Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Atrial Arrhythmias in Adults With Congenital Heart Disease

Background— Atrial arrhythmias increase disease burden in the general adult population. Adults with congenital heart lesions constitute a rapidly growing group of patients with cardiovascular disease. We hypothesized that atrial arrhythmias increase with age and impair health outcomes in this population. Methods and Results— We conducted a population-based analysis of prevalence, lifetime risk, mortality, and morbidity associated with atrial arrhythmias in adults with congenital heart disease from l983 to 2005. In 38 428 adults with congenital heart disease in 2005, 5812 had atrial arrhythmias. Overall, the 20-year risk of developing atrial arrhythmia was 7% in a 20-year-old subject and 38% in a 50-year-old subject. More than 50% of patients with severe congenital heart disease reaching age 18 years developed atrial arrhythmias by age 65 years. In patients with congenital heart disease, the hazard ratio of any adverse event in those with atrial arrhythmias compared with those without was 2.50 (95% confidence interval, 2.38 to 2.62; P<0.0001), with a near 50% increase in mortality (hazard ratio, 1.47; 95% confidence interval, 1.37 to 1.58; P<0.001), more than double the risk of morbidity (stroke or heart failure) (hazard ratio, 2.21; 95% confidence interval, 2.07 to 2.36; P<0.001), and 3 times the risk of cardiac interventions (hazard ratio, 3.00; 95% confidence interval, 2.81 to 3.20; P<0.001). Conclusions— Atrial arrhythmias occurred in 15% of adults with congenital heart disease. The lifetime incidence increased steadily with age and was associated with a doubling of the risk of adverse events. An increase in resource allocation should be anticipated to deal with this increasing burden.
Counting Spanning Trees ∗

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the modern study of spanning trees. A spanning tree for a graph G is a subgraph of G that is a tree and contains all the vertices of G. There are many situations in which good spanning trees must be found. Whenever one wants to find a simple, cheap, yet efficient way to connect a set of terminals, be they computers, telephones, factories, or cities, a solution is normally one kind of spanning trees. Spanning trees prove important for several reasons:
Diversity Embedded Space–Time Codes

Rate and diversity impose a fundamental tradeoff in wireless communication. High-rate space-time codes come at a cost of lower reliability (diversity), and high reliability (diversity) implies a lower rate. However, wireless networks need to support applications with very different quality-of-service (QoS) requirements, and it is natural to ask what characteristics should be built into the physical layer link in order to accommodate them. In this paper, we design high-rate space-time codes that have a high-diversity code embedded within them. This allows a form of communication where the high-rate code opportunistically takes advantage of good channel realizations while the embedded high-diversity code provides guarantees that at least part of the information is received reliably. We provide constructions of linear and nonlinear codes for a fixed transmit alphabet constraint. The nonlinear constructions are a natural generalization to wireless channels of multilevel codes developed for the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel that are matched to binary partitions of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and phase-shift keying (PSK) constellations. The importance of set-partitioning to code design for the wireless channel is that it provides a mechanism for translating constraints in the binary domain into lower bounds on diversity protection in the complex domain. We investigate the systems implications of embedded diversity codes by examining value to unequal error protection, rate opportunism, and packet delay optimization. These applications demonstrate that diversity-embedded codes have the potential to outperform traditional single-layer codes in moderate signal-to-noise (SNR) regimes.
Determinants of undergraduate business student satisfaction

