Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Update on Tubercular Uveitis

Tuberculosis (TB) is an important cause of infectious uveitis causing significant morbidity and mortality especially in endemic countries. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb) may infect any tissue or organ in the body, lungs being the most commonly affected. Ocular TB occurs due to hematogenous dissemination of MTb or due to a hypersensitivity reaction to the bacteria. It may lead to a very severe inflammation and destruction of ocular tissues leading to an irreversible loss of vision. Infection of the eye by MTb most commonly involves the uveal tissue causing anterior, intermediate, and posterior or panuveitis. Awareness of the varied clinical manifestations is important to suspect the ocular TB which may often be difficult to confirm by diagnostic tests available. A timely diagnosis and management may help in preventing severe loss of vision and the eye.
Airborne multispectral detection of regrowth cotton fields

Abstract. Effective methods are needed for timely areawide detection of regrowth cotton plants because boll weevils (a quarantine pest) can feed and reproduce on these plants beyond the cotton production season. Airborne multispectral images of regrowth cotton plots were acquired on several dates after three shredding (i.e., stalk destruction) dates. Linear spectral unmixing (LSU) classification was applied to high-resolution airborne multispectral images of regrowth cotton plots to estimate the minimum detectable size and subsequent growth of plants. We found that regrowth cotton fields can be identified when the mean plant width is ∼0.2 m for an image resolution of 0.1 m. LSU estimates of canopy cover of regrowth cotton plots correlated well (r2=0.81) with the ratio of mean plant width to row spacing, a surrogate measure of plant canopy cover. The height and width of regrowth plants were both well correlated (r2=0.94) with accumulated degree-days after shredding. The results will help boll weevil eradication program managers use airborne multispectral images to detect and monitor the regrowth of cotton plants after stalk destruction, and identify fields that may require further inspection and mitigation of boll weevil infestations.
Dependent SiZer: Goodness-of-Fit Tests for Time Series Models

In this paper, we extend SiZer (SIgnificant ZERo crossing of the derivatives) to dependent data for the purpose of goodness-of-fit tests for time series models. Dependent SiZer compares the observed data with a specific null model being tested by adjusting the statistical inference using an assumed autocovariance function. This new approach uses a SiZer type visualization to flag statistically significant differences between the data and a given null model. The power of this approach is demonstrated through some examples of time series of Internet traffic data. It is seen that such time series can have even more burstiness than is predicted by the popular, long- range dependent, Fractional Gaussian Noise model.
Contrast-induced Nephropathy

Contrast-induced nephropathy is an important source of hospital morbidity and mortality due to everincreasing use of iodinated contrast media in diagnostic imaging and interventional procedures. It is considered as the third most common cause of hospital-acquired acute renal failure, after surgery and hypotension. At present, no available treatment can reverse or ameliorate contrast induced nephropathy once it occurs, but prophylaxis is possible. This review will help clinicians to recognize predisposing risk factors, to institute appropriate prophylactic treatments, and to have knowledge of the clinical presentation and management of the condition.
Passive adsorption of neighbouring plant volatiles linked to associational susceptibility in a subarctic ecosystem

