Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What you see is what you step: the horizontal-vertical illusion increases toe clearance in older adults during stair ascent.

PURPOSE Falls on stairs are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in elderly people. A simple safety strategy to avoid tripping on stairs is increasing foot clearance. We determined whether a horizontal-vertical illusion superimposed onto stairs to create an illusory perceived increase in stair-riser height would increase stair ascent foot clearance in older participants. METHODS Preliminary experiments determined the optimum parameters for the horizontal-vertical illusion. Fourteen older adults (mean age ± 1 SD, 68.5 ± 7.4 years) ascended a three-step staircase with the optimized version of the horizontal-vertical illusion (spatial frequency: 12 cycles per stair riser) positioned either on the bottom or top stair only, or on the bottom and top stair simultaneously. These were compared to a control condition, which had a plain stair riser with edge highlighters positioned flush with each stair-tread edge. Foot clearance and measures of postural stability were compared across conditions. RESULTS The optimized illusion on the bottom and top stair led to a significant increase in foot clearance over the respective stair edge, compared to the control condition. There were no significant decreases in postural stability. CONCLUSIONS An optimized horizontal-vertical visual illusion led to significant increases in foot clearance in older adults when ascending a staircase, but the effects did not destabilize their postural stability. Inclusion of the horizontal-vertical illusion on raised surfaces (e.g., curbs) or the bottom and top stairs of staircases could improve stair ascent safety in older adults.
Factors Influencing Group Decision Making Performance in a GSS Enabled Environment

Group decision making is becoming a very common activity in human society all over the world. Business problems nowadays are increasingly involving interactivity that requires collective effort and detailed information shared by a group of people working together. This paper is concerned with measuring the impact of group members' gender and familiarity on group decision making performance. An experimental approach is adopted where a sample of students, who study at Yarmouk University in Jordan, performed a specific task using a GSS enabled environment. Results revealed that female-only groups have a better performance than male-only groups and groups with familiar members have a better influence on the quality of decisions made during group work. Conclusions, contributions and future work are reported at the end.
Financial Prediction: Application of Logistic Regression with Factor Analysis

Logistic regression is a very common method in financial prediction. In order to establish the more effective model, the paper introduces factor analysis into logistic regression to overcome multiple co-linearity among variables and meanwhile retain useful information of original variables. The result shows that this model has better predictive capability. This suggests that for policymakers and others interested in prediction system, this may be a useful tool for forecast firm failure.
Road Sign Detection and Recognition in Adverse Case using Pattern Matching

Application of new technology in building human comforts and automation is growing fast, particularly in automobile industry. Automatic detection and recognition of traffic signs for assisting driver to ensure a safe travel have been givenpractical importance for intelligent traffic system.The proposed method detects the location of the traffic sign in thecaptured image, based on its geometrical characteristics and using color information. Such signs are then recognized using a pattern matching with the normalized cross correlation method and tracked through a sequence of images. The algorithm is tested using image set of different traffic signs and non traffic signs taken under various adverse conditions such as, various backgrounds, lighting conditions, orientation and distances. Experimental result shows the better performance in the detection and recognition of road signs with recognition rate of 90%. Computational time is also quite low which makes it applicable for the real time system.
Combining Functional Neuroimaging with Off-line Brain Stimulation: Modulation of Task-related Activity in Language Areas

