Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bitcoin as a Complement to Emerging Market Currencies

ABSTRACT Bitcoin is a digital currency that has gained significant traction as an economic instrument. Despite its rise, it has received little attention from the scholarly community. This study is one of the first studies to examine Bitcoin’s use as a complement to emerging markets currencies; more specifically, I analyze the value and volatility of Bitcoin relative to emerging market currencies and explore ways in which Bitcoin can complement emerging market currencies. The results suggest that Bitcoin has characteristics that make it well-suited to work as a complement to emerging market currencies and that there are ways to minimize Bitcoin’s risks.
Genetic heterogeneity in familial idiopathic basal ganglia calcification (Fahr disease)

Familial idiopathic basal ganglia calcification (IBGC, Fahr disease) is an inherited neurologic condition characterized by basal ganglia and extra-basal ganglia brain calcifications, parkinsonism, and neuropsychiatric symptoms. The authors examined six families for linkage to the previously identified genetic locus (IBGC1) located on chromosome 14q. The authors found evidence against linkage to IBGC1 in five of the six families supporting previous preliminary studies demonstrating genetic heterogeneity in familial IBGC.
Immediate therapeutic effect of interferential current therapy on spasticity, balance, and gait function in chronic stroke patients: a randomized control trial

Objective: To determine whether a single trial of interferential current therapy (ICT) can immediately alleviate spasticity and improve balance and gait performance in patients with chronic stroke. Design: Randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation in a local center. Subjects: A total of 42 adult patients with chronic stroke with plantar flexor spasticity of the lower limb. Intervention: The ICT group received a single 60-minute ICT stimulation of the gastrocnemius in conjunction with air-pump massage. In the placebo-ICT group, electrodes were placed and air-pump massage performed without electrical stimulation. Main measures: After a single ICT application, spasticity was measured immediately using the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), and balance and functional gait performance were assessed using the following clinical tools: Functional Reach Test (FRT), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), and 10-m Walk Test (10MWT). Results: Gastrocnemius spasticity significantly decreased in the ICT group than in the placebo-ICT group (MAS: ICT vs placebo-ICT: 1.55±0.76 vs 0.40±0.50). The ICT group showed significantly greater improvement in balance and gait abilities than the placebo-ICT group (FRT: 2.62±1.21 vs 0.61±1.34, BBS: 1.75±1.52 vs 0.40±0.88, TUG: 6.07±6.11 vs 1.68±2.39, 10MWT: 7.02±7.02 vs 1.96±3.13). Spasticity correlated significantly with balance and gait abilities (P < 0.05). Conclusion: A single trial of ICT is a useful intervention for immediately improving spasticity, balance, and gait abilities in chronic stroke patients, but not for long-term effects. Further study on the effects of repeated ICT is needed.
A Statistical Study of Loss-Delay Tradeoff for RED Queues

Aside from the introduction of many new schemes, the use of TCP-based AQM schemes and in specific RED is anticipated to continue in foreseeable future as the de-facto standard of network congestion control. Therefore, conducting extra research work aiming at improving the performance of RED is still a topic of high interest. In this paper, we present an analytical study aiming at the fine tuning of the RED parameters. Utilizing a statistical analysis approach, we formulate an optimization problem aimed at addressing the loss and delay tradeoff of the RED queuing discipline. We provide a two-phase iterative solution to the problem in order to identify the settings of the RED parameters. We discuss the convergence characteristics of our solution and investigate its low complexity characteristics. Through extensive NS2 experiments, we illustrate the advantages of our proposed optimization approach by comparing its results to those of adaptive RED as well as standard RED with recommended parameter settings.
EFFECT OF GEOMETRIC PARAMETERS OF SUPERHYDROPHOBIC SURFACE ON LIQUID SLIP

