Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development and initial validation of the Gilboa functional test (GIFT): A unique measure for preschool graphomotor screening

Introduction Fine motor and graphomotor skills are essential for children’s healthy development, as well as for successful participation in everyday activities. The Gilboa functional test (GIFT) is a newly developed norm-referenced screening instrument for use with children 3–6 years old. The aim of this study was to develop and validate the GIFT as a new measure for preschool graphomotor screening. Method A community-based sample of 611 children aged 3–6 years was screened. Findings Content validity was established via a panel of experts. The GIFT demonstrated good test–retest (0.95) and inter-rater reliability (0.94), demonstrating good concurrent validity in scores which significantly correlated with the Beery-VMI (r = 0.32, P < 0.05), the Beery-MC (r = 0.33, P < 0.05), the ‘manual dexterity’ subcategory of the movement assessment battery for children (r = –0.364, P < 0.05) and the total score of the developmental coordination disorder questionnaire ’07 (DCDQ’07)/little DCDQ (r = 0.41, P < 0.01). A significant difference in total GIFT scoring was found between children from mainstream versus special education preschools (t = 3.99, P < 0.001). Conclusion The GIFT is a unique tool that measures performance skills based on preschool children’s everyday activities. It can be used by paediatric occupational therapists as a first step for early identification of children potentially at risk for graphomotor/fine motor developmental delay.
Interactive pattern search in time series

The need for pattern discovery in long time series data led researchers to develop algorithms for similarity search. Most of the literature about time series focuses on algorithms that index time series and bring the data into the main storage, thus providing fast information retrieval on large time series. This paper reviews the state of the art in visualizing time series, and focuses on techniques that enable users to visually and interactively query time series. Then, it presents TimeSearcher 2, a tool that enables users to explore multidimensional data using synchronized tables and graphs with overview+detail, filter the time series data to reduce the scope of the search, select an existing pattern to find similar occurrences, and interactively adjust similarity parameters to narrow the result set. This tool is an extension of previous work, TimeSearcher 1, which uses graphical timeboxes to interactively query time series data.
Global Patterns of Abundance, Diversity and Community Structure of the Aminicenantes (Candidate Phylum OP8)

We investigated the global patterns of abundance, diversity, and community structure of members of the Aminicenantes (candidate phylum OP8). Our aim was to identify the putative ecological role(s) played by members of this poorly characterized bacterial lineages in various ecosystems. Analysis of near full-length 16S rRNA genes identified four classes and eight orders within the Aminicenantes. Within 3,134 datasets comprising ∼1.8 billion high throughput-generated partial 16S rRNA genes, 47,351 Aminicenantes-affiliated sequences were identified in 913 datasets. The Aminicenantes exhibited the highest relative abundance in hydrocarbon-impacted environments, followed by marine habitats (especially hydrothermal vents and coral-associated microbiome samples), and aquatic, non-marine habitats (especially in terrestrial springs and groundwater samples). While the overall abundance of the Aminicenantes was higher in low oxygen tension as well as non-saline and low salinity habitats, it was encountered in a wide range of oxygen tension, salinities, and temperatures. Analysis of the community structure of the Aminicenantes showed distinct patterns across various datasets that appear to be, mostly, driven by habitat variations rather than prevalent environmental parameters. We argue that the detection of the Aminicenantes across environmental extremes and the observed distinct community structure patterns reflect a high level of intraphylum metabolic diversity and adaptive capabilities that enable its survival and growth in a wide range of habitats and environmental conditions.
Jasmonate-Based Wound Signal Transduction Requires Activation of WIPK, a Tobacco Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase

A gene encoding a tobacco mitogen-activated protein kinase (WIPK) is transcriptionally activated in response to wounding. Transgenic tobacco plants, in which expression of endogenous wipk was suppressed, did not accumulate jasmonic acid or its methyl ester when wounded, suggesting that WIPK is involved in jasmonate-mediated wound signal transduction. Here, we demonstrate that activation of WIPK is required for triggering the jasmonate-mediated signal transduction cascade that occurs when wild-type tobacco plants are wounded. We also show that when plants are wounded, WIPK is rapidly and transiently activated, whereas the quantity of WIPK protein is maintained at a constant level. A transgenic tobacco plant in which the wipk gene was constitutively expressed at a high level showed constitutive enzymatic activation of WIPK and exhibited three- to fourfold higher levels of jasmonate than did its wild-type counterpart. This plant also showed constitutive accumulation of jasmonate-inducible proteinase inhibitor II transcripts. These results show that WIPK is activated in response to wounding, which subsequently causes an increase in jasmonate synthesis.
Exploiting Twitter's Collective Knowledge for Music Recommendations

