Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
One-year outcomes after minimally invasive sacroiliac joint fusion with a series of triangular implants: a multicenter, patient-level analysis

Background Sacroiliac joint (SI) pain is an often-overlooked cause of lower-back pain, due in part to a lack of specific findings on radiographs and a symptom profile similar to other back-related disorders. A minimally invasive surgical (MIS) approach to SI joint fusion using a series of triangular, titanium plasma spray-coated implants has shown favorable outcomes in patients with SI joint pain refractory to conservative care. The aim of this study was to provide a multicenter experience of MIS SI joint fusion using a patient-level analysis. Patients and methods We report a patient-level analysis from 144 patients with a mean of 16 months postoperative follow-up. Demographic information, perioperative measures, complications, and clinical outcomes using a visual analog scale for pain were collected prospectively. Random-effects regression models were used to account for intersite variability. Results The mean age was 58 years, 71% of patients were female, and 62% had a history of lumbar spinal fusion. Mean (95% confidence interval [CI]) operative time was 73 minutes (25.4–118), blood loss was minimal, and hospital stay was 0.8 days (0.1–1.5). At follow-up, mean (95% CI) visual analog scale pain scores improved by 6.1 points (5.7–6.6). Substantial clinical benefit, defined as a decrease in pain by >2.5 points or a score of 3.5 or less, was achieved in 91.9% of patients (95% CI 83.9%–96.1%), and 96% (95% CI 86.3%–98.8%) of patients indicated they would have the same surgery again. Conclusion When conservative measures fail to relieve symptoms resulting from degeneration or disruption of the SI joint, MIS SI joint fusion using a series of triangular, porous, titanium plasma spray-coated implants is a safe and effective treatment option.
Novel phosphatase PHLPP-1 regulates mitochondrial Akt activity and cardiac cell survival.

See related article, pages 476–484 The serine-threonine kinase Akt/PKB regulates a variety of diverse cellular functions, including cardiac growth, glucose uptake, energy metabolism, gene expression, and, most recently, mitochondrial integrity and survival. In mammalian cells, 3 isoforms of Akt (Akt1, Akt2, and Akt3) have been identified, exhibiting similar structure and moderate overlap for substrate specificity.1 All 3 Akt isoforms are expressed in the myocardium, with the Akt1 and Akt2 isoforms most abundant.1 Following growth factor stimulation, Akt is phosphorylated at 2 critical regulatory phosphorylation sites, Ser473/Thr308 in Akt1, Ser474/Thr309 in Akt2, and Ser472/Thr305 in Akt3.1,2 Threonine phosphorylation is vital and sufficient for Akt activation, and Ser473 phosphorylation is required for maximal Akt activity.1 Based on Akt gene knockout studies, Akt1 and Akt2 seem to have partially redundant functions. Disruption of the Akt1 gene results in mild growth retardation and spontaneous apoptosis in restricted cell types.2,3 Notably, in the heart, Akt1-dependent signaling pathways have been implicated in myocyte survival and cardiac growth.2,4 Arguably, among the best proven and well studied posttranslational events for regulating cellular Akt activity is phosphorylation. Akt contains an N-terminal PH domain, a central catalytic kinase domain, and a C-terminal regulatory domain. Cellular Akt is regulated differentially by phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase respectively via modulation of intracellular phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-triphosphate levels.5,6 In cells, Akt is activated following its recruitment to the cell membrane …
Corrosion of Horizontal Bars in Concrete and Method to Delay Early Corrosion

A detailed investigation was carried out to clarify the macrocell and microcell corrosion of horizontally oriented steel bars in concrete. To find an effective way to control corrosion of horizontal bars in concrete, three alternatives, such as the application of a cement paste coat over the steel bars, revibration, and the use of expansive admixture were studied. For this, prism specimens 200 mm in length, 150 mm in width, and 500 mm in depth were made with steel bars at three horizontal levels at 100, 250, and 400 mm from the bottom. The specimens were exposed to artificially-created wetting and drying cycles using natural seawater. Electrochemical and physical evaluations of corrosion, chloride ingress, and SEM investigation on the steel-concrete interfaces were carried out. A porous steel-concrete interface under the bottom half of the steel bar was found. The weaker interface caused early corrosion under the bottom half of the steel bar. Generally, the macro-corrosion cell is formed between the top half (anode) and bottom half (cathode) of the steel bar. A significant amount of micmcell corrosion was found over the bottom half. The application of a cement paste coat over the steel bars before embedding into concrete was found to be an effective way to delay early corrosion under the bottom half of the steel bars. The use of an expansive admixture was also found as another alternative. No improvement of steel-concrete interface was obtained by revibration; revibration creates more corrosion over the steel bars.
CandiSSR: An Efficient Pipeline used for Identifying Candidate Polymorphic SSRs Based on Multiple Assembled Sequences

