Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gene expression profiles in febrile children with defined viral and bacterial infection

Viral infections are common causes of fever without an apparent source in young children. Despite absence of bacterial infection, many febrile children are treated with antibiotics. Virus and bacteria interact with different pattern recognition receptors in circulating blood leukocytes, triggering specific host transcriptional programs mediating immune response. Therefore, unique transcriptional signatures may be defined that discriminate viral from bacterial causes of fever without an apparent source. Gene expression microarray analyses were conducted on blood samples from 30 febrile children positive for adenovirus, human herpesvirus 6, or enterovirus infection or with acute bacterial infection and 22 afebrile controls. Blood leukocyte transcriptional profiles clearly distinguished virus-positive febrile children from both virus-negative afebrile controls and afebrile children with the same viruses present in the febrile children. Virus-specific gene expression profiles could be defined. The IFN signaling pathway was uniquely activated in febrile children with viral infection, whereas the integrin signaling pathway was uniquely activated in children with bacterial infection. Transcriptional profiles classified febrile children with viral or bacterial infection with better accuracy than white blood cell count in the blood. Similarly accurate classification was shown with data from an independent study using different microarray platforms. Our results support the paradigm of using host response to define the etiology of childhood infections. This approach could be an important supplement to highly sensitive tests that detect the presence of a possible pathogen but do not address its pathogenic role in the patient being evaluated.
Lexical Resources for Hindi Marathi MT Sreelekha

In this paper we describe ways of utilizing lexical resources to improve the quality of statistical machine translation. We have augmented the training corpus with various lexical resources such as IndoWordnet semantic relation set, function words, kridanta pairs and verb phrases. We augmented parallel corpora in two ways (a) additional vocabulary and (b) inflected word forms. We have described case studies, evaluations and have given detailed error analysis for both Marathi to Hindi and Hindi to Marathi machine translation systems. From the evaluations we observed an order of magnitude improvement in translation quality. Lexical resources do help uplift performance when parallel corpora is scanty.
A deeper insight into impulse levels selection for long DC extruded cable lines

The selection of both lightning and switching impulse test values for a power DC link are mainly based on numerical simulation and past experience on similar links, since well-established and standardized practices are missing. In this paper, as a continuation of a previous investigation, the selection of lightning and switching impulse voltage levels to be applied on short cable lengths in the prequalification and/or type tests is addressed for long DC cable lines taking into account the impulse withstand behaviour vs. cable length via the enlargement law and the effect of overvoltage attenuation for surges travelling along the cable. In particular, a deeper analysis into the algorithm of voltage impulse level selection is performed aiming at considering the typical range of variation of all the parameters that take part in this process. The analysis is performed via Monte Carlo simulations considering all the variable involved in the estimation of the impulse withstand voltages. This approach is particular useful since at present standardized impulse voltage levels for HVDC cables are still left to an agreement between manufacturer and user.
Spontaneous breathing during mechanical ventilation in ARDS

The objective of mechanical ventilation used in the management of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is to ensure adequate tissue oxygenation and alveolar ventilation while limiting the patients' work of breathing and preventing further damage to the lungs. Although the "partial support" ventilation modes were initially developed to assist weaning or liberation from supported ventilation, they have gained increasing popularity as primary ventilation modes, even in patients in with severe acute pulmonary dysfunction. Allowing spontaneous breathing is known to alter both lung mechanics and physiological effects of ventilation, therefore has potential influence on important patho-physiological changes and complications that occur. Spontaneous ventilation has the potential to improve outcomes in ARDS, and therefore is worthy of an intensivist's attention. A clinical trial of the use of pharmaceutical paralysis suggest a protective effect against worsening respiratory failure by ablating spontaneous breathing in ARDS. Over-distension of alveoli, even at low ventilator driving pressures may be as dangerous as high tidal volume (TV) controlled ventilation and thus naive use of unrestricted spontaneous breathing techniques may be detrimental. As evidence of both improvement and deterioration exist the hypothesis remains controversial, and warrants a properly conducted randomised trial.
Adolescent Cigarette Use in the Americas: The Link with Depression

While society’s understanding of the burden of disease associated with substance use and mental health disorders continues to grow, serious gaps remain in our ability to help all individuals with these disorders. It has been estimated that the use of tobacco and alcohol each represent 8.7% and 3.8% of all deaths worldwide. In addition, the Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) caused by alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use are estimated to be 4.4%, 3.7% and 0.9%, respectively (WHO, 2009). Unfortunately, these gaps are likely to be substantially larger among racial and ethnic minorities and culturally diverse populations.
Dual-portal Endoscopic Release of the Transverse Ligament in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Results of 411 Procedures with Special Reference to Technique, Efficacy, and Complications

