Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intraocular Pressure Is a Poor Predictor of Hydration Status following Intermittent Exercise in the Heat

Current hydration assessments involve biological fluids that are either compromised in dehydrated individuals or require laboratory equipment, making timely results unfeasible. The eye has been proposed as a potential site to provide a field-based hydration measure. The present study evaluated the efficacy and sensitivity of intraocular pressure (IOP) to assess hydration status. Twelve healthy males undertook two 150 min walking trials in 40°C 20% relative humidity. One trial matched fluid intake to body mass loss (control, CON) and the other had fluid restricted (dehydrated, DEH). IOP (rebound tonometry) and hydration status (nude body mass and serum osmolality) were determined every 30 min. Body mass and serum osmolality were significantly (p < 0.05) different between trials at all-time points following baseline. Body mass losses reached 2.5 ± 0.2% and serum osmolality 299 ± 5 mOsmol.kg−1 in DEH. A significant trial by time interaction was observed for IOP (p = 0.042), indicating that over the duration of the trials IOP declined to a greater extent in the DEH compared with the CON trial. Compared with baseline measurements IOP was reduced during DEH (150 min: −2.7 ± 1.9 mm Hg; p < 0.05) but remained stable in CON (150 min: −0.3 ± 2.4 mm Hg). However, using an IOP value of 13.2 mm Hg to predict a 2% body mass loss resulted in only 57% of the data being correctly classified (sensitivity 55% and specificity 57%). The use of ΔIOP (−2.4 mm Hg) marginally improved the predictive ability with 77% of the data correctly classified (sensitivity: 55%; specificity: 81%). The present study provides evidence that the large inter-individual variability in baseline IOP and in the IOP response to progressive dehydration, prevents the use of IOP as an acute single assessment marker of hydration status.
A Stickelberger theorem for p-adic Gauss sums

We define "splitting functions of level l" for any integer l>0. These functions generalize Dwork's splitting functions : they allow us to represent additive characters of order $p^l$. Then we use these functions to obtain a Stickleberger theorem on the $p$-adic valuation of new Gauss sums.
Enhanced Geometric Active Contour Segmentation Model (ENGAC) For Medical Image Segmentation

Segmentation is an aspect of computer vision that deals with partitioning of an image into homogeneneous region. Medical image segmentation is an indispensable tool for medical image diagnoses. This work built on Geometric active contour (GAC) segmentation which is one of the outstanding model used in machine learning community to solve the problem of medical image segmentation. However, GAC has problem of deviation from the true outline of the target feature and it generates spurious edge caused by noise that normally stop the evolution of the surface to be extracted. In this paper, an enhanced Geometric active contour was formulated by hybridizing Kernel Principal Component Analysis(KPCA) with the existing Geometric active contour segmentation model . KPCA was used to analyse shape variability in trans-axial human brain medical images collected from University College Hospital Ibadan. The enhanced model was used to segment selected feature from registered normal and pathological Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) scan and Computed Tomography (CT) scan medical image. Finally, the caudate nucleus from normal human brain and tumour from pathological human brain was detected and segmented using our enhanced model. The segmentation time, volume area segmented and the haudsorf distance was calculated for the new model.
Interactive Mining of Frequent Itemsets over Arbitrary Time Intervals in a Data Stream

Mining frequent patterns in a data stream is very challenging for the high complexity of managing patterns with bounded memory against the unbounded data. While many approaches assume a fixed support threshold, a changeable threshold is more realistic, considering the rapid updating of the streaming transactions in practice. Additionally, mining of itemsets over various time granularities rather than over the entire stream may provide more flexibility for many applications. Therefore, we propose a interactive mechanism to perform the mining of frequent itemsets over arbitrary time intervals in the data stream, allowing a changeable support threshold. A synopsis vector having tilted-time tables is devised for maintaining statistics of past transactions for support computation over user-specified time periods. The extensive experiments over various parameter settings demonstrate that our approach is efficient and capable of mining frequent itemsets in the data stream interactively, with variable support thresholds.
Is backpropagation biologically plausible?

The author searches for neurobiologically plausible implementations of the backpropagation gradient descent algorithm. Any such implementation must be consistent with physical constraints such as locality (i.e., that the behavior of any component can be influenced solely by components in physical contact with it) and contingent facts of biology, and must also preserve global network properties such as fault tolerance, stability, and graceful degradation to hardware errors. The authors finds that in several posited implementations these design considerations imply that a finely structured neural connectivity is needed as well as a number of neurons and synapses beyond those inferred from the algorithmic network presentations of backpropagation. Gating synapses (Sigma-Pi units) are present while Hebbian (or pseudo-Hebbian) synapses are absent from all his posited implementations. Although backpropagation can in principle be implemented in neurobiology, such high network structure and the organizational principles required for its generation at the level of individual neurons will require more support from experimental neurobiology. <<ETX>>
Initiating or Blocking Locomotion in Spinal Cats by Applying Noradrenergic Drugs to Restricted Lumbar Spinal Segments

