Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characteristics and pathogenesis of facial nerve stimulation after cochlear implant surgeries: A single‐centre retrospective analysis from 1151 patients

Incidence of facial nerve stimulation (FNS) was 2.8% (32 out of 1151) and higher in ears with cochlear anomaly (6.4%, 25 out of 391) than without cochlear anomaly (0.9%, 7 out of 760). FNS occurred at various current levels and locations of electrodes by different mechanisms related to incomplete insertion of electrodes, cochleo-facial dehiscence, and types of cochlear anomalies. FNS at apical electrodes related to cochleo-facial dehiscence with low current levels, and FNS at basal electrodes with high current levels and partial insertion of electrodes. FNS at most electrodes with high current levels was the most common type in patients with a common cavity or narrowing of the bony cochlear nerve canal. Understanding the mechanisms of FNS might provide insight for preventing FNS when performing CI surgeries. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Stimulation of Vibrio vulnificus Pyruvate Kinase in the Presence of Glucose to Cope With H2O2 Stress Generated by Its Competitors

The bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP):carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) regulates a variety of cellular processes in addition to catalyzing the coupled transport and phosphorylation of carbohydrates. We recently reported that, in the presence of glucose, HPr of the PTS is dephosphorylated and interacts with pyruvate kinase A (PykA) catalyzing the conversion of PEP to pyruvate in Vibrio vulnificus. Here, we show that this interaction enables V. vulnificus to survive H2O2 stress by increasing pyruvate production. A pykA deletion mutant was more susceptible to H2O2 stress than wild-type V. vulnificus without any decrease in the expression level of catalase, and this sensitivity was rescued by the addition of pyruvate. The H2O2 sensitivity difference between wild-type and pykA mutant strains becomes more apparent in the presence of glucose. Fungi isolated from the natural habitat of V. vulnificus retarded the growth of the pykA mutant more severely than the wild-type strain in the presence of glucose by glucose oxidase-dependent generation of H2O2. These data suggest that V. vulnificus has evolved to resist the killing action of its fungal competitors by increasing pyruvate production in the presence of glucose.
A Self-Adjusting Destage Algorithm with High-Low Water Mark in Cached RAID5

The High-Low Water Mark destage (HLWM) algorithm is widely used to enable cached RAID5 to flush dirty data from its write cache to disks due to the simplicity of its operations. It starts and stops a destaging process based on the two thresholds that are configured at the initialization time with the best knowledge of its underlying storage performance capability and its workload pattern which includes traffic intensity, access patterns, etc. However, each time the current workload varies from the original, the thresholds need to be re-configured with the changed workload. This paper proposes an efficient destage algorithm which automatically re-configures its initial thresholds according to the changed traffic intensity and access patterns, called adaptive thresholding. The core of adaptive thresholding is to define the two thresholds as the multiplication of the referenced increasing and decreasing rates of the write cache occupancy level and the time required to fill and empty the write cache. We implement the proposed algorithm upon an actual RAID system and then verify the ability of the auto-reconfiguration with synthetic workloads having a different level of traffic intensity and access patterns. Performance evaluations under well-known traced workloads reveal that the proposed algorithm reduces disk IO traffic by about 12% with a 6% increase in the overwrite ratio compared with the HLWM algorithm. key words: delayed write, high-low water mark, destage algorithm, write cache, RAID5
Regional lung ventilation and perfusion by electrical impedance tomography compared to single-photon emission computed tomography

