Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ventricular Fusion During Resetting and Entrainment of Orthodromic Supraventricular Tachycardia Involving Septal Accessory Pathways Implications for the Differential Diagnosis With Atrioventricular Nodal Reentry

BackgroundVentricular fusion during transient entrainment of orthodromic atrioventricular reciprocating tachycardias (OAVRT) was originally found to be absent and recently observed only with left ventricular stimulation. However, previous studies were restricted to cases with a left free wall accessory pathway. The hypothesis of the present study was that fusion is likely during resetting and entrainment of OAVRT with right ventricular stimulation if the accessory pathway is septally located, since its insertion is relatively close to the stimulation site. This phenomenon can help in the differential diagnosis with atrioventricular nodal reentry (AVNR). Methods and ResultsWe performed programmed right ventricular stimulation during regular inducible supraventricular tachycardia with concentric atrial activation in 44 patients- 20 with OAVRT and 24 with AVNR Fusion in the ECG morphology of extrastimuli producing resetting was observed in 19 of 19 OAVRT but in 0 of 11 AVNR reset (P<.001). Transient entrainment was demonstrated in all 31 cases undergoing rapid ventricular pacing (14 OAVRT and 17 AVNR). Entrainment with fusion occurred in 13 of 14 OAVRT and in 0 of 17 AVNR (P<.001). Fusion was critically dependent on the coupling intervals or pacing rates, sometimes having a narrow window for its observation. ConclusionsThe relative proximity (conduction time) among pacing site, site of entrance to a reentrant circuit, and site of exit from the circuit to the paced chamber are critical for the occurrence of fusion during resetting and/or entrainment. The presence or absence of fusion during these phenomena can help in the differential diagnosis of certain supraventricular tachycardias.
Power allocation strategies for distributed turbo codes in relay networks

Relay communications channels have been shown to be used to achieve combined diversity and coding gain in wireless communications networks. To enhance the performance of relay network some cooperation and distributed coding schemes have been introduced. In relay networks signals transmitted from one terminal to another through a number of relays. Embedding the distributed turbo code (DTC) technique into the relay channels has been shown to approach the theoretical bound of the capacity of the wireless relay networks. In some applications, the availability of the power required at the source device to satisfy some level of quality at the destination device is not available, like in sensor networks, and in some other applications the power assigned for the source and relay devices are different. In this paper, for the distributed turbo code (DTC) in relay network, we consider a two hop relay network, which consists of one source device, one relay device and one destination device. So, in this paper, the power allocated to each component of the turbo code word, which are generated at both source device and at the relay device, has been investigated and conclusions are drawn for design purposes to enhance the performance of the distributed turbo code (DTC) in relay networks.
Filter hopping: Physical layer secrecy based on FBMC

This paper presents a novel physical layer secrecy enhancement technique for multicarrier communications based on dynamic filter hopping. Using the Filter Bank Multicarrier (FBMC) waveform, an efficient eavesdropping mitigation technique is developed using time- and frequency-varying prototype filters. Without knowledge of the filter assignment pattern, an eavesdropper will experience a high level of inter-carrier (ICI) and inter-symbol interference (ISI). With this severe receive signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) degradation for an illegitimate receiver, the secrecy capacity of the communication system is increased. At the same time, the interference at the legitimate receiver is designed to be negligible in comparison to the channel noise.
Flexibility of the genetic code with respect to DNA structure

