Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving the modified nyström method using spectral shifting

The Nystrom method is an efficient approach to enabling large-scale kernel methods. The Nystrom method generates a fast approximation to any large-scale symmetric positive semidefinete (SPSD) matrix using only a few columns of the SPSD matrix. However, since the Nystrom approximation is low-rank, when the spectrum of the SPSD matrix decays slowly, the Nystrom approximation is of low accuracy. In this paper, we propose a variant of the Nystrom method called the modified Nystrom by spectral shifting (SS-Nystrom). The SS-Nystrom method works well no matter whether the spectrum of SPSD matrix decays fast or slow. We prove that our SS-Nystrom has a much stronger error bound than the standard and modified Nystrom methods, and that SS-Nystrom can be even more accurate than the truncated SVD of the same scale in some cases. We also devise an algorithm such that the SS-Nystrom approximation can be computed nearly as efficient as the modified Nystrom approximation. Finally, our SS-Nystrom method demonstrates significant improvements over the standard and modified Nystrom methods on several real-world datasets.
Quantification of melanoma cell-specific MART-1 mRNA in peripheral blood by a calibrated competitive reverse transcription-PCR.

BACKGROUND Reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) amplification of melanoma cell-specific mRNA can detect melanoma cells in the peripheral blood of patients with malignant melanoma. We present a method to quantify mRNA coding for the melanoma-specific melanoma antigen recognized by T cells #1 (MART-1) in RNA isolated from peripheral blood. METHODS To establish a calibration curve, we measured the concentration of MART-1 mRNA in SK-MEL-28 melanoma cells grown in vitro by competitive RT-PCR. Serial dilutions of these cells were used as calibrators in the assay. The assay was conducted by adding a fixed amount of a RNA internal standard to RNA isolated from either peripheral blood or the calibrators before RT-PCR amplification with MART-1 primers in a nested PCR design. The amount of MART-1 mRNA in blood samples was calculated from the calibration curve. RESULTS Addition of melanoma cells grown in vitro to blood from healthy donors demonstrated that the method can detect a single SK-MEL-28 melanoma cell in 1 mL of blood (1.5 x 10(-21) mol MART-1 mRNA/mL). MART-1 mRNA was observed in 4 of 12 blood samples from patients with malignant melanoma, at concentrations of 3-18 x 10(-21) mol MART-1 mRNA/mL of blood. No MART-1 mRNA was detected in blood samples from 25 controls without malignant melanoma. Intra- and interassay CVs were 15% (n = 12; mean = 44 x 10(-21) mol MART-1 mRNA/mL) and 33% (15 samples analyzed in two different analytical runs; mean = 30 x 10(-21) mol MART-1 mRNA/mL), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Our method is the first competitive RT-PCR assay for quantification of melanoma cells in blood samples that compensates for the variation of both the reverse transcription and PCR reactions. The method allows the inclusion of control samples for continuous quality assessment.
An ex vivo method for studying mucus formation , properties , and thickness in human colonic biopsies and mouse small and large intestinal explants

Gustafsson JK, Ermund A, Johansson MEV, Schütte A, Hansson GC, Sjövall H. An ex vivo method for studying mucus formation, properties, and thickness in human colonic biopsies and mouse small and large intestinal explants. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 302: G430–G438, 2012. First published December 8, 2011; doi:10.1152/ajpgi.00405. 2011. —The colon mucus layers minimize the contact between the luminal flora and the epithelial cells, and defects in this barrier may lead to colonic inflammation. We now describe an ex vivo method for analysis of mucus properties in human colon and mouse small and large intestine. Intestinal explants were mounted in horizontal perfusion chambers. The mucus surface was visualized by adding charcoal particles on the apical side, and mucus thickness was measured using a micropipette. Mucus thickness, adhesion, and growth rate were recorded for 1 h. In mouse and human colon, the ability of the mucus to act as a barrier to beads the size of bacteria was also evaluated. Tissue viability was monitored by transepithelial potential difference. In mouse ileum, the mucus could be removed by gentle aspiration, whereas in colon 40 m of the mucus remained attached to the epithelial surface. Both mouse and human colon had an inner mucus layer that was not penetrated by the fluorescent beads. Spontaneous mucus growth was observed in human (240 m/h) and mouse (100 m/h) colon but not in mouse ileum. In contrast, stimulation with carbachol induced a higher mucus secretion in ileum than colon (mouse ileum: 200 m, mouse colon: 130 m, human colon: 140 m). In conclusion, while retaining key properties from the mucus system in vivo, this setup also allows for studies of the highly dynamic mucus system under well-controlled conditions.
Patterning sub-30-nm MOSFET gate with i-line lithography

