Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Are Nonlinear Model-Free Conditional Entropy Approaches for the Assessment of Cardiac Control Complexity Superior to the Linear Model-Based One?

Objective: We test the hypothesis that the linear model-based (MB) approach for the estimation of conditional entropy (CE) can be utilized to assess the complexity of the cardiac control in healthy individuals. Methods: An MB estimate of CE was tested in an experimental protocol (i.e., the graded head-up tilt) known to produce a gradual decrease of cardiac control complexity as a result of the progressive vagal withdrawal and concomitant sympathetic activation. The MB approach was compared with traditionally exploited nonlinear model-free (MF) techniques such as corrected approximate entropy, sample entropy, corrected CE, two k -nearest-neighbor CE procedures and permutation CE. Electrocardiogram was recorded in 17 healthy subjects at rest in supine position and during head-up tilt with table angles of 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 75°. Heart period (HP) was derived as the temporal distance between two consecutive R-wave peaks and analysis was carried out over stationary sequences of 256 successive HPs. Results: The performance of the MB method in following the progressive decrease of HP complexity with tilt table angles was in line with those of MF approaches and the MB index was remarkably correlated with the MF ones. Conclusion: The MB approach can be utilized to monitor the changes of the complexity of the cardiac control, thus speeding up dramatically the CE calculation. Significance: The remarkable performance of the MB approach challenges the notion, generally assumed in cardiac control complexity analysis based on CE, about the need of MF techniques and could allow real-time applications.
Polynomial Decomposition for a P-wave Detection and Analysis

Aim of this study was to assess a polynomial decomposition for P-wave detection and analysis including classification by shape and parameters estimation. Recordings from PhysioNet database were used to get P-wave models and validate the proposed method. The normalized root mean squared error between each P-wave and its fitting was computed to select the best polynomial degree for positive, biphasic and notched models. Detection efficiency and right classification rate for proposed method were 99.86% and 91.25% (for the training set), and 99.02% and 90.66% (for the validation set). Results of the proposed method were compared to another automatic method (QTdbmethod). The proposed method had lower errors for most indeces (onset error proposed method vs. QTdb-method: 3.15±1.42 samples vs. 4.27±3.78 samples, p<0.01; peak error proposed method vs. QTdb-method: 2.34±1.86 samples vs. 2.98±3.66 samples, ns; duration error proposed method vs. QTdb-method: 4.65±2.57 samples vs. 5.36±3.29 samples, p<0.05; end errors proposed method vs. QTdb-method: 4.04±3.09 samples vs. 3.49±2.91 samples, p<0.01). The preliminary results show that the proposed method can be used not only to detect and classify P-waves, but to robust estimate parameters of detected P-waves.
The scaled performance of Si/Si/sub 1-x/Gex resonant tunneling diodes

Small area resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) with strained Si/sub 0.4/Ge/sub 0.6/ potential barriers and a strained Si quantum well grown on a relaxed Si/sub 0.8/Ge/sub 0.2/ virtual substrate were fabricated and characterized. A room temperature peak current density (J/sub P/) of 282 kA/cm/sup 2/ with a peak to valley current ratio (PVCR) of 2.43 were recorded for a 5/spl times/5 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ sample, the highest values reported to date for Si/Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/ RTDs. Scaling of the device size demonstrated a decrease in J/sub P/ proportional to an increase in the lateral area of the tunnel junctions, whereas the PVCR remained approximately constant. This observation suggests that the dc behavior of such Si/Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/ RTD design is presently limited by thermal effects.
Mobile Agent Based New Framework for Improving Big Data Analysis

The rising number of applications serving millions of users and dealing with terabytes of data need to a faster processing paradigms. Recently, there is growing enthusiasm for the notion of big data analysis. Big data analysis becomes a very important aspect for growth productivity, reliability and quality of services (QoS). Processing of big data using a powerful machine is not efficient solution. So, companies focused on using Hadoop software for big data analysis. This is because Hadoop designed to support parallel and distributed data processing. However, Hadoop has several drawbacks effect on its performance and reliability against big data analysis. In this paper, a new framework is proposed to improve big data analysis and overcome the drawbacks of Hadoop. The proposed framework is called MapReduce Agent Mobility (MRAM). MRAM is developed by using mobile agent and MapReduce paradigm under Java Agent Development Framework (JADE).
Molecular Imaging: 18F-FDG PET and a Whole Lot More*

