Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feeling Blue? Go Online: An Empirical Study of Social Support among Patients

This paper investigates the helpfulness of an online healthcare community to patients’ health conditions.We propose an inhomogeneous Partially Observed Markov Decision Process (POMDP) model to examine the latent health outcomes of online health community members. The transition between different health states is modeled as a probability function which incorporates different forms of social supports that patients receive via online communication, and other factors that would impact patients’ online behaviors. We find that patients gain benefits from learning from others, and the participation in the online community helps them to improve their health conditions and better engage in their disease self-management processes. Our results also reveal the effect of various forms of social supports on dynamic evolution of patients’ health conditions. Informational support on average contributes the most to helping patients move to a better health state. Peer recognition and self-identification are also found to have significant impact on the transitions between patients’ health states. Finally, we demonstrate that our POMDP model provides a very accurate method to recover missing or unavailable information on patient health conditions.
Design and optimization of compact spot-size converters for silicon photonic devices

The coupling between a silicon nanowire (NW) and a single mode fiber (SMF) is challenging. Design and optimization of compact spot-size converters (SSCs) for silicon photonics devices are presented by using numerically efficient and rigorous full-vectorial finite-element based approaches. The multi-Poly-Silicon layers based SSCs are proposed and optimized for the quasi-TE and quasi-TM polarizations sequentially. The coupling losses can be reduced to 2.72 and 2.45 dB for the quasi-TE and quasi-TM polarizations, respectively by using an eleven Poly-Si layers based SSC. A polarizationindependent SSC is also proposed based on the phase-matched multi-Poly-Silicon-layer and lower taper waveguide for both the quasi-TE and quasi-TM polarizations. Coupling to a lensed fiber with the radius of 2 μm, the optimized polarization-independent SSC is with the coupling losses of 0.34 and 0.25 dB for the quasi-TE and quasi-TM polarizations, respectively. The on-chip integrated SSC opens up the feasibility of a low cost passive aligned fiber-pigtailed electronicphotonics integrated circuits platform.
An Improved Chinese Word Segmentation System with Conditional Random Field

In this paper, we describe a Chinese word segmentation system that we developed for the Third SIGHAN Chinese Language Processing Bakeoff (Bakeoff2006). We took part in six tracks, namely the closed and open track on three corpora, Academia Sinica (CKIP), City University of Hong Kong (CityU), and University of Pennsylvania/University of Colorado (UPUC). Based on a conditional random field based approach, our word segmenter achieved the highest F measures in four tracks, and the third highest in the other two tracks. We found that the use of a 6-tag set, tone feature of Chinese character and assistant segmenters trained on other corpora further improve Chinese word segmentation performance.
AMADEUS: advanced manipulator for deep underwater sampling

AMADEUS is a dexterous subsea robot hand incorporating force and slip contact sensing, using fluid-filled tentacles for fingers. Hydraulic pressure variations in each of three flexible tubes (bellows) in each finger create a bending moment, and consequent motion or increase in contact force during grasping. Such fingers have inherent passive compliance, no moving parts, and are naturally depth pressure-compensated, making them ideal for reliable use in the deep ocean. In addition to the mechanical design, development of the hand has also been considered for closed loop finger position and force control, coordinated finger motion for grasping, force and slip sensor development/signal processing, and reactive world modelling/planning for supervisory "blind grasping". Initially, the application focus is for marine science tasks, but broader roles in offshore oil and gas, salvage, and military use are foreseen. Phase I of the project has been completed, with the construction of a first prototype. This paper summarizes the developments in Phase I. Further details for each area of investigation are referenced.
Antiarrhythmic effect mediated by &kgr;-opioid receptor is associated with Cx43 stabilization*

