Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of a Bracelet With Strain-Gauge Matrix for Movement Intention Identification in Traumatic Amputees

Myoelectric prosthesis is an electronic device designed to mimic human anatomy and to replace a missing body part for an amputee. Today some prostheses can provide the users with several degrees of freedom. But the major challenges in their design remain related to the control of such devices using a variety of sensors. Regarding this aspect, strain gauges are considered of great interest for strain measurements on the human body for their simplicity, availability, and low cost. Therefore, the use of these strain gauges to identify movement intentions could allow one to design innovative myoelectric prostheses, which would be robust, simple, and less expensive in comparison to using electromyography. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, identifying the movement intentions using strain gauge measurements has yet to be explored. The objective of this paper is to develop a sensor and a method capable of identifying the intentions of the upper limb movements. The developed sensor is a silicone bracelet equipped with a matrix of 16 strain gauges. The small skin deformations were measured by the proposed bracelet and then classified to identify the intentions of movements. A test was performed on one adult female, who underwent amputation of the left forearm (traumatic transhumeral amputee), equipped with the bracelet placed on her upper arm while performing upper limb motions (flexion and extension). The results showed that all studied movements were adequately identified. Specifically, the elbow flexion/extension was identified in 96% of the cases.
Preserved left ventricular twist and circumferential deformation, but depressed longitudinal and radial deformation in patients with diastolic heart failure.

AIMS To examine myocardial deformation and rotation in patients with heart failure, and elucidate the underlying mechanisms that account for normal ejection fraction (EF) in patients with diastolic heart failure (DHF). METHODS AND RESULTS Fifty consecutive patients presenting with congestive heart failure (age: 58 +/- 16 years) underwent simultaneous right heart catheterization and transthoracic echocardiography. Left ventricular (LV) volumes, mass, EF, meridional, and circumferential wall stress were measured in addition to haemodynamic measurements. 2-D speckle tracking was applied to measure longitudinal, radial, and circumferential strain and twist. Twist was reduced only in patients with systolic heart failure (SHF: 5 +/- 2 degrees, DHF: 13 +/- 6 degrees, control: 14 +/- 5 degrees, P < 0.001). Circumferential strain was not different between DHF (-15 +/- 5%) and control groups (-20 +/- 3%, P > 0.05), though it was significantly lower in patients with SHF (-7 +/- 3%, P < 0.05). Importantly, longitudinal (DHF:-12%, SHF: -4%, control: -19%, P < 0.001) and radial (DHF: 28 +/- 9%, SHF: 14 +/- 8%, control: 47 +/- 7%, P < 0.001) strains were significantly lower in both heart failure groups than in controls, and were depressed to a larger extent in SHF patients than in those with DHF (both P < 0.05). CONCLUSION LV longitudinal and radial strains are reduced, but circumferential deformation and twist are normal in DHF patients. On the other hand, in patients with SHF, longitudinal, radial, and circumferential deformation, and twist are all reduced. Multivariable regression analysis suggests that preserved LV twist and circumferential strain may contribute to normal EF in patients with DHF.
Distribution of Leptospira Serogroups in Cattle Herds and Dogs in France

A retrospective study was conducted to identify and describe the distribution pattern of Leptospira serogroups in domestic animals in France. The population consisted of cattle herds and dogs with clinically suspected leptospirosis that were tested at the “Laboratoire des Leptospires” between 2008 and 2011. The laboratory database was queried for records of cattle and dogs in which seroreactivity in Leptospira microagglutination tests was consistent with a recent or current infection, excluding vaccine serogroups in dogs. A total of 394 cattle herds and 232 dogs were diagnosed with clinical leptospirosis, and the results suggested infection by the Leptospira serogroup Australis in 43% and 63%, respectively; by the Leptospira serogroup Grippotyphosa in 17% and 9%, respectively; and by the Leptospira serogroup Sejroe in 33% and 6%, respectively. This inventory of infecting Leptospira serogroups revealed that current vaccines in France are not fully capable of preventing the clinical form of the disease.
Source Duration Scales with Magnitude Differently for Earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault and on Secondary Faults in Parkfield, California

We used a comparison of source time function pulse widths to show that a group of earthquakes on the San Andreas fault near Parkfield have a constant duration over a magnitude range of 1.4-3.7. Earthquakes on secondary faults have an increase in duration with magnitude, which is the expected relationship for the usual observation of constant stress drop. The constant duration suggests that fault area is the same regardless of magnitude and that variations in stress drop are due entirely to variations in slip. Calculated stress-drop values on secondary faults range from 0.31 to 14 MPa, and stress-drop values on the San Andreas fault range from 0.18 to 63 MPa. The observation of constant duration on the San Andreas fault is consistent with a model of a locked asperity in a creeping fault. The differences in durations between the events on the San Andreas fault and on secondary faults suggest that earthquakes on the San Andreas fault are inherently different. We speculate that faults with more cumulative displacement have earthquakes that may rupture differently. Furthermore, the differences in source properties between the two populations might be explained by differences in fault surface roughness. Online Material: Station subsets used to evaluate cross-fault seismic velocity contrasts.
Duality and a Renormalization Scheme for Einsteinian Gravity as a Fix Point Within a Gravitational Gauge Framework

