Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Weight-Loss Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Intermittent Energy Restriction Trials Lasting a Minimum of 6 Months

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to summarise the effects of intermittent energy restriction on weight and biological markers in long term intervention studies of >6 months duration. An electronic search was performed using the MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library databases for intervention trials lasting 6 months or longer investigating the effects of intermittent energy restriction. A total of nine studies were identified as meeting the pre-specified criteria. All studies included an intermittent energy restriction arm, with six being directly compared to continuous energy restriction. A total of 981 subjects were enrolled and randomised, with weight loss observed in all intermittent energy restriction arms regardless of study duration or follow up length. Eight interventions in six trials were used for the meta-analyses, with results indicating neither intermittent or continuous energy restriction being superior with respect to weight loss, 0.084 ± 0.114 (overall mean difference between groups ± standard error; p = 0.458). The effects of intermittent energy restriction in the long term remain unclear. The number of long term studies conducted is very limited, and participant numbers typically small (less than 50 completers), indicating the need for larger, long term trials of 12 months or more, to be conducted in order to understand the impact of intermittent energy restriction on weight loss and long term weight management. Blood lipid concentrations, glucose, and insulin were not altered by intermittent energy expenditure in values greater than those seen with continuous energy restriction.
SELF CHECKING AND FAULT TOLERANT DIGITAL DESIGN

During the process of development of any system, system reliability is of utmost importance. Specially when designing a processor, it is desired that a processor function correctly even in the presence of faults. This concept is commonly referred to as fault tolerance. The fault tolerant microprocessor systems used in safety critical applications need to be thoroughly validated during the design stages. As feature size reduces in future, there is an increased probability of transient and inter mittent faults. Now these systems on chip integrated circuits contain both digital and analog cores. Test cost for such mixed signal SOC is much higher than the digital SOC that allows the analog and digital cores to be tested. The analog cores are wrapped such that the test can performed using a digital test access mechanism. In our method, an analog test infrastructure is used which consists of test wrapper s and test access mechanism. Test wrappers isolate var ious modules from their surrounding circuitry during test. So the focus is on optimisation of a unified test access architecture that is used for digital and analo gue cores. We wrap each analog core by a pair of digital to analog converter and analog to digital converter. They convert analog core to virtual digital core which allow the use of digital testers to test the analog cores. This reduces the need for expensi ve mixed signal tester so that there is a reduction in the overall cost.
Language networks: Their structure, function, and evolution

Several important recent advances in various sciences (particularly biology and physics) are based on complex network analysis, which provides tools for characterising statistical properties of networks and explaining how they may arise. This article examines the relevance of this trend for the study of human languages. We review some early e(cid:11)orts to build up language networks, charac-terise their properties, and show in which direction models are being developed to explain them. These insights are relevant, both for studying fundamental unsolved puzzles in cognitive science, in particular the origins and evolution of language, but also for recent data-driven statistical approaches to natural language.
Interactive Content-Aware Music Browsing using the Radio Drum

Portable digital music players are becoming pervasive and the size of personal digital music collections has been steadily increasing (5-10 thousand tracks are common today). The emerging area of music information retrieval (MIR) deals with all aspects of managing, analyzing and organizing music in digital formats. The majority of work in MIR follows a search/retrieval paradigm. More recently, the importance of browsing as an interaction paradigm has been realized and several novel interfaces have been proposed. In this paper, we describe a tangible interface for content-aware browsing of music collections. The radio drum is a gestural interface based on capacitance sensors that can detect the x,y,z positions of two drum sticks in a 3D volume. We describe two possible mappings that can be used for browsing music collections without relying on metadata. The first is an explicit mapping of tempo and beat strength, and the second is a music similarity space using audio feature extraction and a self organizing map (SOM)
Altered Intrinsic Neuronal Interactions in the Visual Cortex of the Blind

