Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Technological Framework for Personalized Museum Visiting ∗

Visiting museums and archeological sites is usually an amazing experience but sometimes a visitor may get lost in huge exhibitions in which thousands of artifacts are exposed. In this paper we present a system that assists a user in visiting a museum or an archaeological site, providing personalized recommendations, based on an innovative strategy for predicting user behavior. Our approach makes use of an artificial neural network trained on a suitable set of features characterizing the objects of interest and also takes into account site topological information gathered from a Geographical Information System.
Predictors of caregiver burden in caregivers of individuals with dementia.

AIMS This article is a report on a study of the multidimensional predictors of caregiver burden in caregivers of individuals with dementia using nationally representative data. BACKGROUND Caregiver burden affects the health of both caregivers and their care-recipients. Although previous studies identified various predictors of caregiver burden, these predictors have not been confirmed in nationally representative population. METHODS Data for this secondary analysis was provided by the National Alliance for Caregiving, American Association of Retired Persons. The data were collected through a telephone survey of randomly selected adults in seven states in 2003 (weight adjusted n = 302). Descriptive statistics, inter-correlation analysis and a hierarchical multiple regression analysis were performed. RESULTS/FINDINGS Disease-related factors were the most significant predictors, explaining 16% of caregiver burden; these were followed by caregiver socio-demographical factors and caregiving-related factors (F = 21·28, P < 0·01). Significant individual predictors were impairment of activities of daily living or instrumental activities of daily living, the number of hours of caregiving, use of coping strategies, co-residence, spousal status and caregiver gender (P < 0·05). CONCLUSION Impaired function in care-recipients predicts caregiver burden, and also interacts with demographical- and caregiving-related factors. Thus, it will be beneficial to both care-recipients and caregivers to target nursing interventions and community services to improve the functional abilities of individuals with dementia.
Playability: analysing user experience in video games

Currently, few studies focus on analysing the degree of the Player eXperience (PX) in video games. Video games have now become interactive entertainment systems with a high economic impact on society; these are interactive systems characterised by their subjectivity, which differ from other systems in that their main objective is to entertain and amuse the user (player). This work discusses the analysis and evaluation of the User eXperience (UX) in interactive entertainment systems, exploring how usability, given its definition, objectives and the fact it is one of the main dimensions of UX, is not sufficient to characterise the PX, giving rise to a new concept: Playability. In this paper, we present a framework for the analysis and evaluation of the UX in video games. The results show the need and importance of a framework to help us understand and measure the experience that players feel using these types of interactive systems, in order to improve the experience during play time. The proposed framework characterises the experience using attributes to identify and properties to measure UX. It thus provides a multifaceted analysis mechanism to assess the impact of the gaming experience and its relationship with the elements of a video game. We therefore present a system to represent UX based on this framework, with the aim of ensuring and measuring a satisfactory experience of the entertainment system. Finally, we discuss a practical experiment in which an evaluation of the playability of a commercial video game was carried out using the methods proposed in this work.
Late phase of repolarization (TpeakTend) as a prognostic marker of left ventricle remodeling in patients with anterior myocardial infarction treated with primary coronary intervention.

