Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deep Ordinal Ranking for Multi-Category Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease using Hippocampal MRI data

Increasing effort in brain image analysis has been dedicated to early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) based on neuroimaging data. Most existing studies have been focusing on binary classification problems, e.g., distinguishing AD patients from normal control (NC) elderly or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) individuals from NC elderly. However, identifying individuals with AD and MCI, especially MCI individuals who will convert to AD (progressive MCI, pMCI), in a single setting, is needed to achieve the goal of early diagnosis of AD. In this paper, we propose a deep ordinal ranking model for distinguishing NC, stable MCI (sMCI), pMCI, and AD at an individual subject level, taking into account the inherent ordinal severity of brain degeneration caused by normal aging, MCI, and AD, rather than formulating the classification as a multi-category classification problem. The proposed deep ordinal ranking model focuses on the hippocampal morphology of individuals and learns informative and discriminative features automatically. Experiment results based on a large cohort of individuals from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) indicate that the proposed method can achieve better performance than traditional multi-category classification techniques using shape and radiomics features from structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data.
Validation of A Satellite Docking Simulator using the SOSS Experimental Testbed

This paper describes an R&D project aimed at experimentally validating a generic contact-dynamics toolkit in a Simulink based satellite docking simulator. The simulation software was developed to support the design and verification of the space station robotic systems and several satellite on-orbit robotic servicing systems. The hardware experiment was performed using an air-bearing supported docking testbed specially designed for testing different docking and capture mechanisms. Simulation model parameters were separately identified from the hardware. The simulation results compare favourably with the measured experimental data, which demonstrates the validity of the simulator and increases the confidence of using the simulator for design of various robotics-based satellite servicing missions such as the shuttle-return-to- flight, orbital express, and the potential hubble telescope robotic repair missions
Defective insulin receptors in Rabson–Mendenhall syndrome cause complete peripheral insulin resistance but minimal hepatic insulin response remains 1

In Rabson–Mendenhall syndrome, severe insulin resistance is caused by defective insulin receptors. The patient studied lacks insulin receptor binding due to a truncation mutation of one allele and a point mutation of the other allele of the insulin receptor α‐subunit. He developed pulmonary hypertension and cor pulmonale, and was considered for organ transplantation. A trial of prednisone 1.2 mg/kg/d was initiated to determine if he could tolerate immunosuppressive therapy without deterioration of his pre‐existing, difficult to control diabetes mellitus. Insulin responsiveness was measured prior to and after 4 d of glucocorticoid administration (‘Before GC’ and ‘After GC’) using the hyperinsulinemic glucose clamp and stable isotope tracer dilution techniques. After a 12‐h fast and 24 h of intravenous insulin, a primed continuous infusion of 6,6‐2H2‐glucose was administered during a 2‐h tracer equilibration period followed by a 2‐h insulin‐deficient period, and a 2‐h hyperinsulinemic glucose clamp period during which insulin was infused at 7 u/kg/h. Blood glucose concentrations during the basal periods, while no insulin was infused, were 245±7 and 138±8 mg/dL in the studies Before GC and After GC, respectively. During both hyperinsulinemic glucose clamp periods, the blood glucose was 171±1 and 167±5 mg/dL, respectively. Hepatic glucose production (HGP) was higher during the basal period Before GC than during the same period After GC (7.86±0.23 vs. 5.31±0.19 mg/kg/min). HGP rate was suppressed by insulin to 1.48±0.45 mg/kg/min Before GC, but was not suppressed After GC (4.19±0.81 mg/kg/min). The hyperinsulinemic glucose clamp did not increase the glucose utilization rate nor the glucose clearance rate over basal in either Before GC or After GC, indicating complete peripheral insulin resistance. In summary, the liver showed some response to insulin in the absence of insulin receptors but the peripheral tissues had no response to insulin. Glucocorticoids worsened insulin resistance in the liver in this patient.
A Simple Hash Class with Strong Randomness Properties in Graphs and Hypergraphs

