Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reconstructable and Interpretable Representations for Time Series with Time-Skip Sparse Dictionary Learning

It is challenging to summarize time series signals into essential patterns that preserve the original characteristics of the signals. Good summarization allows one to reconstruct the original signal back while the reduced data size saves storage space and in turn accelerates processing that follows. This paper proposes a dictionary learning method for time series signals with a mechanism of skipping sparse codes along the time axis, utilizing redundancy in time. The proposed method gives compact and accurate representations of time series. Experimental results demonstrate that low errors in both signal reconstruction and classification are achieved by the proposed method while the size of representations is reduced. The degradation of the signal reconstruction errors caused by the proposed skipping mechanism was about 5% of the error magnitude, with about a 18 times fewer representation size. The accuracy of classification based on the proposed methods is always better than the state-of-the-art dictionary learning method for time series. The proposed idea can be an effective option when using dictionary learning, which is one of the fundamental techniques in signal processing and has various applications.
Effect of Aspergillus awamori-Fermented Burdock Root on Mouse Diabetes Induced by Alloxan—Prevention of Cell Apoptosis

Root of burdock contains high amounts of dietary fibers and polyphenols. To improve the functional properties, the root was fermented with Aspergillus awamori. Effect of the fermented burdock on alloxan-induced mouse diabetes was examined. A diet containing the 5% fermented burdock powers was prepared to examine effect of the burdock diet on alloxan-induced mouse diabetes. Mice fed the burdock diet and the control diet for 14 weeks. Then, alloxan (200 mg/kg of body weight) was administrated to each mouse. After 5 days from the administration, blood glucose assay and glucose tolerance test were carried out. Incidence of hyperglycemia decreased and the glucose metabolism was improved when mice fed the burdock diet. Insulin, C-peptide, biomarkers of oxidative stress in plasma and apoptosis in pancreas were examined and compared to those obtained from mice fed the control diet. It is deduced that alloxan-induced diabetes is caused to lower insulin concentration. The fermented-burdock diet improves the diabetes and prevents apoptosis in the pancreas.
The effects of dietary fish oil on inflammation, fibrosis and oxidative stress associated with obstructive renal injury in rats.

SCOPE We examined whether dietary supplementation with fish oil modulates inflammation, fibrosis and oxidative stress following obstructive renal injury. METHODS AND RESULTS Three groups of Sprague-Dawley rats (n=16 per group) were fed for 4 wk on normal rat chow (oleic acid), chow containing fish oil (33 g eicosapentaenoic acid and 26 g docosahexaenoic acid per kg diet), or chow containing safflower oil (60 g linoleic acid per kg diet). All diets contained 7% fat. After 4 wk, the rats were further subdivided into four smaller groups (n=4 per group). Unilateral ureteral obstruction was induced in three groups (for 4, 7 and 14 days). The fourth group for each diet did not undergo surgery, and was sacrificed as controls at 14 days. When rats were sacrificed, plasma and portions of the kidneys were removed and frozen; other portions of kidney tissue were fixed and prepared for histology. Compared with normal chow and safflower oil, fish oil attenuated collagen deposition, macrophage infiltration, TGF-β expression, apoptosis, and tissue levels of arachidonic acid, MIP-1α, IL-1β, MCP-1 and leukotriene B(4). Compared with normal chow, fish oil increased the expression of HO-1 protein in kidney tissue. CONCLUSIONS Fish oil intake reduced inflammation, fibrosis and oxidative stress following obstructive renal injury.
Reduced Fertility in Male Mice Deficient in the Zinc Metallopeptidase NL1