We have investigated two process techniques: resist ashing and oxide hard mask trimming. A combination of ashing and trimming produces sub-30-nm MOSFET gates. These techniques require neither specific equipment nor materials. These can be used to fabricate experimental devices with line width beyond the limit of optical lithography or high-throughput e-beam lithography. They provide 25-nm gate patterns with i-line lithography and sub-30-nm pattern with e-beam lithography. A 40-nm gate channel length nMOSFET is demonstrated.
How a Cross-Cultural Learning Community Facilitates Student Retention and Contributes to Student Learning

This article presents the findings from a qualitative study that sought to learn about students' perceptions of a Cross-Cultural Learning Community (CCLC) at a large Midwestern University. The article focuses on three major areas that emerged as a result of focus groups: 1) students' reasons for joining the CCLC, 2) the role of the CCLC in the students' transition to the university, and 3) CCLC participants' cross-cultural learning experiences. After theoretical frameworks are discussed, the findings related to the three major areas are presented. The article concludes with implications for further research.
Construction of Gene Regulatory Networks based on Gene Ontology and Multi-variable Regression

Gene regulatory network in one of most important methods for understanding biological functions of genes from gene expression profiles. The effective clustering algorithm is the foundation for constructing gene regulatory network. In this paper, by introducing the concept of gene ontology (GO), which express the biological knowledge and has already been obtainable from biologists, a new distance metric is proposed to replace the conventional one which considers only the difference between genes in expression levels. Firstly, the corresponding parents of a target gene is determined by using the clustering technique based on the proposed distance between genes. Secondly, a multi-variable nonlinear regression is utilized to model the predictors for each target gene. Finally, for each target gene, coefficient of determination (CoD) is employed to compute the probability of selecting different predictors for each gene. Some experiments were performed for testing the constructed gene regulatory networks. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed method
A Novel Model of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury for Juvenile Rats

Despite growing evidence that childhood represents a major risk period for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) from sports-related concussions, motor vehicle accidents, and falls, a reliable animal model of mTBI had previously not been developed for this important aspect of development. The modified weight-drop technique employs a glancing impact to the head of a freely moving rodent transmitting acceleration, deceleration, and rotational forces upon the brain. When applied to juvenile rats, this modified weight-drop technique induced clinically relevant behavioural outcomes that were representative of post-concussion symptomology. The technique is a rapidly applied procedure with an extremely low mortality rate, rendering it ideal for high-throughput studies of therapeutics. In addition, because the procedure involves a mild injury to a closed head, it can easily be used for studies of repetitive brain injury. Owing to the simplistic nature of this technique, and the clinically relevant biomechanics of the injury pathophysiology, the modified weight-drop technique provides researchers with a reliable model of mTBI that can be used in a wide variety of behavioural, molecular, and genetic studies.
The economic metaphor of Italian politics for dynamic coalition regeneration in the Robocup competition of Aibo robots

