Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Acute Ischemic Stroke: Results of the Hyperbaric Oxygen in Acute Ischemic Stroke Trial Pilot Study

Background and Purpose— Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) has promise as a treatment for acute stroke. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and feasibility of using HBO in acute ischemic stroke. Methods— We conducted a randomized, prospective, double-blind, sham-controlled pilot study of 33 patients presenting with acute ischemic stroke who did not receive thrombolytics over a 24-month period. Patients were randomized to treatment for 60 minutes in a monoplace hyperbaric chamber pressurized with 100% O2 to 2.5-atm absolute (ATA) in the HBO group or 1.14 ATA in the sham group. Primary outcomes measured included percentage of patients with improvement at 24 hours (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS]) and 90 days (NIHSS, Barthel Index, modified Rankin Scale, Glasgow Outcome Scale). Secondary measurements included complications of treatment and mortality at 90 days. Results— Baseline demographics were similar in both groups. There were no differences between the groups at 24 hours (P =0.44). At 3 months, however, a larger percentage of the sham patients had a good outcome defined by their stroke scores compared with the HBO group (NIHSS, 80% versus 31.3%;P =0.04; Barthel Index, 81.8% versus 50%;P =0.12; modified Rankin Scale, 81.8% versus 31.3%;P =0.02; Glasgow Outcome Scale, 90.9% versus 37.5%;P =0.01) with loss of statistical significance in a intent-to-treat analysis. Conclusions— Although our HBO protocol appears feasible and safe, it does not appear to be beneficial and may be harmful in patients with acute ischemic stroke.
Fuzzy OWL: Uncertainty and the Semantic Web

In the Semantic Web context information would be retrieved, processed, shared, reused and aligned in the maximum automatic way possible. Our experience with such applications in the Semantic Web has shown that these are rarely a matter of true or false but rather procedures that require degrees of relatedness, similarity, or ranking. Apart from the wealth of applications that are inherently imprecise, information itself is many times imprecise or vague. For example, the concepts of a “hot” place, an “expensive” item, a “fast” car, a “near” city, are examples of such concepts. Dealing with such type of information would yield more realistic, intelligent and effective applications. In the current paper we extend the OWL web ontology language, with fuzzy set theory, in order to be able to capture, represent and reason with such type of information.
Theoretical and Experimental Analyses of Tensor-Based Regression and Classification

We theoretically and experimentally investigate tensor-based regression and classification. Our focus is regularization with various tensor norms, including the overlapped trace norm, the latent trace norm, and the scaled latent trace norm. We first give dual optimization methods using the alternating direction method of multipliers, which is computationally efficient when the number of training samples is moderate. We then theoretically derive an excess risk bound for each tensor norm and clarify their behavior. Finally, we perform extensive experiments using simulated and real data and demonstrate the superiority of tensor-based learning methods over vector- and matrix-based learning methods.
Vision Based Mobile Robot Navigation System

The purpose of the vision system is to recognize the circle as landmark and identify the distance and orientation in a series of reference target image automatically fro m the closed -range navigation. In order to identify position in an indoor environment, a mobile robot requires attention to characteristics of a target which is to allow mobile robots to make inference in which the distance and orientation of the target and a robot. In this study, fuzzy logic is applied to generate target trajectory movement with the information extracted fro m vision system such as the distance and the orientation of target. The fuzzy logic controller (FLC) wh ich computes the required speed and angular speed needed by the two motors to drives the robot for target trajectory.
Linking Domain-Specific Knowledge to Encyclopedic Knowledge: an Initial Approach to Linked Data

Linked Data creates a shared information space by publishing and connecting resources in the Semantic Web. However, the specification of semantic relationships between data sources is still a stumbling block. One solution is to enrich ontologies with multilingual and concept-oriented information. Usefully linking entities in the Semantic Web is thus facilitated by a semantic-oriented cross-lingual ontology mapping framework in which knowledge representations are not restricted to a particular natural language. Accordingly, this paper describes a preliminary approach for integrating general encyclopedic knowledge in DBpedia with EcoLexicon, a multilingual terminological knowledge base on the environment.
MEMS resonant load cells for micro-mechanical test frames: feasibility study and optimal design