An analysis of the determinants of overall student satisfaction of 1,212 business seniors was conducted using the Undergraduate Business Exit Assessment. A factor analysis of the student’s responses resulted in the determination of eight factors which are distinct from those proposed by the providers of this standardized instrument: (a) self-confidence, (b) satisfaction with the curriculum, instruction, and classes, (c) satisfaction with quality of teaching of subject matter, (d) satisfaction with extra-curricular activities and career opportunities, (e) satisfaction with student advising, (f) quality of teaching and instructor feedback, (g) satisfaction with computing facilities, and (h) satisfaction with student quality and interaction. Stepwise regression analysis was used to determine the strength of the relationship between those factors and three alternative measures of overall satisfaction: (a) were expectations met? ; (b) what is the value of the educational investment made? ; and (c) would you recommend the program to a friend? Regression results show that advising and quality of teaching in the subject matter have little or no effect on overall student satisfaction. Self-confidence, extra-curricular activities and career opportunities, and quality of teaching in general are the factors with greater impact on satisfaction. The results of the analysis are discussed and directions for further study are suggested.
High Resolution Discovery Proteomics Reveals Candidate Disease Progression Markers of Alzheimer’s Disease in Human Cerebrospinal Fluid

Disease modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) constitute a major goal in medicine. Current trends suggest that biomarkers reflective of AD neuropathology and modifiable by treatment would provide supportive evidence for disease modification. Nevertheless, a lack of quantitative tools to assess disease modifying treatment effects remains a major hurdle. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biochemical markers such as total tau, p-tau and Ab42 are well established markers of AD; however, global quantitative biochemical changes in CSF in AD disease progression remain largely uncharacterized. Here we applied a high resolution open discovery platform, dMS, to profile a cross-sectional cohort of lumbar CSF from post-mortem diagnosed AD patients versus those from non-AD/non-demented (control) patients. Multiple markers were identified to be statistically significant in the cohort tested. We selected two markers SME-1 (p<0.0001) and SME-2 (p = 0.0004) for evaluation in a second independent longitudinal cohort of human CSF from post-mortem diagnosed AD patients and age-matched and case-matched control patients. In cohort-2, SME-1, identified as neuronal secretory protein VGF, and SME-2, identified as neuronal pentraxin receptor-1 (NPTXR), in AD were 21% (p = 0.039) and 17% (p = 0.026) lower, at baseline, respectively, than in controls. Linear mixed model analysis in the longitudinal cohort estimate a decrease in the levels of VGF and NPTXR at the rate of 10.9% and 6.9% per year in the AD patients, whereas both markers increased in controls. Because these markers are detected by mass spectrometry without the need for antibody reagents, targeted MS based assays provide a clear translation path for evaluating selected AD disease-progression markers with high analytical precision in the clinic.
Conditions for Sustainability of the Elephant Marsh Fishery in Malawi

The Elephant Marsh, a wetland in Southern Malawi, is important for small-scale fisheries. It is managed by local institutions, which are not formally linked to any state institutions. This paper uses qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to examine factors for sustainability at 24 fishing villages around the wetland using a hypothesis that “If strong local institutions (with or without government support) exist in an environment where resource users take collective action, and there is no or minimal conflictive interference, small-scale fisheries become sustainable”. It was revealed that the sustainability of small-scale fisheries management at Elephant Marsh relies heavily on the strength of local fisheries’ committees. Future interventions on fisheries management at the resource should, therefore, pay particular attention to protecting and (re)building collective social capital, especially in the leadership of fisheries committees.
When mobile phones expand into handheld tabletops

Future mobile devices that feature a rollout display will be able to act as a relatively large interactive surface on-the-go. This will allow for novel collaborative usages in mobile settings. In this paper, we explore several dimensions of the design space of such "handheld tabletop" devices. We will illustrate our thoughts by means of a first prototype. Early evaluation results indicate that it effectively supports mobile social encounters.
Identification of a region which directs the monocytic activity of the colony-stimulating factor 1 (macrophage colony-stimulating factor) receptor promoter and binds PEBP2/CBF (AML1)

