Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
augmented reality system for the treatment of phobia towards small animals

Phobia towards small animals has been treated using exposure in vivo and virtual reality. Recently, augmented reality (AR) has also been presented as a suitable tool. The first AR system developed for this purpose used visible markers for tracking. In this first system, the presence of visible markers warns the user of the appearance of animals. To avoid this warning, this paper presents a second version in which the markers are invisible. First, the technical characteristics of a prototype are described. Second, a comparative study of the sense of presence and anxiety in a non-phobic population using the visible marker-tracking system and the invisible marker-tracking system is presented. Twenty-four participants used the two systems. The participants were asked to rate their anxiety level (from 0 to 10) at 8 different moments. Immediately after their experience, the participants were given the SUS questionnaire to assess their subjective sense of presence. The results indicate that the invisible marker-tracking system induces a similar or higher sense of presence than the visible marker-tracking system, and it also provokes a similar or higher level of anxiety in important steps for therapy. Moreover, 83.33% of the participants reported that they did not have the same sensations/surprise using the two systems, and they scored the advantage of using the invisible marker-tracking system at 5.19±2.25 (on a scale from 1 to 10). However, if only the group with higher fear levels is considered, 100% of the participants reported that they did not have the same sensations/surprise with the two systems, scoring the advantage of using the invisible marker-tracking system at 6.38±1.60 (on a scale from 1 to 10). Keywords--augmented reality, invisible markers, phobia toward s small animals
Long-term outcomes and comparison after conventional coronary artery bypass grafting for left main disease between patients classified as percutaneous coronary intervention recommendation classes II and III.

OBJECTIVES We retrospectively analysed long-term outcomes after conventional coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) between patients having left main (LM) disease who should have been assigned class II and those assigned class III recommendation for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) according to the 2010 European Society of Cardiology and the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery guidelines. METHODS From January 2000 to December 2009, conventional CABG was routinely employed in 180 consecutive patients with previously untreated and stable LM lesion. A comparison between two groups (CABG for PCI class II and CABG for PCI class III) was performed, looking at the primary endpoint of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE), including all-cause death, stroke [cerebral vascular accident (CVA)], myocardial infarction (MI) and repeat revascularization. We also analysed the effects of variables on MACCE at 8 years after the operation. RESULTS The overall 8-year MACCE rates were significantly lower in the CABG for PCI class II group than in the CABG for PCI class III group (9.7% class II vs 31.1% class III; P = 0.0005). This was largely because of an increased rate of repeat revascularization (1.2% class II vs 13.8% class III; P = 0.0029). The cumulative rate of the combined outcomes of all death/CVA/MI was significantly lower in the CABG for PCI class II group (8.5% class II vs 19.2% class III; P = 0.048); there was no observed difference between the groups for all-cause death, CVA and MI. The SYNTAX score was demonstrated to be the only significant predictor of combined outcomes (Death/CVA/MI) at 8 years [odds ratio (OR) 1.05, P = 0.023], repeat revascularization at 8 years (OR 1.11, P = 0.0013) and MACCE at 8 years (OR 1.07, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS In our routine strategy of conventional CABG for LM disease, patients believed to be PCI candidates for LM disease have significantly better long-term outcomes as characterized by combined outcomes (Death/CVA/MI), repeat revascularization and MACCE. These results provide a suitable benchmark against which long-term outcomes of PCI for LM disease can be compared. The SYNTAX score, which was introduced to determine treatment for complex coronary disease, is indicative of long-term outcomes after CABG for LM disease.
Common fragile sites are characterized by histone hypoacetylation

Common fragile sites (CFSs) represent large, highly unstable regions of the human genome. CFS sequences are sensitive to perturbation of replication; however, the molecular basis for the instability at CFSs is poorly understood. We hypothesized that a unique epigenetic pattern may underlie the unusual sensitivity of CFSs to replication interference. To examine this hypothesis, we analyzed chromatin modification patterns within the six human CFSs with the highest levels of breakage, and their surrounding non-fragile regions (NCFSs). Chromatin at most of the CFSs analyzed has significantly less histone acetylation than that of their surrounding NCFSs. Trichostatin A and/or 5-azadeoxycytidine treatment reduced chromosome breakage at CFSs. Furthermore, chromatin at the most commonly expressed CFS, the FRA3B, is more resistant to micrococcal nuclease than that of the flanking non-fragile sequences. These results demonstrate that histone hypoacetylation is a characteristic epigenetic pattern of CFSs, and chromatin within CFSs might be relatively more compact than that of the NCFSs, indicating a role for chromatin conformation in genomic instability at CFSs. Moreover, lack of histone acetylation at CFSs may contribute to the defective response to replication stress characteristic of CFSs, leading to the genetic instability characteristic of this regions.
Lifetime Aware Resource Management for Sensor Network Using Distributed Genetic Algorithm