MOTIVATION The primary function of DNA is to carry genetic information through the genetic code. DNA, however, contains a variety of other signals related, for instance, to reading frame, codon bias, pairwise codon bias, splice sites and transcription regulation, nucleosome positioning and DNA structure. Here we study the relationship between the genetic code and DNA structure and address two questions. First, to which degree does the degeneracy of the genetic code and the acceptable amino acid substitution patterns allow for the superimposition of DNA structural signals to protein coding sequences? Second, is the origin or evolution of the genetic code likely to have been constrained by DNA structure? RESULTS We develop an index for code flexibility with respect to DNA structure. Using five different di- or tri-nucleotide models of sequence-dependent DNA structure, we show that the standard genetic code provides a fair level of flexibility at the level of broad amino acid categories. Thus the code generally allows for the superimposition of any structural signal on any protein-coding sequence, through amino acid substitution. The flexibility observed at the level of single amino acids allows only for the superimposition of punctual and loosely positioned signals to conserved amino acid sequences. The degree of flexibility of the genetic code is low or average with respect to several classes of alternative codes. This result is consistent with the view that DNA structure is not likely to have played a significant role in the origin and evolution of the genetic code.
Enhanced LTE-Advanced Random-Access Mechanism for Massive Machine-to-Machine ( M 2 M ) Communications

—Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications enable one or more autonomous machines to communicate directly with one another without human intervention. M2M applications include smart grid, healthcare and intelligent Transportation System. However, past and present wireless technologies have been engineered for Human-to-Human (H2H) communications, in particular, for transmission of voice. Consequently, LTE-Advanced, which is envisaged to play a central role in M2M communications, is highly optimized for H2H communications. Distinct and unique characteristics of M2M communications create new challenges from those in H2H communications. In this article, we investigate the impact of massive M2M terminals attempting random access to LTE-Advanced all at once. We provide a comprehensive coverage on the LTE-Advance random access mechanism in order to understand the overload problem on the LTE-Advanced random access channel. We discuss and review the solutions to alleviate the overload problem by 3GPP. As a result, we propose an effective solution that can effectively eliminate the congestion on the random access channel for M2M communications without affecting H2H communications.
Novel metrics for feature extraction stability in protein sequence classication

Feature extraction is an unavoidable task, especially in the critical step of preprocessing biological sequences. This step consists for example in transforming the biological sequences into vectors of motifs where each motif is a subsequence that can be seen as a property (or attribute) characterizing the sequence. Hence, we obtain an object-property table where objects are sequences and properties are motif extracted from sequences. This output can be used to apply standard machine learning tools to perform data mining tasks such as classification. Several previous works have described feature extraction methods for bio-sequence classification, but none of them discussed the robustness of these methods when perturbing the input data. In this work, we introduce the notion of stability of the generated motifs in order to study the robustness of motif extraction methods. We express this robustness in terms of the ability of the method to reveal any change occurring in the input data and also its ability to target the interesting motifs. We use these criteria to evaluate and experimentally compare four existing extraction methods for biological sequences.
Gait Pattern in the Early Recovery Period after Stroke*

The gait patterns of eighteen patients who had had a single infarct due to obstruction of the middle cerebral artery were evaluated within one week after the patients had resumed independent walking and before a gait rehabilitation program had been initiated. Gait was analyzed with use of motion analysis, force-plate recordings, and dynamic surface electromyographic studies of the muscles of the lower extremities. The patterns of motion of the lower extremity on the hemiplegic side had a stronger association with the clinical severity of muscle weakness than with the degree of spasticity, balance control, or phasic muscle activity. There was a delay in the initiation of flexion of the hip during the pre-swing phase, and flexion of the hip and knee as well as dorsiflexion of the ankle progressed only slightly during the swing phase. During the stance phase, there was decreased extension of the hip that was related to decreased muscle effort and a coupling between flexion of the knee and dorsiflexion of the ankle. The abnormal patterns of motion altered the velocity, the length of the stride, the cadence, and all phases of the gait cycle. The duration of the pre-swing phase was prolonged for the patients who had the slowest gait velocities. There also were abnormal movements of the upper extremity, the trunk, the pelvis, and the lower extremity on the unaffected side in an effort to compensate for the decreased velocity on the hemiplegic side. As velocity improved, these abnormal movements decreased. Therefore, the goal of therapy should be to improve muscle strength and coordination on the hemiplegic side, especially during the pre-swing phase.
Adaptive Representations for Tracking Breaking News on Twitter