The variation version of the economic metaphor of Italian politics, an architecture that loosely takes inspiration from the political organizations of democratic governments, following the example of Italian government, and which provides a solution for the coordination of a spare colony of robots, is competent to allow the coordination of the behaviors of a team of four robots in order to play soccer in the Robocup competition. The development of an evolution of economic metaphor of Italian politics is now outlined. This new approach proposes a mechanism to make a new coalition caused by the failure of the government strategy and by a general inefficiency of the whole colony during the reaching of the mission targets, such as goals scored, faults committed and other soccer parameters (game evolution, score, time left, past team coalition performances). The main characteristic of the proposed frameworks lies in its dynamic reconfigurability in order to adapt the robot colony behaviors to high dynamic environmental changes choosing from time to time the best coalition capable to apply the most suitable soccer strategy, (from an extreme offensive to a total defensive), for the current game situation. To validate the effectiveness of our approach we have realized a framework based on the MissionLab robot simulation software developed at the Mobile Robot Lab of the Georgia Institute of Technology and we have transferred these framework inside the OPEN-R environment of the team of four Sony Aibo Ers-7 robots.
Diversity Versus Multiplexing in Narrowband MIMO Channels : A Tradeoff Based on Euclidean Distance

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems use antenna arrays at both the transmitter and the receiver to offer substantial benefits in terms of rate and reliability. Two standard approaches for communicating in MIMO systems are spatial multiplexing and transmit diversity. Multiplexing sends independent information streams across the transmit antennas to maximize rate while transmit diversity sends redundant information streams to maximize reliability. In this paper the tradeoff between spatial multiplexing and transmit diversity is analyzed for narrowband MIMO channels based on the minimum Euclidean distance of the codebook at the receiver. The proposed characterization methodology is based on instantaneous channel information and is independent of the channel statistics. The Demmel condition number of the matrix channel is shown to provide a sufficient condition for multiplexing to outperform diversity in terms of minimum Euclidean distance. Using the Demmel condition number characterization, the probability that multiplexing outperforms diversity is studied for complex Gaussian matrix channels as a function of the rate and number of antennas. As a byproduct of the Euclidean distance comparison, a fixed-rate spatially adaptive modulation scheme is proposed that selects either multiplexing or diversity based on a low rate feedback channel. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate improvement over either multiplexing or diversity individually in terms of bit error rate. Keyword: MIMO systems, space-time coding, transmit diversity ∗A portion of these results have appeared in the Proceedings of the 2000 Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computers and theProceedings of the 2001 International Conference on Communications
Runtime verification of IoT systems using Complex Event Processing

Internet of Things (IoT) is a new computing paradigm that is proliferated by wide adoption of application level protocols such as MQTT and CoAP, each of which defines different styles of sequential interaction of events. Even though there is a considerable effort in the literature for verification of such complex and distributed systems, a practical solution for IoT systems that supports runtime system verification is still missing. In this paper, we present a runtime monitoring approach for IoT systems that exploits event relations expressed in terms of sequential interaction messaging model of Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP). We propose the use of Complex-Event Processing (CEP) to detect failures at runtime by exploiting complex event patterns defined via predetermined event algebra. We further present a simple case scenario to demonstrate the applicability of the approach on Wireless Token Ring Protocol execution.
Association between Extremely Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields Occupations and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Meta-Analysis

