Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Active learning strategy and hybrid training for infarct segmentation on diffusion MRI with a U-shaped network

Abstract. Automatic and reliable stroke lesion segmentation from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is critical for patient care. Methods using neural networks have been developed, but the rate of false positives limits their use in clinical practice. A training strategy applied to three-dimensional deconvolutional neural networks for stroke lesion segmentation on diffusion MRI was proposed. Infarcts were segmented by experts on diffusion MRI for 929 patients. We divided each database as follows: 60% for a training set, 20% for validation, and 20% for testing. Our hypothesis was a two-phase hybrid learning scheme, in which the network was first trained with whole MRI (regular phase) and then, in a second phase (hybrid phase), alternately with whole MRI and patches. Patches were actively selected from the discrepancy between expert and model segmentation at the beginning of each batch. On the test population, the performances after the regular and hybrid phases were compared. A statistically significant Dice improvement with hybrid training compared with regular training was demonstrated (p < 0.01). The mean Dice reached 0.711 ± 0.199. False positives were reduced by almost 30% with hybrid training (p < 0.01). Our hybrid training strategy empowered deep neural networks for more accurate infarct segmentations on diffusion MRI.
Exploring the Users Behavior Intention on Mobile Payment by Using TAM and IRT

The purpose of this study is to explore the willingness of consumers on using mobile payments through the Innovation Resistance Theory (IRT) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The research subjects weretheTaiwan mobile payment users, distribute surveys by using purposive sampling method from online. A total of 430 surveys were issued, 363 valid surveys were collected and achieving84.41% effective response rate. Collected data were analyzed through the confirmatory factor analysis, structure equation model and descriptive statistics. The results of this study are as follows: The model of user's behavior intention on mobile payment by using TAM and IRT has good compatibility; Innovation Resistance has a significant negative impact on perceptual usefulness and perceived ease of use; Perceptual usefulness and perceived ease of use has a positive impact on the behavior intention; Perceptual barriers can effectively influence innovation resistance. This study found that the. mobile payment users are negatively impacted on Innovation Resistance. The TAM is positively affecting the subsequent behavior intention, it can establish a brand image and increase consumer confidence in mobile payments.
Knowing What’s Coming: Unpredictable Motion Causes More Motion Sickness

Objective This study explores the role of anticipation in motion sickness. We compared three conditions varying in motion predictability and assessed the effect of anticipation on subsequent illness ratings using a within-subjects design. Background Anticipation is thought to play a role in motion sickness by reducing the discrepancy between sensed and expected sensory information. However, both the exact role and potential magnitude of anticipation on motion sickness are unknown. Method Participants (N = 17) were exposed to three 15-min conditions consisting of repeated fore-aft motion on a sled on a 40-m rail (1) at constant intervals and consistent motion direction, (2) at constant intervals but varied motion direction, and (3) at varied intervals but consistent motion direction. Conditions were otherwise identical in motion intensity and displacement, as they were composed of the same repetitions of identical blocks of motion. Illness ratings were recorded at 1-min intervals using an 11-point motion sickness scale. Results Average illness ratings after exposure were significantly lower for the predictable condition, compared with both the directionally unpredictable condition and the temporally unpredictable condition. Conclusion Unpredictable motion is significantly more provocative compared with predictable motion. Findings suggest motion sickness results from a discrepancy between sensed and expected motion, rather than from unpreparedness to motion. Application This study underlines the importance of an individual’s anticipation to motion in motion sickness. Furthermore, this knowledge could be used in domains such as that of autonomous vehicles to reduce carsickness.
Training medical students and residents in the use of electronic health records: a systematic review of the literature

OBJECTIVE Our objectives were to identify educational interventions designed to equip medical students or residents with knowledge or skills related to various uses of electronic health records (EHRs), summarize and synthesize the results of formal evaluations of these initiatives, and compare the aims of these initiatives with the prescribed EHR-specific competencies for undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. MATERIALS AND METHODS We conducted a systematic review of the literature following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses) guidelines. We searched for English-language, peer-reviewed studies across 6 databases using a combination of Medical Subject Headings and keywords. We summarized the quantitative and qualitative results of included studies and rated studies according to the Best Evidence in Medical Education system. RESULTS Our search yielded 619 citations, of which 11 studies were included. Seven studies involved medical students, 3 studies involved residents, and 1 study involved both groups. All interventions used a practical component involving entering information into a simulated or prototypical EHR. None of the interventions involved extracting, aggregating, or visualizing clinical data for panels of patients or specific populations. DISCUSSION This review reveals few high-quality initiatives focused on training learners to engage with EHRs for both individual patient care and population health improvement. In comparing these interventions with the broad set of electronic records competencies expected of matriculating physicians, critical gaps in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education remain. CONCLUSIONS With the increasing adoption of EHRs and rise of competency-based medical education, educators should address the gaps in the training of future physicians to better prepare them to provide high quality care for their patients and communities.
L-type voltage-gated Ca2+ channel CaV1.2 regulates chondrogenesis during limb development