BACKGROUND Left ventricle remodeling (LVR) is regarded as a marker of unfavorable outcome in patients following acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Repolarization, especially its late part (TpeakTend), is strongly related to local myocardial attributes. We assessed prospectively in this study if repolarization duration (measured from one hour of nighttime) might predict LVR occurrence in patients with anterior AMI treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS The study population consisted of 111 patients with first anterior AMI (82 males, age 58 +/- 11 years, LVEF 41 +/- 7%) treated with the primary PCI of left anterior descending coronary artery. LVR, defined as left ventricle end-diastolic volume increase by > 20% during six months follow-up, occurred in 35 patients (31 males, age 56 +/- 10 years, LVEF 37 +/- 7%, LVR+), while the other 76 subjects were free of LVR (51 males, age 58 +/- 10 years, LVEF 43 +/- 7%, LVR-). Holter recordings were performed in the fifth day of AMI. Repolarization parameters: QT, QTpeak and TpeakTend were assessed from one hour of nighttime Holter recording (between 1-4 a.m.). RESULTS LVR occurred more frequently in males (p = 0.02). LVEF was lower in LVR+ patients (p = 0.001). QTc was similar: 441 +/- 29 ms vs 434 +/- 25 ms, p = 0.37 for LVR+ vs LVR-. Patients with LVR had shorter QTpeakc (333 +/- 34 ms vs 345 +/- 25 ms, p = 0.03) and remarkably longer TpeakTendc (108 +/- 15 ms vs 89 +/- 17 ms, p = 0.0001). Receiver operating characteristics analysis revealed that the best cut-off value for LVR prediction was 103 ms--sensitivity: 65.7%, specificity: 81.6%, positive predictive value: 62%, negative predictive value: 83.8%. CONCLUSIONS The greater transmural heterogeneity of the repolarization processes described by TpeakTend interval measured at discharge after AMI seems to be a prognostic marker of left ventricle remodeling occurrence during six months follow-up in patients with acute anterior infarction.
Abrogation of E‐Cadherin‐Mediated Cell–Cell Contact in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells Results in Reversible LIF‐Independent Self‐Renewal

We have previously demonstrated that differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells is associated with downregulation of cell surface E‐cadherin. In this study, we assessed the function of E‐cadherin in mouse ES cell pluripotency and differentiation. We show that inhibition of E‐cadherin‐mediated cell–cell contact in ES cells using gene knockout (Ecad−/−), RNA interference (EcadRNAi), or a transhomodimerization‐inhibiting peptide (CHAVC) results in cellular proliferation and maintenance of an undifferentiated phenotype in fetal bovine serum‐supplemented medium in the absence of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). Re‐expression of E‐cadherin in Ecad−/−, EcadRNAi, and CHAVC‐treated ES cells restores cellular dependence to LIF supplementation. Although reversal of the LIF‐independent phenotype in Ecad−/− ES cells is dependent on the β‐catenin binding domain of E‐cadherin, we show that β‐catenin null (βcat−/−) ES cells also remain undifferentiated in the absence of LIF. This suggests that LIF‐independent self‐renewal of Ecad−/− ES cells is unlikely to be via β‐catenin signaling. Exposure of Ecad−/−, EcadRNAi, and CHAVC‐treated ES cells to the activin receptor‐like kinase inhibitor SB431542 led to differentiation of the cells, which could be prevented by re‐expression of E‐cadherin. To confirm the role of transforming growth factor β family signaling in the self‐renewal of Ecad−/− ES cells, we show that these cells maintain an undifferentiated phenotype when cultured in serum‐free medium supplemented with Activin A and Nodal, with fibroblast growth factor 2 required for cellular proliferation. We conclude that transhomodimerization of E‐cadherin protein is required for LIF‐dependent ES cell self‐renewal and that multiple self‐renewal signaling networks subsist in ES cells, with activity dependent upon the cellular context. STEM CELLS 2009;27:2069–2080
CMOS Baseline Tracking and Cancellation Instrumentation for Nanoparticle-Coated Chemiresistors

Chemiresistor (CR) sensors and sensor arrays coated with thiolate-monolayer-protected gold nanoparticle (MPN) interfaces show great promise as detectors in gas-chromatographic microsystems with applications in biomedical and environmental analysis including breath biomarkers of disease. This paper describes a new readout circuit that overcomes the wide range of baseline resistances and drift in baseline values inherent to MPN-coated CRs to achieve a 57 ppm readout resolution. The 0.5-mum CMOS circuit operates at 5 V and provides a response resolution of 74 muV. It can cancel baseline voltages from 0.3 to 4.3 V with an accuracy of 4.2 mV and can track and compensate for drifts up to 30 mV/min. Performance was verified with MPN-coated CRs, where drift was measured and effectively cancelled. The circuit topology and size support an on-chip MPN-coated CR sensor array.
SAT Solvers for Queries over Tree Automata with Constraints