Objective: Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a noninvasive imaging modality that allows real-time monitoring of regional lung ventilation () in intensive care patients at bedside. However, for improved guidance of ventilation therapy it would be beneficial to obtain regional ventilation-to-perfusion ratio () by EIT. Approach: In order to further explore the feasibility, we first evaluate a model-based approach, based on semi-negative matrix factorization and a gamma-variate model, to extract regional lung perfusion () from EIT measurements. Subsequently, a combined validation of both and measured by EIT against single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is performed on data acquired as part of a porcine animal trial. Four pigs were ventilated at two different levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP 0 and 15 cm H2O, respectively) in randomized order. Repeated injections of an EIT contrast agent (NaCl 10%) and simultaneous SPECT measurements of (81mKr gas) and (99mTc-labeled albumin) were performed. Main results: Both and from EIT and SPECT were compared by correlation analysis. Very strong (r2 = 0.94 to 0.95) correlations were found for and in the dorsal-ventral direction at both PEEP levels. Moderate (r2 = 0.36 to 0.46) and moderate to strong (r2 = 0.61 to 0.82) correlations resulted for and in the right–left direction, respectively. Significance: The results of combined validation indicate that monitoring of and by EIT is possible. However, care should be taken when trying to quantify by EIT, as imaging artefacts and model bias may void necessary spatial matching.
An Indexing for Quadratic Residues Modulo N and a Non-uniform Efficient Decoding Algorithm

An indexing of a finite set $S$ is a bijection $D : \{1,. ,|S|\} \rightarrow S$. We present an indexing for the set of quadratic residues modulo $N$ that is decodable in polynomial time on the size of $N$, given the factorization of $N$. We derive two information theoretical consequences from this indexing. The first consequence is a procedure for sampling quadratic residues modulo $N$, when the factorization of $N$ is known, that runs in strict polynomial time and requires the theoretical minimum amount of random bits (i.e., $\log{(\phi(N)/2^r)}$ bits, where $\phi(N)$ is Euler's totient function and $r$ is the number of distinct prime factors of $N$). A previously known procedure for this same problem runs in expected (not strict) polynomial time and requires more random bits. The second consequence is a tighter upper bound for the time-bounded Kolmogorov Complexity of strings consisting of multiple quadratic residues modulo $N$.
Large-Scale Food Fortification and Biofortification in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of Programs, Trends, Challenges, and Evidence Gaps

Background: Food fortification and biofortification are well-established strategies to address micronutrient deficiencies in vulnerable populations. However, the effectiveness of fortification programs is not only determined by the biological efficacy of the fortified foods but also by effective and sustainable implementation, which requires continual monitoring, quality assurance and control, and corrective measures to ensure high compliance. Objective: To provide an overview of efficacy, effectiveness, economics of food fortification and biofortification, and status of and challenges faced by large-scale food fortification programs in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Methods: A literature review of PubMed publications in English from 2000 to 2017, as well as gray literature, targeting nongovernmental organizations whose work focuses on this topic, complemented by national reports and a “snowball” process of citation searching. The article describes remaining technical challenges, barriers, and evidence gap and prioritizes recommendations and next steps to further accelerate progress and potential of impact. Results: The review identifies and highlights essential components of successful programs. It also points out issues that determine poor program performance, including lack of adequate monitoring and enforcement and poor compliance with standards by industry. Conclusions: In the last 17 years, large-scale food fortification initiatives have been reaching increasingly larger segments of populations in LMIC. Large-scale food fortification and biofortification should be part of other nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive efforts to prevent and control micronutrient deficiencies. There are remaining technical and food system challenges, especially in relation to improving coverage and quality of delivery and measuring progress of national programs.
A Fluid Dynamics Approach to Planetesimal Formation