After an acute low thoracic spinal transection (T13), cats can be made to walk with the hindlimbs on a treadmill with clonidine, an α2-noradrenergic agonist. Because previous studies of neonatal rat spinal cord in vitro suggest that the most important lumbar segments for rhythmogenesis are L1–L2, we investigated the role of various lumbar segments in the initiation of walking movements on a treadmill of adult cats spinalized (T13), 5–6 d earlier. The locomotor activities were evaluated from electromyographic and video recordings. The results show that: (1) localized topical application of clonidine in restricted baths over either the L3–L4 or the L5–L7 segments was sufficient to induce walking movements. Yohimbine, an α2-noradrenergic antagonist, could block this locomotion when applied over L3–L4 or L5–L7; (2) microinjections of clonidine in one or two lumbar segments from L3 to L5 could also induce locomotion; (3) after an intravenous injection of clonidine, locomotion was blocked by microinjections of yohimbine in segments L3, L4, or L5 but not if the injection was in L6; (4) locomotion was also blocked in all cases by additional spinal transections at L3 or L4. These results show that it is possible to initiate walking in the adult spinal cat with a pharmacological stimulation of a restricted number of lumbar segments and also that the integrity of the L3–L4 segments is necessary to sustain the locomotor activity.
Long Response to Scheuer-Yariv: "A Classical Key-Distribution System based on Johnson (like) noise - How Secure?", physics/0601022

This is the longer (partially unpublished) version of response; the shorter version (this http URL) is published in Physics Letters A. We point out that the claims in the comment-paper of Scheuer and Yariv are either irrelevant or incorrect. We first clarify what the security of a physically secure layer means. The idealized Kirchoff-loop-Johnson-like-noise (KLJN) scheme is totally secure therefore it is more secure than idealized quantum communication schemes which can never be totally secure because of the inherent noise processes in those communication schemes and the statistical nature of eavesdropper detection based on error statistics. On the other hand, with sufficient resources, a practical/non-ideal realization of the KLJN cipher can arbitrarily approach the idealized limit and outperform even the idealized quantum communicator schemes because the non-ideality-effects are determined and controlled by the design. The cable resistance issue analyzed by Scheuer and Yariv is a good example for that because the eavesdropper has insufficient time window to build a sufficient statistics and the actual information leak can be designed. We show that Scheuer's and Yariv's numerical result of 1% voltage drop supports higher security than that of quantum communicators. Moreover, choosing thicker or shorter wires can arbitrarily reduce this voltage drop further; the same conclusion holds even according to the equations of Scheuer and Yariv.
Comparison of the molecular diversity of the methanogenic community at the brackish and marine ends of a UK estuary.

Abstract The 16S rRNA sequence diversity of the euryarchaeal community in a predominately freshwater sediment at East Hill Bridge (EHB) on the River Colne estuary, Essex, UK was investigated and compared to that from marine sediments at the mouth of the river (Colne Point). The East Hill Bridge sediments appear to support the full range of methanogen phenotypes with some genotypes similar to those previously detected at Colne Point. However, no Marine Benthic Group D or halophilic archaeal genotypes, both abundant in gene libraries at Colne Point, were detected at East Hill Bridge. Clones related to Methanosarcina and Methanocorpusculum were detected only at East Hill Bridge while clones closely related to Methanoculleus and Methanococcoides were detected only at Colne Point. The most common clones in the East Hill Bridge library were closely related to the obligate acetate-utilising Methanosaeta concilii, suggesting they may be important methanogens in these sediments. Clones that group closely with M. concilii appear to be ubiquitous in freshwater sediments and we suggest that they are prime candidates for a globally important acetoclastic methanogenic group. The distribution of clones in the East Hill Bridge and Colne Point libraries implies that certain methanogen groups are generalists, adapted to the range of conditions within an estuarine environment (e.g. Methanogenium) while others are more specialist (e.g. Methanosaeta).
Effects of vildagliptin (Galvus®) therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus after heart transplantation

