Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Optical Model of the Human Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer: Implications of Directional Reflectance for Variability of Clinical Measurements

Purpose: The reflectance of the retinal nerve fiber layer is highly directional—that is, it depends strongly on the angles of illumination and viewing. This study explored and illustrated the implications of this directional reflectance for nerve fiber layer measurements in the human eye. Methods: The retina was modeled as a sphere centered on the optic axis of a schematic eye. Nerve fiber ribbons were projected onto the retina and cylindrical light scattering was calculated along each ribbon. The reflectance along the ribbon was then determined for the illuminating and viewing apertures of two hypothetical optical instruments, a fundus camera and a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope. Results were displayed as reflectance maps. Results: Uniformly illuminated nerve fiber ribbons exhibited a nonuniform reflectance pattern that was very sensitive to the location in the pupil of the instrument apertures. Ribbon reflectance at the superior and inferior disc margins varied with ribbon orientation, being higher with temporal tilt and lower with nasal tilt. Ribbons nasal to the disk could be quite dim. Conclusions: In quantitative nerve fiber layer assessment technologies, the observed reflectance depends on the configuration of the illuminating and viewing apertures of the measuring instrument and on the retinal position and orientation of each nerve fiber bundle. In clinical practice, this dependence may cause significant measurement variability that can be reduced by specific measurement maneuvers.
Effects of demodulator errors on convergence time of look-up table based iterative algorithms for adaptive digital predistortion linearizer

This work presents, for the first time, a simulation study of the effects of demodulator errors on look-up table (LUT) based iterative algorithms for adaptive digital predistortion (ADP) linearizer. We compare the iterative algorithms found in one-dimensional LUT, namely the polar, secant and linear methods, on the convergence time with and without demodulator errors in the feedback path of the ADP. Simulation shows that the secant method, although it has the fastest convergence, is sensitive to changes in demodulator errors, which could be corrected by adding an adaptation factor to its formula. The polar method is the least sensitive out of the three to demodulator errors, followed by the linear method.
Comparison of Voltage and Flux Modulation Schemes of StatComs Regarding Transformer Saturation During Fault Recovery

A transformer might be driven into saturation by faults in the connected system. In a transmission system with a static synchronous compensator and transformers connected at the point of common coupling, different modulation schemes utilized by the voltage source converter influence the transformer saturation in different ways. This paper compares the saturation effect during fault recovery when two alternative modulation schemes are utilized: voltage modulation and flux modulation. The comparison shows that utilization of flux modulation scheme tends to soften the saturation problem during fault recovery. However, this is achieved at a higher converter transient peak current.
Effects of Temperature and Site Characteristics on Phosphorus Dynamics in Four Restored Wetlands: Implications for Wetland Hydrologic Management and Restoration

Restoring historic lake-fringe wetlands is considered a favorable means of reducing lake phosphorus levels; however, it is unclear how various strategies for managing wetland connectivity influence phosphorus release. We investigated the relationships between temperature and soil characteristics of restored wetlands to identify management strategies that minimize external phosphorus loading to Upper Klamath and Agency Lakes. We flooded soil cores at various temperatures and analyzed them for several forms of phosphorus and other physical properties. We compared measures of microbial activity and physical characteristics of phosphorus fractions within the wetland soils to forms of phosphorus in water relevant to phosphorus-loading in the lakes. Greater release rates of total phosphorus occurred in summer temperature treatments for all study wetlands (average 31.81 to 240.61 mg/m2/d), while release rates of soluble reactive phosphorus (average −15.9 to 62.19 mg/m2/d) varied with temperature and soil characteristics. Wetlands with mineral soils and direct hydrologic connectivity to the lakes released the lowest concentrations of total phosphorus, while soluble reactive phosphorus release varied across management strategies and soil types. These differences can be explained by the dominant phosphorus processes associated with the hydrology and biogeochemistry of the individual sites, and temperature and potential for microbial activity at the timing of inundation. Our results provide evidence that directly connected wetlands may release less phosphorus than indirectly or mechanically connected wetlands, due to early timing of inundation and longer duration of inundation.
OF THE EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR CONCEPT LEARNING BY MONKEYS WITH VIDEO PICTURE IMAGES AND A TOUCH SCREEN

Two rhesus monkeys were trained in a same/different task to discriminate digitized computer-stored picture stimuli. The pictures were digitized from 35-mm slides and presented in pairs on a computer monitor. The monkeys were required to touch the pictures and then make a choice response to indicate whether the pictures were identical or nonidentical. The response areas and stimuli were located to the sides of the picture stimuli. Responses were defined and monitored by an infrared matrix touch screen. After learning the same/different task, both monkeys showed performance accuracy with novel picture stimuli similar to that with training picture stimuli. This accurate novel-picture transfer indicates that a same/different concept had been learned, a concept similar to the one they had previously demonstrated in a different apparatus with rear-projected slide stimuli and a response lever.
Discovering road segment-based outliers in urban traffic network