Objective:Acute myocardial ischemia induces electrical and chemical uncoupling of gap junctions, which contributes to conduction abnormalities and re-entrant arrhythmias. We tested the hypothesis that structure and function of Connexin43 may vibrate during acute myocardial ischemia and reperfusion and &kgr;-opioid receptor stimulation may stabilize the alteration of Connexin43. Design:An animal intervention study was conducted with comparison to a control group. Setting:University preclinical research laboratory. Subjects:Age-, weight-, and sex-matched Sprague-Dawley rats. Interventions:Adult rat hearts were subjected to ischemia or ischemia/reperfusion, which was induced by temporary occlusion of the left main coronary artery. U50488H was given 10 mins before tissue specimens were taken or before ischemia (1.5 mg/kg, intravenous) and nor-BNI was given 15 mins before tissue specimens were taken or before ischemia (2 mg/kg, intravenous). Tissue samples came from left ventricular myocardium of the rat hearts. Measurements and Main Results:Electrocardiogram, immunohistochemistry, immunoblotting, and reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction were used to measure changes of arrhythmias, protein, and gene expression of Connexin43, respectively. &kgr;-opioid receptor activation with U50 decreased arrhythmia in a model of myocardial ischemia and reperfusion. In normal hearts, immunohistochemical data showed reduced amount and lateralization of Connexin43 induced by &kgr;-opioid receptor activation, whereas immunoblotting data demonstrated no significant changes between control and U50 group. During ischemia, however, Connexin43 protein underwent dephosphorylation and degradation, and Connexin43 mRNA was upregulated. These alterations were significantly attenuated on &kgr;-opioid receptor stimulation. During ischemia and reperfusion, Connexin43 protein underwent dephosphorylation and degradation and recovered slowly during reperfusion. Activation of &kgr;-opioid receptor accelerated recovery of phosphorylated and total Connexin43. Conclusions:In normal rat hearts, Connexin43 translocates from intercellular junctions to intracellular locations on &kgr;-opioid receptor activation. In rat hearts experiencing acute myocardial ischemia and reperfusion, protein and gene expression of Connexin43 undergo vibration. This phenomenon is stabilized when &kgr;-opioid receptor is activated and by the fact that &kgr;-opioid receptor produces antiarrhythmic effects.
The golgi apparatus during mitosis in human melanoma cells in vitro.

Summary The ultrastructural changes of the Golgi apparatus of human melanoma cells in vitro were investigated during mitosis. In interphase, the Golgi apparatus consists of numerous interconnected dictyosomes, each of which is composed of 4 cisternae, as a rule. Some of these cisternae have fenestrations along their lateral edges. During prophase, the membranous tubular connections between the dictyosomes break down. Also, no fenestration of the cisternae can be observed. The number and size of cisternae are reduced. The frequency of Golgi elements found reached a minimum during anaphase, but some tubular and vesicular membrane elements were present at the lateral edges of single cisternae which were considered remnants of dictyosomes. Reconstruction of dictyosomes starts at the time of nuclear envelope reformation in early telophase. The increase in number of cisternae appears to be due to apposition of smooth endoplasmic reticulum. The persistence of Golgi elements throughout mitosis was established. The presence of coated vesicles suggested that the cisternae are functional during mitosis. No relationship between premelanosomes and Golgi elements was found during mitosis.
Bootstrapping Method for Chunk Alignment in Phrase Based SMT

The processing of parallel corpus plays very crucial role for improving the overall performance in Phrase Based Statistical Machine Translation systems (PB-SMT). In this paper the automatic alignments of different kind of chunks have been studied that boosts up the word alignment as well as the machine translation quality. Single-tokenization of Noun-noun MWEs, phrasal preposition (source side only) and reduplicated phrases (target side only) and the alignment of named entities and complex predicates provide the best SMT model for bootstrapping. Automatic bootstrapping on the alignment of various chunks makes significant gains over the previous best English-Bengali PB-SMT system. The source chunks are translated into the target language using the PB-SMT system and the translated chunks are compared with the original target chunk. The aligned chunks increase the size of the parallel corpus. The processes are run in a bootstrapping manner until all the source chunks have been aligned with the target chunks or no new chunk alignment is identified by the bootstrapping process. The proposed system achieves significant improvements (2.25 BLEU over the best System and 8.63 BLEU points absolute over the baseline system, 98.74% relative improvement over the baseline system) on an English- Bengali translation task.
The role of perspective.

One problem that often arises in translating research into policy recommendations is that the questions asked by the researcher do not precisely match those of the policy maker. There are many reasons for this, but an important set of reasons has to do with differences in perspective. These differences occur not only between researchers and policy makers, but also among researchers themselves, sometimes resulting in conflicting findings from various studies, all of which are simultaneously correct given their own assumptions and perspectives. The papers in this issue of HSR were selected through the usual processes, and were not grouped around any particular focus or theme. Yet, many illustrate this issue of differential perspective, some internally and some in contrast with each other.
HybridFlow: A lightweight control plane for hybrid SDN in enterprise networks

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) has great potentials in changing the fragile and complex enterprise networks. One operational challenge to SDN deployment is the settlement of legacy switches. A hybrid SDN consisting of both SDN and legacy switches may be a tradeoff. Nevertheless most of the current SDN control planes can not handle legacy switches. To overcome this problem, we present HybridFlow, a lightweight control plane for hybrid SDN. HybridFlow can abstract a hybrid network into a logical SDN network and existing SDN control applications can run on it transparently.
Gas Chromatography in Environmental Sciences and Evaluation of Bioremediation