The intention of this review is to provide information about the rapidly evolving field of molecular imaging and its potential impact on the clinical practice of nuclear medicine. On completing this article the reader should be able to define molecular imaging, describe the ways in which molecular imaging can be used, identify some of the biologic processes that can be targeted with molecular imaging agents, and list the modalities that can be used for molecular imaging, along with the strengths and weaknesses of each.
Cardiovascular Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes: A double-blind placebo-controlled study of bezafibrate: the St. Mary's, Ealing, Northwick Park Diabetes Cardiovascular Disease Prevention (SENDCAP) Study

OBJECTIVE To determine whether serum lipid intervention, in addition to conventional diabetes treatment, could alter cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS There were 164 type 2 diabetic subjects (117 men, 47 women) without a history of clinical cardiovascular disease randomized to receive either bezafibrate or placebo daily on a double-blind basis in addition to routine diabetes treatment and followed prospectively for a minimum of 3 years. Serial biochemical and noninvasive vascular assessments, carotid and femoral artery B-mode ultrasound measurements, and those pertaining to coronary heart disease (CHD)—clinical history, the World Health Organization (WHO) cardiovascular questionnaire, and resting and exercise electrocardiogram (ECG)—were recorded. RESULTS Bezafibrate treatment was associated with significantly greater reductions over 3 years in median serum triglyceride (−32 vs. 4%, P = 0.001), total cholesterol (−7 vs. −0.3%, P = 0.004), and total−to-HDL cholesterol ratio (−12 vs. −0.0%, P = 0.001), and an increase in HDL cholesterol (6 vs. −2%, P = 0.02) as compared with placebo. There was a trend toward a greater reduction of fibrinogen (−18 vs. −6%, P = 0.08) at 3 years. No significant differences between the two groups were found in the progress of ultrasonically measured arterial disease. In those treated with bezafibrate, there was a significant reduction (P = 0.01, log-rank test) in the combined incidence of Minnesota-coded probable ischemic change on the resting ECG and of documented myocardial infarction. CONCLUSIONS Improving dyslipidemia in type 2 diabetic subjects had no effect on the progress of ultrasonically measured arterial disease, although the lower rate of “definite CHD events” in the treated group suggests that this might result in a reduction in the incidence of coronary heart disease.
As Seen On TV: An Autoethnographic Reflection on Race and Reality Television

Studies of reality television often overlook a first-hand, first person account of the implications that representations of race have on individuals. This autoethnographic essay discusses the multiple consciousness of a Black female scholar. Layering storied excerpts and theoretical framing the author proposes the use of an “oppositional gaze” and “oppositional reading” to interrogate and engage images and representations of Black women on reality television shows. Given the historical legacy of Black female representation and the destructive images that result, a critical awareness could ultimately alter or inform the images of Black women we see on reality television. The author urges Black women to become critical consumers of how their experiences are depicted on reality television.
OPM: Orientations of Proteins in Membranes database

SUMMARY The Orientations of Proteins in Membranes (OPM) database provides a collection of transmembrane, monotopic and peripheral proteins from the Protein Data Bank whose spatial arrangements in the lipid bilayer have been calculated theoretically and compared with experimental data. The database allows analysis, sorting and searching of membrane proteins based on their structural classification, species, destination membrane, numbers of transmembrane segments and subunits, numbers of secondary structures and the calculated hydrophobic thickness or tilt angle with respect to the bilayer normal. All coordinate files with the calculated membrane boundaries are available for downloading. AVAILABILITY http://opm.phar. umich.edu.
Relationship between Disease Resistance and Rice Oxalate Oxidases in Transgenic Rice