Abstract. Neighbouring plants may affect volatile compound emissions of a focal plant and confer associational resistance or susceptibility. Associational resistance has been reported as a result of adsorption of neighbouring plant volatile and semivolatile compounds on focal plant foliage in field experiments. However, these associational effects in a natural ecosystem remain largely unknown. The effects of the presence and density of Rhododendron tomentosum (Rt) understorey on the volatile profile and herbivore density of mountain birch, Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii (MB) was investigated in a subarctic forest site. The monoterpene β-myrcene, sesquiterpene aromadendrene and sesquiterpene alcohols, palustrol and ledol were recovered from the foliage of MB trees that had Rt growing in the understorey. The number of Rt shoots growing directly under the MB trees correlated positively with the rate of recovery of adhered compounds and negatively with total MB emissions. Palustrol and β-myrcene recovery from MB leaves showed the highest positive correlation with Rt density. Recovery of adhered compounds was higher at lower sampling temperatures. Herbivory was at very low levels both in control and Rt plots. The proportion of foliage infected by a gall mites (Acalitus spp.) was positively correlated with the recovery of the adhered ledol and palustrol from MB foliage. These results indicate that understorey plant volatiles, both sesquiterpene and highly volatile monoterpenes, may adhere onto and be subsequently re-released from MB foliage at low temperatures during the subarctic growing season. The Rt density also plays an important role in the adherence and re-release rates of neighboring plant volatiles and may induce a response in MB volatile emission. Presence of Rt volatiles on MB foliage may make them more susceptible to gall mite infestation suggesting that high Rt density in the subarctic ecosystem may confer associational susceptibility to herbivores on MB.
Is combined chemotherapy with cisplatin, etoposide and irinotecan the new standard treatment for patients with sensitive relapsed small cell lung cancer?

Treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) remains a significant challenge for the oncologists. Attempts to improve the results of first- and second-line treatment have all failed so far and no real progress has been made in last years, emphasizing the need for novel strategies of treatment. Patients with relapsed SCLC are usually classified into different categories, according to the time elapsed from the end of previous treatment: sensitive, if tumor progression is documented at least 3 months after the completion of initial treatment, or resistant if tumor progression occurs within 3 months. In sensitive patients, the same platinum-based treatment used as first-line can be re-administered, although there are no randomized trials definitely demonstrating the efficacy of this rechallenge strategy (1).
Effects of hydrodynamic film boundary conditions on bubble-wall impact

Nanoscale interfaces among liquids, solids and gases determine the macroscopic dynamics of a bubble (e.g. the terminal rise velocity and bouncing behavior). Here high-speed interferograms of liquid films created from rising and bouncing bubbles are compared against mobile and immobile interface models. Quantitative agreement of the thin film dynamics with lubrication theory is obtained. Bubbles in deionized water display mobile and immobile dynamics behavior: bubble–surface interactions suggest a mobile interface but its rise velocity is reduced by the immobile bubble interface at the rear.
The effects of practice schedules on the process of motor adaptation

Objectives: Walking is a well-practiced skill but requires adapting steps online to meet external constraints. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of types of practice schedules (i.e., blocked versus random practice) on the process of adapting and generalizing motor actions. Methods: To examine how practice schedules influence the process of adaptation and generalization during walking, 60 young, healthy adults walked to normal, slow, and fast metronome paces: 30 with blocked practice and 30 with random practice. Paces were interspersed with 2 carryover trials with no beat. Subsequent paces were a test of generalizing adaptation from the old to the new metronome pace. Results: The results showed that participants who received blocked practice acclimated more quickly to the metronome beat. Specifically, the blocked practice group altered their walking more quickly during the fast metronome pace. In contrast, the random practice group matched the metronome beat more quickly during the slow pace. Participants who received blocked practice demonstrated carryover effects during carryover trials after walking to the metronome. Conclusions: These findings extend an understanding of how the process of adaptation unfolds over time with the imposition of timing constraints.
A comparative study of family burden and quality of life between caregivers of schizophrenia and dementia patients

Background: In chronic mental diseases, as the disease progresses, it carries with tremendous burden both physically and psychologically on the family members, who are usually in the process of caregiving. The quality of life (QOL) of these caregivers is directly related to the subjective and objective burden of the illness. The objective of the study was to assess and compare the level of family burden and QOL between caregivers of Schizophrenia and Dementia patients as well as to find out the relationship between family burden and QOL. Methods: A total of 128 key caregivers (64 caregivers of each group) fulfilling the inclusion criteria purposely selected from the OPD of MHI, S. C. B. Medical College and Neuropsychiatric Consultation Centre, Cuttack. The impact of family burden on key caregivers of dementia and schizophrenia patients was assessed by using family burden interview schedule and the quality of life of key caregivers was assessed by using WHOQOL BREF scale. Data was analysed by using chi-squre, t test and pearson correlation. Data analysis was performed by SPSS. Results: Statistical significant differences (p 0.05) found in different domains of quality of life between these two groups of caregivers. There were significant negative correlations found between family burden and psychological, social relationships and environment domains of quality of life. Conclusions: Caregivers perceived subjective and objective burden ultimately affecting their QOL.
Effect of Uncertainty on Source Contributions from the Positive Matrix Factorization Model for a Source Apportionment Study

