Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Randomized trial of epidural vs. subcutaneous catheters for managing pain after modified Nuss in adults.

BACKGROUND Minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum (MIRPE) is now performed in adults. Managing adult patients' pain postoperatively has been challenging due to increased chest wall rigidity and the pressure required for supporting the elevated sternum. The optimal pain management regimen has not been determined. We designed this prospective, randomized trial to compare postoperative pain management and outcomes between thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) and bilateral subcutaneous infusion pump catheters (On-Q). METHODS Patients undergoing MIRPE (modified Nuss) underwent random assignment to TEA or On-Q group. Both groups received intravenous, patient-controlled opioid analgesia, with concomitant delivery of local anesthetic. Primary outcomes were length of stay (LOS), opioid use, and pain scores. RESULTS Of 85 randomly assigned patients, 68 completed the study [52 men, 76.5%; mean (range) age, 32.2 (20.0-58.0) years; Haller index, 5.9 (range, 3.0-26.7)]. The groups were equally matched for preoperative variables; however, the On-Q arm had more patients (60.3%). No significant differences were found between groups in mean daily pain scores (P=0.52), morphine-equivalent opioid usage (P=0.28), or hospital stay 3.5 vs. 3.3 days (TEA vs. On-Q; P=0.55). Thirteen patients randomized to TEA refused the epidural and withdrew from the study because they perceived greater benefit of the On-Q system. CONCLUSIONS Postoperative pain management in adults after MIRPE can be difficult. Both continuous local anesthetic delivery by TEA and On-Q catheters with concomitant, intravenous, patient-controlled anesthesia maintained acceptable analgesia with a reasonable LOS. In our cohort, there was preference for the On-Q system for pain management.
Iterative Pricing-Based Rate Allocation for Video Streams With Fluctuating Bandwidth Availability

We consider rate allocation for video users in the case where the available bandwidth fluctuates. Simply minimizing the objective distortion or optimizing the stability of video qualities does not optimize subjective quality. We formulate a utility-based solution, considering that a user's preference of video quality often varies over a range with upper and lower thresholds of quality. Our iterative pricing-based resource allocation procedure reallocates the bandwidth not only between different users within a time slot but also between different time slots, such that no user suffers quality degradation on average by participating in the multiplexing process. Experimental results show that, compared with equal resource allocation and existing rate allocation solutions, the subjective result becomes increasingly better with the increase of bandwidth fluctuation rate or bandwidth fluctuation range. Moreover, as the number of users increases, the results improve.
Secure extensions of FPGA soft core processors for symmetric key cryptography

When used in cryptographic applications, general-purpose processors are often completed by a cryptographic accelerator — crypto-coprocessor. Secret keys are usually stored in the internal registers of the processor, and are vulnerable to attacks on protocols, software/firmware or cache memory. The paper presents three ways of extending soft general purpose processors for cryptographic applications. The proposed extension is aimed at symmetric key cryptography and it guarantees secure key management. Three security zones are created and physically separated in each of three configurations: processor, cipher and key storage zones. In the three zones, the secret keys are manipulated in a different manner — in clear or enciphered, as common data or keys. The security zones are separated on the protocol, system, architectural and physical levels. The proposed principle is validated on Altera NIOS II, Xilinx MicroBlaze and Actel Cortex M1 soft core processor extensions. The NIOS II processor needs fewer clock cycles per data block encryption, because the security module is included in the processor's data path. The data path of the MicroBlaze is unchanged and thus shorter, but additional clock cycles are necessary for data transfers between the processor and the security module. The Cortex M1 processor is connected via AHB bus and the cryptographic extension is accessed as an ordinary peripheral — a coprocessor. Although the interfacing is different, the three processors with their extensions attain the required high security level.
A Hybrid Approach for Web Change Detection

Search engines save copies of crawled web pages to provide instant search results, saved pages may become old and un-updated as original pages change providing new information and new links, and most of websites don't submit these new changes to search engines so search engines don't depend mainly on websites techniques of submitting changes. Keeping pages fresh and updated in search engine is important for giving real page ranks and for providing real time information. Techniques were invented to improve the page update process by search engine. In this paper the author combines two of good known techniques and implements the new one via experiments that improve better results in different experiment cases.
Radiarion of system of linear wires in magnetoplasma

A problem of excitement of currents in the system consisting of two think parallel wires, arbitrarily oriented in anisotropic plasma (magnetoplasma) was solved by method of partial averaging. Numerical analysis of obtained expressions was carried out and dependencies of current distribution and electromagnetic field from lengths of wires, distances between them and parameters of plasma were explored.
Low oxygen alters mitochondrial function and response to oxidative stress in human neural progenitor cells

