Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust Estimation Approach for Nonlocal-means Denoising Based On Structurally Similar Patches

Edge preserved smoothing techniques has gained importance for the purpose of image denoising. A good edge preserved flltering is given by nonlocal-means fllter than any linear model based approaches.The contributions are in two fold. First, this paper explores a reflned approach of nonlocal-means fllter by using robust estimation function rather than the usual exponential function for its weight calculation. Here the fllter output at each pixel is the weighted average of pixels with the surrounding neighborhoods using the chosen robust estimation function. Second, in order to speed up the computation, a new patch classiflcation method is followed to eliminate the uncorrelated patches from the weighted averaging process. This patch classiflcation approach compares favorably to existing techniques in respect of quality versus computational time. Validations using various test images have been analyzed and the results were compared with other known recent methods. There is reason to believe that this reflned algorithm has some interesting and notable points.
Minimax redundancy for the class of memoryless sources

Let X/sup n/=(X/sub 1/,.,X/sub n/) be a memoryless source with unknown distribution on a finite alphabet of size k. We identify the asymptotic minimax coding redundancy for this class of sources, and provide a sequence of asymptotically minimax codes. Equivalently, we determine the limiting behavior of the minimax relative entropy min/sub QXn/ max/sub pXn/ D(P/sub Xn//spl par/Q/sub Xn/), where the maximum is over all independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) source distributions and the minimum is over all joint distributions. We show in this paper that the minimax redundancy minus ((k-1)/2) log(n/(2/spl pi/e)) converges to log/spl int//spl radic/(det I(/spl theta/))d/spl theta/=log (/spl Gamma/(1/2)/sup k///spl Gamma/(k/2)), where I(/spl theta/) is the Fisher information and the integral is over the whole probability simplex. The Bayes strategy using Jeffreys' prior is shown to be asymptotically maximin but not asymptotically minimax in our setting. The boundary risk using Jeffreys' prior is higher than that of interior points. We provide a sequence of modifications of Jeffreys' prior that put some prior mass near the boundaries of the probability simplex to pull down that risk to the asymptotic minimax level in the limit.
Life Insurer Financial Distress, Best's Ratings and Financial Ratios

This study compares the predictive ability of: (1) ratings, rating changes and total assets; (2) financial ratios; and (3) financial ratios combined with ratings and rating changes on a sample of forty-eight insolvent life insurers over the period 1990 to 1992. Based on the expected cost of misclassification, ratings, rating changes and total assets have comparable predictive ability to financial ratios combined with ratings and rating changes. However, combining ratings and rating changes with financial ratios improves predictive ability compared to financial ratios alone for most cost ratios. Another interesting finding is that adverse rating changes are important predictors of insolvency.
CLINICAL STUDIES OF THE BLOOD VOLUME. III. CHANGES IN BLOOD VOLUME, VENOUS PRESSURE AND BLOOD VELOCITY RATE IN CHRONIC CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE.

Knowledge of the changes in blood volume taking place in the course of congestive heart failure is necessary for an understanding of alterations in the dynamics of circulation in that disease. Changes in blood volume in cardiac decompensa-tion reported in the literature are of a confficting nature. Bock (1), Brown and Rowntree (2), Thompson (3), Schiirmeyer (4), Mies (5), using modifications of the original dye method of determining the blood volume; Plesch (6), using the carbon monoxide method, and Ewig and Hins-berg (7); using a combination of the two methods , have reported the blood volume as variably increased during cardiac decompensation. The most extensive studies have been made by Woll-heim (8, 9, 10, 11), using a modification (12) of the original Keith-Rowntree technique, Levin (13), and Goldbloom and Libin (14). On the basis of their studies these authors have described two types of congestive failure; the so-called " plus " and " minus " types. In the former type, in which failure is characterized by cya-nosis, distension of cervical veins, engorgement of the liver, edema and other symptoms and signs of congestion, the volume is said to be above normal during failure and to decrease with compensation. In the latter type, characterized by pallor, poor venous filling, marked respiratory distress and weakness, but no marked edema, the volume is said to be below normal during failure and to increase during compensation. In this communication we will report the results of our studies in patients in congestive heart failure, selected from the Cardiac Clinic and Medical Wards of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. We have employed the method developed by Gregersen, Gibson and Stead (15), as modified for clinical use by us (16). This method measures the plasma volume by means of an azo dye, Evans Blue, and employs the spectrophotometer for colorimetric estimation of dye concentration in serial samples of blood serum. The total blood volume and red cell volume are calculated from hematocrit values of venous blood and the plasma volume. In addition, many observations on ve-nous pressure and circulation time were made by methods previously described (16). Changes occurring during the transition from the compensated to decompensated state were studied by means of statistical analysis of a large number of single determinations in patients in varying stages of heart disease. Cases were placed in groups according to the severity of symptoms and clinical signs of congestive failure. …
Intracortical Cartography in an Agranular Area