The increasing availability of large-scale vehicle traffic data provides us great opportunity to explore them for knowledge discovery in intelligent transportation systems. Many mechanisms have been proposed to discover all outliers in a road network lately due to an increasing capability to track moving vehicles. In this paper, we propose a new problem called the road segment-based outliers detection problem, which is to find all road segments, called outliers, each of which “real” traffic deviates from its “expected” traffic. However, the recent state-of-the-art algorithms which was proposed for the region-based outlier detection problem is insufficient to solve our road segment-based outliers detection problem. Based on these insights, we propose a method find all outliers in the road segment-based road network. Finally, we conducted experiments on a large real dataset containing trajectories from 20,000 taxis. The results show that our proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art method by 54%, 36% and 46% respectively in terms of precision, recall and F1-measure.
EFFECT OF TRIAZOPHOS ON PROTEIN CONTENT IN THE FRESH WATER FISH CYPRINUS CARPIO ( LINN . ) AFTER ACUTE AND CHRONIC EXPOSURE

Organophosphate pesticides are largely used to control various agricultural pests. Triazophos is one of the organophosphate (OP) pesticides extensively used in agricultural practices throughout India. In the present study, the effect of Triazophos on protein contents was studied in gill, liver, muscle and kidney of common carp, Cyprinus carpio. The fish were exposed to 0.5 ppm (LC0) and 1 ppm (LC50) concentrations for 96hrs and 0.1 ppm(1/10 th of LC50) and 0.05ppm(1/20 th of LC50) concentrations for the period of 30 days. Statistical analysis was made by using probit analysis. Significant alterations in the protein content of fish tissue were observed. Protein content was found to be decreased in all the tissues after acute and chronic exposure to all test concentrations over control. Comparatively less depletion in protein content was observed at 0.5 ppm (LC0) and 0.05ppm (1/20 th of LC50) concentrations than1ppm and 0.1 ppm concentrations.
Cause of death in mild cognitive impairment: a prospective study (NEDICES)

Previous studies have reported the occurrence of increased mortality rates among individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but possible links between MCI subtypes and cause‐specific mortality need to be explored. To examine short‐term mortality (5 years), long‐term mortality (13 years) and cause‐specific mortality of individuals over 65 years of age suffering from MCI compared with cognitively unimpaired individuals in the Neurological Disorders in Central Spain (NEDICES) cohort.
Simulating E-business Innovation Process Improvement with Virtual Teams Across Europe and Asia

In this article, E-business new product development innovation processes were studied at four enterprises across Europe and Asia. E-entrepreneurship innovation was improved using a quality of idea priority model. The conventional quality function deployment phase 1 matrix was revised to increase the voice of customers and engineer quality of idea decision-making. The proposed model was simulated with geographically dispersed virtual teams (based on production data). Statistical analyses were applied to test the hypothesis that an improved innovation process could better discriminate between new product return on investment pass or fail probability.
Noradrenergic Deficits Alter Processing of Communication Signals in Female Songbirds

During acoustic communication, animals must attend to sounds from a particular source while simultaneously rejecting intrusion from other sources. One possible candidate mechanism for this process is the noradrenergic system. Noradrenaline is a neuromodulator that tunes sensory processing systems and regulates attention. We examined whether pharmacological degradation of the noradrenergic system using N-(2-chloroethyl)-N-2-bromobenzyl-amine hydrochloride (DSP-4) modifies processing of species-typical auditory signals in female canaries (Serinus canaria). We measured auditory responses to conspecific and heterospecific songs using ZENK protein expression within the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM) and the mesopallium caudomedial (CMM). Song-induced ZENK expression in these auditory forebrain areas is typically higher in birds exposed to conspecific songs as opposed to heterospecific songs. Our results reveal that this differential ZENK induction is abolished specifically within dNCM and CMM in female canaries treated with DSP-4. Furthermore, in DSP-4-treated birds, conspecific song-induced ZENK expression is significantly reduced when compared to saline-treated birds. This suggests that the noradrenergic system modifies auditory processing by enhancing neuronal responses to signals relevant to survival and reproduction rather than inhibiting neuronal responses to signals that are less relevant. Overall, our results reveal that noradrenaline plays a significant neuromodulatory role during the reception of species-typical communication signals.
Neurocognitive Contexts for Morphological Complexity: Dissociating Inflection and Derivation

We review experimental findings about the processing of morphologically complex words, and provide a neuro-cognitive account of the mechanisms that underlie this processing. Within the framework of the brain network that supports language comprehension, we argue that complex words created by regular and rule-based combinations, such as regular inflections in English (e.g. played, jumps), engage a left-lateralized frontotemporal subsystem, specialized for grammatical computations. In contrast, processing of lexicalized and unpredictable complexity, present in derived words (e.g. bravely, warmth), engages a bilateral subsystem, which underpins whole-word, stem-based lexical access. We suggest a potential neurobiological framework for this proposed organization.
Improved light and temperature responses for light-use-efficiency-based GPP models

