Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anterior Segment Biometry Changes with Cycloplegia in Myopic Adults

Purpose To determine the effect of cycloplegia on corneal thickness, corneal curvature, anterior chamber depth (ACD), angle-to-angle (ATA) and white-to-white (WTW) distances, and axial length (AL). Methods Changes in corneal thickness, corneal curvature, ACD, ATA and WTW distances, and AL with and without cycloplegia were analyzed in 31 eyes of 31 young myopic adults, aged 26.4 ± 3.0 years. Pentacam was used to measure the corneal thickness, corneal volume, and corneal curvatures. Visante optical coherent tomography (OCT) measured corneal thickness, ATA distance, ACD, and pupil size. The AL and WTW distance were measured using IOLMaster. Results Cycloplegia induced significant flattening of corneal curvatures (p = 0.019, 0.001, and 0.003 for anterior sagittal, posterior tangential, and posterior sagittal curvatures, respectively). The difference in the posterior corneal curvature was greater in corneas with steeper posterior curvatures. Cycloplegia also induced significant deepening of ACD (0.08 ± 0.06, p < 0.001) and widening of both WTW (0.42 ± 0.43, p < 0.001) and ATA (0.08 ± 0.17, p = 0.015) distances. The cycloplegia-related increase in the ATA distance correlated negatively with AL (r = −0.361, p = 0.046), whereas the cycloplegia-related increase in WTW distance correlated weakly with the increase in ACD (r = 0.347, p = 0.056) but not with AL. The AL did not change with cycloplegia. Pentacam measured a slightly thicker cornea than OCT (p = 0.002). Both Pentacam and OCT detected a significant increase in corneal thickness of 4 &mgr;m, which could be attributed to reflex tearing, after cycloplegia. Conclusions Cycloplegia resulted in deeper ACD, greater ATA distance, and flatter corneal curvatures. Surgeons should be aware of these cycloplegia-related alterations for more accurate phakic/functional intraocular lens selection and better refraction results.
Economic Development and the Structure of the Demand for Commercial Energy

To deepen understanding of the relation between economic development and energy demand, this study estimates the relations between per-capita GDP5 and per-capita energy consumption in major economic sectors. Panel data covering up to 123 nations are employed, and measurement problems are treated both in dataset construction and in estimation. Time and country fixed effects are assumed, and flexible forms for income effects are employed. There are substantial differences among sectors in the structure of country, time, and income effects. In particular, the household sector's share of aggregate energy consumption tends to fall with income, the share of transportation tends to rise, and the share of industry follows an inverse-U pattern.
Decoupling control of PMA-driven serial link mechanism

Serial link mechanism driven by pneumatic artificial muscles (PMA) usually adopts tendon transmission. In many cases, the torque and position couplings between each joint are obvious, which would affect the control performance. By analyzing the position equation of tendons, this article proposes a decoupling control method for PMA-driven serial link mechanism. First of all, the coupling matrix is calculated. Then combined with the model of PMA, the system coupled dynamics equations are derived. Considering the coupling of tendon-transmitted and the nonlinearity characteristics of PMA, a decoupling control algorithm based on improved computed torque method is proposed and adopted on decoupling control in the PMA-driven and tendon-transmitted system, which can compensate the hysteresis for PMA. Experimental results show that compared with the traditional PID control, the decoupling control method proposed in this article is capable of reducing system coupling, decreasing response time and eliminating the steady-state error to some extent.
The use of Obstacle Motion Tracking for Car-like Mobile Robots Collision Avoidance in Dynamic Urban Environments