In congenital blindness, the brain develops under severe sensory deprivation and undergoes remarkable plastic changes in both structure and function. Visually deprived occipital cortical regions are histologically and morphologically altered and exhibit a strikingly remodeled functional state: absolute levels of neural activity are heightened and are modulated by nonvisual sensory stimulation as well as higher cognitive processes. However, the neuronal mechanisms that underlie this altered functional state remain largely unknown. Here, we show that the visual cortex of the congenitally blind exhibits a characteristic gain in frequency-specific intrinsic neuronal interactions. We studied oscillatory activity in 11 congenitally blind humans and matched sighted control subjects with magnetoencephalography at rest. We found increased spontaneous correlations of delta band (1–3 Hz) and gamma band (76–128 Hz) oscillations across the visual cortex of the blind that were functionally coupled. Local delta phase modulated gamma amplitude. Furthermore, classical resting rhythms (8–20 Hz) were reduced in amplitude but showed no altered correlation pattern. Our results suggest that both decreased inhibition and circuit mechanisms that support active processing are intrinsic features underlying the altered functional state of the visual cortex in congenitally blind individuals.
Non‐Local Image Reconstruction for Efficient Computation of Synthetic Bidirectional Texture Functions

Visual prototyping of materials is relevant for many computer graphics applications. A large amount of modelling flexibility can be obtained by directly rendering micro‐geometry. While this is possible in principle, it is usually computationally expensive. Recently, bidirectional texture functions (BTFs) have become popular for efficient photorealistic rendering of surfaces. We propose an efficient system for the computation of synthetic BTFs using Monte Carlo path tracing of micro‐geometry. We observe that BTFs usually consist of many similar apparent bidirectional reflectance distribution functions. By exploiting structural similarity we can reduce rendering times by one order of magnitude. This is done in a process we call non‐local image reconstruction, which has been inspired by non‐local means filtering. Our results indicate that synthesizing BTFs is highly practical and may currently only take a few minutes for BTFs with 70 × 70 viewing and lighting directions and 128 × 128 pixels.
Japanese Dependency Parsing Using Sequential Labeling for Semi-spoken Language

The amount of documents directly published by end users is increasing along with the growth of Web 2.0. Such documents often contain spoken-style expressions, which are difficult to analyze using conventional parsers. This paper presents dependency parsing whose goal is to analyze Japanese semi-spoken expressions. One characteristic of our method is that it can parse self-dependent (independent) segments using sequential labeling.
SER expression for M-ary dual ring star QAM over Kappa-Mu fading channels

Fading is a significant part of any wireless communication system. Rayleigh, Rice and Nakagami-m are traditional fading channels but in some specific cases these fading distributions do not properly fit the experimental measured data, which demands the use of more general fading distributions. The Kappa-Mu distribution is general distribution that includes the Rice, the Nakagami-m, the Rayleigh, and One-Sided Gaussian distributions as special cases. Little analytical works dealing with Kappa-Mu fading channels have been done. In the current paper we derive a closed form expression for Symbol Error Rate of M-ary dual ring star quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), when corrupted by additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), over Kappa-Mu fading channel. Also to validate our derivation we perform Monte Carlo simulations.
Large |Vub|: a challenge for the Minimal Flavour Violating MSSM

Under the assumption of Minimal Flavour Violation (MFV), the Unitarity Triangle (UT) can be determined by using only angle measurements and tree-level observables. In this respect, the most accurate quantities today available are sin 2βψKS, |Vcb| and |Vub|. Among the latter, |Vub| is at present the quantity suffering from largest systematic uncertainties, given the discrepancy between the inclusive and the exclusive determinations. We show with a numerical fit how sensitively the MFV-UT determination depends on the choice of |Vub|. In addition, we focus on the implications of the inclusive value for |Vub|, which favors two non-SM like solutions in the − plane. We study in detail the possibility of reproducing such solutions within the MFV MSSM. Our findings indicate that the case for the MFV MSSM is in this respect quite problematic, unless the non-perturbative parameters ξ and BK are significantly different from those obtained by lattice methods. As a byproduct, we point out that scenarios with 200 GeV MA 500 GeV and tan β 50 that predict a significant suppression for ΔMs in correlation with an enhancement for BR(Bs → μ+μ−) have to be fine-tuned in order not to violate the new combined bound on the latter decay mode from the CDF and DO collaborations. Relatively large correlated effects can however still occur for negative values of μ and large values for MA500 GeV, increasing with increasing tan β30.
The ICWSM 2010 JDPA Sentiment Corpus for the Automotive Domain

This paper presents a rich annotation scheme for mentions, co-reference, meronymy, sentiment expressions, modifiers of sentiment expressions including neutralizers, negators, and intensifiers, and describes a large corpus annotated with this scheme. We describe how this corpus relates to recent, state-of-the-art work in sentiment analysis, and define the various annotation types, provide examples, and show statistics on occurrence and inter-annotator agreement. This resource is the largest sentiment-topical corpus to date and is publicly available. It helps quantify sentiment phenomena, and allows for the construction of advanced sentiment systems and enables direct comparison of different algorithms.
Brr2p carboxy-terminal Sec63 domain modulates Prp16 splicing RNA helicase

