Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSM: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

An arterial aneurysm is defined as a focal dilation of a blood vessel with respect to the original artery. An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is defined as an aortic diameter at least one and one-half times the normal diameter at the level of the renal arteries, which is approximately 2.0 cm. Thus, generally, a segment of abdominal aorta with a diameter of greater than 3.0 cm is considered an aortic aneurysm (Hirsch et al., 2006).
Plasmid Typing and Resistance Profiling of Escherichia fergusonii and Other Enterobacteriaceae Isolates from South Korean Farm Animals

ABSTRACT In this study, we focused on determining the distribution and prevalence of major plasmid replicons in β-lactam-resistant Escherichia fergusonii and Enterobacteriaceae of animal and human origin. A high degree of plasmid variability and multiple plasmid replicons were observed among the isolates. The IncF and IncI1 replicons were the most prevalent in E. fergusonii and Salmonella enterica serovar Indiana isolated from swine and poultry in South Korea, respectively. The presence of broad-host-range plasmid replicons such as IncN, IncA/C, IncHI1, and IncHI2 that are associated with important virulence genes and toxins as well as antimicrobial resistance determinants indicates that E. fergusonii has the potential to become an important pig pathogen and possible emerging opportunistic zoonotic pathogen.
Supervised Sparse Coding Strategy in Cochlear Implants

In this paper we explore how to improve a sparse coding (SC) strategy that was successfully used to improve subjective speech perception in noisy environment in cochlear implants. On the basis of the existing unsupervised algorithm, we developed an enhanced supervised SC strategy, using the SC shrinkage (SCS) principle. The new algorithm is implemented at the stage of the spectral envelopes after the signal separation in a 22-channel filter bank. SCS can extract and transmit the most important information from noisy speech. The new algorithm is compared with the unsupervised algorithm using objective evaluation for speech in babble and white noise (signal-to-noise ratios, SNR = 10dB, 5dB, 0dB) using objective measures in a cochlea implant simulation. Results show that the supervised SC strategy performs better in white noise, but not significantly better with babble noise. Copyright © 2011 ISCA.
Program Concept Recognition and Transformation

The automated recognition of abstract high-level conceptual information or concepts, which can greatly aid the understanding of programs and therefore support many software maintenance and reengineering activities, is considered. An approach to automated concept recognition and its application to maintenance-related program transformations are described. A unique characteristic of this approach is that transformations of code can be expressed as transformations of abstract concepts. This significantly elevates the level of transformation specifications. >
A Cloud-Computing-Based Data Placement Strategy in High-Speed Railway

As an important component of China’s transportation data sharing system, high-speed railway data sharing is a typical application of data-intensive computing. Currently, most high-speed railway data is shared in cloud computing environment. Thus, there is an urgent need for an effective cloud-computing-based data placement strategy in high-speed railway. In this paper, a new data placement strategy named hierarchical structure data placement strategy is proposed. The proposed method combines the semidefinite programming algorithm with the dynamic interval mapping algorithm. The semi-definite programming algorithm is suitable for the placement of files with various replications, ensuring that different replications of a file are placed on different storage devices, while the dynamic interval mapping algorithm ensures better self-adaptability of the data storage system. A hierarchical data placement strategy is proposed for large-scale networks. In this paper, a new theoretical analysis is provided, which is put in comparison with several other previous data placement approaches, showing the efficacy of the new analysis in several experiments.
A Proposal on Social Tagging Systems Using Tensor Reduction and Controlling Requests

Social Tagging System is the process in which user makes their interest by tagging on a particular item. These STS are in associated with web 2.0 and has sourceful information for the users with their recommendations. It provides different types of recommendations are modeled by a 3-order tensor, on which multiway latent semantic analysis and dimensionality reduction is performed using both the Higher Order Singular Value Decomposition (HOSVD) method and the KernelSVD smoothing technique. We provide now with the 4-order tensor approach, which we named as Tensor Reduction. Here the items that are tagged can be viewed by the user who are recommended the same item and tagged over it. There by can improve the social tagging recommendations efficiency and also the unwanted request has been controlled. The results show significant improvements in terms of effectiveness.
Expression of multiple integrins and extracellular matrix components by C6 glioma cells