The core accretion model—the most widely accepted theory of solar system formation—posits that planets begins their life cycles as microscopic dust particles orbiting young star through a gaseous disk. According to this theory, as the dust particles move through the gas, they collide and adhere, eventually forming kilometer-sized bodies known as planetesimals [Lissauer (1993)]. However, there are many processes in planet formation, such as overcoming the onemeter hurdle and the processes of planetary migration, that this hypothesis does not explain. As such, astrophysicists have developed several alternate hypotheses for planet formation, most notably the gravitational instability and streaming instability hypotheses [Youdin and Goodman (2005)]. In this paper, I examine a simple model of protoplanetary disks, treating an early solar system as an inviscid gas disk with azimuthal symmetry. Dust within the disk is phase-locked with the gas, and density (ρ) and temperature (T ) within the disk obey a power laws with respect to the distance from the central star (r). I assume a background steady state of zero radial velocity and a sub-Keplerian angular velocity. I then apply linear perturbation analysis to this system’s non-dimensionalized equations for conservation of fluid mass and momentum. I find that perturbations to radial velocity exhibit oscillatory behavior; and for T ∝ r−1, these oscillations are a Bessel function in 2ωr 3/2 3 where ω is the perturbation frequency. The order of the Bessel function is determined by α, the ratio of the Keplerian velocity to the gas sound speed at a reference radius r = r0. I then examine how these oscillations change with varying values of n,m, and α as well as how these waves could potentially offer remedies to the onemeter hurdle and planetary migration. Background and Motivation Scientific theories about the origin of the universe are nearly as old as human civilization itself, as great thinkers throughout history have speculated on the origins of planets, stars, and other celestial bodies. However, nearly all of these speculations were based exclusively on observations about our solar system, since that was the only data available for most of human history. It has only been within the last two decades with the discovery of extra-solar planets [Mayor and Queloz (1995)] that we have been able to observe additional planets outside our solar system. Many of the newly discovered systems have properties that are vastly different from ours, such
Molecular composition of dicarboxylic acids, ketocarboxylic acids, α-dicarbonyls and fatty acids in atmospheric aerosols from Tanzania, East Africa during wet and dry seasons

Abstract. Atmospheric aerosol samples of PM2.5 and PM10 were collected during the wet and dry seasons in 2011 from a rural site in Tanzania and analysed for water-soluble dicarboxylic acids, ketocarboxylic acids, α-dicarbonyls, and fatty acids using a gas chromatography/flame ionization detector (GC/FID) and GC/mass spectrometry. Here we report the molecular composition and sources of diacids and related compounds for wet and dry seasons. Oxalic acid (C2) was found as the most abundant diacid species followed by succinic and/or malonic acids whereas glyoxylic acid and glyoxal were the dominant ketoacid and α-dicarbonyl, respectively in both seasons in PM2.5 and PM10. Mean concentration of C2 in PM2.5 (121 ± 47 ng m−3) was lower in wet season than dry season (258 ± 69 ng m−3). Similarly, PM10 samples showed lower concentration of C2 (169 ± 42 ng m−3) in wet season than dry season (292 ± 165 ng m−3). Relative abundances of C2 in total diacids were 65% and 67% in PM2.5 and 65% and 64% in PM10 in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. Total concentrations of diacids (289–362 ng m−3), ketoacids (37.8–53.7 ng m−3), and α-dicarbonyls (5.7–7.8 ng m−3) in Tanzania are higher than those reported at a rural background site in Nylsvley (South Africa) but comparable or lower than those reported from sites in Asia and Europe. Diacids and ketoacids were found to be present mainly in PM2.5 in both seasons (total α-dicarbonyls in the dry season), suggesting a production of organic acids from pyrogenic sources and photochemical oxidations. Averaged contributions of total diacids to aerosol total carbon were 1.4% in PM2.5 and 2.1% in PM10 during wet season and 3.3% in PM2.5 and 3.9% in PM10 during dry season whereas those to water-soluble organic carbon were 2.2% and 4.7% in PM2.5 during wet season and 3.1% and 5.8% in PM10 during dry season. The higher ratios in dry season suggest an enhanced photochemical oxidation of organic precursors probably via heterogeneous reactions on aerosols under strong solar radiation. Strong positive correlations were found among diacids and related compounds as well as good relations to source tracers in both seasons, suggesting a mixed source from natural biogenic emissions, biomass burning, biofuel combustion, and photochemical production.
A critical role for the ATP-sensitive potassium channel subunit KIR6.1 in the control of cerebral blood flow