Repetitive TMS (rTMS) provides a noninvasive tool for modulating neural activity in the human brain. In healthy participants, rTMS applied over the language-related areas in the left hemisphere, including the left posterior temporal area of Wernicke (LTMP) and inferior frontal area of Broca, have been shown to affect performance on word recognition tasks. To investigate the neural substrate of these behavioral effects, off-line rTMS was combined with fMRI acquired during the performance of a word recognition task. Twenty right-handed healthy men underwent fMRI scans before and after a session of 10-Hz rTMS applied outside the magnetic resonance scanner. Functional magnetic resonance images were acquired during the performance of a word recognition task that used English or foreign-language words. rTMS was applied over the LTMP in one group of 10 participants (LTMP group), whereas the homologue region in the right hemisphere was stimulated in another group of 10 participants (RTMP group). Changes in task-related fMRI response (English minus foreign languages) and task performances (response time and accuracy) were measured in both groups and compared between pre-rTMS and post-rTMS. Our results showed that rTMS increased task-related fMRI response in the homologue areas contralateral to the stimulated sites. We also found an effect of rTMS on response time for the LTMP group only. These findings provide insights into changes in neural activity in cortical regions connected to the stimulated site and are consistent with a hypothesis raised in a previous review about the role of the homologue areas in the contralateral hemisphere for preserving behavior after neural interference.
A 1 V Low-Noise CMOS Amplifier Using Autozeroing and Chopper Stabilization Technique

SUMMARY A low-noise CMOS amplifier operating at a low supply voltage is developed using the two noise reduction techniques of autozeroing and chopper stabilization. The proposed amplifier utilizes a feedback with virtual grounded input-switches and a multiple-output switched opamp. The low-noise amplifier fabricated in a 0.18-µm CMOS technology achieved 50-nV/ √ Hz input noise at 1-MHz chopping and 0.5-mW power
MEI: Multimodal Emotional Intelligence

In this thesis, we design and implement a multimodal emotion system for robots. The overreaching goal is to advance the fundamentals of robot primary emotions by using clues from infant development. Our approach has three prime characteristics, which set it apart from current robot emotion systems. Firstly, it is multimodal. Humans express and recognize emotions through a variety of dynamic channels, such as voice, movement and music. Our paradigm uses speed, intensity, irregularity and extent (SIRE) to colour a robot’s voice, gesture and gait with emotion, using a simple 4-dimensional representation. Secondly, it models emotion statistically. Many emotion models are hand-defined based on a posteriori rules, yet humans are known to be statistical learning machines. Our MEI (multimodal emotional intelligence) module once trained, can recognize emotion in a context it has never encountered, and generate statistically probable emotion expressions. Finally, it is developed through a social process found in caregiver-infant interactions. Emotions are thought to be innate, but according to evidence in developmental psychology, much development happens between the ages of zero and one. In this thesis, we model this first year of life where emotional intelligence grows rapidly, possibly due to a universal phenomenon called motherese. This thesis consists of seven chapters. In Chapter 1, we show the motivation for developing an emotion system for robots, and highlight the technical problems towards this goal. In Chapter 2, we review the literature related to developing emotional intelligence at the primary emotion level. We give a basic overview of current definitions of emotion in psychology, neuroscience and computing, and describe related theoretical emotion models. We also give the three basic requirements for a robot emotion system: expres-
Intelligent Cognitive Tutors as Modeling Tool and Instructional Model

Effective technologies for learning and doing mathematics should be based on sound cognitive theory, be empirically tested against alternatives, and be primarily addressed at mathematics as a modeling language. I will discuss the status and promise of researchbased "intelligent" systems that support students in mathematical modeling and tool use. Such systems are beginning to reshape the mathematics classroom, the way teachers teach, and what and how students learn.
Flexible DSP Accelerator Architecture Exploiting Carry-Save Arithmetic

Hardware acceleration has been proved an extremely promising implementation strategy for the digital signal processing (DSP) domain. Rather than adopting a monolithic application-specific integrated circuit design approach, in this brief, we present a novel accelerator architecture comprising flexible computational units that support the execution of a large set of operation templates found in DSP kernels. We differentiate from previous works on flexible accelerators by enabling computations to be aggressively performed with carry-save (CS) formatted data. Advanced arithmetic design concepts, i.e., recoding techniques, are utilized enabling CS optimizations to be performed in a larger scope than in previous approaches. Extensive experimental evaluations show that the proposed accelerator architecture delivers average gains of up to 61.91% in area-delay product and 54.43% in energy consumption compared with the state-of-art flexible datapaths.
Multi-stage decision tree based on inter-class and inner-class margin of SVM

