Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alternatives: exploring information appliances through conceptual design proposals

As a way of mapping a design space for a project on information appliances, we produced a workbook describing about twenty conceptual design proposals. On the one hand, they serve as suggestions that digital devices might embody values apart from those traditionally associated with functionality and usefulness. On the other, they are examples of research through design, balancing concreteness with openness to spur the imagination, and using multiplicity to allow the emergence of a new design space. Here we describe them both in terms of content and process, discussing first the values they address and then how they were crafted to encourage a broad discussion with our partners that could inform future stages of design.
Treatment of invasive aspergillosis with posaconazole in patients who are refractory to or intolerant of conventional therapy: an externally controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Invasive aspergillosis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Current treatments provide limited benefit. Posaconazole is an extended-spectrum triazole with in vitro and in vivo activity against Aspergillus species. METHODS We investigated the efficacy and safety of posaconazole oral suspension (800 mg/day in divided doses) as monotherapy in an open-label, multicenter study in patients with invasive aspergillosis and other mycoses who were refractory to or intolerant of conventional antifungal therapy. Data from external control cases were collected retrospectively to provide a comparative reference group. RESULTS Cases of aspergillosis deemed evaluable by a blinded data review committee included 107 posaconazole recipients and 86 control subjects (modified intent-to-treat population). The populations were similar and balanced with regard to prespecified demographic and disease variables. The overall success rate (i.e., the data review committee-assessed global response at the end of treatment) was 42% for posaconazole recipients and 26% for control subjects (odds ratio, 4.06; 95% confidence interval, 1.50-11.04; P=.006). The differences in response between the modified intent-to-treat treatment groups were preserved across additional, prespecified subsets, including infection site (pulmonary or disseminated), hematological malignancy, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, baseline neutropenia, and reason for enrollment (patient was refractory to or intolerant of previous antifungal therapy). An exposure-response relationship was suggested by pharmacokinetic analyses. CONCLUSIONS Although the study predates extensive use of echinocandins and voriconazole, these findings demonstrate that posaconazole is an alternative to salvage therapy for patients with invasive aspergillosis who are refractory to or intolerant of previous antifungal therapy.
Comparative Survey of Rumen Microbial Communities and Metabolites across One Caprine and Three Bovine Groups, Using Bar-Coded Pyrosequencing and 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

ABSTRACT Pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes (targeting Bacteria and Archaea) and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance were applied to investigate the rumen microbiota and metabolites of Hanwoo steers in the growth stage (HGS), Hanwoo steers in the late fattening stage (HFS), Holstein-Friesian dairy cattle (HDC), and Korean native goats (KNG) in the late fattening stage. This was a two-part investigation. We began by comparing metabolites and microbiota of Hanwoo steers at two stages of husbandry. Statistical comparisons of metabolites and microbial communities showed no significant differences between HFS and HGS (differing by a dietary shift at 24 months and age [67 months versus 12 months]). We then augmented the study by extending the investigation to HDC and KNG. Overall, pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes showed that the rumens had highly diverse microbial communities containing many previously undescribed microorganisms. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that the bacterial sequences were predominantly affiliated with four phyla—Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Fibrobacteres, and Proteobacteria—in all ruminants. However, interestingly, the bacterial reads belonging to Fibrobacteres were present at a very low abundance (<0.1%) in KNG. Archaeal community analysis showed that almost all of these reads fell into a clade related to, but distinct from, known cultivated methanogens. Statistical analyses showed that the microbial communities and metabolites of KNG were clearly distinct from those of other ruminants. In addition, bacterial communities and metabolite profiles of HGS and HDC, fed similar diets, were distinctive. Our data indicate that bovine host breeds override diet as the key factor that determines bacterial community and metabolite profiles in the rumen.
Strict control of transgene expression in a mouse model for sensitive biological applications based on RMCE compatible ES cells

Recombinant mouse strains that harbor tightly controlled transgene expression proved to be indispensible tools to elucidate gene function. Different strategies have been employed to achieve controlled induction of the transgene. However, many models are accompanied by a considerable level of basal expression in the non-induced state. Thereby, applications that request tight control of transgene expression, such as the expression of toxic genes and the investigation of immune response to neo antigens are excluded. We developed a new Cre/loxP-based strategy to achieve strict control of transgene expression. This strategy was combined with RMCE (recombinase mediated cassette exchange) that facilitates the targeting of genes into a tagged site in ES cells. The tightness of regulation was confirmed using luciferase as a reporter. The transgene was induced upon breeding these mice to effector animals harboring either the ubiquitous (ROSA26) or liver-specific (Albumin) expression of CreERT2, and subsequent feeding with Tamoxifen. Making use of RMCE, luciferase was replaced by Ovalbumin antigen. Mice generated from these ES cells were mated with mice expressing liver-specific CreERT2. The transgenic mice were examined for the establishment of an immune response. They were fully competent to establish an immune response upon hepatocyte specific OVA antigen expression as indicated by a massive liver damage upon Tamoxifen treatment and did not show OVA tolerance. Together, this proves that this strategy supports strict control of transgenes that is even compatible with highly sensitive biological readouts.
A comparison of genetic programming representations for binary data classification