A well-defined granular layer 4 is a defining cytoarchitectonic feature associated with sensory areas of mammalian cerebral cortex, and one with hodological significance: the local axons ascending from cells in thalamorecipient layer 4 and connecting to layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons form a major feedforward excitatory interlaminar projection. Conversely, agranular cortical areas, lacking a distinct layer 4, pose a hodological conundrum: without a laminar basis for the canonical layer 4→2/3 pathway, what is the basic circuit organization? This review highlights current challenges and prospects for local-circuit electroanatomy and electrophysiology in agranular cortex, focusing on the mouse. Different lines of evidence, drawn primarily from studies of motor areas in frontal cortex in rodents, support the view that synaptic circuits in agranular cortex are organized around prominent descending excitatory layer 2/3→5 pathways targeting multiple classes of projection neurons.
Dual DNA Methylation Patterns in the CNS Reveal Developmentally Poised Chromatin and Monoallelic Expression of Critical Genes

As a first step towards discovery of genes expressed from only one allele in the CNS, we used a tiling array assay for DNA sequences that are both methylated and unmethylated (the MAUD assay). We analyzed regulatory regions of the entire mouse brain transcriptome, and found that approximately 10% of the genes assayed showed dual DNA methylation patterns. They include a large subset of genes that display marks of both active and silent, i.e., poised, chromatin during development, consistent with a link between differential DNA methylation and lineage-specific differentiation within the CNS. Sixty-five of the MAUD hits and 57 other genes whose function is of relevance to CNS development and/or disorders were tested for allele-specific expression in F1 hybrid clonal neural stem cell (NSC) lines. Eight MAUD hits and one additional gene showed such expression. They include Lgi1, which causes a subtype of inherited epilepsy that displays autosomal dominance with incomplete penetrance; Gfra2, a receptor for glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor GDNF that has been linked to kindling epilepsy; Unc5a, a netrin-1 receptor important in neurodevelopment; and Cspg4, a membrane chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan associated with malignant melanoma and astrocytoma in human. Three of the genes, Camk2a, Kcnc4, and Unc5a, show preferential expression of the same allele in all clonal NSC lines tested. The other six genes show a stochastic pattern of monoallelic expression in some NSC lines and bi-allelic expression in others. These results support the estimate that 1–2% of genes expressed in the CNS may be subject to allelic exclusion, and demonstrate that the group includes genes implicated in major disorders of the CNS as well as neurodevelopment.
Jet substructure at the Tevatron and LHC: new results, new tools, new benchmarksReport prepared by the participants of the BOOST 2011 Workshop at Princeton University, 22–26 May 2011. L Asquith (lasquith@hep.anl.gov), S Rappoccio (rappocc@fnal.gov) and C K Vermilion (verm@uw.edu), editors.

