Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long term strength development of lime stabilized soils

To study the long term strength development of lime stabilized soils, samples were prepared using different types of soil and varying lime content and compaction condition. The unconfined compression tests were carried out on stabilized samples at 7, 28, 90, 180 and 360 days. The unconfined compressive strength of stabilized soil was also determined after soaking the specimen in water. Three types of soil, collected from Dhaka and adjacent areas, were used for the research work. Two soils were MLlCL type and the other one was CL type according to Unified Soil Classification System. Slaked lime was used as a stabilizer. The unconfined compressive strength of the soil was increased when it was stabilized with lime. The gain in strength was found to depend on a number of factors, such as lime content, soil type, curing time, mellowing time, compaction energy etc. For a particular curing period soil stabilized with higher percentages of lime showed higher compressive strength. / The CL type soil was found more suitable for lime stabilization. It attained reasonably high strength with small quantity of lime. The unconfined compressive strength of lime treated CL type soil was higher than MLlCL type soil for a given lime content and curing period. Soil containing organic matters (about 2%) need high lime content and longer curing period for stabilization. The strength of lime stabilized soil continued to increase with curing period. The rate of gain in strength was not constant with time. Initially the rate of gain in strength was high, after that the rate decreased. The soils stabilized with lower . ~ amount (3%) of lime did not show increase of strength after 180 days of curing period. But with higher amount of lime (5%, 7%), the strength increased beyond 180 days. The 360-day strength of the lime stabilized soil was appreciably higher than the 28-day strength. This was pronounced when stabilized with higher percentages of lime.
Biochemical markers for the assessment of pollution of selected small streams in the Czech Republic.

OBJECTIVES The objective of the presented study was to investigate levels of the most important biochemical markers in fish which were caught upstream and downstream from sites near waste water treatment plants situated at 3 selected small streams of the Czech Republic. Organic pollutants and mercury were determined in muscle tissue of fish for complex assessment. DESIGN Levels of biochemical markers (cytochrome P450 (CYP450), ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD), glutathione S-transferase (GST), vitellogenin (VTG)) were measured in selected tissues (liver, plasma, brain, gill and kidney) samples of brown trout. The concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury were determined in muscle samples. RESULTS Significantly higher levels of biochemical markers (EROD, GST, VTG) were measured downstream from waste water treatment plant (WWTP) in Vlachovo Březí (the small Libotýňský brook). Values of biochemical markers at the other localities Černý brook and Moravice River were measured downstream from WWTP consistently or slightly lower with values of upstream. The values of POPs and mercury were in all monitored sites higher upstream compared with downstream from WWTP. The highest values of POPs and mercury were found on Černý brook in Bruntál (more industrial and agricultural activity). CONCLUSION The highest occurrence of selected POPs and mercury was generally upstream suggesting that small WWTP are able to partially remove these substances in those locations. But finding higher values of biochemical markers in downstream shows that there are many other substances endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that WWTP are unable to remove.
Interactions between motion and form processing in the human visual system

The predominant view of motion and form processing in the human visual system assumes that these two attributes are handled by separate and independent modules. Motion processing involves filtering by direction-selective sensors, followed by integration to solve the aperture problem. Form processing involves filtering by orientation-selective and size-selective receptive fields, followed by integration to encode object shape. It has long been known that motion signals can influence form processing in the well-known Gestalt principle of common fate; texture elements which share a common motion property are grouped into a single contour or texture region. However, recent research in psychophysics and neuroscience indicates that the influence of form signals on motion processing is more extensive than previously thought. First, the salience and apparent direction of moving lines depends on how the local orientation and direction of motion combine to match the receptive field properties of motion-selective neurons. Second, orientation signals generated by “motion-streaks” influence motion processing; motion sensitivity, apparent direction and adaptation are affected by simultaneously present orientation signals. Third, form signals generated by human body shape influence biological motion processing, as revealed by studies using point-light motion stimuli. Thus, form-motion integration seems to occur at several different levels of cortical processing, from V1 to STS.
Modulating Mitochondrial Intracellular Location as a Redox Signal

