Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The pattern of learned visual improvements in adult amblyopia.

PURPOSE Although amblyopia is diagnosed in terms of a monocular letter acuity loss, individuals typically present with deficits on a wide range of spatial tasks. Many of these deficits can be collapsed along two basic visual dimensions (visual acuity and contrast sensitivity) that together account for most of the variability in performance of the amblyopic visual system. In this study, this space was exploited, to target the main deficits and fully characterize the pattern of learned visual improvements in adult amblyopic subjects. METHODS Twenty-six amblyopic subjects (mean age, 39 ±12 years) were trained on one of four tasks, categorized as either visual acuity (letter or grating acuity) or contrast sensitivity (letter or grating contrast) tasks. Performance was measured on all tasks before and after training, to quantify learning along each dimension and generalization to the other dimension. Performance in 35 visually normal subjects (mean, age 24 ± 5 years) was used to establish normal variation in visual performance along each dimension, against which the learned improvements in amblyopic subjects was compared. RESULTS Training on the contrast sensitivity tasks produced substantial within-task learning and generalization to measures of visual acuity. The learned improvements in performance after training on the letter acuity task were also substantial, but did not generalize to contrast sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS Mapping the pattern of learning onto the known deficit space for amblyopia enabled the identification of tasks and stimulus configurations that optimized learning, guiding further development of learning-based interventions in this clinical group.
Transmission dynamics of Echinococcus multilocularis; its reproduction number, persistence in an area of low rodent prevalence, and effectiveness of control

On the basis of high prevalences of Echinococcus multilocularis in the growing fox populations in Central Europe, its total biomass may have increased significantly in the past 20 years. E. multilocularis is now also found in areas outside the known endemic area in Central Europe. Therefore, E. multilocularis, the causative agent of a serious parasitic zoonosis, might be of major concern for public health and a challenge to control. Some experimental field trials to control E. multilocularis using an anti-worm drug reduced parasite burden in a contaminated region during the control campaign, but failed to eradicate the parasite completely. It was our aim to develop a mathematical model describing the biomass of egg, larval, and adult worm stages of the E. multilocularis life-cycle, and simulate a hypothetical control campaign. Additionally, we derived the reproduction number of this parasite and explored conditions for the persistence of the parasite's life-cycle. Our model shows that while control campaigns rapidly reduce the worm burden in the definitive host, and consequently eggs in the environment, the pool of larvae in the intermediate host remains large. The parasite's life-cycle persists in a region where prevalence in the intermediate host is low (∼1%). Therefore, we conclude that the parasite is likely to re-emerge if control is discontinued on the basis of reduced worm population. Continued treatment of the definitive host is required to eradicate the larval stage of the parasite from the intermediate host population.
Aspect-Oriented Quality of Service for Web Services: A Model-Driven Approach

Implementing and maintaining non-functional properties related to the monitoring of Quality of Service (QoS) can be expensive and complex tasks; with this paper, we present a model-based approach to the implementation of QoS monitors. Our approach uses platform-independent models in order to describe the system and its related QoS constraints. Then, we conduct Model-Driven Development (MDD) transformations for the implementation of both the system and its QoS constraints. Following the Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) paradigm, QoS constraints are implemented as aspects, which are weaved into the system implementation. Finally, we present a case study in order to support the evaluation of our approach.
Packet-based Ray Tracing of Catmull-Clark Subdivision Surfaces

Efficient ray tracing of subdivision surfaces is an important problem in production rendering, and for interactive applications in the near future. The current hardware trends for both CPUs and GPUs suggest that compute power is outpacing bandwidth. Despite this, current approaches for ray tracing subdivision surfaces favor geometry caches or full pre-tessellation. We demonstrate that directly ray tracing subdivision surfaces using ray packets uses much less bandwidth, while still providing amortization benefits. Our proposed method performs competitively with pre-tessellation even on current hardware, outperforms a single-ray implementation by up to 16× and Pixar’s PRMan 13.0 geometry caching by up to 11×.
Automatic Test case Generation From UML State Chart Diagram

re than 50% of software development effort is spent in testing phase in a typical software development project. Test case design as well as execution consumes a lot of time. So automated generation of test cases is highly required. We present a testing methodology to test object oriented software based on UML state chart diagrams. In our approach we apply function minimization technique and generate test cases automatically from UML state chart diagrams. Here, first the state chart diagram is constructed. Then the diagram is traversed. Here, we perform a DFS to select the associated predicates. After selecting the predicates, we guess an initial dataset. These conditional predicates are, then transformed to generate test cases automatically. Our technique achieves adequate test coverage without unduly increasing the number of test cases. Our approach achieves many important coverage like state coverage, transition coverage, transition pair coverage etc. This paper also describes how minimization technique is used in testing.
Supporting Collaborative Deliberation Using a Large-Scale Argumentation System: The Mit Collaboratorium

