Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neuropsychological Assessment in Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract. Neuropsychological deficits in multiple sclerosis (MS) are common. Over the past decades, many different procedures have been employed in diagnosing these deficits. Even though certain aspects of cognitive performance such as information processing speed and working memory may be affected more frequently than other cognitive functions, no specific deficit profile has been established in MS. This article provides an overview of the neuropsychological diagnostic procedures in MS and allows the reader to reach an informed decision on the applicability of specific procedures and the availability of study data in the context of MS. Additionally, it makes recommendations on the compilation of both screening procedures and extensive test batteries.
The Use of MAGE C1 and Flow Cytometry to Determine the Malignant Cell Type in Multiple Myeloma

The malignant cell phenotype of Multiple Myeloma (MM) remains unclear with studies proposing it to be either clonotypic B or proliferating plasma cells. Cancer/testis antigen MAGE C1 is being extensively studied in MM and it has been suggested that it is involved in the pathogenesis of the cancer. Therefore, we report on the use of MAGE C1 to determine the malignant cell phenotype in MM using flow cytometry. Bone marrow aspirate (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) was collected from twelve MM patients at diagnosis, as well as three MM disease-free controls. Mononuclear cells were isolated using density-gradient centrifugation, and stabilized in 80% ethanol, before analysis via flow cytometry using relevant antibodies against B cell development cell-surface markers and nuclear MAGE C1. MAGE C1 expression was observed consistently in the early stem cells (CD34+) and early pro-B to pre-B cells (CD34+/−/CD19+), as well as the proliferating plasma cells in both the MM PB and BM, while no expression was observed in the corresponding control samples. Monoclonality indicated a common origin of these cell types suggesting that the CD34+/MAGE C1+ are the primary malignant cell phenotype that sustains the downstream B cell maturation processes. Furthermore, this malignant cell phenotype was not restricted to the BM but also found in the circulating PB cells.
Little engines that could: computing in small energetic countries

How do very small countries, here defined as having fewer than 10 million people, find places for themselves in the information technologies (IT) arena? Does success require accommodation in the global IT regime that often seems dominated by the U.S. and Japan? Do the little countries scurry around, like birds among the lions and other predators looking for scraps? Are they relegated to second tier “appropriate technologies,” or do they operate in the mainstream?
Joint turbo channel detection and RLL decoding for (1, 7) coded partial response recording channels

Runlength limited (RLL) codes are essential in recording systems for minimizing distortions and maintaining bit synchronization. In this paper, we investigate the application of turbo codes on RLL (1,7) coded partial response equalized recording channels. We proposed a 'combined trellis' approach for doing 'soft-in soft-out' (SISO) channel detection and RLL decoding jointly. This approach makes the implementation of turbo equalization easier since it eliminates the need for a 'SISO RLL encoder' in the feedback path from turbo decoder to channel detector. Simulation studies on magnetic recording channels show that our approach provides a coding gain of about 4 dB compared to Viterbi detection at 10/sup -6/ bit error rate.
Architectural Design of the Haptex System

This paper reports the preliminary results of the architectural design of the HAPTEX system that will be developed in the framework of the IST FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) initiative. The aim of the EU funded RTD project is to realize a virtual reality system able to render, visually and haptically, the behavior of fabrics. The integration of force-feedback devices with tactile arrays is foreseen to reproduce both kinesthetic and tactile stimulations. A multilayermultithread architecture has been selected in order to optimize the computational speed and to achieve a sufficient refresh rate for real-time applications.
When-To-Post on Social Networks