Background Type 2 Diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a common comorbidity in patients after heart transplantation (HTx) and is associated with adverse long-term outcomes. Methods The retrospective study reported here analyzed the effects of vildagliptin therapy in stable patients post-HTx with T2DM and compared these with control patients for matched-pairs analysis. A total of 30 stable patients post-HTx with T2DM were included in the study. Fifteen patients (mean age 58.6 ± 6.0 years, mean time post-HTx 4.9 ± 5.3 years, twelve male and three female) were included in the vildagliptin group (VG) and 15 patients were included in the control group (CG) (mean age 61.2 ± 8.3 years, mean time post-HTx 7.2 ± 6.6 years, all male). Results Mean glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in the VG was 7.4% ± 0.7% before versus 6.8% ± 0.8% after 8 months of vildagliptin therapy (P = 0.002 vs baseline). In the CG, HbA1c was 7.0% ± 0.7% versus 7.3% ± 1.2% at follow-up (P = 0.21). Additionally, there was a significant reduction in mean blood glucose in the VG, from 165.0 ± 18.8 mg/dL to 147.9 ± 22.7 mg/dL (P = 0.002 vs baseline), whereas mean blood glucose increased slightly in the CG from 154.7 ± 19.7 mg/dL to 162.6 ± 35.0 mg/dL (P = 0.21). No statistically significant changes in body weight (from 83.3 ± 10.8 kg to 82.0 ± 10.9 kg, P = 0.20), total cholesterol (1.5%, P = 0.68), or triglyceride levels (8.0%, P = 0.65) were seen in the VG. No significant changes in immunosuppressive drug levels or dosages were observed in either group. Conclusion Vildagliptin therapy significantly reduced HbA1c and mean blood glucose levels in post-HTx patients in this study with T2DM and did not have any negative effects on lipid profile or body weight. Thus, vildagliptin therapy presented an interesting therapeutic approach for this selected patient cohort.
Design and Methods Patients

Imatinib induces a complete cytogenetic response (CCR) in over 80% of newly diagnosed patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase (CP), and in 41% of patients in first CP (CP1) after failure of interferon-a treatment. In a landmark study, achievement of CCR was associated with progression-free survival, while patients who failed to attain CCR had a significant risk of relapse. Predicting failure to achieve CCR would be clinically relevant, as patients unlikely to respond to standard treatment may benefit from more aggressive up-front therapy, such as higher doses of imatinib. As the mechanisms underlying cytogenetic refractoriness are unknown, we decided to explore gene expression profiling for identification of genes associated with failure to achieve CCR. Expression profiling has been shown to allow prediction of patients’ responses to treatment in several hematologic malignancies, including the response of Philadelphia-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia to imatinib.
Nightmare distress as a mediator between nightmare frequency and suicidal ideation.

Previous studies investigating the relationship between nightmares and suicidal ideation have been equivocal. In this study, we investigated the role of nightmare distress in the relationship between nightmare frequency and suicidal ideation. Study participants were 280 undergraduate students (Mage 21.84, 2.14 SD, 77.9% women), who answered “yes” to experiencing nightmares in the past year. All participants completed questionnaires on nightmare frequency (Nightmare Frequency Questionnaire), nightmare distress (Nightmare Distress Questionnaire), suicidal ideation (Depressive Symptom Inventory—Suicidality Subscale), and insomnia (Insomnia Severity Index). Mediation analyses determined that nightmare distress fully mediated the relationship between nightmare frequency and suicidal ideation after controlling for insomnia. Although the total effect on the relationship between nightmare frequency and suicidal ideation (B .21, SE .08, p .009), the direct effects of nightmare frequency on suicidal ideation were not significant after accounting for the effects of nightmare distress and insomnia (B .12, SE .08, p .16). Additionally, the indirect effect of nightmare distress on the relationship between nightmare frequency and suicidal ideation was significant bootstrapped 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.0306, 0.1946]. Finally, gender moderated the mediated effect of nightmare distress between nightmare frequency and suicidal ideation. Our results support that both nightmare frequency and nightmare distress should be evaluated in clinical and research settings, especially for women, in the context of suicidal risk assessment.
The Geography of Equity Analysis

I provide evidence that geographically proximate analysts are more accurate than other analysts. Stock returns immediately surrounding forecast revisions suggest that local analysts impact prices more than other analysts. These effects are strongest for firms located in small cities and remote areas. Collectively these results suggest that geographically proximate analysts possess an information advantage over other analysts, and that this advantage translates into better performance. The well-documented underwriter affiliation bias in stock recommendations is concentrated among distant affiliated analysts; recommendations by local affiliated analysts are unbiased. This finding reveals a geographic component to the agency problems in the industry.
Efficacité de l’approche « logement d’abord » : une revue systématique