Twitter is often the most up-to-date source for finding and tracking breaking news stories. Therefore, there is considerable interest in developing filters for tweet streams in order to track and summarize stories. This is a non-trivial text analytics task as tweets are short, and standard retrieval methods often fail as stories evolve over time. In this paper we examine the effectiveness of adaptive mechanisms for tracking and summarizing breaking news stories. We evaluate the effectiveness of these mechanisms on a number of recent news events for which manually curated timelines are available. Assessments based on ROUGE metrics indicate that an adaptive approaches are best suited for tracking evolving stories on Twitter.
Gravity Duals of Lifshitz-Like Fixed Points

We find candidate macroscopic gravity duals for scale-invariant but non-Lorentz invariant fixed points, which do not have particle number as a conserved quantity. We compute two-point correlation functions which exhibit novel behavior relative to their AdS counterparts, and find holographic renormalization group flows to conformal field theories. Our theories are characterized by a dynamical critical exponent z, which governs the anisotropy between spatial and temporal scaling t {yields} {lambda}{sup z}t, x {yields} {lambda}x; we focus on the case with z = 2. Such theories describe multicritical points in certain magnetic materials and liquid crystals, and have been shown to arise at quantum critical points in toy models of the cuprate superconductors. This work can be considered a small step towards making useful dual descriptions of such critical points.
On parametric Gevrey asymptotics for a q-analog of some linear initial value Cauchy problem

We study an inhomogeneous linear q−difference differential Cauchy problem, with a complex perturbation parameter , whose coefficients depend holomorphically on and on time in the vicinity of the origin in C and are bounded analytic on some horizontal strip in C w.r. t the space variable. This problem is seen as a q−analog of an initial value problem recently investigated by the author and A. Lastra in [8]. Here a comparable result with the one in [8] is achieved, namely we construct a finite set of holomorphic solutions on a common bounded open sector in time at the origin, on the given strip above in space, when belongs to a well selected set of open bounded sectors whose union covers a neighborhood of 0 in C∗. These solutions are constructed through a continuous version of a q−Laplace transform of some order k ≥ 1 introduced newly in [5] and Fourier inverse map of some function with q−exponential growth of order k on adequate unbounded sectors in C and with exponential decay in the Fourier variable. Moreover, by means of a q−analog of the classical Ramis-Sibuya theorem, we prove that they share a common formal power series (that generally diverge) in as q−Gevrey asymptotic expansion of order 1/k.
Genome-Wide Screen for Metabolic Syndrome Susceptibility Loci Reveals Strong Lipid Gene Contribution But No Evidence for Common Genetic Basis for Clustering of Metabolic Syndrome Traits

Background— Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified several susceptibility loci for metabolic syndrome (MetS) component traits, but have had variable success in identifying susceptibility loci to the syndrome as an entity. We conducted a GWA study on MetS and its component traits in 4 Finnish cohorts consisting of 2637 MetS cases and 7927 controls, both free of diabetes, and followed the top loci in an independent sample with transcriptome and nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabonomics data. Furthermore, we tested for loci associated with multiple MetS component traits using factor analysis, and built a genetic risk score for MetS. Methods and Results— A previously known lipid locus, APOA1/C3/A4/A5 gene cluster region (SNP rs964184), was associated with MetS in all 4 study samples (P=7.23×10−9 in meta-analysis). The association was further supported by serum metabolite analysis, where rs964184 was associated with various very low density lipoprotein, triglyceride, and high-density lipoprotein metabolites (P=0.024–1.88×10−5). Twenty-two previously identified susceptibility loci for individual MetS component traits were replicated in our GWA and factor analysis. Most of these were associated with lipid phenotypes, and none with 2 or more uncorrelated MetS components. A genetic risk score, calculated as the number of risk alleles in loci associated with individual MetS traits, was strongly associated with MetS status. Conclusions— Our findings suggest that genes from lipid metabolism pathways have the key role in the genetic background of MetS. We found little evidence for pleiotropy linking dyslipidemia and obesity to the other MetS component traits, such as hypertension and glucose intolerance.
Physical activity and stroke in British middle aged men.