Differential expression of rice oxalate oxidase genes (OsOxO1-4) in rice leaves (Oryza sativa L.) in response to biotic stress was assayed using RT-PCR. OsOxO4 was induced transiently at 12 h in plants inoculated with the pathogens of bacterial blight and that of the wounding control. Inoculation with the rice blast pathogen induced OsOxO2 expression compared to the mock spray control. Overexpressing OsOxO1 or OsOxO4 in rice resulted in elevated transcript levels of the respective transgene as well as OsOxO3 in leaves compared to that in untransformed wild type (WT). In a line of RNA-i transgenic rice plants (i-12), expression of all four OsOxO genes except that of OsOxO2 was severely inhibited. Oxalate oxidase (OxO, EC 1.2.3.4) activity in plants overexpressing OsOxO1 or OsOxO4 was substantially higher than that in WT and the RNA-i lines. It was found that transgenic rice plants with substantially higher OxO activity were not more resistant to rice blast and bacterial blight than WT. In contrast, some RNA-i lines with less OxO activity seemed to be more resistant to rice blast while some overexpressing lines were more susceptible to rice blast than WT. Therefore, OxO might not be a disease resistance factor in rice.
On a novel Hybrid LQ-MCS control strategy and its application to a DC motor

This paper is concerned with the investigation of a novel hybrid LQ-adaptive strategy based on the so called minimal control synthesis algorithm (MCS). A model reference MCS adaptive control scheme is implemented where the reference model is controlled via an LQ regulator. An additional supervisory control action updates on-line the reference model and the gains of the LQ control, switching between a control and an identification phase. The resulting hybrid LQ-MCS algorithm is validated on a representative case study.
Obstacles and Options to Faith-Based HIV Service Delivery to Low-Income Inner City Residents

The growing presence of HIV in urban communities with sizable Black commuter congregations demands that social service providers understand niche opportunities for faith-based HIV service delivery. Focus groups were conducted with 16 clergy serving commuter congregations about the feasibility of faith-based HIV service delivery to low-income residents. Using thematic analysis, four major themes emerged: (a) Clergy see the need, but are not sure how to proceed; (b) prioritized sin; (c) push-back; and (d) niche ministries. These findings contribute new knowledge to our understanding of how Black churches with commuter congregations can respond to HIV service needs of low-income residents. Findings from this study suggest that commuter congregations are less likely to support HIV-related activities. Implications for future interventions are discussed.
Mathematical analysis of MPEG compression capability and its application to rate control

This paper presents mathematical frameworks of temporal predictive processing in the MPEG video compression standard. The coding gain is derived based on traditional prediction theories. The optimum ordering of three different picture types (I,P,B-pictures) is clarified according to the image source characteristics. A novel framework of the target bit assignment is presented with some experimental backgrounds. The solution consists of simple formulae, but provides drastic SNR gains to the conventional TM5 algorithm.
High Throughput Automatic Muscle Image Segmentation Using Cloud Computing and Multi-core Programming

Automatic segmentation of skeletal muscle cell image is crucial for the diagnosis of many muscle diseases. It can avoid manual image analysis, which is labor intensive, and improve the objectivity and reproducibility. Many state-of-the-art algorithms have been presented for automatic muscle cell segmentation and achieved great success. However, most approaches exhibit high model complexity and time cost, and they are not adaptive to large-size images such as whole slide digitized specimens. In this paper, we propose a novel distributed computing framework, which adopts both data and model parallel, for fast muscle cell segmentation using cloud computing. With a master-worker parallelization manner, the image data is distributed onto multiple workers based on the Spark cloud computing platform. On each worker, we develop a parallelized hierarchical tree based region selection algorithm to efficiently segment muscle cells using multi-core techniques. Compared with the standalone implementation, the proposed method achieves more than 10 times speed improvement on very large-scale muscle images containing hundreds of cells while performing promising segmentation results.
Fine‐needle aspiration cytology of malignant retroperitoneal paraganglioma