We have investigated the expression of integrins in C6 glioma, a chemically‐induced glial tumor cell line from rat brain. Immunochemical analysis revealed that C6 cells express sets of integrin receptor complexes which immunologically and electrophoretically are indistinguishable from those expressed hy normal rat skin fibroblasts. These include the well characterized fibronectin (α5β1) and the multi‐specific laminin, collagen and fibronectin (α3β1) receptors. Assay of cell adhesion indicated that C6 cells adhere fibronectin‐coated surfaces or matrix deposited by the c6 glioma cells (CGM) in an RGD‐ and divalent cation‐dependent fashion. However, anti‐fibronectin antibodies, which are able to inhibit fibroblast adhesion to fibronectin, did not inhibit adhesion of the C6 cells to fibronectin or CGM. This may reflect differences in functional properties and/or distribution patterns of integrins in C6 cells and normal fibroblasts.
PRIMARY STRUCTURE AND BINDING DOMAIN OF GONOCOCCAL PILl

Gonococcal pili are surface appendages composed of identical polypeptide subunits termed pilin, which polymerize to form linear structures ~6 nm in diameter and 1,000-4,000 nm in length (1, 2). Pili bind epithelial cell receptor molecules and thereby promote mucosal colonization (3-5). They also interact with polymorphonuclear leukocytes and probably confer resistance to phagocytosis (6). Although pili from separate gonococcal strains and variants of the same strain exhibit similar functional and structural attributes (7), they may differ physically, chemically (8, 9), and antigenically (10-12). In order to elucidate the molecular basis for epithelial adherence and antigenic diversity, Schoolnik et al. (7) prepared cyanogen bromide (CNBr) fragments of pili from different gonococcal strains. CNBr-2 was found to be immunorecessive and to encompass a highly conserved region that mediates receptor binding function. CNBr-3 was found to be immunodominant and to comprise a variable region that confers type-specific antigenicity. The complete amino acid sequence of gonococcal pilin from the transparent opacity variant (P+Tr, reference 8) 1 of strain MS 11 is reported here and provides more detailed information about the topography of the receptor binding domain and the chemical basis for polymeric structure and antigenic diversity.
Analyses about Trackability of Hand-Eye-Vergence Visual Servoing in Lateral Direction

Visual Servoing to Moving Target with Fixed Hand-Eye Cameras Mounted at Hand of Robot is Inevitably Be Affected by Hand Dynamical Oscillations, then it is Hard to Keep Target at the Centre of Camera’s Image, since Nonlinear Dynamical Effects of Whole Manipulator Stand against Tracking Ability. in Order to Solve this Problem, an Eye-Vergence System, where the Visual Servoing Controller of Hand and Eye-Vergence is Controlled Independently, so that the Cameras can Observe the Target Object at the Center of the Camera Images through Eye-Vergence Functions. the Eyes with Light Mass Make the Cameras’ Eye-Sight Direction Rotate Quickly, so the Track Ability of the Eye-Vergence Motion is Superior to the One of Fixed Hand-Eye Configuration. in this Report Merits of Eye-Vengence Visual Servoing for Pose Tracking Have been Confirmed through Frequency Response Experiments.
Sequence Analysis of Nuclear rDNA of Anastrepha suspensa