Tree automata turned out to be a very convenient framework for modeling and proving properties on infinite systems like communication protocols, Java programs and also in the context of XML programming. Unfortunately, these works are not always supported by efficient verification and validation tools. This paper investigates the use of two SAT solvers --- MiniSat and picoSat --- to evaluate queries over tree automata with global equality and disequality constraints (TAGEDs for short). Unlike general tree automata, TAGEDs allow to express constraints useful for e.g., evaluating queries over XML documents, like 'in the document, two nodes do not have the same key'. These queries being based on the membership problem which is NP-complete for TAGEDs, we propose an efficient SAT encoding of the membership problem for TAGEDs and we show its correctness and soundness. The paper reports on the experimental results, and implementation details are given.
Analysing the impact of dimensionality on diversity in a multi-layered Genotype-Phenotype mapped genetic algorithm

This paper examines the impact of changes in dimensionality on a multi-layered genotype-phenotype mapped GA. To gain an understanding of the impact we carry out a series of experiments on a number of well understood problems and compare the performance of a simple GA (SGA) to that of a multi-layered GA (MGA) to demonstrate their ability to search landscapes with varying degrees of difficulty due to changes in the dimensionality of each function. The paper also examines the impact of diversity maintenance in assisting the search and identifies the natural increase in diversity as the level of problem difficulty increases, as a result of the layered Genotype-Phenotype mapping. Initial results indicate that it may be advantageous to include a multi-layered genotype-phenotype mapping under certain circumstances.
An Efficient Kernel-Based Implementation of POSIX Threads

This paper describes the kernel-based implementation of POSIX Threads (Pthreads) in the DG/UXTM operating system. The implementation achieves time efficiency by using a general-purpose trap mechanism, known as a Kernel Function Call (KFC), that carries an order of magnitude less overhead than a traditional system call. On a 50 MHz Motorola MC88110, the implementation can create and exit a thread (with the associated context switch) in 8.1 microseconds and yield to another thread in 4.0 microseconds. The implementation also achieves space efficiency by paging and decoupling bulky data structures. The advantages of a kernel-based implementation include design simplicity, less code redundancy, optimization of global (interprocess) operations, avoidance of inopportune preemption, and global semantic flexibility. The disadvantage is a monolithic design that lacks user-level flexibility.
Open Access Research Article a Systematic Review of Population Based Epidemiological Studies in Myasthenia Gravis

article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons At-tribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Background: The aim was to collate all myasthenia gravis (MG) epidemiological studies including AChR MG and MuSK MG specific studies. To synthesize data on incidence rate (IR), prevalence rate (PR) and mortality rate (MR) of the condition and investigate the influence of environmental and technical factors on any trends or variation observed. Methods: Studies were identified using multiple sources and meta-analysis performed to calculate pooled estimates for IR, PR and MR. However marked variation persisted between populations studied with similar methodology and in similar areas. Conclusions: We report marked variation in observed frequencies of MG. We show evidence of increasing frequency of MG with year of study and improved study quality. This probably reflects improved case ascertainment. But other factors must also influence disease onset resulting in the observed variation in IR across geographically and genetically similar populations. Background Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an archetypal autoimmune disorder in which muscle weakness occurs as a result of impairment of neuromuscular transmission. It is likely to occur as the result of a number of disease entities that result in an indistinguishable clinical picture [1]. There are paraneoplastic forms (thymoma-associated) and non-paraneoplastic forms and the disorder is immunologically heterogeneous-for example serum antibodies can be detected to muscle acetylcholine receptors (AChR-Ab) [2] or the muscle-specific receptor tyrosine kinase (MuSK-Ab) [3], but not both in the same patient. From case series and epidemiological studies, a bimodal distribution of MG IR has been frequently described suggesting a hormonal or environmental influence on disease onset. MG occurs in both sexes, at all ages and in all races [4].
Markers of nitric oxide metabolism in sputum and exhaled air are not increased in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

