Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oscillatory patterns of respiration: Consequences for the stability and control of cardiac electrophysiology

Periodic breathing patterns known as Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) are often observed in congestive heart failure. This phenomenon is associated with increased risk of sudden cardiac death, but the mechanism for that outcome has not been exposed. Endocardial electrograms were recorded during spontaneous episodes of CSR and PB in patients in conscious and unconscious states. Analysis exposed a regular bidirectional phase-walk in the relationship between respiration and arterial blood pressure. Recently developed signal processing techniques revealed that respiration also modulates cardiac repolarization properties at multiple simultaneous frequencies, and the effect was heterogeneous across measurement sites in both ventricles. These measurements offer unique evidence of the electro-physiological manifestations of these breathing patterns. Analysis of phase relationships suggested a mechanism by which the behavior may predispose patients to cardiac arrhythmias. Such predisposition would be easily measured to direct treatment priorities and improve risk stratification.
Vision Paper: Using Volunteered Geographic Information to Improve Mobility Prediction

Fine-grained real-time movement prediction is becoming increasingly important, with smartphones and vehicles constantly tracking our position and trying to guess our next location to timely provide us with recommendations, traffic forecasts, or driver assistance. Depending on the tracking accuracy, the recorded locations are first mapped to street segments, using a mobility model to choose the most likely road in case of ambiguities. The main prediction procedure uses a similar movement model (possibly incorporating additional user-specific data) to assess likely future travel choices. While the exact street topology is not essential on a very high level (e.g., when predicting the "next place" someone is going to be), it becomes more and more important if we try to predict the exact position of a person or vehicle. Similarly, different data sources (such as points of interest, land use zones, or building footprints) should be used for predictions at different levels of accuracy. In this paper, we assess current research trends concerning various types of volunteered geographical information (VGI), how this data can be used in different models to compute mobility predictions, and we present our vision for an integrated system that is able to use crowdsourced geographic data to perform mobility prediction at different levels.
Map-assisted indoor positioning utilizing ubiquitous WiFi signals

The demand of indoor positioning solution is on the increase dramatically, and WiFi-based indoor positioning is known as a very promising approach because of the ubiquitous WiFi signals and WiFi-compatible mobile devices. Improving the positioning accuracy is the primary target of most recent works, while the excessive deployment overhead is also a challenging problem behind. In this thesis, the author is investigating the indoor positioning problem from the aspects of indoor map information and the ubiquity of WiFi signals. This thesis proposes a set of novel WiFi positioning schemes to improve the accuracy and efficiency. Firstly, considering the access point (AP) placement is the first step to deploy indoor positioning system using WiFi, an AP placement algorithm is provided to generate the placement of APs in a given indoor environment. The AP placement algorithm utilises the floor plan information from the indoor map, in which the placement of APs is optimised to benefit the fingerprinting- based positioning. Secondly, the patterns of WiFi signals are observed and deeply analysed from sibling and spatial aspects in conjunction with pathway map from indoor map to address the problem of inconsistent WiFi signal observations. The sibling and spatial signal patterns are used to improve both positioning accuracy and efficiency. Thirdly, an AP-centred architecture is proposed by moving the positioning modules from mobile handheld to APs to facilitate the applications where mobile handheld doesn’t directly participate positioning. Meanwhile, the fingerprint technique is adopted into the AP-centred architecture to maintain comparable positioning accuracy. All the proposed works in this thesis are adequately designed, implemented and evaluated in the real-world environment and show improved performance.
Perceptions of physical and social environment variables and self-efficacy as correlates of self-reported physical activity among adolescent girls.

OBJECTIVE This cross-sectional study examined the direct and indirect effects of perceived equipment accessibility, neighborhood safety, and social support on self-reported physical activity among older adolescent girls. METHODS Adolescent girls (n = 1,655) who were in the 12th grade completed a battery of questionnaires that included self-report measures of the perceived physical environment, social support, barriers self-efficacy, and physical activity. RESULTS Perceived neighborhood safety did not exhibit direct or indirect effects on self-reported physical activity. Perceived equipment accessibility exhibited an indirect effect on self-reported physical activity that was accounted for by barriers self-efficacy. Perceived social support exhibited direct and indirect effects on self-reported physical activity; the indirect effect was accounted for by barriers self-efficacy. The relationships were independent of parental education and body mass index (BMI). CONCLUSIONS Perceived physical environmental factors indirectly influenced self-reported physical activity, and perceived social environmental factors both directly and indirectly influenced self-reported physical activity in this sample of older adolescent girls.
The Subfield Codes of Ovoid Codes

