Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Medical Image Segmentation Using Hidden Markov Random Field A Distributed Approach

Medical imaging applications produce large sets of similar images. The huge amount of data makes the manual analysis and interpretation a fastidious task. Medical image segmentation is thus an important process in image processing used to partition the images into different regions (e.g. gray matter, white matter and cerebrospinal fluid). Hidden Markov Random Field (HMRF) Model and Gibbs distributions provide powerful tools for image modeling. In this paper, we use a HMRF model to perform segmentation of volumetric medical images. We have a problem with incomplete data. We seek the segmented images according to the MAP (Maximum A Posteriori) criterion. MAP estimation leads to the minimization of an energy function. This problem is computationally intractable. Therefore, optimizations techniques are used to compute a solution. We will evaluate the segmentation upon two major factors: the time of calculation and the quality of segmentation. Processing time is reduced by distributing the computation of segmentation on a powerful and inexpensive architecture that consists of a cluster of personal computers. Parallel programming was done by using the standard MPI (Message Passing Interface).
Leukocyte depletion of random single-donor platelet transfusions does not prevent secondary human leukocyte antigen-alloimmunization and refractoriness: a randomized prospective study.

We studied the value of leukocyte depletion of platelet transfusions for the prevention of secondary human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-alloimmunization in patients with a high-risk of prior immunization induced by pregnancies. Seventy-five female patients with hematologic malignancies (mostly acute leukemia) and a history of pregnancy were randomized to receive either standard random single-donor platelet transfusions (mean leukocytes, 430 x 10(6) per transfusion) or leukocyte-depleted random single-donor platelet transfusions. Leukocyte depletion to less than 5 x 10(6) leukocytes per platelet transfusion (mean leukocytes, 2 x 10(6) per transfusion) was achieved by filtration. Of the 62 evaluable patients, refractoriness to random donor platelets occurred in 41% (14 of 34) of the patients in the standard group and in 29% (8 of 28) of the patients in the filtered group (P = .52); anti-HLA antibodies developed in 43% (9 of 21) of individuals in the standard group and 44% (11 of 25) of cases in the filtered group. The time toward refractoriness and development of anti-HLA antibodies was similar for both groups. We conclude that leukocyte depletion of random single-donor platelet products to less than 5 x 10(6) per transfusion does not reduce the incidence of refractoriness to random donor platelet transfusion because of boostering of anti-HLA antibodies.
Modular proof of strong normalization for the calculus of constructions

Abstract We present a modular proof of strong normalization for the Calculus of Constructions of Coquand and Huet (1985, 1988). This result was first proved by Coquand (1986), but our proof is more perspicious. The method consists of a little juggling with some systems in the cube of Barendregt (1989), which provides a fine structure of the calculus of constructions. It is proved that the strong normalization of the calculus of constructions is equivalent with the strong normalization of Fω. In order to give the proof, we first establish some properties of various type systems. Therefore, we present a general framework of typed lambda calculi, including many well-known ones.
Adaptive connection admission and flow control: quality of service with high utilisation

The authors use adaptive feedback and adaptive feedforward control methodologies to avoid congestion at high server utilisation. This addresses the combined connection admission and flow control problem (generic functions for managing and controlling traffic and congestion in BISDN). Using a novel control concept, based on only two groups of traffic (controllable and uncontrollable) they formulate a problem aimed at high (unity) utilisation of resources while maintaining quality of service at prescribed levels. Bounds on operating conditions are derived, and using simulation they show that high utilisation can be achieved as suggested by the theory, together with robustness for unforeseen traffic connections and disconnections. Even with such a high efficiency and strong properties on the quality of service, the only traffic descriptor required from the user is that of the peak rate of the uncontrollable traffic. <<ETX>>
Osmosis in Cortical Collecting Tubules