The receptor for the macrophage colony-stimulating factor (or colony-stimulating factor 1 [CSF-1]) is expressed from different promoters in monocytic cells and placental trophoblasts. We have demonstrated that the monocyte-specific expression of the CSF-1 receptor is regulated at the level of transcription by a tissue-specific promoter whose activity is stimulated by the monocyte/B-cell-specific transcription factor PU.1 (D.-E. Zhang, C.J. Hetherington, H.-M. Chen, and D.G. Tenen, Mol. Cell. Biol. 14:373-381, 1994). Here we report that the tissue specificity of this promoter is also mediated by sequences in a region II (bp -88 to -59), which lies 10 bp upstream from the PU.1-binding site. When analyzed by DNase footprinting, region II was protected preferentially in monocytic cells. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays confirmed that region II interacts specifically with nuclear proteins from monocytic cells. Two gel shift complexes (Mono A and Mono B) were formed with separate sequence elements within this region. Competition and supershift experiments indicate that Mono B contains a member of the polyomavirus enhancer-binding protein 2/core-binding factor (PEBP2/CBF) family, which includes the AML1 gene product, while Mono A is a distinct complex preferentially expressed in monocytic cells. Promoter constructs with mutations in these sequence elements were no longer expressed specifically in monocytes. Furthermore, multimerized region II sequence elements enhanced the activity of a heterologous thymidine kinase promoter in monocytic cells but not other cell types tested. These results indicate that the monocyte/B-cell-specific transcription factor PU.1 and the Mono A and Mono B protein complexes act in concert to regulate monocyte-specific transcription of the CSF-1 receptor.
Multiple pulmonary nodules in an asymptomatic patient.

A 49-year-old black woman presented after an initial radiologic evaluation of her shoulder incidentally revealed the presence of multiple pulmonary nodules. The asymptomatic patient denied dyspnea, cough, sputum production, hemoptysis, or fever. There was no history of malignancy. Her history included only a hysterectomy and left-sided oophorectomy performed approximately 12 years earlier for uterine fibroids. A chest roentgenogram revealed multiple pulmonary nodules scattered throughout both lung fields (Fig 1). CT of the chest (Fig 2) demonstrated innumerable, moderately well-circumscribed nodules ranging in size from a few millimeters to 2 cm. A pericardial effusion was also identified (Fig 3). Pulmonary function test results were relatively unremarkable, and an echocardiogram confirmed the presence of a small pericardial effusion with normal left ventricular function. A percutaneous biopsy was performed.
Meanings as Conceptual Structures

Cognitive semantics relates linguistic expressions to conceptual structures. The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for such a cognitive structure. As a preparation, Putnam's argument against intensional semantics as a theory of meaning is presented. Some of the main tenets of cognitive semantics as it has developed during the last years are outlined. The notion of a conceptual space is proposed as a central tool for representing semantic information. It is outlined how conceptual spaces can be used as a basis for a formal cognitive semantics.The model is then applied to some problems in lexical semantics, such as the effect of varying contrast classes.
A COMPUTATIONAL MODEL FOR LARGE-AMPLITUDE NONLINEAR VIBRATION OF CIRCULAR CMUTS UNDER PRIMARY RESONANCE

A computational multiphysics model for an electrically actuated clamped circular plate is developed. The Galerkin approach is used in order to transform the continuous model into a system having finite degrees of freedom. The discretized system is solved using the harmonic balance method (HBM) coupled with the asymptotic numerical method (ANM). The effects of the electrostatic excitation on the CMUT frequency responses are investigated for two set of design parameters. This model is an effective tool for MEMS designers to enhance the performances of CMUTs in term of generated acoustic power.
Overlap between the Neural Correlates of Cued Recall and Source Memory: Evidence for a Generic Recollection Network?