Ovoids in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathrm {PG}}(3, {\mathrm {GF}}(q))$ </tex-math></inline-formula> have been an interesting topic in coding theory, combinatorics, and finite geometry for a long time. So far only two families of ovoids are known. The first is the elliptic quadrics and the second is the Tits ovoids. It is known that an ovoid in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathrm {PG}}(3, {\mathrm {GF}}(q))$ </tex-math></inline-formula> corresponds to a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$[q^{2}+1, 4, q^{2}-q]$ </tex-math></inline-formula> code over <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathrm {GF}}(q)$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, which is called an ovoid code. The objectives of this paper are to develop the general theories of subfield codes and to study the subfield codes of the two families of ovoid codes. The dimensions, minimum weights, and the weight distributions of the subfield codes of the elliptic quadric codes and Tits ovoid codes are settled. The parameters of the duals of these subfield codes are also studied. Some of the codes presented in this paper are optimal, and some are distance-optimal. The parameters of the subfield codes are new.
Effect of Atorvastatin on Pharmacology of Sitagliptin in Streptozotocin-Nicotinamide Induced Type-II Diabetes in Rats

Prolonged type 2 diabetes mellitus (Type2DM) may lead to high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) requiring a global therapeutic approach. Statin therapy has proven its efficacy in reducing CVD events in Type2 DM patients. Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (gliptins), which are increasingly used to target hyperglycemia. In the present study type 2 DM in rats by i.p. Administration of Streptozotocin (STZ); (60 mg/kg) -Nicotinamide (120 mg/kg). Diabetes induced rats were divided into groups and treated with Sitagliptin alone and in combination with atorvastatin for 7 days. Blood samples were collected by retro orbital puncture. Mean glucose concentration was measured by GODPOD method using commercial glucose kits and sitagliptin in plasma was estimated by RP-HPLC method using methanol: water (60:40 v/v, containing 10 mM Tris and 10 mM Triethylamine) was adjusted to pH 9.0 using 1 mol/L hydrochloric acid. The blood glucose lowering activity of sitagliptin was increased by the presence of atorvastatin in diabetic rats. The pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) parameters of sitagliptin in diabetic rats were significantly changed in the presence of atorvastatin. The present study concludes that co-administration of atorvastatin with sitagliptin significantly improved the responses of sitagliptin in diabetic rats. Improved glucose metabolism and increased sitagliptin levels due to competitive inhibition of CYP 3A4 enzyme by atorvastatin may be responsible for the improved anti-hyperglycemic activity of sitagliptin
Subjective Assessment of Diabetes Self-Care Correlates with Perceived Glycemic Control but not with Actual Glycemic Control

Background We investigated whether patients' perceived glycemic control and self-reported diabetes self-care correlated with their actual glycemic control. Methods A survey was administered among patients with diabetes mellitus at an outpatient clinic with structured self-report questionnaires regarding perceived glycemic control and diabetes self-management. Actual glycemic control was defined as a change in glycated hemoglobin (A1C) or fasting plasma glucose (FPG) since the last clinic visit. Results Patients who perceived their glycemic control as "improved" actually showed a mild but significant decrease in the mean A1C (-0.1%, P=0.02), and those who perceived glycemic control as "aggravated" had a significant increase in the mean FPG (10.5 mg/dL or 0.59 mmol/L, P=0.04) compared to the "stationary" group. However, one-half of patients falsely predicted their actual glycemic control status. Subjective assessment of diabetes self-care efforts, such as adherence to a diet regimen or physical activity, correlated positively with perceived glycemic control but showed no association with actual glycemic control. Conclusion Patients should be encouraged to assess and monitor diabetes self-care more objectively to motivate behavioral modifications and improve their actual glycemic control.
Consequences of non-medical switch among patients with type 2 diabetes

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to describe real-world experiences following a non-medical switch among adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the United States. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, patients with T2DM (N = 451) provided data on demographics, and how a non-medical switch of their anti-hyperglycemic agent (AHA) affected their general health, HbA1c levels and medication management, via an Internet-based survey. Patients self-reported their level of satisfaction with the original medication and emotional reactions to the non-medical switch. Patients who recently experienced a non-medical switch of their AHA(s) (n = 379) were asked about the consequences of switching and their satisfaction with the switch (vs. the original) medication. Results: Patients most frequently reported feeling very/extremely frustrated, surprised, upset and angry in reaction to a non-medical switch. Patients were somewhat satisfied with their original medication. Between 20% and 30% of patients reported the non-medical switch had a moderate/major effect on their general health, diabetes, mental well-being and control over their health. The blood glucose levels of recent switchers were somewhat/much worse (20.7%) and medication management was somewhat/much worse (12.9%) on the switch (vs. the original) medication. Some recent switchers reported old symptoms returning (7.7%) and experiencing new side-effects (14.2%). Conclusions: Approximately one in five patients reported a moderate/major negative impact on their blood glucose level, diabetes, mental well-being, general health and control over their health following a non-medical switch. Findings suggest that a non-medical switch may have unintended negative health consequences and results in considerable burden across multiple domains for a sizeable minority of patients with T2DM.
Fabrication of New Liquid Crystal Device Using Layer-by-Layer Thin Film Process