Abstract Ribosomal DNA sequence data has been important in elucidating molecular evolution, discerning phylogenetic relationships, and in developing species diagnostics. Species in the genus Anastrepha Schiner, particularly members of the Fraterculus Species Group, are considered the most important native pests of fruit in the New World. This study presents the first complete rDNA sequence data spanning the 5.8S to the internal transcribed spacer ITS2 of a species in this genus, Anastrepha suspensa (Loew). The GC content of the rDNA genes in A. suspensa was 50.8 to 40% for the 5.8S and 2S genes, respectively, but spacers were >84% AT rich. Spacer and gene lengths were of similar size to those found in other tephritids. Except for A. fraterculus s.l. (Wiedemann), spacers of other tephritid taxa were AT rich and contained numerous simple repeats. Sequence alignment with A. fraterculus s.l. indicated minor differences in the 5.8S rRNA gene, but the ITS2a was identical and the 2S gene differed by a single transition. The ITS2 of A. fraterculus s. l. was unusual in having a 41.7% GC content with three regions of C repeats. The ITS2 of A. suspensa had higher percent identity values with five species in other genera than it did with A. fraterculus s.l. , suggesting an unusually high divergence rate in the latter.
Comparison of stochastic integration filter with the Unscented Kalman filter for maneuvering targets

Sigma-Point Filtering (SPF) has become popular to increase the accuracy in estimation of tracking parameters such as the mean and variance. A recent development in SPF is the stochastic integration filter (SIF) which has shown to increase estimation over the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and the Unscented Kalman filter (UKF); however, we want to explore the notion of the SIF versus the UKF for maneuvering targets. In this paper, we compare the SIF method with that of the KF, EKF, and UKF, using the Average Normalized Estimation Error Square (ANEES) for non-linear, non-Gaussian tracking. When the nonlinear turn-rate model is similar to the linear constant velocity model, all methods are the same. When the turn-rate model differs from the constant-velocity model, our results show that the UKF with a large number of sigma-points performs better than the SIF.
Eye Guidance in Reading: Fixation Locations within Words

Three broad categories of models of eye movement guidance in reading are described. According to one category, eye movements in reading are not under stimulus or cognitive control; the other two categories indicate that cognitive activities or stimulus characteristics are involved in eye guidance. In this study a number of descriptive analyses of eye movements in reading were carried out. These analyses dealt with fixation locations on letters within words of various lengths, conditional probabilities that a word will be fixated given that a prior word was or was not fixated, and average saccade length as a function of the length of the word to the right of the fixated word. The results of these analyses were supportive of models which suggest that determining where to look next while reading is made on a nonrandom basis.
Systematic reviews in nursing research.

Abstract As a result of the rapid advances in technology and the large volume of literature, healthcare decisions have become more complex. In response to this, increasing emphasis has been placed on basing these decisions on the best available research evidence. Systematic reviews are now accepted as the most reliable way by which this large volume of research evidence can be managed. These reviews follow the same principles expected of any research endeavour. This includes documentation of methods prior to commencement, comprehensive search to identify all studies on the topic, and the use of rigorous methods for the appraisal, collection and synthesis of data. On completion of the review, the methods used are reported to allow its validity to be evaluated by end users of the evidence.
A qualitative investigation of the nature of “informal supervision” among therapists in training