Current open-source/peer-production technologies, such as forums, wikis and blogs, have enabled an unprecedented explosion of global knowledge sharing, but appear to be less successful at enabling collaborative deliberation (i.e. the systematic enumeration, analysis, and selection of solution alternatives) around the complex systemic challenges, such as climate change, now facing humankind. In this paper, we present a new kind of collaboration platform, based on the large-scale application of argumentation theory, aimed at addressing this weakness. We present its rationale and design, as well as preliminary results obtained from a field test with a moderate-sized (220 member) user community.
An investigation into cold dwell fatigue behaviour in Ti6246 and other aerospace alloys

The susceptibility of Ti6246 to cold dwell fatigue behaviour has been assessed as part of a wider investigation into the relationship between optical microstructure, crystallographic texture, mechanical behaviour and material processing for various common titanium aerospace alloys. Assessment of the full range of production microstructures for Ti6246 has shown acceptable maximum texture intensities and crystallographic unit size variations. Debit on cold dwell fatigue life has only been observed at very high proportions of the ultimate tensile strength of the material. Heat treatment to eliminate potential ‘good’ factors in the dwell response of conventional microstructures was also noted not to produce a large cold dwell fatigue life debit. The absence of dwell effects may be attributed to one or more factors, including susceptibility of large colony microstructures to other failure modes to the extent that they are activated before the mechanism leading to cold dwell fatigue facet formation. Characterisation of optical microstructures and textures has revealed a range of structures associated with different titanium alloys and product forms. It has been noted that common crystallographic features may be observed in very different microstructures in these alloys. It is concluded from this work that the optical microstructure should not be taken as an accurate indication of the effective structural unit size in titanium alloys.
Source/Filter Model for Unsupervised Main Melody Extraction From Polyphonic Audio Signals

Extracting the main melody from a polyphonic music recording seems natural even to untrained human listeners. To a certain extent it is related to the concept of source separation, with the human ability of focusing on a specific source in order to extract relevant information. In this paper, we propose a new approach for the estimation and extraction of the main melody (and in particular the leading vocal part) from polyphonic audio signals. To that aim, we propose a new signal model where the leading vocal part is explicitly represented by a specific source/filter model. The proposed representation is investigated in the framework of two statistical models: a Gaussian Scaled Mixture Model (GSMM) and an extended Instantaneous Mixture Model (IMM). For both models, the estimation of the different parameters is done within a maximum-likelihood framework adapted from single-channel source separation techniques. The desired sequence of fundamental frequencies is then inferred from the estimated parameters. The results obtained in a recent evaluation campaign (MIREX08) show that the proposed approaches are very promising and reach state-of-the-art performances on all test sets.
Human-Guided Search for Jobshop Scheduling

We present an interactive jobshop scheduling application developed with the Human-Guided Search (HuGS) framework and toolkit. Our system leverages people’s abilities in areas in which they currently outperform computers, and allows people to steer a computer towards effective jobshop schedules based on their knowledge of real-world constraints. Furthermore, users can better understand, justify, and modify schedules if they participate in their construction. Our prototype allows users to manually modify the current schedule, backtrack to previous schedules, and invoke, monitor, and halt a variety of search algorithms to find better schedules. These search algorithms include a variant of tabu search that users can focus and constrain by visually annotating elements of the schedule.
Measuring airway dimensions during bronchoscopy using anatomical optical coherence tomography

Airway dimensions are difficult to quantify bronchoscopically because of optical distortion and a limited ability to gauge depth. Anatomical optical coherence tomography (aOCT), a novel imaging technique, may overcome these limitations. This study evaluated the accuracy of aOCT against existing techniques in phantom, excised pig and in vivo human airways. Three comparative studies were performed: 1) micrometer-derived area measurements in 10 plastic tubes were compared with aOCT-derived area; 2) aOCT-derived airway compliance curves from excised pig airways were compared with curves derived using an endoscopic technique; and 3) airway dimensions from the trachea to subsegmental bronchi were measured using aOCT in four anaesthetised patients during bronchoscopy and compared with computed tomography (CT) measurements. Measurements in plastic tubes revealed aOCT to be accurate and reliable. In pig airways, aOCT-derived compliance measurements compared closely with endoscopic data. In human airways, dimensions measured with aOCT and CT correlated closely. Bland–Altman plots showed that aOCT diameter and area measurements were higher than CT measurements by 7.6% and 15.1%, respectively. Airway measurements using aOCT are accurate, reliable and compare favourably with existing imaging techniques. Using aOCT with conventional bronchoscopy allows real-time measurement of airway dimensions and could be useful clinically in settings where knowledge of airway calibre is required.
Genomic organization and embryonic expression of the mouse fibroblast growth factor 9 gene