Indium tin oxide (ITO) transparent electrodes are troubled with high cost and poor mechanical stability. In this study, layer-by-layer (LBL)-processed thin films with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) exhibited high transparency and electrical conductivity as a candidate for ITO replacement. The repetitive deposition of polycations and stabilized SWNTs with a negative surfactant exhibits sufficiently linear film growth and high optoelectronic performance to be used as transparent electrodes for vertically aligned (VA) liquid crystal display (LCD) cells. The LC molecules were uniformly aligned on the all of the prepared LBL electrodes. VA LCD cells with SWNT LBL electrodes exhibited voltage-transmittance (V-T) characteristics similar to those with the conventional ITO electrodes. Although the response speeds were slower than the LCD cell with the ITO electrode, as the SWNT layers increased, the display performance was closer to the LCD cells with conventional ITO electrode. This work demonstrated the good optoelectronic performance and alignment compatibility with LC molecules of the SWNT LBL assemblies, which are potential alternatives to ITO films as transparent electrodes for LCDs.
Ellipsometric study of the complex optical constants of a CsPbBr3 perovskite thin film

Knowledge of the complex optical constants of the hybrid perovskite CsPbBr3 in thin films is essential for their applications in optoelectronic devices. In this paper, we measured the optical constants of a perovskite CsPbBr3 thin film deposited on an FTO substrate. We characterized the CsPbBr3 thin film by X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence emission, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and absorption spectra. Complex optical constants of the CsPbBr3 thin film were measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry and modeled by a Tauc–Lorentz formulation with seven oscillators. The observed interband transitions, which are positioned at 2.39, 3.44, and 3.85 eV, are denoted Ecp1, Ecp2 and Ecp3. We used critical point fitting of the second-derivative spectrum d2(E2e)/dE2 to analyze these spectral features. We assigned the origins of the three critical points and discuss their intrinsic mechanisms. These results indicate that interband transitions are governed by {PbBr6}4− octahedra, and small Cs+ ions affect the bandgap by breaking the octahedral packing symmetry. The simulated absorption coefficient agreed well with the experimental data.
Estimating nearshore coral reef-associated fisheries production from the main Hawaiian Islands

Currently, information on nearshore reef-associated fisheries is frequently disparate or incomplete, creating a challenge for effective management. This study utilized an existing non-commercial fishery dataset from Hawaiʻi, covering the period 2004–13, to estimate a variety of fundamental fishery parameters, including participation, effort, gear use, and catch per unit effort. We then used those data to reconstruct total catches per island. Non-commercial fisheries in this case comprise recreational, subsistence, and cultural harvest, which may be exchanged, but are not sold. By combining those data with reported commercial catch data, we estimated annual catch of nearshore reef-associated fisheries in the main Hawaiian Islands over the study period to be 1,167,758 ± 43,059 kg year-1 (mean ± standard error). Average annual commercial reef fish catch over the same time period—184,911 kg year-1—was 16% of the total catch, but that proportion varied greatly among islands, ranging from 23% on Oʻahu to 5% on Molokaʻi. These results emphasize the importance of reef fishing in Hawaiʻi for reasons beyond commerce, such as food security and cultural practice, and highlight the large differences in fishing practices across the Hawaiian Islands.
Increased cerebral functional connectivity in ALS

Objective We sought to assess cortical function in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using noninvasive neural signal recording. Methods Resting-state magnetoencephalography was used to measure power fluctuations in neuronal oscillations from distributed cortical parcels in 24 patients with ALS and 24 healthy controls. A further 9 patients with primary lateral sclerosis and a group of 15 asymptomatic carriers of genetic mutations associated with ALS were also studied. Results Increased functional connectivity, particularly from the posterior cingulate cortex, was demonstrated in both patient groups compared to healthy controls. Directionally similar patterns were also evident in the asymptomatic genetic mutation carrier group. Conclusion Increased cortical functional connectivity elevation is a quantitative marker that reflects ALS pathology across its clinical spectrum, and may develop during the presymptomatic period. The amelioration of pathologic magnetoencephalography signals might be a marker sensitive enough to provide proof-of-principle in the development of future neuroprotective therapeutics.
Designing Cyberbullying Mitigation and Prevention Solutions through Participatory Design With Teenagers

