LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
A Study On Combining Image Representations For Image Classification And Retrieval

A flexible description of images is offered by a cloud of points in a feature space. In the context of image retrieval such clouds can be represented in a number of ways. Two approaches are here considered. The first approach is based on the assumption of a normal distribution, hence homogeneous clouds, while the second one focuses on the boundary description, which is more suitable for multimodal clouds. The images are then compared either by using the Mahalanobis distance or by the support vector data description (SVDD), respectively. The paper investigates some possibilities of combining the image clouds based on the idea that responses of several cloud descriptions may convey a pattern, specific for semantically similar images. A ranking of image dissimilarities is used as a comparison for two image databases targeting image classification and retrieval problems. We show that combining of the SVDD descriptions improves the retrieval performance with respect to ranking, on the contrary to the Mahalanobis case. Surprisingly, it turns out that the ranking of the Mahalanobis distances works well also for inhomogeneous images.
Emotion Mining and Sentiment Analysis in Software Engineering Domain

In last few years, researchers' interest in sentiment analysis in the software engineering domain has risen significantly. Most of the studies show the use of standard sentiment analysis tools such as NLTK API and Sentistrength to find sentiments in issue reports extracted from some version maintenance software. Since these tools are not trained on software engineering texts and comments, their results may not be as accurate as one might hope. In this study we find to what extent do our human evaluators who are familiar with the software engineering terms agree with sentiment analysis tools on presence or absence of emotions. We perform this study on our own supervised dataset (Apache JIRA). In addition to this, we evaluate the performance of the metrics when a new tool is introduced and concluded that disagreement between tools leads to disagreement among results.
DC–DC Power Converters

Dc-dc power converters are employed in a variety of applications, including power supplies for personal computers, office equipment, spacecraft power systems, laptop computers, and telecommunications equipment, as well as dc motor drives. The input to a dc-dc converter is an unregulated dc voltage Vg. The converter produces a regulated output voltage V, having a magnitude (and possibly polarity) that differs from Vg. For example, in a computer off-line power supply, the 120 V or 240 V ac utility voltage is rectified, producing a dc voltage of approximately 170 V or 340 V, respectively. A dc-dc converter then reduces the voltage to the regulated 5 V or 3.3 V required by the processor ICs. High efficiency is invariably required, since cooling of inefficient power converters is difficult and expensive. The ideal dc-dc converter exhibits 100% efficiency; in practice, efficiencies of 70% to 95% are typically obtained. This is achieved using switched-mode , or chopper , circuits whose elements dissipate negligible power. Pulse-width modulation (PWM) allows control and regulation of the total output voltage. This approach is also employed in applications involving alternating current, including high-efficiency dc-ac power converters (inverters and power amplifiers), ac-ac power converters, and some ac-dc power converters (low-harmonic rectifiers). A basic dc-dc converter circuit known as the buck converter is illustrated in Fig. 1. A single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switch is connected to the dc input voltage Vg as shown. The switch output voltage + – Vg L
Centralized ordering and allocation policies in a two-echelon system with non-identical warehouses

We consider a depot-warehouse distribution system in which demand occurs at the warehouse level. At the beginning of every period the depot places an order from an external supplier which arrives after a fixed lead time. The received order is then shipped to the warehouses. The depot itself does not hold any inventory. There are non-zero shipment lead times from the depot to the warehouses. Linear holding costs are incurred at the warehouses and unsatisfied demands are backlogged at a linear penalty cost. Our work is a generalization of earlier work by Eppen and Schrage, to allow for non-identical warehouses. We present a simple and easy-to-implement allocation policy and derive an explicit expression for the optimal order quantity under the inventory balance allocation assumption used earlier by other researchers. A computional study is presented to evaluate the accuracy of the proposed solution. ~) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.
An Efficient Inductorless Dynamically Configured Interface Circuit for Piezoelectric Vibration Energy Harvesting