In this work we consider lifetime-aware resource management for sensor network using distributed genetic algorithm (GA). Our goal is to allocate different detection methods to different sensor nodes in the way such that the required detection probability can be achieved while the network lifetime is maximized. The contribution of this paper is twofold. Firstly, the resource management problem is formulated as a constraint optimization problem and is solved using a distributed GA. Secondly, empirical analysis results are provided that reveals the relationship between the configuration parameters and the quality of the search. A regression model is designed to estimate the runtime of the distributed GA given the configuration parameters. The model is utilized to find energy efficient configurations of the algorithm
Efficient coverage through inter-operator infrastructure sharing in mobile networks

Herein, we study efficient coverage provisioning in mobile networks under an inter-operator infrastructure sharing regime which we call Networks without Borders. For the purpose of the study, we derive general formulations of the full and partial coverage provisioning problem. Based on these formulations, we assess the efficiency of coverage provisioning over shared multi-operator infrastructure for two datasets: randomly generated deployment and a real network deployment from Poland. In the paper we report over 90% cost efficiency between shared and non-shared networks for dense deployments with both homogeneous and heterogeneous power allocations, and a divergence in the efficiency between real and random deployments for low deployment density case.We consider this work as a first tractable attempt to describe large-scale inter-operator infrastructure sharing which may be the key to enabling appropriate coverage in currently under-served areas, with effects on the digital divide.
Effect of the Structure of University's R&D Funds on the Outcome of Invention Patents in Jiang Su Province

The university's invention patents are always brought out during the process of science research, which relies on various funds. Government investment is the main source of college research funds. This paper analyzes the relationship of the number of college invention patents authorized of Jangsu Province from 1997-2007 and the structure of government R&D funds, in order to figure out the effect of different funds on the invention patents, then ultimately put forward effective suggestions for improvement.
A case study of OpenCL on an Android mobile GPU

An observation in supercomputing in the past decade illustrates the transition of pervasive commodity products being integrated with the world's fastest system. Given today's exploding popularity of mobile devices, we investigate the possibilities for high performance mobile computing. Because parallel processing on mobile devices will be the key element in developing a mobile and computationally powerful system, this study was designed to assess the computational capability of a GPU on a low-power, ARM-based mobile device. The methodology for executing computationally intensive benchmarks on a handheld mobile GPU is presented, including the practical aspects of working with the existing Android-based software stack and leveraging the OpenCL-based parallel programming model. The empirical results provide the performance of an OpenCL N-body benchmark and an auto-tuning kernel parameterization strategy. The achieved computational performance of the low-power mobile Adreno GPU is compared with a quad-core ARM, an ×86 Intel processor, and a discrete AMD GPU.
Technology for just-in-time in-situ learning of facial affect for persons diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder

Many first-hand accounts from individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) highlight the challenges inherent in processing high-speed, complex, and unpredictable social information such as facial expressions in real-time. In this paper, we describe a new technology aimed at helping people capture, analyze, and reflect on a set of social-emotional signals communicated by facial and head movements in live social interaction that occurs with their everyday social companions. We describe our development of a new combination of hardware using a miniature camera connected to an ultramobile PC together with custom software developed to track, capture, interpret, and intuitively present various interpretations of the facial-head movements (e.g., presenting that there is a high probability the person looks "confused"). This paper describes this new technology together with the results of a series of pilot studies conducted with adolescents diagnosed with ASD who used the technology in their peer-group setting and contributed to its development via their feedback.
Empirical Analysis and Modeling of the Activity Dilemmas in Big Social Networks

Social networking services are not limited to person-to-person communication, but extend to a wider range involving person-to-thing communication and thing-to-thing communication. Therefore, it is also called big social networking services. In order to motivate users of online social networks to share information and communicate with each other frequently, we first analyzed the activity statuses of users in one of famous social networks, Weibo, and then proposed a lurker game model for accumulating big data. In addition to the features of the public goods game, this model also introduces the factor of individual incentive depending on his degree. We found that the individual strategy to be chosen was not relevant to the user’s degree, but to an incentive constant of the entire network. The simulation results showed that individual strategies asymptotically followed three different behaviors according to the dynamic organization of the individuals. Active users will emerge during the evolutionary process with an incentive. Without an incentive, active central users can hardly affect the states of their neighbors and may even become lurkers due to the large number of lurking neighbors. Large noise decreases the influence of the high incentive and causes the chaos of networks. If the continuous chaos exists, active users will gradually lose interest and leave the network.
Understanding the determinants of stability and folding of small globular proteins from their energetics