Oxygen concentration should be carefully regulated in all living tissues, beginning at the early embryonic stages. Unbalances in oxygen regulation can lead to cell death and disease. However, to date, few studies have investigated the consequences of variations in oxygen levels for fetal-like cells. Therefore, in the present work, human neural progenitor cells (NPCs) derived from pluripotent stem cells grown in 3% oxygen (v/v) were compared with NPCs cultured in 21% (v/v) oxygen. Low oxygen concentrations altered the mitochondrial content and oxidative functions of the cells, which led to improved ATP production, while reducing generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). NPCs cultured in both conditions showed no differences in proliferation and glucose metabolism. Furthermore, antioxidant enzymatic activity was not altered in NPCs cultured in 3% oxygen under normal conditions, however, when exposed to external agents known to induce oxidative stress, greater susceptibility to DNA damage was observed. Our findings indicate that the management of oxygen levels should be considered for in vitro models of neuronal development and drug screening.
fMRI of the rod scotoma elucidates cortical rod pathways and implications for lesion measurements

Significance We use functional MRI to investigate the cortical effects on V1, V2, V3, hV4, and VO-1 when humans’ eyes have adapted to low-light vision. We show that populations of neurons with receptive fields interacting with the central rod scotoma are silenced because of lack of stimulation, shift their locations ectopically, and/or scale their sizes in some maps because of partial stimulation when the receptive fields overlap with the rod scotoma. These same effects have been cited as hallmarks of long-term reorganization, but our results show that these effects can be the result of the normal short-term adaptation of the visual system. In contrast, we observe no cortical differences between general rod and cone input other than rod scotoma effects. Are silencing, ectopic shifts, and receptive field (RF) scaling in cortical scotoma projection zones (SPZs) the result of long-term reorganization (plasticity) or short-term adaptation? Electrophysiological studies of SPZs after retinal lesions in animal models remain controversial, because they are unable to conclusively answer this question because of limitations of the methodology. Here, we used functional MRI (fMRI) visual field mapping through population RF (pRF) modeling with moving bar stimuli under photopic and scotopic conditions to measure the effects of the rod scotoma in human early visual cortex. As a naturally occurring central scotoma, it has a large cortical representation, is free of traumatic lesion complications, is completely reversible, and has not reorganized under normal conditions (but can as seen in rod monochromats). We found that the pRFs overlapping the SPZ in V1, V2, V3, hV4, and VO-1 generally (i) reduced their blood oxygen level-dependent signal coherence and (ii) shifted their pRFs more eccentric but (iii) scaled their pRF sizes in variable ways. Thus, silencing, ectopic shifts, and pRF scaling in SPZs are not unique identifiers of cortical reorganization; rather, they can be the expected result of short-term adaptation. However, are there differences between rod and cone signals in V1, V2, V3, hV4, and VO-1? We did not find differences for all five maps in more peripheral eccentricities outside of rod scotoma influence in coherence, eccentricity representation, or pRF size. Thus, rod and cone signals seem to be processed similarly in cortex.
Sustained HBeAg and HBsAg loss after long-term follow-up of HBeAg-positive patients treated with peginterferon alpha-2b.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term sustainability of response in patients with hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic hepatitis B treated with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) alpha-2b alone or in combination with lamivudine. METHODS All 266 patients enrolled in the HBV99-01 study were offered participation in a long-term follow-up (LTFU) study. Patients were treated with PEG-IFN alpha-2b (100 mug/wk) alone or in combination with lamivudine (100 mg/day) for 52 weeks. Initial response was defined as HBeAg negativity at 26 weeks posttreatment. For the LTFU study, patients had one additional visit after the initial study (mean interval, 3.0 +/- 0.8 years). RESULTS Of 266 patients enrolled in the initial study, 172 (65%) participated in the LTFU study. At LTFU, HBeAg and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) negativity were observed in 37% and 11% of 172 patients, respectively. Sixty-four patients were classified as initial responders and 108 as nonresponders. Among the initial responders, sustained HBeAg negativity and HBsAg loss were observed in 81% and 30%, respectively. Significantly higher rates of HBeAg negativity were observed in genotype A-infected initial responders compared with those with genotype non-A (96% vs 76%; P = .06) as well as HBsAg loss (58% vs 11%; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS HBeAg loss after treatment with PEG-IFN alpha-2b alone or in combination with lamivudine is sustained in the majority of patients and is associated with a high likelihood of HBsAg loss, particularly in genotype A-infected patients. Therefore, PEG-IFN alpha-2b remains an important treatment option in this era of nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy.
Model for cyber attacker behavioral analysis