In this paper, we experimentally study how geometric parameters of textured hydrophobic surfaces affect a liquid slip, empowered by a custom-tuned microfabrication procedure that produces regular micro-patterns of posts and grates on an entire 4” wafer with a good size uniformity and no defect. A pitch of the patterns and a gas fraction of the structured surface are independently controlled, and the slip length over each type of patterns is measured using a rheometer system. On both grates and posts, the slip length increases linearly with a pitch but exponentially with a gas fraction. The trend of exponential increase by gas fraction appears more pronounced on posts than on grates. The defect-free surfaces allow the flows to maintain a de-wetted (Cassie) state at much higher pitches and gas fractions than previously possible, permitting flows with the maximum slip effect.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
CLASSIFICATION OF MT-OUTPUT USING HYBRID MT-EVALUATION METRICS FOR POST-EDITING AND THEIR COMPARATIVE STUDY

Machine translation industry is working well but they have been facing problem in postediting. MT-outputs do not correct and fluent so minor or major changes need for publishing them. Postediting performs manually by linguists, which is expensive and time consuming. So we should select good translation for postediting among all translations. Various MT-evaluation metrics can be used for filter the good translations for postediting. We have shown the use of various MT-evolution metrics for selection of good translation and their comparative study. INDEX TERMS Machine translation, MT-Evaluation, Postediting, MT-Engine Good Translation, BLEU, METEOR, FMEASURE
Prevention of critical telomere shortening by oestradiol in human normal hepatic cultured cells and carbon tetrachloride induced rat liver fibrosis

Background and aim: Significant telomere shortening of hepatocytes is associated with replicative senescence and a non-dividing state in chronic liver disease, resulting in end stage liver failure and/or development of hepatocellular carcinoma. To prevent critical telomere shortening in hepatocytes, we have focused on oestrogen dependent transactivation of the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene as a form of telomerase therapy in chronic liver disease. Methods: We examined expression of hTERT mRNA and its protein, and telomerase activity (TA) in three human normal hepatic cell lines (Hc-cells, h-Nheps, and WRL-68) before and after treatment with 17β-oestradiol. The effects of exogenous oestradiol administration were examined in a carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced model of liver fibrosis in rats. Results: Expression of hTERT mRNA and its protein was upregulated by oestradiol treatment. Telomere length decreased in Hc-cells and h-Nheps with accumulated passages whereas with long term oestradiol exposure it was greater than without oestradiol. The incidence of β-galactosidase positive cells, indicating a state of senescence, decreased significantly in oestradiol treated cells in comparison with non-treated cells (p<0.05). TA in both male and female rats with CCl4 induced liver fibrosis was significantly higher with oestradiol administration than without (p<0.05). Long term oestradiol administration markedly rescued the hepatic telomere from extensive shortening in both male and female rats. Conclusion: These results suggest that oestradiol acts as a positive modulator of the hTERT gene in the liver. Oestrogen dependent transactivation of the hTERT gene is a new strategy for slowing the progression of chronic liver disease.
Simultaneous nitrification, denitrification, and phosphorus removal in a lab‐scale sequencing batch reactor

Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) via the nitrite pathway and anaerobic–anoxic‐enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) are two processes that can significantly reduce the energy and COD demand for nitrogen and phosphorus removal. The combination of these two processes has the potential of achieving simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal with a minimal requirement for COD. A lab‐scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was operated in alternating anaerobic–aerobic mode with a low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration (0.5 mg/L) during the aerobic period, and was demonstrated to accomplish nitrification, denitrification, and phosphorus removal. Under anaerobic conditions, COD was taken up and converted to polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), accompanied by phosphorus release. In the subsequent aerobic stage, PHA was oxidized and phosphorus was taken up to <0.5 mg/L by the end of the cycle. Ammonia was also oxidized during the aerobic period, but without accumulation of nitrite or nitrate in the system, indicating the occurrence of simultaneous nitrification and denitrification. However, off‐gas analysis showed that the final denitrification product was mainly nitrous oxide (N2O), not N2. Further experimental results demonstrated that nitrogen removal was via nitrite, not nitrate. These experiments also showed that denitrifying glycogen‐accumulating organisms (DGAOs), rather than denitrifying polyphosphate‐accumulating organisms (DPAOs), were responsible for the denitrification activity. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 84: 170–178, 2003.
Electric source imaging of interictal activity accurately localises the seizure onset zone