OBJECTIVE:Endoscopic release of carpal tunnel syndrome is still under debate. The main advantages of the technique are considered to be minor postoperative pain and a more rapid postoperative recovery. Disadvantages are thought to be the impossibility of a direct median nerve neurolysis and a higher surgical complication rate, including injury to the median nerve. METHODS:The results of 411 consecutive endoscopic carpal tunnel procedures performed between March 1995 and September 2004 are presented. All patients were prospectively followed. RESULTS:In the present series, a success rate of 98.05% was observed. There was no permanent morbidity and, in particular, there was no injury of the median nerve. In four (0.97%) patients, the preoperative symptoms did not improve. In two (0.49%) of these patients, an incomplete release of the carpal ligament occurred. In another four patients (0.97%), a switch to open surgery was required. CONCLUSION:The present data prove that the endoscopic technique is a safe and reliable technique for carpal tunnel surgery. The data do not support the current discussion of a higher risk of median nerve injury with endoscopic carpal tunnel surgery. Thus, for our group, the endoscopic technique represents the therapy of choice for the primary idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome.
Perfect perspective projection using a varifocal mirror and its application to three-dimensional close-up imaging

An imaging system with a focusing mechanism based on perfect perspective projection was devised using a varifocal mirror to achieve high-quality three-dimensional imaging and precise measurement of shapes. It was constructed so that the varifocal mirror was placed at the object focal point of the image-taking lens. The focal point of the lens was fixed when focusing with the varifocal mirror. Magnification was exactly equal to the ratio of the focal length and the object point distance from the object focal point of the lens. This held at magnifications larger than unity. The surface shape of a spherical dent (3.5 mm in diameter) could accurately be measured with the shape-from-focus method because the dent could be viewed from the side in the perspective projection system.
Application of laser slot sensors for the state estimation of overhead cranes

The load of overhead cranes are attached to the mechanical structure with a rope, consequently the trajectory of the load cannot be actuated directly. This results in an unwanted oscillatory behaviour, which needs to be damped for the effective and safe transportation. In existing automated cranes, control solutions suggest state-feedback law. In previous work we proposed an estimation algorithm employing the unscented Kalman filter for the calculation of the unmeasured states. Because of the stiction, this method becomes inaccurate when the trolley does not move. In this paper we suggest the application of a pair of laser slot sensors for detecting when the rope is close to the vertical. Incremental encoders are used to measure the displacement of the trolley and the length of the rope. Since the detection of the vertical rope angle is asynchronous w.r. t. the sampling instant, an appropriate sensor fusion technique is provided. The effectiveness of the estimation method is verified on a real laboratory crane setup.
PLUTARCH'S YEARNING AFTER DIVINITY THE INTRODUCTION TO ON ISIS AND OSIRIS

Abstract:This article provides a detailed interpretation of the programmatic introduction to Plutarch's treatise On Isis and Osiris. The analysis of its three sections reveals Plutarch's systematic emphasis on a theoretical Platonic approach and throws light on his zetetic ideals. It also clarifies Plutarch's ζήτημα methodology and his broad understanding of philosophy.
Rheological investigations of ferrofluids with a shear stress controlled rheometer

The appearance of field- and shear-dependent changes of viscosity—the magnetoviscous effect—is correlated to the formation of chains and structures of magnetic nanoparticles. Moreover, the formation of these structures leads to the appearance of viscoelastic effects or other non-Newtonian features in ferrofluids in the presence of a magnetic field. In order to describe these phenomena, different theoretical approaches have been developed which explain the mechanism of these effects with different assumptions. One point in which these models differ, and which has to be clarified, is the appearance of yield stress and its dependence on magnetic field strength. With this aim, a stress controlled rheometer has been designed to prove the existence of this very small field-dependent yield stress for ferrofluids. The results presented here show a dependence of the yield stress on the magnetic field strength as well as on the interparticle interaction and particle size distribution. Finally, yield stress experiments have been performed for different geometries of the shear cell in order to get more information about the microstructure formed by the magnetic particles.
Tautomeric states of the active‐site histidines of phosphorylated and unphosphorylated IIIGlc, a signal‐transducing protein from escherichia coli, using two‐dimensional heteronuclear NMR techniques

