Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sleep Quality Improves During Treatment With Bryophyllum pinnatum

Hypothesis. Cancer patients frequently suffer from poor sleep quality. Bryophyllum pinnatum is a herbal medication used in anthroposophic medicine, which has been shown to be associated with improvements in sleep quality during pregnancy with only few and minor or moderate side-effects reported. In this study, the sleep quality of cancer patients during treatment with B pinnatum was investigated. Study Design. In this prospective, observational study, cancer patients suffering from sleep problems were treated with B pinnatum (350 mg tablets, corresponding to 50% of leaf pressed juice [Weleda AG, Arlesheim, Switzerland], dosage at physician’s consideration, but most frequently 2 tablets with evening meal and 2 before going to bed). Methods. Sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI]), daily sleepiness (Epworth Sleeping Scale [ESS]), and fatigue (Fatigue Severity Scale [FSS]) were assessed at the beginning of the treatment and after 3 weeks. Possible adverse drug reactions perceived by the patients during the treatment were recorded. From the 28 recruited patients, 20 completed both questionnaires and were considered in the present analysis. Data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Results. Patients were 61 ± 10.4 years old and the majority were female (17 out of 20). During treatment with B pinnatum, the PSQI decreased from 12.2 ± 3.62 to 9.1 ± 3.61 (P < .01), and ESS changed from 8.4 ± 3.18 to 7.1 ± 3.98 (P < .05). There was no change in FSS. The treatment was well tolerated by the majority of patients, with only 6 patients reporting discomfort that might have been caused by B pinnatum (fatigue n = 3, dry throat n = 1, agitation n = 1, difficult digestion n = 1). No serious adverse drug reactions were detected. Conclusion. B pinnatum may be a suitable treatment for sleep problems of cancer patients. Controlled, randomized clinical trials of the use of B pinnatum in sleep disorders are urgently needed.
STRATEGIC INVESTMENT DECISIONS : THEORY AND PRACTICE IN ESTONIA

To study the practice of investment decision-making in Estonia, first a written survey of 40 companies was carried out. More than half of respondents were found to use sophisticated (DCF-based) capital budgeting methods, which is a lower usage rate than that of large companies in western countries. This could be attributed to the short history of Estonian free market economy and the lack of appropriate business education, as well as to the small size of the Estonian economy and companies. To further study the decision-making process, in-depth interviews were conducted in six companies. It was found that issues other than financial analysis played a great role in investment decision-making.
CHANGES IN LIPID COMPOSITION OF Phaseolus vulgaris LEAVES AFTER SIMULATING ACID RAIN TREATMENT

Summary. In the present study we have examined the influence of single spraying with simulated acid rain (pH 1.8) on the content of main lipid classes and their fatty acid composition in the thylakoid membranes of bean plants. Acid stress caused considerable changes in the investigated parameters. A decline in the content of linolenic acid, a highly unsatureted fatty acid which is an indicator of lipid peroxidation was observed. This decrease should result in decreased fluidity of the membrane lipid bilayer. The MGDG/DGDG ratio considerably increased at the 3rd hour after acid spraying, which is an indicator of membrane injury and of the lower packing properties.
Elevated mRNA-levels of distinct mitochondrial and plasma membrane Ca2+ transporters in individual hypoglossal motor neurons of endstage SOD1 transgenic mice

