Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Comprehensive Evaluation of Standardized Assessment Tools in the Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia and in the Assessment of Fibromyalgia Severity

Standard assessments for fibromyalgia (FM) diagnosis and core FM symptom domains are needed for biomarker development and treatment trials. Diagnostic and symptom assessments are reviewed and recommendations are made for standards. Recommendations for existing assessments include the American College of Rheumatology FM classification criteria using the manual tender point Survey for diagnosis, the brief pain inventory average pain visual analogue scale for pain intensity, the function subscale of the revised fibromyalgia impact questionnaire (FIQR) for physical function, the patient global impression of change and FIQR for overall/global improvement, the hospital anxiety and depression scale depression subscale for depression, the multiple ability self-report questionnaire for cognitive dysfunction, the fatigue severity scale for fatigue, the FIQR for multidimensional function/health-related quality of life, the jenkins sleep scale for sleep disturbance, and the fibromyalgia intensity score for tenderness. Forthcoming assessments including the FIQR for diagnosis, NIH PROMIS, and FIBRO Change scales are discussed.
The evolving TreaTmenT of Pain Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression for Spinal Stenosis

Over 1.2 million patients are diagnosed with, and in active treatment for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) at any given time. Typically, these patients experience discomfort while walking or standing, for any length of time. The LSS treatment algorithm contains a gap of under-treated patients between epidural steroid injections (ESI) and open surgery. With the introduction of a minimally invasive lumbar decompression, or mild®, procedure (Vertos Medical) for spinal stenosis, the LSS patient no longer needs to suffer under-treatment or undergo major lumbar surgery. mild® makes it is possible to address this progressive disease with a progressive option.
Correlation of ventricular area, perimeter, and conotruncal diameter with ventricular mass and function in the chick embryo from stages 12 to 24.

Ventricular form and function are interrelated during cardiovascular development. The study of muscle mechanics requires the real-time measurement of length, area, or volume. Because volume measures are not currently possible in the embryonic heart, we tested the hypothesis that end-diastolic (ED) and end-systolic (ES) ventricular perimeter, area, and conotruncal diameter correlate with ventricular mass and function in the stage 12 to stage 24 white Leghorn chick embryo. Video images of the contracting heart were recorded at 60 Hz on 1/2" videotape and studied with a custom image-analysis workstation. ED and ES video fields were selected by maximum and minimum ventricular area and were planimetered for epicardial ventricular perimeter, area, and conotruncal diameter. Data are reported as (mean +/- SEM, n greater than or equal to 8) and were tested by analysis of variance and regression analysis. Heart rate calculated from cycle length increased from 78 +/- 6 beats/min at stage 12 to 162 +/- 5 beats/min at stage 24. ED and ES area increased geometrically versus stage (y = 0.53 - 0.08x + 0.004x2, r = 0.96, p less than 0.001; and y = 0.60 - 0.09x + 0.004x2, r = 0.98, p less than 0.001, respectively). ED and ES perimeter and conotruncal diameter increased linearly versus stage (r = 0.95, p less than 0.001; r = 0.96, p less than 0.001; and r = 0.93, p less than 0.001; r = 0.93, p less than 0.001, respectively). Shortening fraction for each measurement increased from stage 12 to 16 or 18 then decreased. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Optimal load-sensitive control for mobile robots equipped with continuously variable transmissions

A continuously variable transmission (CVT) can be advantageously used to drive a robot in its most efficient operation region for a wide range of external loads. The paper describes an optimal load-sensitive control algorithm for an actuator unit comprising a CVT and an electric motor. The introduced control algorithm takes into account both the electrical motor and the CVT efficiency. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated by simulations and experiments carried out on an actual stair-climbing mobile robot "HELIOS-VI".
The Behavioral Science Laboratories at Purdue's Krannert School

The behavioral science laboratories were designed' to facilitate experimental research ranging from studies of individual choice behavior to studies of organizational processes and largescale simulations of inter-national political conflict. The electronic equipment was selected to minimize the need for special instruments for single experiments and to reduce the frequency of experiments occupying laboratory space on a semi-permanent basis. The following description of the laboratories concentrates on function rather than structure; interested persons may write for more detailed information about electronic instrumentation and hardware.
A Novel Multiple Kernel Learning Framework for Multiple Feature Classification