Objective It remains controversial whether interictal spikes are a surrogate of the seizure onset zone (SOZ). Electric source imaging (ESI) is an increasingly validated non-invasive approach for localising the epileptogenic focus in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy undergoing evaluation for surgery, using high-density scalp EEG and advanced source localisation algorithms that include the patient's own MRI. Here we investigate whether localisation of interictal spikes by ESI provides valuable information on the SOZ. Methods In 38 patients with focal epilepsy who later underwent intracranial EEG monitoring, we performed ESI of interictal spikes recorded with 128–256-channel EEG. We measured the distance between the ESI maximum and the nearest intracranial electrodes in the SOZ and irritative zone (IZ, the source of interictal spikes). The resection of the region harbouring the ESI maximum was correlated to surgical outcome. Results The median distance from the ESI maximum to the nearest electrode involved in the SOZ was 17 mm (IQR 8–27). The IZ and SOZ colocalised in most patients (median distance 0 mm, IQR 0–14), supporting the notion that localising interictal spikes is a valid surrogate for the SOZ. There was no difference in accuracy among patients with temporal or extratemporal epilepsy. In the 32 patients who underwent resective surgery, including the ESI maximum in the resection correlated with favourable outcome (p=0.03). Conclusions Localisation of interictal spikes provides an excellent estimate of the SOZ in the majority of patients. ESI should be taken into account for the management of patients undergoing intracranial recordings.
EdiPulse: Investigating a Playful Approach to Self-monitoring through 3D Printed Chocolate Treats

Self-monitoring offers benefits in facilitating awareness about physical exercise, but such data-centric activity may not always lead to an enjoyable experience. We introduce EdiPulse a novel system that creates activity treats to offer playful reflections on everyday physical activity through the appealing medium of chocolate. EdiPulse translates self-monitored data from physical activity into small 3D printed chocolate treats. These treats (< 20 grams of chocolate in total) embody four forms: Graph, Flower, Slogan and Emoji. We deployed our system across 7 households and studied its use with 13 participants for 2 weeks per household. The field study revealed positive aspects of our approach along with some open challenges, which we disseminate across five themes: Reflection, Positivity, Determination, Affection, and Co-experience. We conclude by highlighting key implications of our work for future playful food-based technology design in supporting the experience of being physically active
Differential Responses of the HPA Axis to Mild Blast Traumatic Brain Injury in Male and Female Mice

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects 10 million people worldwide, annually. TBI is linked to increased risk of psychiatric disorders. TBI, induced by explosive devices, has a unique phenotype. Over one-third of people exposed to blast-induced TBI (bTBI) have prolonged neuroendocrine deficits, shown by anterior pituitary dysfunction. Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is linked to increased risk for psychiatric disorders. Not only is there limited information on how the HPA axis responds to mild bTBI (mbTBI), sex differences are understudied. We examined central and peripheral HPA axis reactivity, 7 to 10 days after mbTBI in male and female mice. Males exposed to mbTBI had increased restraint-induced serum corticosterone (CORT), but attenuated restraint-induced corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)/c-Fos-immunoreactivity (ir) in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN). Females displayed an opposite response, with attenuated restraint-induced CORT and enhanced restraint-induced PVN CRF/c-Fos-ir. We examined potential mechanisms underlying this dysregulation and found that mbTBI did not affect pituitary (pro-opiomelanocortin and CRF receptor subtype 1) or adrenal (11β-hydroxylase, 11β-dehydrogenase 1, and melanocortin 2 receptor) gene expression. mbTBI did not alter mineralocorticoid or glucocorticoid gene expression in the PVN or relevant limbic structures. In females, but not males, mbTBI decreased c-Fos-ir in non-neuroendocrine (presumably preautonomic) CRF neurons in the PVN. Whereas we demonstrated a sex-dependent link to stress dysregulation of preautonomic neurons in females, we hypothesize that mbTBI may disrupt limbic pathways involved in HPA axis coordination in males. Overall, mbTBI altered the HPA axis in a sex-dependent manner, highlighting the importance of developing therapies to target individual strategies that males and females use to cope with mbTBI.
Use of complementary and alternative therapies by patients self-reporting arthritis or rheumatism: results from a nationwide canadian survey.