Gross primary production (GPP) is the process by which carbon enters ecosystems. Models based on the theory of light use efficiency (LUE) have emerged as an efficient method to estimate ecosystem GPP. However, problems have been noted when applying global parameterizations to biome-level applications. In particular, model–data comparisons of GPP have shown that models (including LUE models) have difficulty matching estimated GPP. This is significant as errors in simulated GPP may propagate through models (e.g. Earth system models). Clearly, unique biome-level characteristics must be accounted for if model accuracy is to be improved. We hypothesize that in boreal regions (which are strongly temperature controlled), accounting for temperature acclimation and non-linear light response of daily GPP will improve model performance. To test this hypothesis, we have chosen four diagnostic models for comparison, namely an LUE model (linear in its light response) both with and without temperature acclimation and an LUE model and a big leaf model both with temperature acclimation and non-linear in their light response. All models include environmental modifiers for temperature and vapour pressure deficit (VPD). Initially, all models were calibrated against five eddy covariance (EC) sites within Russia for the years 2002–2005, for a total of 17 site years. Model evaluation was performed via 10-out cross-validation. Cross-validation clearly demonstrates the improvement in model performance that temperature acclimation makes in modelling GPP at strongly temperature-controlled sites in Russia. These results would indicate that inclusion of temperature acclimation in models on sites experiencing cold temperatures is imperative. Additionally, the inclusion of a non-linear light response function is shown to further improve performance, particularly in less temperature-controlled sites.
Machine Learning Based Channel Error Diagnostics in Wireless Sensor Networks

Due to the unreliable nature of wireless links, sensor nodes frequently encounter degraded performance or lack of connection. This paper provides a real-time status monitoring and channel error diagnosis method in a wireless sensor network. It uses a poll and echo procedure to efficiently collect some physical layer and link layer statistics from both transmitter side and receiver side. A machine learning approach (k-nearest neighbor) is used for failure isolation. Our scheme involves learning the normal and anomalous behavior of the network via continued observation, and classifying future events and observations as normal or different classes of errors based on past experiences. With implementation on IEEE 802.15. 4 SoC, our experimental results show that the proposed framework can diagnose the major wireless transmission errors with high accuracy.
Local treatment of experimental colitis in the rat by negatively charged liposomes of catalase, TMN and SOD

Superoxide dismutase (SOD), 4-amino tempol (tempamine, denoted as TMN) and catalase were encapsulated into negatively charged liposomes. The activity of the antioxidants against dinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (DNBS) induced colitis was tested in the rat and compared to the anti-inflammatory activity of the native enzymes and free TMN. Inflammation severity was assessed by monitoring tissue myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) amounts and by comparing the weights of the dissected colons. In all cases, the liposomal preparations of the antioxidants were more effective than the free molecules in the treatment of the experimental colitis, probably due to the attachment of the negatively charged liposomes, and consequently a longer residence time and better uptake of the antioxidants to the inflamed mucosa. This study suggests that low and high molecular weight antioxidants delivered via anionic liposomes can serve as a novel targeted therapy to treat chronic inflammation of the colonic epithelium, such as ulcerative colitis.
Homogeneous microbial diversity in the upper sediment layers of a shallow lake

The variability and patchiness in composition of bacterial communities were studied in a large eutrophic boreal lake (280 km 2 ) with a mean depth of 10 km tran- sect) scales. An increase in bacterial diversity from the river bed to mid-lake corresponded to the sediment type and was related to an increase in productivity. Vertically, the bacterial diversity decreased with sediment depth while the bacterial community in the upper 2 to 5 cm of sediment was almost homogeneous. These data suggest that BCC of organic-rich sediment is very homoge- neous horizontally, and the upper centimeters of the sediment undergo frequent mixing, leading to similar homogeneity.
An efficient scheduling method for query-set-based broadcasting in mobile environments

Most of the previous researches assume that each mobile client needs only one data item. However, in many situations, a mobile client might need more than one data item. In this paper, we propose an efficient scheduling method for query-set-based broadcasting, which integrates with query expansion method (QEM) and the mining association rules technique. The mining association rules can globally find the data item sets (large itemsets) which are requested by clients frequently. From our simulation results, we show that, as compared to the local optimal approach in the previous methods, our improved-QEM can construct the schedule with the smaller TQD than QEM and modified-QEM, where TQD denotes total query distance and is proportional to the average access time.
Decentralized method for load sharing and power management in a hybrid single/three-phase islanded microgrid consisting of hybrid source PV/battery units