4 ETHZ, IRIS, ASL - Tannenstrasse, 3 - CH 8092 - Zurich, Switzerland. Abstract: One of the most challenging tasks for mobile robots is to track mobile obstacles that surround them. This task is especially difficult in outdoor environments where a great variety of obstacles may induce the robot to take erroneous decisions. The mobile robot needs as much information as possible concerning the obstacle positions and speeds (direction and magnitude) in order to plan evasive maneuvers that avoid collisions. Unfortunately, obstacles close to robot's sensors frequently cause blind zones behind them where other obstacles could be hidden. In this situation, the robot may lose vital information about these obstructed obstacles that could avoid future collisions. In order to overcome this problem an obstacle tracking module based only on 2D laser scan data was developed. Its main parts consist of obstacle detection, obstacle classification, and obstacle tracking. Different methods were evaluated for extracting data from the laser data. Geometrical feature extraction itself, i.e. lines and corners, was not found sufficient. Therefore, a motion detection module using scan matching was developed. The research was mostly conducted using a MatLab simulator that reproduces a simple 2D urban-like environment with parked and moving cars, buses, trucks, and people, buildings, streets, and trees. Aiming to adjust and validate the algorithms, some samplings of real data were carried out. The tests proved the applicability of the algorithms in real urban environments and in a near future they will be used in obstacle avoidance procedures onboard a real car-like robot.
Evaluation of Personalized Security Indicators as an Anti-Phishing Mechanism for Smartphone Applications

Mobile application phishing happens when a malicious mobile application masquerades as a legitimate one to steal user credentials. Personalized security indicators may help users to detect phishing attacks, but rely on the user's alertness. Previous studies in the context of website phishing have shown that users tend to ignore personalized security indicators and fall victim to attacks despite their deployment. Consequently, the research community has deemed personalized security indicators an ineffective phishing detection mechanism. We revisit the question of personalized security indicator effectiveness and evaluate them in the previously unexplored and increasingly important context of mobile applications. We conducted a user study with 221 participants and found that the deployment of personalized security indicators decreased the phishing attack success rate to 50%. Personalized security indicators can, therefore, help phishing detection in mobile applications and their reputation as an anti-phishing mechanism in the mobile context should be reconsidered.
Induction of DnaK upon γ-Irradiation at High and Low Rates in Escherichia coli

DnaK is implicated in protein folding, repair and degradation. Its protective role during heat shock is well documented and many other stresses can also induce its production. Using a competitive ELISA, intracellular DnaK concentrations were determined in Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 exposed to a γ-irradiation dose of 0.3 KGy applied either at high (8 × 10-2 KGy/min) or low rates (3 × 10-3 KGy/min) and with or without a recuperation period of 22 h at 37℃ post-treatment. All four irradiation treatments reduced cell counts similarly and significantly compared to the control (P < 0.0001). However, the highest DnaK concentration was observed in cells irradiated at low rate without recuperation (105,416 molecules/cell; P = 0.0001). Furthermore, DnaK levels remained higher than the control (38,500 molecules/ cell) after the recuperation period (P < 0.05). Variation in the intracellular DnaK concentration indicates that the bacterial stress response was modulated differently according to the irradiation treatment (P = 0.0001).
Tuberculosis Vaccines and Prevention of Infection

SUMMARY Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death worldwide despite the availability of effective chemotherapy for over 60 years. Although Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination protects against active TB disease in some populations, its efficacy is suboptimal. Development of an effective TB vaccine is a top global priority that has been hampered by an incomplete understanding of protective immunity to TB. Thus far, preventing TB disease, rather than infection, has been the primary target for vaccine development. Several areas of research highlight the importance of including preinfection vaccines in the development pipeline. First, epidemiology and mathematical modeling studies indicate that a preinfection vaccine would have a high population-level impact for control of TB disease. Second, immunology studies support the rationale for targeting prevention of infection, with evidence that host responses may be more effective during acute infection than during chronic infection. Third, natural history studies indicate that resistance to TB infection occurs in a small percentage of the population. Fourth, case-control studies of BCG indicate that it may provide protection from infection. Fifth, prevention-of-infection trials would have smaller sample sizes and a shorter duration than disease prevention trials and would enable opportunities to search for correlates of immunity as well as serve as a criterion for selecting a vaccine product for testing in a larger TB disease prevention trial. Together, these points support expanding the focus of TB vaccine development efforts to include prevention of infection as a primary goal along with vaccines or other interventions that reduce the rate of transmission and reactivation.
MicroRNA expression profiles of granulocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells from mice bearing Lewis lung carcinoma