Disturbances in Ca2+ homeostasis and mitochondrial dysfunction have emerged as major pathogenic features in familial and sporadic forms of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a fatal degenerative motor neuron disease. However, the distinct molecular ALS-pathology remains unclear. Recently, an activity-dependent Ca2+ homeostasis deficit, selectively in highly vulnerable cholinergic motor neurons in the hypoglossal nucleus (hMNs) from a common ALS mouse model, the endstage superoxide dismutase SOD1G93A transgenic mouse, was described. This functional deficit was defined by a reduced hMN mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake capacity and elevated Ca2+ extrusion across the plasma membrane. To address the underlying molecular mechanisms, here we quantified mRNA-levels of respective potential mitochondrial and plasma membrane Ca2+ transporters in individual, choline-acetyltransferase (ChAT) positive hMNs from wildtype (WT) and endstage SOD1G93A mice, by combining UV laser microdissection with RT-qPCR techniques, and specific data normalization. As ChAT cDNA levels as well as cDNA and genomic DNA levels of the mitochondrially encoded NADH dehydrogenase ND1 were not different between hMNs from WT and endstage SOD1G93A mice, these genes were used to normalize hMN-specific mRNA-levels of plasma membrane and mitochondrial Ca2+ transporters, respectively. We detected about 2-fold higher levels of the mitochondrial Ca2+ transporters MCU/MICU1, Letm1, and UCP2 in remaining hMNs from endstage SOD1G93A mice. These higher expression-levels of mitochondrial Ca2+ transporters in individual hMNs were not associated with a respective increase in number of mitochondrial genomes, as evident from hMN specific ND1 DNA quantification. Normalized mRNA-levels for the plasma membrane Na+/Ca2+ exchanger NCX1 were also about 2-fold higher in hMNs from SOD1G93A mice. Thus, pharmacological stimulation of Ca2+ transporters in highly vulnerable hMNs might offer a neuroprotective strategy for ALS.
Cancer induction following single and multiple exposures to a constant amount of vinyl chloride monomer.

Vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), already identified as a human animal carcinogen, was selected as a model agent to explore an area of concern for single and intermittent low level exposure. In traditional cancer bioassay, animals are repeatedly exposed over their lifespan to a dose of suspected chemical. In the current studies rats and mice were exposed in an inhalation chamber to single one-hour doses of VCM ranging from 50 to 50,000 ppm. A second group was given 10 one-hour exposures to 500 ppm or 100 one-hour exposures to 50 ppm of the same chemical. All animals were then observed for the remainder of their lives, generally 18-24 months. Moribund animals were euthanized, and survivors were sacrificed on schedule and their tissues examined for pathological changes. Specifically, the oncogenic study demonstrated dose related effects for single one-hour exposure of VCM at high levels, i.e., 5,000 and 50,000 ppm. These concentrations increased the incidence of pulmonary adenomas and carcinomas in mice. Repeated exposure of A/J mice to the same chemical at 500 ppm X 10 one-hour exposures also increased the incidence of pulmonary adenomas and carcinomas which are considered highly one-hour exposure, no significant increase in tumors was observed. Rats exposed to identical concentrations of VCM failed to elicit a tumorigenic response.
The magnetic field of the pre-main sequence Herbig Ae star HD 190073

The general context of this paper is the study of magnetic fields in the pre-main sequence intermediate mass Herbig Ae/Be stars. Magnetic fields are likely to play an important role in pre-main sequence evolution at these masses, in particular in controlling the gains and losses of stellar angular momentum. The particular aim of this paper is to announce the detection of a structured magnetic field in the Herbig Ae star HD 190073, and to discuss various scenarii for the geometry of the star, its environment and its magnetic field. We have used the ESPaDOnS spectropolarimeter at CFHT in 2005 and 2006 to obtain high-resolution and signal-to-noise circular polarization spectra which demonstrate unambiguously the presence of a magnetic field in the photosphere of this star. Nine circular polarization spectra were obtained, each one showing a clear Zeeman signature. This signature is suggestive of a magnetic field structured on large scales. The signature, which corresponds to a longitudinal magnetic field of 74+- 10 G, does not vary detectably on a one-year timeframe, indicating either an azimuthally symmetric field, a zero inclination angle between the rotation axis and the line of sight, or a very long rotation period. The optical spectrum of HD 190073 exhibits a large number of emission lines. We discuss the formation of these emission lines in the framework of a model involving a turbulent heated region at the base of the stellar wind, possibly powered by magnetic accretion. This magnetic detection brings an important element for our understanding of stellar magnetism at intermediate masses.
Gene cloning and expression of MAP30 in Pichia pastoris