ABSTRACT Members of the M13 family of zinc metalloendopeptidases have been shown to play critical roles in the metabolism of various neuropeptides and peptide hormones, and they have been identified as important therapeutic targets. Recently, a mouse NL1 protein, a novel member of the family, was identified and shown to be expressed mainly in the testis as a secreted protein. To define its physiological role(s), we used a gene targeting strategy to disrupt the endogenous murine Nl1 gene by homologous recombination and generate Nl1 mutant mice. The Nl1−/− mice were viable and developed normally, suggesting that zygotic expression of Nl1 is not required for development. However, Nl1−/− males produced smaller litters than their wild-type siblings, indicating specific male fertility problems. Reduced fertility may be explained by two impaired processes, decreased egg fertilization and perturbed early development of fertilized eggs. These two phenotypes did not result from gross anatomical modifications of the testis or from impaired spermatogenesis. Basic sperm parameters were also normal. Thus, our findings suggest that one of the roles of NL1 in mice is related to sperm function and that NL1 modulates the processes of fertilization and early embryonic development in vivo.
Emergent Predication Structure in Hidden State Vectors of Neural Readers

A significant number of neural architectures for reading comprehension have recently been developed and evaluated on large cloze-style datasets. We present experiments supporting the emergence of “predication structure” in the hidden state vectors of these readers. More specifically, we provide evidence that the hidden state vectors represent atomic formulas \Phi[c] where \Phi is a semantic property (predicate) and c is a constant symbol entity identifier.
Training an Arabic handwriting recognizer without a handwritten training data set

Handwritten text recognition is an active research area in pattern recognition. One of the prerequisites of setting up a handwritten text recognizer is to train them using, mostly, large amounts of labeled training data. In the current paper we report our work on handwritten text recognition using no handwritten training set. We investigate different approaches including, computer generated text in different typefaces as training data, unsupervised adaptation, and using recognition hypothesis on the test sets as training data. Results from handwritten Arabic word recognition task show that the approach is promising with good recognition rates.
Enhancing data throughput and lower correlations quasi orthogonal functions for 3G CDMA systems

The forward link of the 3G code‐division multiple‐access (CDMA) system may become limited under the increasing of the number of users. The conventional channelization code, Walsh code, has not enough sizes for much possible users, therefore, the quasi orthogonal function (QOF), which can process optimal cross‐correlation with Walsh code, is considered.
Effectiveness of xenogenous-based bovine-derived platelet gel embedded within a three-dimensional collagen implant on the healing and regeneration of the Achilles tendon defect in rabbits

Background and objective: Tissue engineering is an option in reconstructing large tendon defects and managing their healing and regeneration. We designed and produced a novel xenogeneic-based bovine platelet, embedded it within a tissue-engineered collagen implant (CI) and applied it in an experimentally induced large tendon defect model in rabbits to test whether bovine platelets could stimulate tendon healing and regeneration in vivo. Methods: One hundred twenty rabbits were randomly divided into two experimental and pilot groups. In all the animals, the left Achilles tendon was surgically excised and the tendon edges were aligned by Kessler suture. Each group was then divided into three groups of control (no implant), treated with CI and treated with collagen-platelet implant. The pilot groups were euthanized at 10, 15, 30 and 40 days post-injury (DPI), and their gross and histologic characteristics were evaluated to study host–graft interaction mechanism. To study the tendon healing and its outcome, the experimental animals were tested during the experiment using hematologic, ultrasonographic and various methods of clinical examinations and then euthanized at 60 DPI and their tendons were evaluated by gross pathologic, histopathologic, scanning electron microscopic, biophysical and biochemical methods. Results: Bovine platelets embedded within a CI increased inflammation at short term while it increased the rate of implant absorption and matrix replacement compared with the controls and CI alone. Treatment also significantly increased diameter, density, amount, alignment and differentiation of the collagen fibrils and fibers and approximated the water uptake and delivery behavior of the healing tendons to normal contralaterals (p < 0.05). Treatment also improved echogenicity and homogenicity of the tendons and reduced peritendinous adhesion, muscle fibrosis and atrophy, and therefore, it improved the clinical scores and physical activity related to the injured limb when compared with the controls (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The bovine platelet gel embedded within the tissue-engineered CI was effective in healing, modeling and remodeling of the Achilles tendon in rabbit. This strategy may be a valuable option in the clinical setting.
Transmural Healing Evaluated by Bowel Sonography in Patients with Crohn’s Disease on Maintenance Treatment with Biologics