The present experiments were designed to evaluate the effects of varying the osmolality of luminal solutions on the antidiuretic hormone (ADH)-independent water and solute permeability properties of isolated rabbit cortical collecting tubules. In the absence of ADH, the osmotic water permeability coefficient (cm s–1) Pfl→b, computed from volume flows from hypotonic lumen to isotonic bath, was 20 ± 4 x 10–4 (SEM); the value of Pfb→l in the absence of ADH, computed from volume flows from isotonic bath to hypertonic lumen, was 88 ± 15 x 10–4 cm s–1. We also measured apparent urea permeability coefficients (cm s–1) from 14C-urea fluxes from lumen to bath (P DDurea l→b) and from bath to lumen (P DDurea b→l). For hypotonic luminal solutions and isotonic bathing solutions, P DDurea l→b was 0.045 ± 0.004 x 10–4 and was unaffected by ADH. The ADH-independent values of P DDurea l→b and P urea b→l were, respectively, 0.216 ± 0.022 x 10–4 cm s–1 and 0.033 ± 0.002 x 10–4 cm s–1 for isotonic bathing solutions and luminal solutions made hypertonic with urea, i.e., there was an absolute increase in urea permeability and asymmetry of urea fluxes. Significantly, P DDurea l→b did not rise when luminal hypertonicity was produced by sucrose; and, bathing fluid hypertonicity did not alter tubular permeability to water or to urea. We interpret these data to indicate that luminal hypertonicity increased the leakiness of tight junctions to water and urea but not sucrose. Since the value of Pfb→l in the absence of ADH, when tight junctions were open to urea, was approximately half of the value of Pfl→b in the presence of ADH, when tight junctions were closed to urea, we conclude that tight junctions are negligible paracellular shunts for lumen to bath osmosis with ADH. These findings, together with those in the preceding paper, are discussed in terms of a solubility-diffusion model for water permeation in which ADH increases water solubility in luminal plasma membranes.
A MUSIC-based method to detect broken rotor bars in induction motors

This paper addresses itself to develop a sensitive/reliable detection method for broken rotor bar fault in induction motors. The power spectrum density estimation of classical multiple signal classification (MUSIC), which possesses higher resolution with short-time sample, is applied to detect broken rotor bars as well as continuous subdivision Fourier transform, self-adaptive filter, and rotor slot harmonics based slip estimation. And thus, the detection sensitivity is improved satisfactorily. At the same time, the negative impact of the fluctuation of stator current on the detection reliability is decreased to some extent because only short-time sample is needed. Fault detection instances in laboratory demonstrate that the presented scheme can assure the detection sensitivity and reliability of broken rotor bar fault in induction motors.
Interleukin 10 suppresses tumor growth and metastasis of human melanoma cells: potential inhibition of angiogenesis.

Interleukin 10 (IL-10) inhibits the production of a wide range of cytokines in various cell types. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the expression of the IL-10 gene can influence tumor growth and metastatic properties of human melanoma cells. The human melanoma cell line, A375P, which does not produce endogenous IL-10, was transfected with a hygromycin expression vector (control) or a vector containing full-length murine IL-10 cDNA. A375P parental cells, A375P-Hygro, and A375P-IL-10-positive cells were injected s.c. and i.v. into nude mice. A375P-IL-10 cells produced significantly slower growing s.c. tumors and fewer lung metastases than control cells. The tumorigenicity of the human melanoma A375SM and the murine melanoma B16-BL6 cells was also significantly inhibited when they were admixed with A375P-IL-10 but not with A375P-Hygro before s. c. injection into nude mice. The suppression of tumor growth and metastasis was directly correlated with a decrease in neovascularity determined by immunostaining with anti-factor VIII. Because tumor-associated macrophages are the major source of angiogenic molecules in melanoma, we used reverse transcription-PCR to demonstrate that IL-10 down-regulates the production of vascular endothelial growth factor, the most potent angiogenic factor in activated macrophages. Other factors involved in angiogenesis such as IL-1beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, IL-6, and the proteinase matrix metalloproteinase-9 were also inhibited in activated macrophages by supernatants from A375P-IL-10 cells. Collectively, these data suggest that the production of IL-10 by tumor cells inhibits macrophages-derived angiogenic factors, and hence, tumor growth and metastasis.
Efficient Learning of Graded Membership Models