For many users on social networks, one of the goals when broadcasting content is to reach a large audience. The probability of receiving reactions to a message differs for each user and depends on various factors, such as location, daily and weekly behavior patterns and the visibility of the message. While previous work has focused on overall network dynamics and message flow cascades, the problem of recommending personalized posting times has remained an under-explored topic of research. In this study, we formulate a when-to-post problem, where the objective is to find the best times for a user to post on social networks in order to maximize the probability of audience responses. To understand the complexity of the problem, we examine user behavior in terms of post-to-reaction times, and compare cross-network and cross-city weekly reaction behavior for users in different cities, on both Twitter and Facebook. We perform this analysis on over a billion posted messages and observed reactions, and propose multiple approaches for generating personalized posting schedules. We empirically assess these schedules on a sampled user set of 0.5 million active users and more than 25 million messages observed over a 56 day period. We show that users see a reaction gain of up to 17% on Facebook and 4% on Twitter when the recommended posting times are used. We open the dataset used in this study, which includes timestamps for over 144 million posts and over 1.1 billion reactions. The personalized schedules derived here are used in a fully deployed production system to recommend posting times for millions of users every day.
Efficient Boolean Characteristic Function for Fast Timed ATPG

Circuit timing analysis is important in various aspects of circuit optimization. The problem of finding input vectors achieving functional and temporal requirements is known as timed automatic test pattern generation (timed ATPG). A timed ATPG algorithm will return an input vector that satisfies functional and temporal requirements simultaneously when evaluated. Several previous works use timed ATPG as a core engine for solving problems related to timing analysis, such as crosstalk and maximum instantaneous current analysis. Despite the usefulness of timed ATPG, traditional timed ATPG is slow and unscalable for large circuits. In this paper, we present a very efficient way for timed ATPG. On average, our results are 8 times faster than the most recent work, and in some cases, up to 32 times faster
Groupgarden: supporting brainstorming through a metaphorical group mirror on table or wall

To ensure the productivity of brainstorming, group members have to observe several rules. Nevertheless, problems such as free riding or imbalanced participation can occur. We present Groupgarden, a metaphorical group mirror providing feedback about individual as well as group performance. We conducted two user studies. We could validate the effectivity of Groupgarden in a preliminary study that compared brainstorming sessions supported by Groupgarden with sessions without additional support. Results show that the group mirror effectively supports the compliance to particular brainstorming rules and participation is more balanced compared to the baseline. In a second study, we examined the influence of the location of the feedback, wall vs. table, on group behavior. Our results indicate that the location does not influence efficiency of brainstorming, while each location has different benefits. Feedback on a wall seems less disturbing and puts less pressure on the group while a group mirror on a table facilitates communication and collaboration.
SPIB and BATF provide alternate determinants of IRF4 occupancy in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma linked to disease heterogeneity

Interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) is central to the transcriptional network of activated B-cell-like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (ABC-DLBCL), an aggressive lymphoma subgroup defined by gene expression profiling. Since cofactor association modifies transcriptional regulatory input by IRF4, we assessed genome occupancy by IRF4 and endogenous cofactors in ABC-DLBCL cell lines. IRF4 partners with SPIB, PU.1 and BATF genome-wide, but SPIB provides the dominant IRF4 partner in this context. Upon SPIB knockdown IRF4 occupancy is depleted and neither PU.1 nor BATF acutely compensates. Integration with ENCODE data from lymphoblastoid cell line GM12878, demonstrates that IRF4 adopts either SPIB- or BATF-centric genome-wide distributions in related states of post-germinal centre B-cell transformation. In primary DLBCL high-SPIB and low-BATF or the reciprocal low-SPIB and high-BATF mRNA expression links to differential gene expression profiles across nine data sets, identifying distinct associations with SPIB occupancy, signatures of B-cell differentiation stage and potential pathogenetic mechanisms. In a population-based patient cohort, SPIBhigh/BATFlow-ABC-DLBCL is enriched for mutation of MYD88, and SPIBhigh/BATFlow-ABC-DLBCL with MYD88-L265P mutation identifies a small subgroup of patients among this otherwise aggressive disease subgroup with distinct favourable outcome. We conclude that differential expression of IRF4 cofactors SPIB and BATF identifies biologically and clinically significant heterogeneity among ABC-DLBCL.
A Post-AGB Star in the Small Magellanic Cloud Observed with the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph

We have observed an evolved star with a rare combination of spectral features, MSX SMC 029, in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) using the low-resolution modules of the Infrared Spectrograph on the Spitzer Space Telescope. A cool dust continuum dominates the spectrum of MSX SMC 029. The spectrum also shows both emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and absorption at 13.7 μm from C2H2, a juxtaposition seen in only two other sources, AFGL 2688 and IRAS 13416-6243, both post-asymptotic giant branch (AGB) objects. As in these sources, the PAH spectrum has the unusual trait that the peak emission in the 7-9 μm complex lies beyond 8.0 μm. In addition, the 8.6 μm feature has an intensity as strong as the C–C modes that normally peak between 7.7 and 7.9 μm. The relative flux of the feature at 11.3 μm to that at 8 μm suggests that the PAHs in MSX SMC 029 either have a low-ionization fraction or are largely unprocessed. The 13-16 μm wavelength region shows strong absorption features similar to those observed in the post-AGB objects AFGL 618 and SMP LMC 11. This broad absorption may arise from the same molecules that have been identified in those sources: C2H2, C4H2, HC3N, and C6H6. The similarities between MSX SMC 029, AFGL 2688, and AFGL 618 lead us to conclude that MSX SMC 029 has evolved off the AGB in only the past few hundred years, making it the third post-AGB object identified in the SMC.
Global Routing Using Monotone Staircases with Minimal Bends

This work proposes a top-down hierarchical monotone staircase bipartitioner of VLSI floorplans minimizing the number of bends in the obtained staircase channels at each level. Further, two more objectives are considered: (a) maximizing the ratio of the areas of each of the two partitions, and (b) minimizing the number of nets cut by a staircase at each level of the hierarchy. A pair of trade-off parameters β ,γ ∈ [0, 1] are used in the multi-objective optimization method. In our experiments, at each level of the hierarchy the (β ,γ) pair which yields the optimal monotone staircase cut is chosen from a set of values for both β and γ such that β +γ ≤1. The hierarchy of monotone staircase channels obtained is used for global routing with a recent monotone staircase channel based global router, STAIRoute, to estimate the effect of bend minimization on the number of vias using horizontal-vertical (HV) reserved layer model. The results for 8 metal layers on MCNC and GSRC benchmarks are promising.
User Experience in 3D Stereoscopic Games

New display technologies, such as 3D stereoscopic displays, provide opportunities to enhance the user experience (UX) in digital games. A widely-held belief is “the more stereo, the better experience. ” The purpose of this study is to examine this belief and evaluate the added value of 3D stereo to the UX in games. Stereo separation in a display was varied, and a multidimensional UX was measured using a psychological Presence-Involvement-Flow Framework2 (PIFF2) in a between-subjects design. The PIFF2 findings were further supported by both qualitative and objective measures. Users' descriptions of the game were included as well as adverse symptoms, open-ended negative aspects of 3D stereo, basic eye physiology, objective performance metrics, and fundamental background variables. This hybrid qualitative-quantitative methodology shows that more stereo does not lead to better UX. It was shown that a moderate level of stereo separation affected the UX most by increasing the sense of presence among the users. These results deepen the previous findings in investigating the stereo effect in different media. The advantage of using multidimensional measures to evaluate UX, the added value of 3D stereo, and the practical implications of the results are further discussed.
Center-free PFCM for MRI brain image segmentation