This paper proposes a new decentralized power management and load sharing method for a photovoltaic based, hybrid single/three-phase islanded microgrid consisting of various PV units, battery units and hybrid PV/battery units. The proposed method takes into account the available PV power and battery conditions of the units to share the load among them and power flow among different phases is performed automatically through three-phase units. Modified active power-frequency droop functions are used according to operating states of each unit and the frequency level is used as trigger for switching between the states. Efficacy of the proposed method in different load, PV generation and battery conditions is validated experimentally in a microgrid lab prototype consisted of one three-phase unit and two single-phase units.
Decline in Heart Transplant Wait List Mortality in the United States Following Broader Regional Sharing of Donor Hearts

Background—A change in allocation algorithm in July 2006 allowed broader regional sharing of donor hearts in the United States (US). We assessed if the allocation change has been associated with a decline in wait list mortality in the US. Methods and Results—We compared baseline characteristics and outcomes in patients ≥18 years old listed for a primary heart transplant in the US before (July 1, 2004–July 11, 2006, Era1) and after (July 12, 2006–June 30, 2009, Era 2) the change in allocation algorithm. Of 11 864 patients in the study, 4503 were listed during Era 1 and 7361 during Era 2. Patients listed during Era 2 were more likely to be listed status 1A, have an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, and supported on a continuous flow assist device (P<0.001 for distribution. Patients listed in Era 2 were at a 17% lower risk of dying on the wait list or becoming too sick to transplant (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.83, 95% CI 0.75, 0.93). Transplant recipients in Era 2 were more likely to be transplanted as status 1A (37% versus 48%, respectively, P<0.001). Post-transplant in-hospital mortality (6.3% versus 5.4%; adjusted odds ratio, 0.86 for Era 2, 95% CI 0.79, 1.06) and 1-year survival were similar. Conclusions—The risk of death on the wait list or becoming too sick to transplant has decreased by 17% in the US since the allocation algorithm allowing broader regional sharing was implemented in 2006. The shift in hearts to sicker candidates has not resulted in higher in-hospital or first year post-transplant mortality.
Genetic forms of human hypertension

Our basic understanding of sodium mechanisms provides unique insights into epithelial transport processes, and unusual clinical syndromes can arise from mutations of these ion transporters. These genetic disorders affect sodium balance, with both sodium-retaining and sodium-wasting conditions being the consequence. A major focus of such studies has been the epithelial sodium channel, which can be activated by mutations in the channel subunits or mineralocorticoid receptor, and changes in the response to or production of mineralocorticoids. As a result, there are now clearly defined Mendelian syndromes in which epithelial sodium channel activity is ‘dysregulated’, with the subsequent development of systemic hypertension with suppressed plasma renin activity that can be attributed to a primary renal mechanism. Applying these insights to the far more common disorder of low renin hypertension may shed new light on the underlying pathophysiology of this common form of human hypertension, and more clearly define the interactions of dietary constituents such as sodium and potassium in the regulation of blood pressure.
The role of patient-physician trust in moderating medication nonadherence due to cost pressures.

BACKGROUND Prescription drug costs constitute a burden for many chronically ill adults and are strongly related to patients' likelihood of using less medication than prescribed. We examined the extent to which patients' trust in their physicians may moderate the impact of economic constraints and other risk factors for cost-related adherence problems. METHODS A total of 912 patients with diabetes recruited from 5 Veterans Affairs health systems completed a detailed cross-sectional survey. Patients reported their level of physician trust using a standard scale and were stratified into high-trust (n = 557) and low-trust (n = 355) groups. We fit multivariate logistic regression models with terms characterizing the interactions between physician trust and (1) patients' out-of-pocket medication costs and (2) patients' income, as well as other possible risk factors for cost-related underuse. RESULTS Patients with higher out-of-pocket costs were more likely to forgo medications because of cost pressures when physician trust levels were low. Having a low income was only associated with cost-related adherence problems in the context of low physician trust. Patients who reported medication underuse for reasons other than cost were 4 times as likely as other patients to also report cost-related underuse, and those with significant depressive symptoms had more than twice the risk of cost-related underuse compared with those without depression (both P<.05). CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that a trusting physician relationship may moderate the impact of cost pressures on patients' medication adherence. More generally, addressing noncost barriers to adherence may reduce rates of cost-related medication underuse.
A Practical Roadmap for the Path Planning of Mobile Robots in Rectilinear Environments

In this paper we propose a practical roadmap for mobile robots with differential wheel base. The roadmap is designed for a rectilinear environment which covers most of indoor buildings. In designing the roadmap, we put emphasis on two issues: (1) human friendly path and (2) low computation. First, we analyze how human move. From the human movement, we find out that human navigate in a way that minimizes the sum of a muscle and a brain energy. On the basis of the human path, we suggest an algorithm with low calculations. Experimental results show that the path generated by our method is more human-friendly and natural