We present an efficient algorithm for learning graded membership models when the number of variables $p$ is much larger than the number of hidden components $k$. This algorithm reduces the computational complexity of state-of-the-art tensor methods, which require decomposing an $O\left(p^3\right)$ tensor, to factorizing $O\left(p/k\right)$ sub-tensors each of size $O\left(k^3\right)$. In addition, we address the issue of negative entries in the empirical method of moments based estimators. We provide sufficient conditions under which our approach has provable guarantees. Our approach obtains competitive empirical results on both simulated and real data.
Towards sustainable cultural landscape: A challenge in developing ecomuseum in Minahasa Region

Recently, numbers of ecomuseums are developed around the world, particularly in Europe and Asia. Notably in Indonesia, ecomuseums are provided in various forms, covering large areas to small areas, and isolated sites in order to reach sustainable cultural landscape. This by means protecting the natural resources and cultural heritage. Minahasa region has considerable potential to develop ecomuseum model, encouraging community’s local sustainable development. The purpose of this paper is analyzing the potential aspects of ecomuseums in selected rural villages in Minahasa, include; Leilem, Pulutan, Watumea and Kayu Uwi, as case studies. Current development at these villages are evaluated by comparing the local community involvement with the basic principles of ecomuseum concepts, by exploring local community involvement. A qualitative methods was carried out, such in-depth survey between April and September 2017. Field observations include several activities; documentation, also interviewing local participants for their persepective on the ecomuseum developments. In order to reach sustainable landscape development in the region, Ecomuseum is also pivotal and practical model as functional tools for protecting the cultural heritage and developing of local areas. This research proves that Minahasa has got many cultural heritage sources, which are using productively for local sustainable development. The villages are samples of natural and cultural heritage areas of Minahasa for a sustainable cultural landscape development in the region.
Neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis

Necrotizing enterocolitis is the most common gastrointestinal emergency in preterm neonates and a major cause of morbidity and mortality in premature infants born before 32 weeks of gestation or with a birth weight less than 1500 g. In this review, we discuss predisposing factors, clinical manifestations, and the quality of evidence for various preventive and therapeutic strategies.
Multicategory SVMs by Minimizing the Distances among Convex-Hull Prototypes

In this paper, we study a single objective extension of support vector machines for multicategory classification. Extending the dual formulation of binary SVMs, the algorithm looks for minimizing the sum of all the pairwise distances among a set of prototypes, each one constrained to one of the convex-hulls enclosing a class of examples. The final discriminant system is built looking for an appropriate reference point in the feature space. The obtained method preserves the form and complexity of the binary case, optimizing just one convex objective function with m variables and 2m+K constraints, where m is the number of examples and K the number of classes. Non-linear extension are straightforward using kernels while soft margin versions can be obtained by using reduced convex hulls. Experimental results in well-known UCI benchmarks are presented, comparing the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approach with other state-of-the-art methods.
A provably time-efficient parallel implementation of full speculation

Speculative evaluation, including leniency and futures, is often used to produce high degrees of parallelism. Understanding the performance characteristics of such evaluation, however, requires having a detailed understanding of the implementation. For example, the particular implementaion technique used to suspend and reactivate threads can have an asymptotic effect on performance. With the goal of giving the users some understanding of performance without requiring them to understand the implementation, we present a provable implementation bound for a language based on speculative evaluation. The idea is (1) to supply the users with a semantics for a language that defines abstract costs for measuring or analyzing the performance of computations, (2) to supply the users with a mapping of these costs onto runtimes on various machine models, and (3) to describe an implementation strategy of the language and prove that it meets these mappings. For this purpose we consider a simple language based on speculative evaluation. For every computation, the semantics of the language returns a directed acyclic graph (DAG) in which each node represents a unit of computation, and each edge represents a dependence. We then describe an implementation strategy of the language and show that any computation with <italic>w</italic> work (the number of nodes in the DAG) and <italic>d</italic> depth (the length of the longest path in the DAG) will run on a <italic>p</italic>-processor PRAM in <italic>O</italic>(<italic>w</italic>/<italic>p</italic> + <italic>d</italic> log <italic>p</italic>) time. The bounds are work efficient (within a constant factor of linear speedup) when there is sufficient parallelism, <italic>w</italic>/<italic>d</italic> ≥ <italic>p</italic> log <italic>p</italic>. These are the first time bounds we know of for languages with speculative evaluation. The main challenge is in parallelizing the necessary queuing operations on suspended threads.
National Trends in Utilization and Outcomes of Endovascular Treatment of Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients in the Mechanical Thrombectomy Era