Recall of a studied item and retrieval of its encoding context (source memory) both depend on recollection of qualitative information about the study episode. This study investigated whether recall and source memory engage overlapping neural regions. Participants (n = 18) studied a series of words, which were presented either to the left or right of fixation. fMRI data were collected during a subsequent test phase in which three-letter word-stems were presented, two thirds of which could be completed by a study item. Instructions were to use each stem as a cue to recall a studied word and, when recall was successful, to indicate the word's study location. When recall failed, the stem was to be completed with the first word to come to mind. Relative to stems for which recall failed, word-stems eliciting successful recall were associated with enhanced activity in a variety of cortical regions, including bilateral parietal, posterior midline, and parahippocampal cortex. Activity in these regions was enhanced when recall was accompanied by successful rather than unsuccessful source retrieval. It is proposed that the regions form part of a “recollection network” in which activity is graded according to the amount of information retrieved about a study episode.
CodeAware: Sensor-Based Fine-Grained Monitoring and Management of Software Artifacts

Current continuous integration (CI) tools, although extensible, can be limiting in terms of flexibility. In particular, artifact analysis capabilities available through plug in mechanisms are both coarse-grained and centralized. To address this limitation, this paper introduces a new paradigm, Code Aware, for distributed and fine-grained artifact analysis. Code Aware is an ecosystem inspired by sensor networks, consisting of monitors and actuators, aimed at improving code quality and team productivity. Code ware's vision entails (a) the ability to probe software artifacts of any granularity and localization, from variables to classes or files to entire systems, (b) the ability to perform both static and dynamic analyses on these artifacts, and (c) the ability to describe targeted remediation actions, for example to notify interested developers, through automated actuators. We provide motivational examples for the use of Code Aware that leverage current CI solutions, sketch the architecture of its underlying ecosystem, and outline research challenges.
The thermal annealing effect on Crystal Structure and Morphology of Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) powder

In this research, crystal structure and morphology of TiO 2 (powder) has been observed. TiO 2 (powder) was heated by furnace unit at temperature 200 °C - 400 °C to obtain the relation of temperature influences to crystallty and morphology of TiO 2 . Structural characterization has been done using XRD whereas morphology using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) method. The result of this research showed that form of the TIO 2 structure was polycrystalline in which mostly dominated by crystal structure (101). Scherrer method used to obtain information that at temperature 300oC, TiO2 has a real small particle size less than 10 nm and large pore size to serve the purpose of photocatalyst material. Keywords : Crystal structure,crystalline size, photocatalyst, morphology, SEM, TiO 2 .
A Framework for User-Centered and Context-Aware Identity Management in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (UCIM)

The area of MANets (Mobile Ad-hoc Networks) is still in its infancy in the research community, but it plays a vital role surrounded by the growing trend of mobile technology for business as well as private and governmental uses. The concept of ubiquitous/pervasive computing is almost intrinsically tied to wireless communications. Emerging next-generation wireless networks enable innovative service access in every situation. Apart from many remote services, proximity services (context-awareness) will also be widely available. People currently rely on numerous forms of identities to access these services. The inconvenience of possessing and using these identities creates significant security vulnerability, especially from network and device point of view in MANet environments. The emergent notion of ubiquitous computing also makes it possible for mobile devices to communicate and provide services via networks connected in an ad-hoc manner. Digital identities are at the heart of many contemporary strategic innovations for crime prevention and detection, internal and external security, business models etc. This requires disclosing personal information and the applicability of contextual information as well as allowing users to be in control of their identities. In this paper we discuss the requirements for the development of an innovative, easy-to-use identity management mechanism within MANet environments. We convey various possibilities, challenges, and research questions evolving in these areas. The issues of context-awareness, making use of partial identities as a way of user identity protection, and providing a better way for node identification are addressed. We also examine the area of user-centricity for MANets together with its security issues and implications. We propose a framework for MANets that makes the flow of partial identities explicit, gives users control over such identities based on the respective situation and context, and creates a balance between convenience and privacy .
Influence of the Strain on the Electrical Resistance of Zinc Oxide Doped Thin Film Deposited on Polymer Substrates

Tensile tests were performed on PET films coated with Al doped zinc oxide films by RF magnetron sputtering. During the tensile elongation, the electrical resistanceof the oxide was evaluated in situ. The results indicate that the increase in the electrical resistance is related to the crack debsity and crack width, which also depends on the film thickness.
High speed SAD architecture for variable block size motion estimation in HEVC encoder

