Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neuroanatomical correlates of emotion-processing in children with unilateral brain lesion: A preliminary study of limbic system organization

ABSTRACT In this study, MRI and DTI were employed to examine subcortical volume and microstructural properties (FA, MD) of the limbic network, and their relationships with affect discrimination in 13 FL (6 right FL, M = 10.17 years; 7 left FL; M = 10.09) and 13 typically-developing children (TD; M = 10.16). Subcortical volume of the amygdala, hippocampus and thalamus and FA and MD of the fornix and anterior thalamic radiation (ATR) were examined. Results revealed no group differences across emotion-perception tasks or amygdalar volume. However, contrasting neuroanatomical patterns were observed in right versus left FL youth. Right FL participants showed increased left hippocampal and thalamic volume relative to left FL participants; whereas, the latter group showed increased right thalamic volume. DTI findings also indicated right FL children show greater MD of right fornix than other groups, whereas, left FL youth showed greater MD of left fornix. Right FL youth also showed lower FA of right fornix than left FL children, whereby the latter showed greater FA of left fornix and ATR. Differential associations between DTI indices and auditory/visual emotion-perception were observed across FL groups. Findings indicate diverging brain-behavioral relationships for emotion-perception among right and left FL children.
Noise Filtering, Channel Modeling and Energy Utilization in Wireless Body Area Networks

Constant monitoring of patients without disturbing their daily activities can be achieved through mobile networks. Sensor nodes distributed in a home environment to provide home assistance gives concept of Wireless Wearable Body Area Networks. Gathering useful information and its transmission to the required destination may face several problems. In this paper we figure out different issues and discuss their possible solutions in order to obtain an optimized infrastructure for the care of elderly people. Different channel models along with their characteristics, noise filtering in different equalization techniques, energy consumption and effect of different impairments have been discussed in our paper. The novelty of this work is that we highlighted multiple issues along with their possible solutions that a BAN infrastructure is still facing.
Improved geo-visualization methods

The modeling and visualization of large realistic 3D terrain and city models has received significant attention over the last few years. However, the recent progress in 3D data capturing has generated very huge and complex 3D models. This poster presents new methods for geovisualization based on multi-resolution representations of different objects (terrain, buildings, vegetation, etc). Thanks to the proposed scalable and compressed representations, web-based visualization of very large and complex models can now be contemplated. The difficult case of cities flying over is dealt with through a new hierarchical LOD representation covering the entire urban area.
Rapid bird activity detection using probabilistic sequence kernels

Bird activity detection is the task of determining if a bird sound is present in a given audio recording. This paper describes a bird activity detector which utilises a support vector machine (SVM) with a dynamic kernel. Dynamic kernels are used to process sets of feature vectors having different cardinalities. Probabilistic sequence kernel (PSK) is one such dynamic kernel. The PSK converts a set of feature vectors from a recording into a fixed-length vector. We propose to use a variant of PSK in this work. Before computing the fixed-length vector, cepstral mean and variance normalisation and short-time Gaussianization is performed on the feature vectors. This reduces environment mismatch between different recordings. Additionally, we also demonstrate a simple procedure to speed up the proposed method by reducing the size of fixed-length vector. A speedup of almost 70% is observed, with a very small drop in accuracy. The proposed method is also compared with a random forest classifier and is shown to outperform it.
Time-optimal and smooth constrained path planning for robot manipulators

In this paper a new approach to time-optimal and smooth constrained path (continuous path) planning for robot manipulators is presented. A suitable objective function to combine time-optimal and smooth trajectory planning is found. The optimization process involves first obtaining smooth and time-suboptimal joint paths by minimizing the objective function, and then contracting travelling time by scaling the resulting time intervals for time-optimal joint paths so that the resulting velocities or accelerations or joints at some knots of die paths are maximal within their limitations. The resulting joint paths are smooth, time-optimal with optimal velocity profiles and therefore suitable for robotic motion. The feasibility of this method is illustrated by simulation and experimental results with an RTX SCARA type robot. <<ETX>>
Transmembrane Segment (TMS) VIII of the Na+/Citrate Transporter CitS Requires Downstream TMS IX for Insertion in the Escherichia coli Membrane*