We study randomness properties of graphs and hypergraphs generated by simple hash functions. Several hashing applications can be analyzed by studying the structure of $d$-uniform random ($d$-partite) hypergraphs obtained from a set $S$ of $n$ keys and $d$ randomly chosen hash functions $h_1,\dots,h_d$ by associating each key $x\in S$ with a hyperedge $\{h_1(x),\dots, h_d(x)\}$. Often it is assumed that $h_1,\dots,h_d$ exhibit a high degree of independence. We present a simple construction of a hash class whose hash functions have small constant evaluation time and can be stored in sublinear space. We devise general techniques to analyze the randomness properties of the graphs and hypergraphs generated by these hash functions, and we show that they can replace other, less efficient constructions in cuckoo hashing (with and without stash), the simulation of a uniform hash function, the construction of a perfect hash function, generalized cuckoo hashing and different load balancing scenarios.
Assessing Fluid-Responsiveness by a Standardized Ventilatory Maneuver: The Respiratory Systolic Variation Test

Respiratory-induced changes in arterial blood pressure predict fluid responsiveness. However, the accuracy of these variables is affected by the preset tidal volume and by the early inspiratory increase in arterial blood pressure. We have therefore calculated the slope produced by the minimal systolic blood pressures (plotted against the respective airway pressures) during a ventilatory maneuver consisting of four incremental, successive, pressure-controlled breaths, termed the Respiratory Systolic Variation Test (RSVT). In 14 ventilated patients, after major vascular surgery, the slope of the RSVT decreased significantly after intravascular fluid administration and correlated with the end-diastolic area and with changes in cardiac output better than filling pressures. This preliminary study suggests that a standardized ventilatory maneuver may be useful in guiding fluid therapy in ventilated patients.
A novel protein expression signature differentiates benign lipomas from well-differentiated liposarcomas

Benign lipomas and well-differentiated liposarcomas share many histological and molecular features. Due to their similarities, patients with these lipomatous tumors are misdiagnosed up to 40% of the time following radiological detection, up to 17% of the time following histological examination, and in as many as 15% of cases following fluorescent in situ hybridization for chromosomal anomalies. Incorrect classification of these two tumor types leads to increased costs to the patient and delayed accurate diagnoses. In this study, we used genomics analysis to identify several genes whose mRNA expression patterns were significantly altered between lipomas and well-differentiated liposarcomas. We confirmed our findings at the protein level using a panel of 30 human lipomatous tumors, revealing that C4BPB, class II, major histocompatibility complex, CIITA, EPHB2, HOXB7, GLS2, RBBP5, and regulator of RGS2 protein levels were increased in well-differentiated liposarcomas compared to lipomas. We developed a multi-protein model of these markers to increase discriminatory ability, finding the combined expression model with CIITA and RGS2 provided a high ability (AUC=0.93) to differentiate between lipomas and well-differentiated liposarcomas with sensitivity at 83.3% and specificity at 90.9%.
The Nature, Clinical Assessment, and Treatment of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A Review of the Literature.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder in childhood. Symptoms of ADHD include developmentally inappropriate levels of activity, distractibility, and impulsivity. The behavior often leads to academic and social problems and may have a long-term adverse impact on a child's later life. This document is a literature review of the nature, clinical assessment, and treatment of children with ADHD, noting the treatment utilization of quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG).
Nachwirkender Kolonialismus und intersektorale Verknüpfung im Spektrum von Markt und Hierarchie / The Aftermath of Colonization and Forms of Transactions between Agriculture and Industry