Significance Membrane potential is the difference in electric potential between the inside and outside of a cell. Cells can alter their membrane potential through modulating ion channels and pumps. The role of membrane potential has been well studied in a variety of settings, including as a mechanism of coding and transmitting information in neurons. However, far less is known about the role of regulated membrane potential in other contexts, such as in cell fate decisions during embryonic morphogenesis. We show a critical role for membrane depolarization in triggering chondrogenesis during limb development, mediated through the opening of a voltage-gated Ca2+ channel, CaV1.2, which in turn activates expression of downstream genes, expanding our knowledge of the role bioelectric signals play in development. All cells, including nonexcitable cells, maintain a discrete transmembrane potential (Vmem), and have the capacity to modulate Vmem and respond to their own and neighbors’ changes in Vmem. Spatiotemporal variations have been described in developing embryonic tissues and in some cases have been implicated in influencing developmental processes. Yet, how such changes in Vmem are converted into intracellular inputs that in turn regulate developmental gene expression and coordinate patterned tissue formation, has remained elusive. Here we document that the Vmem of limb mesenchyme switches from a hyperpolarized to depolarized state during early chondrocyte differentiation. This change in Vmem increases intracellular Ca2+ signaling through Ca2+ influx, via CaV1.2, 1 of L-type voltage-gated Ca2+ channels (VGCCs). We find that CaV1.2 activity is essential for chondrogenesis in the developing limbs. Pharmacological inhibition by an L-type VGCC specific blocker, or limb-specific deletion of CaV1.2, down-regulates expression of genes essential for chondrocyte differentiation, including Sox9, Col2a1, and Agc1, and thus disturbs proper cartilage formation. The Ca2+-dependent transcription factor NFATc1, which is a known major transducer of intracellular Ca2+ signaling, partly rescues Sox9 expression. These data reveal instructive roles of CaV1.2 in limb development, and more generally expand our understanding of how modulation of membrane potential is used as a mechanism of developmental regulation.
Self-reported hearing quality of life measures in pediatric cochlear implant recipients with bilateral input

Objective: Self-reported hearing quality of life (QoL) for pediatric cochlear implant (CI) recipients was examined, asking whether 1) children with CIs have similar QoL as those with less severe hearing loss (HL); 2) children with different bilateral CI (BCI) device configurations report different QoL; and 3) do audiological, demographic and spoken language factors affect hearing QoL? Design: One hundred four children (ages 7–11 years) using bimodal devices or BCIs participated. The Hearing Environments and Reflection of Quality of Life (HEAR-QL) questionnaire, receptive language and speech perception tests were administered. HEAR-QL scores of CI recipients were compared to scores of age-mates with normal hearing and mild to profound HL. Results: HEAR-QL scores for CI participants were similar to those of children with less severe HL and did not differ with device configuration. Emotion identification and word recognition in noise correlated significantly with HEAR-QL scores. Discussion: CI recipients reported that HL hinders social participation. Better understanding of speech in noise and emotional content was associated with fewer hearing-related difficulties on the HEAR-QL. Conclusions: Noisy situations encountered in educational settings should be addressed for children with HL. The link between perception of emotion and hearing-related QoL for CI recipients should be further examined.
Effect of Citric Acid on the Process of Hydration of Building Gypsum and Its Retarding Mechanism

Effect of citric acid on the setting and hardening of building gypsum and crystalline habit of dihydrate and relationship between pH value and retarding effect were analyzed. Retarding mechanism of citric acid was discussed from the standpoint of crystal growth by X-ray photo technology. The results obtained indicate that the addition of citric acid delays the hydration of building gypsum, correspondingly leading to heat evolution slowing down and reduction in degree of supersaturation in liquid phase and hydration degree at early stage. Due to the complexion between citric acid and Ca~(2+), the surface energy of embryo newly formed is greatly decreased, correspondingly the number of nuclei lessen, the growth rate of dihydrate is slow down and thereby the introduction period is prolonged, so the crystal have enough time and space to grow. At the same time, because of preferred adsorption of citric acid on [111] face, the growth of C axis is strongly inhibited, consequently leading to the transformation of dihydrate crystal from needle-like to short prismatic. Furthermore the higher the dosage of citric acid, the larger the dihydrate crystal is.
A simulation of the random and directed motion of dendritic cells in chemokine fields

Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most effective professional antigen-presenting cell. They ferry antigen from the extremities to T cells and are essential for the initiation of an adaptive immune response. Despite interest in how DCs respond to chemical stimuli, there have been few attempts to model DC migration. In this paper, we simulate the motility of DCs by modeling the generation of forces by filopodia and a force balance on the cell. The direction of fliopodial extension is coupled to differential occupancy of cognate chemokine receptors across the cell. Our model simulates chemokinesis and chemotaxis in a variety of chemical and mechanical environments. Simulated DCs undergoing chemokinesis were measured to have a speed of 5.1 ± 0.07 μm·min-1 and a persistence time of 3.2 ± 0.46 min, consistent with experiment. Cells undergoing chemotaxis exhibited a stronger chemotactic response when exposed to lower average chemokine concentrations, also consistent with experiment. We predicted that when placed in two opposing gradients, cells will cluster in a line, which we call the “line of equistimulation;” this clustering has also been observed. We calculated the effect of varying gradient steepness on the line of equistimulation, with steeper gradients resulting in tighter clustering. Moreover, gradients are found to be most potent when cells are in a gradient of chemokine whose mean concentration is close to the binding of the Kd to the receptor, and least potent when the mean concentration is 0.1Kd. Comparing our simulations to experiment, we can give a quantitative measure of the strength of certain chemokines relative to others. Assigning the signal of CCL19 binding CCR7 a baseline strength of 1, we found CCL21 binding CCR7 had a strength of 0.28, and CXCL12 binding CXCR4 had a strength of 0.30. These differences emerge despite both chemokines having virtually the same Kd, suggesting a mechanism of signal amplification in DCs requiring further study.
No Evidence of Plasmodium falciparum k13 Artemisinin Resistance-Conferring Mutations over a 24-Year Analysis in Coastal Kenya but a Near Complete Reversion to Chloroquine-Sensitive Parasites

Antimalarial drug resistance is a substantial impediment to malaria control. The spread of resistance has been described using genetic markers, which are important epidemiological tools. We carried out a temporal analysis of changes in allele frequencies of 12 drug resistance markers over 2 decades of changing antimalarial drug policy in Kenya. ABSTRACT Antimalarial drug resistance is a substantial impediment to malaria control. The spread of resistance has been described using genetic markers, which are important epidemiological tools. We carried out a temporal analysis of changes in allele frequencies of 12 drug resistance markers over 2 decades of changing antimalarial drug policy in Kenya. We did not detect any of the validated kelch 13 (k13) artemisinin resistance markers; nonetheless, a single k13 allele, K189T, was maintained at a stable high frequency (>10%) over time. There was a distinct shift from chloroquine-resistant transporter (crt)-76, multidrug-resistant gene 1 (mdr1)-86 and mdr1-1246 chloroquine (CQ) resistance alleles to a 99% prevalence of CQ-sensitive alleles in the population, following the withdrawal of CQ from routine use. In contrast, the dihydropteroate synthetase (dhps) double mutant (437G and 540E) associated with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) resistance was maintained at a high frequency (>75%), after a change from SP to artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs). The novel cysteine desulfurase (nfs) K65 allele, implicated in resistance to lumefantrine in a West African study, showed a gradual significant decline in allele frequency pre- and post-ACT introduction (from 38% to 20%), suggesting evidence of directional selection in Kenya, potentially not due to lumefantrine. The high frequency of CQ-sensitive parasites circulating in the population suggests that the reintroduction of CQ in combination therapy for the treatment of malaria can be considered in the future. However, the risk of a reemergence of CQ-resistant parasites circulating below detectable levels or being reintroduced from other regions remains.
Multiple‐Quantum‐Well Perovskites for High‐Performance Light‐Emitting Diodes

Light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) based on solution‐processed metal halide perovskites have shown great application potential in energy‐efficient lighting and displays. Multiple‐quantum‐well (MQW) perovskites simultaneously possess high photoluminescence quantum efficiency and good film morphology and stability, making it attractive for high‐performance perovskite LEDs. Here, merits of MQW perovskites and the progress in MQW perovskite LEDs are reviewed. Challenges and future directions of perovskite LEDs are also discussed.
Transcriptome-Wide Comparison of Stress Granules and P-Bodies Reveals that Translation Plays a Major Role in RNA Partitioning