MAP30, a single-stranded type-I ribosome inactivating protein found in Momordica charantia, shows anti-HIV and anti-tumour activity. It could significantly inhibit the HIV-1 and herpes simplex virus infection. In this study, we tried a safe and convenient expression system supplying MAP30 protein for medical practice. The gene encoding MAP30 was cloned into pMD18-T vector. The pMD18-MAP30 plasmid was transformed into competent Escherichia coli JM109 by a chemical method. The MAP30 gene was obtained from the pMD18-MAP30 plasmid digested with NotI and SnaBI and the MAP30 gene was ligated into pGAPHα. Then, pGAPHα-MAP30 was transformed into Pichia pastoris GS115 by electroporation. GS115 transformants were analysed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gelelectrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blot. SDS-PAGE revealed an extra band of approximately 32 kDa in the supernatant protein of the GS115 transformants and in their intracellular protein fraction. The result of Western-blot analysis showed that the supernatant and the cell pellet from GS115 with pGAPHα-MAP30 could specially bind to monoclonal antibodies against His in the 32 kDa site. These results demonstrated that the expression of MAP30 in P. pastoris was successful; the process of the expression did not need methanol induction or introduction of an antibiotic-resistance gene. The study may provide a new way for MAP30 synthesis. Owing to its safety, this new approach is expected to be widely used in the medical field.
Analysis of Partial Phase Combining, Hybrid and Transmit Antenna Selection Schemes under Channel Estimation Errors and Feedback Delay

In this paper we investigate the impact of channel estimation errors and feedback delay on the performance of partial phase combining (PPC), hybrid and transmit antenna selection and schemes. We derive the average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in these schemes in the presence of channel estimation errors and feedback delay. We also derive the exact closed form average bit error rate (BER) of the transmit antenna selection under channel estimation errors and feedback delay. We show that in the presence of channel estimation error the diversity gain does not change whereas feedback delay results in diversity gain reduction and severe performance degradation.
Transmission phase shifts of Kondo impurities

We study the coherent properties of transmission through Kondo impurities by considering an open AharonovBohm ring with an embedded quantum dot. We develop a many-body scattering theory which enables us to calculate the conductance through the dot Gd ,t hetransmission phase shift ϕt , and the normalized visibility η in terms of the single-particle T matrix. For the single-channel Kondo effect, we find at temperatures much below the Kondo temperature TK that ϕt = π/2 without any corrections up to order ( T/T K ) 2 . The visibility has the form η = 1 − ( πT/T K ) 2 . For the non-Fermi-liquid fixed point of the two-channel Kondo, we find that ϕt = π/2 despite the fact that a scattering phase shift is not defined. The visibility is η = 1/2(1 + 4λ √ πT ) with λ ∼ 1/ √ TK , thus, at zero temperature, exactly half of the conductance is carried by single-particle processes, and coherent transmission may actually increase with temperature. We explain that the spin summation masks the inherent scattering phases of the dot, which can be accessed only via a spin-resolved experiment. In addition, we calculate the effect of magnetic field and channel anisotropy, and generalize to the k-channel Kondo case.
BLAST for Audio Sequences Alignment: A Fast Scalable Cover Identification Tool

Searching for similarities in largemusical databases is common for applications such as cover song identification. These methods typically use dynamic programming to align the shared musical motifs between subparts of two recordings. Such music local alignment methods are slow, as are the bioinformatics algorithms they are closely related to. We have adapted the ideas of the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) for biosequence alignment to the domain of aligning sequences of chroma features. Our tool allows local music sequence alignment in near-linear time. It identifies small regions of exact match between sequences, called seeds, and builds local alignments that include these seeds. Seed determination is a key issue for the accuracy of the method and closely depends on the database, the representation and the application. We introduce a particular seeding approach for cover detection, and evaluate it on both a 2000-piece training set and themillion song dataset (MSD). We show that the heuristic alignment drastically improves time computation for cover song detection. Alignment sensitivity is still very high on the small database, but is dramatically weakened on the MSD, due to differences in chroma features. We discuss the impact of different choices of these features on alignment of musical pieces.
Convergence and tradeoff of utility-optimal CSMA

