Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Independence Training to Teach Independent Living Skills to Children and Young Men with Visual Impairments

Two groups of students with visual impairments were taught various independent living skills. Of the 7 students, 5 also had a diagnosis of mental retardation. One group (3 first graders) was taught the tasks of folding a shirt, making an emergency telephone call, and spreading soft foods with a knife. The other group (4 young men) was taught to increase leisure skills through three different leather-work tasks. Independence training was conducted in a group format and included social learning components (e.g., self-evaluation, peer evaluation and reinforcement) in addition to traditional operant procedures (e.g., modeling, prompting). However, because of the presence of visual impairments, a physical and verbal modification of modeling was used, whereby the subject was physically guided through the steps and simultaneously provided with a narration of the steps. A multiple baseline design across behaviors demonstrated the efficacy of the comprehensive training package in training various independent living skills to the two groups of visually impaired and mentally retarded students. Social validity measures demon-strated the clinical significance of the subsequent changes in behavioral skills. Follow-up data collected 10 months after the completion of training indicated a good degree of maintenance. The current positive results show that training procedures used exclusively with persons with mental retardation can be modified and be effective with a different and younger population, while targeting different independent living skills.
Day‐night and reproductive cycle profiles of melatonin receptor, kiss, and gnrh expression in orange‐spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides)

It is suggested that the MT1 melatonin receptor mediates the effects of melatonin on reproduction in rodents. Three melatonin receptor types, MT1, MT2, and Mel1c, have been identified in fish. To understand the potential roles of each type of melatonin receptor on reproduction, we explored the day‐night and reproductive cycle profiles of melatonin receptor, kiss, and gnrh expression in the orange‐spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides). cDNAs encoding melatonin receptors (MT1, MT2, and Mel1c) were first isolated from the brain of the orange‐spotted grouper. Quantitative real‐time PCR analysis demonstrated that the expression levels of MT1 and MT2 were higher in most of the brain areas and pituitary, while mel1c mRNA was mainly distributed in some peripheral tissues and the pituitary. The expression levels of MT1 were much higher than those of MT2 and mel1c in most of the brain regions, and the day‐night expression variations of MT1 were counter to those of kiss2 and gnrh1. Reproductive cycle variations in MT1 daytime expression were different from those for kiss2 and gnrh1, and contrary to ovarian fecundity. Our results suggest that MT1 may modulate gnrh1 expression through kiss2, or may directly influence it. Together, these signal cascades may regulate the seasonal breeding of the orange‐spotted grouper. As the day‐length variations were consistent with the ovarian fecundity variation observed during the reproductive cycle, we infer that photoperiod affects ovarian development of the orange‐spotted grouper through MT1. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 80: 535–548, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Challenging the myth of exercise‐induced lymphedema following breast cancer: A series of case reports

Women who have had axillary lymph nodes removed for the management of breast cancer are at increased risk of developing upper extremity lymphedema. Physical therapists, surgeons, and other health professionals have warned these women to avoid vigorous, repetitive, or excessive upper body exercise, believing that such types of exercise might actually induce lymphedema. The purpose of this series of case reports was to challenge that belief by systematically measuring the arm circumferences, across three points in time, of 20 women who had received axillary dissection and who were competing in the vigorous, upper body sport of Dragon Boat racing. Measurably different change was defined as an increase in circumference of the ipsilateral upper extremity at any of the four landmarks of >0.5 inches between Time 1 and Time 2 or between Time 1 and Time 3; only two women showed a measurably different change (⅝ in). Furthermore, none of the women showed a clinically significant difference in arm circumference between the ipsilateral and contralateral extremities at Time 3. J. Surg. Oncol. 2000;74:95–99. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Accurate mass measurements in proteomics.