Background:Both thiopurines and anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) &agr; agents are effective for treating Crohn’s disease (CD) as they can induce clinical remission (CR) and mucosal healing (MH) in most patients. Nevertheless, data on transmural healing (TH) induced by thiopurines and anti-TNF-&agr; agents are still lacking. This study aimed to explore the rate of TH evaluated by bowel sonography in patients with CD treated with biologics and immunosuppressors and its correlation with CR and MH. Methods:We performed an observational longitudinal study evaluating TH, CR, and MH in all patients with CD attending our clinic who would complete 2 years of maintenance treatment with biologics or thiopurines. CR and MH were assessed in accordance with current literature, whereas TH was recorded using bowel sonography. All patients underwent endoscopy and bowel sonography before starting treatment and 2 years later. Results:The study included 66 patients with CD treated with biologics and 67 patients receiving thiopurines. Finally, TH was present in 17 patients on biologics and only 3 patients treated with thiopurines (25% versus 4%; P < 0.01; odds ratio = 6.2). CR was achieved in 37 patients on biologics and in 34 patients on thiopurines (59.7% versus 53%; P = not significant), whereas MH was more frequent in patients treated with anti-TNF-&agr; agents even though without statistical significance (38% versus 25%; P = not significant). Conclusions:TH can be achieved in approximately 25% of patients with CD treated with anti-TNF-&agr; agents and significantly correlates with MH. Further studies are needed to define the potential role of TH as long-term prognostic factor.
Enhancing graphical information system models with VRML

Current CASE tools lack efficient techniques to visualise information system (IS) design repository. One important aspect in visualising graphical IS models is to preserve structure, which can have semantic value. Another key issue is to provide both focus and context in order to understand how detailed information relates to other design elements. The third aspect to consider is to trace between diagrams and other design documents. Our VRML implementation integrates different types of diagrams as a whole. We applied elision technique for decomposition of data flow diagrams (DFD) and added visible lines to link parts of DFD to entity-relation diagrams. In our laboratory experiment, we collected users' subjective opinions and performance in information search tasks. Based on the promising results, we give suggestions for further exploration.
The virulence-enhancing effect of iron on nonpigmented mutants of virulent strains of Pasteurella pestis.

MANY strains of Pasteurella pestis form pigmented colonies by absorption of haemin when grown on a suitable synthetic medium, as described in the foregoing paper. Non-pigmented secondary colonies subsequently appear, from which nonpigmented mutant strains can be cultivated. Non-pigmented mutants of virulent strains have reduced virulence for mice (corresponding mutants derived from avirulent strains are avirulent). This paper deals with the peculiar virulence patterns of non-pigmented strains and the specific effect of iron compounds on them.
Lead asparate, an en bloc contrast stain particularly useful for ultrastructural enzymology.

Lead aspartate is a new en bloc stain for electron microscopy. Its predictable staining depends on chelation that results from the interaction of the two stain components, lead nitrate and aspartic acid, which must be present in a specific ratio. Lead aspartate stain is 0.02 M in lead nitrate and 0.03 M in aspartic acid, adjusted to pH 5.5. Cells or tissues are stained at 60 degrees C for 30 to 60 min. Cells stained en bloc with lead aspartate closely resemble cells stained on grids by lead citrate, except that the former seldom have contamination. En bloc staining with lead aspartate bypasses the grid-staining step so that samples can be viewed and photographed immediately after they are thin-sectioned. The lower pH of the lead aspartate solution allows counterstaining of enzyme reaction products that dissolve in the highly alkaline lead citrate stain. Lead aspartate en bloc staining to enhance contrast should especially benefit studies of ultrastructure requiring a clean and predictably lead stain.
A feasibility study on a voltage-doubler-type rectenna

We propose a voltage-doubler-type rectenna as a simple, compact and lightweight rectenna. As a feasibility study, we evaluate a 2.45 GHz voltage-doubler-type rectenna, in which Schottky diodes are mounted both in series and in shunt at the feed point of a half-wave dipole antenna, from measurements and circuit simulations. The measured rf-dc conversion efficiency of the prototype rectenna was 47.4 % at the output load of 1.5 kΩ and the receiving power density of 1 mW/cm2. From circuit simulations, the maximum efficiency of 63.5 % was obtained at 600 Ω under the assumed receiving power density of 1.6 mW/cm2.
Rate dependent spectral reduction for voiceless fricatives

