Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A type-2 fuzzy approach towards cognitive load detection using fNIRS signals

The main notion of this paper is to identify the cognitive load during a mental arithmetic task experiment using fNIRS signals. The first objective is to classify the difficulty level and the state of inactivity during the given task. To identify the classes, the feature vectors have to undergo all the possible steps of a pattern classification problem. In this paper, we have developed a novel Feature Selection technique to reduce the dimension of the feature vectors by omitting the redundant features. For this purpose, an objective function depending upon the class density or likelihood functions is optimized using the well-known Differential Evolution algorithm. General type-2 fuzzy classifier is used for subsequent classification step. The proposed Feature Selection technique gives a satisfactory accuracy results over principal component analysis. The fuzzy classifier outperforms the other well-known classifier like support vector machine, k-nearest neighborhood. Experimental result reveals that the proposed likelihood-based FS induced type 2 fuzzy classifier attains the highest classification accuracy (above 90% in each case) as compared to its standard competitors. The load of a subject undergoing the experiment is measured at a particular class relying upon the mean type- 1 fuzzy value of all feature entities. A clear discrimination in concentration level from 16 channels has been observed for each distinct feature set.
Chemical composition of wild boar meat and relationship between age and bioaccumulation of heavy metals in muscle and liver tissue

This study determined the accumulation of selected heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Hg and As) in tissues of wild boar. The tested animals were divided into three age groups, which allowed analysis of the statistical/mathematical relationship between their age and contamination of their tissues. For determination of heavy metal content, samples were taken from the longissimus muscle of the back and from the tail lobe of the liver. It has been stated that, in wild boar, accumulation of lead and cadmium in muscle and liver increases with age. However, statistical differences were found most frequently between the youngest and oldest animal groups only. Moreover, in no single case, was the maximum permissible level exceeded in muscle for lead, cadmium or mercury, and arsenic was not detected above 0.001 mg/kg. In the >3 year group, the maximum permissible level of cadmium (0.5 mg/kg) was exceeded in two liver samples.
Magnetic Properties of bcc FeRh1-xMx Systems

The magnetic properties of ordered bcc FeRh1-xMx alloys (M=Fe, Co, Ni, Pd, Ir and Pt) were studied, in terms of correlations among the antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic transition temperature T0, Curie temperature, magnetization, and lattice constant. Substitution of the 3d element M for Rh diminishes the transition temperature T0, since the large magnetic moment of the M atom stabilizes the ferromagnetism. Moreover, a first-order antiferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition was observed in an FeRh1-xIrx system. The mechanism of such first-order phase transitions can be explained phenomenologically by introducing magneto-volume coupling into a model based on the SCR theory. The ground state properties of FeRh and FeRh1-xPdx are well explained by first-principle band calculations based on the linearized muffin-tin orbital method.
The ATLAS High Level Trigger infrastructure, performance and future developments

The ATLAS High Level Trigger (HLT) is a distributed real-time software system that performs the final online selection of events produced during proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It is designed as a two-stage event filter running on a farm of commodity PC hardware. Currently the system consists of about 850 multi-core processing nodes that will be extended incrementally following the increasing luminosity of the LHC to about 2000 nodes depending on the evolution of the processor technology. Due to the complexity and similarity of the algorithms a large fraction of the software is shared between the online and offline event reconstruction. The HLT Infrastructure serves as the interface between the two domains and provides common services for the trigger algorithms. The consequences of this design choice will be discussed and experiences from the operation of the ATLAS HLT during cosmic ray data taking and first beam in 2008 will be presented. Since the event processing time at the HLT is directly related to the number of processing nodes required, special emphasis has to be put on monitoring and improving the performance of the software. Both open-source as well as custom developed tools are used for this task and a few use-cases will be shown. Finally, the implications of the prevailing industry trend towards multi- and many-core processors for the architecture of the ATLAS HLT will be discussed. The use of multi-processing and multi-threading techniques within the current system will be presented. Several approaches to make optimal use of the increasing number of cores will be investigated and the practical implications of implementing each approach in the current system with hundreds of developers and several hundred thousand lines of code will be examined.
Oxidizable Residues Mediating Protein Stability and Cytoprotective Interaction of DJ-1 with Apoptosis Signal-regulating Kinase 1*