Vibration energy harvesting based on piezoelectric materials is of interest in several applications such as in powering remote distributed wireless sensor nodes for structural health monitoring. Synchronized switch harvesting on inductor and synchronous electric charge extraction circuits show good power efficiency among reported power management circuits; however, limitations exist due to inductors employed, adaption of response to varying excitation levels, and the synchronized switch damping (SSD) effect. In this paper, an inductorless dynamically configured interface circuit is proposed, which is able to configure the connection of two piezoelectric materials in parallel or in series by periodically evaluating the ambient excitation level. The proposed circuit is designed and fabricated in a 0.35 μHV CMOS process.The fabricated circuit is cointegrated with a piezoelectric bimorph energy harvester and the performance is experimentally validated. With a low power consumption (0.5 μW), the measured results show that the proposed rectifier can provide a 4.5 $\times$  boost in harvested energy compared to the conventional full-bridge rectifier without employing an inductor. It also shows a high power efficiency over a wide range of excitation levels and is less susceptible to SSD.
Objective and subjective image quality of liver parenchyma and hepatic metastases with virtual monoenergetic dual-source dual-energy CT reconstructions: an analysis in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES
To compare in dual-energy CT (DECT) conventionally reconstructed polyenergetic images (PEI) at 120 kVp to virtual monoenergetic images (MEI) at different kiloelectron volt (keV) levels for evaluation of liver and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) hepatic metastases with regard to objective (IQob) and subjective image quality (IQsub) assessed by two readers of varying experience. Image quality was correlated to patient size and compared between PEI and MEI.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
From 50 examinations of 17 GIST patients (12 with hepatic metastases) undergoing abdominal dual-source DECT for staging, therapy monitoring or follow-up, PEI and nine MEI in 10-keV intervals from 40 to 120 keV were reconstructed. Liver contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) and metastasis-to-liver ratios were calculated. MEI reconstructions with the highest IQob were compared to PEI for IQsub by one experienced reader (ER) and one inexperienced reader (IR). Patients' diameters were correlated to IQob and IQsub ratings.


RESULTS
MEI at 70 keV had the highest IQob with equal liver CNR and metastasis-to-liver ratio compared to PEI. The ER rated 70-keV MEI and PEI equally high (median 4), whereas the IR rated IQsub best in 70-keV MEI (median 5). Unlike in PEI, IQsub ratings in 70-keV MEI were not correlated to patient size.


CONCLUSIONS
MEI at 70 keV provided an IQob equivalent to PEI. Regarding the IR, IQsub was improved in 70-keV MEI compared to PEI and less dependent on patient size. Therefore, IRs might improve their diagnostic confidence in the assessment of hepatic GIST metastases by evaluating MEI reconstructions at 70 keV.
Investigation of the chick embryo as a potential alternative to the mouse for evaluation of radiopharmaceuticals.

INTRODUCTION
The chick embryo is an emerging in vivo model in several areas of pre-clinical research including radiopharmaceutical sciences. Herein, it was evaluated as a potential test system for assessing the biodistribution and in vivo stability of radiopharmaceuticals. For this purpose, a number of radiopharmaceuticals labeled with (18)F, (125)I, (99m)Tc, and (177)Lu were investigated in the chick embryo and compared with the data obtained in mice.


METHODS
Chick embryos were cultivated ex ovo for 17-19 days before application of the radiopharmaceutical directly into the peritoneum or intravenously using a vein of the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). At a defined time point after application of radioactivity, the embryos were euthanized by shock-freezing using liquid nitrogen. Afterwards they were separated from residual egg components for post mortem imaging purposes using positron emission tomography (PET) or single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).