Zusammenfassung Am Beispiel der beiden weltweit führenden Tabakexportländer Brasilien und Zimbabwe wird ein langzeitlicher Zusammenhang zwischen der Form ihrer Kolonialisierung, den daraus resultierenden Agrarverhältnissen und der intersektoralen Verknüpfung von agrarischer Rohstoffproduktion und industrieller Weiterverarbeitung in multinationalen Konzernen historisch und empirisch untersucht. Vom Begriff des nachwirkenden Kolonialismus ausgehend, werden im ersten Teil die Agrarverhältnisse in den Anbauregionen der beiden ehemaligen Kolonialländer als pfadabhängige Strukturen langer Dauer interpretiert. Im zweiten Teil wird der modus operandi des Auktionssystems in Zimbabwe und der integrierten Landwirtschaft (des Vertragsanbaus) in Südbrasilien als komplexe Varianten von „Markt“ und „Hierarchie“ analysiert. Im dritten Teil werden die Durchsetzung und Institutionalisierung der beobachteten Verknüpfungsformen in Begriffen des Transaktionskosten- und des Resource Dependence-Ansatzes theoretisch zu erklären versucht. Summary In this paper the long-term interrelationships between types of colonization, the resulting agricultural structures, and the types of connection between local farms and international manufacturers are studied in the tobacco industries of Brazil and Zimbabwe. The argumentation is developed in three steps: It starts with a conception of colonialism as the origin of pathdependent processes which mold agricultural structures and limit the choices of supply strategies on the part of the manufacturing industry. In the second section the auction system in Zimbabwe and the system of contract farming in southern Brazil are analyzed as variants of “market” and “hierarchy”, which couple agriculture with industry. The observed intersectoral linking structures are then explained in terms of transaction-cost and resource dependence theory.
Protective effect of thymoquinone on chlorpromazine induced catalepsy and locomotor activity in rats

Objective: The in-vivo study was carried out to explore the possible protective effect of thymoquinone on chlorpromazine induced catalepsy and locomotor activity in rats. Materials and Methods: Twenty four rats were used for this study and were divided into four groups, each group containing six animals. The animals were evaluated after repeated administration of chlorpromazine (CPZ) 30 minutes before the administration of thymoquinone (TQ) for 14 days. Catalepsy was assessed using block method whereas the locomotor activity was assessed using acceleratory rotarod and actophotometer (activity cage). Results: The cataleptic scores were significantly increased in CPZ treated rats which was significantly decreased in TQ (5 mg/kg & 10 mg/kg) treated rats. The muscle coordination and spontaneous locomotor activity was significantly decreased in CPZ treated rats when compared with normal control rats. Treatment with TQ significantly improved the muscle coordination and spontaneous locomotor activity when compared with CPZ treated rats. Conclusion: Our results clearly suggest that TQ reduced the cataleptic scores and improved locomotor activity in CPZ treated rats. Recommendation: Based on our findings we can hypothesize that supplementation with TQ can be used to avert drug induced extrapyramidal motor side effects.
Call forwarding: a simple interprocedural optimization technique for dynamically typed languages

This paper discusses call forwarding, a simple interprocedural optimization technique for dynamically typed languages. The basic idea behind the optimization is straightforward: find an ordering for the “entry actions” of a procedure, and generate multiple entry points for the procedure, so as to maximize the savings realized from different call sites bypassing different sets of entry actions. We show that the problem of computing optimal solutions to arbitrary call forwarding problems is NP-complete, and describe an efficient greedy algorithm for the problem. Experimental results indicate that (i) this algorithm is effective, in that the solutions produced are generally close to optimal; and (ii) the resulting optimization leads to significant performance improvements for a number of benchmarks tested.
Obesity and sex steroid changes across puberty: evidence for marked hyperandrogenemia in pre- and early pubertal obese girls.