BACKGROUND Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in inflammation and host defence of the lung. It has been found in increased concentrations in the airways in asthmatic subjects but its levels in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have not been investigated. A study was undertaken to determine whether markers of NO metabolism (NO in exhaled air, iNOS expression in sputum cells, and nitrite + nitrate (NO2 –/NO3 –) in sputum supernatant) are increased in subjects with COPD, and whether they correlate with inflammatory indices in induced sputum. The associations of these markers with smoking were also assessed. METHODS Sixteen subjects with COPD (median age 66 years, median forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) 63% predicted, eight current smokers) and 16 healthy subjects (median age 63 years, median FEV1 113% predicted, eight current smokers) participated in the study. NO was measured during tidal breathing and sputum was induced by inhalation of hypertonic saline. RESULTS No differences were observed between subjects with COPD and healthy controls in exhaled NO excretion rate (median 5.15 and 6.25 nmol/min), sputum macrophage iNOS expression (14% and 12%), and sputum supernatant NO2 –/NO3 – (46 and 73 μM). NO in exhaled air correlated with the percentage of sputum eosinophils in patients with COPD (rho = 0.65, p = 0.009) but not in healthy individuals. Exhaled NO and supernatant NO2 –/NO3 – levels were lower in healthy smokers than in healthy non/ex-smokers. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that NO metabolism is not increased in patients with stable COPD. The close association between exhaled NO levels and sputum eosinophils suggests a role for NO in airway inflammation in COPD. Studies performed during exacerbations may clarify this role.
Effect of Preoperative Atrial Fibrillation on Postoperative Outcome following Cardiac Surgery

Atrial fibrillation remains the commonest arrhythmia encountered in cardiac surgery. Data on the effect of preoperative atrial fibrillation on postoperative outcome remain limited. We sought to assess the effects preoperative atrial fibrillation on patients' outcome following cardiac surgery. This is a retrospective review of prospectively collected departmental data of all patients who underwent cardiac surgery over 8-year period. Our cohort consisted of 3777 consecutive patients divided into atrial fibrillation (n = 413, 11%) and sinus rhythm (n = 3364, 89%). Postoperative complications and in-hospital mortality were analysed. Univariate analysis showed significantly increased mortality and major complications in atrial fibrillation compared to sinus rhythm patients. Using multiple logistic regression analysis and after accounting for Euro SCORE as a confounding variable, we found that preoperative atrial fibrillation significantly increases the risk of mortality (OR 1.7), low cardiac output state (OR 1.3), prolonged ventilation (OR 1.4), infective complication (OR 1.5), gastrointestinal complications (OR 2.0), and intensive care unit readmission (OR 1.6). Preoperative atrial fibrillation in cardiac surgery patients increases their risk of mortality and major complications following cardiac surgery. Surgical strategies such as Cox-Maze procedure may be beneficial in these patients.
Continuous subcutaneous infusion of glucagon-like peptide 1 lowers plasma glucose and reduces appetite in type 2 diabetic patients.

OBJECTIVE The gut hormone glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) has insulinotropic and anorectic effects during intravenous infusion and has been proposed as a new treatment for type 2 diabetes and obesity. The effect of a single subcutaneous injection is brief because of rapid degradation. We therefore sought to evaluate the effect of infusion of GLP-1 for 48 h in patients with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We infused GLP-1 (2.4 pmol.kg-1.min-1) or saline subcutaneously for 48 h in randomized order in six patients with type 2 diabetes to evaluate the effect on appetite during fixed energy intake and on plasma glucose, insulin, glucagon, postprandial lipidemia, blood pressure, heart rate, and basal metabolic rate. RESULTS The infusion resulted in elevations of the plasma concentrations of intact GLP-1 similar to those observed after intravenous infusion of 1.2 pmol.kg-1.min-1, previously shown to lower blood glucose effectively in type 2 diabetic patients. Fasting plasma glucose (day 2) decreased from 14.1 +/- 0.9 (saline) to 12.2 +/- 0.7 mmol/l (GLP-1), P = 0.009, and 24-h mean plasma glucose decreased from 15.4 +/- 1.0 to 13.0 +/- 1.0 mmol/l, P = 0.0009. Fasting and total area under the curve for insulin and C-peptide levels were significantly higher during the GLP-1 administration, whereas glucagon levels were unchanged. Neither triglycerides nor free fatty acids were affected. GLP-1 administration decreased hunger and prospective food intake and increased satiety, whereas fullness was unaffected. No side effects during GLP-1 infusion were recorded except for a brief cutaneous reaction. Basal metabolic rate and heart rate did not change significantly during GLP-1 administration. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure tended to be lower during the GLP-1 infusion. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that 48-h continuous subcutaneous infusion of GLP-1 in type 2 diabetic patients 1) lowers fasting as well as meal-related plasma glucose, 2) reduces appetite, 3) has no gastrointestinal side effects, and 4) has no negative effect on blood pressure.
Long-Term Changes in Labor Supply and Taxes: Evidence from OECD Countries, 1956-2004

