Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
(The Feeling of) Meaning-as-Information

The desire for meaning is recognized as a central human motive. Yet, knowing that people want meaning does not explain its function. What adaptive problem does this experience solve? Drawing on the feelings-as-information hypothesis, we propose that the feeling of meaning provides information about the presence of reliable patterns and coherence in the environment, information that is not provided by affect. We review research demonstrating that manipulations of stimulus coherence influence subjective reports of meaning in life but not affect. We demonstrate that manipulations that foster an associative mindset enhance meaning. The meaning-as-information perspective embeds meaning in a network of foundational functions including associative learning, perception, cognition, and neural processing. This approach challenges assumptions about meaning, including its motivational appeal, the roles of expectancies and novelty in this experience, and the notion that meaning is inherently constructed. Implications for constructed meaning and existential meanings are discussed.
QRP06-3: On Dimensioning Asymmetric Access Links

Asymmetric forward and reverse link bandwidths in access networks are characteristic of many access technologies and commonly seen in Internet Access service offerings. For many existing and emerging Internet-based applications, TCP is the predominant transport-layer protocol and its performance is critical to the usability of many of these applications. Thus, the ability of many Internet access service providers to control the bandwidth asymmetries seen by TCP flows- whose throughputs can be degraded by such asymmetry-presents the problem of how asymmetry should be controlled to ensure optimal TCP performance. Through the formulation of an optimization problem and the generation of a series of simulation results, guidelines for dimensioning access links are developed and insights into the efficiency of TCP in asymmetric access networks are obtained.
QRP07-6: On Inferring Network Impact Factors by Decomposition of Mixed Distribution

An end-to-end round trip time (RTT) is one of the most important communication characteristics for Internet applications. From the viewpoint of network operators, RTT may also become one of the important metrics to understand the network conditions. For this case, we should know how a factor such as network incident influences RTTs. It is obvious that two or more factors may interfere in observed delay characteristics, because packet transmission delays in the Internet are strongly dependent on the time-variant condition of the network. From this reason we previously proposed a modeling method by using mixed distribution which enables to express delay characteristic more accurately where two or more factors which affect network delays exist together. However, this is not clear that how the factors affect the results of measured RTTs, and no investigations have been shown to infer the network behavior based on modeling results. In this paper, we propose an estimation method of network behavior by decomposition of the mixed distribution. Furthermore, in experimental environment, we investigate the influence caused by each network impact factor independently. By applying the proposed method, we also presume the events that occur in network from the measurements of RTTs by using the results of decomposition.
The Role of Awareness in Attitude Formation Through Evaluative Conditioning

This article provides a review of past and contemporary debates regarding the role of awareness in attitude formation through evaluative conditioning (EC), that is, by repeatedly pairing a stimulus with other stimuli of positive or negative valence. Because EC is considered the most prototypical method to form and change the network of evaluative associations in memory, the role of awareness in this effect is critical to the question of whether attitudes may be formed and changed through dual processes. We analyze the reasons why there has been so much discussion and disagreement regarding the role of awareness, review past and contemporary methodologies and their limitations, discuss the role of mental processes and conditioning procedures, and identify promising directions for future research in this area.
Immunology of the Lung in HIV-Infected Individuals

Among organ systems, the respiratory system is unique in its constant exposure to potential pathogens of impressive variety. Establishment of infection depends not only on exposure to a given organism, but also on that organism's ability to overcome the host's immune defenses. Consequently, host defenses of the lung must be efficient in their containment of potential pathogens. The frequency and variety of pulmonary infections encountered in HIV-infected individuals demonstrates that this containment ability is impaired. In addition to an expanding understanding of impairments in systemic immunity, a considerable body of information is accumulating concerning pulmonary immune mechanisms in HIV-infected individuals. Given the limitations of existing anti-retroviral agents, and the continuing difficulties in development of vaccines effective against HIV, attention is shifting towards identification of host defense impairments in HIV-infected individuals. Once these impairments have been identified, novel strategies to correct these defects may combat the pulmonary infections so common in HIV-infected individuals. Several mechanisms may be postulated to explain how HIV infection impairs pulmonary host defenses. HIV can infect and kill cells directed against infectious pathogens, reducing the numbers of cells that are available to participate in host defense. For example, the sequence of pulmonary infections occurring in HIV-infected individuals parallels the progressive depletion of CD4+ lymphocytes caused by HIV infection. Bacterial pneumonia and tuberculosis occur early in the course of HIV infection, while Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia occurs later. Other mechanisms include the possibility that HIV infection, while allowing continued cell viability, may impair the metabolic or secretory functions of effector cells. Conversely, the HIV-infected cell might elaborate increased amounts of immunosuppressive products that inhibit the functions of neighboring effector cells, or that interfere with the capacity of circulating lymphocytes, monocytes or neutrophils to migrate into the lungs. Finally, co-infection by a second pathogen, such as cytomegalovirus, might contribute to a breakdown in the host defense cascade. In order for an infectious pathogen to reach the alveolus, it must bypass the host defenses of the nasopharynx, the larynx, and the conducting air-
Beyond Content of Conversation