Motivated by overcoming the drawbacks of traditional decision tree and improving the efficiency of large margin learning based multi-stage decision tree when dealing with multi-class classification problems, this paper proposes a novel Multi-stage Decision Tree algorithm based on inter-class and inner class margin of SVM. This new algorithm is well designed for multi-class classification problem based on the maximum margin of SVM and the cohesion and coupling theory of clustering. Considering the multi-class classification problem as a clustering problem, this new algorithm attempts to convert the multi-class classification problem into a two-class classification problem such that the highest cohesion degree within classes while lowest coupling degree between classes, where the margin of SVM is considered as the measurement of the degree. Then for each two-class problem, this paper uses traditional C4.5 algorithm to generate each stage decision tree which splits a dataset into two subsets for the further induction. Recursively, the Multi-stage decision tree is obtained. Numerical simulations and theoretical analysis show this new multi-stage decision tree improves the performance of traditional decision tree and decreases the computational complexity a lot compare with large margin learning based multi-stage decision tree.
Exercise and dietary program-induced weight reduction is associated with cognitive function among obese adolescents: a longitudinal study

Objective The present study was to determine the effect of a combined exercise and dietary program on cognitive function as well as the relationship between the program-induced weight change and cognitive function alterations. Design The study applies a quasi-experimental design. Methods Fifty-eight adolescents with obese status (body mass index, BMI >28 kg/m2) were assigned to either an experiment (n = 30) or control group (n = 28). Participants in the experiment group received a scheduled program with a specific exercise protocol (two sessions per day, six days per week) and diet plan for four consecutive weeks; the control group was instructed to maintain their normal school activities. The primary outcome measures were anthropometric data and flanker task performance. Results The combined program led to reduced BMI with maintenance of the incongruent accuracy in the experiment group, but the incongruent accuracy decreased in the control group after the four-week period. Additionally, the change in weight status between post- and pre-test measurements was inversely correlated with the change in incongruent accuracy. Conclusion The combined exercise and dietary program resulted in decreased weight and enhanced executive function in the obese adolescents, and the weight alteration may be considered the mediator between the intervention and executive function.
Context-aware Specialization of Semantic Rules for choosing Services in Pervasive Environments

The development of many highly dynamic environments, such as pervasive environments, has modified the behavior of users and consequently, their expectations of systems and applications executed in these environments. Thus, a user can connect to different places, and, each time, would like to use the functionalities offered by the physically or logically close environment. This paper proposes a novel approach for specializing strategies for choosing, and then using services in a pervasive environment. To the best of our knowledge, strategies for the use of services in a pervasive environment are dynamic but ad-hocly defined during the development phase. By changing the context, the strategy can change and be replaced by another one predefined in the application development phase. Our idea is to provide a context-aware mechanism which is able to adapts dynamically the condition and action parts of the rule of the strategy to the context without the need to specify how, during the development of applications. Only a general strategy is defined in the development phase. At run time, a dynamic specialization adapted to the context, provides a specialized strategy from the general one.
Predictive Resource Reservation Access for Multimedia Integration over GEO Satellite Networks

The provision of acceptable quality-of-service (QoS) for integrated multimedia traffic over a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite network demands the existence of a well-designed medium access control (MAC) protocol. This paper proposes a new dynamic satellite bandwidth allocation technique (predictive resource reservation access, PRRA) which is based on accurate videoconference traffic prediction. Our work is combined with another work on data traffic modeling and prediction and is shown to provide very good throughput and delay results when compared with other protocols from the literature.
Integrative epigenomic analysis identifies biomarkers and therapeutic targets in adult B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