Les personnes itinerantes aux prises avec des problemes de sante mentale et de toxicomanie qui souhaitent obtenir un logement se butent a des programmes dans lesquels l’abstinence et les traitements psychiatriques sont obligatoires. Ce type de programmes se base sur l’approche « traitement d’abord » selon laquelle ces personnes doivent d’abord etre traitees avant de pouvoir aller en logement.Cette approche est remise en question et un changement de paradigme s’opere a la suite de l’implantation aux Etats-Unis du modele Pathways to Housing. Ce modele est fonde sur le principe qu’une personne doit etre logee avant de pouvoir se concentrer sur ses autres besoins. Les logements prives sont privilegies dans ce modele et ceux-ci sont offerts conjointement avec un soutien d’intensite variable ou un suivi intensif dans la communaute.Le modele Pathways to Housing a influence la creation de plusieurs programmes hybrides bases sur l’approche « logement d’abord » combinee a une offre de services et de logements diversifies. Cette approche est basee sur la meme philosophie d’obligation minimale que le modele original, voulant que les personnes n’aient pas a etre abstinentes ou a suivre un traitement psychiatrique pour acceder a un logement.Au Canada, le gouvernement envisage de subventionner principalement les programmes bases sur cette approche. Cette annonce a mene a un soulevement au Quebec, notamment en raison des logements sociaux qui y sont actuellement priorises.Cet article presente les resultats d’une revue systematique de la litterature realisee afin de statuer sur l’efficacite des programmes bases sur l’approche « logement d’abord ». Les resultats de cette revue nous permettent de conclure que la mise en place au Quebec de programmes bases sur cette approche devrait etre favorisee. Les modalites et interventions offertes dans ces programmes auraient egalement avantage a etre diversifiees.
Outage Probability Analysis of Practical Multiuser Scheduling Schemes with Limited Feedback

This work analyzes the outage probability of fair physical layer schedulers that select a pair of orthogonal users for simultaneous transmission. These schemes rest on finite-rate channel state information compatible with 3GPP specifications and differ with respect to their usage of channel quality indicator in scheduling decisions. Closed-form approximations for the outage probability of these practical transmission schemes are derived. Important outage capacity gains are observed when these multiuser scheduling strategies are compared to the scheme that transmits sequentially to only one user at a time.
A Mandarin to Taiwanese Min Nan Machine Translation System with Speech Synthesis of Taiwanese Min Nan

This paper presents a design of a Mand arin to Taiwanese Min Nan (abbreviated as Taiwanese hereafter) machine translation system. It is the first machine translation system which focuses on these two languages. An input Mandarin sentence is segmented, tagged and translated word by word according to the part of speech of each word. The candidates come from a Mandarin-Taiwanese dictionary. If more than one candidate exists, an example base is consulted. When a Mandarin word is not found in the Mandarin-Taiwanese dictionary, it is translated according to a SingleCharacter dictionary. The output can be in terms of either speech or text. For speech output, we also deal with the tone sa ndhi problem in changing the tone of each Taiwanese syllable. Because the mapping between Taiwanese syllables and Chinese characters is still a subject of disagreement, and the phonetic spelling coding systems are not familiar to everybody, speech output is useful but is also a challenge.
Object detection and modeling algorithm for automatic visual people counting system

This paper presents object detection and modeling algorithm for automatic visual people counting system to identify individuals from top view images acquired from an overhead surveillance camera. This work proposes Snake algorithm with effective external energy function and a half-circle template initialization for modeling passengers. The experiment result showed that the proposed method could fit the Snake to the head and shoulder boundaries of the passengers effectively. Fitting error of 3.76 pixels per control point was obtained in our experiment. The information is not only useful for verifying humans but also for extracting appearance features to enhance performance of the subsequent tracking algorithm.
Organization of modular networks

We examine the global organization of heterogeneous equilibrium networks consisting of a number of well-distinguished interconnected parts-"communities" or modules. We develop an analytical approach allowing us to obtain the statistics of connected components and the intervertex distance distribution in these modular networks, and to describe their global organization and structure. In particular, we study the evolution of the intervertex distance distribution with an increasing number of interlinks connecting two infinitely large uncorrelated networks. We demonstrate that even a relatively small number of shortcuts unite the networks into one. In more precise terms, if the number of interlinks is any finite fraction of the total number of connections, then the intervertex distance distribution approaches a delta -function peaked form, and so the network is united.
Previous Leisure-Time Physical Activity Dose Dependently Decreases Ischemic Stroke Severity

In the present subanalysis of a cross-sectional study showing the favorable effect of prior transient ischemia, leisure-time physical activity, and lipid-lowering drug therapy on stroke severity, we aimed to evaluate whether previous physical activity was dose dependently associated to minor stroke (NIHSS 0–3) and to identify possible underlying factors. Among 362 consecutive patients, less severe stroke was related to weekly exercise duration prior to stroke (no exercise: 36.1%; <2 hours: 49.3%; 2–5 hours: 58.8%; >5 hours: 64.0%; P = 0.003). Only weak and moderate exercise practices were protective (weak: 50.0%; moderate: 79.3%; heavy: 22.2%; P < 0.0001). Such a beneficial effect was observed independently of age and was associated with a trend to a lower frequency of arterial hypertension, alcohol abuse, and a better metabolic profile. Besides other therapeutic approaches, physical activity may be a simple way to decrease cerebral ischemia severity.