This paper presents the design, optimization and manufacturing of a novel micro-fabricated load cell based on a double-ended tuning fork. The device geometry and operating voltages are optimized for maximum force resolution and range, subject to a number of manufacturing and electromechanical constraints. All optimizations are enabled by analytical modeling (verified by selected finite elements analyses) coupled with an efficient C++ code based on the particle swarm optimization algorithm. This assessment indicates that force resolutions of ∼0.5–10 nN are feasible in vacuum (∼1–50 mTorr), with force ranges as large as 1 N. Importantly, the optimal design for vacuum operation is independent of the desired range, ensuring versatility. Experimental verifications on a sub-optimal device fabricated using silicon-on-glass technology demonstrate a resolution of ∼23 nN at a vacuum level of ∼50 mTorr. The device demonstrated in this article will be integrated in a hybrid micro-mechanical test frame for unprecedented combinations of force resolution and range, displacement resolution and range, optical (or SEM) access to the sample, versatility and cost.
Learning Bound for Parameter Transfer Learning

We consider a transfer-learning problem by using the parameter transfer approach, where a suitable parameter of feature mapping is learned through one task and applied to another objective task. Then, we introduce the notion of the local stability of parametric feature mapping and parameter transfer learnability, and thereby derive a learning bound for parameter transfer algorithms. As an application of parameter transfer learning, we discuss the performance of sparse coding in self-taught learning. Although self-taught learning algorithms with plentiful unlabeled data often show excellent empirical performance, their theoretical analysis has not been studied. In this paper, we also provide the first theoretical learning bound for self-taught learning.
Transcription Factors E2A, FOXO1 and FOXP1 Regulate Recombination Activating Gene Expression in Cancer Cells

It has long been accepted that immunoglobulins (Igs) were produced by B lymphoid cells only. Recently Igs have been found to be expressed in various human cancer cells and promote tumor growth. Recombination activating gene 1 (RAG1) and RAG2, which are essential enzymes for initiating variable-diversity-joining segment recombination, have also been found to be expressed in cancer cells. However, the mechanism of RAG activation in these cancer cells has not been elucidated. Here, we investigated the regulatory mechanism of RAG expression in four human cancer cell lines by analyzing transcription factors that induce RAG activation in B cells. By RT-PCR, Western blot and immunofluorescence, we found that transcription factors E2A, FOXO1 and FOXP1 were expressed and localized to the nuclei of these cancer cells. Over-expression of E2A, FOXO1 or Foxp1 increased RAG expression, while RNA interference of E2A, FOXO1 or FOXP1 decreased RAG expression in the cancer cells. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments showed acetylation of RAG enhancer (Erag) and E2A, FOXO1 or FOXP1 were bound to Erag in vivo. These results indicate that in these cancer cells the transcription factors E2A, FOXO1 and FOXP1 regulate RAG expression, which initiates Ig gene rearrangement much in the way similar to B lymphocytes.
PR ] 1 M ay 2 01 4 ON THE PROBABILITY THAT SELF-AVOIDING WALK ENDS AT A GIVEN

We prove two results on the delocalization of the endpoint of a uniform self-avoiding walk on Z for d ≥ 2. We show that the probability that a walk of length n ends at a point x tends to 0 as n tends to infinity, uniformly in x. Also, when x is fixed, with ||x|| = 1, this probability decreases faster than n for any ε > 0. This provides a bound on the probability that a self-avoiding walk is a polygon.
Early dipyridamole (99m)Tc-sestamibi single photon emission computed tomographic imaging 2 to 4 days after acute myocardial infarction predicts in-hospital and postdischarge cardiac events: comparison with submaximal exercise imaging.

BACKGROUND Because of its brief hemodynamic effects and minor effect on determinants of myocardial oxygen demand, vasodilator stress myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) can be applied very early after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) for risk stratification, allowing management decisions to be made earlier and thus potentially shortening hospitalization stays, reducing costs, and preventing early cardiac events. This multicenter randomized trial compared the prognostic value of early dipyridamole MPI and standard predischarge submaximal exercise MPI in patients who presented with AMI. METHODS AND RESULTS Patients who presented with their first AMI (n=451) were randomized in a 3:1 ratio to undergo either both an early (day 2 to 4) dipyridamole (99m)Tc-sestamibi MPI study and a predischarge (day 6 to 12) submaximal exercise (99m)Tc-sestamibi MPI study or only the predischarge study. Multivariate predictors of in-hospital cardiac events included nuclear imaging summed stress and summed reversibility scores and peak creatine kinase. For postdischarge cardiac events, multivariate predictors in patients undergoing dipyridamole MPI included only the summed stress, reversibility, and rest imaging scores and anterior MI. For a given summed stress score, the interaction of reversibility score further improved the predictive value. Dipyridamole MPI showed better risk stratification than submaximal exercise MPI. CONCLUSIONS Dipyridamole MPI very early after MI predicts early and late cardiac events, with superior prognostic value compared with submaximal exercise imaging. The extent and severity of the stress defect and reversibility of the defect were the most important predictors of cardiac death and recurrent MI. This technique can allow management decisions to be made earlier with regard to AMI patients and could have important economic impact if applied widely.
Elevated levels of tryptase in children with nummular eczema