It has been recently suggested by Jiang and Walrand that adaptive carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) can achieve optimal utility without any message passing in wireless networks. In this paper, a generalization of this algorithm is considered. In the continuous-time model, a proof is presented of the convergence of these adaptive CSMA algorithms to arbitrarily close to utility optimality, without assuming that the network dynamics freeze while the CSMA parameters are updated. In the more realistic, slotted-time model, the impact of collisions on the utility achieved is characterized, and the tradeoff between
Reverse Image Segmentation: A High-Level Solution to a Low-Level Task

Image segmentation is known to be an ambiguous problem whose solution needs an integration of image and shape cues of various levels; using low-level information alone is often not sufficient for a segmentation algorithm to match human capability. Two recent trends are popular in this area: (1) low-level and mid-level cues are combined together in learning-based approaches to localize segmentation boundaries; (2) high-level vision tasks such as image labeling and object recognition are directly performed to obtain object boundaries. In this paper, we present an interesting observation that performs image segmentation in a reverse way, i.e., using a high-level semantic labeling approach to address a low-level segmentation problem, could be a proper solution. We perform semantic labeling on input images and derive segmentations from the labeling results. We adopt graph coloring theory to connect these two tasks and provide theoretical insights to our solution. This seemingly unusual way of doing image segmentation leads to surprisingly encouraging results, superior or comparable to those of the state-of-the-art image segmentation algorithms on multiple publicly available datasets.
Consumption and Debt Response to Unanticipated Income Shocks: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Singapore

This paper uses a unique panel dataset of consumer financial transactions to study how consumers respond to an exogenous unanticipated income shock. Consumption rose significantly after the fiscal policy announcement: during the ten subsequent months, for each $1 received, consumers on average spent $0.80. We find a strong announcement effect -- 19 percent of the response occurs during the first two-month announcement period via credit cards. Subsequently, consumers switched to debit cards after disbursement before finally increasing spending on credit cards in the later months. Consumers with low liquid assets or with low credit card limit experienced stronger consumption responses. (JEL D12, D14, E21)
Little fingers on the tabletop: A usability evaluation in the kindergarten

This paper presents selected results from an experimental study designed to compare fantasy play in a virtual and physical setting. Twenty-two children (aged 3 and 4) played in same-sex dyads with a real wooden tree house and its virtual implementation on a DiamondTouch tabletop. The study evinced several problems in the interaction with the tabletop as children often struggled to drag the objects displayed on the surface. An error analysis is presented and results are used to propose guidelines for improving the use of DiamondTouch tabletops by young children.
Generalized dead-end elimination algorithms make large-scale protein side-chain structure prediction tractable: implications for protein design and structural genomics.

The dead-end elimination (DEE) theorems are powerful tools for the combinatorial optimization of protein side-chain placement in protein design and homology modeling. In order to reach their full potential, the theorems must be extended to handle very hard problems. We present a suite of new algorithms within the DEE paradigm that significantly extend its range of convergence and reduce run time. As a demonstration, we show that a total protein design problem of 10(115) combinations, a hydrophobic core design problem of 10(244) combinations, and a side-chain placement problem of 10(1044) combinations are solved in less than two weeks, a day and a half, and an hour of CPU time, respectively. This extends the range of the method by approximately 53, 144 and 851 log-units, respectively, using modest computational resources. Small to average-sized protein domains can now be designed automatically, and side-chain placement calculations can be solved for nearly all sizes of proteins and protein complexes in the growing field of structural genomics.
Evaluation of Binarization Methods for Document Images

This paper presents an evaluation of eleven locally adaptive binarization methods for gray scale images with low contrast, variable background intensity and noise. Niblack's method (1986) with the addition of the postprocessing step of Yanowitz and Bruckstein's method (1989) added performed the best and was also one of the fastest binarization methods. >
A Verifiable Copyright-Proving Scheme Based on Lifting Wavelet Transformation