The amino acid sequence of the sodium ion-dependent citrate transporter CitS of K. pneumoniae contains 12 hydrophobic stretches that could form membrane-spanning segments. A previous analysis of the membrane topology in Escherichia coli using the PhoA gene fusion technique indicated that only nine of these hydrophobic segments span the membrane, while three segments, Vb, VIII and IX, were predicted to have a periplasmic location (Van Geest, M., and Lolkema, J. S. (1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 25582–25589). A topology study of C-terminally truncated CitS molecules in dog pancreas microsomes revealed that the protein traverses the endoplasmic reticulum membrane 11 times. In agreement with the PhoA fusion data, segment Vb was predicted to have a periplasmic location, but, in contrast, segments VIII and IX were found to be membrane-spanning (Van Geest, M., Nilsson, I., von Heijne, G., and Lolkema, J. S. (1999)J. Biol. Chem. 274, 2816–2823). In the present study, using site-directed Cys labeling, the topology of segments VIII and IX in the full-length CitS protein was determined in the E. coli membrane. Engineered cysteine residues in the loop between the two segments were accessible to a membrane-impermeable thiol reagent exclusively from the cytoplasmic side of the membrane, demonstrating that transmembrane segments (TMSs) VIII and IX are both membrane-spanning. It follows that the folding of CitS in the E. coli and endoplasmic reticulum membrane is the same. Cysteine accessibility studies of CitS-PhoA fusion molecules demonstrated that in the E. coli membrane segment VIII is exported to the periplasm in the absence of the C-terminal CitS sequences, thus explaining why the PhoA fusions do not correctly predict the topology. An engineered cysteine residue downstream of TMS VIII moved from a periplasmic to a cytoplasmic location when the fusion protein containing TMSs I–VIII was extended with segment IX. Thus, downstream segment IX is both essential and sufficient for the insertion of segment VIII of CitS in the E. coli membrane.
Young people’s experiences of living with epilepsy: The significance of family resilience

ABSTRACT Objective: Young people with chronic illnesses, such as epilepsy, tend to have poorer psychosocial outcomes compared to their peers. Nevertheless, not all young people experience difficulties adapting to living with epilepsy. The aim of this study was to examine family processes, as little is known about their impact on young people’s adaptation to the condition. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 young people, aged between 13 and 16 years old, to explore their experiences of living with epilepsy from the perspective of family resilience. Results: Findings from these interviews provided in-depth descriptions of stressful circumstances encountered and family processes. These processes, which in turn promoted positive adaptation, included shared family beliefs, family connectedness, and communication processes that supported collaborative problem-solving. Conclusion: Practitioners who support young people living with chronic conditions, such as epilepsy, should consider interventions that promote family connectedness, as it allows young people to turn to their families for support in times of stress. Additionally, it is important to explore young people’s beliefs, helping them and their families construct a new sense of normality if necessary. Supporting open communication between family members, where differing views were acknowledged, is likely to be important in facilitating resilience.
Mimosine arrests the cell cycle prior to the onset of DNA replication by preventing the binding of human Ctf4/And-1 to chromatin via Hif-1α activation in HeLa cells

Though the G1 checkpoint in mammalian cells has been known for decades, the molecular targets that prevent S-phase entry remain unknown. Mimosine is a rare plant amino acid that arrests the cell cycle in the G1 phase before entry into S phase. Here, we show that mimosine interrupts the binding of Ctf4 to chromatin, which is essential for the initiation of DNA replication in HeLa cells, and this effect is mediated by the Hif-1α-dependent increase in the level of p27. Depletion of Hif-1α results in an increased binding of Ctf4 to chromatin and the entry of cells into S phase even in the presence of mimosine. These results suggest that the binding of Ctf4 to chromatin is the target of the Hif-1α-dependent checkpoint pathway for cell cycle arrest in G1 phase. Although we observed Hif-1α-dependent arrest in mimosine-treated cells, it is possible that Ctf4 may act as a common target for G1 arrest in various other checkpoint pathways.
Kinetics of Release from Polydisperse Core Particles Coated with Layers of Fine Soluble Particles

The kinetics of release of active material was investigated for the polydisperse core particles coated with layers of fine soluble particles dispersed in the impermeable biodegradable wax. A detailed mathematical model was developed to simulate the release kinetics governed by diffusion through the void space of the coating layer formed after the dissolution of soluble particles. The effects of the scale and shape parameters of the Rosin-Rammler type of the core size distribution were studied numerically on release profile. As a result, the low release rate was obtained for the core size distribution of large scale parameter mainly due to the small specific surface area of particles as well as for the coating layer of low volume fraction of soluble particles owing to the significant diffusional resistance.
The Hidden Abode: Sociology as Analysis of the Unexpected