caused by antifungal drugs, would have yielded higher percentages of positive reactions. Interestingly, the high sensitizing potential of croconazole observed in East Asia (4, 5) could not be confirmed, after sporadic reports on CA to this AF in Germany [e.g. (3)]. This is possibly because of a limited exposure, as only one brand specialty containing croconazole has been on the market, and this was not among the top prescriptions , e.g. in 2002 [<70 000 prescriptions (7)]. In accordance with previous evidence, simultaneous positive reactions, which could indicate cross-reactivity among the chemically related imidazoles (or previous co-exposure) has been found to be rare (4). The rather high proportion of doubtful patch test reactions we have observed points to difficulties in the patch test diagnosis of CA to these AF. Patch test reactions to products are generally difficult to interpret, i.e. because of possible irritancy under patch test conditions or the possibility of other ingredients causing CA. Hence, our data regarding the concordance between commercial allergens and product testing should be interpreted with caution – not to mention the small size of the clinical sub-sample (n = 35). Still, the results could indicate that AF products may be more sensitive to diagnose CA than petrolatum-based preparations, for instance because of reasons of bioavailability.
iCat, the Chess Tutor

As the co-existence between humans and machines increases, many researchers are attempting to create believable socially interactive characters, robotic or virtual, that can collaborate with humans in a variety of domains and tasks. One of the application domains where these characters have been employed is education, where a large number of pedagogical characters cooperate with users behaving as assistants and companions, giving clues or immediate feedback to the learning experience. In this paper, we study the role of emotions and expressive behaviour in socially interactive characters employed in games. More specifically, on how we can use the character’s emotional behaviour to help users to better understand the game and thus the learning situation. We developed an emotion model for these characters, which is mainly influenced by the current state of the game and is based on the emotivector anticipatory mechanism. We have implemented the developed emotion model in a social robot named iCat, using chess as the game scenario. A preliminary evaluation was performed, where the robot behaved as a game buddy, playing chess with the user and reacting emotionally to the moves played in the chessboard. The results of that evaluation suggested that the emotional behaviour embedded in the character indeed helped the users to have a better perception of the chess game, which eventually leads them to improve their chess skills.
Possible quantum instability of primordial black holes

Evidence for the possible existence of a quantum process opposite to the famous Hawking radiation (evaporation) of black holes is presented. This new phenomenon could be very relevant in the case of exotic multiple horizon Nariai black holes and in the context of common grand unified theories. This is clearly manifested in the case of the SO(10) GUT, that is here investigated in detail. The remarkable result is obtained, that anti-evaporation can occur there only in the SUSY version of the theory. It is thus concluded that the existence of primordial black holes in the present Universe might be considered as an evidence for supersymmetry.
Cyanobacteria and Cyanotoxins: The Influence of Nitrogen versus Phosphorus

The importance of nitrogen (N) versus phosphorus (P) in explaining total cyanobacterial biovolume, the biovolume of specific cyanobacterial taxa, and the incidence of cyanotoxins was determined for 102 north German lakes, using methods to separate the effects of joint variation in N and P concentration from those of differential variation in N versus P. While the positive relationship between total cyanobacteria biovolume and P concentration disappeared at high P concentrations, cyanobacteria biovolume increased continually with N concentration, indicating potential N limitation in highly P enriched lakes. The biovolumes of all cyanobacterial taxa were higher in lakes with above average joint NP concentrations, although the relative biovolumes of some Nostocales were higher in less enriched lakes. Taxa were found to have diverse responses to differential N versus P concentration, and the differences between taxa were not consistent with the hypothesis that potentially N2-fixing Nostocales taxa would be favoured in low N relative to P conditions. In particular Aphanizomenon gracile and the subtropical invasive species Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii often reached their highest biovolumes in lakes with high nitrogen relative to phosphorus concentration. Concentrations of all cyanotoxin groups increased with increasing TP and TN, congruent with the biovolumes of their likely producers. Microcystin concentration was strongly correlated with the biovolume of Planktothrix agardhii but concentrations of anatoxin, cylindrospermopsin and paralytic shellfish poison were not strongly related to any individual taxa. Cyanobacteria should not be treated as a single group when considering the potential effects of changes in nutrient loading on phytoplankton community structure and neither should the N2-fixing Nostocales. This is of particular importance when considering the occurrence of cyanotoxins, as the two most abundant potentially toxin producing Nostocales in our study were found in lakes with high N relative to P enrichment.
Spatiotemporal segmentation for stereoscopic video