Social interaction is pivotal to the formation of social relationships and groups. Much is known about the importance of interaction content (e.g., the transfer of information). The present review concentrates on the influence of the act of conversing on the emergence of a sense of solidarity, more or less independently of the content. Micro-characteristics of the conversation (e.g., brief silences, smooth turn-taking) can profoundly influence the emergence and the regulation of relationships and of solidarity. We suggest that this might be because the form of a conversation is experienced as an expression of the social structures within the group. Because of its dynamic nature, moreover, the form of conversation provides group members with a continuous gauge of the group’s structural features (e.g., its hierarchy, social norms, and shared reality). Therefore, minor changes in the form and flow of group conversation can have considerable consequences for the regulation of social structure.
The Narcissism Spectrum Model: A Synthetic View of Narcissistic Personality

The narcissism spectrum model synthesizes extensive personality, social–psychological, and clinical evidence, building on existing knowledge about narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability to reveal a view of narcissism that respects its clinical origins, embraces the diversity and complexity of its expression, and reflects extensive scientific evidence about the continuity between normal and abnormal personality expression. Critically, the proposed model addresses three key, inter-related problems that have plagued narcissism scholarship for more than a century. These problems can be summarized as follows: (a) What are the key features of narcissism? (b) How are they organized and related to each other? and (c) Why are they organized that way, that is, what accounts for their relationships? By conceptualizing narcissistic traits as manifested in transactional processes between individuals and their social environments, the model enables integration of existing theories of narcissism and thus provides a compelling perspective for future examination of narcissism and its developmental pathways.
Transesophageal Echocardiography and Noncardiac Surgery

The use of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) for monitoring during cardiac and noncardiac surgery has increased exponentially over the past few decades. TEE has evolved from a diagnostic tool to a monitoring device and a procedural adjunct. The close proximity of the TEE transducer to the heart generates high-quality images of the intracardiac structures and their spatial orientation. The use of TEE in noncardiac and critical care settings is not well studied, and the evidence of the benefits of its use in these settings is lacking. Despite the widespread availability of TEE equipment in US hospitals, less than 30% of anesthesiologists are formally trained in the use of perioperative TEE. In this review, the safety and indications of TEE are reviewed and detailed analysis of the best available evidence in this regard is presented. Landmark trials evaluating the use of TEE and its therapeutic impact in noncardiac surgical setting are critically reviewed. This article details recommendations to familiarize anesthesiologists with TEE technology to exploit it to its fullest potential to achieve better patient monitoring standards and eventually improve outcome. Training of greater numbers of anesthesiologists in TEE is needed to increase awareness of the indications and contraindications. Until relatively inexpensive TEE equipment is available, the initial cost of equipment acquisition remains a significant prohibitive factor limiting its widespread use.
Piecing Together the Puzzle of Severe Malaria

There are some crucial gaps in our understanding of severe falciparum malaria, which are hindering the translation of new findings into new treatments. Severe malaria manifests as several overlapping syndromes with high mortality. Interaction of parasites with endothelial protein C receptors and high parasite biomass have recently been identified as key determinants of severe disease. However, gaps in our understanding of severe malaria might hinder translation of these findings into new therapies.
The Use of Ultrasound to Guide Interventions: From Bench to Bedside and Back Again

The ultrasound machine was originally devised as a diagnostic tool to help evaluate heart structure and function. With recent advances in ultrasound, including live 3D ultrasound, its potential to guide interventions within the heart has increasingly been recognized. Cardiologists have adapted this technology and have now published guidelines on the use of ultrasound to guide interventional procedures. Anesthesiologists have also used ultrasound with much success in cardiac operating rooms (ORs) to guide cannula placement and, to a limited extent, interventions. The focus of this article is a review of the author’s work on ultrasound and virtual reality—guided cardiac interventions, both in the research laboratory and in the OR.
Corneal gene therapy in veterinary medicine: a review.