RESULTS
SPECT images revealed uptake of [(99m)Tc]pertechnetate and [(125)I]iodide in the thyroid of chick embryos and mice, whereas [(177)Lu]lutetium, [(18)F]fluoride and [(99m)Tc]-methylene diphosphonate ([(99m)Tc]-MDP) were accumulated in the bones. [(99m)Tc]-dimercaptosuccinic acid ((99m)Tc-DMSA) and the somatostatin analog [(177)Lu]-DOTATOC, as well as the folic acid derivative [(177)Lu]-DOTA-folate showed accumulation in the renal tissue whereas [(99m)Tc]-mebrofenin accumulated in the gall bladder and intestine of both species. In vivo dehalogenation of [(18)F]fallypride and of the folic acid derivative [(125)I]iodo-tyrosine-folate was observed in both species. In contrast, the 3'-aza-2'-[(18)F]fluorofolic acid ([(18)F]-AzaFol) was stable in the chick embryo as well as in the mouse.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results revealed the same tissue distribution profile and in vivo stability of radiopharmaceuticals in the chick embryo and the mouse. This observation is promising with regard to a potential use of the chick embryo as an inexpensive and simple test model for preclinical screening of novel radiopharmaceuticals.
Broad Twitter Corpus: A Diverse Named Entity Recognition Resource

One of the main obstacles, hampering method development and comparative evaluation of named entity recognition in social media, is the lack of a sizeable, diverse, high quality annotated corpus, analogous to the CoNLL’2003 news dataset. For instance, the biggest Ritter tweet corpus is only 45 000 tokens – a mere 15% the size of CoNLL’2003. Another major shortcoming is the lack of temporal, geographic, and author diversity. This paper introduces the Broad Twitter Corpus (BTC), which is not only significantly bigger, but sampled across different regions, temporal periods, and types of Twitter users. The gold-standard named entity annotations are made by a combination of NLP experts and crowd workers, which enables us to harness crowd recall while maintaining high quality. We also measure the entity drift observed in our dataset (i.e. how entity representation varies over time), and compare to newswire. The corpus is released openly, including source text and intermediate annotations.
Hip and knee joint rotations differ between patients with medial and lateral knee osteoarthritis: gait analysis of 30 patients and 15 controls.

The motions and moments in the hip and knee in female patients on the waiting list for knee prosthesis surgery with medial (n = 15) or lateral (n = 15) osteoarthritis (OA) were compared with a control group (n = 15). We hypothesized that not only the kinematics and kinetics of the knee but also of the hip would differ between patients the medial and lateral groups. At midstance, patients with lateral OA showed slightly (2 degrees) more maximal (peak) adduction (p = 0.015) of the hip joint and patients with medial OA had 7 degrees more abduction (p < 0.001) than did controls. In patients with lateral OA, the femur was positioned in about 7 degrees more maximum external rotation (p = 0.001), but femur position did not differ between medial OA and controls (p > or = 0.8). There was a tendency to higher internal hip rotation moment in lateral OA compared to controls (p = 0.021). The maximum values of the internal knee abduction moments were 52% higher in medial OA (p = 0.005) and 63% lower in lateral OA (p < 0.001) compared to controls. Cases with medial OA had 9 degrees more, whereas those with lateral OA had 6 degrees less external tibial rotation than controls (medial vs. lateral OA, p = 0.001). We found an association between presence of lateral OA of the knee and the biomechanics of the hip joint. It remains to be evaluated if the changed biomechanics of the hip joint is a reason for development of lateral OA or an observation that is a result of this disease.
Social Comparisons and Pro-social Behavior: Testing "Conditional Cooperation" in a Field Experiment

People behave pro-socially in a wide variety of situations that standard economic theory is unable to explain. Social comparison is one explanation for such pro-social behavior: people contribute if others contribute or cooperate as well. This paper tests social comparison in a field experiment at the University of Zurich. Each semester every single student has to decide whether he or she wants to contribute to two Social Funds. We provided 2500 randomly selected students with information about the average behavior of the student population. Some received the information that a high percentage of the student population contributed, while others received the information that a relatively low percentage contributed. The results show that people behave pro-socially, conditional on others. The more others cooperate, the more one is inclined to do so as well. The type of person is important. We are able to fix the ‘types’ by looking at revealed past behavior. Some persons seem to care more about the pro-social behavior of others, while other ‘types’ are not affected by the average behavior of the reference group. JEL: H41, D64, Z13
Models for estimating evapotranspiration using artificial neural networks, and their physical interpretation

Estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) requires a knowledge of the values of many climatic variables, some of which require special equipment and careful observations. Although ET is an important component of water balance, the data required for its accurate estimation are commonly available only at widely spaced measurement stations. The major objective of this study was to estimate ET using an artificial neural network (ANN) technique and to examine if a trained neural network with limited input variables can estimate ET efficiently. The results indicate that even with limited climatic variables an ANN can estimate ET accurately. The paper also outlines a procedure to evaluate the effects of input variables on the output variable using the weight connections of ANN models. Such an analysis performed on the ANN-ET models developed was able to explain the reasons for the ANN’s potential in estimating the ET effectively from limited climatic data. Copyright  2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Closed loop task space control of an interleaved continuum-rigid manipulator

A new manipulation approach, referred to as interleaved continuum-rigid manipulation, which combines inherently safe, flexible actuated segments with more precise embedded rigid-link joints has recently been introduced [1], [2]. The redundantly actuated manipulator possesses the safety characteristics inherent in flexible segment devices while gaining some of the performance attributes of rigid-link joint systems. In this paper, we describe a general controller developed for an interleaved manipulator. The controller is implemented on a clinically-relevant prototype, the results of which demonstrate the advantages of an interleaved manipulator. We also consider kinematic drivers of the interleaved manipulator workspace, showing that careful kinematic considerations can substantially improve manipulator workspace and task accuracy.
Global expression profiling of rice microRNAs by one-tube stem-loop reverse transcription quantitative PCR revealed important roles of microRNAs in abiotic stress responses

MicroRNAs are a class of endogenous small RNA molecules (20–24 nucleotides) that have pivotal roles in regulating gene expression mostly at posttranscriptional levels in plants. Plant microRNAs have been implicated in the regulation of diverse biological processes including growth and stress responses. However, the information about microRNAs in regulating abiotic stress responses in rice is limited. We optimized a one-tube stem-loop reverse transcription quantitative PCR (ST-RT qPCR) for high-throughput expression profiling analysis of microRNAs in rice under normal and stress conditions. The optimized ST-RT qPCR method was as accurate as small RNA gel blotting and was more convenient and time-saving than other methods in quantifying microRNAs. With this method, 41 rice microRNAs were quantified for their relative expression levels after drought, salt, cold, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatments. Thirty-two microRNAs showed induced or suppressed expression after stress or ABA treatment. Further analysis suggested that stress-responsive cis-elements were enriched in the promoters of stress-responsive microRNA genes. The expressions of five and seven microRNAs were significantly affected in the rice plant with defects in stress tolerance regulatory genes OsSKIPa and OsbZIP23, respectively. Some of the predicted target genes of these microRNAs were also related to abiotic stresses. We conclude that ST-RT qPCR is an efficient and reliable method for expression profiling of microRNAs and a significant portion of rice microRNAs participate in abiotic stress response and regulation.
AMBIGUITY AVERSION IN THE FIELD OF INSURANCE: INSURERS' ATTITUDE TO IMPRECISE AND CONFLICTING PROBABILITY ESTIMATES

This article presents the results of a survey designed to test, with economically sophisticated participants, Ellsberg’s ambiguity aversion hypothesis, and Smithson’s conflict aversion hypothesis. Based on an original sample of 78 professional actuaries (all members of the French Institute of Actuaries), this article provides empirical evidence that ambiguity (i.e. uncertainty about the probability) affect insurers’ decision on pricing insurance. It first reveals that premiums are significantly higher for risks when there is ambiguity regarding the probability of the loss. Second, it shows that insurers are sensitive to sources of ambiguity. The participants indeed, charged a higher premium when ambiguity came from conflict and disagreement regarding the probability of the loss than when ambiguity came from imprecision (imprecise forecast about the probability of the loss). This research thus documents the presence of both ambiguity aversion and conflict aversion in the field of insurance, and discuses economic and psychological rationales for the observed behaviours.
Facebook bullying: An extension of battles in school