The Fuzzy C-Means clustering (FCM) and the possibility FCM (PFCM) are popular methods in MRI brain image segmentation. However, using the Euclidean squared-norm distance as the similarity criterion makes FCM and PFCM only suitable for clustering the hyperspherically distributed data groups. The MRI brain image does not distribute hyperspherically, which means FCM and PFCM have intrinsic deficiency for the segmentation of MRI brain image. The center-free FCM could segment the non-linearly separable data. But, it does not consider the spatial information and is very sensitive to noise. In order to segment the non-linearly separable data groups with noise, a center-free PFCM is proposed in this paper. Firstly, we modify the center-free FCM to deal with the non-linearly separable data. Then, we combine the improved center-free FCM with PFCM to make the new method less sensitive to noise. Experimental results on artificial datasets and MRI brain images show that our method is effective and outperforms the conventional FCM methods in the segmentation of the MRI brain images with noise.
Logging Damage to Residual Trees Following Partial Cutting in a Green Ash-Sugarberry Stand in the Mississippi Delta

Partial cutting in bottomland hardwoods to control stand density and species composition sometimes results in logging damage to the lower bole and/or roots of residual trees. If severe, logging damage may lead to a decline in tree vigor, which may subsequently stimulate the production of epicormic branches, causing a decrease in bole quality and an eventual loss in value of the stand. To investigate this hypothesis, a partial cutting to remove pulpwood-sized trees (i.e., low thinning/improvement cutting) was performed in the summer of 1990 in a 45-year-old green ash-sugarberry stand located adjacent to the Mississippi River in west-central Mississippi. The goal of the thinning operation was to remove small trees of low-value species, particularly sugarberry, and to promote the growth of high-value residual trees, such as green ash. Thinning removed about 40 percent of the trees and 25 percent of the basal area, while increasing average stand diameter by about 12 percent. The partial cutting was also successful in increasing the relative proportion of green ash and decreasing the relative proportions of sugarberry and other species. The logging operation caused widespread damage to the residual stand, with about 62 percent of the residual trees being damaged at least to some extent. Damage to the lower bole and to exposed lateral roots of residual trees were the two most common types of damage. Damage to most trees was minor, but 35 percent of the residual trees experienced at least moderate logging damage. Sugarberry was more commonly damaged than was green ash. Most of the logging damage occurred during the skidding operation. Diameter growth of the residual dominant and codominant green ash averaged 0.39 in. during the first year after thinning. The partial cutting resulted in only a modest increase in the number of epicormic branches per tree, with most of the increases occurring in lower-crown-class trees, already under stress from suppression prior to harvest. Residual green ash and sugarberry trees of the upper crown classes produced very few new epicormic branches during the first year after harvest. These latter data must be considered preliminary in that the possible stimulation of the production of epicormic branches in damaged trees is thought to be a more long-term response to logging damage.
Carbohydrate mouth rinsing improves resistance training session performance

We investigated the effect of carbohydrate mouth rinsing on resistance exercise performance. Fifteen recreationally trained women (age 26 ± 4 y; height 1.61.9 ± 5.1 m; weight 59.5 ± 8.2 kg) completed two resistance exercise bouts consisting of three sets of five exercises (half-squat, leg press, bench press, military press, and seated row) to volitional fatigue with a 10 repetition-maximum load. Immediately prior to and during the middle of each exercise bout, subjects mouth rinsed for 10 s with 100 mL of either a 6% maltodextrin solution (CHO) or an artificially flavored solution (PLA) in a randomized, double-blind, counterbalanced fashion. Heart rate and perceived exertion were compared between conditions using a 2 (conditions) × 15 (time points) repeated measures ANOVA. Significant main effects were further analyzed using pairwise comparisons with Bonferroni post hoc tests. Total volume (exercises * sets * repetitions * load) between sessions was compared with a Student’s t-test. Statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05 level of confidence. The CHO resulted in more repetitions performed during half-squat, bench press, military press, and seated row, for a significantly greater (∼12%) total volume load lifted versus PLA (p = 0.039, ES: 0.49). Rating of perceived exertion was also significantly lower in the CHO versus PLA (p = 0.020, ES: 0.28). These data indicate that CHO mouth rinsing can enhance high-volume resistance exercise performance and lower ratings of perceived exertion.
PanoAR: INTERACTIVE AUGMENTATION OF OMNI-DIRECTIONAL IMAGES WITH CONSISTENT LIGHTING