In this paper, we review recent theoretical progress and the latest experimental results in jet substructure from the Tevatron and the LHC. We review the status of and outlook for calculation and simulation tools for studying jet substructure. Following up on the report of the Boost 2010 workshop, we present a new set of benchmark comparisons of substructure techniques, focusing on the set of variables and grooming methods that are collectively known as ‘top taggers’. To facilitate further exploration, we have attempted to collect, harmonize and publish software implementations of these techniques.
A MODEL‐FREE VERSION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL THEOREM OF ASSET PRICING AND THE SUPER‐REPLICATION THEOREM

We propose a Fundamental Theorem of Asset Pricing and a Super‐Replication Theorem in a model‐independent framework. We prove these theorems in the setting of finite, discrete time and a market consisting of a risky asset S as well as options written on this risky asset. As a technical condition, we assume the existence of a traded option with a superlinearly growing payoff‐function, e.g., a power option. This condition is not needed when sufficiently many vanilla options maturing at the horizon T are traded in the market.
How guanxi HRM practice relates to emotional exhaustion and job performance: the moderating role of individual pay for performance

Abstract Employees may experience and respond to the coexistence of guanxi human resource management (HRM) practice and individual pay for performance (PFP) in transition economies within China. Based on conservation of resources theory, this study addresses the question of how guanxi HRM practice and individual PFP interact to impact employee emotional exhaustion and job performance. We hypothesized and tested the theoretical model using data collected across three phases over six months from 42 supervisors and 189 subordinates. We found that the presence of high individual PFP renders the negative effect of guanxi HRM practice even worse. Furthermore, emotional exhaustion mediates the interactive effect of guanxi HRM practice with individual PFP on employee job performance. In particular, the indirect effect is negative and significant when individual PFP is high rather than low.
Dose escalation pharmacokinetics of intranasal scopolamine gel formulation

Astronauts experience Space Motion Sickness requiring treatment with an anti‐motion sickness medication, scopolamine during space missions. Bioavailability after oral administration of scopolamine is low and variable, and absorption form transdermal patch is slow and prolonged. Intranasal administration achieves faster absorption and higher bioavailability of drugs that are subject to extrahepatic, first pass metabolism after oral dosing. We examined pharmacokinetics of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 mg doses of the Investigational New Drug formulation of intranasal scopolamine gel (INSCOP) in 12 healthy subjects using a randomized, double‐blind cross‐over study design. Subjects received one squirt of 0.1 g of gel containing either 0.1 mg or 0.2 mg/0.1 mL scopolamine or placebo in each nostril. Serial blood samples and total urine voids were collected after dosing and drug concentrations were determined using a modified LC‐MS‐MS method. Results indicate dose‐linear pharmacokinetics of scopolamine with linear increases in Cmax and AUC within the dose range tested. Plasma drug concentrations were significantly lower in females than in males after administration of 0.4 dose. All three doses were well tolerated with no unexpected or serious adverse side effects reported. These results suggest that intranasal scopolamine gel formulation (INSCOP) offers a fast, reliable, and safe alternative for the treatment of motion sickness.
Survey on Status of Prosthodontists in Nepal, Service Rendered and Their Level of Satisfaction

Purpose: This survey aims to gather cumulative data on Prosthodontists in Nepal, their academic, financial and work status, services rendered and satisfaction level on job, lab support, material availability and work place environment. Material and methods: Online form was developed for the purpose of survey regarding “Status of Prosthodontists in Nepal, Service rendered and their level of satisfaction”. The online survey form was sent to Prosthodontists as per data available in Nepalese Prosthodontic Society. Data analysis was done from response obtained from November 1st to December 25th, 2017. Results: Among the 77 Prosthodontists whom the survey form were sent, 65 Prosthodontists responded (85%). The male were 55% and female 45%, majority of age ranges from 31 to 40 years. 81.5% had Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) degree and 52.3% had post graduation from Nepal. 80% of Prosthodontists are practicing in private institute including dental colleges, hospital and clinics. Among the academic degree, 1 tutor, 36 Assistant Professor, 4 Associate professor and 5 professors were recorded. 50% of Prosthodontists had original research article and case report published. Regarding the job satisfaction, lab support, material availability and working environment, most of them were satisfied. Conclusion: Number of Prosthodontists in Nepal are in growing trend. Most of them are of young age. Prosthodontic services rendered are growing in diverse aspect and most of them were satisfied with their job and work.
High-dose treatment with vitamin A analogues and risk of fractures.