Hypoxia induces the redistribution of mitochondria to promote transcriptional responses to low oxygen. Mitochondria have various essential functions in metabolism and in determining cell fate during apoptosis. In addition, mitochondria are also important nodes in a number of signaling pathways. For example, mitochondria can modulate signals transmitted by second messengers such as calcium. Because mitochondria are also major sources of reactive oxygen species (ROS), they can contribute to redox signaling—for example, by the production of ROS such as hydrogen peroxide that can reversibly modify cysteine residues and thus the activity of target proteins. Mitochondrial ROS production is thought to play a role in hypoxia signaling by stabilizing the oxygen-sensitive transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor–1α. New evidence has extended the mechanism of mitochondrial redox signaling in cellular responses to hypoxia in interesting and unexpected ways. Hypoxia altered the microtubule-dependent transport of mitochondria so that the organelles accumulated in the perinuclear region, where they increased the intranuclear concentration of ROS. The increased ROS in turn enhanced the expression of hypoxia-sensitive genes such as VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) not by reversibly oxidizing a protein, but by oxidizing DNA sequences in the hypoxia response element of the VEGF promoter. This paper and other recent work suggest a new twist on mitochondrial signaling: that the redistribution of mitochondria within the cell can be a component of regulatory pathways.
Correlates of change in functional status of institutionalized geriatric schizophrenic patients: focus on medical comorbidity.

OBJECTIVE Impairment in basic self-care skills is common in patients with schizophrenia and is even more severe in elderly patients with a chronic course of institutional care. While cognitive impairment has proven to be a major predictor of overall functional deficit in schizophrenia, other potential factors, such as medical comorbidity, need to be considered. METHOD Geriatric institutionalized schizophrenic patients (N=124) were assessed three times over 4 years to determine levels of positive and negative symptoms, impairment in activities of daily living, impairment in cognitive functioning, and medical problems. Path analysis was used to determine which variables best predicted changes in self-care functions. RESULTS Functional status, negative symptoms, cognitive functions, and health status all significantly worsened during the follow-up. The path analyses showed that change in health status did not predict change in activities of daily living after the analysis accounted for negative symptoms and cognitive functions. DISCUSSION The results highlight the relative importance of cognitive impairments in the functional impairments of older schizophrenic patients with increased medical burden.
Importance of Fractional b Value for Calculating Apparent Diffusion Coefficient in DWI.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to examine how the fractional b value affects the calculation of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) using DWI. The fractional b value is the point of intersection between the fast and slow components of biexponential decay in DWI. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Human brains were imaged using multiple b values on echo-planar DWI. The ADCs of white matter, gray matter, and thalamus were calculated using the combination of b values by two-point and multipoint methods, and the characteristics of each ADC value were compared. RESULTS When the two selected points for calculation were smaller than the fractional b value (b = 1700 s/mm2), the ADC value was 0.0007-0.0008 mm2/s, but when the two points used for calculation were greater than the fractional b value, the ADC value was 0.0003-0.0004 mm2/s. When a range of b values was included in the fast and slow components by use of the multipoint method, the ADC value showed a statistically significant increase as the number of multiple b values increased. CONCLUSION The ADC value fluctuated when the b values used for calculation were higher than the fractional b value. Therefore, it is important to determine the fractional b value of the target tissue.
Partitioning the variables for alternating optimization of real-valued scalar fields