To understand different aspects of life at the molecular level, one would think that ideally all components of specific processes should be individually isolated and studied in details. Reductionist approaches, i.e., studying one biological event at a one-gene or one-protein-at-a-time basis, indeed have made significant contributions to our understanding of many basic facts of biology. However, these individual “building blocks” can not be visualized as a comprehensive “model” of the life of cells, tissues, and organisms, without using more integrative approaches.1,2 For example, the emerging field of “systems biology” aims to quantify all of the components of a biological system to assess their interactions and to integrate diverse types of information obtainable from this system into models that could explain and predict behaviors.3-6 Recent breakthroughs in genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics are making this daunting task a reality.7-14 Proteomics, the systematic study of the entire complement of proteins expressed by an organism, tissue, or cell under a specific set of conditions at a specific time (i.e., the proteome), has become an essential enabling component of systems biology. While the genome of an organism may be considered static over short timescales, the expression of that genome as the actual gene products (i.e.,more » mRNAs and proteins) is a dynamic event that is constantly changing due to the influence of environmental and physiological conditions. Exclusive monitoring of the transcriptomes can be carried out using high-throughput cDNA microarray analysis,15-17 however the measured mRNA levels do not necessarily correlate strongly with the corresponding abundances of proteins,18-20 The actual amount of functional proteins can be altered significantly and become independent of mRNA levels as a result of post-translational modifications (PTMs),21 alternative splicing,22,23 and protein turnover.24,25 Moreover, the functions of expressed proteins can also be extensively modified by PTMs26-31 or by their interactions with other biomolecules or small molecules.32,33 Thus, it is highly desirable that proteins, the primary functional macromolecules involved in almost all biological activities, can be studied directly and systematically to determine their diverse properties and interplay. Such proteome-wide analysis is expected to provide a wealth of biological information, such as sequence, quantity, PTMs, interactions, activities, subcellular distribution and structure of proteins, which is critical to the comprehensive understanding of the biological systems. However, the de novo analysis of proteins isolated from cells, tissues or bodily fluids poses significant challenges due to the tremendous complexity and depth of the proteome, which necessitates high-throughput and highly sensitive analytical techniques. It is therefore not surprising that mass spectrometry (MS) has become an indispensable technology for proteome analysis. « less
Computationally Efficient, Real-Time, and Embeddable Prognostic Techniques for Power Electronics

Power electronics are increasingly important in new generation vehicles as critical safety mechanical subsystems are being replaced with more electronic components. Hence, it is vital that the health of these power electronic components is monitored for safety and reliability on a platform. The aim of this paper is to develop a prognostic approach for predicting the remaining useful life of power electronic components. The developed algorithms must also be embeddable and computationally efficient to support on-board real-time decision making. Current state-of-the-art prognostic algorithms, notably those based on Markov models, are computationally intensive and not applicable to real-time embedded applications. In this paper, an isolated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is used as a case study for prognostic development. The proposed approach is developed by analyzing failure mechanisms and statistics of IGBT degradation data obtained from an accelerated aging experiment. The approach explores various probability distributions for modeling discrete degradation profiles of the IGBT component. This allows the stochastic degradation model to be efficiently simulated, in this particular example ~1000 times more efficiently than Markov approaches.
Surgery for Left Ventricular Outflow Tract Obstruction with a Relatively Thin Interventricular Septum

Abstract Background To examine the results of myectomy and mitral valve surgery for systolic anterior motion (SAM) of the mitral valve and left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO) with a relatively thin interventricular septum. Methods The subjects were 12 patients with SAM and LVOTO. Eight had hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) with a mean interventricular septal thickness of 16 mm. Three had sigmoid septum and one had an unknown etiology. For HOCM, isolated extended myectomy was performed when mitral regurgitation was mild (n = 1) and extended myectomy plus mitral valve surgery was performed when mitral regurgitation was more than mild (n = 4) or primary valve etiologies existed (n = 3). Myectomy was performed for the three cases with sigmoid septum. Myectomy plus height reduction of the posterior mitral leaflet was performed for the one case with the unknown etiology of SAM. Results In the patients with HOCM, the maximum LVOT pressure gradient significantly decreased from 140 ± 18 to 16 ± 6 and 3 ± 3 mm Hg, while mitral regurgitation significantly decreased from 2.3 ± 0.5 to 0.5 ± 0.3 and 0.4 ± 0.2 at pre-op, early post-op, and last follow-up (3 ± 1 years), respectively. In the other etiologies, the maximum LVOT pressure gradient changed from 56 ± 15 to 25 ± 15 and 5 ± 4 mm Hg; mitral regurgitation changed from 2.0 ± 0.6 to 1.3 ± 0.3 and 1.3 ± 0.8, at pre-op, early post-op, and the last follow-up (3 ± 2 years), respectively. Conclusion Myectomy with mitral valve surgery is an option for SAM and LVOTO in patients with a relatively thin interventricular septum.
Composing transformations of compiled Java programs with Jabyce

This article introduces Jabyce, a software framework for the implementation and composition of transformations of compiled Java programs. Most distinguishing features of Jabyce are 1) its interaction orientation, i.e. it represents elements of transformed programs as interactions (method calls) which generally consumes less memory and CPU time than representing programs as graphs of objects; and 2) its component orientation, i.e. it allows for the design and composition of transformers as software components based on the Fractal component model. This latter point is strongly connected to infra-structural and architectural issues, and software engineering aspects such as composing, scaling, maintaining and evolving transformers. Jabyce is compared with other existing compiled Java programs transformation systems using an extension of a previous well-known categorization of program transformation systems.
Clenbuterol reduces GABAergic transmission in prefrontal cortex layer 5/6 pyramidal neurons of juvenile rat via reducing action potentials firing frequency of GABAergic interneurons

