Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Light, Rotation, and Texture on Errors in the Estimated Length of a Three-Dimensional Object in a Two-Dimensional Display

This study investigated the effects of light type (spot, directional, and point), forward-rotated stimulus angle (20°, 45°, and 70°), and surface texture (wood, metal, transparent glass, dark brown leather, and translucent plastic) on errors in the estimated vertical diameter of a three-dimensional object. Twenty female and 12 male Taiwanese college students, ages 18–22 years, participated in the current study. Participants were asked to judge the vertical diameter of an elliptical hole within a square plate that was displayed on an LCD monitor. Analysis indicated that the errors in estimated vertical diameter for rotated angles of 20° and 45° were greater than were those for 70°. Additionally, the error of estimated vertical diameter for a rotated angle of 45° was less than was that for 20°. The surface texture also affected errors in estimated vertical diameter: transparent glass was associated with more errors than were wood and metal textures. However, light type had no effect on errors in estimated vertical diameter. These results have implications for the graphics-based design of interfaces.
Wearable Antennas for Off-Body Radio Links at VHF and UHF Bands: Challenges, the state of the art, and future trends below 1 GHz.

An in-depth survey of wearable antennas for off-body radio links in the very high-frequency (VHF) and ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) bands (below 1 GHz) is presented. The review encompasses distinctive specifications, design criteria and challenges, material characterization procedures, antenna topologies and technologies, multiantenna systems, dedicated testing procedures, applications, and future trends.
Empirical Comparison of Some Approximate Variance Formulae of Horvitz-Thompson Estimator

In this paper we have compared various approximate formulae for variance of Horvitz- Thompson estimator using first order inclusion probabilities. The empirical study has been conducted with a view to pick the most appropriate approximation for exact variance of the Horvitz-Thompson estimator. The empirical study is based upon two most popular selection procedures for unequal probability sampling.
Design of Particle Swarm Optimization with random flying time

In order to improve the searching performance of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, a new PSO algorithm with random flying time was designed in this paper. In traditional PSO, the flying time of particles remains the same and is fixed to one when the positions are updated which lead to the "oscillation" phenomena. Randomness was introduced to the location updating formula of the particle, and the new definition of location update formula was given. We have, in the form of theorem, also proved that before PSO finds the optimal value, the position of the particle keeps changing continuously, the flying distance of the particle in the new algorithm is smaller than that in the original algorithm, which can avoid the particle "fly over" the optimal location and reduce the possibility of "oscillation" phenomena. Experimental results show that the algorithm is of advantage of improving the convergence speed and calculation accuracy. The design of PSO with random flying time both increased the randomness of particles and improved the searching performance.
Development of a Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Method for the Rapid Detection of Subtype H7N9 Avian Influenza Virus

A novel influenza A (H7N9) virus has emerged in China. To rapidly detect this virus from clinical samples, we developed a reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) method for the detection of the H7N9 virus. The minimum detection limit of the RT-LAMP assay was 0.01 PFU H7N9 virus, making this method 100-fold more sensitive to the detection of the H7N9 virus than conventional RT-PCR. The H7N9 virus RT-LAMP assays can efficiently detect different sources of H7N9 influenza virus RNA (from chickens, pigeons, the environment, and humans). No cross-reactive amplification with the RNA of other subtype influenza viruses or of other avian respiratory viruses was observed. The assays can effectively detect H7N9 influenza virus RNA in drinking water, soil, cloacal swab, and tracheal swab samples that were collected from live poultry markets, as well as human H7N9 virus, in less than 30 min. These results suggest that the H7N9 virus RT-LAMP assays were efficient, practical, and rapid diagnostic methods for the epidemiological surveillance and diagnosis of influenza A (H7N9) virus from different resource samples.
The Heat Shock Protein Ssa2p Is Required for Import of Fructose-1,6-Bisphosphatase into Vid Vesicles

Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) is targeted to the vacuole for degradation when Saccharomyces cerevisiae are shifted from low to high glucose. Before vacuolar import, however, FBPase is sequestered inside a novel type of vesicle, the vacuole import and degradation (Vid) vesicles. Here, we reconstitute import of FBPase into isolated Vid vesicles. FBPase sequestration into Vid vesicles required ATP and cytosol, but was inhibited if ATP binding proteins were depleted from the cytosol. The heat shock protein Ssa2p was identified as one of the ATP binding proteins involved in FBPase import. A Δssa2 strain exhibited a significant decrease in the rate of FBPase degradation in vivo as compared with Δssa1, Δssa3, or Δssa4 strains. Likewise, in vitro import was impaired for the Δssa2 strain, but not for the other Δssa strains. The cytosol was identified as the site of the Δssa2 defect; Δssa2 cytosol did not stimulate FBPase import into import competent Vid vesicles, but wild-type cytosol supported FBPase import into competent Δssa2 vesicles. The addition of purified recombinant Ssa2p stimulated FBPase import into Δssa2 Vid vesicles, providing Δssa2 cytosol was present. Thus, Ssa2p, as well as other undefined cytosolic proteins are required for the import of FBPase into vesicles.
Dopamine Neurons Mediate a Fast Excitatory Signal via Their Glutamatergic Synapses