The choice of which representation to use when applying genetic programming (GP) to a problem is vital. Certain representations perform better than others and thus they should be selected wisely. This paper compares the three most commonly used GP representations for binary data classification problems, namely arithmetic trees, logical trees, and decision trees. Several different function sets were tested to determine which functions are more useful. The different representations were tested on eight data sets with different characteristics and the findings show that all three representations perform similarly in terms of classification accuracy. Decision trees obtained the highest training accuracy and logical trees obtained the highest test accuracy. In the context of GP and binary data classification the findings of this study show that any of the three representations can be used and a similar performance will be achieved. For certain data sets the arithmetic trees performed the best whereas the logical trees did not, and for the remaining data sets the logical tree performed best whereas the arithmetic tree did not.
Jail time: Quietly suffering

When Googling ‘‘bifurcation coronary stenting’’ one will get about 5000 results served up in 0.14 sec. Do not include the quotation marks and you will get over 200,000 in a fraction of time lower. I do not understand that. Before writing this editorial, I reviewed all those web pages and the following is my take on both the preceding article and the state of bifurcation stenting. If in prison, this would be the perfect past time. The preceding article reports the clinical and myocardial stress testing outcomes in patients with bifurcation lesions treated successfully with drug-eluting stents. It is by their own admission a small series and one that is limited by a number of real world realities. However, the long and short of it is that patients with jailed and narrowed significant side branches, often have evidence of myocardial ischemia despite a lack of symptoms or limitations. So, is this new or surprising to us in the interventional community? Not really. I think one would have to be living under a rock to think that a side branch jailed or narrowed by plaque shift is not causing some issues, if not simply turbulence within the area of the newly stented main vessel. That patients may have significant coronary artery disease and be free of any symptoms or even signs of myocardial ischemia is a reality and the bane of modern cardiology. People with multivessel disease die suddenly or have a myocardial infarction without previous evidence of ischemia every day. This was true before bifurcation stenting let alone any stenting was even a dream. In the early days of coronary intervention, before stents were available, plain old balloon angioplasty resulted in a lack of symptoms or evidence of ischemia even when angiography demonstrated restenosis at follow-up. Those references are too old to find now but suffice it to say are the reason for mandatory follow-up angiography in studies of various new interventions. What do we do with this information? For me, probably nothing different will be done. For you, the reader, perhaps the same, or worse if you now believe the impaired side branch must be stented now. That would go against the current tide based on sound follow-up of bifurcation stenting, however. The provisional approach to bifurcation lesions has truly come from a well designed, albeit not planned, foray into a worldwide variety of nomenclatures, approaches, stent designs, analyses, and much more (too many references). Stenting and possibly protecting or intervening on the side branch on a ‘‘need to’’ basis appears to be surviving the test of time [1,2]. I need to read up on three-dimensional quantitative coronary analysis and see if this is up and coming or simply a complex method reserved for research. Some day soon, we will look back and refer to contemporary angiography and reflect on how ‘‘it used to be. ’’ Perhaps then all this ‘‘jail time’’ slang will have ceased, too [3].
Validity, Accuracy, and Predictive Value of Urinary Tract Infection Signs and Symptoms in Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury on Intermittent Catheterization

Abstract Background/Objective: To determine the validity, accuracy, and predictive value of the signs and symptoms of urinary tract infection (UTI) for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) using intermittent catheterization (IC) and the accuracy of individuals with SCI on IC at predicting their own UTI. Design: Prospective cohort based on data from the first 3 months of a 1 -year randomized controlled trial to evaluate UTI prevention effectiveness of hydrophilic and standard catheters. Participants: Fifty-six community-based individuals on IC. Main Outcome Measures: Presence of UTI as defined as bacteriuria with a colony count of at least 105 colony-forming units/mL and at least 1 sign or symptom of UTI. Methods: Analysis of monthly urine culture and urinalysis data combined with analysis of monthly data collected using a questionnaire that asked subjects to self-report on UTI signs and symptoms and whether or not they felt they had a UTI. Results: Overall, "cloudy urine" had the highest accuracy (83.1%), and "leukocytes in the urine" had the highest sensitivity (82.8%). The highest specificity was for "fever" (99.0%); however, it had a very low sensitivity (6.9%). Subjects were able to predict their own UTI with an accuracy of 66.2%, and the negative predictive value (82.8%) was substantially higher than the positive predictive value (32.6%). Conclusions: The UTI signs and symptoms can predict a UTI more accurately than individual subjects can by using subjective impressions of their own signs and symptoms. Subjects were better at predicting when they did not have a UTI than when they did have a UTI.
Variable Adhesion of Micropatterned Thermoresponsive Polymer Brushes: AFM Investigations of Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) Brushes Prepared by Surface‐Initiated Polymerizations