Objectives To estimate the relationship between exposure to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) and the risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by a meta-analysis. Methods Through searching PubMed databases (or manual searching) up to April 2012 using the following keywords: “occupational exposure”, “electromagnetic fields” and “amyotrophic lateral sclerosis” or “motor neuron disease”, seventeen studies were identified as eligible for this meta-analysis. The associations between ELF-EMF exposure and the ALS risk were estimated based on study design (case-control or cohort study), and ELF-EMF exposure level assessment (job title or job-exposure matrix). The heterogeneity across the studies was tested, as was publication bias. Results Occupational exposure to ELF-EMF was significantly associated with increased risk of ALS in pooled studies (RR = 1.29, 95%CI = 1.02–1.62), and case-control studies (OR = 1.39, 95%CI = 1.05–1.84), but not cohort studies (RR = 1.16, 95% CI = 0.80–1.69). In sub-analyses, similar significant associations were found when the exposure level was defined by the job title, but not the job-exposure matrix. In addition, significant associations between occupational exposure to ELF-EMF and increased risk of ALS were found in studies of subjects who were clinically diagnosed but not those based on the death certificate. Moderate heterogeneity was observed in all analyses. Conclusions Our data suggest a slight but significant ALS risk increase among those with job titles related to relatively high levels of ELF-EMF exposure. Since the magnitude of estimated RR was relatively small, we cannot deny the possibility of potential biases at work. Electrical shocks or other unidentified variables associated with electrical occupations, rather than magnetic-field exposure, may be responsible for the observed associations with ALS.
Switch Short-Circuit Fault Diagnosis and Remedial Strategy for Full-Bridge DC–DC Converters

Switch fault diagnosis and remedial actions are an important design aspect for isolated full-bridge dc-dc converters, and they can highly improve reliability of the whole system. In this paper, a fast switch short-circuit fault (SCF) diagnostic method is proposed for the phase-shifted full-bridge (PSFB) converter. The dc-link current and transformer primary voltage are treated as diagnosis criteria. Based on the combination of real-time criteria and switch gate-driver signals, the switch SCF can be identified rapidly, and thus further damage can be avoided. Besides, a remedial action for the faulty PSFB converter is introduced to keep the continuity of the system. The converter under fault can be reconfigured into an asymmetrical half-bridge converter. Moreover, a boost unit, including a switch and a diode, is inserted into between the output rectifier and filter capacitor to compensate the output voltage. The operational principle, design considerations, and implementation are discussed in this paper. Experimental results are shown to verify the validity of theoretical analysis.
4-DMWM Approach for Caching Based Optimal D2D Pairing and Channel Allocation: Centralized and Distributed Algorithm Design

Caching popular contents at mobile devices can potentially improve the quality of service for mobile users and relieve traffic burden of base station in cellular networks. In this paper, we jointly consider the resource allocation, the cached contents, and the distance between two devices for the optimal device pairing problem in centralized and distributed cases, where the BS is the central controller in the centralized case. The joint optimization problem of device-to-device (D2D) caching with channel allocation is formulated as a weighted four-uniform hypergraph model. The optimal solution for the problem is 4-D maximum weighted matching (4-DMWM), which is NP-hard unfortunately. To approach the 4-DMWM with low-complexity, we adopt the greedy algorithm and the squareIMP algorithm in the centralized case. Moreover, distributed algorithms are also designed for the caching problem in both synchronous and asynchronous cases. The simulation results will illustrate that the squareIMP algorithm can be used to get a better transmission rate with the complexity of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O(n^{5})$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, while the greedy algorithm can be used in the case with stringent latency requirement for centralized 4-DMWM problem. The sum rate of distributed asynchronous algorithm is close to the centralized greedy algorithm with the complexity of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O(n^{2})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> for each device. However, the simulation result of the synchronous algorithm is slightly lower than the centralized algorithm, where each device performs <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O(n^{2})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> computational operations in each iteration. Therefore, the algorithms proposed in this paper can be used in different cases for solving optimal D2D pairing and channel allocation problem.
A novel Bayesian filtering approach to tactile object recognition