The relationship between local speaking rate and spectral reduction of voiceless fricatives is examined based on a corpus of spontaneous speech. The spectral balance of about 18k items is statistically analyzed with regard to consonant duration and local speaking rate. Both measures show comparable effects: For most of the treated allophones, signiﬁcant within-speaker reduction occurs with higher rates. The speaking style of the material is constant and stress, part of speech, and position in the syllable was controlled. However, as the observed effects are small compared to differences between allophones, percep-tional relevance is considered to be implausible.
Allogeneic bone marrow vs. peripheral blood stem cell transplantation: a long‐term retrospective single‐center analysis in 329 patients

Objectives: Granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor‐mobilized peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) provides a valuable and increasingly used alternative to bone marrow transplantation (BMT). This retrospective study aimed at determining whether the stem cell source is predictive for outcome, relapse incidence, non‐relapse mortality, and severity and incidence of both, acute and chronic graft‐versus‐host disease (GVHD) in patients undergoing allogeneic HSCT.
Functional MRI in Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia affecting millions of people worldwide. AD results in progressive brain atrophy, memory loss and widespread neuro‐ logic deterioration. The first AD-related neuropathological changes appear in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory structures already years prior to the manifestation of clinical dementia. Atrophy of the MTL structures as revealed by structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is nowadays considered to be a valid diagnostic marker at the mild cognitive impairment stage, although structural imaging findings may be somewhat nonspecific. “Mild cognitive impairment” (MCI) is in fact one of the recent concepts to describe the pos‐ sible prodromal state of AD, that is a stage between healthy aging and full-blown clinical AD, for example in terms of neuropathological, imaging and cognitive changes.
On the construction of Gaussian quadrature rules from modified moments.

Abstract : Given a weight function omega(x) on (alpha, beta), and a system of polynomials (p sub k)(x), k = 0 to infinity, with degree p sub k (x) = k, we consider the problem of constructing Gaussian quadrature rules from 'modified moments'. Classical procedures take p sub k (x) = x, but suffer from progressive ill-conditioning as n increases. A more recent procedure, due to Sack and Donovan, takes for p sub k (x) a system of (classical) orthogonal polynomials. The problem is then remarkably well-conditioned, at least for finite intervals (alpha, beta). In support of this observation, we obtain upper bounds for the respective asymptotic condition number. In special cases, these bounds grow like a fixed power of n. We also derive an algorithm for solving the problem considered which generalizes one due to Golub and Welsch. Finally, some numerical examples are presented.
Quality of Life in Japanese Patients with Dysmenorrhea Treated with Ethinylestradiol 20 μg/Drospirenone 3 mg in a Real-World Setting: An Observational Study

Background Dysmenorrhea affects approximately 80% of women in Japan and has a negative impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Low-dose estrogen/progestin combined oral contraceptives have been shown to reduce the severity of dysmenorrhea symptoms. This study characterized HRQoL in Japanese women with dysmenorrhea before and after ethinylestradiol/drospirenone (EE/DRSP) treatment. Methods This prospective, observational study recruited 531 patients, of which 186 were evaluated after treatment with EE 20 μg/DRSP 3 mg for dysmenorrhea in a 24/4 cyclic regimen. The primary endpoints were mean baseline and post-treatment 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey version 2.0 (SF-36v2) scores for study patients compared with the general female population of Japan (calculated using norm-based scoring), and mean changes in study patient SF-36v2 scores between baseline and 6 to 8 treatment cycles. Results Compared with Japanese norms, women with dysmenorrhea had lower pre-treatment SF-36v2 scores, except for the physical functioning domain. After 6–8 cycles of EE/DRSP treatment, all 8 SF-36v2 domain scores were significantly higher than baseline. The greatest improvements were observed in bodily pain and social functioning (mean change [standard deviation (SD)]: physical functioning: 1.4 [5.7], role physical: 3.2 [8.1], bodily pain: 7.8 [10.0], general health: 3.0 [7.0], vitality: 2.7 [8.1], social functioning: 3.5 [9.8], role emotional: 3.3 [9.2], and mental health: 3.0 [7.3]; p< 0.001 for all). Compared with the Japanese general population, study patients’ post-treatment scores were significantly higher for the general health domain (p= 0.008) and physical summary scores (p= 0.033). Conclusion Dysmenorrhea has a profound impact on all aspects of functioning and well-being. This study, conducted in a real-world setting, found that physical, social, and mental HRQoL improved significantly after a cyclic regimen of EE/DRSP in Japanese patients with dysmenorrhea. This regimen may have the potential to provide an effective option to improve patient HRQoL. Trial Registration Study sample was drawn from patients enrolled in a post-marketing surveillance study, registered June 20, 2011 (NCT 01375998).
Discrimination of Vegetation Height Categories With Passive Satellite Sensor Imagery Using Texture Analysis