Uncertainty estimation plays an important role in source apportionment models such as the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model. In this study, synthetic datasets were generated and analyzed using PMF with specified uncertainties at different levels to investigate the impact of uncertainty inputs on the results of PMF model, as well as the benefits and risks of emphasizing on certain species. The results showed that: (1) uncertainties for the PMF model should be estimated based on characteristics of the dataset being analyzed; (2) emphasizing on correct tracers will improved model performance; and (3) emphasizing on unsuitable tracers may lead to disruptive consequences that might not be captured by the Q metric. Tests were also performed on collected ambient PM_(2.5) samples and similar conclusions were drawn: emphasizing on correct tracers was shown to improve the separation of important source categories from mixed sources. When emphasizing on incorrect tracers, a counterfeit factor of Fe industrial source was extracted, which are inconsistent with field observations. Results from this study provide insights on how uncertainties should be estimated for the PMF model.
Speech Recognition Systems: A Comparative Review

Creating voice control for robots is very important and difficult task. Therefore, we consider different systems of speech recognition. We divided them into two main classes: (1) open-source and (2) close-source code. As close-source software the following were selected: Dragon Mobile SDK, Google Speech Recognition API, Siri, Yandex SpeechKit and Microsoft Speech API. While the following were selected as open-source software: CMU Sphinx, Kaldi, Julius, HTK, iAtros, RWTH ASR and Simon. The comparison mainly based on accuracy, API, performance, speed in real-time, response time and compatibility. the variety of comparison axes allow us to make detailed description of the differences and similarities, which in turn enabled us to adopt a careful decision to choose the appropriate system depending on our need.
Incremental Topological Sort and Cycle Detection in Õ ( m √ n ) Expected Total Time

In the incremental cycle detection problem edges are inserted to a directed graph (initially empty) and the algorithm has to report once a directed cycle is formed in the graph. A closely related problem to the incremental cycle detection is that of the incremental topological sort problem, in which edges are inserted to an acyclic graph and the algorithm has to maintain a valid topological sort on the vertices at all times. Both incremental cycle detection and incremental topological sort have a long history. The state of the art is a recent breakthrough of Bender, Fineman, Gilbert and Tarjan [TALG 2016], with two different algorithms with respective total update times of Õ(n) and O(m ·min{m, n}). The two algorithms work for both incremental cycle detection and incremental topological sort. In this paper we introduce a novel technique that allows us to improve upon the state of the art for a wide range of graph sparsity. Our algorithms has a total expected update time of Õ(m √ n) for both the incremental cycle detection and the topological sort problems.
The age and subjective well-being paradox revisited:A multidimensional perspective

This study re-examines the much-discussed paradox that although aging is associated with declines in many life domains, overall subjective well-being does not appear to decline sharply with age. We use data from two waves of the Norwegian NorLAG study (age 40-85, n=3,750) and examine age differences in change in well-being outcomes (life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, and depression) and factors that may account for age variations in such change. Outcomes show stability well into older age, but negative changes in advanced age, cross-sectionally or longitudinally. Life satisfaction and negative affect are adversely related to older age longitudinally, whereas positive affect and depression are adversely related to older age in the cross-section. Results are similar for men and women. Loss of health and partner are the main causes of declining well-being in older age. Findings suggest qualifications to the “well-being paradox”, e.g.: only some dimensions of SWB remain stable, while others decline; across dimensions SWB change is more negative in old-old than in young-old age.
The Role of PGC-1 α in Adipocyte Differentiation and Fat Mobilization

