Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Two Chemosensory Operons of Rhodobacter sphaeroides Are Regulated Independently by Sigma 28 and Sigma 54

ABSTRACT Rhodobacter sphaeroides has a complex chemosensory system, with several loci encoding multiple homologues of the components required for chemosensing in Escherichia coli. The operons cheOp2 and cheOp3 each encode complete pathways, and both are essential for chemosensing. The components of cheOp2 are predominantly localized to the cell pole, whereas those encoded by cheOp3 are predominantly targeted to a discrete cluster in the cytoplasm. Here we show that the expression of the two pathways is regulated independently. Overlapping promoters recognized by σ28 and σ70 RNAP holoenzyme transcribe cheOp2, whereas cheOp3 is regulated by one of the four σ54 homologues, RpoN3. The different regulation of these operons may reflect the need for balancing responses to extra- and intracellular signals under different growth conditions.
Gait analysis using ISOMAP

ISOMAP is an excellent nonlinear dimensionality reduction method. This paper uses ISOMAP for view-independent gait cycle detection and dynamic feature extraction in a gait cycle. Experiment results show that 1-d ISOMAP embedding of gait sequences has almost the same information as that of 2-d ISOMAP embedding, and is sufficient for gait analysis. Zero crossing of 1-d or 2-d ISOMAP embedding shows gait cycle and is view-independent, and the shape of 1-d or 2-d ISOMAP embedding shows the dynamic features in a gait cycle.
Medical Imaging Modalities

quite distinct medical imaging modalities: diagnostic ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron-emission tomography (PET), and cardiac electrical imaging. The imaging physics are quite varied-scattering of incident acoustic energy, relaxation of magnet spin, spontaneous emission of nuclear particles, and passive measurement of low-frequency (quasi-static) electrical potentials. Two of the modalities generally image anatomy (ultrasound and MRI, although functional MRI imaging is a current topic of research) and two image active functioning of the tissue (metabolic activity, in PET, and spatio-temporal changes in electrical potential distribution in the heart, in cardiac electrical imaging). The goal of each article is to present: 1. the physical model behind the mo-
A doubly robust estimator for the attributable benefit of a treatment regime

The identification and study of treatment regimes (algorithms or policies for dictating treatments to patients) are a growing area of study in the statistical sciences. Many methods have been put forth to identify the ‘best’ or optimal treatment regime from observed data. Once the optimal treatment regime is identified, a secondary question of interest is to determine the public health impact of that health policy. Simply put, what is the benefit that can be attributed to using such a regime in practice? The attributable benefit of a treatment regime is a measure of the reduction in poor outcomes that would have been observed had the regime of interest been utilized. Methods for identifying the optimal treatment regime can use statistical modeling techniques which are susceptible to model misspecification in the identification of both the optimal treatment regime and its attributable benefit. Using notions from causal inference and building upon previous work, this paper identifies an estimator for attributable benefit that offers a second layer of protection in cases where an outcome regression model may be misspecified. The estimator is dubbed doubly robust in that it is unbiased for the true benefit if either a model for the outcome or a propensity model for treatment is correctly specified. Large sample properties are explored, and two sets of confidence intervals proposed. Simulation studies compare the proposed estimator with previous work, with a focus on model misspecification. The estimator is applied to real data to examine its utility in practice. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Fast selecting threshold algorithm based on one-dimensional entropy

According to the characteristic that uniform probability distribution of gray levels maximizes the Shannon entropy, we define a new objective function of simple form and definite meaning to select threshold. The threshold which is selected by the new objective function is the same as the one that one-dimensional entropy-thresholding. The character will be proved theoretically and validated experimentally in this paper. Although the two thresholds obtained by using the two methods above are same, but the computational time are very different. Because, the new objective function only uses subtraction operation to select threshold, and the one-dimensional entropy-thresholding uses logarithm and product operations, so the method proposed in this paper takes less computational time than one-dimensional entropy thresholding, The experimental results show further the computational time is decreased by 15.53% at least. In a word, the method proposed in this paper can be considered as a fast algorithm of one-dimensional entropy thresholding, also has the same segmentation effect as the one-dimensional entropy thresholding.
Local and remote ischemic postconditionings have synergistic protective effects on renal ischemia-reperfusion injury.