Background and Purpose— Because several new devices for mechanical thrombectomy have become available, the outcomes of patients undergoing endovascular treatment for acute ischemic stroke are expected to improve in the United States. We performed this analysis to evaluate trends in utilization of endovascular treatment and associated rates of death and disability among acute ischemic stroke patients over a 6-year period, including further assessment within age strata. Methods— We obtained data for patients admitted to hospitals in the United States from 2004 to 2009 with a primary diagnosis of ischemic stroke using a large national database. We determined the rate and pattern of utilization, and associated in-hospital outcomes of endovascular treatment among ischemic stroke patients and further analyzed trends within age strata. Outcomes were classified as minimal disability, moderate to severe disability, and death based on discharge disposition and compared between 2 time periods: 2004 to 2007 (post-MERCI) and 2008 to 2009 (post-Penumbra) approvals Results— Of the 3 292 842 patients admitted with ischemic stroke, 72 342 (2.2%) received intravenous thrombolytic treatment and 13 799 (0.4%) underwent endovascular treatment. There was a 6-fold increase in patients who underwent endovascular treatment (0.1% of ischemic strokes in 2004 vs 0.6% in 2009; P<0.001), with the patients aged ≥85 years having the lowest rate of utilization (0.2%). The rates of intracranial hemorrhage remained unchanged throughout the 6 years. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for age, gender, presence of hypertension, congestive heart failure, renal failure, and secondary intracranial hemorrhages, there was no difference in the rate of minimal disability between the 2 study intervals (2004–2007 vs 2008–2009; odds ratio, 0.8; 95% confidence interval, 0.7–1.04; P=0.11). Mortality decreased while moderate to severe disability increased for patients treated during 2008 to 2009 (odds ratio, 0.7; 95% confidence interval, 0.6–0.9; P=0.007; and odds ratio, 1.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.2–1.7; P=0.0002). Conclusion— There has been a significant increase in the proportion of acute ischemic stroke patients receiving endovascular treatment over the 6 years and reduction in in-hospital mortality. Our results highlight the need to implement endovascular techniques in a balanced manner across various age groups that also results in the reduction of disability in addition to mortality.
Hydrogen-induced piezoelectric effects in InP HEMT's

In this letter, we have investigated hydrogen degradation of InP HEMT's with Ti/Pt/Au gates. We have found that V/sub T/ shifts negative after exposure to hydrogen, and exhibits an L/sub G/ and orientation dependence. We postulate that /spl Delta/V/sub T/ is at least in part due to the piezoelectric effect. Hydrogen exposure leads to the formation of TiH/sub x/, producing compressive stress in the gate. This stress induces a piezoelectric charge distribution in the semiconductor that shifts the threshold voltage. We have independently confirmed TiH/sub x/ formation under our experimental conditions through Auger measurements. Separate radius-of-curvature measurements have also independently confirmed that Ti/Pt films become compressively stressed relative to their initial state after H/sub 2/ exposure.
Birds Select Fruits with More Anthocyanins and Phenolic Compounds During Autumn Migration