Twitter is the largest source of public opinion and also contains a vast amount of information about its users’ music favors or listening behaviour. However, this source has not been exploited for the recommendation of music yet. In this paper, we present how Twitter can be facilitated for the creation of a data set upon which music recommendations can be computed. The data set is based on microposts which were automatically generated by music player software or posted by users and may also contain further information about audio tracks.
Contour Tracking Using Centroid Distance Signature and Dynamic Programming Method

In this paper, we propose a novel approach based on centroid distance signature and Dynamic Programming (DP), which can be used to guide a contour tracking execution. Edges are detected by an improved canny method; however, they still contain many noises as well as interferential information. So an edge-based contour tracking method is proposed to link the optimal object's outline. First, we apply centroid distance function to the obtained edges to get the rough signature graph. Second, the optimal path ofthe signature graph is acquired based on DP algorithm. Last, we resume the optimal contour using the acquired signature trace after inverse transform. The superiority of the proposed model comes from 1) the accurate acquisition of object's outline based on DP algorithm, and 2) scale and rotational invariant expression of contours with the centroid distance function.
The Impact of Biopsy on Human Embryo Developmental Potential during Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis

Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis and Screening (PGD/PGS) for monogenic diseases and/or numerical/structural chromosomal abnormalities is a tool for embryo testing aimed at identifying nonaffected and/or euploid embryos in a cohort produced during an IVF cycle. A critical aspect of this technology is the potential detrimental effect that the biopsy itself can have upon the embryo. Different embryo biopsy strategies have been proposed. Cleavage stage blastomere biopsy still represents the most commonly used method in Europe nowadays, although this approach has been shown to have a negative impact on embryo viability and implantation potential. Polar body biopsy has been proposed as an alternative to embryo biopsy especially for aneuploidy testing. However, to date no sufficiently powered study has clarified the impact of this procedure on embryo reproductive competence. Blastocyst stage biopsy represents nowadays the safest approach not to impact embryo implantation potential. For this reason, as well as for the evidences of a higher consistency of the molecular analysis when performed on trophectoderm cells, blastocyst biopsy implementation is gradually increasing worldwide. The aim of this review is to present the evidences published to date on the impact of the biopsy at different stages of preimplantation development upon human embryos reproductive potential.
TIMP-3 Deficiency Leads to Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Background—Despite the mounting clinical burden of heart failure, the biomolecules that control myocardial tissue remodeling are poorly understood. TIMP-3 is an endogenous inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) that has been found to be deficient in failing human myocardium. We hypothesized that TIMP-3 expression prevents maladaptive tissue remodeling in the heart, and accordingly, its deficiency in mice would alone be sufficient to trigger progressive cardiac remodeling and dysfunction similar to human heart failure. Methods and Results—Mice with a targeted timp-3 deficiency were evaluated with aging and compared with age-matched wild-type littermates. Loss of timp-3 function triggered spontaneous LV dilatation, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, and contractile dysfunction at 21 months of age consistent with human dilated cardiomyopathy. Its absence also resulted in interstitial matrix disruption with elevated MMP-9 activity, and activation of the proinflammatory tumor necrosis factor-&agr; cytokine system, molecular hallmarks of human myocardial remodeling. Conclusions—TIMP-3 deficiency disrupts matrix homeostasis and the balance of inflammatory mediators, eliciting the transition to cardiac dilation and dysfunction. Therapeutic restoration of myocardial TIMP-3 may provide a novel approach to limit cardiac remodeling and the progression to failure in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.
UWB MIMO System with Cooperative Multi-path Diversity

We propose a suitable indoor ultra wideband (UWB) multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) channel system to obtain cooperative diversity for the high data short range transmission. There are three situations, the first is inner room UWB networking with four transmit antennas; the second is outer room UWB networking with four transmit antennas; the last one is a mobile station from outer room to the inner room which uses eight transmit antennas. In our proposals, the coordinate interleaved space time block codes are used with UWB signals. The theoretic upper bound and simulations demonstrate that the proposed algorithm could simply achieve the diversity gain from the rich scattering propagation environment and correlated channel.
A revival of Paul Dudley White an overview of present medical practice and society. P.D. White International Lecture