Fibroblast growth factor 9 (FGF9), originally cloned as glial‐activating factor from human glioma cells, is expressed in adult rat brain and kidney. Here we report the chromosomal localization, genomic organization, and embryonic expression pattern of the mouse Fgf9 gene. Fgf9 maps to chromosome 14 near the Ctla6 locus. The gene spans more than 34 kb and contains three exons and two introns. Translation initiation occurs in exon 1, and translation termination occurs in exon 3. Fgf9 RNA was detected during mouse embryogenesis in several tissues in which Fgf gene expression has not been previously described, including intermediate mesoderm of late‐stage gastrulation, ventricular myocardium, lung pleura, skeletal myoblasts in the early limb bud, spinal cord motor neurons, olfactory bulb, and gut lumenal epithelium. Fgf9 is coexpressed with other Fgf genes in some skeletal myoblasts, in limb apical ectoderm, in craniofacial ectoderm, and in the retina, inner ear, and tooth bud. Dev Dyn 1999;216:72–88. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Participation in Community-Originated Interventions is Associated with Positive Changes in Weight Status and Health Behaviors in Youth

Purpose. To assess changes in children's health behaviors and weight status after participation in community-originated interventions. Design. Prospective cohort study following body mass index (BMI) z-score trajectory over time. Setting. Schools and community settings in 19 locations in North Carolina. Subjects. A total of 1144 children, with an average age of 9.5 years, participating in community-originated physical activity and nutrition interventions, such as active recess and healthy cafeteria offerings, and environment and policy changes designed to prevent and reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity. Retention from baseline to final collection was 54%. Measures. Self-reported physical activity and eating behaviors; measured height and weight were collected at baseline and after interventions (average of 20 months). Z-score was compared with expected growth without intervention. Analysis. Descriptive statistics, χ2 tests and t-tests, and ANOVA analyses of variance to assess changes in health behaviors and weight status. Results. More than 11% of children improved their weight status, and 86% of children who began at a healthy weight remained there. The average BMI for children who were overweight at enrollment was significantly lower after intervention (1.1 kg/m2 lower for boys and 0.88 kg/m2 lower for girls). Overweight and obese children who made improvements in key health behaviors showed greater decreases in BMI z-score than those who did not improve those behaviors (increased fruit [−.2207 vs. −.0793] and vegetable [−.2215 vs. −.0855] intake, and drinking less soda [−.1985 vs. −.0912]). There were no significant increases in physical activity, and changes in physical activity were not related to decreases in BMI z-score in this study. Conclusion. Community-originated interventions to raise awareness about food choices and to change policies and environments may improve BMI z-scores.
Nonlinear capacitors for ESD protection

In order to protect electronic products from Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) damage, multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) are often used to bypass the transient ESD energy. Most dielectric materials used in MLCC are nonlinear, since the dielectric constant decreases with increasing voltage, reducing the capacitance value, thus degrading the ESD protection effect. Using a large initial capacitance value will ensure sufficient ESD protection; however, the shunt capacitors also limit the signal bandwidth of the ESD-protected data channel, thus setting a maximal capacitance value at data voltage levels. This paper investigates the nonlinearity of capacitors and suggests improved tradeoff between ESD protection and data bandwidth by using the Antiferroelectric (AFE) capacitors as ESD protection. The dielectric constant of AFE material increases with increasing voltage. The voltage dependence of X7R and AFE capacitors are measured using static and nanosecond transient measurements. The ESD protection effectiveness with different material capacitors are compared by simulation. Due to very limited availability of suitable AFE material samples only hand-made capacitors have tested without investigating the long term stability of the material.
A multi-level approach to resilience of critical infrastructures and services

Attacks on critical infrastructures are beginning to increase in number and severity. They are often initiated by highly skilled attackers, who are capable of deploying advanced attacks to exfiltrate data or even to cause physical damage. In this paper, we re-visit the rationale for protecting against cyber attacks and propose a framework to monitor, detect and evaluate anomalous behaviour within critical infrastructures. Specifically, we describe a multi-level approach for assuring resilience in critical infrastructures and services, taking into account organisational, technological and individuals' (OTI) viewpoints. The framework supports detection of anomalies by using appropriate techniques at the different levels of infrastructure and service. As a proof of concept, we derive a set of suitable metrics by monitoring a European utility network, then we simulate a detection process and evaluate the results.
Analysis of glottal source parameters in Parkinsonian speech