The eukaryotic cytosol contains multiple RNP granules, including P-bodies and stress granules. Three different methods have been used to describe the transcriptome of stress granules or P-bodies, but how these methods compare and how RNA partitioning occurs between P-bodies and stress granules have not been addressed. Here, we compare the analysis of the stress granule transcriptome based on differential centrifugation with and without subsequent stress granule immunopurification. ABSTRACT The eukaryotic cytosol contains multiple RNP granules, including P-bodies and stress granules. Three different methods have been used to describe the transcriptome of stress granules or P-bodies, but how these methods compare and how RNA partitioning occurs between P-bodies and stress granules have not been addressed. Here, we compare the analysis of the stress granule transcriptome based on differential centrifugation with and without subsequent stress granule immunopurification. We find that while differential centrifugation alone gives a first approximation of the stress granule transcriptome, this methodology contains nonspecific transcripts that play a confounding role in the interpretation of results. We also immunopurify and compare the RNAs in stress granules and P-bodies under arsenite stress and compare those results to those for the P-body transcriptome described under nonstress conditions. We find that the P-body transcriptome is dominated by poorly translated mRNAs under nonstress conditions, but during arsenite stress, when translation is globally repressed, the P-body transcriptome is very similar to the stress granule transcriptome. This suggests that translation is a dominant factor in targeting mRNAs into both P-bodies and stress granules, and during stress, when most mRNAs are untranslated, the composition of P-bodies reflects this broader translation repression.
Identification of speechless intervals in audio tracks using convolutional neural networks

Audio description (AD) is an accessibility resource designed to improve access for blind or low vision individuals by describing images, narrating actions and visual elements, such as scene details, some aspects of the character (eg, age, gender, clothing), among others. However, in general, an AD is only generated in sections of the video that do not contain dialogue. This is done to prevent any overlap with the dialogue in the video, which may hinder the user's understanding rather than helping it. Thus, one of the first steps in the AD generation process is to identify the speechless intervals, which are candidates to receive AD. In this work, we present a solution for automatic identification of speechless intervals in digital videos using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). Our proposal is to automate this step in the AD generation process, reducing the time and effort involved for generating AD. Another alternative would be to integrate it into an automatic or semi-automatic audio description generation system. The results shows that, considering a minimum confidence level of 0.5 for the output of the classification model, the solution obtained a balanced average accuracy of 93% to identify speechless segments considering all the videos tested.
A Comparative Cross-layer Study on Racetrack Memories

Racetrack memory (RM), a new storage scheme in which information flows along a nanotrack, has been considered as a potential candidate for future high-density storage device instead of hard disk drive (HDD). The first RM technology, which was proposed in 2008 by IBM, relies on a train of opposite magnetic domains separated by domain walls (DWs), named DW-RM. After 10 years of intensive research, a variety of fundamental advancements has been achieved; unfortunately, no product has been available until now. With increasing effort and resources dedicated to the development of DW-RM, it is likely that new materials and mechanisms will soon be discovered for practical applications. However, new concepts might also be on the horizon. Recently, an alternative information carrier, magnetic skyrmion, which was experimentally discovered in 2009, has been regarded as a promising replacement of DW for RM, named skyrmion-based RM (SK-RM). Intensive effort has been involved and amazing advances have been made in observing, writing, manipulating, and deleting individual skyrmions. So, what is the relationship between DW and skyrmion? What are the key differences between DW and skyrmion, or between DW-RM and SK-RM? What benefits could SK-RM bring and what challenges need to be addressed before application? In this review article, we intend to answer these questions through a comparative cross-layer study between DW-RM and SK-RM. This work will provide guidelines, especially for circuit and architecture researchers on RM.
HESSLE-FREE

As computing platforms increasingly embrace heterogeneity, runtime resource managers need to efficiently, dynamically, and robustly manage shared resources (e.g., cores, power budgets, memory bandwidth). To address the complexities in heterogeneous systems, state-of-the-art techniques that use heuristics or machine learning have been proposed. On the other hand, conventional control theory can be used for formal guarantees, but may face unmanageable complexity for modeling system dynamics of complex heterogeneous systems. We address this challenge through HESSLE-FREE (Heterogeneous Systems Leveraging Fuzzy Control for Runtime Resource Management): an approach leveraging fuzzy control theory that combines the strengths of classical control theory together with heuristics to form a light-weight, agile, and efficient runtime resource manager for heterogeneous systems. We demonstrate the efficacy of HESSLE-FREE executing on a NVIDIA Jetson TX2 platform (containing a heterogeneous multi-processor with a GPU) to show that HESSLE-FREE: 1) provides opportunity for optimization in the controller and stability analysis to enhance the confidence in the reliability of the system; 2) coordinates heterogeneous compute units to achieve desired objectives (e.g., QoS, optimal power references, FPS) efficiently and with lower complexity, and 3) eases the burden of system specification.