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are a group of heterogeneous myeloid cells that can suppress antitumor immunity. MDSCs are divided into granulocytic (G-MDSCs) and monocytic subsets. In the present study, the microRNA profiles of the G-MDSCs were determined and the differential expression of microRNAs between G-MDSCs from tumor-bearing mice and tumor-free mice was examined. The number of G-MDSCs in spleens of Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC)-bearing mice was ~6-fold higher than in spleens of normal mice (13.54±1.74% vs. 2.14±1.44%; P<0.01) and G-MDSCs account for about 72.9% of all MDSCs. The microRNA (miRNA) profiles of the G-MDSCs from spleen of LLC-bearing mice were obtained using a microRNA microarray and compared with their counterparts from spleens of tumor-free mice. A total of 43 miRNAs with >1.3-fold increased or decreased change were differentially expressed between the experimental and control group mice. The levels of nine of these differentially expressed miRNAs, miRNA-468 (miR-486), miR-192, miR-128, miR-125a, miR-149, miR-27a, miR-125b, miR-350 and miR-328, were also analyzed by RT-qPCR to validate the microarray data. The concordance rate between the results tested by the two methods was 88.9%. Bioinformatics analyses revealed that these miRNAs may act on various target genes, including Adar, Pik3r1, Rybp and Rabgap1, to regulate the survival, differentiation and the function of tumor-induced granulocytic MDSCs. The results revealed microRNAs and potential targets that may be vital for regulating survival, differentiation and function of G-MDSCs induced by LLC. Further investigation should be performed to clarify the roles of these microRNAs in regulating LLC-induced granulocytic MDSCs and the target genes that mediate their functions.
Gesture-Controlled Image Management for Operating Room: A Randomized Crossover Study to Compare Interaction Using Gestures, Mouse, and Third Person Relaying

Objective In this work, we aim at comparing formally three different interaction modes for image manipulation that are usable in a surgery setting: 1) A gesture-controlled approach using Kinect ®; 2) oral instructions to a third part dedicated to manipulate the images; and 3) direct manipulation using a mouse. Materials and Methods Each participant used the radiology image viewer Weasis with the three interaction modes. In a crossover randomized controlled trial participants were attributed block wise to six experimental groups. For each group, the order for testing the three modes was randomly assigned. Nine standardized scenarios were used. Results 30 physicians and senior medical students participated in the experiment. Efficiency, measured as time used to pass the scenario, was best when using the mouse (M = 109.10s, SD = 25.96), followed by gesture-controlled (M = 214.97s, SD = 46.29) and oral instructions (M = 246.33s, SD = 76.50). Satisfaction, measured by a questionnaire, was rated highest in the condition mouse (M = 6.63, SD = 0.56), followed by gesture-controlled (M = 5.77, SD = 0.93) and oral instructions (M = 4.40, SD = 1.71). Differences in efficiency and satisfaction rating were significant. No significant difference in effectiveness, measured with error rates, was found. Discussion The study shows with formal evaluation that the use of gestures is advantageous over instructions to a third person. In particular, the use of gestures is more efficient than verbalizing instructions. The given gestures could be learned easily and reliability of the tested gesture-control system is good. Conclusion Under the premise that mouse cannot be used directly during surgery, gesture-controlled approaches demonstrate to be superior to oral instructions for image manipulation.
Environmental Behavior of Visitors to a Science Museum