We document large differences in trend changes in hours worked across OECD countries over the period 1956-2004. We then assess the extent to which these changes are consistent with the intratemporal first order condition from the neoclassical growth model. We find large and trending deviations from this condition, and that the model can account for virtually none of the changes in hours worked. We then extend the model to incorporate observed changes in taxes. Our findings suggest that taxes can account for much of the variation in hours worked both over time and across countries.
Lumping and Splitting in the Study of Meaning in Life: Thoughts on Surfing, Surgery, Scents, and Sermons

For thousands of years, philosophers have been debating what a meaningful life entails and the best way to create one. In their article, Garland, Farb, Goldin, and Fredrickson (this issue) offer a comprehensive account of one such pathway that originates with the act of mindfulness. Specifically, when people are faced with negative life events, they should deploy mindfulness techniques to receive a chain of benefits, which include a positive reappraisal of said events, that in turn increase the likelihood of positive emotions, which can then be savored and ultimately transformed into a greater sense of meaning and purpose in life (see Figure 1 in Garland et al., this issue). This pathway has been anointed the mindfulness-to-meaning theory. In this commentary, we place this theory in a wider perspective and consider several neglected issues regarding how mindfulness may relate to meaning and purpose in life. First, meaning in life is irreducible to a single pathway. We reintroduce the concept of equifinality where diverse pathways, including chance events, can be substituted to attain the same goal (e.g., Cicchetti & Rogosch, 1996). We illustrate and lay out several different ways that meaning in life can be obtained. Mindfulness to meaning is integrated into a wider review of how people can create meaning in life. Second, we reintroduce the concept of multifinality (e.g., Nolen-Hoeksema & Watkins, 2011) where the same initial conditions, in this case mindfulness and positive reappraisal, may lead to a variety of outcomes—and only one of them is a greater sense of meaning in life. We question whether science requires a new theory about each individual mindfulness outcome. In our view, it would be a greater scientific advancement to delineate the full range of outcomes afforded by a particular behavior (the benefits and the costs) and to specify the contexts that the benefits (or the costs) might be stronger or weaker. Third, we question the widespread assumption about positivity that more is always better. Instead, we offer an alternative view on the importance of situational sensitivity, inspired by a growing body of work suggesting that psychological flexibility trumps allegiance to any single behavior or strategy such as mindfulness (Aldao, 2013; Bonanno & Burton, 2013; Kashdan & Biswas-Diener, 2014; Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010). Taken together, we hope to integrate several isolated strands of study into a nuanced discussion of mindfulness and meaning.
On the insecurity of interchanged use of OFB and CBC modes of operation

The security of interchanged use of modes of operation of block ciphers have not been discussed in the public literature. So far, the modes of operation of block ciphers have been treated as completely independent and uncorrelated. In this paper we represent both CBC and OFB as quasigroup string transformations, and then show that OFB mode is a special case of the CBC mode of operation. That raise possibilities for construction of several devastating attack scenarios against that interchanged use of CBC and OFB. These attacks have not been addressed in NIST Special Publication 800-38A 2001, “Recommendation for Block Cipher Modes of Operation”. More specifically, in the chosen plaintext attack scenario with interchanged use of CBC and OFB mode, we give a concrete list of openssl commands that extract the complete plaintext without knowing the secret key.