In this paper, a verifiable copyright-proving scheme based on lifting wavelet transformation is proposed. Our scheme uses lifting wavelet transform (LWT) and chaotic system on the protected image in order to generate a verification map. Using the verification map, anyone can publicly verify the copyright of the protected image without needing the original image. Experiments show that the scheme can resistant geometric distortions and some intentional attacks. Without modifying the original image, the scheme is not only a robust method but also a lossless one.
Virtual Reality and Neuropsychology: Upgrading the Current Tools

Background:Virtual reality (VR) is an evolving technology that has been applied in various aspects of medicine, including the treatment of phobia disorders, pain distraction interventions, surgical training, and medical education. These applications have served to demonstrate the various assets offered through the use of VR. Objective:To provide a background and rationale for the application of VR to neuropsychological assessment. Methods:A brief introduction to VR technology and a review of current ongoing neuropsychological research that integrates the use of this technology. Conclusions:VR offers numerous assets that may enhance current neuropsychological assessment protocols and address many of the limitations faced by our traditional methods.
Combining features for Chinese sign language recognition with Kinect

In this paper, we propose a novel three-dimensional combining features method for sign language recognition. Based on the Kinect depth data and the skeleton joints data, we acquire the 3D trajectories of right hand, right wrist and right elbow. To construct feature vector, the paper uses combining location and spherical coordinate feature representation. The proposed approach utilizes the feature representation in spherical coordinate system effectively depicting the kinematic connectivity among hand, wrist and elbow for recognition. Meanwhile, 3D trajectory data acquired from Kinect avoid the interference of the illumination change and cluttered background. In experiments with a dataset of 20 gestures from Chinese sign language, the Extreme Learning Machine(ELM) is tested, compared with Support Vector Machine( SVM), the superior recognition performance is verified.
INCREASING ACCURACY THROUGH CLASS DETECTION: ENSEMBLE CREATION USING OPTIMIZED BINARY KNN CLASSIFIERS

Classifier ensembles have been used successfully to improve accuracy rates of the underlying classification mechanisms. Through the use of aggregated classifications, it becomes possible to achieve lower error rates in classification than by using a single classifier instance. Ensembles are most often used with collections of decision trees or neural networks owing to their higher rates of error when used individually. In this paper, we will consider a unique implementation of a classifier ensemble which utilizes kNN classifiers. Each classifier is tailored to detecting membership in a specific class using a best subset selection process for variables. This provides the diversity needed to successfully implement an ensemble. An aggregating mechanism for determining the final classification from the ensemble is presented and tested against several well known datasets.
Measurement of resonant microbeam pressure sensors

Operation and measurement of an electro-thermally excited resonant pressure sensor are described. An open-loop measuring system with lock-in amplification technology is established to assess the characteristics of the beam resonator and in order to solve the problem of detecting dynamic relationships between various sensors' output frequency and their applied conditions, a close-loop data-acquisition system is developed and the gage factor, temperature sensitivity and frequency stability are measured with the system.
FREEZE/THAW DETECTION IN PERMAFROST REGION WITH C-BAND SCATTEROMETERS

Distribution of permafrost is largely controlled by climatic conditions. Current permafrost monitoring methods are based on in-situ measurements and modeling and they are mostly local measurements which offer only limited insight in the impacts of global climate variations on the regional to global scale. Permafrost is a subsurface phenomenon which cannot be directly measured with remotely sensed data. But the spatial distribution, thickness and temperature of permafrost is highly dependent on the condition of the active layer overlaying the permafrost. Satellite data can be utilized for operational monitoring of the permafrost active layer by means of a number of indicators and parameters, which are highly valuable for permafrost modeling and monitoring. In this study we present the usage of backscatter measurements from ASCAT scatterometer onboard Metop for detection of freeze/thaw conditions in high latitudes and validate the results with synoptic meteorological measurements. It is shown that there is a high correlation between frozen/unfrozen flag extracted from ASCAT data and the in-situ air temperature measurements.