The cytologic findings in a fine‐needle aspiration sample are described from a large retroperitoneal mass in a 56‐yr‐old male. The aspiration was performed under CT guidance using a 22‐gauge needle, maintaining negative pressure. For cytologic study, on‐site smears were prepared and stained by the Papanicolaou method. Additionally, cytospin, filter preparations, cell blocks from the aspirate, histology, and electron microscopy of the tumor tissue were performed. Also, immunodiagnostic staining for neuron‐specific enolase (NSE), chromogranin, S‐100 protein, vimentin, HMB45, cytokeratin, and Grimelius preparation was performed on cytologic and histologic material. The cytologic material was characterized by cords, suggestive acinar structures, and small follicle‐like clusters of cells, while cell blocks from the aspirate showed oval or spindle‐shaped nuclei with a somewhat fasciculated appearance. However, sections from the tumor tissue showed an organoid “zellballen” pattern. The nuclei were round, oval, spindly, and epithelioid, with moderate to scanty cytoplasm, smooth nuclear membranes, fine, evenly dispersed chromatin, slight hyperchromasia, and mild pleomorphism. No intranuclear vacuoles were seen. Positive immunohistochemical staining for NSE, chromogranin, and Grimelius preparation was noted in the tumor cells, while staining for vimentin, HMB45, and cytokeratin was negative. Electron microscopy of the tumor tissue revealed the presence of variable numbers of round, membrane‐bound, electron‐dense neurosecretory granules. The cytohistologic and ultrastructural findings are presented, as well as the results of immunodiagnostic staining which helped in the diagnosis of retroperitoneal paraganglioma, an infrequently reported tumor. Diagn. Cytopathol. 1998;18:287–290. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The World According to Voluntary Sport Organizations

Current social shifts pose challenges for voluntary sport organizations. Various discourses present volunteering, facilities and economics as critical obstacles to the future of these organizations. In this article, I ask how voluntary sport organizations themselves see the situation. What are the most pressing obstacles to their future development? How do they actually meet these challenges in their daily life? I also see how various kinds of sport organizations vary with respect to their answers on these questions. The study is based on a survey of Norwegian sport organizations.
A coordinated transmitter and receiver pre-coding scheme in multi-user MIMO downlink

Coordinated transmitter and receiver processing, in the multi-user multi-input multi-output downlink system, is a better scheme for suppressing the multi-user interferences than only employing pre-coding at the transmitter. In this paper, we propose a pre-coding scheme to joint the zero forcing and minimum mean-square error pre-coding based on the generalized zero-forcing channel inversion pre-coding. Zero forcing pre-coding is employed at the transmitter to eliminate the interferences among users. At the receiver, we investigate minimum mean-square error filter for the purpose of optimizing the system. A non-iterative algorithm is studied instead of common iterative algorithms. Simulation results show that the proposed method can obtain higher sum rate and better tradeoff between complexity and performance.
The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on the Neural Substrates Associated with Pleasure

Low socio-economic status (SES) is associated with increased morbidity and premature mortality. Because tonic adversity relates to a diminished ability to experience pleasure, we hypothesized that subjects living in poverty would show diminished neural responsivity to positive stimuli in regions associated with positive experience and reward. Visual images were presented to twenty-two subjects in the context of a EPI-BOLD fMRI paradigm. Significant differences in neural responses between SES groups to poverty vs. neutral images were assessed, examining group, condition, and interaction effects. The data suggest that persons living in low-SES have neural experiences consistent with diminished interest in things generally enjoyed and point toward a possible explanation for the relationship between socioeconomic inequalities and mood disorders, such as depression, by SES.
Bordering Diversity and Desire: Using Intellectual Property to Mark Place-Based Products

Marks indicating conditions of origin—geographical indications, appellations and denominations of origin, as well as collective and certification marks—are legal vehicles increasingly common in global commerce. Although it is necessary to explore the legal, political, and economic conditions under which they have become newly popularized as vehicles of global capital accumulation, it is also important to consider ethnographic studies of the work they do in reconfiguring social relationships and their salience in local worlds of meaning. We argue that these marks of distinction have become important means for securing monopoly rents at the same time that they have become means to express identities and desires so as to project alternative assertions of value in commodity circuits that traverse sites of production and consumption. They create new borders around newly valued forms of cultural difference, producing places, and constituting borders of identity, while potentially linking producers and consumers in new relationships of identification.
Does familiarity change in the revelation effect?

