Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shape Variability and Classification of Human Hair: A Worldwide Approach

ABSTRACT Human hair has been commonly classified according to three conventional ethnic human subgroups, that is, African, Asian, and European. Such broad classification hardly accounts for the high complexity of human biological diversity, resulting from both multiple and past or recent mixed origins. The research reported here is intended to develop a more factual and scientific approach based on physical features of human hair. The aim of the study is dual: (1) to define hair types according to specific shape criteria through objective and simple measurements taken on hairs from 1,442 subjects from 18 different countries and (2) to define such hair types without referring to human ethnicity. The driving principle is simple: Because hair can be found in many different human subgroups, defining a straight or a curly hair should provide a more objective approach than a debatable ethnicity-based classification. The proposed method is simple to use and requires the measurement of only three easily accessible descriptors of hair shape: curve diameter (CD), curl index (i), and number of waves (w). This method leads to a worldwide coherent classification of hair in eight well-defined categories. The new hair categories, as described, should be more appropriate and more reliable than conventional standards in cosmetic and forensic sciences. Furthermore, the classification can be useful for testing whether hair shape diversity follows the continuous geographic and historical pattern suggested for human genetic variation or presents major discontinuities between some large human subdivisions, as claimed by earlier classical anthropology.
Characterization of a Phycoerythrin without α-Subunits from a Unicellular Red Alga*

We describe here the spectral and biochemical properties of a novel biliprotein belonging to the phycoerythrin family, purified from the phycobilisome of a unicellular red alga,Rhodella reticulata strain R6. This biliprotein is assembled from a unique β-type subunit, chloroplast-encoded, whose hexameric or dodecameric aggregates are stabilized by unusually large linkers (87 and 60 kDa) encoded by the nuclear genome. Although each β-type subunit bears two phycoerythrobilins and one phycocyanobilin per chain, the linker polypeptides are non-chromophorylated. The apoprotein of the β-subunit of the R. reticulata R6 phycoerythrin is specified by a monocistronicrpeB chloroplast gene that is split into three exons. We discuss the relationships between R6 β-phycoerythrin and the previously published polypeptide sequences, the structural consequences due to the absence of an α-subunit, and its evolutionary implications.
BATLS/BARTS/BBTLS Training for Swedish Armed Forces Medical Personnel – A Ten Year Retrospective Study

Objective The British BATLS/BARTS concept was introduced in Sweden in 1998. Perceived changes within the student group, regarding purposes for taking the course and previous trauma training were the subject of the study. Methods Records from all Swedish courses during 1998-2007 were examined and analyzed. Results In all, 61 courses with a total of 1254 students were conducted. Among the participants were 295 doctors, 764 nurses, 176 medical orderlies and 19 belonging to other categories. The course has by time become a pre-mission course. Also, a large number of the students now have previous (often civilian) trauma life support training. Conclusion When the British BATLS/BARTS concept was introduced in Sweden ten years ago, the general level of trauma training among medical personnel was inadequate for the wartime needs of the Armed Forces. Today, the majority of individuals selected for international service already have previous trauma life support training. This has led to the courses now being aimed mainly at improving their knowledge of the tactical medical skills particular to the environment in which they will serve.
Maximum use of the anterior maxillary buttress in severe maxillary atrophy with tilted, palatally positioned implants: a preliminary study.

PURPOSE To evaluate an alternative treatment for rehabilitation of the atrophic maxilla with palatal and tilted implants and to assess patient satisfaction with the results. MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective case study was made of completely edentulous subjects with tilted, palatally positioned implants in the anterior maxillary buttress placed and loaded between January 2005 and January 2007. Patients with severely resorbed edentulous maxillae (Class V according to Cawood and Howell) who requested overdentures and were followed for 12 months after implant loading were included. Mesial and distal implant bone loss was measured on panoramic radiographs. Subjects indicated satisfaction with the new prosthesis after 12 months on a visual analog scale. RESULTS Twelve patients treated with tilted and palatal implants in the anterior maxillary buttress were included in the study; 48 implants were placed (4 implants in each patient) to support 12 overdentures with bars. One implant failed, resulting in a survival rate of 97.9%. The mean peri-implant bone loss of implants with palatal anchorage after 1 year of loading was 0.78 ± 0.5 mm. All patients had stable prostheses at the end of the observation period. Patients were satisfied with comfort and stability, ability to speak, ease of cleaning, esthetics, and function of the prosthesis. CONCLUSION Placement of implants slightly to the palatal and tilted in the anterior maxillary buttress to support an overdenture with bars may be a viable treatment alternative for the rehabilitation of the atrophic maxilla, providing a high level of satisfaction with the prosthesis and reducing patient morbidity and costs.
Medication Errors in Anesthesia: A Review