Multiple Kernel Learning (MKL) algorithms have recently demonstrated their effectiveness for classifying the data with numerous features. These algorithms aim at learning an optimal composite kernel through combining the basis kernels constructed from different features. Despite their satisfactory results, MKL algorithms assume that the basis kernels are a priori computed. Moreover, they adopt complex optimization methods to train the combination of the basis kernels, which are usually hard to solve and can only handle the binary classification problems. In this paper, a novel MKL framework was introduced in order to address all these issues. This framework optimizes a data-dependent kernel evaluation measure in order to learn both the basis kernels and their combination. The kernel evaluation measure should be able to estimate the goodness of the composite kernel for a multiclass classification problem. In this paper, we defined such a measure based on the similarity between the composite kernel and an ideal kernel. To this end, three different kernel-based similarity measures, namely kernel alignment (KA), centered kernel alignment (CKA), and Hilbert-Schmidt independence criterion (HSIC), were presented. For solving the optimization problem of the proposed MKL framework, we used the metaheuristic optimization algorithms, which in addition to being accurate algorithms can be easily implemented. The performance of the proposed framework was evaluated by classifying the features extracted from two multispectral and hyperspectral datasets. The results showed that this framework outperformed the other state-of-the-art MKL algorithms in terms of both classification accuracy and the computational time.
An extended study on M-PhC cavity with controllable resonant frequencies

A conventional metallic photonic crystal (M-PhC) point-defect-cavities(PDC) can be realized by removing a rod from the periodical structure. Therefore, to keep the periodicity, the resonant frequencies of such cavities are difficult to be changed. In this paper, an extended study on a recently-proposed novel PDC constructed by putting a metallic/dielectric rod at the center of the cavity will be conducted with an emphasis on the properties of the higher-order modes and a reconfigurable structure with a replaceable centrally-loaded-metal-rod. Since the Qs of the higher-modes are 2-times higher than the fundamental modes, they have great potentials to be used in MMW, SMMW and even in THz bands, while the new PDCs structure has a great potential to realize a reconfigurable devices. After illustration of band structure of a square-lattice PhC for TE/TM modes, the first 3-modes of the cavity are investigated by the numerical technique. A good agreement between the experimental results and simulated ones validates our computation and show its properties.
A continuous-index Bayesian hidden Markov model for prediction of nucleosome positioning in genomic DNA.

Nucleosomes are units of chromatin structure, consisting of DNA sequence wrapped around proteins called "histones. " Nucleosomes occur at variable intervals throughout genomic DNA and prevent transcription factor (TF) binding by blocking TF access to the DNA. A map of nucleosomal locations would enable researchers to detect TF binding sites with greater efficiency. Our objective is to construct an accurate genomic map of nucleosome-free regions (NFRs) based on data from high-throughput genomic tiling arrays in yeast. These high-volume data typically have a complex structure in the form of dependence on neighboring probes as well as underlying DNA sequence, variable-sized gaps, and missing data. We propose a novel continuous-index model appropriate for non-equispaced tiling array data that simultaneously incorporates DNA sequence features relevant to nucleosome formation. Simulation studies and an application to a yeast nucleosomal assay demonstrate the advantages of using the new modeling framework, as well as its robustness to distributional misspecifications. Our results reinforce the previous biological hypothesis that higher-order nucleotide combinations are important in distinguishing nucleosomal regions from NFRs.
Transformation of Social Political, and Cultural Orders in Modernization

The influence of previous structure on the transformative capacities of modernizing societies is analyzed for China, Japan, India, and Islamic societies. The internal transformation of these great Asian societies has been greatly facilitated by autonomy of social, cultural and political institutions. Cultural autonomy has made possible the development of symbols supporting and legitimizing the new central institutions, while autonomy in the sphere of social organization has facilitated the crystallization of viable new organizational nucleii without disrupting the pre-existing order. The relatively strong internal cohesion of family groups and broader social strata, with some status autonomy and openness toward the center, has helped to develop willingness to provide the necessary support for the new centers. Where such autonomy is absent, and the social, cultural and political orders are closely identified with one another, development of viable modern structures has been greatly impeded. And where the family and other groups are closed, they are likely to undermine the new institutional centers by making excessive demands on them or by withholding resources. The relative importance of structural differentiation and cultural innovation in the transformation of European societies is also analyzed, through reexamination of Weber's thesis.
Detection of Sleep Apnea from surface ECG based on features extracted by an Autoregressive Model