Diagnosis and monitoring of Parkinson's disease has a number of challenges as there is no definitive biomarker despite the broad range of symptoms. Research is ongoing to produce objective measures that can either diagnose Parkinson's or act as an objective decision support tool. Recent research on speech based measures have demonstrated promising results. This study aims to investigate the characteristics of the glottal source signal in Parkinsonian speech. An experiment is conducted in which a selection of glottal parameters are tested for their ability to discriminate between healthy and Parkinsonian speech. Results for each glottal parameter are presented for a database of 50 healthy speakers and a database of 16 speakers with Parkinsonian speech symptoms. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were employed to analyse the results and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) values were used to quantify the performance of each glottal parameter. The results indicate that glottal parameters can be used to discriminate between healthy and Parkinsonian speech, although results varied for each parameter tested. For the task of separating healthy and Parkinsonian speech, 2 out of the 7 glottal parameters tested produced AUC values of over 0.9.
Esterases and other soluble proteins of some lactic acid bacteria.

SUMMARY: Electrophoresis patterns of soluble protein of 34 strains and esterases of 113 strains of lactic acid bacteria were determined. Similar protein patterns were obtained for the three species of lactic acid streptococci; with the lactobacilli most species gave constant species-specific patterns, but Lactobacillus acidophilus and L. delbrueckii strains differed markedly among themselves. Esterase patterns of lactic streptococci were generally species specific. Among the lactobacilli the thermobacteria had weak esterase activity which was only species specific for L. lactis, L. leichmanii and L. salivarius; in the streptobacteria, L. casei had a very consistent esterase pattern, whereas L. plantarum had very different patterns within the species; the unclassified strains were different from each other; in the betabacteria activity was weak and no consistent pattern of bands occurred. Leuconostocs grouped in patterns corresponding to their physiological groups. Esterases of a streptococcus and a lactobacillus examined were classified as ali esterases. When ten strains of lactic acid bacteria were tested for substrate specificity, nine of them had a higher activity against α-naphthyl acetate than against the butyrate and caprylate. A rapid test for esterase activity of whole organisms is described.
The Role of Auditory Experience in the Formation of Neural Circuits Underlying Vocal Learning in Zebra Finches

The initial establishment of topographic mapping within developing neural circuits is thought to be shaped by innate mechanisms and is primarily independent of experience. Additional refinement within topographic maps leads to precise matching between presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons and is thought to depend on experiential factors during specific sensitive periods in the animal's development. In male zebra finches, axonal projections of the cortical lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum (lMAN) are critically important for vocal learning. Overall patterns of topographic organization in the majority of these circuits are adult-like throughout the sensitive period for vocal learning and remain stable despite large-scale functional and morphological changes. However, topographic organization within the projection from the core subregion of lMAN (lMANcore) to the motor cortical robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA) is lacking at the onset of song development and emerges during the early stages of vocal learning. To study the effects of song-related experience on patterns of axonal connectivity within different song-control circuits, we disrupted song learning by deafening juvenile zebra finches or exposing them to loud white noise throughout the sensitive period for song learning. Depriving juvenile birds of normal auditory experience delayed the emergence of topographic specificity within the lMANcore→RA circuit relative to age-matched controls, whereas topographic organization within all other projections to and from lMAN was not affected. The projection from lMANcore to RA therefore provides an unusual example of experience-dependent modification of large-scale patterns of brain circuitry, in the sense that auditory deprivation influences the development of overall topographic organization in this pathway.
Primary care interventions to improve transition of youth with chronic health conditions from paediatric to adult healthcare: a systematic review

Objective To determine effective interventions to improve primary care provider involvement in transitioning youth with chronic conditions from paediatric to adult care. Design Systematic review. Multiple electronic databases were searched including Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science (from 1 January 1947 to 5 August 2015). Evidence quality was assessed using a 36-point scoring system for disparate study designs. Setting Studies with paediatric-to-adult transition programmes and interventions involving primary care providers or in primary care settings. Participants Youth aged 16 years and over. Outcomes Relevant outcomes were grouped into 3 main domains based on the Triple Aim Framework: experience of care, population health, cost. Results A total of 1888 unique citations were identified, yielding 3 studies for inclusion. Overall, primary care provider roles were not well defined. 2 studies used case managers to facilitate referrals to primary care, and the remaining study was the only 1 situated in a primary care setting. None of the studies examined transition in all 3 Triple Aim Framework domains. The most commonly reported outcomes were in the cost domain. Conclusions There is limited empiric evidence to guide primary care interventions to improve transition outcomes for youth with chronic conditions. Future research and policy should focus on developing and evaluating coordinated transition interventions to better integrate primary care for high need populations.