Professor René Favaloro was honoured to deliver the Paul D. White International Lecture. The Lecture was published in Circulation (99: 15257, 1999). P.D. White was born on June 6th 1886 and died in 1973 at the age of 87. He dedicated his life to the last breath to cardiology patients and research. In 1914 he introduced ECG in the USA for clinical research. He wrote 12 books and 758 scientific articles during his life. He participated in founding the American Heart Association and was its president, the International Council of Cardiology and chaired it as president, and International Society of Cardiology. Professor R. Favaloro after analyzing the life and work of P.D. White enumerated Ten Messages from the Legacy of P.D. White that follow. Moreover, he confronted the Legacy with the present day situation in medicine and society in (i) USA and in (ii) the world. R. Favaloro called attention to, among many others, the Medical industrial complex  term coined by A.S. Relman (N. Engl. J. Med. 1980; 303: 963970) which leaves aside some ethical concerns and could have deleterious effect. He also moved on the idea of Rodwin (N. Engl. J. Med. 1995; 332: 604607) that market-driven health care creates conflict that threaten medical professionalism. I was deeply impressed by open, critical, thoughtful, provoking study of R. Favaloro. Having in mind that Circulation is to be found only in 4 libraries in Slovakia I suggested to the Editorial Board of Bratislava Medical Journal to publish, at least a part of the lecture. And also I asked Professor Favaloro to allow publishing this part of his Lecture in Bratislava Medical Journal. Reading the Ten Messages of Whites Legacy listed by R. Favaloro one feels that Whites ideas were very close to the ideas of our teachers in medicine at Comenius Medical School in Bratislava. I remember L. Derer who expressed his philosophy in the obituary dedicated to the pathophysiologist F. imer, who died in Nazi-prison (Brat. Med. J. 1947; 27: 118121), or my postgradual teachers J. Brod and K. Weber in Prague, Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, who madeus scholars acquainted with the personality of P.D. White. I express my sincere thanks to R. Favaloro for formulation his ideas, extremely hot in the present day society, and also for allowing to publish part of his lecture in Bratislava Medical Journal. I apologize for omitting the very interesting and critical paragraph, namely The practice of Medicine in America because of rules concerning the extent of articles in Bratislava Medical Journal. Mária Gerová MD, PhD, DSc Institute of Normal and Pathological Physiology Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava
Sequence-level object candidates based on saliency for generic object recognition on mobile systems

In this paper, we propose a novel approach for generating generic object candidates for object discovery and recognition in continuous monocular video. Such candidates have recently become a popular alternative to exhaustive window-based search as basis for classification. Contrary to previous approaches, we address the candidate generation problem at the level of entire video sequences instead of at the single image level. We propose a processing pipeline that starts from individual region candidates and tracks them over time. This enables us to group candidates for similar objects and to automatically filter out inconsistent regions. For generating the per-frame candidates, we introduce a novel multi-scale saliency approach that achieves a higher per-frame recall with fewer candidates than current state-of-the-art methods. Taken together, those two components result in a significant reduction of the number of object candidates compared to frame level methods, while keeping a consistently high recall.
Associations between the transtheoretical processes of change, nicotine dependence and adolescent smokers' transition through the stages of change.

AIMS To examine the significance of the transtheoretical processes of change in predicting transition through the stages of change in adolescent smokers, as well as the relative role of nicotine dependence in predicting stage transitions. DESIGN In grades 9 and 10, adolescents' stage of change, the use of processes of change and nicotine dependence were assessed (T1). Stage transitions were assessed 1 year later (T2). Response rate was 73.2%. SETTING Twenty-five secondary schools throughout the Netherlands participated in the present study. PARTICIPANTS Respondents were 721 adolescents who were classified as smokers at T1 and consequently completed the paper-and-pencil questionnaire at T2. MEASUREMENTS Stages of change and processes of change were assessed according to the original transtheoretical measures. Nicotine dependence was measured using a newly developed multi-dimensional scale consisting of 11 items. FINDINGS Few associations were found between the processes of change and stage transitions. Nicotine dependence contributed significantly to the explanation of adolescents' transition from preparation to action, after adjustment for processes of change. No evidence for a moderating effect of nicotine dependence in the relation between the processes of change and stage transitions was found. CONCLUSIONS Processes of change do not seem significant in explaining adolescents' stage transitions. As an alternative for promoting the use of the processes of change for intervention purposes in adolescents, it might be more useful to focus on treating nicotine dependence.
Properties of visual inputs that initiate horizontal smooth pursuit eye movements in monkeys