Calorie Restriction (CR) without malnutrition extends mean and maximal lifespan in multiple species, although the mechanism is unknown. CR has a dramatic effect on adipose tissue morphology, gene expression and energy metabolism. The concept of adipose tissue as an endocrine organ has come into focus recently, raising the possibility that the whole-body beneficial effects of CR are initiated in adipose tissue. Transcription co-activator PGC-1α is a key regulator of energy metabolism. CR influences components of the PGC-1α pathway, resulting in PGC-1α activation in adipose tissue. We set out to determine whether PGC-1α plays a role in the regulation of adipocyte function. Here we show the effect of manipulation of PGC-1α activity on two parameters of adipocyte function; differentiation and fat mobilization. First, we show that pharmacological inhibition of PGC-1α pathway accelerates differentiation, and activation of PGC-1α pathway impairs differentiation. Second, pharmacological activation of PGC-1α in mature adipocytes increases fat mobilization. Third, genetically increased levels of PGC-1α also inhibit differentiation and fat storage. This study demonstrates that PGC-1α plays a role in the processes of differentiation and fat mobilization in cultured adipocytes. These data are consistent with involvement of PGC-1α in the mechanism of adipose remodeling induced by CR.
A Prototype for Human Computer Interactraction Using Myoelectric Interface

To achieve highly dexterous manoeuvre with many degrees of freedom is of significant importance to perform normal hand-like movements. We present a powerful tool, Myoelectric Interface for Computer and Human Interaction (MIRCHI), which can be used in prosthesis, physiotherapy and Gaming technology. MIRCHI is useful for people undergoing upper limb prosthesis. Unlike most of the exiting prosthesis tools which are dynamic subjector task-specific, the proposed system takes input from the muscle of the subject using surface electromyography sensors and generates corresponding movements with the aid of some predefined mapping functions. We have tested different movements from various subjects. Results show that the subject is able to make custom movements with lot of ease. The entire system is developed in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and OpenGL is used for GUI.
Association of ABCB 1 polymorphisms with osteonecrosis of the femoral head risk

Objectives: The study was designed to examine the relationship between osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) risk and 1236 C>T (rs1128503) and 3435 C>T (rs1045642) polymorphisms of ATP-binding cassette sub-family B member 1 (ABCB1) gene. Methods: 120 healthy controls were frequency-matched with 100 ONFH patients by age and gender. Genotypes in 1236 C>T and 3435 C>T polymorphisms of ABCB1 gene were detected in both groups by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) calculated by the chi-squared text were utilized to analyze the relationship between ABCB1 polymorphisms and the ONFH susceptibility. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) was checked by the χ2 text in the control group. Results: The genotypes distributions of the controls in the two polymorphisms were both consistent with HWE. There was no significant relevance between 1236 C>T polymorphism and ONFH risk (P>0.05). However, TT genotype in ABCB1 3435 C>T polymorphism remarkably decreased the risk of ONFH (OR=0.417, 95% CI=0.185-0.939) and T allele might be a protective factor for ONFH (OR=0.678, 95% CI=0.465-0.989). Based on haplotype analysis, T-C in 1236 C>T and 3435 C>T polymorphisms was 2.253 times risk for the development of ONFH compared with C-C haplotype (OR=2.253, 95% CI=1.063-4.773). Conclusions: The TT genotype and T allele of ABCB1 3435 C>T polymorphism might be the protective factors for ONFH. Further study with well-designed is needed in the future.
Ground-Level NO2 in Urban Beijing: Trends, Distribution, and Effects of Emission Reduction Measures