This study proposes an alternative evaluation of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) based on ECG signal during sleep time. OSA is a common sleep disorder produced by repetitive occlusions in the upper airways. This respiratory disturbance produces a specific pattern on ECG. Extraction of ECG characteristics, as heart rate variability (HRV) and peak R area, offers alternative measures for a sleep apnea pre-diagnosis. 50 recordings coming from the apnea Physionet database were used in the analysis, this database is part of the 70 recordings used for the Computer in Cardiology challenge celebrated in 2000. A bivariate autoregressive model was used to evaluate beat-by-beat power spectral density of HRV and R peak area. K-nearest neighbor (KNN) supervised learning classifier was employed for categorizing apnea events from normal ones, on a minute-by-minute basis for each recording. Data were split into two sets, training and testing set, each one with 25 recordings. The classification results showed an accuracy higher than 85% in both training and testing. In addition it was possible to separate completely between apnea and normal subjects and almost completely among apnea, normal and borderline subjects.
Investigating Information Systems with Ethnographic Research

Ethnographic research is one of the most in-depth research methods possible. Because the researcher is at a research site for a long time and sees what people are doing as well as what they say they are doing – an ethnographer obtains a deep understanding of the people, the organization, and the broader context within which they work. Ethnographic research is thus well suited to providing information systems researchers with rich insights into the human, social, and organizational aspects of information systems. This article discusses the potential of ethnographic research for IS researchers, and outlines the most important issues that need to be considered in selecting this method.
Review of the key results from the Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) trial – a prospective controlled intervention study of bariatric surgery

Obesity is a risk factor for diabetes, cardiovascular disease events, cancer and overall mortality. Weight loss may protect against these conditions, but robust evidence for this has been lacking. The Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study is the first long‐term, prospective, controlled trial to provide information on the effects of bariatric surgery on the incidence of these objective endpoints. The SOS study involved 2010 obese subjects who underwent bariatric surgery [gastric bypass (13%), banding (19%) and vertical banded gastroplasty (68%)] and 2037 contemporaneously matched obese control subjects receiving usual care. The age of participants was 37–60 years and body mass index (BMI) was ≥34 kg m−2 in men and ≥38 kg m−2 in women. Here, we review the key SOS study results published between 2004 and 2012. Follow‐up periods varied from 10 to 20 years in different reports. The mean changes in body weight after 2, 10, 15 and 20 years were −23%, −17%, −16% and −18% in the surgery group and 0%, 1%, −1% and −1% in the control group respectively. Compared with usual care, bariatric surgery was associated with a long‐term reduction in overall mortality (primary endpoint) [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 0.71, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.54–0.92; P = 0.01] and decreased incidences of diabetes (adjusted HR=0.17; P < 0.001), myocardial infarction (adjusted HR = 0.71; P = 0.02), stroke (adjusted HR=0.66; P = 0.008) and cancer (women: adjusted HR = 0.58; P = 0.0008; men: n.s.]. The diabetes remission rate was increased severalfold at 2 years [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 8.42; P < 0.001] and 10 years (adjusted OR = 3.45; P < 0.001). Whereas high insulin and/or high glucose at baseline predicted favourable treatment effects, high baseline BMI did not, indicating that current selection criteria for bariatric surgery need to be revised.
International Journal of Advances in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Design of Nonrecursive Digital Filters Using the Exponential Window

In this paper, nonrecursive digital filter design using the exponential window is investigated [1,2]. The exponential window proposed by the author [3] has computational cost advantage compared to the well-known Kaiser window due to having no power series expansion in its time domain representation. First, the filter design equations for the exponential window to meet the given low pass filter specification are established. And then, the comparison with the other 2-parameter windows, namely Cosh and Kaiser, is discussed. The simulation results show that the filters designed by the exponential window provide significantly better far end stopband attenuation, which is important for some applications, than the filters designed by the Cosh and Kaiser windows, while performing worse stopband attenuations near the stopband frequency.
Labeling elastase digests with TMT: Informational gain by identification of poorly detectable peptides with MALDI‐TOF/TOF mass spectrometry

The applicability of the less specific protease elastase for the identification of membrane and cytosolic proteins has already been demonstrated. MALDI as ionization technique particularly favors the detection of basic and to a lesser extent of weakly acidic peptides, whereas neutral peptides often remain undetected. Moreover, peptides below 700 Da are routinely excluded. In the following study, the advantage of additional information gained from tandem mass tag zero labeled peptides and the resultant increase in sequence coverage was evaluated. Through derivatization with tandem mass tag reagents, peptide measurement within the standard mass range of the MALDI reflector mode is achievable due to the mass increase. Compared to the unlabeled sample, peptides exhibiting relatively low molecular masses, pI values or higher hydrophobicity could be identified.
On the study of MOSFET micro-sensors for electronic packaging