OBJECTIVES--To assess the relation between physical activity and stroke and to determine the overall benefit of physical activity for all major cardiovascular events. DESIGN--Prospective study of a cohort of men followed up for 9.5 years. SETTING--General practices in 24 towns in England, Wales, and Scotland (British regional heart study). SUBJECTS--7735 men aged 40-59 at screening, selected at random from one general practice in each of 24 towns. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Fatal and non-fatal strokes and heart attacks. RESULTS--128 major strokes (fatal and non-fatal) occurred. Physical activity was inversely associated with risk of stroke independent of coronary risk factors, heavy drinking, and pre-existing ischaemic heart disease or stroke (relative risk 1.0 for inactivity, 0.6 moderate activity, and 0.3 vigorous activity; test for trend p = 0.008). The association remained after excluding men reporting regular sporting (vigorous) activity. However, vigorous physical activity was associated with a marginally significant increased risk of heart attack compared with moderate or moderately vigorous activity in men with no pre-existing ischaemic heart disease or stroke (relative risk 1.6%; 95% confidence interval 0.96 to 2.8). In men with symptomatic ischaemic heart disease or stroke those doing moderately vigorous or vigorous activity had a risk of heart attack slightly higher than that in inactive men (relative risk = 1.6; 0.8 to 3.3). CONCLUSIONS--Moderate physical activity significantly reduces the risk of stroke and heart attacks in men both with and without pre-existing ischaemic heart disease. More vigorous activity did not confer any further protection. Moderate activity, such as frequent walking and recreational activity or weekly sporting activity, should be encouraged without restriction.
Usability Evaluation of an Ecological Interface for Process Control Health Monitoring

Generating graphical displays for complex systems is a difficult task. The Ecological Interface Design framework provides guidelines for work domain analysis and visual design; however the visual design principles are quite abstract and sometimes difficult to apply. In a companion article, we propose a visual design methodology that extends ecological interface design and provides a structured approach to generating graphical forms. In this paper, an experiment compares an existing chart to a new design generated through application of the methodology. The aim is to determine whether the redesign affects the usability of the chart and to explore possible causes for these differences. The results suggest that the new design provides better support in terms of efficiency, accuracy and satisfaction for a range of key tasks. A discussion investigates general issues relating to the validation of ecological interface designs.
A Bayesian view on Faraday rotation maps - Seeing the magnetic power spectra in galaxy clusters

We present a Bayesian maximum likelihood analysis of Faraday rotation measure (RM) maps of extended radio sources to determine magnetic field power spectra in clusters of galaxies. Using this approach, it is possible to determine the uncertainties in the measurements. We apply this approach to the RM map of Hydra A and derive the power spectrum of the cluster magnetic field. For Hydra A, we measure a spectral index of −5/3 over at least one order of magnitude implying Kolmogorov type turbulence. We find a dominant scale ∼3 kpc on which the magnetic power is concentrated, since the magnetic autocorrelation length is λB = 3 ± 0.5 kpc. Furthermore, we investigate the influences of the assumption about the sampling volume (described by a window function) on the magnetic power spectrum. The central magnetic field strength was determined to be ∼7 ± 2 µG for the most likely geometries.
Adaptive, limited knowledge wireless recharging in sensor networks