Abstract Objective: This study investigated how, when, why, and with whom therapists in training utilize “informal supervision”—that is, engage individuals who are not their formally assigned supervisors in significant conversations about their clinical work. Method: Participants were 16 doctoral trainees in clinical and counseling psychology programs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using the Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) method. Results: Seven domains emerged from the analysis, indicating that, in general, participants believe that informal and formal supervision offer many of the same benefits, including validation, support, and reassurance; freedom and safety to discuss doubts, anxieties, strong personal reactions to patients, clinical mistakes and challenges; and alternative approaches to clinical interventions. However, several differences also emerged between these modes of learning—for example, formal supervision is seen as more focused on didactics per se (“what to do”), whereas informal supervision is seen as providing more of a “holding environment. ” Conclusions: Overall, the findings of this study suggest that informal supervision is an important and valuable adjunctive practice by which clinical trainees augment their professional competencies. Recommendations are proposed for clinical practice and training, including the need to further specify the ethical boundaries of this unique and essentially unregulated type of supervision. Clinical or Methodological Significance of this article: This is the first study to detail the wide-ranging uses and impact of “informal supervision,” with significant clinical implications for psychotherapy training, education, and development, including a proposal for legitimizing and integrating informal supervisory practice into doctoral training programs, and an important discussion of ethics. Thus, this paper highlights the diverse range of important ways that trainees use “informal supervision” throughout their training to enhance their clinical and professional development. Results of our study show that “informal supervision” is a ubiquitous and often secretive practice that is a valuable complement to, rather than replacement for, formal supervision. Several important differences between these modes of learning (formal versus informal supervision) are also discussed.
Topical treatment with probiotic Lactobacillus brevis CD2 inhibits experimental periodontal inflammation and bone loss.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE An increasing body of evidence suggests that the use of probiotic bacteria is a promising intervention approach for the treatment of inflammatory diseases with a polymicrobial etiology. The objective of this study was to determine whether Lactobacillus brevis CD2 could inhibit periodontal inflammation and bone loss in experimental periodontitis. MATERIAL AND METHODS Periodontitis was induced by placing a silk ligature around the second maxillary molar of mice treated with L. brevis CD2 (8 × 10(5) CFU in 1 mm(2) lyopatch) or placebo, which were placed between the gingiva and the buccal mucosa near the ligated teeth. The mice were killed after 5 d and bone loss was measured morphometrically, gingival expression of proinflammatory cytokines was determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and CFU counts of periodontitis-associated bacteria were determined after aerobic and anaerobic culture. To determine the role of arginine deiminase released by L. brevis CD2, soluble extracts with or without formamidine (arginine deiminase inhibitor) were tested in in vitro cellular activation assays. RESULTS Mice topically treated with L. brevis CD2 displayed significantly decreased bone loss and lower expression of tumor necrosis factor, and interleukin-1β, -6 and -17A as compared to placebo-treated mice. Moreover, L. brevis CD2-treated mice displayed lower counts of anaerobic bacteria but higher counts of aerobic bacteria than placebo-treated mice. In in vitro assays, the anti-inflammatory effects of soluble L. brevis CD2 extracts were heavily dependent on the presence of functional arginine deiminase, an enzyme that can inhibit nitric oxide synthesis. CONCLUSION These data provide proof-of-concept that the probiotic L. brevis CD2 can inhibit periodontitis through modulatory effects on the host response and the periodontal microbiota.
A novel lip geometry approach for audio-visual speech recognition

By identifying lip movements and characterizing their associations with speech sounds, the performance of speech recognition systems can be improved, particularly when operating in noisy environments. Various method have been studied by research group around the world to incorporate lip movements into speech recognition in recent years, however exactly how best to incorporate ,the additional visual information is still not known. This study aims to extend the knowledge of relationships between visual and speech information specifically using lip geometry information due to its robustness to head rotation and the fewer number of features required to represent movement. A new method has been developed to extract lip geometry information, to perform classification and to integrate visual and speech modalities. This thesis makes several contributions. First, this work presents a new method to extract lip geometry features using the combination ofa skin colour filter, a border following algorithm and a convex hull approach. The proposed method was found to improve lip shape extraction performance compared to existing approaches. Lip geometry features including height, width, ratio, area, perimeter and various combinations of these features were evaluated to determine which performs best when representing speech in the visual domain. Second, a novel template matching techniqLie able to adapt dynamic differences in the way words are uttered by speakers has been developed, which determines the best fit of an unseen feature signal to those stored in a database template. Third, following on evaluation of integration strategies, a novel method has been developed based on alternative decision fusion strategy, in which the outcome from the visual and speech modality is chosen by measuring the quality of audio based on kurtosis and skewness analysis and driven by white noise confusion. Finally, the performance of the new methods introduced in this work are evaluated using the CUAVE and LUNA-V data corpora under a range of different signal to noise ratio conditions using the NOISEX-92 dataset.
The Evolving Role of Radiofrequency Ablation Therapy of Breast Lesions