ABSTRACT Increasingly, informal science and environmental education institutions are addressing conservation messaging and environmental behavior in programming, exhibits, and interpretation. Yet, little is known about what pro-environmental behaviors visitors are currently undertaking, what characteristics those environmental behaviors may have in common, and what differences might exist among visitor populations. This study investigated environmental behaviors and attitudes of visitors (N = 689) to an informal science museum, including separate foci on members and nonmembers based on previous work suggesting differences between the two groups. To improve research, policy, and educational interventions that address environmental behavior, researchers have long sought to uncover relationships among unique environmental behaviors. To this end, the authors explored whether five commonly recommended pro-environmental behaviors shared underlying characteristics that could be used to group those behaviors. They uncovered some dissimilarity in self-reported environmental behaviors among members and nonmembers. Although no single shared construct underlying the behaviors was evident, the authors did find, for nonmember visitors, a suite of three traditional environmental behaviors and, for members, a suite of four contemporary environmental behaviors. They discuss implications for practice and future research.
Examining Home Learning Environments

Abstract This study uses a methodology originally developed by education researchers examining the homework environment and homework achievement of school pupils. We adapt the approach to make it relevant to higher education, in this case to Geography and Earth Science students. We find that environmental and personal components, significantly influence levels of student achievement. The rationale for this research is that as our demands for personal study increase (due to the rise in distance learning and WWW- based learning) we should develop strategies to improve the relationships between out-of-class learning environments and individual learning styles.
Institutional Pressures and Organizational Characteristics: The Case of Polluting Emissions and the Toxics Release Inventory

This article develops a model that demonstrates how organizational characteristics moderate institutional pressures on firms that report annually to the Toxics Release Inventory. In terms of institutional pressures, market forces, non-market forces and regulatory demands influence environmental practices at the plant level. Organizational characteristics of the firm, including firm size, competitive position and degree of internationalization moderate these influences, leading to a firm’s corporate environmental performance. The article finds that firms may voluntarily over-comply with the existing regulation when such action aligns with existing corporate strategies and culture, reducing the possibility of stricter regulation and enhancing a socially responsible reputation. JEL: Q52, Q58, H32, M14, M21
Fate of veterinary antibiotics in a macroporous tile drained clay soil

The environment may be exposed to veterinary medicines administered to livestock through the application of organic fertilizers to land. For other groups of substances that are applied to agricultural land (e.g., pesticides), preferential flow in under‐drained clay soils has been identified as an extremely important mechanism by which pollution of surface waters can occur. This study, therefore, was performed to investigate the fate of three antibiotics from the sulfonamide, tetracycline, and macrolide groups. Pig slurry was applied to a field in arable production in two consecutive years and the fate of the compounds was monitored in the soil and drainage water. Both sulfachloropyridazine and oxytetracycline were detected in soil at concentrations up to 365 and 1691 μg/kg, respectively. Subsequently, peak concentrations of the two substances in drainflow were 613.2 and 36.1 μg/L, although mass losses to the receiving water were less than 0.5%. In contrast, tylosin was not detected at all. These findings could be explained by the persistence and sorption characteristics of the antibiotics, while preferential flow via desiccation cracks and worm channels to the tile drains was found to be the most important route for translocation of the chemicals. Thus, when the soil was disced prior to slurry application, losses were reduced significantly. It is evident that processes governing pesticide fate also apply to veterinary antibiotics.
Genes at work in random bouts

Cell interdivision periods (IDP) in homogenous cell populations vary stochastically. Another aspect of probabilistic cell behavior is randomness in cell differentiation. These features are suggested to result from competing stochastic events of assembly/disassembly of the transcription pre‐initiation complex (PIC) at gene promoters. The time needed to assemble a proper PIC from different proteins, which must be numerous enough to make their combination gene specific, may be comparable to the IDP. Nascent mRNA visualization at defined genes and inferences from protein level fluctuations in single cells suggest that some genes do operate in this way. The onset of mRNA production by such genes may miss the time windows provided by the cell cycle, resulting in cells differentiating into those in which the respective mRNAs are either present or absent. This creates a way to generate cell phenotype diversity in multicellular organisms.
A novel Multi-Symbol Differential Detection based on symbol error position estimation and compensation for use in T-DMB system

