Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Developing an Evaluation Plan for a Fully Online Degree Program in HRD.

Effectiveness in distance education has been scrutinized for years, but only recently has literature focused on Web-based learning. As more online degree programs are established, the need for evaluation methodologies and processes guiding those activities increases. This paper describes on-going research to develop an evaluation plan for a fully online graduate degree program in HRD, including the theoretical framework, process, methodology, and resulting evaluation plan. Future work includes plan implementation and subsequent reporting.
Memory distortion of depth of a visual stimulus for perception and action

It has been known remembered locations of visual stimuli are systematically distorted in a two-dimensional (i.e., retinal) coordinate, which includes the foveal bias, memory averaging, and landmark effect. The present study aimed at examining how the remembered depth position of a visual target would be distorted. Also, we examined whether depth distortion would differ for perceptual and motor-related tasks. In the experiments, a visual target was presented for one second at various distances from the observers by using a 3D projector. The fixation distance was also varied. After the disappearance of the target, observers performed either perceptual judgment (the method of constant to estimate the point of psychological subjective equality) or motor response (by using a 3D mouse) for the remembered target distance. The results showed that the remembered depth of the target was compressed toward the averaged depth of the possible depth range for both perceptual and motor responses. In addition, however, the perceptual responses tended to overestimate the depth when the fixation depth was closer than or the same as the nearest possible depth of the target. No bias was observed when the fixation depth was farther than the nearest possible depth. For the motor responses, there was a general underestimation irrespective of fixation depth. These results suggest that spatial memory of depth for visual stimuli may be qualitatively different between perceptual and motor responses.
Deep learning for driving detection on mobile phones

Sensor based activity recognition is a critical component of mobile phone based applications aimed at driving detection. Current methodologies consist of hand-engineered features input into discriminative models, and experiments to date have been restricted to small scale studies of O(10) users. Here we show how convolutional neural networks can be used to learn features from raw and spectrogram sensor time series collected from the phone accelerometer and gyroscope. While with limited training data such an approach under performs existing models, we show that convolutional neural networks outperform currently used discriminative models when the training dataset size is sufficiently large. We also test performance of the model implemented on the Android platform and we validate our methodology using sensor data collected from over 2000 mobile phone users.
FYCO1 regulates accumulation of post-mitotic midbodies by mediating LC3-dependent midbody degradation

ABSTRACT The post-mitotic midbody (MB) is a remnant of cytokinesis that can be asymmetrically inherited by one of the daughter cells following cytokinesis. Until recently, the MB was thought to be degraded immediately following cytokinesis. However, recent evidence suggests that the MB is a protein-rich organelle that accumulates in stem cell and cancer cell populations, indicating that it may have post-mitotic functions. Here, we investigate the role of FYCO1, an LC3-binding protein (herein, LC3 refers to MAP1LC3B), and its function in regulating the degradation of post-mitotic MBs. We show that FYCO1 is responsible for formation of LC3-containing membrane around the post-mitotic MB and that FYCO1 knockdown increases MB accumulation. Although MBs accumulate in the stem-cell-like population of squamous cell carcinomas, FYCO1 depletion does not affect the clonogenicity of these cells. Instead, MB accumulation leads to an increase in anchorage-independent growth and invadopodia formation in HeLa cells and squamous carcinoma cells. Collectively, our data suggest that FYCO1 regulates MB degradation, and we present the first evidence that cancer invasiveness is a feature that can be modulated by the accumulation of MBs in cancer stem cells. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper. Highlighted Article: The degradation of post-mitotic midbodies is regulated by FYCO1. Without FYCO1, midbodies accumulate, allowing for changes in cell function.
Health Literacy: Readability of ACC/AHA Online Patient Education Material

Objectives: To determine whether the online patient education material offered by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) is written at a higher level than the 6th-7th grade level recommended by the National Institute of Health (NIH). Methods: Online patient education material from each website was subjected to reading grade level (RGL) analysis using the Readability Studio Professional Edition. One-sample t testing was used to compare the mean RGLs obtained from 8 formulas to the NIH-recommended 6.5 grade level and 8th grade national mean. Results: In total, 372 articles from the ACC website and 82 from the AHA were studied. Mean (±SD) RGLs for the 454 articles were 9.6 ± 2.1, 11.2 ± 2.1, 11.9 ± 1.6, 10.8 ± 1.6, 9.7 ± 2.1, 10.8 ± 0.8, 10.5 ± 2.6, and 11.7 ± 3.5 according to the Flesch-Kincaid grade level (FKGL), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG Index), Coleman-Liau Index (CLI), Gunning-Fog Index (GFI), New Dale-Chall reading level formula (NDC), FORCAST, Raygor Readability Estimate (RRE), and Fry Graph (Fry), respectively. All analyzed articles had significantly higher RGLs than both the NIH-recommended grade level of 6.5 and the national mean grade level of 8 (p < 0.00625). Conclusions: Patient education material provided on the ACC and AHA websites is written above the NIH-recommended 6.5 grade level and 8th grade national mean reading level. Additional studies are required to demonstrate whether lowering the RGL of this material improves outcomes among patients with cardiovascular disease.
Concurrent mapping and localization using sidescan sonar