Panoramic images can be used as an image-based method for navigating in a real environment. Recent publications have shown that it is possible to augment photographs with correct lighting using inverse rendering for reconstruction of lights resp. materials and differential rendering for displaying the changes. We combine these two approaches to an interactive tool with real-time modifications of the real scene maintaining consistent lighting. The possible changes are: Insertion of virtual objects with realistic lighting and shadows, insertion of new light sources by using light goniometrics and changes of materials resulting in changes in indirect lighting. The only user input is a high-dynamic-range photograph of a light probe. A 3D model is reconstructed from the light probe image using object-based reconstruction methods. The differential rendering for all user manipulations is performed using the latest generation of graphics hardware. Finally, we remove the restriction to a fixed viewpoint by projecting the environment map to the geometry in the fragment program and we present a hole-filling algorithm for the parts of the geometry which were not visible in the light probe image.
Comparing a humanoid tutor to a human tutor delivering an instructional task to children

This paper presents a study that compares a humanoid robotic tutor to a human tutor when instructing school children to build a LEGO house. A total of 27 students, between the ages of 11-15, divided into two groups, participated in the study and data were collected to investigate the participants' success rate, requests for help, engagement, and attitude change toward robots following the experiment. The results reveal that both groups are equally successful in executing the task. However, students ask the human tutor more often for help, while students working with the robotic tutor are more eager to perform well on the task. Finally, all students get a more positive attitude toward a robotic tutor following the experiment, but those in the robot condition change their attitude somewhat more for certain questions, illustrating the importance of real interaction experiences prior to eliciting students' attitudes toward robots. The paper concludes that students do follow instructions from a robotic tutor but that more long-term interaction is necessary to study lasting effects.
Extraction of Hand Gestures with Adaptive Skin Color Models and Its Applications to Meeting Analysis

We present an adaptive skin color model for hand gesture tracking which is applied to cross-modal analysis of planning meetings. We build a skin color model with the Gaussian distribution and a skin color filter for each participant in meetings. By combining with the vector coherence mapping (VCM) algorithm, we track hand motion and obtain 3D trajectories. The hand gesture stream is extracted from hand motion trajectories. Different skin color models are created for different people to handle the differences of skin color. We update each model dynamically to adapt changes of environments. A parallel system has been implemented to track and extract hand motion trajectories. Examples of hand motion gesture tracking in meeting environments are provided. The applications of the adaptive skin color model can increase the speed of hand tracking
Physical activity and risk of cancer in middle-aged men

A prospective study was carried out to examine the relationship between physical activity and incidence of cancers in 7588 men aged 40–59 years with full data on physical activity and without cancer at screening. Physical activity at screening was classified as none/occasional, light, moderate, moderately-vigorous or vigorous. Cancer incidence data were obtained from death certificates, the national Cancer Registration Scheme and self-reporting on follow-up questionnaires of doctor-diagnosed cancer. Cancer (excluding skin cancers) developed in 969 men during mean follow-up of 18.8 years. After adjustment for age, smoking, body mass index, alcohol intake and social class, the risk of total cancers was significantly reduced only in men reporting moderately-vigorous or vigorous activity; no benefit seen at lesser levels. Sporting activity was essential to achieve significant benefit and was associated with a significant dose-response reduction in risk of prostate cancer and upper digestive and stomach cancer. Sporting (vigorous) activity was associated with a significant increase in bladder cancer. No association was seen with colo-rectal cancer. Non-sporting recreational activity showed no association with cancer. Physical activity in middle-aged men is associated with reduced risk of total cancers, prostate cancer, upper digestive and stomach cancer. Moderately-vigorous or vigorous levels involving sporting activities are required to achieve such benefit. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer. com