A general scheme for a fleld redeflnition (FR) of the coframe and the connection is developed. Within a Yang{Mills type gauge dynamics of gravity, conflgurations with double dual curvature induced by a µ-type Chern-Simons terms as generating function reside on an efiective Einsteinian background. The efiect of the FR on the renormalization and the relation of gravity to efiective string models is studied. One encounters a duality of weak and strong couplings of Einsteinian and renormalizable Yang{Mills type gravity as well as an induced cosmological constant of the Anti{de Sitter space. c
Dependent type inference with interpolants

We propose a novel type inference algorithm for a dependently-typed functional language. The novel features of our algorithm are: (i) it can iteratively refine dependent types with interpolants until the type inference succeeds or the program is found to be ill-typed, and (ii) in the latter case, it can generate a kind of counter-example as an explanation of why the program is ill-typed. We have implemented a prototype type inference system and tested it for several programs.
Denitrifying Bacteria Isolated from Terrestrial Subsurface Sediments Exposed to Mixed-Waste Contamination

ABSTRACT In terrestrial subsurface environments where nitrate is a critical groundwater contaminant, few cultivated representatives are available to verify the metabolism of organisms that catalyze denitrification. In this study, five species of denitrifying bacteria from three phyla were isolated from subsurface sediments exposed to metal radionuclide and nitrate contamination as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Integrated Field Research Challenge (OR-IFRC). Isolates belonged to the genera Afipia and Hyphomicrobium (Alphaproteobacteria), Rhodanobacter (Gammaproteobacteria), Intrasporangium (Actinobacteria), and Bacillus (Firmicutes). Isolates from the phylum Proteobacteria were complete denitrifiers, whereas the Gram-positive isolates reduced nitrate to nitrous oxide. rRNA gene analyses coupled with physiological and genomic analyses suggest that bacteria from the genus Rhodanobacter are a diverse population of denitrifiers that are circumneutral to moderately acidophilic, with a high relative abundance in areas of the acidic source zone at the OR-IFRC site. Based on genome analysis, Rhodanobacter species contain two nitrite reductase genes and have not been detected in functional-gene surveys of denitrifying bacteria at the OR-IFRC site. Nitrite and nitrous oxide reductase gene sequences were recovered from the isolates and from the terrestrial subsurface by designing primer sets mined from genomic and metagenomic data and from draft genomes of two of the isolates. We demonstrate that a combination of cultivation and genomic and metagenomic data is essential to the in situ characterization of denitrifiers and that current PCR-based approaches are not suitable for deep coverage of denitrifiers. Our results indicate that the diversity of denitrifiers is significantly underestimated in the terrestrial subsurface.
Separation of helper T cells from suppressor T cells expressing different Ly components. II. Activation by antigen: after immunization, antigen-specific suppressor and helper activities are mediated by distinct T-cell subclasses

Cells of the Lyl subclass generate helper activity in both primary and secondary responses to sheep erythrocytes (SRBC). In contrast, after priming with SRBC, cells of the Ly-2+ subclasses, in particular Ly23 cells, have suppressive activity. The degree of Ly23-mediated suppression is directly proportional to the amount of antigen (SRBC) used for priming. Suppression by Ly23 cells is specific, because Ly23 cells from SRBC-primed animals do not suppress the response to horse erythrocytes, and vice versa. Thus, both cytotoxic and specific suppressor functions are mediated by T cells of a subclass, provisionally designated TCS, which can be distinguished from helper T cells (TH), by their Ly phenotypes. It remains to be determined whether killing and suppression are functionally interrelated properties of a single Ly23 subclass, or whether the Ly23 population comprises two subclasses whose surface phenotypes are not yet distinguishable by immunogenetic criteria.
Dynamics in charity donation decisions: Insights from a large longitudinal data set

Longitudinal data of charity donation decisions reveal patterns in line with moral consistency as well as moral licensing. Despite the vast body of research on charitable giving and its drivers, no research has investigated the longitudinal dynamics of individual donation decisions. We analyzed unique data with nearly 300,000 real donation decisions made by more than 20,000 individuals for a period of 10 months. Each decision entailed a choice of what to do with money received for completing a survey (on average, €0.67 per survey): keep it or donate to charity. We found that most of the participants (89%) always chose to keep the money. Within the group of people who sometimes kept and sometimes donated the money (that is, Switchers), we find that people do not change their decision very often (cf. moral consistency). However, the likelihood of donating increases when people kept the money the previous time, and the amount at stake differs substantially (both positively and negatively). Finally, once Switchers donated, they are more likely to keep the money next time if they can earn more (for example, €2 now versus €0.50 last time), signaling moral compensation. These longitudinal data provide a first step to better understand charity donation decisions, not only in terms of a more nuanced description of decision-makers but also in terms of the dynamics of charity donations.
Programming language techniques for differential privacy