Background: The potential for radiofrequency ablation (RFA) therapy is an area of increasing interest in the context of breast conserving therapy for breast cancer. This non surgical technique potentially provides a non invasive, cosmetically pleasing result that is preferable to surgeon and patient. Materials and Methods: A literature review was carried out facilitated by PubMed and Medline databases. Cross referencing of the obtained articles was used to identify other relevant studies. A total of 17 studies were reviewd. Results: RFA is emerging as a promising treatment for breast cancer. Pilot and phase II studies have shown RFA to be effective at ablation with few complications or adverse effects experienced by patients. However, complete ablation of tumours is still not achieved in all patients. Conclusion: RFA represents a promising therapeutic medality for breast lesions. However, there is a clear need for further research and refinement of the procedure before it can be offered as a therapeutic alternative to surgical excision for operable breast cancer.
Integrated care pathways in stroke management.

BACKGROUND an organized, goal-defined and time-specified plan of management as envisaged by the integrated care pathway approach can achieve quality outcomes at lower cost. Integrated care pathways may have applications to stroke management because diagnosis is well defined, complex interdisciplinary inputs are required and there is good evidence on best practice. METHOD we reviewed medical, nursing, rehabilitation and health services databases to identify studies on integrated care pathways in stroke management. Criteria for inclusion were: use of a care pathway or similar methods in acute or rehabilitation settings, randomized studies or non-randomized comparisons with concurrent or historical controls and some form of outcome assessment. RESULTS we identified six non-randomized studies of acute stroke. One used concurrent controls; the rest used historical controls. Only one study investigated stroke rehabilitation and this used a quasi-randomized controlled design. Five studies in the acute setting demonstrated reduced hospital stay. A reduction in costs of care was reported in all five studies that examined costs. Two studies reported improved uptake of medical interventions. No difference in length of hospital stay, costs or functional status was seen in the rehabilitation study. CONCLUSIONS integrated care pathway methodology may facilitate quality and cost improvements in stroke care, but evidence is weak and uncertainty exists. Further evidence is needed before implementation in practice.
Large-Scale Uniform Silver Nanocave Array for Visible Light Refractive Index Sensing Using Soft UV Nanoimprint

In this paper, a wafer-scale uniform silver nanocave array is fabricated by soft ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography. We investigate its plasmonic effects using far-field and near-field experimental approaches and illuminate the physics inside by theoretical analysis and computational simulation. The array shows robust multispectral features for various surrounding media and possesses the sensitivity up to 514.7 nm/RIU in the visible range, which is promising for the mass production of high-performance plasmonic refractive index sensors.
Identification of the gene coding for the precursor of adenovirus core protein X

Nucleoprotein complexes extracted from infected cells (J. Weber and L. Philipson, Virology 136:321-327, 1984) or ts1 virions grown at 39 degrees C (J. M. Weber, G. Khitto, and A. R. Bhatti, Can. J. Microbiol. 29:235-241, 1983) contain, in addition to known virion proteins, a polypeptide with a molecular weight of 11,000 (11K polypeptide). We identified the gene for this polypeptide by sequence analysis of the radioactively labeled 11K polypeptide isolated from ts1 virions and comparison of this sequence with the nucleotide sequence of the adenovirus type 2 genome. The 11K polypeptide was encoded by an open reading frame of 80 residues located between nucleotides 17,676 and 17,915 in late transcription region 2 of adenovirus type 2; the initiating methionine residue was removed leaving a 79-residue product. The late transcription region 2 that encoded the 79-residue polypeptide (11K) was arginine rich (21%) and had a predicted molecular weight of 8,715. It was cleaved by the viral endoprotease to give two products which comigrated on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels as virion polypeptide X. Our data suggest that additional cleavage of the carboxy-terminal 48-residue fragment generates a 19-amino-acid fragment with the amino acid composition of mu (K. Hosokawa and M. T. Sung, J. Virol. 17:924-934, 1976).