This study examines the phenomenon of cyberbullying on Facebook and how it is related to school bullying among secondary school students in Singapore, aged 13–17. We also focus on generic use of Facebook and risky Facebook behaviors as the predictors of cyberbullying and victimization on Facebook. 1676 secondary students, from two secondary schools, participated in a pen and paper survey. The findings show that the intensity of Facebook use and engagement in risky Facebook behaviors were related to Facebook victimization and Facebook bullying, respectively. Moderately strong positive relationships between school bullying and Facebook bullying, as well as between school victimization and Facebook victimization, were also uncovered. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Aristotle's anthropocentrism

L'A. explore la these de M.Nussbaum developpee dans « Fragility of Goodness » a savoir qu'Aristote contrairement a Platon a une vision anthropocentrique
Totally laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy: a simple and safe technique for intracorporeal anastomosis

Current techniques of laparoscopic colectomy require an abdominal incision for extraction of the specimen. Although this incision is smaller than that for open laparotomy incision, it may reduce the advantages of laparoscopic surgery. In totally laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy, intracorporeal anastomosis is technically difficult. A safe and simple technique for circularly stapled intracorporeal anastomosis is described. After mobilization of the colon and division of the mesentery, a semicircumferential colotomy is made at the anterior colonic wall just proximal to the transection site. The anvil of a circular stapling device, secured with a Prolene suture, is introduced via the colotomy. The suture is advanced anteriorly so that the center rod of the circular stapling device penetrates the colonic wall. The colon is staple-transected at this point to secure the anvil on the proximal colon. A grasping forceps is brought through the rectum, and the specimen is extracted through the colotomy made at the distal staple line. After the colotomy is reclosed with a linear stapler, anastomosis is established using a hemidouble stapling technique. Totally laparoscopic sigmoid colectomies were performed for 16 patients with colon cancers. All the patients were treated laparoscopically without any complications. The average operation time was 180 min. Although one patient experienced wound infection, no major complications occurred. There was no mortality in this series. The procedure of totally intracorporeal anastomosis combined with transanal extraction of the specimen can be performed easily, enabling surgeons to achieve minimal invasiveness comparable with that of hybrid natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES).
The Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS): A Preliminary Report on Selected Characteristics of Approximately 10 000 Pregnant Women Recruited During the First Year of the Study

BACKGROUND
The Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS) is an ongoing nationwide birth cohort study launched in January 2011. In this progress report, we present data collected in the first year to summarize selected maternal and infant characteristics.


METHODS
In the 15 Regional Centers located throughout Japan, the expectant mothers were recruited in early pregnancy at obstetric facilities and/or at local government offices issuing pregnancy journals. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the women during their first trimester and then again during the second or third trimester to obtain information on demographic factors, physical and mental health, lifestyle, occupation, environmental exposure, dwelling conditions, and socioeconomic status. Information was obtained from medical records in the first trimester and after delivery on medical history, including gravidity and related complications, parity, maternal anthropometry, and infant physical examinations.


RESULTS
We collected data on a total of 9819 expectant mothers (mean age = 31.0 years) who gave birth during 2011. There were 9635 live births. The selected infant characteristics (singleton births, gestational age at birth, sex, birth weight) in the JECS population were similar to those in national survey data on the Japanese general population.


CONCLUSIONS
Our final birth data will eventually be used to evaluate the national representativeness of the JECS population. We hope the JECS will provide valuable information on the impact of the environment in which our children live on their health and development.