IIIGlc is an 18.1‐kDa signal‐transducing phosphocarrier protein of the phosphoenolpyruvate:glycose phosphotransferase system from Escherichia coli. The 1H, 15N, and 13C histidine ring NMR signals of both the phosphorylated and unphosphorylated forms of IIIGlc have been assigned using two‐dimensional 1H‐15N and 1H‐13C heteronuclear multiple‐quantum coherence (HMQC) experiments and a two‐dimensional 13C‐13C‐1H correlation spectroscopy via JCC coupling experiment. The data were acquired on uniformly 15N‐labeled and uniformly 15N/13C‐labeled protein samples. The experiments rely on one‐bond and two‐bond J couplings that allowed for assignment of the signals without the need for the analysis of through‐space (nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy) correlations. The 15N and 13C chemical shifts were used to determine that His‐75 exists predominantly in the Nε2‐H tautomeric state in both the phosphorylated and unphosphorylated forms of IIIGlc, and that His‐90 exists primarily in the Nδ1‐H state in the unphosphorylated protein. Upon phosphorylation of the Nε2 nitrogen of His‐90, the Nδ1 nitrogen remains protonated, resulting in the formation of a charged phospho‐His‐90 moiety. The 1H, 15N, and 13C signals of the phosphorylated and unphosphorylated proteins showed only minor shifts in the pH range from 6.0 to 9.0. These data indicate that the pKa values for both His‐75 and His‐90 in IIIGlc and His‐75 in phospho‐IIIGlc are less than 5.0, and that the pKa value for phospho‐His‐90 is greater than 10. The results are presented in relation to previously obtained structural data on IIIGlc, and implications for proposed mechanisms of phosphoryl transfer are discussed.
Literature Review-Whole Body Interaction

Arm fatigue, or gorilla-arm, was the primary reason for the initial failure of mid-air or touchscreen computer interaction systems [1]. Gestural interfacing is now being adopted widely in gaming, medical applications as well as education, but only through careful research and development of such systems to eliminate or significantly reduce fatigue and optimize the interaction. Although the most common mid-air interactions focus on arm and hand gestures, such as the LeapMotion and also a Nintendo Wii remote, several other techniques exist or are in development to bring the whole body of the user into the interface. The concept of gorilla-arm also extends to whole body interactions, and in a sense is much more important. Mobility is an additional aspect of a whole body interaction (WBI) system which is to be addressed. On-body visualizations, EM noise sensing, grounded interfaces, and intra-operative machine interfacing through inertial sensors are all systems currently in their research and development stage, and in-depth studies looking at the development principles of such systems have also been conducted. One such study identifies key design qualities of a WBI system, and another describes EnActor, a blueprint developed specifically for the development of whole body interaction software in a performing arts context.
Single Image Super-Resolution via Sparse Representation over Directionally Structured Dictionaries Based on the Patch Gradient Phase Angle

We propose a single-image super-resolution algorithm based on sparse representation over a set of cluster dictionary pairs. For each cluster, a directionally structured dictionary pair is designed. The dominant angle in the patch gradient phase matrix is employed as an approximately scale-invariant measure. This measure serves for patch clustering and sparse model selection. The dominant phase angle of each low resolution patch is found and used to identify its corresponding cluster. Then, the sparse coding coefficients of this patch with respect to the low resolution cluster dictionary are calculated. These coefficients are imposed on the high resolution dictionary of the same cluster to obtain a high resolution patch estimate. In experiments conducted on several images, the proposed algorithm is shown to out-perform the algorithm that uses a single universal dictionary pair, and to be competitive to the state-of-the art algorithm. This is validated in terms of PSNR, SSIM and visual comparison.
Electron trapping characteristics and scalability of HfO2 as a trapping layer in SONOS-type flash memories

To determine the potential of hafnium oxide (HfO<sub>2</sub>) film as a charge-trapping layer for flash memories, distributions of electron traps, equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) scalability, and data-retention characteristics are investigated. Electrons are trapped at both top and bottom interfaces of oxide/HfO<sub>2</sub> and in the HfO<sub>2</sub> bulk. This distinguishes HfO<sub>2</sub> from silicon nitride (SiN), where electrons are mainly trapped at the two interfaces. The interface trap densities of electrons are of the order of 10<sup>13</sup> cm<sup>-2</sup>, and that of the HfO<sub>2</sub> bulk is of the order of 10<sup>18</sup> cm<sup>-3</sup>, which is one order larger than that of the SiN bulk. The oxygen vacancy is a possible origin of HfO<sub>2</sub> bulk traps. From the viewpoint of EOT scaling, HfO<sub>2</sub> is superior to SiN as a trapping layer. Moreover, retention characteristics of HfO<sub>2</sub> were better than those of SiN.
Dictionary of protein secondary structure: Pattern recognition of hydrogen‐bonded and geometrical features