Parkinson disease (PD)-associated genomic deletions and the destabilizing L166P point mutation lead to loss of the cytoprotective DJ-1 protein. The effects of other PD-associated point mutations are less clear. Here we demonstrate that the M26I mutation reduces DJ-1 expression, particularly in a null background (knockout mouse embryonic fibroblasts). Thus, homozygous M26I mutation causes loss of DJ-1 protein. To determine the cellular consequences, we measured suppression of apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) and cytotoxicity for [M26I]DJ-1, and systematically all other DJ-1 methionine and cysteine mutants. C106A mutation of the central redox site specifically abolished binding to ASK1 and the cytoprotective activity of DJ-1. DJ-1 was apparently recruited into the ASK1 signalosome via Cys-106-linked mixed disulfides. The designed higher order oxidation mimicking [C106DD]DJ-1 non-covalently bound to ASK1 even in the absence of hydrogen peroxide and conferred partial cytoprotection. Interestingly, mutations of peripheral redox sites (C46A and C53A) and M26I also led to constitutive ASK1 binding. Cytoprotective [wt]DJ-1 bound to the ASK1 N terminus (which is known to bind another negative regulator, thioredoxin 1), whereas [M26I]DJ-1 bound to aberrant C-terminal site(s). Consequently, the peripheral cysteine mutants retained cytoprotective activity, whereas the PD-associated mutant [M26I]DJ-1 failed to suppress ASK1 activity and nuclear export of the death domain-associated protein Daxx and did not promote cytoprotection. Thus, cytoprotective binding of DJ-1 to ASK1 depends on the central redox-sensitive Cys-106 and may be modulated by peripheral cysteine residues. We suggest that impairments in oxidative conformation changes of DJ-1 might contribute to PD neurodegeneration.
Maximal working times with a self-contained breathing apparatus.

The effects of a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA, total weight of 15·5 kg) on relative aerobic strain (%[Vdot]O2max) and heart rate (HR) were studied at light, moderate, and heavy exercise levels on a treadmill in temperate conditions. The subjects comprised 13 firemen whose mean [Vdot]O2 max was 4·161 min−1 (range 2·85 to 5·331 min−1). Maximal working times (WTmax) with SCBA were calculated with the results for this study and with experimental data from the literature. The subjects' %[Vdot]O2 max and HR increased significantly more with SCBA than in the control test without SCBA. This increase reduced the calculated WT max values. During moderately heavy exercise ([Vdot]O2control = 2·01 min−1), carrying SCBA increased the subjects' %[Vdot]O2max from 48 to 69 and decreased their estimated WT max from over 60 to 44 min. The estimated WT max for a single operation with SCBA was critically short (18 min) when the average [Vdot]O2 max for men aged 20–29 (3·51 min−1) was used in the calculations. Ther.
Genetic relationships among native americans based on beta-globin gene cluster haplotype frequencies

The distribution of b-globin gene haplotypes was studied in 209 Amerindians from eight tribes of the Brazilian Amazon: Asurini from Xingu, Awa-Guaja, Parakana, Urubu-Kaapor, Zoe, Kayapo (Xikrin from the Bacaja village), Katuena, and Tiriyo. Nine different haplotypes were found, two of which (n. 11 and 13) had not been previously identified in Brazilian indigenous populations. Haplotype 2 (+ - - - -) was the most common in all groups studied, with frequencies varying from 70% to 100%, followed by haplotype 6 (- + + - +), with frequencies between 7% and 18%. The frequency distribution of the b-globin gene haplotypes in the eighteen Brazilian Amerindian populations studied to date is characterized by a reduced number of haplotypes (average of 3.5) and low levels of heterozygosity and intrapopulational differentiation, with a single clearly predominant haplotype in most tribes (haplotype 2). The Parakana, Urubu-Kaapor, Tiriyo and Xavante tribes constitute exceptions, presenting at least four haplotypes with relatively high frequencies. The closest genetic relationships were observed between the Brazilian and the Colombian Amerindians (Wayuu, Kamsa and Inga), and, to a lesser extent, with the Huichol of Mexico. North-American Amerindians are more differentiated and clearly separated from all other tribes, except the Xavante, from Brazil, and the Mapuche, from Argentina. A restricted pool of ancestral haplotypes may explain the low diversity observed among most present-day Brazilian and Colombian Amerindian groups, while interethnic admixture could be the most important factor to explain the high number of haplotypes and high levels of diversity observed in some South-American and most North-American tribes.
Trans fatty acids and cardiovascular disease.