Both soil and water become contaminated by oil and oil derivatives due to accidental spills in their exploitation, transportation, processing, storing and utilization. In 2010, 3.91 billion tons of crude oil was produced (BP Statistical Review, 2011) and estimations are that annually 0.1% of produced petroleum is released into the environment (Ward et al., 2003) as a result of anthropogenic activities.
Virological efficacy of abacavir: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES The efficacy of abacavir/lamivudine has been reported to be inferior to tenofovir/emtricitabine. Several randomized clinical trials (RCTs) investigated the effectiveness and safety of abacavir/lamivudine and tenofovir/emtricitabine combined antiretroviral treatment (cART) and we have reviewed the available evidence. DESIGN Systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs using standard Cochrane Collaboration methodologies. METHODS We calculated risk ratios (RRs) with 95% CIs. The primary outcome was the rate of patients with viral load (VL) below the pre-defined cut-off at 48 weeks and/or at 96 weeks. Where available, results were analysed according to VL screening levels (<100,000 or >100,000 copies/mL) with conventional meta-analytical pooling by subgroups and meta-regression. RESULTS Meta-analytical pooling of RCTs with a direct comparison of abacavir/lamivudine and tenofovir/emtricitabine according to baseline VL at 48 weeks (six trials, 4118 patients) showed that the proportions of subjects with VL <50 copies/mL were similar in the overall comparison (RR 0.98; 95% CI 0.94-1.03), in the low baseline VL strata (RR 1.01; 95% CI 0.99-1.03) and in the high baseline VL strata (RR 0.96; 95% CI 0.90-1.03). Meta-regression analysis at 48 weeks confirms the results of subgroup analysis. Similar virological results were found at 96 weeks (four trials, 2003 patients). Differences in the occurrence of adverse events requiring discontinuation of treatment favoured tenofovir recipients (RR 1.26; 95% CI 0.99-1.61), but this difference, mostly related to suspected abacavir hypersensitivity reaction, was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS Our cumulative, cross-sectional data suggest a similar virological efficacy of abacavir/lamivudine and tenofovir/emtricitabine regardless of the baseline VL.
DWI Lesion Patterns Predict Outcome in Stroke Patients with Thrombolysis

Background: Lesion patterns may predict prognosis after acute ischemic stroke within the middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory; yet it remains unclear whether such imaging prognostic factors are related to patient outcome after intravenous thrombolysis. Aims: The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical outcome after intravenous thrombolysis in acute MCA ischemic strokes with respect to diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) lesion patterns. Methods: Consecutive acute ischemic stroke cases of the MCA territory treated over a 7-year period were retrospectively analyzed. All acute MCA stroke patients underwent a MRI scan before intravenous thrombolytic therapy was included. DWI lesions were divided into 6 patterns (territorial, other cortical, small superficial, internal border zone, small deep, and other deep infarcts). Lesion volumes were measured by dedicated imaging processing software. Favorable outcome was defined as modified Rankin scale (mRS) of 0-2 at 90 days. Results: Among the 172 patients included in our study, 75 (43.6%) were observed to have territorial infarct patterns or other deep infarct patterns. These patients also had higher baseline NIHSS score (p < 0.001), a higher proportion of large cerebral artery occlusions (p < 0.001) and larger infarct volume (p < 0.001). Favorable outcome (mRS 0-2) was achieved in 89 patients (51.7%). After multivariable analysis, groups with specific lesion patterns, including territorial infarct and other deep infarct pattern, were independently associated with favorable outcome (OR 0.40; 95% CI 0.16-0.99; p = 0.047). Conclusions: Specific lesion patterns predict differential outcome after intravenous thrombolysis therapy in acute MCA stroke patients.
Fabrication and evaluation of a collagen-based fiber-gel three-dimensional construct for peripheral nerve repair

FABRICATION AND EVALUATION OF A COLLAGEN-BASED FIBER-GEL THREE-DIMENSIONAL CONSTRUCT FOR PERIPHERAL NERVE REPAIR by Mevan Lakmal Siriwardane Nerve regeneration following a peripheral nerve injury often relies on growth conemediated guidance and the presence of Schwann cells to support the regenerating axons and remyelinate portions of denervated nerve pathways. The emphasis of this work is to develop a synthetic nervous tissue construct that contains similar basal lamina or extracellular matrix to peripheral nerve in order to achieve a level of effectiveness in nerve repair and future peripheral nerve regeneration applications. To this end, threedimensional nervous tissue constructs consisting of type I collagen are fabricated into a composite biomaterial scaffold to promote contact-guided growth of neuronal and glial cultures in vitro. The growth of adult tissue on these collagen-based materials is further evaluated. These constructs are assembled by wet spinning synthetic collagen fibers and loading them onto a soft collagen gel matrix composed of type I collagen. Wet-spun collagen fibers serve as a rigid substrate to reinforce the gel while facilitating axon growth cone advancement along a polarized direction. In this study, the emphasis is to characterize the mechanical stability, thermal properties, and swelling response of the collagen fiber component of the construct. To improve these properties in the fiber component, chemical cross-linking with genipin and glutaraldehyde are evaluated. The result is a construct exhibiting mechanical integrity for facilitating adult Schwann cell orientation and the guidance and survival of adult dorsal root ganglion neurons in a co-culture 3-D system. FABRICATION AND EVALUATION OF A COLLAGEN-BASED FIBER-GEL THREE-DIMENSIONAL CONSTRUCT FOR PERIPHERAL NERVE REPAIR by Mevan Lakmal Siriwardane A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of New Jersey Institute of Technology and University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering Joint Program in Biomedical Engineering
ADF/Cofilin Is Not Essential but Is Critically Important for Actin Activities during Phagocytosis in Tetrahymena thermophila