For a successful analysis of the relation between amino acid sequence and protein structure, an unambiguous and physically meaningful definition of secondary structure is essential. We have developed a set of simple and physically motivated criteria for secondary structure, programmed as a pattern‐recognition process of hydrogen‐bonded and geometrical features extracted from x‐ray coordinates. Cooperative secondary structure is recognized as repeats of the elementary hydrogen‐bonding patterns “turn” and “bridge. ” Repeating turns are “helices,” repeating bridges are “ladders,” connected ladders are “sheets. ” Geometric structure is defined in terms of the concepts torsion and curvature of differential geometry. Local chain “chirality” is the torsional handedness of four consecutive Cα positions and is positive for right‐handed helices and negative for ideal twisted β‐sheets. Curved pieces are defined as “bends. ” Solvent “exposure” is given as the number of water molecules in possible contact with a residue. The end result is a compilation of the primary structure, including SS bonds, secondary structure, and solvent exposure of 62 different globular proteins. The presentation is in linear form: strip graphs for an overall view and strip tables for the details of each of 10.925 residues. The dictionary is also available in computer‐readable form for protein structure prediction work.
Circulating angiopoietin-2 levels increase with progress of chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND Angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) is an antagonistic ligand of the endothelial-specific Tie2 receptor. Patients on dialysis have markedly elevated Ang-2 levels, and those correlate with their atherosclerotic burden. The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between the circulating levels of Ang-2 and renal function throughout all stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD). In addition, we aimed to detect a potential link between the nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and the Ang-2 levels. METHODS Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was assessed by the inulin clearance technique ((i)GFR) and compared to serum Ang-2 (immunoluminometric assay) and ADMA levels (liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry) in 44 untreated non-smokers at the different stages of CKD 1-4. Ang-2 was also measured in 19 patients on dialysis (CKD stage 5). In addition, the Ang-2 and (c)GFR (cystatin C) measurements were taken in 15 healthy individuals before and 72 h after kidney donation. RESULTS The median Ang-2 levels steadily increased across the following groups: healthy controls: 0.77 (0.32-1.08) ng/mL; CKD 1: 0.83 (0.67-1.09) ng/mL; CKD 2: 0.93 (0.74-1.15) ng/mL; CKD 3: 1.13 (0.87-1.49) ng/mL; CKD 4: 1.75 (1.23-2.61) ng/mL; and CKD 5: 4.87 (3.22-7.59) ng/mL, respectively (non-parametric ANOVA P < 0.0001). Ang-2 was associated with the degree of CKD as evidenced by an inverse correlation with the (i)GFR (r = -0.509, P < 0.0001) and positive correlations with homocysteine (r = 0.365, P = 0.015) and phosphate (r = 0.53, P < 0.0001). Additionally, Ang-2 correlated with the ADMA levels (r = 0.35, P = 0.01). We detected a close inverse correlation between the mean changes in GFR and circulating Ang-2 at 72 h after kidney donation (r = -0.54, P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS Circulating Ang-2, a putative marker and potential mediator of accelerated atherosclerosis, is inversely related to GFR and increases with advanced CKD. The correlation between Ang-2 and ADMA points towards the hypothesis that the ADMA-driven NO deficiency might trigger Ang-2 release and account for the Ang-2 increase in CKD patients.
Metabolic Risks among College Students: Prevalence and Gender Differences.

BACKGROUND Little is known about the rate of metabolic dysfunction and gender differences in late adolescence or early adulthood. We report here the prevalence of and gender differences in components of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a college sample. METHODS Three hundred students (2/3 female) with no prior diagnosis of illness from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, participated in a cross-sectional measurement of weight, height, fasting blood, and 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test. Prevalence of metabolic risks was determined using the Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III, World Health Organization or International Diabetes Federation criteria. Gender differences in both continuous and dichotomous metabolic variables were tested. RESULTS The prevalence of MetS was low, but the rate of having at least one abnormal component ranged from 26% to 40%. Different criteria identified different individuals with the MetS. Prevalence was high for low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (24%), impaired fasting glucose (9%), and hypertriglyceridemia (9%). Fasting insulin was useful in capturing at-risk individuals in addition to ATP-III criteria. Males were more obese, hypertensive, and hypertriglyceridemic than females, but all 9 cases of impaired glucose tolerance were female. CONCLUSIONS The college age and setting are a unique opportunity to monitor and intervene on early risk factors of chronic disease. Undiagnosed metabolic dysfunction is high and problematic in this age group. Unique gender differences in glucose metabolism warrant further research and should be considered in the design of intervention strategies.
Kooaba interactive posters

There is an ever increasing amount of digital visual information being produced. For instance, there are over 800 million mobile phones with integrated cameras. These cameras are increasingly used as a tool in order to remember and share things by just snapping pictures. Have a look at your digital photo collection today, and imagine how large it is going to be in 30 years. The Kooaba Interactive Posters are built around our large-scale image recognition platform and provides a tool that enable you to share, explore and remember things visually. The image recognition allows for identifying objects in images. Once an image or object is identified, additional information about them is provided, e.g. related web-pages, description, tags etc which helps the user to better organize and remember these items. In the context of an academic conference, the objects to be recognized are the conference posters, thus rendring them interactive by providing additional content such as the original paper, videos, source code etc.