KIR6.1 (KCNJ8) is a subunit of ATP sensitive potassium channel (KATP) that plays an important role in the control of peripheral vascular tone and is highly expressed in brain contractile cells (vascular smooth muscle cells and pericytes). This study determined the effect of global deletion of the KIR6.1 subunit on cerebral blood flow, neurovascular coupling and cerebral oxygenation in mice. In KIR6.1 deficient mice resting cerebral blood flow and brain parenchymal partial pressure of oxygen (PO2) were found to be markedly lower compared to that in their wildtype littermates. However, cortical blood oxygen level dependent responses triggered by visual stimuli were not affected in conditions of KIR6.1 deficiency. These data suggest that KATP channels containing KIR6.1 subunit are critically important for the maintenance of normal cerebral perfusion and parenchymal PO2 but play no significant role in the mechanisms underlying functional changes in brain blood flow.
Capturing variabilities from Computed Tomography images with Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)

With the advent of Deep Learning (DL) techniques, especially Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), data augmentation and generation are quickly evolving domains that have raised much interest recently. However, the DL techniques are data demanding and since, medical data is not easily accessible, they suffer from data insufficiency. To deal with this limitation, different data augmentation techniques are used. Here, we propose a novel unsupervised data-driven approach for data augmentation that can generate 2D Computed Tomography (CT) images using a simple GAN. The generated CT images have good global and local features of a real CT image and can be used to augment the training datasets for effective learning. In this proof-of-concept study, we show that our proposed solution using GANs is able to capture some of the global and local CT variabilities. Our network is able to generate visually realistic CT images and we aim to further enhance its output by scaling it to a higher resolution and potentially from 2D to 3D.
Computational toolbox for optical tweezers in geometrical optics

Optical tweezers have found widespread application in many fields, from physics to biology. Here, we explain in detail how optical forces and torques can be described within the geometrical optics approximation, and we show that this approximation provides reliable results in agreement with experiments for particles whose characteristic dimensions are larger than the wavelength of the trapping light. Furthermore, we provide an object-oriented software package implemented in MATLAB for the calculation of optical forces and torques in the geometrical optics regime: Optical Tweezers in Geometrical Optics (OTGO). We provide all source codes for OTGO as well as documentation and code examples—e.g., standard optical tweezers, optical tweezers with elongated particles, the windmill effect, and Kramers transitions between two optical traps—necessary to enable users to effectively employ it in their research.
Hazenite , KNaMg 2 ( PO 4 ) 2 ⋅ 14 H 2 O , a new biologically related phosphate mineral , from Mono Lake , California , U .

A new biologically related, struvite-type phosphate mineral, hazenite, ideally KNaMg2(PO4)2⋅14H2O, has been found in and/or on completely dried-out or decomposed cyanobacteria on porous calciumcarbonate (mainly calcite and aragonite) substrates in Mono Lake, California. The mineral occurs as radiating clusters of prismatic crystals and is colorless, transparent with white streak and vitreous luster. It is brittle, with the Mohs hardness of 2∼2.5; cleavage is good on {001} and no twinning was observed. The measured and calculated densities are 1.91(3) and 1.88(2) g/cm3, respectively. Hazenite is biaxial (+), with nα =1.494(1), nβ = 1.498(1), nγ = 1.503(1), 2Vmeas = 41(2)°, 2Vcalc = 42°, X = b, Y = c, Z = a, and does not fluoresce under longor short-wave ultraviolet rays. The dispersion is strong with r < v. It is soluble in water. The electron microprobe analysis yielded an empirical formula of K0.97(Na0.96Ca0.02)Mg2.07[(P0.98S0.02)O4]2⋅13.90H2O. Hazenite is orthorhombic with space group Pmnb and unit-cell parameters a = 6.9349(4) Å, b = 25.174(2) Å, c = 11.2195(8) Å, and V = 1958.7(3) Å3. There are many structural similarities between hazenite and struvite, as also revealed by their Raman spectra. The hazenite structure contains six symmetrically independent non-hydrogen cation sites, two for Mg2+ (Mg1 and Mg2), two for P5+ (P1 and P2), one for Na+, and one for K+. It can be viewed as three types of layers stacking along the b-axis, in a repeating sequence of ABCBABCB. , where layer A consists of Mg1(H2O)6 octahedra and NaO6 trigonal prisms, layer B of P1O4 and P2O4 tetrahedra, and layer C of Mg2(H2O)6 octahedra and very irregular KO6 polyhedra. These layers are linked together by hydrogen bonds, plus the K-O bonds between layers B and C (K-O5-P2). Interestingly, the combination of layers B and C in hazenite exhibits a configuration analogous to the struvite-(K) structure. Hazenite is believed to form in high pH environments through the involvement of cyanobacterial activities. To our knowledge, hazenite is the first struvite-type compound that contains two structurally distinct monovalent cations (K and Na), pointing to an exclusive role of biological activity in the mineralization process.
Understanding and exploiting information spreading and integrating information technologies