We propose an efficient and practical spatiotemporal segmentation method for stereoscopic videos. In our framework, an improved graph-based video segmentation method is firstly applied to group pixels with similar color, depth and motion into spatiotemporal superpixels. We then construct a graph over these superpixels and use spectral clustering method to obtain further segmentation results. This approach divides the segmentation into two processes, which are able to generate spatially and temporally coherent segmentations for videos at a fast speed. Additionally the information of depth and motion, which not only guides the connections of pixels in different frames and views but also measures the similarity, improves the quality of segmentation. Experimental results have demonstrated our method is competitive with the state-of-art methods.
Findability of Commodities by Consumers : Distinguishing Different Packaging Designs

What package design features can help consumers find commodities faster? This study assumes that the factors in distinguishing different packaging designs of commodities differ due to consumers’ different personal experiences. Thus, this paper studies the findability of commodities by consumers through distinct packaging designs. It consists mainly of two stages: (a) the first stage reviews the existing literature to determine the application of different package designs; (b) the second stage is a focus group interview designed to investigate the factors influencing consumers in distinguishing different package designs. In the investigation process, (i) samples of package bottles for testing were collected through natural observation and convenience sampling; (ii) a focus group interview was conduced to determine how a consumer recognizes the differences among packages; (iii) a grounded analysis model was employed to transfer and encode the data collected from the focus group interviews to construct a conceptual frame for trade dress and the classifications of trade dress, which can interpret variations in the recognition of packaging design differences. The results of the focus group interview showed that consumers focused more on three kinds of “trade dress”: property of commodity, label design, and bottle shape design when looking for differences in packaging designs. The “bottle shape design” was the most important factor that the focus group used in distinguishing different packaging designs. The distinction in the different package designs by consumers is not limited to design elements (image, language, color, shape, etc.) only; more importantly, the distinction lies in the relationship between “trade dress” and “classifications of trade dress,” which can better reflect the differences in packaging designs.
Subpressor Infusions of Angiotensin II Alter Glomerular Binding, Prostaglandin E2, and Cyclic AMP Production

Angiotensin II (ANG II) has been postulated to have a pathogenetic role in diminished glomerular function in a number of animal models of acute renal failure. The present studies were designed to test the hypothesis that modest elevations in circulating ANG II potentiate the ability of ANG II to reduce glomerular capillary surface area through an effect on ANG II binding to glomerular mesangial cells and/or influences on other modulators of function. Rat glomeruli isolated by sieving technique were employed in vitro in an ANG II radioreceptor assay. Subpressor infusion of ANG II for 36 hours in rats increases the affinity and number of ANG II binding sites of isolated glomeruli. The ability of ANG II to influence function was tested by assessing its effect on glomerular surface area in vitro by image-analysis microscopy, a method of measuring mesangial cell contractility. The sensitivity and magnitude of ANG H-induced decrements in glomerular surface area were increased. ANG II infusion diminished glomerular prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production, increased basal cyclic adenosine 3,5-monophosphate (cAMP) production, and enhanced ANG H-induced decrements in cAMP production. In control glomeruli, only pharmacological concentrations of ANG II inhibited cAMP, but after ANG II infusion, physiological concentrations of ANG II were capable of inhibiting cAMP by as much as 57% (below basal values). In conclusion, continuous infusion of subpressor concentrations of ANG II in rats enhances the contractile response of the glomerular mesangial cell through effects on the cell's surface receptor for ANG II and on prostaglandin and cAMP production. These actions may be important mediators of the effects of ANG II on glomerular function associated with a number of experimental models of kidney disease.