Dopamine neurons are thought to convey a fast, incentive salience signal, faster than can be mediated by dopamine. A resolution of this paradox may be that midbrain dopamine neurons exert fast excitatory actions. Using transgenic mice with fluorescent dopamine neurons, in which the axonal projections of the neurons are visible, we made horizontal brain slices encompassing the mesoaccumbens dopamine projection. Focal extracellular stimulation of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area evoked dopamine release and early monosynaptic and late polysynaptic excitatory responses in postsynaptic nucleus accumbens neurons. Local superfusion of the ventral tegmental area with glutamate, which should activate dopamine neurons selectively, produced an increase in excitatory synaptic events. Local superfusion of the ventral tegmental area with the D2 agonist quinpirole, which should increase the threshold for dopamine neuron activation, inhibited the early response. So dopamine neurons make glutamatergic synaptic connections to accumbens neurons. We propose that dopamine neuron glutamatergic transmission may be the initial component of the incentive salience signal.
Ant colony optimization for QoE-centric flow routing in software-defined networks

We present design, implementation, and an evaluation of an ant colony optimization (ACO) approach to flow routing in software-defined networking (SDN) environments. While exploiting a global network view and configuration flexibility provided by SDN, the approach also utilizes quality of experience (QoE) estimation models and seeks to maximize the user QoE for multimedia services. As network metrics (e.g., packet loss) influence QoE for such services differently, based on the service type and its integral media flows, the goal of our ACO-based heuristic algorithm is to calculate QoE-aware paths that conform to traffic demands and network limitations. A Java implementation of the algorithm is integrated into SDN controller OpenDaylight so as to program the path selections. The evaluation results indicate promising QoE improvements of our approach over shortest path routing, as well as low running time.
Divalent Cations Modulate the Inhibitory Substrate Properties of Murine Glia‐derived J1‐160 and J1‐180 Extracellular Matrix Glycoproteins for Neuronal Adhesion

J1–160 and J1–180 are developmentally late appearing J1 extracellular matrix glycoproteins derived from oligodendrocytes. They prevent adhesion of neurons (but not of astrocytes or fibroblasts) when offered as a substrate in mixture with laminin (Pesheva et al., J. Cell Biol., 109, 1765–1778, 1989). In the present study we have examined the influence of divalent cations on the inhibitory substrate properties of J1‐160/180 glycoproteins towards adhesion of neurons. By metal chelate affinity chromatography, we show that J1‐180, but not J1‐160, binds Ca2+, while both J1 components are capable of binding Zn2+ and other divalent metal ions. Divalent cation binding was observed by gel filtration, aggregation assays with coated latex beads and electron microscopic examination to elicit aggregation of the molecules. Divalent cation binding also affects their non‐permissive substrate properties towards neurons from early postnatal mouse cerebellum. Without divalent cations, J1–160 and J1–180 are inhibitory for substrate adhesion of neurons independently of the adhesive substrate present (laminin or poly‐l‐lysine). This effect is neutralized when J1–180 is preincubated with Ca2+ or Zn2+ prior to coating as substrate. In contrast, preincubation with Ca2+ ions does not affect the inhibitory substrate properties of J1–160 under these conditions. These observations show that J1‐160/180 molecules may undergo self‐aggregation in a divalent cation‐dependent mechanism, which correlates with the neutralization of their inhibitory effect on neuronal adhesion. The aggregation state of the molecules may thus influence the process of myelination by a homophilic binding mechanism and determine the effectiveness of neurite extension during central nervous system development and under traumatic conditions in the adult.
Construction and Visualization of Key Term Hierarchies

This paper presents a prototype system for key term manipulation and visualization in a real-world commercial environment. The system consists of two components. A preprocessor generates a set of key terms from a text dataset which represents a specific topic. The generated key terms are organized in a hierarchical structure and fed into a graphic user interface (GUI). The friendly and interactive GUI toolkit allows the user to visualize the key terms in context and explore the content of the original dataset.
Discrepancy between early neurological course and mid-term outcome in older stroke patients after mechanical thrombectomy