Medication errors in anesthesia practice have long afflicted our specialty. Over the span of the last 60 years, from the earliest reports of misadventures to current reports of medication errors during anesthesia practice, the rate of human error during the conduct of anesthesia does not seem to be improving. This review highlights the limited studies published on anesthesia medication errors, summarizes the national and international initiatives to reduce errors, addresses the challenges associated with data collection and reporting of errors, and reiterates previously published strategies for reduction or prevention of medication errors. With the advent of innovative technologies, a continued focus on patient safety and recognition of the challenges associated with reporting, opportunities exist to decrease human error during anesthesia practice.
ASSOCIATION RULE MINING IN E-COMMERCE : A SURVEY Venkateswari S

Association Rule mining is one of the most popular data mining techniques which can be defined as extracting the interesting correlation and relation among large volume of transactions. E-commerce applications generate huge amount of operational and behavioral data. Applying association rule mining in e-commerce application can unearth the hidden knowledge from these data. In this paper a survey of association rule mining and its various applications in e-commerce environment are made.
NEUROPEPTIDE Y RADIO‐IMMUNOASSAY: CHARACTERIZATION AND APPLICATION

1. A sensitive and specific neuropeptide Y (NPY) radio‐immunoassay has been developed. This radio‐immunoassay does not detect the NPY‐related peptides pancreatic polypeptide or peptide YY. NPY extracted from rat plasma using sequential C18 sorbent and affinity chromatography co‐eluted with synthetic rat NPY when applied to high pressure liquid chromatography.
Automatic control of agricultural pumps based on soil moisture sensing

In this paper, we investigate the design and simulation of an electronic system for automatic controlling of water pumps that are used for agricultural fields or plant watering based on the level of soil moisture sensing. The detected signal from the soil moisture sensor is processed by a conditional comparator circuit corresponding to different levels of actual soil moisture content. A logic circuit follows the conditional circuit with its output signals used to activate a system of relays that control the power circuit of the motors used for water pumping. The speed of the motor is varied according to the level of the soil moisture content; the motor is OFF during maximum wet and is running with HIGH speed during dry soil conditions respectively. The duration of water pumping is controlled by a timer circuit where the timer can be designed according to the desired watering time. The different stages of the overall electronic system are simulated and tested using NI MULTISM simulation software. The technique is useful to save human-power, enhances crop or plant productivity, saves water and provides proper water management to ensure efficient and viable farming industry especially in those places that receive less rain or mostly dry areas.
GroESL protects superoxide dismutase (SOD)— Deficient cells against oxidative stress and is a chaperone for SOD

Superoxide dismutase (SOD)-deficient Escherichia coli OX326Acells are protected against chemically-induced oxidative stress by expression of the chaperonin GroESL. This protection is equivalent to expression of superoxide dismutase even though GroESL has no inherent SOD activity. Co-overexpression of GroESL and SOD in the same cells results in higher protein yields of SOD and greater metallation of SOD when compared with expression of SOD alone. Greater metallation results in the higher specific activity of SOD that is observed in heat shock, and is not due to increased synthesis of SOD mRNA or protein.
Macrophages and CD4+ T lymphocytes from two multiply exposed, uninfected individuals resist infection with primary non-syncytium-inducing isolates of human immunodeficiency virus type 1

Despite multiple, high-risk sexual exposures, some individuals remain uninfected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). CD4+ lymphocytes from these individuals are less susceptible to infection in vitro with some strains of HIV-1, suggesting that the phenotype of the virus may influence its ability to interact with certain CD4+ cells. In the present study, we examined the susceptibility of CD4+ T lymphocytes and macrophages from two exposed uninfected individuals (EU2 and EU3) to infection with a panel of biologically cloned isolates of HIV-1 having either a non-syncytium-inducing (NSI) or a syncytium-inducing (SI) phenotype. Our results indicate that CD4+ T lymphocytes from EU2 and EU3 are resistant to infection with NSI isolates of HIV-1 but are susceptible to infection with primary SI isolates. In addition, we found that macrophages from EU2 and EU3 are resistant to infection with both NSI and SI isolates. The latter finding was confirmed by using several uncloned NSI and SI isolates obtained from patients during acute HIV-1 infection. In further experiments, env clones encoding glycoproteins characteristic of NSI or SI viruses were used in single-cycle infectivity assays to evaluate infection of CD4+ lymphocytes and macrophages from EU2 and EU3. Consistent with our previous results, we found that macrophages from these individuals are resistant to infection with NSI and SI env-pseudotyped viruses, while CD4+ T lymphocytes are resistant to NSI, but not SI, pseudotyped viruses. Overall, our results demonstrate that CD4+ cells from two exposed uninfected individuals resist infection in vitro with primary, macrophage-tropic, NSI isolates of HIV-1, which is the predominant viral phenotype found following HIV-1 transmission. Furthermore, infection with NSI isolates was blocked in both CD4+ T lymphocytes and macrophages from these individuals, suggesting that there may be a common mechanism for resistance in both cell types.
A Survey of Visualization Techniques for Network Security Analytics