While social media platforms enable individuals to easily communicate and share experiences, they have also emerged as a tool for cyberbullying. Teenagers represent an especially vulnerable population for negative emotional responses to cyberbullying. At the same time, attempts to mitigate or prevent cyberbullying from occurring in these networked spaces have largely failed because of the complexity and nuance with which young people bully others online. To address challenges related to designing for cyberbullying intervention and mitigation, we detail findings from participatory design work with two groups of high school students in spring 2015. Over the course of five design sessions spanning five weeks, participants shared their experiences with cyberbullying and iteratively designed potential solutions. We provide an in-depth discussion of the range of cyberbullying mitigation solutions participants designed. We focus on challenges participants' identified in designing for cyberbullying support and prevention and present a set of five potential cyberbullying mitigation solutions based on the results of the design sessions.
Comparison of different segmentation approaches without using gold standard. Application to the estimation of the left ventricle ejection fraction from cardiac cine MRI sequences

A statistical method is proposed to compare several estimates of a relevant clinical parameter when no gold standard is available. The method is illustrated by considering the left ventricle ejection fraction derived from cardiac magnetic resonance images and computed using seven approaches with different degrees of automation. The proposed method did not use any a priori regarding with the reliability of each method and its degree of automation. The results showed that the most accurate estimates of the ejection fraction were obtained using manual segmentations, followed by the semiautomatic methods, while the methods with the least user input yielded the least accurate ejection fraction estimates. These results were consistent with the expected performance of the estimation methods, suggesting that the proposed statistical approach might be helpful to assess the performance of estimation methods on clinical data for which no gold standard is available.
The Genetic Polymorphism UGT1A4*3 Is Associated with Low Posaconazole Plasma Concentrations in Hematological Malignancy Patients Receiving the Oral Suspension

ABSTRACT The metabolism of posaconazole is mediated mainly by uridine 5′-diphospho-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) enzymes, especially UGT1A4. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of genetic polymorphisms on the posaconazole plasma concentration (PPC). This prospective study was conducted from September 2014 to August 2016. We enrolled patients with acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome treated with posaconazole oral suspension (200 mg) three times daily for fungal prophylaxis. The patients were examined for the multidrug resistance gene 1 3435C>T and 2677G>T/A variations and the UGT1A4*3 allele by direct sequencing of DNA from peripheral whole-blood samples. We defined poor absorbers to be those with PPCs of <200 ng/ml and the optimal PPC to be ≥700 ng/ml on day 8. The associations between genetic polymorphisms and the PPC were evaluated using multivariate logistic regression analysis including clinical variables. During the study period, 132 patients were enrolled. Six patients (4.5%) were defined as poor absorbers, and 49 patients (37.1%) did not reach the optimal PPC on day 8. In multivariate analysis, the independent risk factors for a poor absorber were at least one UGT1A4*3 allele (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 18.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09 to 324.44; P = 0.043) and poor oral food intake (aOR per −100 kcal, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.99; P = 0.029). There was no statistically significant association between the genetic polymorphisms and achievement of the optimal PPC on day 8. The UGT1A4*3 polymorphism is an independent risk factor for being a poor absorber of posaconazole oral suspension in patients with hematological malignancies.
Kernel Foveated Rendering

Foveated rendering coupled with eye-tracking has the potential to dramatically accelerate interactive 3D graphics with minimal loss of perceptual detail. In this paper, we parameterize foveated rendering by embedding polynomial kernel functions in the classic log-polar mapping. Our GPU-driven technique uses closed-form, parameterized foveation that mimics the distribution of photoreceptors in the human retina. We present a simple two-pass kernel foveated rendering (KFR) pipeline that maps well onto modern GPUs. In the first pass, we compute the kernel log-polar transformation and render to a reduced-resolution buffer. In the second pass, we carry out the inverse-log-polar transformation with anti-aliasing to map the reduced-resolution rendering to the full-resolution screen. We have carried out pilot and formal user studies to empirically identify the KFR parameters. We observe a 2.8X -- 3.2X speedup in rendering on 4K UHD (2160p) displays with minimal perceptual loss of detail. The relevance of eye-tracking-guided kernel foveated rendering can only increase as the anticipated rise of display resolution makes it ever more difficult to resolve the mutually conflicting goals of interactive rendering and perceptual realism.
CL Scholar: The ACL Anthology Knowledge Graph Miner

We present CL Scholar, the ACL Anthology knowledge graph miner to facilitate high-quality search and exploration of current research progress in the computational linguistics community. In contrast to previous works, periodically crawling, indexing and processing of new incoming articles is completely automated in the current system. CL Scholar utilizes both textual and network information for knowledge graph construction. As an additional novel initiative, CL Scholar supports more than 1200 scholarly natural language queries along with standard keyword-based search on constructed knowledge graph. It answers binary, statistical and list based natural language queries. The current system is deployed at http://cnerg.iitkgp. ac.in/aclakg. We also provide REST API support along with bulk download facility. Our code and data are available at https://github.com/CLScholar.