The characteristic of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations, including the long-term trends, spatial distribution, and effects of emission reduction measures-particularly those related to traffic management-were analyzed in Beijing by multimethods. The annual mean concentration of NO2 in Beijing decreased significantly from 71.0 µg m–3 in 2000 to 49.0 µg m–3 in 2008 while it fluctuated between 49.0 and 58.0 µg m–3 and decreased slightly from 2008 to 2015. Unfavorable diffusion conditions could increase NO2 concentrations while emission reduction measures especially the reduced vehicle NOx emissions could decrease NO2 concentrations significantly. The observed mean concentration of NO2 was 54.47 ± 7.71 µg m–3 from 2013 to 2015, while it changed to 94.62 ± 7.99 µg m–3 for 149 heavily polluted days. The NO2 concentration was lower in the northern and western regions and higher in the urban and southern areas in Beijing. After the implementation of air quality assurance measures (particularly traffic management) during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit (APEC, 1–12 November, 2014) and the Parade on the 70th Victory Memorial Day for the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (PARADE, 20 August–3 September, 2015), the mean NO2 concentrations during the APEC summit and PARADE decreased 46.2% and 39.5% respectively compared with those before and after these major activities while diurnal NO2 peaks decreased 24.5%–85.3% and 4.1%–70.8%, respectively during the APEC summit and PARADE period. To decrease NO2 concentrations, a high level of commitment must be given to promote coordinated regional air pollution prevention and control mechanisms in Beijing and its surrounding areas.
Emotional Speech Classifier Systems: For Sensitive Assistance to support Disabled Individuals

This paper provides the classiﬁcation of emotionally annotated speech of mentally impaired people. The main problem encoun-tered in the classiﬁcation task is the class-imbalance. This imbalance is due to the availability of large number of speech samples for the neutral speech compared to other emotional speech. Different sampling methodologies are explored at the back-end to handle this class-imbalance problem. Mel-frequency cepstral coefﬁcients (MFCCs) features are considered at the front-end, deep neural networks (DNNs) and gradient boosted decision trees (GBDT) are investigated at the back-end as classiﬁers. The experimental results obtained from the EmotAsS dataset have shown higher classiﬁcation accuracy and Unweighted Average Recall (UAR) scores over the baseline system.
The swelling behaviour of perfluorinated ionomer membranes in ethanol / water mixtures

The microscopic and bulk swelling of “Nafion ” perfluorinated ionomer membranes in mixtures of ethanol and water was studied using small angle X-ray diffraction and optical microscopy. The microscopic swelling decreased with increasing ethanol content, in contrast to the bulk swelling which increased dramatically, reaching a maximum in a mixture containing 75% ethanol and 25% water. Uniaxially oriented membranes swollen with such an optimal mixture were found to relax back to an almost isotropic state, which could not be achieved by using water alone. The conclusion is that the ethanol plasticises the fluorocarbon matrix in Nafion, allowing the ionic material to be redistributed into smaller, more numerous clusters than in membranes swollen with water alone. q 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
A NOVEL DENOISING TECHNIQUE FOR MIXED NOISE REMOVAL FROM GRAYSCALE AND COLOR IMAGES

The real-time images acquired from cameras, CCTV, medical image scanners like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computerized Tomography (CT), Ultrasound (US) and X-ray etc., are often corrupted by noise. This noise may be a mixture of two or more noise types. In recent years, researchers concentrate on developing a denoising filter to suppress the mixed noises to improve the quality of the image. A novel algorithm that uses absolute difference, mean and median for the removal of mixed noise in image has been proposed in this article. The proposed filter is tested with the images induced by two types of noise mixed (Salt and Pepper and Gaussian noise) and three types of noise mixed (Gaussian, Salt and Pepper and Speckle noise) images. The performance of the proposed algorithm is compared with existing Fuzzy Based Filter (FBF), and Median Weiner Bilateral Filter (MWBF) algorithms. The test images used in this research work are Lena image, Iris eye images and medical images in grayscale Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format and also with the color images in four different image formats with mixed noise level ranging from 0.01 to 0.10. The experimented results show that the proposed algorithm yields better performance than the algorithms mentioned above. Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Mean Square Error (MSE) are the metrics used in this comparative analysis.