This paper describes and evaluates a concurrent mapping and localization (CML) algorithm suitable for localizing an autonomous underwater vehicle. The proposed CML algorithm uses a sidescan sonar to sense the environment. The returns from the sonar are used to detect landmarks in the vehicle's vicinity. These landmarks are used, in conjunction with a vehicle model, by the CML algorithm to concurrently build an absolute map of the environment and to localize the vehicle in absolute coordinates. As the vehicle moves forward, the areas covered by a forward-look sonar overlap, whereas little or no overlap occurs when using sidescan sonar. It has been demonstrated that numerous reobservations by a forward-look sonar of the landmarks can be used to perform CML. Multipass missions, such as sets of parallel and regularly spaced linear tracks, allow a few reobservations of each landmark with sidescan sonar. An evaluation of the CML algorithm using sidescan sonar is made on this type of trajectory. The estimated trajectory provided by the CML algorithm shows significant jerks in the positions and heading brought about by the corrections that occur when a landmark is reobserved. Thus, this trajectory is not useful to mosaic the sea bed. This paper proposes the implementation of an optimal smoother on the CML solution. A forward stochastic map is used in conjunction with a backward Rauch-Tung-Striebel filter to provide the smoothed trajectory. This paper presents simulation and real results and shows that the smoothed CML solution helps to produce a more accurate navigation solution and a smooth navigation trajectory. This paper also shows that the qualitative value of the mosaics produced using CML is far superior to those that do not use it.
Coordinate regulation of phosphatidylserine decarboxylase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Regulation of the activity of the mitochondrial enzyme phosphatidylserine decarboxylase (PSD) was measured in vitro by using membrane preparations from wild-type and mutant strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PSD specific activity was not affected by carbon source, and on all carbon sources, the highest specific activity was observed in cells entering the stationary phase of growth. However, PSD activity was found to be regulated in response to soluble precursors of phospholipid biosynthesis. PSD specific activity was reduced to about 63% of the level observed in unsupplemented wild-type cells when the cells were grown in the presence of 75 microM inositol. The presence of 1 mM choline alone had no repressing effect, but the presence of 1 mM choline and 75 microM inositol together led to further repression to a level of about 28% of the derepressed activity. Regulatory mutations known to affect regulation or expression of genes encoding phospholipid-synthesizing enzymes also affected PSD specific activity. opi1 mutants, which are constitutive for a number of phospholipid-biosynthetic enzymes, were found to have high, constitutive levels of PSD. Likewise, in ino2 or ino4 regulatory mutants, PSD activity was found to be at the fully repressed level regardless of growth condition. Regulation of PSD activity was also affected in several structural-gene mutants under conditions of impaired phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis. Together, these data strongly suggest that PSD expression is controlled by the mechanism of general control of phospholipid biosynthesis that regulates many enzymes of phospholipid biosynthesis.
Optical coherence tomography and cataract surgery

Purpose of review To provide an unstructured review of the recent literature on the role of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in cataract surgery with specific focus on cystoid macular edema (CME) on the basis of expert opinion of the authors. Recent findings OCT appears to be a useful method to reveal clinically relevant postsurgical CME and is complementary to fluorescein angiography. A majority of eyes demonstrate minimal increases in postoperative retinal thickness after cataract surgery on OCT, though those eyes that do develop clinically relevant CME show substantial increases. Using at least 40% increase in retinal thickness from baseline on OCT may be a valid, objective, and uniform method of defining CME. Preoperative and postoperative OCT evaluations in selected eyes at high risk (diabetes, uveitis) for CME may be warranted. Summary OCT has become a useful diagnostic tool to assess CME after cataract surgery.
RPDM: A system for RFID probabilistic data management

Data streams are more and more commonly generated in a large number of scenarios by audio and video devices, Global Positioning System (GPS), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and other types of sensors. In particular, RFID technology has recently gained significant popularity, especially for real-time people and goods tracking, however the noisy, redundant and unreliable nature of RFID streams, coupled with their huge size, can make their exploitation and management difficult.In this paper, we present a realtime system for RFID Probabilistic Data Management (RPDM). The system manages unreliable and noisy raw RFID data and transforms them into reliable meaningful probabilistic data streams by means of a newly proposed method based on a probabilistic Hidden Markov Model (HMM). Moreover, to handle the huge data volume generated by RFID deployments, RPDM proposes and implements a simple on-line summarization mechanism, which is able to provide small space representation for the massive RFID probabilistic data streams while preserving the meaningful information. The results are promptly stored in a probabilistic database, in such a way that a wide range of probabilistic queries can be submitted and answered effectively. The experimental evaluation proves the feasibility of the approach in real-world object tracking scenarios.
Cooperative multiple recognition by novel calix[4]arene-tethered beta-cyclodextrin and calix[4]arene-bridged bis(beta-cyclodextrin).