I n the current era of meticulous surgical technique and modern immunosuppressive therapy, ischemiareperfusion injury (IRI) is one of the major determinants of early and longterm allograft function after kidney transplantation (1, 2). In an experimental model of renal IRI, we showed that remote ischemic preconditioning using the hind limb as the remote organ is effective in reducing IRI (3). Kadkhodaee et al. (4) recently reported that remote ischemic perconditioning and remote ischemic postconditioning (RIPostC) also significantly reduce renal IRI in a comparable model. Here, we report the first data on the combined effect of local IPostC (LIPostC) and RIPostC on renal IRI. Male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing approximately 300 g were randomized into five groups before surgery. All animals underwent nephrectomy of the left kidney. Five sham-operated animals served as a baseline control (sham). All other animals were subjected to 25 min of renal ischemia (by clamping the renal artery and vein of the right kidney) with 48 hr of reperfusion. Eight animals underwent renal IRI only (no IPostC). In nine animals, three cycles of RIPostC by brief hind limb ischemia were induced directly after clamp release, by inflating small blood pressure cuffs around both proximal thighs for 5 min, followed by 5 min of reperfusion (RIPostC). Successful hind limb occlusion (loss of pulse and strong decrease of saturation) was confirmed by means of a pulse oximeter clip placed on the foot. In another nine animals, LIPostC was induced by six cycles of 8 sec of ischemia, followed by 8 sec of reperfusion (LIPostC). Seven
Behavior of Vertical Boundary Elements in Steel Plate Shear Walls

The AISC Seismic Provisions and CSA S-16 Standard require a minimum moment of inertia for the vertical boundary elements (VBEs) in steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) to avoid undesirable VBE behaviors. The equation limiting VBE flexibility has been derived from a flexibility factor, ωt, developed in plate girder theory and the limit on VBE flexibility has been empirically specified based on previous test results. This paper reviews the derivations of the flexibility factor and how that factor was incorporated into current code design requirements for SPSWs. Then, analytical models to prevent VBE shear yielding and to estimate the out-of-plane buckling strength of VBE are developed, followed by a review of past experimental data to investigate if the significant inward VBE inelastic deformation and out-of-plane buckling observed in some instances were due to excessive VBE flexibilities or other causes such as shear yielding at the ends of the VBEs. It is shown that the existing limit on ωt is uncorrelated to satisfactory in-plane and out-of-plane VBE performance. The proposed analytical models predict performance of previously tested SPSWs that correlates well with the experimental observations.
Decreased expression and frequent promoter hypermethylation of RASSF2 and RASSF6 correlate with malignant progression and poor prognosis of gastric cardia adenocarcinoma

The RAS‐association domain family (RASSF) consists of 10 members, and several members act as tumor suppressor genes and epigenetically inactivated in different tumor types. The present study investigated the role and methylation status of RASSF2, RASSF3, RASSF4, and RASSF6 in the pathogenesis and prognosis of GCA. Quantitative real‐time RT‐PCR, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry (IHC) methods were used respectively to detect the expression of RASSF2, RASSF3, RASSF4, and RASSF6 in 135 GCA cases and BS–MSP method was used to clarify the methylation status of these four genes. Decreased mRNA and protein expression of RASSF2, RASSF3, RASSF4, and RASSF6 were detected in GCA tumor tissues. Aberrant CpG island methylation of RASSF2, RASSF4, and RASSF6 were detected in GCA tumor tissues and were inversely correlated with the expression levels of these genes. Both of RASSF2 and RASSF6 expression and methylation were associated with TNM stage, depth of invasion, LN metastasis, distant metastasis or recurrence, and UGIC family history. GCA patients with simultaneous negative protein expression of RASSF2 and RASSF6 or with simultaneous methylation of both genes demonstrated poor patient survival. These results suggest that down‐regulation of RASSF2, RASSF3, RASSF4, and RASSF6 is a tumor‐specific phenomenon and the inactivation of RASSF2 and RASSF6 may be associated with tumor progression. Inactivation of RASSF2, RASSF4, and RASSF6 through CpG island methylation may play important roles in GCA carcinogenesis. A combination of RASSF2 and RASSF6 expression or hypermethylation may serve as useful prognostic biomarker for GCA. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Effectiveness of a community‐based 3‐year advisory program after acquired brain injury

Objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a coordinated, community based 3‐year advisory program in 1534 patients with acquired brain injury. Patients and caregivers were offered a coordinated advisory program after discharge from rehabilitation. Patients in the historical control group received standard aftercare. The main outcomes were functional status [Functional Independence Measure (FIM)], and days spent in the acute hospital. The secondary outcome was survival. Patients were comparable for sex (intervention: 41.3% female, control: 38.0%), and younger in the control group (mean age intervention: 55.3, control: 49.6). Functional status at discharge was lower in the intervention group (mean FIM intervention: 66.2, control: 80.3). Patients in the intervention group experienced a moderate gain in FIM. Rate of days in hospital was 15.4 per 1000 person days (intervention) and 15.5 per 1000 person days (control). Patients of the intervention group had an increased rate of days in hospital. A total of 16.0% of patients in the intervention group and 19.3% in the control group died during follow‐up. Patients in the intervention had a significant lower mortality risk depending on follow‐up period and discharge FIM. The advisory program may be effective for all patients with acquired brain injury.
Receiver block of antenna amplifier for WLAN systems in 5 GHz band

Bidirectional antenna amplifiers (BDA) are often used to extend the range of connections in wireless local area networks (WLAN). This paper presents the theory, design procedure and implementation of receiver part of a bidirectional amplifier (BDA) for the 5GHz WLAN systems in 802.11a and HiperLAN-2 standards. Only the blocks that affect the receiver path parameters are considered. In order to reduce the amplifier cost all its circuits are made on FR4 substrate. Since OFDM modulation used in 802.11a is very sensitive to harmonic and intermodulation distortions, two techniques of LNA linearity improvement are implemented.
Reputation Service and Reputation Based Access Control

A reputation service is an essential part of a reputation system, which collects, distributes, and aggregates feedback about service providers' past behaviour. The feedback, as a score, is given interactively or by a user or is derived from a monitoring process automatically. The reputation service accommodates for each service provider an accumulated score as its reputation, which is produced by following a reputation algorithm. Once the reputation of an entity on Internet is built, it can then be used for the information security purposes, such as stopping the user with bad reputation having access to a resource of networks, or not allowing the service with bad reputation to access other trustworthy resources. This paper presents a reputation service, which is built as an independent web service and can be remotely invoked. It also addresses how the reputation of an entity can be used for access control purposes.
Multi-object face recognition using Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR)

Real-time face recognition system process divided into three steps, feature extraction, clustering, detection, and recognition. Each step uses a different method that is Local Binary Pattern (LBP), Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC) and Euclidean Distance. Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR), an image searching techniques based on image feature, is implemented as the searching method. Based experiments and the testing result, recall and precision values are 65.32% and 64.93% respectively.
Prosthetic foot rollover shapes with implications for alignment of transtibial prostheses

Rollover shape is introduced as a significant characteristic of prosthetic feet. The rollover shapes of the Flexwalk, Quantum, SACH, and SAFE prosthetic feet were determined using three methods; two involving quasistatic loading and one dynamic loading. The results show that foot rollover shape properties obtained by quasistatic and by dynamic methods are similar. Relationships between foot rollover shape and the alignment of transtibial prostheses are introduced that suggest ways to align transtibial prostheses without walking trials and iterations. The relationships may explain what prosthetists attempt to accomplish when they dynamically align a transtibial limb. They also explain why prosthetic feet with different mechanical properties usually necessitate different alignments, and may explain why a number of gait studies of transtibial amputees do not show major gait differences when walking is executed on various kinds of prosthetic feet.
Isolation of the Protein Kinase TAO2 and Identification of Its Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase/Extracellular Signal-regulated Kinase Kinase Binding Domain*