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs), also known as microsatellites, are ubiquitous short tandem duplications commonly found in genomes and/or transcriptomes of diverse organisms. They represent one of the most powerful molecular markers for genetic analysis and breeding programs because of their high mutation rate and neutral evolution. However, traditionally experimental screening of the SSR polymorphic status and their subsequent applicability to genetic studies are extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming. Thankfully, the recently decreased costs of next generation sequencing and increasing availability of large genome and/or transcriptome sequences have provided an excellent opportunity and sources for large-scale mining this type of molecular markers. However, current tools are limited. Thus we here developed a new pipeline, CandiSSR, to identify candidate polymorphic SSRs (PolySSRs) based on the multiple assembled sequences. The pipeline allows users to identify putative PolySSRs not only from the transcriptome datasets but also from multiple assembled genome sequences. In addition, two confidence metrics including standard deviation and missing rate of the SSR repetitions are provided to systematically assess the feasibility of the detected PolySSRs for subsequent application to genetic characterization. Meanwhile, primer pairs for each identified PolySSR are also automatically designed and further evaluated by the global sequence similarities of the primer-binding region, ensuring the successful rate of the marker development. Screening rice genomes with CandiSSR and subsequent experimental validation showed an accuracy rate of over 90%. Besides, the application of CandiSSR has successfully identified a large number of PolySSRs in the Arabidopsis genomes and Camellia transcriptomes. CandiSSR and the PolySSR marker sources are publicly available at: http://www.plantkingdomgdb. com/CandiSSR/index.html.
MoodyPlayer: A Mood based Music Player

Increasing and maintaining human productivity of different tasks in stressful environment is a challenge. Music is a vital mood controller and helps in improving the mood and state of the person which in turn will act as a catalyst to increase productivity. Continuous music play requires creating and managing personalized song playlist which is a time consuming task. It would be very helpful if the music player itself selects a song according to the current mood of the user. The mood of the user can be detected by a facial expression of the person. A facial expression detection system should address three major problems: detection of face from an image, facial feature extraction and facial expression classification[1]. The first stage is of face detection from an image for which various techniques used are model based face tracking which includes real-time face detection using edge orientation matching [2], Robust face detection using Hausdorff distance [3], weak classifier cascade which includes Viola and Jones algorithm [4], and Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOG) descriptors. The next stage is to extract features from detected face. Two major approaches for feature extraction which use Gabor filters [Dennis Gabor] and Principle Component Analysis [Jolliffe]. The final stage is of image classification for mood detection, where various classifiers like BrownBoost [Freund, 2001], AdaBoost [Freund and Schapire, 1995] and Support Vector Machines (SVM) are available. The proposed system will use classic Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOG) along with facial landmark detection technique; these detected features then passed through SVM classifier to predict the mood of the user. This predicted mood will stimulate the creation of playlist. General Terms Pattern Recognition, Image Classification, Pattern Matching, Emotion Recognition,
Prototyping using a Pattern Technique and a Context-Based Bayesian Network in Multimodal Systems

Abstract Today, technology allows us to produce extensive multimodal systems which are totally under human control. These systems are equipped with multimodal interfaces, which enable more natural and more efficient interaction between man and machine. End users can take advantage of natural modalities (e.g. audio, eye gaze, speech, gestures, etc.) to communicate or exchange information with applications. In this work, we assume that a number of these modalities are available to the user. In this paper, we present a prototype of a multimodal architecture, and show how modality selection and fission algorithms are implemented in such a system. We use a pattern technique to divide a complex command into elementary subtasks and select suitable modalities for each of them. We integrate a context-based method using a Bayesian network to resolve ambiguous or uncertain situations.
DATm: Diderot's Automated Testing Model

Diderot is a parallel domain-specific language forthe analysis and visualization of multidimensional scientific images, such as those produced by CT and MRI scanners. Diderot is designed to support algorithms that are based on differential tensor calculus and produces a higher-order mathematical model which allows direct manipulation of tensor fields. One of the main challenges of the Diderot implementation is bridging this semantic gap by effectively translating high-level mathematical notation of tensor calculus into efficient low-level code in the target language. A key question for a high-level language, such as Diderot, is how do we know that the implementation is correct. We have previously presented and defended a core set of rewriting rules, but the full translation from source to executable requires much more work. In this paper, we present DATm, Diderot's automated testing model to check the correctness of the core operations in the programming language. DATm can automatically create test programs, and predict what the outcome should be. We measure the accuracy of the computations written in the Diderot language, based on how accurately the output of the program represents the mathematical equivalent of the computations. This paper describes a model for testing a high-level language based on correctness. It introduces the pipeline for DATm, a tool that can automatically create and test tens of thousands of Diderot test programs and that has found numerous bugs. We make a case for the necessity of extensive testing by describing bugs that are deep in the compiler, and only could be found with a unique application of operations. Lastly, we demonstrate that the model can be used to create other types of tests by visual verification.
Coefficient systems and supersingular representations of GL2(F)