Background Stroke in aged patients has a relatively poor prognosis, even after recanalizing therapy. Potential reasons include mechanisms that relate directly to the extent of brain tissue damage, but also age-dependent factors which are not, or only indirectly, stroke-related, such as pre-existing functional deficits, comorbidities, and post-stroke complications (eg, infections). Objective To compare early neurological course with subsequent functional outcome in older (≥80 years) and younger stroke patients in order to estimate the relative impact of these factors. Specifically, to examine if the strong age-dependency of modified Rankin Scale (mRS) outcome scores in stroke patients after mechanical thrombectomy is paralleled by a similar age dependency of early postinterventional National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores—a more specific measure of stroke-induced brain damage. Methods We evaluated technical results, pre- and postinterventional NIHSS scores, mid-term mRS scores and early and overall mortality and their relation to age in 125 patients, 40 of them ≥80 years, with acute middle cerebral artery occlusion, treated by mechanical thrombectomy. Results Technical success, pre- and postinterventional NIHSS scores and early mortality were age-independent. Early neurological improvement depended on successful recanalization, but not on age. Nevertheless, good mRS outcome (mRS 0–2) was much rarer, and overall mortality almost threefold higher in aged patients. Conclusions Older patients exhibit a similar early neurological course and responsiveness to mechanical thrombectomy as younger patients, but this is not reflected in mid-term functional outcome scores. This indicates that post-stroke complications and other factors that are not, or only indirectly, related to the brain tissue damage induced by the incident stroke have a dominant role in their poor prognosis.
The Impact of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) on Work-Family Interference and Work-Family Facilitation

Purpose – We analyze the effects of leadership on work-family spillovers. Specifically, we analyze the relationships between leadership (leader-member exchange, LMX) with one negative work-family spillover effect (work-family interference) and one positive work-family spillover effect (work-family facilitation). We hypothesize that LMX influences work-family spillover via different mediators, rather than one all-encompassing mediator, such as empowerment. Design/methodology/approach – We hypothesize that a good relationship with your supervisor (high LMX) diminishes work pressure, which in turn reduces work-family interference. Furthermore, we expect that a good relationship with your supervisor positively relates to the meaningfulness of work, as you could get more interesting work and more understanding of your role within the organization. In turn, this will increase work-family facilitation. These hypotheses are tested using a nation-wide survey among Dutch healthcare professionals.Findings – Findings of Structural Equation Modeling indeed indicate that high quality LMX is negatively related to work-family interference, and that this is mediated by work pressure (53% explained variance). Furthermore, we found that a good relationship with your supervisor is positively related to meaningfulness of work, which in turn positively correlates to work-family facilitation (16% explained variance). Originality/value – The added value of the paper lies in a) introducing two mediators – work pressure and meaningful work – which worked adequately both theoretically and empirically, instead of the sometimes problematic mediators empowerment and stress, b) a focus on healthcare professionals and c) using sophisticated techniques to test the model (Structural Equation Modeling with bootstrapping).
Lungfish tooth plates (Sarcopterygii, Dipnoi) from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian) Eutaw Formation of Alabama and Mississippi, USA

Abstract. Lungfish are a poorly represented component of the Mesozoic fossil record in North America, as most lungfish fossils consist of rare, isolated dental plates that are of little diagnostic value due to their conservative nature. In eastern North America, the paucity of lungfish fossils in Late Cretaceous strata is further compounded by the occurrence of geologic units that are primarily marine in origin, unlike the Late Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous fluvial deposits of the American west that contain comparatively more specimens. Lungfish fossils from the eastern side of the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway (Appalachia) have previously been reported from the Cenomanian Woodbine Formation of northeast Texas and the Campanian Mount Laurel Formation of New Jersey. Herewe report two new occurrences of eastern North American lungfish tooth plates from the Santonian Eutaw Formation of Alabama and Mississippi. These two specimens are referred to Ceratodus frazieri Ostrom, 1970 and Ceratodus carteri Main et al., 2014, species that are better known from the mid-Cretaceous of the Western Interior of North America. This discovery is the first published record of lungfish of any age from the states of Alabama and Mississippi. It partially bridges the temporal gap in the fossil record between the Cenomanian lungfish of Texas and the Campanian lungfish of New Jersey and extends the biogeographic range of Late Cretaceous lungfish to the eastern Gulf Coastal Plain of the United States.
Tractability of Theory Patching

In this paper we consider the problem of `theory patching', in which we are given a domain theory, some of whose components are indicated to be possibly flawed, and a set of labeled training examples for the domain concept. The theory patching problem is to revise only the indicated components of the theory, such that the resulting theory correctly classifies all the training examples. Theory patching is thus a type of theory revision in which revisions are made to individual components of the theory. Our concern in this paper is to determine for which classes of logical domain theories the theory patching problem is tractable. We consider both propositional and first-order domain theories, and show that the theory patching problem is equivalent to that of determining what information contained in a theory is `stable' regardless of what revisions might be performed to the theory. We show that determining stability is tractable if the input theory satisfies two conditions: that revisions to each theory component have monotonic effects on the classification of examples, and that theory components act independently in the classification of examples in the theory. We also show how the concepts introduced can be used to determine the soundness and completeness of particular theory patching algorithms.
Receiving right/wrong feedback: Consequences for learning