Data is data which do not encode spatial references explicitly. In information visualization, abstract datasets have different attributes or variables which are used to visualize them. The dimensions of data are equal to the number of variables they have. As shown in Figure 1.1, abstract data may fall into one of the following categories [17]: • One dimensional data It has one dimensional data such as temporal data. An example is time series of stock prices • Two dimensional data It has two distinct dimensions. Scatter plot is an example of a two dimensional visualization techniques • Multi-dimensional data Data sets consists of more than three attributes. Relational data-bases are an example of multidimensional data. Parallel coordinate system is one of the multi-dimensional visualization techniques used for multi-dimensional data • Text and Hypertext These data types are not in a number form. Therefore, Standard visualization techniques cannot be used. To visualize them, they are transformed into description vectors and these vectors are used for visualization purpose. An example is a word count. • Hierarchies and graphs These are discussed in details in next sub-section. • Algorithms and SoftwareThe idea behind this visualization is to support software development by understanding the algorithm. An example is a flow-chart, representing structures of source line codes as graph etc. Visualization Techniques Various types of visualization techniques are used for visualization of data. Different visualization techniques can also be combined to gain more insight into a data. This method is know as composite visualization. Composite visualization paradigm is discussed in details in Section 1.3. 1. From Figure 1.1, we can see that major categories of visualization techniques are [17]: • Standard 2D/3D displays X-Y (X-Y-Z) plots, bar charts, line graphs, etc. • Geometrically transformed displays Aim at finding “interesting” transformations of multidimensional data sets. Examples are scatter plot, hyper-plot, etc. • Icon-based displays The idea is to map the attribute values of a multidimensional data item to the features of an icon. Examples are star-plot, sticky figures etc. • Dense pixel displays Here idea is to map each dimension value to a colored pixel and group the pixels belonging to each dimension into adjacent areas. For example circle segment techniques • Stacked displays Partition the data and present it in a hierarchical fashion like tree map These visualization techniques are discussed in more details in chapter 2.
Improved language recognition using better phonetic decoders and fusion with MFCC and SDC features

One of the most popular and better performing approaches to language recognition (LR) is Parallel Phonetic Recognition followed by Language Modeling (PPRLM). In this paper we report several improvements in our PPRLM system that allowed us to move from an Equal Error Rate (EER) of over 15% to less than 8% on NIST LR Evaluation 2005 data still using a standard PPRLM system. The most successful improvement was the retraining of the phonetic decoders on larger and more appropriate corpora. We have also developed a new system based on Support Vector Machines (SVMs) that uses as features both Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) and Shifted Delta Cepstra (SDC). This new SVM system alone gives an EER of 10.5% on NIST LRE 2005 data. Fusing our PPRLM system and the new SVM system we achieve an EER of 5.43% on NIST LRE 2005 data, a relative reduction of almost 66% from our baseline system.
Oviduct-mimetic chip to improve in vitro fertilization for oligozoospermia

This research reports a microfluidic system for imitating the oviduct of mammals with a microfluidic channels to achieve in vitro fertilization (IVF) of imprinting control region (ICR) mouse. We applied a method to manipulate the oocyte and sperm in our microfluidic channel by the positive dielectrophoretic (p-DEP) force. In this study, p-DEP response of the oocyte and sperm were exhibited under applied bias conditions with AC 10 Vpp waveform at 1 MHz for 10 minutes. By using this method, the sperm concentration of the vicinity of the oocyte could be acutely increased and enhance the probability of natural fertilization. We also used numerical software (CFDRC-ACE+) to stimulate the square of electric field and analyze the location where the oocyte and sperm will be trapped. The microfluidic devices were designed and fabricated using poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) to maintain the biocompatibility. In this paper, we proposed the imitation oviduct microfluidic chip to enhance in vitro fertilization rate for oligozoospermia. The results indicated a p-DEP served to drive the position of the oocyte and sperm. Average fertilization rate is about 51.58 % in our micro-channel structures at the insemination concentration (1.5 × 106 sperm mL-1).
Centmitor-1, a Novel Acridinyl-Acetohydrazide, Possesses Similar Molecular Interaction Field and Antimitotic Cellular Phenotype as Rigosertib, ON 01910.Na