UNLABELLED Genetic lesions such as BCR-ABL1, E2A-PBX1, and MLL rearrangements (MLLr) are associated with unfavorable outcomes in adult B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Leukemia oncoproteins may directly or indirectly disrupt cytosine methylation patterning to mediate the malignant phenotype. We postulated that DNA methylation signatures in these aggressive B-ALLs would point toward disease mechanisms and useful biomarkers and therapeutic targets. We therefore conducted DNA methylation and gene expression profiling on a cohort of 215 adult patients with B-ALL enrolled in a single phase III clinical trial (ECOG E2993) and normal control B cells. In BCR-ABL1-positive B-ALLs, aberrant cytosine methylation patterning centered around a cytokine network defined by hypomethylation and overexpression of IL2RA(CD25). The E2993 trial clinical data showed that CD25 expression was strongly associated with a poor outcome in patients with ALL regardless of BCR-ABL1 status, suggesting CD25 as a novel prognostic biomarker for risk stratification in B-ALLs. In E2A-PBX1-positive B-ALLs, aberrant DNA methylation patterning was strongly associated with direct fusion protein binding as shown by the E2A-PBX1 chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) sequencing (ChIP-seq), suggesting that E2A-PBX1 fusion protein directly remodels the epigenome to impose an aggressive B-ALL phenotype. MLLr B-ALL featured prominent cytosine hypomethylation, which was linked with MLL fusion protein binding, H3K79 dimethylation, and transcriptional upregulation, affecting a set of known and newly identified MLL fusion direct targets with oncogenic activity such as FLT3 and BCL6. Notably, BCL6 blockade or loss of function suppressed proliferation and survival of MLLr leukemia cells, suggesting BCL6-targeted therapy as a new therapeutic strategy for MLLr B-ALLs. SIGNIFICANCE We conducted the first integrative epigenomic study in adult B-ALLs, as a correlative study to the ECOG E2993 phase III clinical trial. This study links for the first time the direct actions of oncogenic fusion proteins with disruption of epigenetic regulation mediated by cytosine methylation. We identify a novel clinically actionable biomarker in B-ALLs: IL2RA (CD25), which is linked with BCR-ABL1 and an inflammatory signaling network associated with chemotherapy resistance. We show that BCL6 is a novel MLL fusion protein target that is required to maintain the proliferation and survival of primary human adult MLLr cells and provide the basis for a clinical trial with BCL6 inhibitors for patients with MLLr.
The human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 Rex regulatory protein exhibits an impaired functionality in human lymphoblastoid Jurkat T cells

The Rex protein of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) intervenes in the posttranscriptional regulation of proviral gene expression. Its binding to the Rex response element (XRE) present in the 3' long terminal repeat ensures the coordinate cytoplasmic accumulation of spliced and unspliced forms of viral messengers. Consequently, synthesis of viral structural and enzymatic proteins is strictly dependent on the Rex posttranscriptional activity. Here we report that synthesis of HTLV-1 envelope glycoproteins by Jurkat T cells could be detected only when they were regulated in a Rex-independent manner. Indeed, Jurkat T cells transfected with a Rex-dependent env expression vector (encompassing both the env and pX open reading frames) do not produce significant levels of envelope glycoproteins despite the production of significant amounts of Rex protein. The analysis of levels and distribution patterns of the unspliced env and of the singly spliced tax/rex transcripts suggests that the failure in envelope glycoprotein synthesis may be ascribed to a deficiency of Rex in mediating the nucleocytoplasmic transport of unspliced env RNAs in these cells. Furthermore, despite the synthesis of regulatory proteins, HTLV-1 structural proteins were not detected in Jurkat T cells transfected with an HTLV-1 infectious provirus. Conversely, and as expected, structural proteins were produced by Jurkat cells transfected by a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infectious provirus. This phenotype appeared to be linked to a specific dysfunction of Rex, since the functionally equivalent Rev protein of HIV-1 was shown to be fully efficient in promoting the synthesis of HTLV-1 envelope glycoproteins in Jurkat cells. Therefore, it seems likely that the block to Rex function in these lymphoblastoid T cells is determined by inefficient Rex-XRE interactions. These observations suggest that the acquisition of this Rex-deficient phenotype by in vivo-infected HTLV-1 T cells may represent a critical event in the lymphoproliferation induced by this human retrovirus, leading to leukemia.
Diagnostic value of circulating methylated SEPT 9 DNA in colorectal cancer : a meta-analysis