The intake of trans fat has been associated with coronary heart disease, sudden death from cardiac causes, and diabetes. This article reviews the evidence for physiological and cellular effects of trans fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids with at least one double bond in the trans configuration. The authors consider the feasibility and potential implications of reducing or eliminating the consumption of trans fatty acids from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in the United States.
Strategies to improve long-term outcomes after renal transplantation.

This article provides a comprehensive, up-to-date review of methods to prevent early and late renal-allograft loss and to improve long-term outcomes in patients. The authors focus particular attention on the problem of late graft loss and discuss current antirejection therapy, including calcineurin blockers such as cyclosporine and tacrolimus, the interleukin-2 signal-transduction inhibitor sirolimus, and the purine-synthesis inhibitor mycophenolate mofetil, which inhibits the proliferation of T cells and B cells.
Fluorescence in situ hybridization aneuploidy as a predictor of clinical disease recurrence and prostate-specific antigen level 3 years after radical prostatectomy.

OBJECTIVE To determine if fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis of fresh-tissue biopsy specimens obtained at the time of radical prostatectomy is able to predict prospectively clinical disease progression or prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level in patients 3 to 4 years after surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS FISH analysis was performed on fresh-tissue touch preparations obtained from 90 randomly selected radical prostatectomy specimens. Cut surface touch preparations from 40 specimens resected in 1992 were analyzed with DNA probes for chromosomes 4, 6-12, 17, 18, X, and Y. Needle-biopsy specimens were obtained from 50 tumors resected in 1993, and touch preparations from these specimens were studied with DNA probes for chromosomes 7, 8, 11, and 12. Serum PSA levels and clinicopathologic data were recorded, and each patient was followed up from the time of surgery to determine cancer progression. RESULTS Of 90 patients undergoing radical prostatectomy in 1992 and 1993, 89 returned for follow-up. Three patients received preoperative hormonal therapy, and in 2 patients, antiandrogen therapy was continued postoperatively. Fifteen patients underwent intraoperative orchiectomy immediately after radical prostatectomy, while 9 patients had postoperative adjuvant hormonal therapy. Six patients underwent postoperative radiation therapy. Fourteen patients (15.7%) demonstrated systemic, local, or PSA progression. Only 2 (4.7%) of 43 patients with FISH diploid tumors demonstrated cancer progression. Conversely, 10 (30.3%) of 33 FISH aneuploid and 12 (26.1%) of 46 FISH nondiploid tumors demonstrated cancer progression (P=.004 and P=.006, respectively). Unlike FISH, flow cytometric aneuploidy was not associated with early cancer progression. Elevated preoperative PSA concentration, increased preoperative and postoperative Gleason score, and increased preoperative and postoperative T or N stage were not statistically significantly associated with cancer progression. While chromosome 7 and 8 aneusomies were not statistically associated with cancer progression, 2 of 5 (P=.04) chromosome 12 aneusomic tumors demonstrated cancer progression. CONCLUSION Early (within 4 years) local, systemic, or PSA progression occurred more frequently (P<.05) in radical prostatectomy patients with FISH aneuploid, nondiploid, and chromosome 12 aneusomic tumors. Flow cytometric ploidy status, preoperative serum PSA concentration, and clinical or pathologic grade or stage, including seminal vesicle involvement, margin status, and capsular perforation status, were not associated with early prostate cancer progression in this group of 89 patients. FISH analysis appears to be a useful preoperative tool for predicting aggressive vs indolent prostate cancer.
Comfort Feeding Only: A Proposal to Bring Clarity to Decision‐Making Regarding Difficulty with Eating for Persons with Advanced Dementia