Beta‐adrenoceptors (β2‐ARs) have beneficial effects on prefrontal cortex (PFC) working memory, however, the cellular and molecular mechanisms are unclear yet. In this study, we probed the effect of β2‐AR‐selective agonist clenbuterol (Clen) on synaptic transmission in layer 5/6 pyramidal neurons of PFC. Bath application of Clen reduced spontaneous IPSC (sIPSC) frequency without effects on sEPSCs. Clen did not alter the frequency and amplitude of miniature IPSCs (mIPSCs), but exerted heterogeneous effects on evoked IPSCs (eIPSCs) recorded from PFC layer 5/6 pyramidal neurons. Clen decreased the firing rate of action potentials of fast‐spiking GABAergic interneurons. Clen‐induced hyperpolarization of fast‐spiking GABAergic interneurons required potentiation of an inward rectifier K+ channels. Clen‐induced hyperpolarization of fast‐spiking interneurons was dependent on Gs protein rather than cAMP and protein kinase A. Our findings demonstrate that Clen (10 μM) enhances inward rectifier K+ channels via Gs protein to cause membrane hyperpolarization of fast‐spiking GABAergic interneurons resulting in reduction of action potentials firing rate to reduce GABAergic transmission.
Anatomy of the soul as reflected in the cerebral hemispheres: Neural circuits underlying voluntary control of basic motivated behaviors

Understanding the principles of cerebral hemisphere neural network organization is essential for understanding the biological foundations of cognition and affect—thinking and feeling. A tripartite model of cerebral structure–function organization is reviewed, with attention focused on a behavior control system differentiation that mediates voluntary influences on three fundamental classes of goal‐oriented behavior common to all animals. The model postulates just three cerebral divisions, one cortical and two nuclear (lateral or striatal, and medial or pallidal), that together generate a triple descending projection to the brainstem/cord motor system. This minimal circuit element is topographically organized and regionally differentiated, with the map of cortical areas serving as a basic starting point. Virtually all of the cerebral hemisphere projects on the upper brainstem behavior control column, atop the motor system hierarchy. The latter's rostral segment helps control ingestive (eating and drinking), defensive (fight or flight), and reproductive (sexual and parental) motivated behaviors, whereas its caudal segment helps control foraging or exploratory behavior to obtain or avoid specific goal objects associated with all classes of motivated behavior. J. Comp. Neurol. 493:122–131, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A phase I study assessing the safety and pharmacokinetics of the thrombospondin-1-mimetic angiogenesis inhibitor ABT-510 with gemcitabine and cisplatin in patients with solid tumors.

BACKGROUND The aim of the study was to determine the safety profile, pharmacokinetics and potential drug interactions of the angiogenesis inhibitor ABT-510 combined with gemcitabine-cisplatin chemotherapy in patients with solid tumors. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with advanced solid tumors received gemcitabine 1250 mg/m2 intravenously (i.v.) on days 1 and 8 and cisplatin 80 mg/m2 on day 1 of a 3-week cycle in combination with ABT-510. ABT-510 was administered subcutaneously twice daily at doses of 50 mg or 100 mg. Plasma samples for pharmacokinetics were obtained on days 1 (gemcitabine, cisplatin as single agents), 15 (ABT-510 as single agent) and 22 (gemcitabine, cisplatin and ABT-510 as combination). RESULTS Thirteen patients received ABT-510 as either 50 mg b.i. d. (seven patients) or 100 mg b.i. d. (six patients) in combination with gemcitabine-cisplatin. The most common reported adverse events reflected the known toxicity profile induced by gemcitabine-cisplatin without ABT-510. One episode of hemoptysis occurred in a patient with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after 13 days of treatment. No clinically significant pharmacokinetic interactions between ABT-510, gemcitabine and platinum were observed. Three partial responses were observed in 12 evaluable patients (one head and neck cancer, one melanoma and one NSCLC). CONCLUSIONS Combining ABT-510 at doses of 50 mg and 100 mg with gemcitabine-cisplatin is feasible. Pharmacokinetic interactions were not observed and adding ABT-510 does not appear to increase toxicity.
Principles for "Purposefully Constructed Activity Systems" - A Step toward a Body of Knowledge for Information Systems

This paper introduces the concept of purposefully constructed activity system (PCAS) as a step toward a body of knowledge for information systems (ISBoK). The category of PCAS includes sociotechnical activity systems (that include human participants) and totally automated information systems, both of which are core topics for the IS discipline. This paper proposes 20 intrinsic principles and 7 observability principles that apply to any PCAS and that support contextually-focused normative principles from different sources. Intrinsic principles apply to the purpose, form, operation, and evolution of every PCAS. Observability principles apply to perceptions of any particular PCAS. Contextually-focused normative principles express guidance about desirable characteristics or qualities of the form and operation of a particular type of PCAS. A concluding section discusses potential applications of the new idea of PCAS and PCAS principles. It also explains how the idea of PCAS can be used in an ISBoK.
Searching Images on the Basis of Color Homogeneous Objects and their Spatial Relationship