ABSTRACT ADF/cofilin is a highly conserved actin-modulating protein. Reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton in vivo through severing and depolymerizing of F-actin by this protein is essential for various cellular events, such as endocytosis, phagocytosis, cytokinesis, and cell migration. We show that in the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila, the ADF/cofilin homologue Adf73p associates with actin on nascent food vacuoles. Overexpression of Adf73p disrupted the proper localization of actin and inhibited the formation of food vacuoles. In vitro, recombinant Adf73p promoted the depolymerization of filaments made of T. thermophila actin (Act1p). Knockout cells lacking the ADF73 gene are viable but grow extremely slowly and have a severely decreased rate of food vacuole formation. Knockout cells have abnormal aggregates of actin in the cytoplasm. Surprisingly, unlike the case in animals and yeasts, in Tetrahymena, ADF/cofilin is not required for cytokinesis. Thus, the Tetrahymena model shows promise for future studies of the role of ADF/cofilin in vivo.
A New Visual Data Mining Tool for gvSIG GIS

The integration of scientific visualization (ScVis) techniques into geographic information systems (GIS) is an innovative alternative for the visual analysis of scientific data. Providing GIS with such tools improves the analysis and understanding of datasets with very low spatial density and allows to find correlations between variables in time and space. This paper presents a new visual data mining tool for the GIS gvSIG. This tool is implemented as a gvSIG module and contains several ScVis techniques for multiparameter data with a wide range of possibilities for interaction with the data. The developed module is a powerful visual data mining and data visualization tool to obtain knowledge from multiple datasets in time and space. A real case study with meteorological data from Villa Clara province (Cuba) is presented, where the implemented visualization techniques were used to analyze the available datasets. Although it is tested with meteorological data, the developed module is general and can be used in multiple application fields.
Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) Correlates of Altered Subunit Stoichiometry in Cys-Loop Receptors, Exemplified by Nicotinic α4β2

We provide a theory for employing Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) measurements to determine altered heteropentameric ion channel stoichiometries in intracellular compartments of living cells. We simulate FRET within nicotinic receptors (nAChRs) whose α4 and β2 subunits contain acceptor and donor fluorescent protein moieties, respectively, within the cytoplasmic loops. We predict FRET and normalized FRET (NFRET) for the two predominant stoichiometries, (α4)3(β2)2 vs. (α4)2(β2)3. Studying the ratio between FRET or NFRET for the two stoichiometries, minimizes distortions due to various photophysical uncertainties. Within a range of assumptions concerning the distance between fluorophores, deviations from plane pentameric geometry, and other asymmetries, the predicted FRET and NFRET for (α4)3(β2)2 exceeds that of (α4)2(β2)3. The simulations account for published data on transfected Neuro2a cells in which α4β2 stoichiometries were manipulated by varying fluorescent subunit cDNA ratios: NFRET decreased monotonically from (α4)3(β2)2 stoichiometry to mostly (α4)2(β2)3. The simulations also account for previous macroscopic and single-channel observations that pharmacological chaperoning by nicotine and cytisine increase the (α4)2(β2)3 and (α4)3(β2)2 populations, respectively. We also analyze sources of variability. NFRET-based monitoring of changes in subunit stoichiometry can contribute usefully to studies on Cys-loop receptors.
Application of Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy Studies of Bismuth and Subsurface Zone Induced by Sliding

The positron annihilation, experimental and theoretical results obtained for bismuth are presented, mainly concerning the open volume defects created during compression and dry sliding. Positron lifetime in vacancy clusters increases with the size of the cluster; however, it saturates at the value of about 0.42 ns already for six vacancies in a cluster. Similar values were resolved in the positron lifetime spectra of bismuth samples exposed to dry sliding. Detection of the subsurface zone in bismuth exposed to dry sliding reveals exponential decay of vacancy clusters concentration with the depth increase from the worn surface. The high strain of about 70% was evaluated in the layer adjoined the worn surface The temperature of recrystallization obtained from the isochronal measurements of annihilation line shape parameter was equal about 90°C, and the activation energy for grain migration is about 0.84 ± 0.11 eV.