Purposive social action has provided the bedrock for theoretical developments and model building in several social sciences. Since its beginnings, however, sociology has harbored, a “contrarian” vocation based on examining the unrecognized, unintended, and emergent consequences of goal-oriented activity. I present several examples of the sociological practice of bashing myths based on the logic of purposive action and offer a typology of alternative goals, means, and outcomes illustrated by both classic sociological writings and contemporary research. The multiple contingencies documented by sociologists in the past cautions against attempts to build institutions or implement programs grounded on grand blueprints. The cautionary tale supported by sociological analysis of concealed goals, shifts in mid-course, and unexpected effects does not lead, however, to the conclusion that scientific prediction and practical intervention are futile endeavors. It leads instead to an emphasis on the dialectics of social life, and on the need to take into account the definitions of the situation of relevant actors. I offer some illustrations of successful mid-range theories that are based on the analysis of dilemmas in social processes and the importance of sensitivity to the unexpected in the implementation of programmatic interventions.
Survey on the Treatment of Postherpetic Neuralgia in Korea; Multicenter Study of 1,414 Patients

Background Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a serious complication resulting from herpes zoster infections, and it can impair the quality of life. In order to relieve pain from PHN, various treatments, including pharmacological and interventional methods have been used. However, little information on the recommendations for the interventional treatment of PHN, along with a lack of nation-wide surveys on the current status of PHN treatment exists. This multicenter study is the first survey on the treatment status of PHN in Korea. Methods Retrospective chart reviews were conducted on the entire patients who visited the pain clinics of 11 teaching hospitals from January to December of 2011. Co-morbid disease, affected site of PHN, routes to pain clinic visits, parenteral/topical medications for treatment, drugs used for nerve block, types and frequency of nerve blocks were investigated. Results A total of 1,414 patients' medical records were reviewed. The most commonly affected site was the thoracic area. The anticonvulsants and interlaminar epidural blocks were the most frequently used pharmacological and interventional methods for PHN treatment. For the interval of epidural block, intervals of 5 or more-weeks were the most popular. The proportion of PHN patients who get information from the mass media or the internet was only 0.8%. The incidence of suspected zoster sine herpete was only 0.1%. Conclusions The treatment methods for PHN vary among hospitals. The establishment of treatment recommendation for PHN treatment is necessary. In addition, public relations activities are required in order to inform the patients of PHN treatments by pain clinicians.
Minutiae and corner detection in fingerprints without image enhancement for real time recognition

Most fingerprint verification and recognition systems are based on the minutiae feature points. This paper presents a novel and robust edge based minutiae and corner detection algorithm designed for fingerprints with very small time consumption. This detector extracts the feature points on ridge edges without image enhancement and thinning. In turns, it provides an important time reduction which is required for real time and automatic fingerprint recognition systems. In addition, the detector localizes the corners on the edges of the ridges which characterizes the ridge curvature and its presence corresponds to a deviation on the ridge direction. The combination Minutiae/Corners forms a new set of features that will increase the performance of fingerprint recognition system. Finally, the results achieved are compared with those obtained by other techniques in the literature. Results show that the proposed method performs much better in terms of time efficiency with similar Equal Error Rate (EER) performance measure.
Multidimensional Integral Inversion, with Applications in Shape Reconstruction

In shape reconstruction, the celebrated Fourier slice theorem plays an essential role. It allows one to reconstruct the shape of a quite general object from the knowledge of its Radon transform [S. Helgason, The Radon Transform, Birkhauser Boston, Boston, 1980]---in other words from the knowledge of projections of the object. In case the object is a polygon [G. H. Golub, P. Milanfar, and J. Varah, SIAM J. Sci.\ Comput. , 21 (1999), pp. 1222-1243], or when it defines a quadrature domain in the complex plane [B. Gustafsson, C. He, P. Milanfar, and M. Putinar, Inverse Problems, 16 (2000), pp. 1053-1070], its shape can also be reconstructed from the knowledge of its moments. Essential tools in the solution of the latter inverse problem are quadrature rules and formal orthogonal polynomials. In this paper we show how shape reconstruction from the knowledge of moments can also be realized in the case of general compact objects, not only in two but also in higher dimensions. To this end we use a less-known homogeneous Pade slice property. Again integral transforms---in our case the multivariate Stieltjes transform and univariate Markov transform---formal orthogonal polynomials in the form of Pade denominators, and multidimensional integration formulas or cubature rules play an essential role. We emphasize that the new technique is applicable in all higher dimensions and illustrate it through the reconstruction of several two- and three-dimensional objects.
Beyond symptom self-report: use of a computer “avatar” to assess post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms

Abstract Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can occur in the wake of exposure to a traumatic event. Currently, PTSD symptoms are assessed mainly through self-report in the form of questionnaire or clinical interview. Self-report has inherent limitations, particularly in psychiatric populations who may have limited awareness of deficit, reduced attention span, or poor vocabulary and/or literacy skills. Diagnosis and evaluation of treatment efficacy would be aided by behavioral measures. A viable alternative may be virtual environments, in which the participant guides an on-screen "avatar" through a series of onscreen events meant to simulate real-world situations. Here, a sample of 82 veterans, self-assessed for PTSD symptoms was administered such a task, in which the avatar was confronted with situations that might evoke avoidant behavior, a core feature of PTSD. Results showed a strong correlation between PTSD symptom burden and task performance; in fact, the ability to predict PTSD symptom burden based on simple demographic variables (age, sex, combat exposure) was significantly improved by adding task score as a predictor variable. The results therefore suggest that virtual environments may provide a new way to assess PTSD symptoms, while avoiding at least some of the limitations associated with symptom self-report, and thus might be a useful complement to questionnaire or clinical interview, potentially facilitating both diagnosis and evaluation of treatment efficacy.
Feature Selection to Mine Joint Features from High-dimension Space for Android Malware Detection

Android is now the most popular smartphone platform and remains rapid growth. There are huge number of sensitive privacy information stored in Android devices. Kinds of methods have been proposed to detect Android malicious applications and protect the privacy information. In this work, we focus on extracting the fine-grained features to maximize the information of Android malware detection, and selecting the least joint features to minimize the number of features. Firstly, permissions and APIs, not only from Android permissions and SDK APIs but also from the developer-defined permissions and third-party library APIs, are extracted as features from the decompiled source codes. Secondly, feature selection methods, including information gain (IG), regularization and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms, are used to analyze and utilize the correlation between the features to eliminate the redundant data, reduce the feature dimension and mine the useful joint features. Furthermore, regularization and PSO are integrated to create a new joint feature mining method. Experiment results show that the joint feature mining method can utilize the advantages of regularization and PSO, and ensure good performance and efficiency for Android malware detection.
Prediction in Heterogeneous Bibliographic Networks

To reveal information hiding in link space of bibliographical networks, link analysis has been studied from different perspectives in recent years. In this paper, we address a novel problem namely citation prediction, that is: given information about authors, topics, target publication venues as well as time of certain research paper, finding and predicting the citation relationship between a query paper and a set of previous papers. Considering the gigantic size of relevant papers, the loosely connected citation network structure as well as the highly skewed citation relation distribution, citation prediction is more challenging than other link prediction problems which have been studied before. By building a meta-path based prediction model on a topic discriminative search space, we here propose a two-phase citation probability learning approach, in order to predict citation relationship effectively and efficiently. Experiments are performed on real-world dataset with comprehensive measurements, which demonstrate that our framework has substantial advantages over commonly used link prediction approaches in predicting citation relations in bibliographical networks.
A probabilistic pathway score (PROPS) for classification with applications to inflammatory bowel disease

Summary: Gene‐based supervised machine learning classification models have been widely used to differentiate disease states, predict disease progression and determine effective treatment options. However, many of these classifiers are sensitive to noise and frequently do not replicate in external validation sets. For complex, heterogeneous diseases, these classifiers are further limited by being unable to capture varying combinations of genes that lead to the same phenotype. Pathway‐based classification can overcome these challenges by using robust, aggregate features to represent biological mechanisms. In this work, we developed a novel pathway‐based approach, PRObabilistic Pathway Score, which uses genes to calculate individualized pathway scores for classification. Unlike previous individualized pathway‐based classification methods that use gene sets, we incorporate gene interactions using probabilistic graphical models to more accurately represent the underlying biology and achieve better performance. We apply our method to differentiate two similar complex diseases, ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), which are the two main types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Using five IBD datasets, we compare our method against four gene‐based and four alternative pathway‐based classifiers in distinguishing CD from UC. We demonstrate superior classification performance and provide biological insight into the top pathways separating CD from UC. Availability and Implementation: PROPS is available as a R package, which can be downloaded at http://simtk.org/home/props or on Bioconductor. Contact: rbaltman@stanford.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.