Motion Estimation (ME) is the most time-consuming process in High Efficient Video Coding (HEVC) encoder. The calculation of Sum of Absolute Difference (SAD) between current block and reference block creates the highest computing load in ME process. Moreover, the block size in HEVC can expand up to 64×64 for real time applications, hence the complexity of variable block size SAD calculation increases sharply, and the calculation requires a lot of hardware resources. In this paper, a novel high speed SAD architecture for variable block size ME in HEVC encoder is proposed to reduce the hardware usage as well as the calculation time. The design is integrated with the other parts to make Integer Motion Estimation block as well. The evaluation results of the synthesized system implemented in 65nm Virtex-5 FPGA show that the max frequency of the proposed architecture obtains 190.785 MHz.
High-dimensional linear representations for robust speech recognition

Phoneme classification is investigated in linear feature domains with the aim of improving the robustness to additive noise. Linear feature domains allow for exact noise adaptation and so should result in more accurate classification than representations involving nonlinear processing and dimensionality reduction. We develop a generative framework for phoneme classification using linear features. We first show results for a representation consisting of concatenated frames from the centre of the phoneme, each containing f frames. As no single f is optimal for all phonemes, we further average over models with a range of values of f. Next we improve results by including information from the entire phoneme. In the presence of additive noise, classification in this framework performs better than an analogous PLP classifier, adapted to noise using cepstral mean and variance normalisation, below 18dB SNR.
Broadband multilayer antireflection coating in THz region

A new approach to the design and the realization of a broadband multilayer anti-reflection (AR) coating is proposed in this study. The binominal multi-section transformer is employed to efficiently determine the thickness and the refractive index of each matching layer, while those layers can be further realized by doping different fraction of subwavelength-size silicon powders (for relatively-high-index layers) or air pores (for relatively-low-index layers) into the low-loss HDPE polymer. Based on this scheme, we design a ten-layer AR coating for widely used silicon wafer. The designed AR coatings are double-side integrated with a 375-μm-thick silicon wafer, which is able to enhance the overall THz transmission to higher than 95.00% from 0.250 THz to 0.919 THz (114.46% bandwidth).
Blood Pressure May Be Associated with Arterial Collateralization in Anterior Circulation Ischemic Stroke before Acute Reperfusion Therapy

Background and Purpose Leptomeningeal collaterals maintain arterial perfusion in acute arterial occlusion but may fluctuate subject to arterial blood pressure (ABP). We aim to investigate the relationship between ABP and collaterals as assessed by computer tomography (CT) perfusion in acute ischemic stroke. Methods We retrospectively analyzed acute anterior circulation ischemic stroke patients with CT perfusion from 2009 to 2014. Collateral status using relative filling time delay (rFTD) determined by time delay of collateral-derived contrast opacification within the Sylvian fissure, from 0 seconds to unlimited count. The data were analyzed by zero-inflated negative binomial regression model including an appropriate interaction examining in the model in terms of occlusion location and onset-to-CT time (OCT). Results Two hundred and seventy patients were included. We found that increment of 10 mm Hg in BP, the odds that a patient would have rFTD equal to 0 seconds increased by 27.9% in systolic BP (SBP) (p=0.001), by 73.9% in diastolic BP (DBP) (p<0.001) and by 68.5% in mean BP (MBP) (p<0.001). For patients with rFTD not necessarily equal to 0 seconds, every 10 mm Hg increase in BP, there was a 7% decrease in expected count of seconds for rFTD in SBP (p=0.002), 10% decrease for rFTD in DBP and 11% decrease for rFTD in MBP. The arterial occlusion location and OCT showed no significant interaction in the BP-rFTD relationship (p>0.05). Conclusions In acute ischemic stroke, higher ABP is possibly associated with improved leptomeningeal collaterals as identified by decreased rFTD.