OBJECTIVE Arthritis or rheumatism (A/R) often leads patients to experiment with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM); we investigated the factors associated with use of CAM. METHODS The source of the data is the cross sectional household component of the 1996-97 National Population Health Survey of the health status and behaviors of Canadians. The survey sample is based on 66,000 persons aged 20 years and older, representing 21 million adults. Cross tabulations were used to estimate the percentage of adults with A/R who used CAM. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify those characteristics associated with the use of CAM in the year preceding the survey. RESULTS In 1996-97, among the 3.3 million Canadian adults aged 20 years or older who self-reported arthritis, 22% utilized CAM in the past year. CAM users tended to be younger and with higher education and household income. They reported more pain, consumed more analgesics, and tended to be more depressed. The coexistence of back or bowel disorders, cancer, sinusitis, or food allergies with arthritis was also related to CAM use. Moreover, CAM users also used more traditional health resources. CONCLUSION Our results indicate that patients with A/R consulting CAM providers self-report more intense symptoms than nonusers and often have other chronic conditions. They do not seem to reject the traditional health care system, but supplement it with CAM, possibly to fulfill needs insufficiently satisfied by traditional health care providers.
Intracytoplasmic growth and virulence of Listeria monocytogenes auxotrophic mutants

The intracellular growth of several auxotrophic mutants of Listeria monocytogenes was examined in cell culture, and virulence was evaluated in mice by intravenous injection of log-phase bacteria. L. monocytogenes transposon insertion mutants requiring either uracil, phenylalanine, glycine, proline, or nicotinic acid for growth were fully virulent and grew similarly to the parental strain as shown by their growth rates in cell culture. Those requiring all three aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tryptophan, and tyrosine) or adenine were 1.5 log10 less virulent than the wild type. A threonine auxotroph, which showed enhanced growth in the presence of threonine-containing peptides as compared with that in the presence of free threonine, was approximately 1 log10 less virulent than the wild type. When host cells were deprived of specific amino acids required by both the host cell and L. monocytogenes, the bacteria continued to grow intracellularly. These studies suggest that the cytoplasm of eucaryotic cells behaves like rich medium, facilitating the growth of an intracellular bacterial pathogen with complex growth requirements. In addition, results related to amino acid deprivation during intracellular growth and specific extracellular growth requirements of a threonine auxotroph suggest that L. monocytogenes may utilize intracellular peptides as a source of amino acids.
Intraspecific diversity and distribution of the cosmopolitan species Pseudo‐nitzschia pungens (Bacillariophyceae): morphology, genetics, and ecophysiology of the three clades

Three clades of Pseudo‐nitzschia pungens, determined by the internal transcribed space (ITS) region, are distributed throughout the world. We studied 15 P. pungens clones from various geographical locations and confirmed the existence of the three clades within P. pungens, based on ITS sequencing and described the three subgroups (IIIaa, IIIab, and IIIb) of clade III. Clade III (clade IIIaa) populations were reported for the first time in Korean coastal waters and the East China Sea. In morphometric analysis, we found the ultrastructural differences in the number of fibulae, striae, and poroids that separate the three clades. We carried out physiological tests on nine clones belonging to the three clades growing under various culture conditions. In temperature tests, only clade III clones could not grow at lower temperatures (10°C and 15°C), although clade I and II clones grew well. The estimated optimal growth range of clade I clones was wider than that of clades II and III. Clade II clones were considered to be adapted to lower temperatures and clade III to higher temperatures. In salinity tests, clade II and III clones did not grow well at a salinity of 40. Clade I clones were regarded as euryhaline and clade II and III clones were stenohaline. This supports the hypothesis that P. pungens clades have different ecophysiological characteristics based on their habitats. Our data show that physiological and morphological features are correlated with genetic intraspecific differentiation in P. pungens.
Mixtures of Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves

Rationale and Objectives: ROC curves are ubiquitous in the analysis of imaging metrics as markers of both diagnosis and prognosis. While empirical estimation of ROC curves remains the most popular method, there are several reasons to consider smooth estimates based on a parametric model. Materials and Methods: A mixture model is considered for modeling the distribution of the marker in the diseased population motivated by the biological observation that there is more heterogeneity in the diseased population than there is in the normal one. It is shown that this model results in an analytically tractable ROC curve which is itself a mixture of ROC curves. Results: The use of CK-BB isoenzyme in diagnosis of severe head trauma is used as an example. ROC curves are fit using the direct binormal method, ROCKIT and the Box-Cox transformation as well as the proposed mixture model. The mixture model generates an ROC curve that is much closer to the empirical one than the other methods considered. Conclusions: Mixtures of ROC curves can be helpful in fitting smooth ROC curves in datasets where the diseased population has higher variability than can be explained by a single distribution.
Energy-efficient wavelet image compression in Wireless Sensor Network

In the recent years, the wireless technology would have known an exponential growth, which has an impact on developing and improving the field of telecommunications beyond the means of transmission wire to the radio frequency communication. The Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is enrolled in this context. It's a collection of component (nodes) organized into a cooperative network. The main components of this network are tiny battery powered cameras with wireless communication capability. Therefore, image transfer in WSNs presents major challenge which raises issues related to its representation, its storage and its transmission. However, communication of image content has several bottlenecks, including limited bandwidth of cellular networks, restricted computational power, limited storage capability, and battery constraints of the appliances. In this paper, we address the energy, system lifetime and bandwidth bottlenecks of image communication. We present an efficient adaptive compression scheme that can significantly minimize the energy required for wireless image communication while meeting bandwidth constraints of wireless network and image quality. Based on Discrete Wavelet Transform, we propose an efficient image compression scheme, enabling significant reduction in computation energy needed with minimal degradation of image quality. Simulation results are done with C++ and show that the proposed scheme optimizes network lifetime, reduces significantly the amount of required memory and minimizes both (i) computation energy, by reducing the computation needed to compress an image and (ii) communication energy, consumed by the RF component which is proportional to the number of transmitted bits.
Role of Spatial Ability as a Probable Ability Determinant in Skill Acquisition for Sonographic Scanning

Spatial ability refers to an individual's capacity to visualize and mentally manipulate 3‐dimensional objects. Because sonographers manually manipulate 2‐ and 3‐dimensional sonographic images to generate renderings of anatomic structures, it can be assumed that spatial ability is an ability determinant for understanding and producing these medical images. Using the theory of ability determinants of skilled performance as a conceptual framework, this study explored the relationship of spatial ability and learning sonographic scanning.
Chinese pronominal anaphora resolution using lexical knowledge and entropy-based weight

Pronominal anaphors are commonly observed in written texts. In this article, effective Chinese pronominal anaphora resolution is addressed by using lexical knowledge acquisition and salience measurement. The lexical knowledge acquisition is aimed to extract more semantic features, such as gender, number, and collocate compatibility by employing multiple resources. The presented salience measurement is based on entropybasedweighting on selecting antecedent candidates.The resolution is justified with a real corpus and compared with a rule-basedmodel. Experimental results by five-fold cross-validation show that our approach yields 82.5% success rate on 1343 anaphoric instances. In comparison with a general rule-based approach, the performance is improved by 7%.