Today the world is under virtually constant attack, targeted by increasingly sophisticated and well funded attackers. The increasing efficacy of cyber threats continues to highlight the inadequacies of traditional defense mechanism such as firewalls and Intrusion Detection System. The security analyst however focuses on finding the technical deficiency but do not consider the adversaries motivations and their diversity in attacking mechanism. The attackers are not analogous; they differ in their motivations, strategies, devices used and potential. In order to analyze and design security system, it is therefore necessary to consider characteristics that ascertain attack strategy, attacker behavior and threats generated by attackers. The attacker behavioral analysis has proved to be an impulsive aid for threat analysis. A generic model is proposed to model the cyber attacker's behavior more accurately by considering the principles behind the attacker's behavior and thereby generating the profile of an attacker.
Optimization of Microelectrode Design for Cortical Recording Based on Thermal Noise Considerations

Intracortical microelectrode recordings of neural activity show great promise as control signals for neuroprosthetic applications. However, faithful, consistent recording of single unit spiking activity with chronically implanted silicon-substrate microelectrode arrays has proven difficult. Many approaches seek to enhance the long-term performance of microelectrode arrays by, for example, increasing electrode biocompatibility, decreasing electrode impedance, or improving electrode interface properties through application of small voltage pulses. The purpose of this study was to use computational models to optimize the design of microelectrodes. We coupled detailed models of the neural source signal, silicon-substrate microelectrodes, and thermal noise to define the electrode contact size that maximized the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Model analysis combined a multi-compartment cable model of a layer V cortical pyramidal neuron with a 3D finite element model of the head and microelectrode to define the amplitude and time course of the recorded signal. A spatially-lumped impedance model was parameterized with in vitro and in vivo spectroscopy data and used to define thermal noise as a function of electrode contact size. Our results suggest that intracortical microelectrodes with a contact size of ~380 mum2 will provide an increased SNR in vivo and improve the long-term recording capabilities of silicon-substrate microelectrode arrays
Fast Concurrent Reinforcement Learners

When several agents learn concurrently, the payoff received by an agent is dependent on the behavior of the other agents. As the other agents learn, the reward of one agent becomes non-stationary. This makes learning in multiagent systemsmore difficult than single-agent learning. A few methods, how-ever, are known to guarantee convergence to equilibrium in the limit in such systems. In this paper we experimentally study one such technique, the minimax-Q, in a competitive domain and prove its equivalence with another well-known method for competitive domains. We study the rate of convergence of minimax-Q and investigate possible ways for increasing the same. We also present a variant of the algorithm, minimax-SARSA, and prove its convergence to minimax-Q values under appropriate conditions. Finally we show that this new algorithm performs better than simple minimax-Q in a general-sum domain as well.
GROUP BASED RESILIENCY: CONTRASTING THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF THREAT TO THE INGROUP

The research focused on Group Based Resiliency (GBR), the perception of ingroup’s ability to positively deal with contextual threats. Based on the uncertainty reduction theory, we advanced that GBR contributes to prevent negative effects of threats to the ingroup. We successfully tested a SEM in which when the ingroup is presented as resilient a contextual threat elicits a stronger perception of ingroup entitativity, which in turn produces a stronger ingroup identification. This identification increases life-satisfaction also in terms of better perspectives for the future. When the ingroup was presented as not resilient, perceived threat did not lead to such a positive outcome. Implications for threat management are discussed.
The Role of Information Systems in Healthcare : Current Research and Future Trends

I systems have great potential to reduce healthcare costs and improve outcomes. The purpose of this special issue is to offer a forum for theory-driven research that explores the role of IS in the delivery of healthcare in its diverse organizational and regulatory settings. We identify six theoretically distinctive elements of the healthcare context and discuss how these elements increase the motivation for, and the salience of, the research results reported in the nine papers comprising this special issue. We also provide recommendations for future IS research focusing on the implications of technology-driven advances in three areas: social media, evidence-based medicine, and personalized medicine.
Association Between Inflammatory Biomarkers and Bone Mineral Density in a Community‐Based Cohort of Men and Women

Based upon evidence in animal and in vitro studies, we tested the hypothesis that higher serum concentrations of the cytokines interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and the inflammatory marker C‐reactive protein (CRP) would be inversely associated with bone mineral density (BMD) in a community‐based cohort of men and women, with the strongest associations among postmenopausal women not receiving menopause hormonal therapy (MHT).
A nonlocal approach for SAR image denoising

Speckle reduction is a key step in several SAR image processing procedures. In this paper, a new despeckling technique based on the “nonlocal” denoising filter BM3D [1] is presented. The filter has been modified in order to take into account SAR image characteristics. The experimental results, conducted on both synthetic and real SAR images, confirm the potential of the proposed approach.
Design and Optimization of a New Magnetic-Geared Pole-Changing Hybrid Excitation Machine