The cornea is an ideal target for gene therapy due to its accessibility, immune-privileged nature, and ability to perform frequent non-invasive assessment. Gene therapy has been studied in animal models of ocular corneal graft rejection, neovascularization, wound healing, fibrosis, macular degeneration, optic neuropathy, and retinal degeneration. Medical research has widely used animal models in the pursuit of improved therapeutic strategies intended to aid people. In this review we summarize the vectors currently used in ocular gene therapy and the potential applications of emerging new strategies for use in veterinary medicine.
Adaptive fuzzy-neural-network control for a DSP-based permanent magnet linear synchronous motor servo drive

An adaptive fuzzy neural network (AFNN) control system is proposed to control the position of the mover of a field-oriented control permanent magnet linear synchronous motor (PMLSM) servo-drive system to track periodic reference trajectories in this paper. In the proposed AFNN control system, an FNN with accurate approximation capability is employed to approximate the unknown dynamics of the PMLSM, and a robust compensator is proposed to confront the inevitable approximation errors due to finite number of membership functions and disturbances including the friction force. The adaptive learning algorithm that can learn the parameters of the FNN on line is derived using Lyapunov stability theorem. Moreover, to relax the requirement for the value of lumped uncertainty in the robust compensator, which comprises a minimum approximation error, optimal parameter vectors, higher order terms in Taylor series and friction force, an adaptive lumped uncertainty estimation law is investigated. Furthermore, all the control algorithms are implemented in a TMS320C32 DSP-based control computer. The simulated and experimental results due to periodic reference trajectories show that the dynamic behaviors of the proposed control systems are robust with regard to uncertainties
Perioperative Fluid Management for Pulmonary Resection Surgery and Esophagectomy

Perioperative fluid management is of significant importance during pulmonary resection surgery and esophagectomy. Excessive fluid administration has been consistently shown as a risk factor for lung injury after thoracic procedures. Probable causes of this serious complication include fluid overload, lung lymphatics and pulmonary endothelial damage. Along with new insights regarding the Starling equation and the absence of a third space, current evidence supports a restrictive fluid regimen for patients undergoing pulmonary resection surgery and esophagectomy. Multiple minimally invasive hemodyamic monitoring devices, including pulse pressure/stroke volume variation, esophageal Doppler, and extravascular lung water measurement, were evaluated for optimizing perioperative fluid therapy. Further research regarding the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of acute lung injury after pulmonary resection and esophagectomy is required.
Epidemiologic Overview of Individuals with Upper-Limb Loss and Their Reported Research Priorities

More than 6,600 one-page surveys were sent to individuals throughout the country with upper-limb loss or absence. Of those surveys, 2,477 were returned, and demographic information was recorded. A more comprehensive seven-page survey was then sent to the respondents who agreed to participate. A total of 1,575 of these surveys were returned: 1,020 by body-powered users, 438 by electric users and 117 by bilateral users of prostheses. The results of the surveys indicate users of body-powered and electric prostheses identify surprisingly similar elements as necessary in the design of a better upper-limb prosthesis. These qualities include additional wrist movement, better control mechanisms that require less visual attention and the ability to make coordinated motions of two joints. Desired near-term improvements for body-powered prostheses include better cables and harness comfort, whereas those for electric prostheses include better gloving material, better batteries and charging units, and improved reliability for the hand and its electrodes. This article discusses the specific functions that various levels of upper-extremity amputees gain from their prostheses as well as the device features that aid or detract from their functions.
Perioperative Management of DORV