Abstract We evaluated whether fruit selection by autumn-migrating birds at an important stopover site in southern New England was related to water-soluble antioxidant content of fruits. We measured total anthocyanins, total phenolics, and total antioxidant capacity in fruits from common native and non-native plant species and related this to estimates of fruit selection by free-living birds. Birds selected certain fruits over others, with arrowwood (Viburnum recognitum, V. dentatum) consumed at the highest rate, followed by Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) with much lower consumption of other fruits (e.g., oriental bittersweet [Celastrus orbiculatus], multiflora rose [Rosa multiflora], winterberry [Ilex verticillata]). Antioxidant concentrations primarily differed by shrub species and less so between sites. Arrowwood spp. had the highest total antioxidants, followed by Virginia creeper, northern bayberry (Myrica pennsylvanica), chokeberry spp. (Aronia prunifolia, A. melanocarpa), multiflora rose, winterberry, and oriental bittersweet. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that free-living birds select fruits based, in part, on antioxidant content. We suggest birds may actively select polyphenol/anthocyanin-rich fruits during autumn migration to protect themselves against the potentially damaging effects of oxidative stress caused by long-distance fasting flight.
Infant mortality and fertility.

While in developing nations, particulary in those where preference for sons is marked, loss of a child is generally associated with an increase in fertility; this is attributed to the need for a son to carry the family name and to support the parents in their old age. The authors present data which suggests that in developed nations where the social pressures are different and preference for sons is not so strong, this relationship does not hold; in fact, in their study population in Robes County, North Carolina, the loss of a child was sufficient to bring about complete control of fertility through abstinence or effective contraception.
Unraveling the Time Domains of Corticosteroid Hormone Influences on Brain Activity: Rapid, Slow, and Chronic Modes

Brain cells are continuously exposed to corticosteroid hormones, although the levels vary (e.g., after stress). Corticosteroids alter neural activity via two receptor types, mineralocorticoid (MR) and glucocorticoid receptors (GR). These receptors regulate gene transcription but also, as we now know, act nongenomically. Via nongenomic pathways, MRs enhance and GRs suppress neural activity. In the hypothalamus, inhibitory GR effects contribute to negative feedback regulation of the stress axis. Nongenomic MR actions are also important extrahypothalamically and help organisms to immediately select an appropriate response strategy. Via genomic mechanisms, corticosteroid actions in the basolateral amygdala and ventral-most part of the cornu ammonis 1 hippocampal area are generally excitatory, providing an extended window for encoding of emotional aspects of a stressful event. GRs in hippocampal and prefrontal pyramidal cells increase surface expression of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors and strengthen glutamatergic signaling through pathways partly overlapping with those involved in long-term potentiation. This raises the threshold for subsequent induction of synaptic potentiation and promotes long-term depression. Synapses activated during stress are thus presumably strengthened but protected against excitatory inputs reaching the cells later. This restores higher cognitive control and promotes, for example, consolidation of stress-related contextual information. When an organism experiences stress early in life or repeatedly in adulthood, the ability to induce synaptic potentiation is strongly reduced and the likelihood to induce depression enhanced, even under rest. Treatment with antiglucocorticoids can ameliorate cellular effects after chronic stress and thus provide an interesting lead for treatment of stress-related disorders.
Pathophysiology of Sports-Related Concussion

Context: Concussions that occur during participation in athletic events affect millions of individuals each year. Although our understanding of the pathophysiology of concussion has grown considerably in recent years, much remains to be elucidated. This article reviews basic science and relevant translational clinical research regarding several aspects of concussion. Evidence Acquisition: A literature search was conducted using PubMed from 1966 to 2010, with an emphasis on work published within the past 10 years. Additional articles were identified from the bibliography of recent reviews. Results: Basic science and clinical data both indicate that there is a period of increased vulnerability to repeated injury following a concussion and that its duration is variable. Growing evidence indicates that postinjury activity is likely to affect recovery from brain injury. Data suggest that long-term sequelae may result from prior concussion—particularly, repeated injuries. The unique aspects of cerebral development may account for differences in the effects of concussion in children and adolescents when compared with adults. Conclusions: The available pathophysiologic data from basic science and clinical studies have increased the evidence base for concussion management strategies—the approaches to which may differ between young athletes and adults.