Feeding and eating difficulties leading to weight loss are common in the advanced stages of dementia. When such problems arise, family members are often faced with making a decision regarding the placement of a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube. The existing evidence based on observational studies suggests that feeding tubes do not improve survival or reduce the risk of aspiration, yet the use of feeding tubes is prevalent in patients with dementia, and the majority of nursing home residents do not have orders documenting their wishes about the use of artificial hydration and nutrition. One reason is that orders to forgo artificial hydration and nutrition get wrongly interpreted as “do not feed,” resulting in a reluctance of families to agree to them. Furthermore, nursing homes fear regulatory scrutiny of weight loss and wrongly believe that the use of feeding tubes signifies that everything possible is being done. These challenges might be overcome with the creation of clear language that stresses the patient's goals of care. A new order, “comfort feeding only,” that states what steps are to be taken to ensure the patient's comfort through an individualized feeding care plan, is proposed. Comfort feeding only through careful hand feeding, if possible, offers a clear goal‐oriented alternative to tube feeding and eliminates the apparent care–no care dichotomy imposed by current orders to forgo artificial hydration and nutrition.
Compiler-Assisted Refresh Minimization for Volatile STT-RAM Cache

Spin-transfer torque RAM (STT-RAM) has been proposed to build on-chip caches because of its attractive features such as high storage density and ultra low leakage power. However, long write latency and high write energy are the two challenges for STT-RAM. Recently, researchers propose to improve the write performance of STT-RAM by relaxing its non-volatility property. To avoid data losses resulting from volatility, refresh schemes have been proposed. However, refresh operations consume additional overhead. In this paper, we propose to significantly reduce the number of refresh operations through re-arranging program data layout at compilation time. An N-refresh scheme is also proposed to further reduce the number of refreshes. Experimental results show that, on average, the proposed methods can reduce the number of refresh operations by 84.2 percent, and reduce the dynamic energy consumption by 38.0 percent for volatile STT-RAM caches while incurring only 4.1 percent performance degradation.
Ostéosynthèse d'une perte de substance médio-diaphysaire : étude biomécanique et histologique comparative de plaques vissées conventionnelles et verrouillées chez le mouton

L'objectif de cette etude a ete de determiner l'effet du verrouillage des vis sur la cicatrisation osseuse et sur la stabilite de l'osteosynthese effectuee par plaque LCP(r) equipee soit de vis verrouillees soit de vis corticales standard. Pour cela, des tibias ovins, presentant une perte de substance de 5 mm, qui constitue un modele de fracture comminutive, ont ete utilises. Les proprietes biomecaniques des tibias ex vivo (flexion, torsion et compression) ainsi que les proprietes radiographiques, biomecaniques, histologiques et histomorphometriques des tibias ovins in vivo au cours de la cicatrisation osseuse, ont ete comparees entre les 2 groupes de vis. Les differentes observations ont permis de conclure a un effet positif des vis verrouillees sur la vitesse et la qualite de la cicatrisation osseuse, par rapport aux vis standard. Il pourrait etre lie a un environnement biomecanique et biologique plus favorable pour les montages verrouilles que pour les montages conventionnels.
Bypass of Activation Loop Phosphorylation by Aspartate 836 in Activation of the Endoribonuclease Activity of Ire1

ABSTRACT The bifunctional protein kinase-endoribonuclease Ire1 initiates splicing of the mRNA for the transcription factor Hac1 when unfolded proteins accumulate in the endoplasmic reticulum. Activation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ire1 coincides with autophosphorylation of its activation loop at S840, S841, T844, and S850. Mass spectrometric analysis of Ire1 expressed in Escherichia coli identified S837 as another potential phosphorylation site in vivo. Mutation of all five potential phosphorylation sites in the activation loop decreased, but did not completely abolish, splicing of HAC1 mRNA, induction of KAR2 and PDI1 mRNAs, and expression of a β-galactosidase reporter activated by Hac1i. Phosphorylation site mutants survive low levels of endoplasmic reticulum stress better than IRE1 deletions strains. In vivo clustering and inactivation of Ire1 are not affected by phosphorylation site mutants. Mutation of D836 to alanine in the activation loop of phosphorylation site mutants nearly completely abolished HAC1 splicing, induction of KAR2, PDI1, and β-galactosidase reporters, and survival of ER stress, but it had no effect on clustering of Ire1. By itself, the D836A mutation does not confer a phenotype. These data argue that D836 can partially substitute for activation loop phosphorylation in activation of the endoribonuclease domain of Ire1.
Synthesis of the antimicrobial S-linked glycopeptide, glycocin F.