Soit F un corps local non archimedien de caracteristique residuelle p. Nous construisons le « bon » nombre de F p -representations lisses et irreductibles de GL 2 (F) qui sont supersingulieres au sens de Barthel et Livne. Si F = Q p , les resultats de Breuil impliquent alors que notre construction donne toutes les representations supersingulieres a la torsion pres par un quasi-caractere non ramifie. Nous conjecturons que ceci reste vrai pour F quelconque.
Leadership in Groups: A Monetary Policy Experiment

In an earlier paper (Blinder and Morgan, 2005), we created an experimental apparatus in which Princeton University students acted as ersatz central bankers, making monetary policy decisions both as individuals and in groups. In this study, we manipulate the size and leadership structure of monetary policy decisionmaking. We find no evidence of superior performance by groups that have designated leaders. Groups without such leaders do as well as or better than groups with well-defined leaders. Furthermore, we find rather little difference between the performance of four-person and eight-person groups; the larger groups outperform the smaller groups by a very small margin. Finally, we successfully replicate our Princeton results, at least qualitatively: Groups perform better than individuals, and they do not require more "time" to do so.
Orthonormal expansion ℓ1-minimization for compressed sensing in MRI

Compressed sensing (CS) enables the reconstruction of MR images from highly under-sampled k-space data via a constrained ℓ1-minimization problem. However, existing convex optimization techniques to solve such a constrained optimization problem suffer from slow convergence rate when dealing with data of a large size. On the other hand, many iterative thresholding techniques improve the convergence rate but at the cost of accuracy. In this work, we present a new iterative optimization technique to efficiently solve the constrained ℓ1 optimization without compromising the accuracy of the solution. The key idea is to expand the sensing matrix into an orthonormal matrix, which casts the ℓ1 constrained optimization into an equivalent convex optimization problem that can be exactly solved by the joint application of augmented Lagrange multipliers (ALM) method and alternating direction method (ADM). The proposed algorithm, dubbed as One - ℓ1, provides much faster convergence rate without compromising the reconstruction accuracy, when compared with commonly used optimization techniques, such as nonlinear conjugate gradient (NCG) method, as demonstrated with both phantom and in-vivo MR experiments.
Smoking cessation activities by general practitioners and practice nurses

OBJECTIVES To assess general practitioners' and practice nurses' self reported behaviour, attitudes, and knowledge in relation to smoking cessation. DESIGN AND SETTING Two postal surveys of random national samples of 303 GPs (survey 1) and 459 practice nurses (survey 2) covering England and Wales; effective response rates were 75% and 96%, respectively. RESULTS Survey 1 found that 96% of GPs accepted that intervening against smoking was part of their role and almost all (99%) said that they recorded smoking status when patients registered; 57% reported that they routinely updated their records on smoking status, 50% said they advised smokers to stop during most or all consultations, and 76% said they advised smokers to cut down if they cannot stop. A large majority (83%) said they either recommended or prescribed nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Although most GPs (86%) thought that NRTs were effective, only a minority thought they were worth the cost (47%) or should be on National Health Service (NHS) prescription (32%). There was little evidence that previous training in smoking cessation was associated with more activity, more positive attitudes, or greater knowledge. Survey 2 found that almost all practice nurses (99%) agreed that intervening against smoking was part of their role and 95% said they advised patients to stop at least occasionally; 71% said they advised smokers to stop at most or all consultations. A majority (74%) said that they recommended NRT to their patients. As with the GPs most practice nurses thought that nicotine replacement was effective (79%), but fewer (42%) thought the cost was justified, and only about half (53%) thought it should be available on NHS prescription. Nurses who said they had been trained in smoking cessation engaged in more activity relating to smoking cessation, had more positive attitudes, and were more knowledgeable. CONCLUSION GPs and practice nurses accepted that intervening with smoking was an important part of their role and a large majority reported that they intervened at least with some smokers. This represents a promising baseline from which to proceed in terms of implementation of the new smoking cessation guidelines, but it is hoped that improvements can be made in terms of the frequency of updating records and intervening, and acceptance of the cost-effectiveness of NRT as a life preserving intervention.
Testing layered interconnection networks