OBJECTIVE To study fracture risk associated with use of systemic vitamin A analogue (isotretinoin and acitretin) treatment. DESIGN Case-control study. SETTING Nationwide registry. PARTICIPANTS A total of 124 655 patients with fractures (cases) and 373 962 age- and sex-matched controls. Main Outcome Measure Incidence of fractures in patients with and without exposure to systemic vitamin A analogues. Confounder control was performed for social variables, contacts with hospitals and general practitioners, alcoholism, and a number of other variables known to potentially affect fracture risk, including use of systemic, intramuscular, and topical corticosteroids and antiepileptic drugs and comorbid conditions. RESULTS No trend in risk of any fracture or of hip, forearm, or spine fractures was present with increasing doses or durations of treatment with vitamin A analogues. Subdividing vitamin A analogues into isotretinoin and acitretin did not change the results. CONCLUSION Risk of fracture is not associated with vitamin A analogue treatment.
Low Dimensional Localized Clustering (LDLC)

In the space of high-dimensional data, it is generally reasonable to assume that the data points are on (or close to) one or more submanifolds. Each of these submanifolds can be modeled by a number of linear subspaces. This is in fact the main intuition behind a majority of subspace clustering algorithms. In many cases, however, the subspaces computed by these algorithms consist of disconnected subsets of the underlying submanifolds and therefore, do not form localized and compact clusters. To address this problem, we propose "Low Dimensional Localized Clustering (LDLC)", a new method for subspace clustering. Unlike existing methods, LDLC respects the topology of the underling submanifolds and assigns the data points to localized clusters such that the total reconstruction error is minimized. This is a valuable property in many tasks, such as semi-supervised classification, data visualization and local dimensionality reduction. We establish connections between LDLC, K-Means, and VQPCA from different perspectives, and validate our method through various experiments on synthetic and real data sets.
Investigating visual and auditory scene feedback to early visual foveal and peripheral cortex using fMRI

In this thesis I will present three lines of investigation using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) methods to elucidate the characteristics of cortico-cortical feedback to early visual cortex. In particular, we were interested in whether regions retinotopically sensitive to central and peripheral regions of the visual field received different characteristic information types through feedback which suited their different processing capabilities. In Chapter 1, I describe the organisation of the visual system in terms of its feedforward and feedback processing streams. I also describe functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal and how it may be used to study visual feedback processes. I conclude with a brief rationale for studying feedback and in particular for why we focussed on feedback to foveal and peripheral early visual cortex. In Chapter 2, we present three fMRI experiments that use the occluded paradigm to build on work showing that objects are fedback exclusively to foveal cortex. We also use a novel analysis technique to provide support for the idea that the feedback information into foveal V1 cortex originates, at least in part, from lateral occipital cortex. In Chapter 3, we present two fMRI experiments in which we present subjects with ‘hybrid images’, which can be perceived as one of two natural scenes – one carried in low and one carried in high frequency information channels. We find that far peripheral early visual cortex is influenced in a top down manner, whilst foveal cortex more faithfully represents the feedforward input. This provides evidence for scene related feedback to far peripheral cortex. In Chapter 4, we use high resolution 7T fMRI to study cross-modal feedback across the laminae of early visual cortex. We show that scene information presented in the auditory domain can be found in the deeper layers of early visual cortex. Conversely, mental scene imagery can be found in the superficial layers. We
Short communication Immunocytochemical study on the distribution of p53 in the hippocampus and cerebellum of the aged rat