The results of minimal model calculations indicate that the stability and the kinetic accessibility of the native state of small globular proteins are controlled by few “hot” sites. By means of molecular dynamics simulations around the native conformation, which describe the protein and the surrounding solvent at the all‐atom level, an accurate and compact energetic map of the native state of the protein is generated. This map is further simplified by means of an eigenvalue decomposition. The components of the eigenvector associated with the lowest eigenvalue indicate which hot sites are likely to be responsible for the stability and for the rapid folding of the protein. The comparison of the results of the model with the findings of mutagenesis experiments performed for four small proteins show that the eigenvalue decomposition method is able to identify between 60% and 80% of these (hot) sites.
A hybrid model for face recognition using facial components

It is generally agreed that faces are not recognized only by utilizing some holistic search among all learned faces, but also through a feature analysis that aimed to specify more important features of each specific face. This paper addresses a novel decision strategy that efficiently uses both holistic and facial component (eye, nose and mouth) feature analysis to recognize faces. The proposed algorithm first performs a holistic search using the whole image features and selects probable candidates for further processing. Then the facial features of these probable candidates are compared and classified with the stored patterns in the train set. Finally the classification results are fused with a weighted majority voting to form the final decision. Simulation studies justify the superior performance of the proposed method as compared to that of Eigenface method.
Adaptive responses using obstructive sleep apnea as the paradigm.

For practicing clinicians, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) represents an excellent illustration of how understanding adaptive physiological principles are required for optimal patient care. Clinically important OSA is estimated to affect roughly 13% of North American men, 6% of North American women, and 2% of children based on current criteria (11). The disease is characterized by repetitive collapse of the pharyngeal airway, which occurs during sleep, resulting in hypoxemia, hypercapnia, and sleep fragmentation, leading to adverse metabolic, neurocognitive, and cardiovascular consequences. Nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the treatment of choice for OSA in adults, but long-term adherence is unsuccessful in 50% of patients (8), leading to a requirement for further research to develop new therapies.
Isotypic variation in antibody responses in a community in Papua New Guinea to larval and adult antigens during infection, and following reinfection, with the hookworm Necator americanus

Summary The natural infection of a community with the hookworm Necator americanus induces a vigorous humoral response to both larval and adult parasite antigens. This response occurs in all five human antibody isotypes, and data are presented to show that, at the population level, isotypes respond differently, following chemotherapy and during reinfection, to changes in antigen stimulation. The differential response probably reflects the fact that the parasite, during the course of its life cycle, presents different amounts of antigens at different anatomical locations. It is suggested that IgG and IgM responses against adult excretory‐secretory (ES) products most accurately reflect the efficacy of chemotherapy, and the load of resident adult infection, while IgG responses against larval somatic antigens reflect continuous exposure to infection. These hypotheses should now be tested, at the level of the individual, in a longitudinal manner using more closely spaced sampling intervals. This repetitive sampling, and the inclusion of a measure of the exposure of the population to infective stages, will allow more definitive conclusions to be made about the role of the immune response in controlling worm burdens.
New methodology for analytical and optimal design of fuzzy PID controllers