We present an approach for fault detection in layered interconnection networks (LINs). An LIN is a generalized multistage interconnection network commonly used in reconfigurable systems; the nets (links) are arranged in sets (referred to as layers) of different size. Switching elements (made of simple switches such as transmission-gate-like devices) are arranged in a cascade to connect pairs of layers. The switching elements of an LIN have the same number of switches, but the switching patterns may not be uniform. A comprehensive fault model for the nets and switches is assumed at physical and behavioral levels. Testing requires configuring the LIN multiple times. Using a graph approach, it is proven that the minimal set of configurations corresponds to the node disjoint path sets. The proposed approach is based on two novel results in the execution of the network flow algorithm to find node disjoint path sets, while retaining optimality in the number of configurations. These objectives are accomplished by finding a feasible flow such that the maximal degree can be iteratively decreased, while guaranteeing the existence of an appropriate circulation. Net adjacencies are also tested for possible bridge faults (shorts). To account for 100 percent fault coverage of bridge faults a postprocessing algorithm may be required; bounds on its complexity are provided. The execution complexity of the proposed approach (inclusive of test vector generation and post-processing) is O(N/sup 4/WL), where N is the total number of nets, W is the number of switches per switching element, and L is the number of layers. Extensive simulation results are provided.
L(2,1)-labelling of graphs

An <i>L</i>(2, 1)-labelling of a graph is a function <i>f</i> from the vertex set to the positive integers such that |<i>f(x) - f(y)</i>| ≥ 2 if dist<i>(x, y)</i> = 1 and |<i>f(x) - f(y)</i>| ≥ 1 if dist<i>(x, y)</i> = 2, where dist<i>(x, y)</i> is the distance between the two vertices <i>x</i> and <i>y</i> in the graph <i>G</i>. The <i>span</i> of an <i>L</i>(2, 1)-labelling <i>f</i> is the difference between the largest and the smallest labels used by <i>f</i> plus 1. In 1992, Griggs and Yeh conjectured that every graph with maximum degree Δ ≥ 2 has an <i>L</i>(2, 1)-labelling with span at most Δ<sup>2</sup> + 1. By settling this conjecture for Δ sufficiently large, we prove the existence of a constant <i>C</i> such that the span of any graph of maximum degree Δ is at most Δ <sup>2</sup> + <i>C</i>.
Mutations in Arabidopsis Multidrug Resistance-Like ABC Transporters Separate the Roles of Acropetal and Basipetal Auxin Transport in Lateral Root Development[W][OA]

Auxin affects the shape of root systems by influencing elongation and branching. Because multidrug resistance (MDR)-like ABC transporters participate in auxin transport, they may be expected to contribute to root system development. This reverse genetic study of Arabidopsis thaliana roots shows that MDR4-mediated basipetal auxin transport did not affect root elongation or branching. However, impaired acropetal auxin transport due to mutation of the MDR1 gene caused 21% of nascent lateral roots to arrest their growth and the remainder to elongate 50% more slowly than the wild type. Reporter gene analyses indicated a severe auxin deficit in the apex of mdr1 but not mdr4 lateral roots. The mdr1 deficit was explained by 40% less acropetal auxin transport within the mdr1 lateral roots. The slow elongation of mdr1 lateral roots was rescued by auxin and phenocopied in the wild type by an inhibitor of polar auxin transport. Confocal microscopy analysis of a functional green fluorescent protein–MDR1 translational fusion showed the protein to be auxin inducible and present in the tissues responsible for acropetal transport in the primary root. The protein also accumulated in lateral root primordia and later in the tissues responsible for acropetal transport within the lateral root, fully supporting the conclusion that auxin levels established by MDR1-dependent acropetal transport control lateral root growth rate to influence root system architecture.
HAREM and Klue: how to put two tagsets for named entities annotation together

This paper describes an undergoing exper-iment to compare two tagsets for Named Entities (NE) annotation. We compared Klue 2 tagset, developed by IBM Research, with HAREM tagset, developed for tagging the Portuguese corpora used in Second HAREM competition. From this report, we expected to evaluate our methodology for comparison and to survey the problems that arise from it.
Characteristics of Eating in Anger, Fear, Sadness and Joy

The influences of emotions on eating were investigated. One-hundred and seven female and 103 male subjects were asked to report how various characteristics of eating could change during the emotions of anger, fear, sadness and joy. Subjects completed a questionnaire of 33 items for each emotion and a food deprivation condition. A factor analysis of the items answered with respect to food deprivation yielded four factors which were labelled hunger, impulsive eating, sensory eating and hedonic eating. ANCOVAs showed main effects of emotions upon each factor. Single comparisons showed that: (1) subjects reported to experience higher levels of hunger during anger and joy than during fear and sadness; (2) impulsive eating and sensory eating were rated higher during anger than during the other emotions; and (3) hedonic eating was rated higher during joy than during the other emotions. Results did not indicate any differential influences upon eating between fear and sadness. Women reported to experience higher tendencies of impulsive eating and sensory eating than men during anger and sadness. Eating scores of negative emotions correlated low and positive with body mass index, low and negative with dietary restraint. The differential effects of emotions on characteristics of eating may be due to differences of the examined emotions in frequency of occurrence, physiological correlates and motivational properties.