Smooth pursuit eye movements allow primates to fixate and track small, slowly moving objects. Pursuit usually requires visual targets; our aim was to determine the properties of the visual signals transmitted to the pursuit motor system. Rhesus monkeys were rewarded for tracking spots of light that underwent discreet changes in velocity under a variety of visual conditions. We measured the resulting smooth eye acceleration in a 100-msec interval that began with the initiation of pursuit and ended before there had been time for visual feedback. This approach allowed us to vary the parameters of visual stimulation and measure eye movement responses in a way that provides estimates of the properties of signals transmitted by visual pathways. The initiation of pursuit showed different properties early and late in the interval we studied. In the first 20 msec of pursuit, eye acceleration was in the correct direction, but was independent of the initial position of the moving images, the velocity of the stimulus, or the presence or absence of background illumination. Thereafter, the initiation of pursuit depended strongly on all of the above parameters. Eye acceleration was highest when the moving images fell close to the fovea and decreased sharply as eccentricity was increased up to 21 degrees. When the background was diffusely illuminated, eye acceleration showed velocity selectivity; it was highest for a middle range of velocities (30 to 60 degrees/sec) and decreased for higher velocities. When the background was dark, eye acceleration increased as a function of target velocity up to 150 degrees/sec. We conclude that the initiation of pursuit has at least 2 visual components. The two components have different latencies and show quite different relationships to the visual properties of the stimulus, suggesting two cell populations that could provide the visual inputs for pursuit.
Traumatic and Emotional Memories 1 Running head : TRAUMATIC AND EMOTIONAL MEMORIES Why Autobiographical Memories for Traumatic and Emotional Events Might Differ : Theoretical Arguments and Empirical Evidence

The authors review five arguments supporting the hypothesis that memories for traumatic and nontraumatic emotional events should be considered as qualitatively different recollections. The first argument considers the objective features of traumatic and emotional events and their possible influence on the formation of memories for these events. The second argument assumes that traumatic memories distinguish from emotional ones as trauma exposure is often associated with the development of psychological disorders involving memory disturbances. The third argument is that traumatic experiences are more likely than emotional experiences to be forgotten and recovered. The fourth argument concerns the possibility that emotional memories are socially shared more frequently than traumatic memories. A fifth argument suggests that trauma exposure may impair selected brain systems implicated in memory functions. Theoretical and empirical evidence supporting these claims is reviewed. In the conclusions, the authors illustrate future research directions and discuss some conceptual issues related to the definitions of traumatic event currently employed by memory researchers.
Self-Assembling Nanofibers Inhibit Glial Scar Formation and Promote Axon Elongation after Spinal Cord Injury

Peptide amphiphile (PA) molecules that self-assemble in vivo into supramolecular nanofibers were used as a therapy in a mouse model of spinal cord injury (SCI). Because self-assembly of these molecules is triggered by the ionic strength of the in vivo environment, nanoscale structures can be created within the extracellular spaces of the spinal cord by simply injecting a liquid. The molecules are designed to form cylindrical nanofibers that display to cells in the spinal cord the laminin epitope IKVAV at nearly van der Waals density. IKVAV PA nanofibers are known to inhibit glial differentiation of cultured neural stem cells and to promote neurite outgrowth from cultured neurons. In this work, in vivo treatment with the PA after SCI reduced astrogliosis, reduced cell death, and increased the number of oligodendroglia at the site of injury. Furthermore, the nanofibers promoted regeneration of both descending motor fibers and ascending sensory fibers through the lesion site. Treatment with the PA also resulted in significant behavioral improvement. These observations demonstrate that it is possible to inhibit glial scar formation and to facilitate regeneration after SCI using bioactive three-dimensional nanostructures displaying high densities of neuroactive epitopes on their surfaces.
Price trade-offs in social media advertising

The prevalence of social media has sparked novel advertising models, vastly different from the traditional keyword based bidding model adopted by search engines. One such model is topic based advertising, popular with micro-blogging sites. Instead of bidding on keywords, the approach is based on bidding on topics, with the winning bid allowed to disseminate messages to users interested in the specific topic. Naturally topics have varying costs depending on multiple factors (e.g., how popular or prevalent they are). Similarly users in a micro-blogging site have diverse interests. Assuming one wishes to disseminate a message to a set V of users interested in a specific topic, a question arises whether it is possible to disseminate the same message by bidding on a set of topics that collectively reach the same users in V albeit at a cheaper cost. In this paper, we show how an alternative set of topics R with a lower cost can be identified to target (most) users in V. Two approximation algorithms are presented to address the problem with strong bounds. Theoretical analysis and extensive quantitative and qualitative experiments over real-world data sets at realistic scale containing millions of users and topics demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
Multi-objective robust PID controller tuning using multi-objective differential evolution

PID controller has been widely applied in engineering area. In this paper, multi-objective differential evolution (MODE) is used to design a multi-objective robust PID controller for two MEMO systems known as distillation column plant and longitudinal control system of the super maneuverable F18/HARV fighter aircraft. Multi-objective robust PID controller problem is formulated by minimizing integral squared error (ISE) and balanced robust performance criteria. The performance of the optimum PID controllers that obtain by MODE is compared with performance reported in literature by other methods in terms of the sum of ISE and balanced robust performance criteria. The results show that the PID controllers obtained by MODE can outperform various optimal PID controllers reported in literature.