CONTEXT Peripubertal obesity is associated with abnormal sex steroid concentrations, but the timing of onset and degree of these abnormalities remain unclear. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to assess the degree of hyperandrogenemia across puberty in obese girls and assess overnight sex steroid changes in Tanner stage 1-3 girls. DESIGN This was a cross-sectional analysis. SETTING The study was conducted at general clinical research centers. SUBJECTS Thirty normal-weight (body mass index for age < 85%) and 74 obese (body mass index for age >or= 95%) peripubertal girls. INTERVENTION Blood samples (circa 0500-0700 h) were taken while fasting. Samples from the preceding evening (circa 2300 h) were obtained in 23 Tanner 1-3 girls. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Hormone concentrations stratified by Tanner stage were measured. RESULTS Compared with normal-weight girls, mean free testosterone (T) was elevated 2- to 9-fold across puberty in obese girls, whereas fasting insulin was 3-fold elevated in obese Tanner 1-3 girls (P < 0.05). Mean LH was lower in obese Tanner 1 and 2 girls (P < 0.05) but not in more mature girls. In a subgroup of normal-weight Tanner 1-3 girls (n = 17), mean progesterone (P) and T increased overnight 2.3- and 2.4-fold, respectively (P <or= 0.001). In obese Tanner 1-3 girls (n = 6), evening P and T were elevated, and both tended to increase overnight [mean 1.4- and 1.6-fold, respectively (P = 0.06)]. CONCLUSIONS Peripubertal obesity is associated with hyperandrogenemia and hyperinsulinemia throughout puberty, being especially marked shortly before and during early puberty. P and T concentrations in normal-weight Tanner 1-3 girls increase overnight, with similar but less evident changes in obese girls.
A plasmid vector with a selectable marker for halophilic archaebacteria

A mutant resistant to the gyrase inhibitor novobiocin was selected from a halophilic archaebacterium belonging to the genus Haloferax. Chromosomal DNA from this mutant was able to transform wild-type cells to novobiocin resistance, and these transformants formed visible colonies in 3 to 4 days on selective plates. The resistance gene was isolated on a 6.7-kilobase DNA KpnI fragment, which was inserted into a cryptic multicopy plasmid (pHK2) derived from the same host strain. The recombinant plasmid transformed wild-type cells at a high efficiency (greater than 10(6)/micrograms), was stably maintained, and could readily be reisolated from transformants. It could also transform Halobacterium volcanii and appears to be a useful system for genetic analysis in halophilic archaebacteria.
On the canonical representation of curves in positive characteristic

Given a smooth curve, the canonical representation of its automorphism group is the space of global holomorphic differential 1-forms as a representation of the automorphism group of the curve. In this paper, we study an explicit set of curves in positive characteristic with irreducible canonical representation whose genus is unbounded. Additionally, we study the implications this has for the de Rham hypercohomology as a representation of the automorphism group.
Acoustic Ranging in Resource-Constrained Sensor Networks

Fine-grained geographic localization of nodes is essential for an extensive range of distributed sensor applications. To compute geographic coordinates, localization algorithms commonly use pair-wise distance estimates between nodes. In this paper we present a noise tolerant acoustic ranging mechanism for wireless sensors that employs digital signal processing techniques on standard MICA hardware. We describe how noise canceling, digital filtering and peak detection can be applied to meet the severe resource constraints of the platform, yet yielding average range estimation errors below 10cm independently from the actual node-to-node
Prediction of regionalized car insurance risks based on control variates

Abstract We show how regional prediction of car insurance risks can be improved for finer subregions by combining explanatory modeling with phenomenological models from industrial practice. Motivated by the control-variates technique, we propose a suitable combined predictor when claims data are available for regions but not for subregions. We provide explicit conditions which imply that the mean squared error of the combined predictor is smaller than the mean squared error of the standard predictor currently used in industry and smaller than predictors from explanatory modeling. We also discuss how a non-parametric random forest approach may be used to practically compute such predictors and consider an application to German car insurance data.
Therapist effects in routine psychotherapy practice: An account from chronic fatigue syndrome