Describes a methodology for the systematic design of fuzzy PID controllers based on theoretical fuzzy analysis and, genetic-based optimization. An important feature of the proposed controller is its simple structure. It uses a one-input fuzzy inference with three rules and at most six tuning parameters. A closed-form solution for the control action is defined in terms of the nonlinear tuning parameters. The nonlinear proportional gain is explicitly derived in the error domain. A conservative design strategy is proposed for realizing a guaranteed-PID-performance (GPP) fuzzy controller. This strategy suggests that a fuzzy PID controller should be able to produce a linear function from its nonlinearity tuning of the system. The proposed PID system is able to produce a close approximation of a linear function for approximating the GPP system. This GPP system, incorporated with a genetic solver for the optimization, will provide the performance no worse than the corresponding linear controller with respect to the specific performance criteria. Two indexes, linearity approximation index (LAI) and nonlinearity variation index (NVI), are suggested for evaluating the nonlinear design of fuzzy controllers. The proposed control system has been applied to several first-order, second-order, and fifth-order processes. Simulation results show that the proposed fuzzy PID controller produces superior control performance to the conventional PID controllers, particularly in handling nonlinearities due to time delay and saturation.
Adenomyosis in endometriosis--prevalence and impact on fertility. Evidence from magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND The hypothesis is tested that there is a strong association between endometriosis and adenomyosis and that adenomyosis plays a role in causing infertility in women with endometriosis. METHODS. Magnetic resonance imaging of the uteri was performed in 160 women with and 67 women without endometriosis. The findings were correlated with the stage of the disease, the age of the women and the sperm count parameters of the respective partners. RESULTS The posterior junctional zone (PJZ) was significantly thicker in women with endometriosis than in those without the disease (P<0.001). There was a positive correlation of the diameter of the PJZ with the stage of the disease and the age of the patients. The PJZ was thicker in patients with endometriosis with fertile than in patients with subfertile partners. The prevalence of adenomyotic lesions in all 160 women with endometriosis was 79%. In women with endometriosis below an age of 36 years and fertile partners, the prevalence of adenomyosis was 90% (P<0.01) CONCLUSIONS With a prevalence of up to 90%, uterine adenomyosis is significantly associated with pelvic endometriosis and constitutes an important factor of sterility in endometriosis presumably by impairing uterine sperm transport.
HYPOPHOSPHATEMIA AND REFEEDING: A CORRECTIVE OR A PREVENTIVE ATTITUDE?

Abstract Hypophosphatemia is a rare but potentially lethal complication of the refeeding of cachectic patients. Up until now a careful monitoring of the serum phosphor level was recommended and the deficit was corrected as needed. Illustrated by two case reports we propose the use of a preventive schedule in patients with a normal renal function. We show that preventively treated patients do not develop hypophosphatemia and thereby avoid serious complications such as sudden death. In the presence of normal kidney function we propose to administer phosphor at 2 × 10 mmol/day orally or between 10 and 30 mmol IV depending on the initial phosphor levels. Further treatment is then adapted to measured levels. In the presence of kidney malfunction we propose to keep the corrective schedule.
Threshold Effects for the Decrepitation and Stretching of Fluid Inclusions

Minerals embedding fluids in the form of microinclusions are recurrent in xenoliths and exploited for inferring the characteristics of magma dynamics in relation to volcanism. Xenolith migration from mantle conditions to Earth surface might trigger failure transformations known as decrepitation and stretching. The former is a fairly recognizable transformation, corresponding to the brittle failure of the host mineral nearby the inclusion. The latter is a more intriguing transformation, corresponding to the plastic expansion of the cavity, that is, without fracture formation. Both transformations bring about a decrease of the fluid inclusion density, preventing to assess the original depth level of the xenolith. Here decrepitation and stretching are analyzed in the framework of an elastic‐plastic model providing a thorough tool to interpret experimental density data. Both phenomena are shown to be governed by threshold effects, establishing a net boundary between preserved and failed matrixes in terms of cavity size, internal, and confining pressure. A common feature of stretched systems emerges in the concept of the limiting pressure, influencing the maximum value of the inclusion pressure one might expect for a specific matrix, and the inferred depth of magma storage levels.
Parrots and Palms: Analyzing Data to Determine Best Management Strategies and Sustainable Harvest Levels

This exercise1 presents a scenario and raw data on a realistic conflict between parrot conservation and palm tree harvest. It requires that students analyze data very comparable to what would be gathered in the field, to: 1) construct a life tables for the palm and parrot, 2) extract vital statistics about both the palm and parrot population from the life tables, 3) estimate maximum sustainable yield for both species, and 4) make a decision about the sustainability of harvest intensity. It illustrates the importance of data analysis skills for conservation. 1. PART
HORMONES IN RELATION TO ROOT FORMATION ON STEM CUTTINGS.

Experimental work with one of the root-forming hormones, ,B-indolylacetic acid, has for the most part been limited to root formation on pea cuttings. This paper presents results obtained from applying the hormone to stem cuttings of other plants with the purpose of determining its practical value in propagation by cuttings. Pure synthetic f-indolyl-acetic acid was used in all of the experiments and was applied to the cuttings by the lanolin method of LAIBACH (2). One part of the hormone was mixed with 2000 parts of pure lanolin, in which it is soluble. A small portion of this paste-roughly about 10 mg. -then was smeared on a small area, about 0.5 x 0.125 inch, on one side of the cutting near the top which had previously been scraped to remove the epidermis and outer cortical layers.