We previously reported the cloning of the thousand and one-amino acid protein kinase 1 (TAO1), a rat homolog of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae protein kinase sterile 20 protein. Here we report the complete sequence and properties of a related rat protein kinase TAO2. Like TAO1, recombinant TAO2 selectively activated mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinases (MEKs) 3, 4, and 6 of the stress-responsive mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways in vitro and copurified with MEK3 endogenous to Sf9 cells. To examine TAO2 interactions with MEKs, the MEK binding domain of TAO2 was localized to an ∼135-residue sequence just C-terminal to the TAO2 catalytic domain. In vitro this MEK binding domain associated with MEKs 3 and 6 but not MEKs 1, 2, or 4. Using chimeric MEK proteins, we found that the MEK N terminus was sufficient for binding to TAO2. Catalytic activity of full-length TAO2 enhanced its binding to MEKs. However, neither the autophosphorylation of the MEK binding domain of TAO2 nor the activity of MEK itself was required for MEK binding. These results suggest that TAO proteins lie in stress-sensitive kinase cascades and define a mechanism by which these kinases may organize downstream targets.
Prosthetic replacement in treatment of subcapital femoral neck fractures in the elderly.

OBJECTIVE To compare the results of femoral head replacement (FHR) and total hip replacement (THR) in treatment of subcapital femoral neck fractures (SFNF). METHODS Between May 1987 and July 1998, 56 elderly patients (6 5-90 years; average 73.5 years) with SFNF were treated with prosthetic replacement. Six cases were treated with unipolar FHR, 18 cases with Bateman bipolar FHR, and 32 cases with Bateman bipolar THR. All domestic prostheses were installed with cement. RESULTS There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in operating time and blood transfusion. Forty-nine patients were followed-up for an average of 5 years and 10 months. No wound infection or death was related to surgery. Complications in Group FHR were significantly higher than that i n Group THR. CONCLUSIONS Since FHR is difficult to fit the bony acetabulum, it is only indicated for senile cases with poor conditions. However, the bi polar THR installed with cement is indicated for most elderly patients. Since th e femoral head and acetabulum can fit each other completely, it is more stable for taking weight-bearing earlier with less complications.
BRIQA: Framework for the Blind and Referenced Visual Image Quality Assessment

Our proposal is to present a Blind and Referenced Image Quality Assessment or BRIQA. Thus, the main proposal of this paper is to propose an Interface, which contains not only a Full-Referenced Image Quality Assessment (IQA) but also a No- Referenced or Blind IQA applying perceptual concepts by means of Contrast Band-Pass Filtering (CBPF). Then, this proposal consists in contrast a degraded input image with the filtered versions of several distances by a CBPF, which computes some of the Human Visual System (HVS) variables. If BRIQA detects only one input, it performs a Blind Image Quality Assessment, on the contrary if BRIQA detects two inputs, it considers that a Referenced Image Quality Assessment will be computed. Thus, we first define a Full-Reference IQA and then a No-Reference IQA, which correlation is important when is contrasted with the psychophysical results performed by several observers. BRIQA weights the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio by using an algorithm that estimates some properties of the Human Visual System. Then, we compare BRIQA algorithm not only with the mainstream estimator in IQA, PSNR, but also state-of-the-art IQA algorithms, such as Structural SIMilarity (SSIM), Mean Structural SIMilarity (MSSIM), Visual Information Fidelity (VIF), etc. Our experiments show that the correlation of BRIQA correlated with PSNR is important, but this proposal does not need imperatively the reference image in order to estimate the quality of the recovered image.
Philosophy for Children and the Incidence of Teachers’ Questions on the Mobilization of Dialogical Critical Thinking in Pupils