In this paper we introduce several techniques which characterize color homogeneous objects and their spatial relationships for a more precise and efficient content-based image searching. We first present a region growing technique for efficient color homogeneous object segmentation, and then we extend the 2-D string to express spatial signatures for an accurate description of spatial relationships of objects within an image. Several optimizations, including dominant color histogram clustering, have also been proposed for an efficient search engine implementation. The experimental results that we have drawn so far show that our content-based image searching techniques give a high precision while maintaining a very good recall rate.
Efficiency of the Strain Based Approach Formulation for Plate Bending Analysis

— In recent years many finite elements have been developed for plate bending analysis. The formulated elements are based on the strain based approach. This approach leads to the representation of the displacements by higher order polynomial terms without the need for the introduction of additional internal and unnecessary degrees of freedom. Good convergence can also be obtained when the results are compared with those obtained from the corresponding displacement based elements, having the same total number of degrees of freedom. Furthermore, the plate bending elements are free from any shear locking since they converge to the Kirchhoff solution for thin plates contrarily for the corresponding displacement based elements. In this paper the efficiency of the strain based approach compared to well known displacement formulation is presented. The results obtained by a new formulated plate bending element based on the strain approach and Kirchhoff theory are compared with some others elements. The good convergence of the new formulated element is confirmed.
Cancer risk from exposure to hazardous air pollutants: spatial and social inequities in Tampa Bay, Florida

Recent environmental justice studies have emphasized the growing need to analyze the health impacts of disproportionate exposure to multiple pollution sources and incorporate geostatistical techniques that are suitable for analyzing spatial data. These objectives are addressed in a case study that evaluates spatial and social inequities in potential cancer risk from inhalation exposure to hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from four types of emission sources in the Tampa Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area, Florida. This study utilizes modeled estimates of lifetime cancer risk from the 1999 National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment and socio-demographic data from the 2000 US Census. Statistical analyses are based on conventional multiple regression and locally derived spatial regression models that account for residual autocorrelation. Race, ethnicity, and home ownership are found to be significant predictors of cancer risk from ambient exposure to all four HAP source categories, after controlling for other relevant explanatory factors and spatial dependence in the data.
Remote Low-Coherence Fiber Vibrometer With Wide Dynamic Range

We present a remote low-coherence fiber vibrometer, which is composed of a hybrid configuration of Mach-Zehnder and Sagnac interferometer. In the interferometer, the signal and reference beams travel along the same path but in opposite directions. Owing to the fiber differential interferometric theory and a passive demodulation algorithm, absolute amplitude at a distance more than 1 m could be measured. The experimental results demonstrate that the vibrometer has a wide dynamic range for amplitude measurement from 4.34 pm to 2.43 mm. The deviation of measured amplitude is less than 0.8 dB, and the frequency response range is 30 Hz-11 kHz. The proposed method is potentially suitable for applications that require noncontact and high-dynamic-range measurements.
Toward Understanding WH-Questions: A Statistical Analysis

We describe research centering on the statistical analysis of WH-questions. This work is motivated by the long-term goal of enhancing the performance of information retrieval systems. We identified informational goals associated with users’ queries posed to an Internet resource, and built a statistical model which infers these informational goals from shallow linguistic features of user queries. This model was build by applying supervised machine learning techniques. The linguistic features were extracted from the queries and from the output of a natural language parser, and the high-level informational goals were identified by professional taggers.
Bremssstrahlung and zero-energy Rindler photons.

The bremsstrahlung effect is analyzed in the frame coaccelerating with the charge. In particular, it is shown that the usual rate of photon emission with a given transverse momentum computed in the inertial frame can be interpreted as the combined rate of emission (adsorption) of zero-energy Rindler photons into (from) the thermal bath as calculated in the particle rest frame.
A prostaglandin d‐synthase‐positive mast cell gradient characterizes scalp patterning

Pattern (androgenetic) alopecia is commonly encountered in scalp biopsies obtained for non‐scarring hair loss. Prostaglandin d‐synthase is known to be elevated in bald vs. non‐alopetic scalp of patients with androgenetic alopecia. We hypothesized that this difference in pattern of prostaglandin d‐synthase expression may constitute a developmental pattern inherent to normal as well as alopecic scalp skin, thus defining a ‘field’ vulnerable to acquired hair loss.