RNA helicases are essential for virtually all cellular processes, however, their regulation is poorly understood. The activities of eight RNA helicases are required for pre-mRNA splicing. Amongst these, Brr2p is unusual in having two helicase modules, of which only the amino-terminal helicase domain appears to be catalytically active. Using genetic and biochemical approaches, we investigated interaction of the carboxy-terminal helicase module, in particular the carboxy-terminal Sec63-2 domain, with the splicing RNA helicase Prp16p. Combining mutations in BRR2 and PRP16 suppresses or enhances physical interaction and growth defects in an allele-specific manner, signifying functional interactions. Notably, we show that Brr2p Sec63-2 domain can modulate the ATPase activity of Prp16p in vitro by interfering with its ability to bind RNA. We therefore propose that the carboxy-terminal helicase module of Brr2p acquired a regulatory function that allows Brr2p to modulate the ATPase activity of Prp16p in the spliceosome by controlling access to its RNA substrate/cofactor.
"Cater to the children": the role of the lead industry in a public health tragedy, 1900-1955.

A major source of childhood lead poisoning, still a serious problem in the United States, is paint. The dangers of lead were known even in the 19th century, and the particular dangers to children were documented in the English-language literature as early as 1904. During the first decades of the 20th century, many other countries banned or restricted the use of lead paint for interior painting. Despite this knowledge, the lead industry in the United States did nothing to discourage the use of lead paint on interior walls and woodwork. In fact, beginning in the 1920s, the Lead Industries Association and its members conducted an intensive campaign to promote the use of paint containing white lead, even targeting children in their advertising. It was not until the 1950s that the industry, under increasing pressure, adopted a voluntary standard limiting the amount of lead in interior paints.
Preparation and characterization of laminated thiolated chitosan-based freeze-dried wafers for potential buccal delivery of macromolecules

Abstract This study involves the development and functional characterization of a thiolated chitosan (CS) system for potential buccal delivery of proteins. Thiolated CS was synthesized by conjugating pure CS with thioglycolic acid and dialyzed to remove excess acid. Amount of thiol groups immobilized on CS was determined using L-cysteine calibration curve. The weight average molecular weights of CS and thiolated CS were monitored using gel permeation chromatography. Laminated wafers were obtained by pouring gels (containing bovine serum albumin; BSA, different amounts of glutathione as enzyme inhibitor and mucin to mimic salivary conditions) of the thiolated CS into moulds previously lined with impervious ethylcellulose (EC) films and freeze-dried. The resulting formulations were analyzed using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The formulations were further characterized for functional buccal mucosa performance using hydration, swelling, mucoadhesion and in vitro drug dissolution studies. FTIR showed successful thiolation of CS’s amine functionality, CD confirmed that BSA conformation remained unchanged throughout the gel formulation and freeze-drying process, whilst SEM showed a porous microstructure of the wafers and a uniform EC film laminate with no visible pores or cracks. The functional characterization studies showed that glutathione had significant effects on hydration, mucoadhesion and subsequently drug dissolution and release characteristics, whilst mucin affected the mucoadhesive properties of the wafers. It was concluded that BSA-loaded wafers containing 10% w/w glutathione as enzyme inhibitor was the formulation choice for potential buccal delivery and should be selected for further investigations.
Computer Analysis of Perpendicular Magnetic Recording Medium for Ultra-High Density Recording

on quantitative computer simulations of perpendicular magnetic recording using a single-pole head and Co-Cr/Ni-Fe double-layer film media'[1,2]. In simulations of perpendicular magnetic record¬ ing, in addition to a model of the magnetization mechanism which accurately reproduces the vector magnetization process in the medium, it is also important that the magnetic interaction between head and medium be given adequate consideration. We have previously developed a model of
Output feedback reset control of general MIMO LTI systems

This paper presents a systematic Lyapunov-based approach for output-feedback reset control of linear time-invariant (LTI) systems with a general multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) configuration. The reset controller consists of a base linear controller and a reset law that enforces resets to the controller states. Based on the extended Lyapunov-like function (ELF) technique, the reset controller with guaranteed exponential stability and weighted L2-gain performance is synthesized by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) with linear search over two scalar variables. A numerical example is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Fabrication of decellularized adipose tissue/alginate composite microspheres with pASCs encapsulation for tissue engineering