More and more, education programs from many countries consider Critical Thinking (CT) to be an essential 21st century competency. Our conception of CT corresponds to a socio-constructivist epistemology and the context of our research is situated in the Philosophy for Children approach. This text presents a study, in which we compared results from two exchanges, one which was conducted with closed anecdotal-type questions, and the other with open philosophically-oriented questions. The analysis tool was the operational model of the developmental process of Dialogical Critical Thinking (DCT), developed and validated in previous studies. Participants were five groups of Moroccan pupils aged 10 to 15 years. Results indicate that in the exchange conducted with closed anecdotal-type questions, the overall epistemology of groups of pupils aged 10 to 15 years was simple, and the dominant epistemological perspective was post-egocentricity. In the exchange conducted with open philosophically-oriented questions, the overall epistemology for the majority of pupil groups was simple with a tendency toward a complex epistemology, and the dominant perspective for the majority of groups was relativism.
omputer-aided non-contrast CT-based quantification of pericardial and thoracic at and their associations with coronary calcium and metabolic syndrome

Introduction: Pericardial fat is emerging as an important parameter for cardiovascular risk stratification. We extended previously developed quantitation of thoracic fat volume (TFV) from non-contrast coronary calcium (CC) CT scans to also quantify pericardial fat volume (PFV) and investigated the associations of PFV and TFV with CC and the Metabolic Syndrome (METS). Methods: TFV is quantified automatically from user-defined range of CT slices covering the heart. Pericardial fat contours are generated by spline interpolation between 5–7 control points, placed manually on the pericardium within this cardiac range. Contiguous fat voxels within the pericardium are identified as pericardial fat. PFV and TFV were measured from non-contrast CT for 201 patients. In 105 patients, abdominal visceral fat area (VFA) was measured from an additional single-slice CT. In 26 patients, images were quantified by two readers to establish inter-observer variability. TFV and PFV were examined in relation to Body Mass Index (BMI), waist circumference and VFA, standard coronary risk factors (RF), CC (Agatston score >0) and METS. Results: PFV and TFV showed excellent correlation with VFA (R = 0.79, R = 0.89, p < 0.0001), and moderate correlation with BMI (R = 0.49, R = 0.48, p < 0.0001). In 26 scans, the inter-observer variability was greater for PFV (8.0 ± 5.3%) than for TFV (4.4 ± 3.9%, p = 0.001). PFV and TFV, but not RF, were associated with CC [PFV: p = 0.04, Odds Ratio 3.1; TFV: p < 0.001, OR 7.9]. PFV and TFV were also associated with METS [PFV: p < 0.001, OR 6.1; TFV p < 0.001, OR 5.7], unlike CC [OR = 1.0 p = NS] or RF. PFV correlated with low-HDL and high-glucose; TFV correlated with low-HDL, low-adiponectin, and high glucose and triglyceride levels. can b tifica Conclusions: PFV and TFV be important for risk stra
Changes in physical activity among coronary and hypertensive patients: A longitudinal study using the Health Action Process Approach

Objectives: Physical activity (PA) is a key factor in cardiovascular disease prevention. Through the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA), the present study investigated the process of change in PA in coronary patients (CPs) and hypertensive patients (HPs). Design: Longitudinal survey study with two follow-up assessments at 6 and 12 months on 188 CPs and 169 HPs. Main outcome measures: Intensity and frequency of PA. Results: A multi-sample analysis indicated the equivalence of almost all the HAPA social cognitive patterns for both patient populations. A latent growth curve model showed strong interrelations among intercepts and slopes of PA, planning and maintenance self-efficacy, but change in planning was not associated with change in PA. Moreover, increase in PA was associated with the value of planning and maintenance self-efficacy reached at the last follow-up Conclusions: These findings shed light on mechanisms often neglected by the HAPA literature, suggesting reciprocal relationships between PA and its predictors that could define a plausible virtuous circle within the HAPA volitional phase. Moreover, the HAPA social cognitive patterns are essentially identical for patients who had a coronary event (i.e. CPs) and individuals who are at high risk for a coronary event (i.e. HPs).