Differential privacy is rigorous framework for stating and enforcing privacy guarantees on computations over sensitive data. Informally, differential privacy ensures that the presence or absence of a single individual in a database has only a negligible statistical effect on the computation's result. Many specific algorithms have been proved differentially private, but manually checking that a given program is differentially private can be subtle, tedious, or both. This approach becomes unfeasible when larger programs are considered.
Achieving Honest Ratings with Reputation-Based Fines in Electronic Markets

The effectiveness of online feedback mechanisms for rating the performance of providers in electronic markets is vulnerable to the submission of dishonest ratings. In this paper, we deal with how to elicit honest such ratings in a competitive electronic market where each participant can occasionally act both as provider and as client. We assume that each service provision is rated by both parties involved; only upon agreement, this rating is included in the calculation of reputation for the provider's performance. We first study as a single-shot game the effectiveness of inducing, upon evidence of lying (i.e. disagreement of the submitted feedback), fixed fines to both transacted parties, yet different ones for the provider and the client. We prove that the submission of honest feedback can be a stable equilibrium for the whole market under certain initial system conditions. Then, we refine our game-model for repeated transactions and calculate proper different reputation-based fines for lying. These fines enable the submission of honest feedback as a stable Nash equilibrium of the repeated game and reduce the social losses due to unfair punishments. Finally, we argue that our model is appropriate for analyzing actual electronic markets, and we investigate the impact of employing our approach to the feedback schemes of such markets.
Inter‐decadal change of leading pattern of spring rainfall over southern China during 1901–2010

Spring rainfall over southern China experiences both strong inter‐annual variability and inter‐decadal variability. Employing the monthly precipitation data from 1901 to 2010, this research examines the inter‐decadal change of the leading pattern of spring rainfall over southern China. Based on the empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, four distinctive precipitation periods (epochs) have been identified: 1901–1937, 1938–1958, 1959–1994 and 1995–2010. During the first and third epochs, the centre of the inter‐annual variation of spring rainfall is located in the South China (SC) region. Low‐latitude climate forcing plays an important role in the inter‐annual variation of the spring rainfall anomaly over the SC region within these epochs. During typical eastern Pacific El Niño conditions, the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) is stronger, driving an abnormally warm, moist southeasterly air mass across the South China Sea and onto the SC region. In addition, an anomalous vertical circulation is forced with ascent over the warmer eastern Pacific, descent over the cooler western Pacific and ascent again over the SC region. During the second and fourth epochs, the maximum of the leading mode of the spring precipitation anomaly is located in the mid‐lower reaches of the Yangtze River (MLRYR) region. Counter to the first and third epochs, the leading mode of the spring rainfall anomaly is mainly attributed to mid‐ and high‐latitude forcing during the second epoch. In the wet years a negative Eurasian teleconnection (EU) wave train is observed with a positive anomaly in 500 hPa geopotential height located over southern Japan. The WPSH is located further to the north, bringing more water vapour into the MLRYR region from the northwestern Pacific. During the fourth epoch, the EU wave train and WPSH are similar to those of the second epoch. Furthermore, a central Pacific El Niño pattern is evident in the wet years, suggesting a wider teleconnection.
Running with scissors: Fast queries on just-in-time databases

The amount of data collected in the last two years is higher than the amount of data collected since the dawn of time. Businesses are drowning in data, and need several months of ETL processing to barely prepare them for querying. Domain scientists collect data much faster than they can be transformed into valuable information and are often forced into hasty decisions on which parts to discard, potentially throwing away valuable data before it has been exploited fully. The reason is that query processing, which is the mechanism to squeeze information out of data, becomes slower as datasets grow larger. At the same time, the continuously increased number of hardware contexts ends up slowing processing down further, as keeping all cores busy with doing useful computation is difficult. Today's query engines cannot harness but a fraction of the potential of new hardware platforms.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children: treatment planning via minimal residual disease assessment.