Vegetation height is a crucial factor in environmental studies, landscape analysis, and mapping applications. Its estimation may prove cost and resource demanding, e.g., employing light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data. This study presents a cost-effective framework for height estimation, built around texture analysis of a single very high-resolution passive satellite sensor image. A number of texture features are proposed, based on local variance, entropy, and binary patterns. Their potential in discriminating among classes in a wide range of height values used for habitat mapping (from less than 5 cm to 40 m) is tested in an area with heath, tree, and shrub vegetation. A number of missing data handling, outlier removal, and data normalization methods are evaluated to enhance the proposed framework. Its performance is tested with different classifiers, including single and ensemble tree ones and support vector machines. Furthermore, dimensionality reduction (DR) is applied to the full feature set (192 features), through both data transformation and filter feature selection methods. The proposed approach was tested in two WorldView-2 images, representing the peak and the decline of the vegetative period. Vegetation height categories were accurately distinguished, reaching accuracies of over 90% for six height classes, using the images either individually or in synergy. DR achieved similarly high, or higher, accuracies with even a 3% feature subset, increasing the processing efficiency of the framework, and favoring its use in height estimation applications not requiring particularly high spatial resolution data, as a cost-effective surrogate of more expensive and resource demanding approaches.
Recent research development in physical design for manufacturability

As IC process geometries scale down to the nanometer era, the industry faces severe challenges of manufacturing limitations. For the imperfect manufacturing process, physical design for manufacturability has played an essential role in resolution and thus yield enhancement to guarantee yield. In this paper, we introduce three major challenges arising from the nanometer process technology and survey major existing techniques for handling the challenges in physical design for manufacturability.
Effect of changes in stimulus frequency and intensity on habituation of the human vertex potential.

Interposed between periodic presentations of a 1000‐Hz tone were stimuli of different frequencies and intensities. The amplitude of the vertex (V) potential to the 1000‐Hz tone became larger as the frequency of the intervening stimuli departed progressively from 1000 Hz. It also became larger when the sensation level of the 1000‐Hz tone was raised progressively above that of the intervening stimuli. The notion that changes in stimulus frequency and increases in stimulus intensity activate new neural units was adopted to explain the data. It was asserted that habituation of the V potential is greatest when the same neural units are repeatedly activated and least when new neural units are brought into play.
Efficient and Adaptively Secure Append-Only Signature

Most of digital signatures require the secret key when signing a message, however, there does exists a kind of signature scheme which is able to sign by appending new message only, so-called Append-Only Signature (AOS) [9]. Motivated by its numerous useful applications in network security such as secure routing, etc., in this paper, we propose new efficient AOS scheme with shorter public key (parameters) using ID-based cryptographic techniques. To our surprise, it is the first time to achieve a practical, adaptively secure AOS via ID-based encryption approach. The proposed signature enjoys the merit of security against adaptive attack, while the previously presented AOS is only secure in a weak sense of selective unforgeability. Finally, we also present a new Restricted AOS (RAOS) signature, which may be of independent interest in practice.