This paper addresses tactile object recognition, i.e. the identification of an object among a set of known objects, given tactile measurements. The solution of this problem can improve perception capabilities of autonomous robots and complement vision. Such a system is fundamental for the operation of autonomous robots that are often required to recognize objects while interacting with the environment. The proposed approach is innovative for three reasons. First, tactile recognition is cast into a tactile localization problem wherein multiple models are fit to the available measurements and objects are recognized by selecting the model that minimizes the localization error. Second, the measurements consist only of 3D contact point coordinates, which provide poor information for the recognition task. Lastly, we make use of a novel and effective filtering algorithm, named Memory Unscented Particle Filter (MUPF), which solves the 6 degree-of-freedom localization (and recognition) problem recursively by using only contact point measurements. The performance of the proposed approach has been assessed both in simulation and on a real robotic system equipped with tactile sensors (i.e., the iCub humanoid robot). The experiments show that our approach provides good recognition performance and is able to discriminate objects that are similar even in presence of noisy measurements.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL KINEMATICS OF THE SHOULDER . Evaluation and reproducibility of a technique using optoelectronic stereophotogrammetry

The aim of this paper is to develop and to test t he reproducibility of a quantified analysis of shoulder complex motion using optoelectronic stereophotogrammetry an d an acromial cluster to track dynamically the scapula. The standardization proposal of the Shoulder Group of I nternational Society of Biomechanics was used to communicate the results.
Pharmacokinetic Evaluation of Sulfamethoxazole at 800 Milligrams Once Daily in the Treatment of Tuberculosis

ABSTRACT For treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), there is a scarcity of antituberculosis drugs. Co-trimoxazole is one of the available drug candidates, and it is already frequently coprescribed for TB-HIV-coinfected patients. However, only limited data are available on the pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) parameters of co-trimoxazole in TB patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the PK parameters and in vitro PD data on the effective part of co-trimoxazole: sulfamethoxazole. In a prospective PK study in patients infected with drug-susceptible Mycobacterium tuberculosis (drug-susceptible TB patients) (age, >18), sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (SXT) was administered orally at a dose of 960 mg once daily. One-compartment population pharmacokinetic modeling was performed using MW\Pharm 3.81 (Mediware, Groningen, The Netherlands). The area under the concentration-time curve for the free, unbound fraction of a drug (ƒAUC)/MIC ratio and the period in which the free concentration exceeded the MIC (fT > MIC) were calculated. Twelve patients received 960 mg co-trimoxazole in addition to first-line drugs. The pharmacokinetic parameters of the population model were as follows (geometric mean ± standard deviation [SD]): metabolic clearance (CLm), 1.57 ± 3.71 liters/h; volume of distribution (V), 0.30 ± 0.05 liters · kg lean body mass−1; drug clearance/creatinine clearance ratio (fr), 0.02 ± 0.13; gamma distribution rate constant (ktr_po), 2.18 ± 1.14; gamma distribution shape factor (n_po), 2.15 ± 0.39. The free fraction of sulfamethoxazole was 0.3, but ranged between 0.2 and 0.4. The median value of the MICs was 9.5 mg/liter (interquartile range [IQR], 4.75 to 9.5), and that of theƒAUC/MIC ratio was 14.3 (IQR, 13.0 to 17.5). The percentage of ƒT > MIC ranged between 43 and 100% of the dosing interval. The PK and PD data from this study are useful to explore a future dosing regimen of co-trimoxazole for MDR-TB treatment. (This study has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under registration no. NCT01832987.)
Comparison of Provision of Stroke Care in Younger and Older Patients: Findings from the South London Stroke Register

Background. Evidence-based stroke care should be available to all patients. However, evidence exists of inequalities according to age. This study compared access to care for younger adults to that for over 65s. Methods. Using population-based data from 4229 patients with first-ever stroke between 1995 and 2010, associations between age and 21 care indicators were investigated using multivariable logistic regression. Results. Age was not associated with stroke unit admission for ischaemic stroke (P = 0.666). Younger PICH patients were least likely to be admitted to stroke units (P = 0.001), instead treated on neurosurgical or ICU wards. Younger age was also associated with admission to neurosurgery or ICU after SAH (P = 0.006), increased occupational or physiotherapy at 1 year (P = 0.043), and contact with a GP 3 months after stroke (P < 0.001). Conclusion. Younger patients have equal or greater access to evidence-based care. However, there is a need to ensure that services meet the needs of this group.