A role for p53-mediated modulation of neuronal viability has been suggested by the finding that p53 expression is increased in damaged neurons in models of ischemia and epilepsy. P53 gene upregulation precedes apoptosis in many cell types, and a potential role for this molecule in apoptosis of neurons has already been demonstrated in Alzheimer’s disease. Recent studies suggest that p53-associated apoptosis may be a common mechanism of cell loss in several important neurodegenerative diseases. In the present study, we examined changes in p53-immunoreactive (IR) neurons in the brains of aged rats for the first time employing immunocytochemical and in situ hybridization methods. P53-IR neurons were found in the CA1 region of hippocampus, septal region and cerebellum in the aged rats, but there was no p53-IR cell in the brains of adult rats. In the hippocampus of the aged rat, p53-IR cells predominated in the stratum oriens and pyramidal layers, while the molecular layer contained relatively few p53-IR cells. The most prominent population of immunoreactive labeling in cerebellar cortex was localised within the cell bodies of Purkinje cells and dendrites in molecular layers. Upregulation of p53 in the Purkinje cells observed in this study suggests that significant loss of Purkinje cells with aging may be regulated with several apoptosis-controlling factors including p53 and oxidative stress mechanism. Further investigations are required to establish whether direct functional relations exist between p53 and the apoptotic neuronal death in normal aging or Alzheimer brains. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Planck intermediate results - III. The relation between galaxy cluster mass and Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal

We examine the relation between the galaxy cluster mass M and Sunyaev-Zeldovich ({SZ)} effect signal {DA2} Y500 for a sample of 19 objects for which weak lensing ({WL)} mass measurements obtained from Subaru Telescope data are available in the literature. Hydrostatic X-ray masses are derived from {XMM-Newton} archive data, and the {SZ} effect signal is measured from Planck all-sky survey data. We find an {MWL} - {DA2} Y500 relation that is consistent in slope and normalisation with previous determinations using weak lensing masses; however, there is a normalisation offset with respect to previous measures based on hydrostatic X-ray mass-proxy relations. We verify that our {SZ} effect measurements are in excellent agreement with previous determinations from Planck data. For the present sample, the hydrostatic X-ray masses at R500 are on average {\textasciitilde} 20 percent larger than the corresponding weak lensing masses, which is contrary to expectations. We show that the mass discrepancy is driven by a difference in mass concentration as measured by the two methods and, for the present sample, that the mass discrepancy and difference in mass concentration are especially large for disturbed systems. The mass discrepancy is also linked to the offset in centres used by the X-ray and weak lensing analyses, which again is most important in disturbed systems. We outline several approaches that are needed to help achieve convergence in cluster mass measurement with X-ray and weak lensing observations. Appendices are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda. org
Difference in virulence between Staphylococcus aureus isolates causing gangrenous mastitis versus subclinical mastitis in a dairy sheep flock

Staphylococcus aureus mastitis in dairy sheep ranges from subclinical mastitis to lethal gangrenous mastitis. Neither the S. aureus virulence factors nor the host-factors or the epidemiological events contributing to the different outcomes are known. In a field study in a dairy sheep farm over 21 months, 16 natural isolates of S. aureus were collected from six subclinical mastitis cases, one lethal gangrenous mastitis case, nasal carriage from eight ewes and one isolate from ambient air in the milking room. A genomic comparison of two strains, one responsible for subclinical mastitis and one for lethal gangrenous mastitis, was performed using multi-strain DNA microarrays. Multiple typing techniques (pulsed-field-gel-electrophoresis, multiple-locus variable-number, single-nucleotide polymorphisms, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA, spa typing and sas typing) were used to characterise the remaining isolates and to follow the persistence of the gangrenous isolate in ewes’ nares. Our results showed that the two strains were genetically closely related and they shared 3 615 identical predicted open reading frames. However, the gangrenous mastitis isolate carried variant versions of several genes (sdrD, clfA-B, sasA, sasB, sasD, sasI and splE) and was missing fibrinogen binding protein B (fnbB) and a prophage. The typing results showed that this gangrenous strain emerged after the initial subclinical mastitis screening, but then persisted in the flock in the nares of four ewes. Although we cannot dismiss the role of host susceptibility in the clinical events in this flock, our data support the hypothesis that S. aureus populations had evolved in the sheep flock and that S. aureus genetic variations could have contributed to enhanced virulence.