The diagnostic value of circulating SEPT9 DNA methylation in patients with colorectal cancer remains controversial. Thus, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess diagnostic accuracy of SEPT9 DNA methylation for colorectal cancer (CRC). We conducted a comprehensive literature search in PubMed, the Cochrane library, Web of Science databases and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) up until January 20, 2016. The diagnostic sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve were pooled using STATA 12.0 software. A total of 6,079 subjects included 1,890 colorectal cancer patients in 20 studies were included in this meta-analysis. The summary estimates for circulating methylated SEPT9 DNA in the diagnosis of CRC in these studies were pooled SEN =0.72 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.65-0.78), SPE =0.88 (95% CI: 0.850.91), PLR 6.13 (95% CI: 4.90-7.67), NLR 0.32 (95% CI: 0.25-0.40]), and DOR 19.3 (95% CI: 13.14-28.31), and the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.90 (95% CI: 0.87-0.92). The current analysis indicated that circulating methylated SEPT9 DNA may be a valuable marker in the diagnosis of CRC, but this conclusion has to be interpreted cautiously owing to high heterogeneity and some limitations. Further studies with more well-designed should be required to confirm the results in the future.
Squeeze me and i'll change: An exploration of frustration-triggered adaptation for multimodal interaction

Complex 3D interaction in virtual environments may inhibit user interaction and cause frustration. Supporting adaptivity based on the detected user frustration can be considered as one promising solution to enhance user interaction. Our work proposes to provide adaptive assistance to users who are frustrated during their interaction with 3D user interfaces in virtual environments. The obtrusiveness of physiological measurements to detect frustration inspired us to investigate the pressure patterns exerted on a 3D input device for this purpose. The experiment presented in this paper has shown a great potential on utilizing the finger pressure measures as an alternative to physiological measures to indicate user frustration during interaction. Furthermore, the findings in this particular context showed that adaptation of haptic interaction was effective in increasing the user's performance and making users feel less frustrated in performing their tasks in the 3D environment.
Evaluation of activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) reagents for application in biomedical diagnostic device development

Introduction: The most commonly used test for monitoring heparin therapy is the activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT). The response of available aPTT reagents to heparin varies significantly. The aim of this study was to highlight the differences between aPTT reagents stored in a dried format to select the most suitable formulations to be used for the development of point‐of‐care diagnostic devices used for monitoring of unfractionated heparin dose response.
Heterologous Expression and Functional Characterization of a Novel Chitinase from the Chitinolytic Bacterium Chitiniphilus shinanonensis

Chitiniphilus shinanonensis strain SAY3T is a chitinolytic bacterium isolated from moat water of Ueda Castle in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Fifteen genes encoding putative chitinolytic enzymes (chiA-chiO) have been isolated from this bacterium. Five of these constitute a single operon (chiCDEFG). The open reading frames of chiC, chiD, chiE, and chiG show sequence similarity to family 18 chitinases, while chiF encodes a polypeptide with two chitin-binding domains but no catalytic domain. Each of the five genes was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli, and the resulting recombinant proteins were characterized. Four of the recombinant proteins (ChiC, ChiD, ChiE, and ChiG) exhibited endo-type chitinase activity toward chitinous substrates, while ChiF showed no chitinolytic activity. In contrast to most endo-type chitinases, which mainly produce a dimer of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) as final product, ChiG completely split the GlcNAc dimer into GlcNAc monomers, indicating that it is a novel chitinase.