Thermoresponsive polymer brushes have been grown via surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization from micropatterned substrates (see Figure). Atomic force microscopy both in topography and adhesion force mode shows that the brush domains undergo reversible phase changes in water around the polymer’s lower critical solution temperature. These switchable patterned surfaces may form a new class of microdevices.
Performance of Turbo TCM/FPM scheme in a DS/SSMA system over multipath Rician fading channel

The synergy between frequency arid phase modulation (FPM) using trellis-coded modulation (TCM) leads to greater gains than can be achieved using conventional TCM/MPSK modulation. An iterative structure is introduced into a TCM/FPM scheme to give a new scheme, the Turbo TCM/FPM scheme. Simulation results show that the new scheme can achieve a significant performance improvement with respect to the Turbo TCM 8PSK and TCM/FPM schemes, respectively, in a DS/SSMA system over a multipath Rician fading channel.
Antiendothelial cell antibodies in scleroderma correlate with severe digital ischemia and pulmonary arterial hypertension.

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of IgG antiendothelial cell antibodies (AECA) in patients with scleroderma (systemic sclerosis, SSc) and to correlate it with clinical spectrum and autoantibody profile. METHODS Seventy-six patients with SSc and 50 matched healthy controls were studied. Immunological variables were antinuclear antibody (ANA), rheumatoid factor (RF), and Scl-70. IgG-AECA was measured by cellular ELISA. RESULTS The prevalence of IgG-AECA was 27.6% in patients with SSc compared to 6% in controls (p < 0.01). Forty percent of patients with diffuse disease had this antibody, versus 13.5% of those with limited cutaneous involvement (p < 0.05). Patients with AECA had significantly higher incidence of digital infarcts and gangrene (p < 0.01) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (p < 0.001) than those without. In the AECA positive group, mean IgG-AECA levels (measured by absorbance values) were significantly higher in patients with digital infarcts (0.91+/-0.31 vs 0.60+/-0.05; p < 0.01) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (1.14+/-0.37 vs 0.68+/-0.13; p < 0.001) compared to those without these features. CONCLUSION IgG-AECA appears to be an important marker for disease severity in scleroderma.
Audience Segregation in Social Network Sites

In recent years research has shown that most social network sites pose serious privacy and security risks for individual users. From the existing analyses of privacy and security risks in social network sites we deduce that one of the biggest categories of privacy risks revolves around the notion of ‘audience segregation’, i.e. the partitioning of different audiences and the compartmentalization of social spheres. Since audience segregation is an important mechanism in everyday interactions between people in the real world, we argue that social network sites ought to include this mechanism as well. Current social network sites lack this mechanism. We present Clique, a privacy-preserving social network site that provides ‘audience segregation’ to its users as an alternative.
Carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced glass and glass-ceramic matrix composites

Abstract: In this chapter, glass and glass-ceramic matrix composites containing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are discussed with an emphasis on their production, properties, microstructures and applications. Composite manufacturing routes require both CNT/matrix powder preparation techniques and their densification by suitable sintering processes. Physical, mechanical, functional and technological properties of the composites are evaluated, including density, hardness, elastic modulus, fracture strength and toughness, electrical and thermal conductivity, wear and friction resistance, and thermal shock, cycling and ageing resistance. Microstructural features are typically characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Based on the characteristics obtained, potential applications of the composites are considered, together with a discussion of the unresolved manufacturing challenges and desirable, but still unattained, properties.
Multiterawatt Nd:glass lasers based on chirped-pulse amplification

The requirements for the production of high power, subplcosecond laser pulses are reviewed. Use of the chirped-pulse amplification technique makes solid-state materials competitive with dyes and excimers for the production of subplcosecond pulses. In cases where both high power and short pulses are required, solid-state materials are shown to be the material of choice. As an example, the design and performance of a 3.2 Terawatt Nd:Glass laser system based on chirped-pulse amplification is presented.
Magic canvas: interactive design of a 3-D scene prototype from freehand sketches