Mitosis is an attractive target for the development of new anticancer drugs. In a search for novel mitotic inhibitors, we virtually screened for low molecular weight compounds that would possess similar steric and electrostatic features, but different chemical structure than rigosertib (ON 01910.Na), a putative inhibitor of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) pathways. Highest scoring hit compounds were tested in cell-based assays for their ability to induce mitotic arrest. We identified a novel acridinyl-acetohydrazide, here named as Centmitor-1 (Cent-1), that possesses highly similar molecular interaction field as rigosertib. In cells, Cent-1 phenocopied the cellular effects of rigosertib and caused mitotic arrest characterized by chromosome alignment defects, multipolar spindles, centrosome fragmentation, and activated spindle assembly checkpoint. We compared the effects of Cent-1 and rigosertib on microtubules and found that both compounds modulated microtubule plus-ends and reduced microtubule dynamics. Also, mitotic spindle forces were affected by the compounds as tension across sister kinetochores was reduced in mitotic cells. Our results showed that both Cent-1 and rigosertib target processes that occur during mitosis as they had immediate antimitotic effects when added to cells during mitosis. Analysis of Plk1 activity in cells using a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based assay indicated that neither compound affected the activity of the kinase. Taken together, these findings suggest that Cent-1 and rigosertib elicit their antimitotic effects by targeting mitotic processes without impairment of Plk1 kinase activity. Mol Cancer Ther; 13(5); 1054–66. ©2014 AACR.
Transcriptional regulation of human JC polyomavirus promoters by cellular proteins YB-1 and Pur alpha in glial cells

Transcription of the human polyomavirus (JCV) genome is regulated by host cell proteins and the viral early protein, T antigen. A region called the lytic control element (LCE), located within the enhancer of JCV, is important for transcription of JCV early and late promoters. Earlier studies have led to the identification of two single-stranded DNA-binding proteins, YB-1 and Pur alpha, with the ability to interact with nucleotides on the early and late strands of LCE, respectively. Of particular interest is the notion that the unique interplay between these two cellular proteins and JCVT antigen determines their binding activities with the LCE. In this study, we employed a series of cotransfection experiments to evaluate the levels of transcription from JCV early and late promoters in the presence of YB-1, Pur alpha, and T antigen. Results from these studies indicated that Pur alpha stimulates JCV early and has little effect on the late promoter. Moreover, T antigen was able to decrease the induced level of early gene transcription by Pur alpha. On the other hand, the extent of transactivation of the viral late promoter by T antigen was reduced upon overexpression of Pur alpha in the transfected cells. These observations suggest that Pur alpha and T antigen exert an antagonistic effect on each other's regulatory action upon their responsive promoters. Of particular interest was the observation that YB-1 liberated T-antigen-induced late promoter activity from repression imposed by overexpression of pur alpha. Under similar conditions, overexpression of YB-1 showed no effect on the transcriptional activity of the early promoter in cells transfected with T-antigen- and Pur alpha-producing plasmids. On the basis of the data presented here and the previous binding results, a model is proposed which describes the potential role of Pur alpha, YB-1, and T antigen in differential expression of the viral genome during the lytic cycle.
The Relationship between Income and Material Hardship July 3 , 2006

This paper examines the relationship between income and the extent of material hardship and explores other factors that might affect hardship. Using panel data from the Women’s Employment Study (WES), we examine the incidence of material hardship from 1997 to 2003 among current and former welfare recipients. We then consider the extent to which alternative income measures are associated with these hardships. We show that hardship decreases monotonically across quintiles of the disposable income distribution. This decrease is even more noticeable when we measure income as the average across the 6-year study period—those in the bottom quintile are 25 percent more likely to experience hardship than those in the second quintile. This relationship arises, in large part, because income is also correlated with other factors—both observable and unobservable—that affect material hardship. Consistent with ethnographic research suggesting that informal resources play an important role in helping disadvantaged families make ends meet, we find that the relationship between income and hardship is weak in individual fixed effects models. Our results indicate that other observable factors, such as measures of mental health or longrun income, might help identify those families who are at the greatest risk of experiencing material hardship.
Flex Sensor Based Robotic Arm Controller Using Micro Controller

Sensor plays an important role in robotics. Sensors are used to determine the current state of the system. Robotic applications demand sensors with high degrees of repeatability, precision, and reliability. Flex sensor is such a device, which accomplish the above task with great degree of accuracy. The pick and place operation of the robotics arm can be efficiently controlled using micro controller programming. This designed work is an educational based concept as robotic control is an exciting and high challenge research work in recent year.