Possessing dual hydrophobic cavities in close proximity, cyclodextrin dimers connected with a tether of different length and structure can bind diverse molecules to form supramolecular sandwich complexes with much enhanced binding abilities and molecular selectivities than those exhibited by the parent cyclodextrin. This is made possible through the cooperative binding of one guest molecule by two adjacent hydrophobic cyclodextrin cavities, which may serve as a model system mimicking the substrate-specific interaction of enzymes. Accordingly, a number of bis(â-cyclodextrin)s linked by simple tethers have recently been designed and synthesized to increase the original molecular binding ability and selectivity of native â-cyclodextrin and also to gain insights into the factors and mechanism controlling the inclusion complexation phenomena.1-7 More recently, Reinhoudt and co-workers have demonstrated that some water-soluble â-cyclodextrin-calix[4]arene dyads dramatically enhance the original binding ability of native â-cyclodextrin with a series of organic guests.8 More sophisticated triad hosts, such as calixarenebridged bis(cyclodextrin), have rarely been reported so far. However, a comparative study, using dyad and triad hosts, will certainly lead not only to enhancement of both affinity and selectivity for specific guests but also to deeper and more precise understanding of cooperative multiple interactions in natural and artificial supramolecular recognition systems. Now, we report the results of our study on the syntheses of novel calix[4]arene-tethered mono(1) and bis(â-cyclodextrin) (2) (Scheme 1) and their molecular recognition behavior with fluorescence dyes, i.e., acridine red (AR) and sodium 2-(ptoluidino)-6-naphthalenesulfonate (TNS), as well as some structurally related guests, i.e., methyl orange (MO), ethyl orange (EO), tropaeolin OO (TOO), brilliant green (BG), crystal violet (CV), and rhodamine B (RhB) in aqueous buffer solution (Chart 1). It is of our particular interest to mimic and understand the cooperative “multimode, multipoint” bindings often observed in biological systems, by comparatively investigating the cooperative binding of the organic guests by the “two-mode, two-site” (1) and “two-mode, three-site” receptor models (2), which carry entirely different recognition sites, i.e., calixarene and â-cyclodextrin, since a general conclusion has been drawn that the complexation behaviors of the calixarenes are largely driven by electrostatic interactions rather than the hydrophobic interaction in the cyclodextrin’s complexation.
Affective imaging: psychological and physiological reactions to individually chosen images

In a series of experiments, observers' cognitive and psychophysiological responses to pictorial stimuli were evaluated. In the first experiment, subjects were viewing a set of randomly presented images. After each image presentation, they rates every image on a number of cognitive scales. In the second experiment, images producing certain physiological effects - deactivating, neutral, or activating - were individually selected based on the results of the first experiment and shown to the subjects again. Psychophysiological measurements included electrocardiogram, hand temperature, muscle tension, eye movements, blood oxygen, respiration, and galvanic skin response. Our result indicate that images produced significant emotional changes based on verbal and physiological assessment. The changes were in agreement with the predictions derived from the metric that we developed in a number of cases that exceeded the change level. The direction of changes corresponded to previous findings reported elsewhere.
Sepsis syndrome stimulates proximal tubule cholesterol synthesis and suppresses the SR-B1 cholesterol transporter.