Abstract The effect of therapists in psychotherapy is a much debated topic, with a number of studies showing therapist variance being large while other studies show little or no variability in outcomes due to therapists. The aim of this study was to investigate therapist effects in a well-defined sample of patients and therapists from an outpatient service which specializes in providing cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Therapy was provided in a highly specialized clinical setting for CFS and was delivered by qualified CBT therapists with at least 2 years experience with this client group. Three hundred and seventy-four patients with CFS and 12 cognitive behavioural psychotherapists took part. Therapist effects on the primary outcomes of fatigue and disability were investigated with multilevel random effects models and variance component analysis. Different models were computed and compared. Results showed a reduction in fatigue and disability scores after therapy. Variance explained by therapists, when demographic covariates were accounted for, was 0% for fatigue and under 2% for disability. A number of important factors may have played a significant role in minimizing therapist effects in our study. These are: specialist setting, single centre, patients with the same primary diagnosis, therapists of the same orientation and training, shared environment and supervision. Future studies may stress the importance of these factors in the investigation of the therapist effect in psychotherapy.
Protein kinase A modulates A‐type potassium currents of larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) white muscle fibres

Aims: Potassium (K+) channels are involved in regulating cell excitability and action potential shape. To our knowledge, very little is known about the modulation of A‐type K+ currents in skeletal muscle fibres. Therefore, we sought to determine whether K+ currents of zebrafish white skeletal muscle were modulated by protein kinase A (PKA).
First Job Experiences of Recent RN Graduates: Improving the Work Environment

Objective To determine registered nurses' (RNs) perceptions of their first nursing position experience, and if they left the position, why. Background Little information is available regarding job perceptions of RNs in practice for 5 years or less. Nurses with negative perceptions of first job experiences may soon leave the position, thus doing little to alleviate staffing shortages and wasting precious recruitment and orientation resources. Therefore it is important to understand how recent RN graduates view their first job. Methods The Survey of Nurses' Perceptions of First Job Experience was mailed to 3077 RNs licensed in Nevada who graduated from their basic nursing program within the last 5 years. Completed surveys were received from 352 respondents. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the sample and perception responses. ANOVA and t tests were used to compare total scores with selected demographic variables. Results Thirty percent of respondents left in 1 year and 57% left by 2 years. Patient care issues, such as unsafe nurse-patient ratios, were perceived as the most negative aspects and the most frequent reason for leaving. Conclusions The findings have implications for nursing and hospital administrators for improving the work environment and retention rates of recent RN graduates.
POSTER: Experimental Analysis of Popular Anonymous, Ephemeral, and End-to-End Encrypted Apps

As social networking takes to the mobile world, smartphone apps provide users with ever-changing ways to interact with each other. Over the past couple of years, an increasing number of apps have entered the market offering end-to-end encryption, self-destructing messages, or some degree of anonymity. However, little work thus far has examined the properties they offer. We present a taxon- omy of 18 of these apps: we first look at the features they promise in their appeal to broaden their reach and focus on 8 of the more popular ones. We present a technical evaluation, based on static and dynamic analysis, and identify a number of gaps between the claims and reality of their promises.
P300 and smooth eye pursuit: concordance of abnormalities and relation to clinical features in DSM‐III schizophrenia

Twenty‐five DSM‐III‐diagnosed schizophrenics and 37 normal and age‐matched controls were examined using an oddball paradigm for the generation of P300 and smooth eye‐pursuit tasks. Results were compared between groups and related to clinical characteristics, including a family history of psychiatric illness. Group differences were found for P300 amplitudes, latencies and eye‐tracking. A family history of psychiatric illness was associated with normal eye‐tracking in patients. Small P300 amplitudes alone and in combination with long P300 latencies were associated with a family history in controls.
Living Networked in a Wired World

Members of little-box societies deal only with fellow members of the few groups to which they belong: at home, in the neighborhood, at work, or in voluntary organizations. They belong to a discrete work group in a single organization; they live in a household in a neighborhood; they belong to a kinship group (one each for themselves and their spouse) and to discrete voluntary organizations: churches, bowling leagues, professional associations, school associations, and the like. All of these appear to be bodies with precise boundaries for inclusion (and therefore exclusion). Each has an internal organization that is often hierarchically structured: supervisors and employees, parents and children, pastors and churchgoers, the union executive and its members. In such a society, each interaction is in its place: one group at a time.