This paper presents a new magnetic-gear pole-changing hybrid excitation machine (MG-PCHEM), which can provide high torque density and improved flux-weakening ability. The key is to flexibly change the pole-pair number of inner excitation sources by injecting variable dc field currents, and, hence, regulate the dominant pole-pair flux components to realize an effective magnetic field adjustment. In the following paper, the machine configuration and its operation principle of flux control are introduced first. Then, the influences of some leading design parameters are analyzed including the slot-pole combination and other dimension parameters, and after which a comparative study is carried out with traditional single-stator topology. Based on the optimal design, electromagnetic performance of the MG-PCHEM is further evaluated by using the finite-element method. Finally, a prototype is designed, manufactured, and fully tested. Relevant experimental results verify the feasibility of this new hybrid solution as well as the finite-element predictions.
Essences in Metabolic Engineering of Lignan Biosynthesis

Lignans are structurally and functionally diverse phytochemicals biosynthesized in diverse plant species and have received wide attentions as leading compounds of novel drugs for tumor treatment and healthy diets to reduce of the risks of lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases. However, the lineage-specific distribution and the low-amount of production in natural plants, some of which are endangered species, hinder the efficient and stable production of beneficial lignans. Accordingly, the development of new procedures for lignan production is of keen interest. Recent marked advances in the molecular and functional characterization of lignan biosynthetic enzymes and endogenous and exogenous factors for lignan biosynthesis have suggested new methods for the metabolic engineering of lignan biosynthesis cascades leading to the efficient, sustainable, and stable lignan production in plants, including plant cell/organ cultures. Optimization of light conditions, utilization of a wide range of elicitor treatments, and construction of transiently gene-transfected or transgenic lignan-biosynthesizing plants are mainly being attempted. This review will present the basic and latest knowledge regarding metabolic engineering of lignans based on their biosynthetic pathways and biological activities, and the perspectives in lignan production via metabolic engineering.
Capacity constrained assignment in spatial databases

Given a point set <i>P</i> of customers (e.g., WiFi receivers) and a point set <i>Q</i> of service providers (e.g., wireless access points), where each <i>q</i> ∈ <i>Q</i> has a capacity <i>q.k</i>, the <i>capacity constrained assignment</i> (CCA) is a matching <i>M</i> ⊆ <i>Q</i> × <i>P</i> such that (i) each point <i>q</i> ∈ <i>Q</i> (<i>p</i> ∈ <i>P</i>) appears at most <i>k</i> times (at most once) in <i>M</i>, (ii) the size of <i>M</i> is maximized (i.e., it comprises min{|<i>P</i>|, ∑<sub><i>q</i>∈<i>Q</i></sub><sup><i>q</i>.<i>k</i></sup>} pairs), and (iii) the total assignment cost (i.e., the sum of Euclidean distances within all pairs) is minimized. Thus, the CCA problem is to identify the assignment with the optimal overall quality; intuitively, the quality of <i>q</i>'s service to <i>p</i> in a given (<i>q</i>, <i>p</i>) pair is anti-proportional to their distance. Although max-flow algorithms are applicable to this problem, they require the complete distance-based bipartite graph between <i>Q</i> and <i>P</i>. For large spatial datasets, this graph is expensive to compute and it may be too large to fit in main memory. Motivated by this fact, we propose efficient algorithms for <i>optimal assignment</i> that employ novel edge-pruning strategies, based on the spatial properties of the problem. Additionally, we develop <i>approximate</i> (i.e., suboptimal) CCA solutions that provide a trade-off between result accuracy and computation cost, abiding by theoretical quality guarantees. A thorough experimental evaluation demonstrates the efficiency and practicality of the proposed techniques.
Unlimited vocabulary speech recognition for agglutinative languages

It is practically impossible to build a word-based lexicon for speech recognition in agglutinative languages that would cover all the relevant words. The problem is that words are generally built by concatenating several prefixes and suffixes to the word roots. Together with compounding and inflections this leads to millions of different, but still frequent word forms. Due to inflections, ambiguity and other phenomena, it is also not trivial to automatically split the words into meaningful parts. Rule-based morphological analyzers can perform this splitting, but due to the handcrafted rules, they also suffer from an out-of-vocabulary problem. In this paper we apply a recently proposed fully automatic and rather language and vocabulary independent way to build sub-word lexica for three different agglutinative languages. We demonstrate the language portability as well by building a successful large vocabulary speech recognizer for each language and show superior recognition performance compared to the corresponding word-based reference systems.