BACKGROUND Previous studies demonstrate that renal cortical/proximal tubule cholesterol accumulation is part of the renal "stress response. " The present study was performed to help define underlying mechanisms, using experimental sepsis as a test model. METHODS Male CD-1 mice and female low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) knockout mice were injected with a heat-killed Escherichia coli suspension. Renal cortex and serum were obtained from these and control mice either 4, 6, or 18 hours later. Tissues samples were assayed for free cholesterol (FC), cholesteryl esters (CE), HMG CoA reductase (HMGCR) mRNA, and SR-B1 [the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) receptor/cholesterol transporter]. Statin effects on renal cortical HMGCR mRNA and FC/CE levels also were assessed. Finally, the impact of serum from septic versus normal mice on cultured proximal tubule (HK-2) cell cholesterol levels was assessed. RESULTS Sepsis induced approximately 30% and 300 to 500% increases in renal FC and CE content, respectively. Cholesterol accumulation was not blunted in LDLR-/- mice versus their controls. Statin therapy also did not alter sepsis-induced renal FC/CE accumulation. However, statin treatment exerted no discernible intra-renal activity (for example, no rise in renal HMGCR mRNA), despite significant extra-renal activity (25% reduction in serum cholesterol; 400% increase in hepatic HMGCR mRNA). HK-2 cells exposed to septic serum sustained a 40% cholesterol increase, compared to cells exposed to control serum. This response was completely statin inhibited, proving that de novo synthesis was involved. Sepsis markedly suppressed renal levels of SR-B1 (an FC efflux protein). Renal HMGCR mRNA did not fall despite sepsis triggered cholesterol loading, indicating a failure of negative feedback activity. CONCLUSIONS Sepsis-induced renal cholesterol accumulation is not simply an intrinsic renal response, since it can be enhanced by circulating "stress factors" that drive HMGCR activity. Sepsis also down-regulates SR-B1. Thus, decreased cell FC efflux, coupled with increased synthesis, may synergistically induce the post-sepsis cholesterol overload state.
Fitting ordinary differential equations to chaotic data.

We address the problem of estimating parameters in systems of ordinary differential equations which give rise to chaotic time series. We claim that the problem is naturally tackled by boundary value problem methods. The power of this approach is demonstrated by various examples with ideal as well as noisy data. In particular, Lyapunov exponents can be computed accurately from time series much shorter than those required by previous methods.
Transcriptome Study Outlines Ontogeny of the Maize Shoot Apical Meristem

There are three primary stem cell niches in land plants: the shoot apical meristem (SAM), root apical meristem, and floral meristem, giving rise to the shoot, root, and floral organs, respectively. These meristems carry out the opposing functions of stem cell maintenance and organogenesis,
Comparison of interpolation and central activation ratios as measures of muscle inactivation

The objective of this study was to investigate different methods of estimating muscle inactivation, derived from single and multiple voluntary contractions. Ten subjects performed maximal and submaximal leg extensor contractions to determine an interpolation (IT) or central activation ratio (CAR). A superimposed evoked force was compared with the force output of either a voluntary (CAR) or resting evoked contraction (IT ratio), or the ratios were inserted into regression equations (linear, polynomial, exponential). Linear‐regression estimates of CAR using doublets and tetanus provided physiologically inaccurate values. Whereas IT ratios using doublets (IT‐doublet) and tetanus (IT‐tetanus) had a significant difference in only one interaction, IT‐tetanus and CAR using a tetanus (CAR‐tetanus) estimates provided the most extensive correlation within and between measures. Thus, tetanic stimulation superimposed upon single maximal or multiple contractions seems to provide the most valid measure of muscle inactivation when using the interpolated‐twitch technique. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Muscle Nerve 24: 925–934, 2001
Unified concept-based multimedia information retrieval technique

The explosion of digital data in the last two decades followed by the development of various types of data, including text, images, audio and video known as multimedia data. Multimedia Information Retrieval is required to search various type of media. There is comprehensive information need that can not be handled by the monolithic search engine like Google, Google Image, Youtube, or FindSounds. The shortcoming of search engine today related to their format or media is the dominance of text format, while the expected information could be an image, audio or video. Hence it is necessary to present multimedia format at the same time. This paper tries to design Unified Concept-based Multimedia Information Retrieval (UCpBMIR) technique to tackle those difficulties by using unified multimedia indexing. The indexing technique transforms the various of media with their features into text representation with the concept-based algorithm and put it into the concept detector. Learning model configures the concept detector to classify the multimedia object. The result of the concept detector process is placed in unified multimedia index database and waiting for the concept-based query to be matched into the Semantic Similarities with ontology. The ontology will provide the relationship between object representation of multimedia data. Due to indexing text, image, audio, and video respectively that naturally, they are heterogeneous, but conceptually they may have the relationship among them. From the preliminary result that multimedia document retrieved can be obtained through single query any format in order to retrieve all kind of multimedia format. Unified multimedia indexing technique with ontology will unify each format of multimedia.
Visibility enhancement techniques for fog degraded images: A comparative analysis with performance evaluation

Low visibility is regarded as the fundamental cause for increasing number of accidents. When bad weather condition exists mainly due to fog, haze, snow, darkness, etc., the driver is unable to observe a distinct view of route. Out of the bad atmospheric condition, fog is one of the major sources of the accident because the visibility of fog remains very low which is less than 1 km. It is the natural phenomenon that decreases the contrast and color fidelity of objects in the captured image and makes the object difficult to see through naked eyes. The main goal of this paper is to perform a comparative analysis of some well-known visibility enhancement techniques. This paper also implemented three well-known fog removal algorithms, and for assessing the efficiency of the methods used, qualitative assessment evaluation is accomplished along with comparative statistical analysis and algorithms efficiency comparison.