The first total synthesis of glycocin F, a uniquely diglycosylated antimicrobial peptide bearing a rare S-linked N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) moiety in addition to an O-linked GlcNAc, has been accomplished using a native chemical ligation strategy. The synthetic and naturally occurring peptides were compared by HPLC, mass spectrometry, NMR and CD spectroscopy, and their stability towards chymotrypsin digestion and antimicrobial activity were measured. This is the first comprehensive structural and functional comparison of a naturally occurring glycocin with an active synthetic analogue.
Base station digital predistortion compensating for frequency-dependent IMD components

This paper presents an overview of a digital predistorter (DPD) that compensates for frequency-dependent intermodulation distortion (IMD) components in cellular base stations. The DPD is based on a power-series model. It has a distortion generation path and incorporates a frequency characteristics compensator that compensates for frequency-dependent IMD components. Experimental results show that the DPD compensates for the frequency-dependent IMD components and improves the drain efficiency of the power amplifier. This research shows that digital signal processing techniques improve the performance of the base station transmitter.
An Unsupervised Evaluation Method for Remotely Sensed Imagery Segmentation

Image segmentation is a critical step in the analysis of high-spatial-resolution remotely sensed imagery using object-based image analysis. The segmentation quality is extremely important to the subsequent analysis. This letter proposes an improved unsupervised method to evaluate the segmentation quality for remotely sensed imagery. The evaluation criteria take into account global intrasegment homogeneity and intersegment heterogeneity measures, which can be useful for the comparison of segmentation results produced by a single segmentation method. The proposed method is compared with other two mature unsupervised evaluation methods on two segmentation methods: region growing and mean shift. QuickBird images are used for the comparative study. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated through comparing with the supervised evaluation method Rand Index and visual analysis.
Upregulation of Gingival Tissue miR-200b in Obese Periodontitis Subjects

Increased local immune and inflammatory responses in obese individuals with periodontitis may explain the aggressive clinical presentation and altered treatment response when compared to that of normal weight subjects. Our goal was to identify any differences in microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles of gingival tissue in periodontitis when obesity is present, which may suggest novel molecular pathways that this miRNA network may affect. Total RNA was extracted from gingival tissue biopsies collected from normal weight and obese individuals with periodontitis; miRNA expression profiling was performed with Affymetrix GeneChip miRNA 3.0 arrays; and results were validated with quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). In silico identification of previously confirmed miRNA gene targets was conducted through miRTarBase and miRWalk databases, and pathway enrichment analysis identified enriched miRNA gene sets. Expression of selected genes in the same biopsy samples was tested with qRT-PCR. The gingival tissue miRNA profile of obese patients, compared to that of normal weight patients, showed 13 upregulated and 22 downregulated miRNAs, among which miR-200b was validated by qRT-PCR to be significantly increased in obesity. Functional analysis of 51 experimentally validated miR-200b gene targets identified enrichment of genes involved in cell motility, differentiation, DNA binding, response to stimulus, and vasculature development pathways not previously identified in the obesity-specific disease profile. Furthermore, the expression of the miR-200b gene targets ZEB1/2, GATA2, and KDR was confirmed by qRT-PCR as being lower in obese patients with periodontitis versus normal weight patients, suggesting a role of miR-200b in regulation of a set of gene targets and biological pathways relevant to wound healing and angiogenesis. Functional studies to explore the role of miR-200b in the above processes may offer new insights on putative therapeutic targets for this group of patients.