The revelation effect describes the increased tendency to call items "old" when a recognition judgment is preceded by an incidental task. Past findings show that d' for recognition decreases following revelation, evidence that the revelation effect is due to familiarity change. However, data from receiver operating characteristic curves from 3 experiments produced no evidence of changes in recognition sensitivity. The authors illustrate how the use of a single-point measure like d' can be misleading when familiarity distribution variances are unequal. Also investigated was whether the effect depends on the revelation materials used. Neither the memorability of the revelation items, their similarity to recognition probes, nor the difficulty of the task changed the size of the effect. Thus, the revelation effect is not the result of a memory retrieval mechanism and seems to be generic and all-or-nothing. These characteristics are consistent with response bias rather than familiarity change.
Beyond Abstraction: Marx and the Critique of the Critique of Religion

This article reconsiders Marx’s thinking on religion in light of current preoccupations with the encroachment of religious practices and beliefs into political life. It argues that Marx formulates a critique of the anticlerical and Enlightenment-critique of religion, in which he subsumes the secular repudiation of spiritual authority and religious transcendence into a broader analysis of the ‘real abstractions’ that dominate our social existence. The tools forged by Marx in his engagement with critiques of religious authority allow him to discern the ‘religious’ and ‘transcendent’ dimension of state and capital, and may contribute to a contemporary investigation into the links between capitalism as a religion of everyday life and what Mike Davis has called the current ‘reenchantment of catastrophic modernity’.
PLK-1 asymmetry contributes to asynchronous cell division of C. elegans embryos

Acquisition of lineage-specific cell cycle duration is an important feature of metazoan development. In Caenorhabditis elegans, differences in cell cycle duration are already apparent in two-cell stage embryos, when the larger anterior blastomere AB divides before the smaller posterior blastomere P1. This time difference is under the control of anterior-posterior (A-P) polarity cues set by the PAR proteins. The mechanisms by which these cues regulate the cell cycle machinery differentially in AB and P1 are incompletely understood. Previous work established that retardation of P1 cell division is due in part to preferential activation of an ATL-1/CHK-1 dependent checkpoint in P1, but how the remaining time difference is controlled is not known. Here, we establish that differential timing relies also on a mechanism that promotes mitosis onset preferentially in AB. The polo-like kinase PLK-1, a positive regulator of mitotic entry, is distributed in an asymmetric manner in two-cell stage embryos, with more protein present in AB than in P1. We find that PLK-1 asymmetry is regulated by A-P polarity cues through preferential protein retention in the embryo anterior. Importantly, mild inactivation of plk-1 by RNAi delays entry into mitosis in P1, but not in AB, in a manner that is independent of ATL-1/CHK-1. Together, our findings support a model in which differential timing of mitotic entry in C. elegans embryos relies on two complementary mechanisms: ATL-1/CHK-1-dependent preferential retardation in P1 and PLK-1-dependent preferential promotion in AB, which together couple polarity cues and cell cycle progression during early development.
2,3-Diaminopyridinium 3-chlorobenzoate–3-chlorobenzoic acid (1/1)

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C5H8N3 +·C7H4ClO2 −·C7H5ClO2, contains an ion pair and a 3-chlorobenzoic acid molecule. In the cation, the pyridine N atom is protonated. In the crystal, the components are connected via N—H⋯O, O—H⋯O and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, thereby forming sheets lying parallel to (100).
Is HRD practised in micro-SMEs?

The literature on the human resource development (HRD) needs of very small (micro) firms and sole entrepreneurs is limited and what does exist tends to be polarized between the needs of the policy favoured by technological entrepreneurs or of extrapolated large-firm organizational practices. The research we conducted made observations of how a group of rural-based entrepreneurs in north-east England, handled HRD issues. A key finding was that this group made extensive use of their spatially fixed egocentric networks to further their business activities. Consequently, we argue that the development of HRD models for such firms must acknowledge the importance of such structures, something that they currently fail to do.