Stem cells are utilized to create living and functional tissues to regenerate and repair tissue or organs in the body in cell based and regenerative treatments. It has been demonstrated that stem cell treatments can improve perfusion and stimulate neovascularization in peripheral arterial disease. However, such treatments usually suffer from some deficiencies, such as immune rejection and limited proliferation of implanted cells.In this study, we focused on the application of the decellularized adipose tissue (DAT), which is a native extracellular matrix (ECM), in cell based therapies. Biomaterials extracted from the organism itself possesses great potential as scaffold materials for stem cell culture as well as new tissue construct formation, especially if the ECM and cell are from the same source (in our case, the adipose tissue). Therefore, DAT solution (DATsol) was combined with alginate in our study to culture adipose stem cells (ASCs). We investigated the mixture of DATsol and high or low molecular weight alginate. The 2-D in vitro study of DATsol/alginate was found to promote cell adhesion and differentiation. ASCs, immobilized in DATsol/alginate microspheres, demonstrated metabolic activity which with an overall viability higher than 80%. The results suggested that the use of DATsol and alginate possesses great potential for application in cell based therapies in ischemia patients which facilitates the development of new mature and stable capillaries.
An ensemble feature ranking framework for the assessment of the efficacy of cervical cancer detection tests and human papillomavirus genotypes in the detection of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical carcinoma

In most cases, cervical cancer (CxCa) develops as a result of underestimated abnormalities present in cytology via the test Papanicolaou (Pap test). Although it is the sole test that has proved its value for cancer prevention, Pap test is prone to human errors as it is performed via the microscope and requires skilled personnel. Consequently, molecular techniques have emerged in the recent years, aiming to replace Pap test or support the diagnosis as ancillary tests. These include DNA micro-arrays identifying Human Papillomavirus (HPV) subtypes, mRNA techniques such as nucleic acid based amplification or flow cytometry identifying E6/E7 oncogenes, and immunocytochemistry techniques such as overexpression of p16. These techniques are either highly sensitive or highly specific, but not both at the same time, thus no perfect method is available today. Moreover, most of the published studies compare two tests against each other, which, however, are using different population study groups, therefore it is questionable if the results can be used to perform a direct comparison between the available tests. In this paper, we adopt a sophisticated approach to assess the value of several well-known and widely applied CxCa tests in detecting high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and CxCa (CIN2+), by employing an Ensemble Feature Ranking framework. Applying the proposed framework we managed to directly compare and rank the studied CxCa tests and several HPV genotypes according to their efficacy in detecting CIN2+ lesions. The results suggest that HPV mRNA tests perform better than HPV DNA testing for the triage of abnormal Pap tests. Such findings may guide cytopathologists in a step by step basis to decide which tests to perform following an abnormal Pap test, in order to decrease uncertainty, improve accuracy and reduce time to diagnosis and resources.
Holographic entanglement entropy: an overview

In this paper, we review recent progress on the holographic understanding of the entanglement entropy in the anti-de Sitter space/conformal field theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence. In general, the AdS/CFT relates physical observables in strongly coupled quantum many-body systems to certain classical quantities in gravity plus matter theories. In the case of our holographic entanglement entropy, its gravity dual turns out to be purely geometric, i.e. the area of minimal area surfaces in AdS spaces. One interesting application is to study various phase transitions by regarding the entanglement entropy as order parameters. Indeed we will see that our holographic calculations nicely reproduce the confinement/deconfinement transition. Our results can also be applied to understanding the microscopic origins of black hole entropy.
Modeling and design of service-oriented architecture

Component-based development (CBD) and Web services (WS) are today widely used for building flexible enterprise-scale systems organized in a service-oriented architecture (SOA). In order to gain the full benefits of the emerging technology and standards, an effective approach for modeling and designing this complex distributed computing model is required. Current efforts in this direction are much behind the technology ones. This work presents an approach to SOA modeling and design based on the concept of service component and standard UML modeling constructs. The interface of a service component goes well beyond the list of operation signatures to specify the complete contract between the service provider and consumer. The paper defines service components of different types, scope and granularity and puts them in the context of a model-driven design approach to provide bidirectional traceability between business requirements and software artifacts.