Summary form only given, as follows. Let x be a real-valued scalar field, partitioned into t subsets of non-overlapping variables X/sub i/ (i=1, ., t). Alternating optimization (AO) is an iterative procedure for minimizing (or maximizing) the function f(x)= f(X/sub 1/, X/sub 2/, ., X/sub t/) jointly over all variables by alternating restricted minimizations (or maximizations) over the individual subsets of variables X/sub 1/, . , X/sub t/. AO is the basis for the c-means clustering algorithm (t=2), many forms of vector quantization (t = 2, 3 and 4) and the expectation maximization algorithm (t=4) for normal mixture decomposition. First we review where and how AO fits into the overall optimization landscape. Then we state (without proofs) two new theorems that give very general local and global convergence and rate-of-convergence results which hold for all partitionings of x. Finally, we discuss the important problem of choosing a "best" partitioning of the input variables for the AO approach. We show that the number of possible AO iteration schemes is larger than the number of standard partitions of the input variables. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate that the selection of the t subsets of x has an important effect on the rate of convergence of the corresponding AO algorithm to a solution.
Less Empathic and More Reactive: The Different Impact of Childhood Maltreatment on Facial Mimicry and Vagal Regulation

Facial mimicry and vagal regulation represent two crucial physiological responses to others’ facial expressions of emotions. Facial mimicry, defined as the automatic, rapid and congruent electromyographic activation to others’ facial expressions, is implicated in empathy, emotional reciprocity and emotions recognition. Vagal regulation, quantified by the computation of Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA), exemplifies the autonomic adaptation to contingent social cues. Although it has been demonstrated that childhood maltreatment induces alterations in the processing of the facial expression of emotions, both at an explicit and implicit level, the effects of maltreatment on children’s facial mimicry and vagal regulation in response to facial expressions of emotions remain unknown. The purpose of the present study was to fill this gap, involving 24 street-children (maltreated group) and 20 age-matched controls (control group). We recorded their spontaneous facial electromyographic activations of corrugator and zygomaticus muscles and RSA responses during the visualization of the facial expressions of anger, fear, joy and sadness. Results demonstrated a different impact of childhood maltreatment on facial mimicry and vagal regulation. Maltreated children did not show the typical positive-negative modulation of corrugator mimicry. Furthermore, when only negative facial expressions were considered, maltreated children demonstrated lower corrugator mimicry than controls. With respect to vagal regulation, whereas maltreated children manifested the expected and functional inverse correlation between RSA value at rest and RSA response to angry facial expressions, controls did not. These results describe an early and divergent functional adaptation to hostile environment of the two investigated physiological mechanisms. On the one side, maltreatment leads to the suppression of the spontaneous facial mimicry normally concurring to empathic understanding of others’ emotions. On the other side, maltreatment forces the precocious development of the functional synchronization between vagal regulation and threatening social cues facilitating the recruitment of fight-or-flight defensive behavioral strategies.
CORVET and HOPS tethering complexes – coordinators of endosome and lysosome fusion

Summary Protein and lipid transport along the endolysosomal system of eukaryotic cells depends on multiple fusion and fission events. Over the past few years, the molecular constituents of both fission and fusion machineries have been identified. Here, we focus on the mechanism of membrane fusion at endosomes, vacuoles and lysosomes, and in particular on the role of the two homologous tethering complexes called CORVET and HOPS. Both complexes are heterohexamers; they share four subunits, interact with Rab GTPases and soluble NSF attachment protein receptors (SNAREs) and can tether membranes. Owing to the presence of specific subunits, CORVET is a Rab5 effector complex, whereas HOPS can bind efficiently to late endosomes and lysosomes through Rab7. Based on the recently described overall structure of the HOPS complex and a number of in vivo and in vitro analyses, important insights into their function have been obtained. Here, we discuss the general function of both complexes in yeast and in metazoan cells in the context of endosomal biogenesis and maturation.
Estimating Entropy and Entropy Norm on Data Streams