The purpose of this paper is to study the MOSFET stress sensor behaviors and to develop the related measurement methodology. With the newly developed technology, the piezoresistance coefficients of the MOSFET were extracted, and the strain and temperature effect induced MOSFET characteristics were obtained. The results of this study can be used to adjust the chip structure in a packaging so that the optimal packaging technology and material can be chosen, and accuracies of the numerical analysis can be verified through experimental data with the new technology studied in this paper.
Algorithmic factorisation for low power FPGA implementations through increased data locality

Power consumption is a key design consideration particularly in FPGA-based DSP implementations where flexibility comes at the expense of power hungry interconnect. The paper presents a system level low power methodology promoting short regular interconnect through increased data locality. The recursive nature of DSP algorithms is leveraged to achieve locally interconnected processing clusters through factorisation and index mapping allowing the processing nodes to be mapped into hardware in a power efficient manner. The approach is applied to an FFT example giving large reductions in interconnect length. Power and capacitance results measured from a working implementation on a Virtex-II Pro platform are presented, demonstrating a performance power gain of 36-37% and area reduction of 61% when compared to a 64-point Xilinx FFT core.
Contrast Effects and Social Desirability in Art Appreciation

In a number of experiments the effects of presenting different categories of art in contrasting order were explored. In the first experiment traditional and abstract paintings and Chinese calligraphy were used as stimuli, each type was contrasted with the other two, which led to shifts in appreciation as well as in perceived complexity. Two more experiments were performed. In one of these experiments fragments of traditional and modern classical music were presented. The same effect was found as when traditional and abstract paintings were contrasted: enhancement of the appreciation of traditional music but no decrease in the appreciation of modern music. It seems that when art is concerned only positive contrast effects are obtained. A possible explanation could be that it is considered socially undesirable to admit a lesser appreciation of modern than of traditional art. To test this hypothesis, socially ‘neutral’ stimuli, Chinese ideographs, differing in aesthetic quality, were contrasted. This yielded the expected positive as well as negative effects.
Trench oxide isolated single crystal silicon micromachined accelerometer

A novel surface micromachined accelerometer using single crystal silicon structures is described. Trench oxide isolation is used to fabricate electrically insulating anchors. Micro-accelerometer structures are fabricated using deep RIE on inexpensive silicon substrate. Excellent performance and high yield are achieved over the temperature range utilizing a separate ASIC for signal conditioning.
Solving sub-pixel image registration problems using phase correlation and Lucas-Kanade optical flow method

Image registration plays a major role in many areas such as remote sensing, astronomy, biomedical imaging, and so on. Our main contribution in this paper is to present a new subpixel image registration that aligns translated of pair images. This algorithm combines well-known phase correlation technique with the differential methods of the optical flow field, especially the Locus-Kanade technique to register images. The experiment results show that our method not only enhances the precision of registration but also reduces time complexity.
An experimental study of the effect of prior alcohol consumption on a simulated gambling activity.

UNLABELLED Previous survey research with both clinical populations and random samples of the general population has established that individuals may experience harmful impacts arising from both their gambling and their consumption of alcohol. Experimental study of the interaction of alcohol consumption on gambling is notable for its absence from the literature. AIM To experimentally study the interaction of alcohol consumption and gambling behaviour. DESIGN Participants were randomly allocated into two groups--placebo administered and alcohol administered, thus making an independent samples experimental design. SETTING Laboratory. PARTICIPANTS Forty young, male, regular EGM players, who also regularly consumed alcohol. MEASUREMENTS The NEO Personality Inventory; The Scale of Gambling Choices (Revised) (SGC); persistence at gambling while losing, as measured by the number of gambling trials played and amount wagered. FINDINGS Subjects either received a prior intake of three alcoholic drinks each containing approximately 10 g of pure alcohol (beer or wine) or an equal volume of an equivalent non-alcoholic beverage. The alcohol group persisted for twice as many gaming trials as the placebo group with significantly more players who had consumed alcohol losing all their original cash stake (50% compared with 15% of the placebo group). CONCLUSIONS The consumption of alcohol appeared to eliminate the strong associations found in placebo group between individual difference measures and persistence. The analogue game was accepted by participants as a valid form of gambling. The result showed that relatively small quantities of alcohol have a significant effect on the psychological processes that underpin self-control over gambling. This finding challenges the conceptual research paradigm of studying co-morbidity or dual-addicted clinical populations as the most appropriate method of understanding how two addictive behaviours interact.