Construction of a 3-D scene consisting of multiple objects can be tedious work. Existing 3-D editing tools require the user to choose an appropriate model in a database first and then carefully place it in the scene at a desired position combining various operations such as translation, rotation, and scaling. To simplify the process, we propose a system that takes simple 2D sketches of models in a scene as input for 3D scene construction. The system then automatically identifies corresponding models in a database and puts them in the appropriate location and posture so that their appearance matches the user's input sketches. The system combines a 3-D model search and a 3-D posture estimation to obtain the result. This system allows the user to construct a prototype of a 3-D scene quickly and intuitively. We conducted a user study to compare our interface with traditional menu-based UI and verified that our system was useful for constructing a 3-D scene prototype, especially for facilitating the exploration of various alternative designs. We expect our system to be useful as a prototyping tool for 3-D scene construction in various application areas such as interior design, communication, education, and entertainment.
Scale-robust feature extraction for face recognition

In video surveillance, the sizes of face images are very small. However, few works have been done to investigate scale-robust face recognition. Our experiments on appearance-based methods in different resolutions show that such methods as Neighboring Preserving Embedding (NPE) and Locality Preserving Projections (LPP) preserving local structure of data are less effective than the methods retaining global structure, for example, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) under low-resolution condition. Based on these underlying phenomena, we propose a new graph embedding method named FisherNPE holding both global and local structures of data for scale-robust feature extraction. Experimental results on ORL and Yale database indicate that our method obtains good results on both low- and high-resolution images.
Building national estimates of the burden of road traffic injuries in developing countries from all available data sources: Iran

Objective: To use a range of existing information sources to develop a national snapshot of the burden of road traffic injuries in one developing country—Iran. Methods: The distribution of deaths was estimated by using data from the national death registration system, hospital admissions and outpatient visits from a time-limited hospital registry in 12 of 30 provinces, and injuries that received no institutional care using the 2000 demographic and health survey. Results were extrapolated to national annual incidence of health burden differentiated by age, sex, external cause, nature of injuries and institutional care. Results: In 2005, 30 721 Iranians died annually in road traffic crashes and over one million were injured. The death rate (44 per 100 000) is the highest of any country in the world for which reliable estimates are available. Road traffic injuries are the third leading cause of death in Iran. While young adults are at high risk in non-fatal crashes, the elderly have the highest total death rates, largely due to pedestrian crashes. While car occupants lead the death count, motorised two-wheeler riders dominate hospital admissions, outpatient visits and health burden. Conclusions: Reliable estimates of the burden of road traffic injuries are an essential input for rational priority setting. Most low income countries are unlikely to have national injury surveillance systems for several decades. Thus national estimates of the burden of injuries should be built by collating information from all existing information sources by appropriately correcting for source specific shortcomings.
Surface Modification of Titanium Implant and In Vitro Biocompatibility Evaluation

The improvement of the amount of OH functional groups and bioactivity of titanium metal was attempted by chemical treatment and subsequent hot water treatments. The surface morphology, chemical composition and crystal structure were used to characterize the Ti surfaces and their biocompatibility was evaluated by culturing with osteoblasts. Porous network bioactive anatase were prepared by immersion in the 5 M NaOH at 80ı for 24 h, followed by soaking in the water at 80ı for 48 h. The treatment with H2O2/HCl solution at 80ı for 30 min followed by hot water aging also produced an anatase titania gel layer. Percentage of surface OH groups was determined by XPS analysis. After chemical treatment and subsequent aging in hot water, the amount of surface OH groups increased. The modified Ti surface promoted the proliferation and the ALP activities of osteoblasts. These results indicate that the NaOH or H2O2/HCl treatment and subsequent hot water immersion improve the biocompatibility of Ti samples. On the other hand, a high OH group concentration is very important as functional groups for the apatite nucleation or biochemical modification via an organometallic interface of immobilizing biomolecules.
FLAGELLAR ELONGATION AND SHORTENING IN CHLAMYDOMONAS

Regeneration of flagella amputated from the biflagellate Chlamydomonas depends in part on an available pool of flagellar precursor protein and in part on new protein synthesis (10) . Observations on the regeneration kinetics in populations and single cells of Chlamydomonas pf 16 (paralyzed flagella) revealed that when both flagella are removed (the "zero-zero" case), both regenerate to a length of 10-12 μ . In the presence of a concentration of cycloheximide adequate to inhibit amino acid incorporation into protein by at least 99% (10 μg/ml), however, regeneration is limited to about 2 . s per flagellum . From these results, it was concluded that the cells have a limited amount of the flagellar precursor protein necessary for regeneration (10) . In single cells, it was observed that if only one of the two flagella is removed (the "long-zero" case), the intact flagellum initially shortens by linear kinetics while the amputated flagellum regenerates. This simultaneous shortening and elongation continues until both flagella are of