We consider the problem of computing information-theoretic functions, such as entropy, on a data stream, using sublinear space. Our first result deals with a measure we call the entropy norm of an input stream: it is closely related to entropy but is structurally similar to the well-studied notion of frequency moments. We give a polylogarithmic-space, one-pass algorithm for estimating this norm under certain conditions on the input stream. We also prove a lower bound that rules out such an algorithm if these conditions do not hold. Our second group of results is for estimating the empirical entropy of an input stream. We first present a sublinear-space, one-pass algorithm for this problem. For a stream of m items and a given real parameter α, our algorithm uses space Õ(m 2α) and provides an approximation of 1/α in the worst case and (1+ε) in "most" cases. We then present a two-pass, polylogarithmic-space, (1+ε)-approximation algorithm. All our algorithms are quite simple.
Experimental characterization of a highlly nonlinear fiber

In this paper we present an experimental characterization of a highly nonlinear silica fiber. It includes the determination of the fiber effective nonlinear parameter using the nonlinear four-wave mixing process. From the experimental results, a value γ = 10.6 W−1 km−1 has been obtained for the nonlinear parameter in the co-polarized case, which was reduced to γ = 9.4 W−1 km−1 in the case of a decorrelated state of polarization between pump and signal waves. A threshold power of 17.8mW was found for the stimulated Brillouin scattering process. A Raman gain curve extending over a frequency range of 25 THz, with a peak value shifted by 13.1 THz from the pump frequency, was also measured.
Interferometry-based measurements of oil-film thickness

Abstract Measurement of the thickness of thin lubricant films separating rotating surfaces in elastohydrodynamic experiments presents some challenging problems. The nature of the experimental apparatus inhibits the use of most commonly applied interferometric phase measurement methods. Also the absolute thickness of the separating film must be determined, as opposed to relative distances that would be sufficient in most other measurement scenarios where interferometry methods are used. In this paper, computer-based analysis of interferograms recorded using an elastohydrodynamic lubrication Fitzeu interferometer (a so-called ball-and-disc apparatus) is discussed, the main objective being to extract the absolute oil-film thickness. Intensity based methods (most importantly, calibration look-up procedures where colour parameters from recorded dynamic interferograms are compared with table values corresponding to known film thicknesses, but also a phase measurement approach based on multi-channel interferometry using trichromatic light) are described. A discussion regarding compensation for measurement errors due to the pressure dependence of the refractive index of the lubricant is also included.
Head-down Posture in Glaucoma Suspects Induces Changes in IOP, Systemic Pressure, and PERG That Predict Future Loss of Optic Nerve Tissue