Prior work suggests that receiving feedback that one's response was correct or incorrect (right/wrong feedback) does not help learners, as compared to not receiving any feedback at all (Pashler, Cepeda, Wixted, & Rohrer, 2005). In three experiments we examined the generality of this conclusion. Right/wrong feedback did not aid error correction, regardless of whether participants learned facts embedded in prose (Experiment 1) or translations of foreign vocabulary (Experiment 2). While right/wrong feedback did not improve the overall retention of correct answers (Experiments 1 and 2), it facilitated retention of low-confidence correct answers (Experiment 3). Reviewing the original materials was very useful to learners, but this benefit was similar after receiving either right/wrong feedback or no feedback (Experiments 1 and 2). Overall, right/wrong feedback conveys some information to the learner, but is not nearly as useful as being told the correct answer or having the chance to review the to-be-learned materials.
Status of influenza and pneumococcal vaccination among older American Indians and Alaska Natives.

OBJECTIVES We sought to estimate the influenza and pneumococcal vaccination coverage among older American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) adults nationally and the impact of sociodemographic factors, variations by geographic region, and access to services on vaccination coverage. METHODS We obtained our sample of 1981 AIAN and 179845 White respondents 65 years and older from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data from 2003 to 2005. Logistic regression provided predictive marginal vaccination coverage for each covariate and adjusted for demographic characteristics and access to care. RESULTS Unadjusted influenza coverage estimates were similar between AIAN and White respondents (68.1% vs 69.5%), but pneumococcal vaccination was lower among AIAN respondents (58.1% vs 67.2%; P<.01). After multivariable adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, self-reported coverage for both vaccines was statistically similar between AIAN and White adults. CONCLUSIONS Although there was no disparity in influenza coverage, pneumococcal coverage was lower among AIAN than among White respondents, probably because of sociodemographic risk factors. Regional variation indicates a need to monitor coverage and target interventions to reduce disparities within geographically and culturally diverse subpopulations of AIAN persons.
A Neural Network Approach to Blind Estimation of PN Spreading Sequence in DS/SS Signals

In this paper, a new approach is proposed to estimate pseudo noise(PN) sequence in the lower SNR DS/SS signals blindly. This method utilizes the characteristics of self-organization, principal components analysis and extraction of unsupervised neural networks adequately, in addition to its higher-speed operation ability, successfully solve the difficult problem about PN sequence blind estimation. The theoretic analysis and experimental results show that this approach can work very well on lower SNR input signals.
An Algorithm of Adaptive Video Coding Scheme Based on FGS

An improved fine granular adaptive video coding algorithm based on fine granular scalable (FGS) is presented in this paper, which chooses high quality reference in enhancement layer coding, and uses the leaky prediction techniques which can control error propagation by the leaky factor. The simulation and experiments indicate that the proposed scheme can make a better trade-off between the coding efficiency and drift attenuation.
MicroRNA-18a Attenuates DNA Damage Repair through Suppressing the Expression of Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated in Colorectal Cancer

Background miR-18a is one of the most up-regulated miRNAs in colorectal cancers (CRC) based on miRNA profiling. In this study, we examined the functional significance of miR-18a in CRC. Methods Expression of miR-18a was investigated in 45 CRC patients. Potential target genes of miR-18a were predicted by in silico search and confirmed by luciferase activity assay and Western blot. DNA damage was measured by comet assay. Gene function was measured by cell viability, colony formation and apoptosis assays. Results The up-regulation of miR-18a was validated and confirmed in 45 primary CRC tumors compared with adjacent normal tissues (p<0.0001). Through in silico search, the 3′UTR of Ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) contains a conserved miR-18a binding site. Expression of ATM was down-regulated in CRC tumors (p<0.0001) and inversely correlated with miR-18a expression (r = -0.4562, p<0.01). Over-expression of miR-18a in colon cancer cells significantly reduced the luciferase activity of the construct with wild-type ATM 3′UTR but not that with mutant ATM 3′UTR, inferring a direct interaction of miR-18a with ATM 3′UTR. This was further confirmed by the down-regulation of ATM protein by miR-18a. As ATM is a key enzyme in DNA damage repair, we evaluated the effect of miR-18a on DNA double-strand breaks. Ectopic expression of miR-18a significantly inhibited the repair of DNA damage induced by etoposide (p<0.001), leading to accumulation of DNA damage, increase in cell apoptosis and poor clonogenic survival. Conclusion miR-18a attenuates cellular repair of DNA double-strand breaks by directly suppressing ATM, a key enzyme in DNA damage repair.