mots-clés : Unit-commitment, optimisation de la production, algorithme proximal, relaxation lagrangienne, heuristique primale-duale A Primal-Proximal Heuristic Applied to the Unit-Commitment Problem 3
Nitric oxide formation versus scavenging: the red blood cell balancing act

Abstract Nitric oxide (NO) is a key modulator of vascular homeostasis controlling critical functions related to blood flow, respiration, cell death and proliferation, and protecting the vasculature from pro‐inflammatory and coagulative stresses. Inhibition of NO formation, and/or diversion of NO away from its physiological signalling targets lead to dysregulated NO bioavailability, a hallmark of numerous vascular and pulmonary diseases. Current concepts suggest that the balance between NO formation and NO scavenging is critical in disease development, with the corollary being that redressing the balance offers a target for therapeutic intervention. Evidence presented over the last two decades has seen red blood cells (RBCs) and haemoglobin specifically emerge as prominent effectors in this paradigm. In this symposium review article, we discuss recent insights into the mechanisms by which RBCs may modulate the balance between NO‐formation and inhibition. We discuss how these mechanisms may become dysfunctional to cause disease, highlight key questions that remain, and discuss the potential impact of these insights on therapeutic opportunities.