BACKGROUND Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common type of cancer in children and adolescents, accounting for 30% of all cases of malignancy in this age group. The cure rate of ALL is now above 80%. The clinical and biological characteristics of ALL that have been studied to date are of limited use in predicting the individual response. Newly developed methods for the assessment of minimal residual disease (MRD) are more helpful in this regard. METHODS Review of pertinent literature retrieved by a selective search in Medline. RESULTS MRD assessment has gradually been incorporated into ALL treatment planning over the past two decades. In the largest study to date of the use of MRD for this purpose, which included 3648 children with ALL, the MRD status on days 33 and 78 after the start of treatment was found to be the most important prognostic factor. The study group included 3184 patients with B-precursor ALL (leukemia consisting of immature B-lymphocytes), of whom a large subgroup (standard risk profile, 42%) had a seven-year event-free survival rate (7Y-EFS) of 91.1%; for the 6% of B-ALL patients with a high-risk profile, the cumulative rate of recurrence was 38.5 %. The remaining 464 patients had T-ALL (leukemia consisting of T-lymphocytes). The leukemia cells were eliminated more slowly overall in these patients than in those with B-ALL. Nonetheless, the T-ALL patients with a standard risk profile (16% of all T-ALL patients) had an excellent 7Y-EFS rate (91.1%), while the high-risk group (21% of all T-ALL patients) had an MRD recurrence rate of 37.7%. These findings are representative of current data from around the world on children and adults with ALL. CONCLUSION MRD analysis enables more accurate prediction of ALL patients' response to treatment. Risk-group stratification by MRD assessment has already brought about considerable improvement in individualized treatment planning.
IFIC / 11-11 FTUV-11-0414 Neutrino masses from new generations

We reconsider the possibility that Majorana masses for the three known neutrinos are generated radiatively by the presence of a fourth generation and one right-handed neutrino with Yukawa couplings and a Majorana mass term. We find that the observed light neutrino mass hierarchy is not compatible with low energy universality bounds in this minimal scenario, but all present data can be accommodated with five generations and two right-handed neutrinos. Within this framework, we explore the parameter space regions which are currently allowed and could lead to observable effects in neutrinoless double beta decay, μ − e conversion in nuclei and μ → eγ experiments. We also discuss the detection prospects at LHC.
New ways in digitization and visualization of cultural objects

Developments in 2D and 3D digitization and visualization technologies, as well as in measurement instrumentation, combined with the emerging multimedia databases and network technologies offer new possibilities for the integrated and complete description of cultural objects. Our Institute, with main interest in the preservation of cultural heritage, in an attempt to exploit these new technologies, is developing multimedia databases for cultural objects that include 3D geometric and physicochemical data and are able to be delivered through the Internet. The "Ark of Refugee Heirloom" (recording and documentation of unknown heirlooms in the five prefectures of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace that belong to refugees whose origins lay in regions of the Ottoman Empire, south Russia, Bulgaria and others surrounding the Black Sea), is a first generation 3D-database, where, selectively, we have included 3D objects in parallel with their 2D images. "3D-ArCAD" (database for archaeological ceramic and glass artifacts with 2D and 3D images, description, typological characteristics, historical information and point-wise surface data), is a second generation 3D-database, where in addition to 2D and 3D images, typological characteristics and historical information, we also include point-wise surface data.
Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease cluster in the health area of Meixoeiro Hospital

Galicia is the Spanish region in which most bovine spongiform encephalopathy cases have been registered. Meixoeiro Hospital is included in the Galician Health Service (SERGAS). The aim of the study was to analyze the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease (CJD) in the health area of Meixoeiro Hospital and to identify possible specific risk factors to the general public.
Gd3+ and Calcium Sensitive, Sodium Leak Currents Are Features of Weak Membrane-Glass Seals in Patch Clamp Recordings

The properties of leaky patch currents in whole cell recording of HEK-293T cells were examined as a means to separate these control currents from expressed sodium and calcium leak channel currents from snail NALCN leak channels possessing both sodium (EKEE) and calcium (EEEE) selectivity filters. Leak currents were generated by the weakening of gigaohm patch seals by artificial membrane rupture using the ZAP function on the patch clamp amplifier. Surprisingly, we found that leak currents generated from the weakened membrane/glass seal can be surprisingly stable and exhibit behavior that is consistent with a sodium leak current derived from an expressible channel. Leaky patch currents differing by 10 fold in size were similarly reduced in size when external sodium ions were replaced with the large monovalent ion NMDG+. Leaky patch currents increased when external Ca2+ (1.2 mM) was lowered to 0.1 mM and were inhibited (>40% to >90%) with 10 µM Gd3+, 100 µM La3+, 1 mM Co2+ or 1 mM Cd2+. Leaky patch currents were relatively insensitive (<30%) to 1 mM Ni2+ and exhibited a variable amount of block with 1 mM verapamil and were insensitive to 100 µM mibefradil or 100 µM nifedipine. We hypothesize that the rapid changes in leak current size in response to changing external cations or drugs relates to their influences on the membrane seal adherence and the electro-osmotic flow of mobile cations channeling in crevices of a particular pore size in the interface between the negatively charged patch electrode and the lipid membrane. Observed sodium leak conductance currents in weak patch seals are reproducible between the electrode glass interface with cell membranes, artificial lipid or Sylgard rubber.