Purpose: To obtain pilot data on posture-induced changes of intraocular pressure (IOP), systemic pressure, and pattern electroretinogram (PERG) predictive of future optic nerve tissue loss glaucoma suspects (GSs). Methods: Mean peripapillary retinal fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) was measured with optical coherence tomography 2 times/year in 28 GS aged 58±8.9 years over 5.0±0.73 years. All patients had a baseline PERG, IOP, and brachial blood pressure measurements in the seated and −10 degrees head-down-body-tilt (HDT) position. Outcome measures were seated/HDT PERG amplitude and phase, IOP, mean arterial blood pressure, and estimated ocular perfusion pressure. An additional group of 11 similarly aged controls aged 56.9±13 years was tested for comparison. Results: Although all GS had initial RNFLT in the normal range, 9/28 of them developed significant (P<0.05) loss of mean RNFLT [thinners (T)] over the follow-up period as opposed to 19/28 who did not [nonthinners (NT)]. Significant (P<0.05) differences between similarly aged controls, NT, and T were found in PERG amplitude, PERG phase, mean arterial blood pressure, IOP, and ocular perfusion pressure. A nominal logistic regression using baseline PERG and hemodynamic variables was able to distinguish T from NT with an area under receiving operator characteristic of 0.89 (SE, 0.07). Conclusions: Baseline PERG, IOP, and systemic blood pressure, together with their changes upon HDT, may have predictive value for future loss of optic nerve tissue in GS. This study supports the rationale for a full-scale clinical trial to identify patients at high risk of development of glaucoma.
Prevalence, concordance, and heritability of Scheuermann kyphosis based on a study of twins.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to establish a cohort of symptomatic twins with Scheuermann kyphosis to provide estimates of prevalence, concordance, odds ratio, and heritability. These estimates indicate to what extent genetic factors contribute to the etiology of this disease. METHODS The Odense-based Danish Twin Registry is unique in that it contains data on all 73,000 twin pairs born in Denmark over the last 130 years. For the present study, all 46,418 twins born from 1931 through 1982 received a seventeen-page questionnaire, in which one question was "Have you been diagnosed with Scheuermann disease by a doctor"? The prevalence of self-reported Scheuermann disease was calculated, with the total number of answers used as the general population. Pairwise and probandwise concordance, odds ratio, tetrachoric correlations, and heritability were calculated. RESULTS We found that the overall prevalence of Scheuermann disease was 2.8%, with a prevalence of 2.1% among women and 3.6% among men (p < 0.0001). The pairwise concordance for monozygotic twins was 0.19 compared with 0.07 for dizygotic twins. The probandwise concordance was 0.31 for monozygotic twins and 0.13 for dizygotic twins. The odds ratios were 32.92 and 6.25 in the monozygotic and dizygotic twins, respectively. These differences were significant (p < 0.01). Heritability was 74%. CONCLUSIONS In a large cohort of twins that included almost 35,000 individuals, the self-reported overall prevalence of Scheuermann disease was 2.8% and the male-to-female ratio was close to 2:1. Because the pairwise and probandwise concordance and the odds ratio were two to three times higher in monozygotic than in dizygotic twins and the heritability was high, we concluded that there is a major genetic contribution to the etiology of Scheuermann disease.
7 Long-Term Monitoring : An Overview

This chapter consists of two parts. In the first part, we will review the indications for longterm EEG monitoring in the diagnosis and management of epilepsy. This will include the differentiation of seizures and epilepsy, appropriate diagnostic and treatment options, the techniques and methods used in the EEG monitoring (ambulatory – hospital-based noninvasive and invasive video/EEG telemetry), commercially available monitoring systems, and presurgical evaluation of candidates for epilepsy surgery. In the second part, we will focus on the continuous EEG monitoring in the Intensive care unit (ICU). In doing so, we will describe which ICU patients should undergo continuous EEG (cEEG) monitoring; how long such patients should be monitored? We will review the epidemiology of nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) and the pathological EEG patterns commonly occurring in the critically ill patient, including NCSE and periodic epileptiform discharges (PEDs). We will discuss the methods which enable real time monitoring of seizures, and the adequate treatment of these seizures in a timely fashion. We will also discuss the hypothesis that progressive brain damage is occurring with NCSE or PEDs and also whether ICU patients with “controversial EEG patterns“ should receive aggressive treatment. Finally, we discuss the hypothesis that biomarkers, such as neuronspecific enolase (NSE), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques (diffusion and perfusion MRI) as well as MRSpectroscopy, allow to detect the EEG patterns which might result from brain damage or are associated with it.
Is Your Inseam a Biometric? A Case Study on the Role of Usability Studies in Developing Public Policy

In this paper, we present a case study of applying usable privacy methodologies to inform debate regarding a multistakeholder public policy decision. In particular, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) relied on a multi-stakeholder process to define a set of categories for short-form privacy notices on mobile devices. These notices are intended for use in a United States national code of conduct to assist mobile device users in making decisions regarding data collection. We describe, specifically, a 791-participant online study to determine whether users consistently understand these proposed categories and their definitions. We found that many users did not understand the terms in our usability study. The heart of our contribution, however, is a case study of our participation in this group as academic usable privacy and security experts, and a presentation of lessons learned regarding the application of usable privacy and security methodology to public policy discussion. We believe this work is valuable to usable privacy and security researchers wishing to affect public policy.