We investigate the problem of efficient wireless energy recharging in Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks (WRSNs). In such networks a special mobile entity (called the Mobile Charger) traverses the network and wirelessly replenishes the energy of sensor nodes. In contrast to most current approaches, we envision methods that are distributed, adaptive and use limited network information. We propose three new, alternative protocols for efficient recharging, addressing key issues which we identify, most notably (i) to what extent each sensor should be recharged (ii) what is the best split of the total energy between the charger and the sensors and (iii) what are good trajectories the MC should follow. One of our protocols (LRP) performs some distributed, limited sampling of the network status, while another one (RTP) reactively adapts to energy shortage alerts judiciously spread in the network. As detailed simulations demonstrate, both protocols significantly outperform known state of the art methods, while their performance gets quite close to the performance of the global knowledge method (GKP) we also provide, especially in heterogeneous network deployments.
A Copal-8-ol Diphosphate Synthase from the Angiosperm Cistus creticus subsp. creticus Is a Putative Key Enzyme for the Formation of Pharmacologically Active, Oxygen-Containing Labdane-Type Diterpenes1[OA]

The resin of Cistus creticus subsp. creticus, a plant native to Crete, is rich in labdane-type diterpenes with significant antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities. The full-length cDNA of a putative diterpene synthase was isolated from a C. creticus trichome cDNA library. The deduced amino acid sequence of this protein is highly similar (59%–70% identical) to type B diterpene synthases from other angiosperm species that catalyze a protonation-initiated cyclization. The affinity-purified recombinant Escherichia coli-expressed protein used geranylgeranyl diphosphate as substrate and catalyzed the formation of copal-8-ol diphosphate. This diterpene synthase, therefore, was named CcCLS (for C. creticus copal-8-ol diphosphate synthase). Copal-8-ol diphosphate is likely to be an intermediate in the biosynthesis of the oxygen-containing labdane-type diterpenes that are abundant in the resin of this plant. RNA gel-blot analysis revealed that CcCLS is preferentially expressed in the trichomes, with higher transcript levels found in glands on young leaves than on fully expanded leaves, while CcCLS transcript levels increased after mechanical wounding. Chemical analyses revealed that labdane-type diterpene production followed a similar pattern, with higher concentrations in trichomes of young leaves and increased accumulation upon wounding.
Sensing tactile microvibrations with the BioTac — Comparison with human sensitivity

The human fingertip is exquisitely sensitive to vibrations that are essential to detect slip and discriminate textures. Achieving similar functions with prosthetic and robotic hands will require tactile sensors with similar sensitivity. Many technologies have been developed to sense such vibrations, yet none have achieved the requisite sensitivity in a package that is robust enough to meet practical applications. The BioTac®, developed by the authors, uses an incompressible liquid as an acoustic conductor to convey vibrations from the skin to a wide bandwidth pressure transducer located deep in the rigid core of the mechatronic finger, where it is protected from damage. Signal conditioning electronics were designed to achieve sensitivity down to the theoretical noise floor of the transducer, making the device very sensitive to the smallest of vibrations, even sound. We demonstrate here that this device exceeds human performance in detecting sustained vibrations (capable of sensing vibrations as small as a few nanometers at ~330Hz) as well as very small transient events that arise when small particles are dropped on the finger. This overcomes the supposition that such sensitivity requires fragile sensory elements to reside near the vulnerable contact surfaces.
A Multi-Criteria Model for Planning and Fine-Tuning Global Agile Software Development Projects

Inter-organizational Global Software Development (GSD) has become a common reality for many projects. It is well established that distance makes difficult to interact and to cooperate effectively. Scrum, a consolidated Agile methodology, emphasizes communication, reduces coordination and control overhead and has been increasingly used in a distributed fashion. Successfully planning and managing the combined use of GSD and Scrum is a complex task and requires carefully planning. Despite the importance and complexity of this type of problem, there seems to be a lack of reports, in the literature, of models that could support managers dealing with these decision contexts. This paper presents a multi-criteria decision model for planning and fine-tuning such project plans. This model was developed using cognitive mapping and MACBETH (Bana e Costa, Sanchez-Lopez, Vansnick, & De Corte, 2011). The application of the model is demonstrated, followed by conclusion and future work.