In this paper, we propose a novel multiple symbol differential detection (MSDD) based on symbol error position estimation (SEPE) and compensation for use in terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (T-DMB) system. By estimating the symbol error position and compensating for the symbol error using MSDD outputs, it can improve the receive performance of T-DMB system. Also by providing soft-outputs to Viterbi decoder, an additional coding gain can be obtained. Simulation results in the typical urban (TU) channel show that the proposed algorithm is superior to the conventional differential detection (DD) and hard decision based MSDD T-DMB receivers.
Effects of metformin-diet intervention before and throughout pregnancy on obstetric and neonatal outcomes in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome

Abstract Objective: Prospectively assess whether metformin/diet pre-conception and throughout pregnancy would safely reduce first trimester miscarriage and improve pregnancy outcomes in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Research design and methods: In 76 PCOS women, first pregnancy miscarriage and live birth were compared before and on metformin/diet, started 6.8 months (median) before conception, continued throughout pregnancy. On metformin 2–2.55 g/day, low glycemic index diet, first pregnancy outcomes in PCOS were compared with 156 community obstetric practice women (controls). Main outcome measures: Live births, miscarriage, birth <37 weeks gestation, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, fetal macrosomia. Results: In 76 PCOS women before metformin-diet, there were 36 miscarriages (47%) and 40 live births vs. 14 (18%) miscarriages and 62 live births on metformin-diet 6.8 months before conception and throughout pregnancy, p = 0.0004, OR 3.99, 95% CI 1.91–8.31. On metformin-diet, PCOS women did not differ (p > 0.08) from controls for birth <37 weeks gestation, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, or fetal macrosomia. Conclusions: Metformin-diet before and during pregnancy in PCOS reduces miscarriage and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Study limitation: individual benefits of the diet alone and diet plus metformin could not be assessed separately. Randomized, controlled clinical trials now need to be done with a larger number of patients.
In middle-aged and old obese patients, training intervention reduces leptin level: A meta-analysis

Background Leptin is one of the major adipokines in obesity that indicates the severity of fat accumulation. It is also an important etiological factor of consequent cardiometabolic and autoimmune disorders. Aging has been demonstrated to aggravate obesity and to induce leptin resistance and hyperleptinemia. Hyperleptinemia, on the other hand, may promote the development of age-related abnormalities. While major weight loss has been demonstrated to ameliorate hyperleptinemia, obese people show a poor tendency to achieve lasting success in this field. The question arises whether training intervention per se is able to reduce the level of this adipokine. Objectives We aimed to review the literature on the effects of training intervention on peripheral leptin level in obesity during aging, in order to evaluate the independent efficacy of this method. In the studies that were included in our analysis, changes of adiponectin levels (when present) were also evaluated. Data sources 3481 records were identified through searching of PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library Database. Altogether 19 articles were suitable for analyses. Study eligibility criteria Empirical research papers were eligible provided that they reported data of middle-aged or older (above 45 years of age) overweight or obese (body mass index above 25) individuals and included physical training intervention or at least fitness status of groups together with corresponding blood leptin values. Statistical methods We used random effect models in each of the meta-analyses calculating with the DerSimonian and Laird weighting methods. I-squared indicator and Q test were performed to assess heterogeneity. To assess publication bias Egger’s test was applied. In case of significant publication bias, the Duval and Tweedie's trim and fill algorithm was used. Results Training intervention leads to a decrease in leptin level of middle-aged or older, overweight or obese male and female groups, even without major weight loss, indicated by unchanged serum adiponectin levels. Resistance training appears to be more efficient in reducing blood leptin level than aerobic training alone. Conclusions Physical training, especially resistance training successfully reduces hyperleptinemia even without diet or major weight loss.