Our daily life leaves an increasing amount of digital traces, footprints that are improving our lives. Data-mining tools, like recommender systems, convert these traces to information for aiding decisions in an ever-increasing number of areas in our lives. The feedback loop from what we do, to the information this produces, to decisions what to do next, will likely be an increasingly important factor in human behavior on all levels from individuals to societies. In this essay, we review some effects of this feedback and discuss how to understand and exploit them beyond mapping them on more well-understood phenomena. We take examples from models of spreading phenomena in social media to argue that analogies can be deceptive, instead we need to fresh approaches to the new types of data, something we exemplify with promising applications in medicine.
A Laypeople Study on Terminology Identification across Domains and Task Definitions

This paper introduces a new dataset of term annotation. Given that even experts vary significantly in their understanding of termhood, and that term identification is mostly performed as a binary task, we offer a novel perspective to explore the common, natural understanding of what constitutes a term: Laypeople annotate single-word and multi-word terms, across four domains and across four task definitions. Analyses based on inter-annotator agreement offer insights into differences in term specificity, term granularity and subtermhood.
Internet of nanothings: Challenges & opportunities

Nanotechnology is an upfront technology used to develop and design devices in the scale of nanometers. It offers opportunities and effective solutions in the field of medicine, military, agriculture, environment and computing systems. There are a lot of funding, initiatives by different countries around the world such as US, China for the project based on Nanotechnology in different areas. Recently, Oman is also incorporating nanotechnology to be deployed in different fields. Getting different sensors connected and interact intelligently with each other is the main application of IoT. However, replacing sensors with Nano sensors has provided a completely a new aspect to the Internet of Things (IoT) that is IoNT. IoNT is the new evolution that is a blend of IoT and nanotechnology. Because of its promising prospects and applications in the different areas, IoNT can be considered as the next generation of the IoT. Therefore in this paper, we will study and analyze the opportunities and the challenges of IoNT in the applications pertaining to the various domains.
Investigating the effects of noise-estimation errors in simulated cochlear implant speech intelligibility

A recent study suggested that the most important factor for obtaining high speech intelligibility in noise with cochlear implant recipients is to preserve the low-frequency amplitude modulations of speech across time and frequency by, for example, minimizing the amount of noise in speech gaps. In contrast, other studies have argued that the transients provide the most information. Thus, the present study investigates the relative impact of these two factors in the framework of noise reduction by systematically correcting noise-estimation errors within speech segments, speech gaps, and the transitions between them. Speech intelligibility in noise was measured using a cochlear implant simulation tested on normal-hearing listeners. The results suggest that minimizing noise in the speech gaps can substantially improve intelligibility, especially in modulated noise. However, significantly larger improvements were obtained when both the noise in the gaps was minimized and the speech transients were preserved. These results imply that the correct identification of the boundaries between speech segments and speech gaps is the most important factor in maintaining high intelligibility in cochlear implants. Knowing the boundaries will make it possible for algorithms to both minimize the noise in the gaps and enhance the lowfrequency amplitude modulations.