The diagnosis of double-outlet right ventricle (DORV) characterizes a complex heterogeneous group of congenital cardiac malformations for which multiple classification schemes have been used. A clear understanding of the anatomy is critical to understanding the physiologic consequences of the specific type of DORV. Perioperative considerations include the medical management of the patient during the preoperative period, anesthetic and surgical management, and postoperative care. Both anesthetic and surgical management strategies are very different depending on the type of DORV. Key principles for anesthetic management include balancing the systemic and pulmonary circulations, optimizing systemic cardiac output, and closely monitoring for impaired oxygen delivery to the tissues. Depending on the specific anatomy the patient is usually placed on a 1- or 2-ventricle pathway, and initial palliation may involve placement of a systemic arterial to pulmonary artery shunt or pulmonary artery banding. In some cases the child may undergo a complete repair during the first few months of life. Surgical outcomes, both short and long-term, are dependent on the type of DORV and surgical procedure done. These patients require long-term follow up and may present for surgical or catheter-based interventions as adults.
Data Aggregation Using Distributed Lossy Source Coding in Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, we study the application of distributed lossy source coding for data aggregation in cluster-based wireless sensor networks (WSNs). We consider a clustered lossy coding (CLC) problem, which aims to select a set of disjoint clusters to cover the whole network such that the total rate of encoded data generated by all clusters or nodes in the network is minimized, given the spatial correlation structure of the network and a couple of total and individual distortion constraints. To solve this problem, we first prove that the overall optimization problem can be decoupled into two independent optimization problems: an optimal clustering problem and an optimal distortion allocation problem. The first problem aims at constructing a clustered hierarchy to minimize the global network entropy without considering distortion allocation, while the second problem aims to optimally allocate a distortion to each sensor node under the given distortion constraints without considering node clustering. We then present a distributed optimal-compression clustering protocol to solve the first problem and use Lagrange multipliers to solve the second problem.
Fuzzy Control for Nonlinear Uncertain Electrohydraulic Active Suspensions With Input Constraint

This paper presents a Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) model-based fuzzy control design approach for electrohydraulic active vehicle suspensions considering nonlinear dynamics of the actuator, sprung mass variation, and constraints on the control input. The T-S fuzzy model is first applied to represent the nonlinear uncertain electrohydraulic suspension. Then, a fuzzy state feedback controller is designed for the obtained T-S fuzzy model with optimized H infin performance for ride comfort by using the parallel-distributed compensation (PDC) scheme. The sufficient conditions for the existence of such a controller are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Numerical simulations on a full-car suspension model are performed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The obtained results show that the designed controller can achieve good suspension performance despite the existence of nonlinear actuator dynamics, sprung mass variation, and control input constraints.
Foreword to the Special Section on Granular Computing

The papers in this special section focus on granular computing, defined by Lotfi A. Zadeh as "information granulation involves partitioning a class of objects (points) into granules, with a granule being a clump of objects (points) which are drawn together by indistinguishability, similarity, or functionality. "
Osteoporosis: A Pharmacotherapy Update

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was the gold standard in prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. However, with new data that demonstrate an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, venous thromboembolic disease, and stroke, HRT is no longer first-line therapy for most postmenopausal women. The bisphosphonates and raloxifene are antiresorptive agents that have been proven to increase bone mineral density and decrease fractures. These agents are considered to be the therapy of choice in prevention and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis. New dosing regimens for the bisphosphonates may improve adherence. The other dramatic change to the pharmacotherapy of osteoporosis is the approval of an agent that stimulates bone formation. Parathyroid hormone has the potential to significantly alter the current treatment approach. In addition, this article reviews the role of calcitonin and ipriflavone combination therapy and discusses data on investigational agents including ibandronate, zoledronic acid, vitamin K, and strontium ranelate.
Antenna Selection for MIMO OFDM Systems with Channel Estimation Error

We study space-time-frequency coded multiple- input-multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexed (OFDM) systems employing antenna selection at the receiver where optimal training has been utilized for performing linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) based channel estimation. The maximum signal power antenna selection rule is introduced. By upper bounding the pairwise error probability (PEP) expression, we show that the system with channel estimation error (CEE) still achieves full diversity. The loss in coding gain (LCG) and the loss in performance (LP) expressions are derived. It is shown that while equal power training performs about 3 dB worse than the perfect CSI case, the optimal power training performs between the two depending on the number of subcarriers assigned per OFDM word. Simulation results are presented to validate our analysis.
New emerging applications of molgramostim in acute myeloid leukaemia

Background: Human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) stimulates the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitor cells in the myeloid lineage, and plays a key role in host defence and the inflammatory process. The main schedules adopted for clinical applications of GM-CSF in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) were post-chemotherapy, in order to shorten the duration of neutropenia, and as a mobilising agent to induce release of progenitor cells from bone marrow into circulation. Methods: Based on the variety of biologic effects being attributed to GM-CSF, additional clinical uses for GM-CSF have been under investigation. Concurrent administration to chemotherapy has been used to recruit blast cells into active cell cycle phases, and to increase their sensitivity to cell cycle-dependent cytotoxic drugs. Results/conclusion: Exposure to GM-CSF also has recently been shown to enhance cellular immunity and indirectly stimulate anti-tumour immunity. On the other hand, GM-CSF can directly enhance immunogenicity of tumours.