Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Two-Layer Perceptron for Classifying Flat Scaled-Turned-Shifted Objects by Additional Feature Distortions in Training

A problem of classifying diversely distorted objects is considered. These objects are modeled as flat scaled-turnedshifted objects. In order to substitute complicated and slow deep learning architectures, two-layer perceptron is tried to be a classifier. For this, the perceptron classifier is trained by a specific embedding into the training process. The embedding is additional feature distortions regularizing the training so that it makes the perceptron classify diversely distorted objects more accurately. In classifying 60×80 monochrome images of 26 enlarged capital letters, an appropriately trained perceptron is identified which performs with less than 4% of errors at medium intensity of distortions. The perceptron keeps its high-accurate classification capabilities if total number of object features and classes’ number are different from those 4800 and 26, respectively. Furthermore, unlike deep learning classifiers, twolayer perceptron can take just about half a minute to classify 10000 diversely distorted objects. © 2015 World Academic Press, UK. All rights reserved.
Seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus among volunteer blood donors in the National Blood Transfusion Center of Lomé

Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) at the Centre National de Transfusion (CNTS) of Lomé, Togo. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, which included volunteer blood donors from 2011–2015 at the CNTS of Lomé. The age ranged from 18–60 years old. All donors were screened for HBV, HCV and HIV using ELISA and the seroprevalence of these viruses was calculated using Graph Pad Liza Koboyo Nadjir1, Malewe Kolou2, Gnatoulma Katawa3, Alexander Kwame Kwarteng4, Abdoul Raouf Issa5, Hèzouwè Magnang6, Koffi Mawussi7, Lochina Feteke8, Koffi Yvon Segbena9 Affiliations: 1Biologist Medical doctor, Liza Koboyo NA DJIR, CNTS of Lomé, Université de Lomé, Lomé, Togo; 2Biologist Medical doctor, Malewe KOLOU, CHU Campus, University of Lomé, Lomé, Togo; 3PhD, Gnatoulma Katawa, ESTBA, Université de Lomé, Lomé, Togo; 4PhD, Alexander Kwame Kwarteng, Kumasi Centre for Collabora tive Research in Tropical Medicine, Kumassi, Ghana; 5PhD, Abdoul Raouf Issa, BIOLIM, University of Lomé, Lomé, Togo; 6Biologist Medi cal Doctor, Hézouwè MAGNANG, CNTS of Lomé, Univer sity of Lomé, Lomé, Togo; 7Biologist Medical Doctor, Koffi MAWUSSI, CNTS of Lomé, University of Lomé, Lomé, Togo; 8Biologist Medical Doctor, Lochina FETEKE, CNTS of Lomé, University of Lomé, Lomé, Togo; 9Professor, Koffi Yvon SEGBENA, CHU Campus, University of Lomé, Lomé, Togo. Corresponding Author: Liza Koboyo NADJIR, Lomé, Togo, BP: 4090 Lomé , Togo; Email:lizanadjir@yahoo.fr Received: 13 June 2017 Accepted: 21 July 2017 Published: 27 October 2017 Prism software. Results: Male donors (86.44%) were significantly more represented than female (13.71%). Regular donors (72.2%) were more than first time donors (28%, p<0.001). The overall seroprevalence during the study period was 2.63%, 1.58% and 0.92% for HBV, HCV and HIV, respectively. The seroprevalence of these viruses in blood donors decreased from 2011–2015. The proportion of HBV among blood-borne viral infection represented, 48.81%, 54.16%, 51.71%, 46.71% and 58.10% in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively. Conclusion: This study permitted to monitor the dynamics of HBV, HCV and HIV in blood donors for five years in Lomé, and revealed the need to reinforce screening, preventive and sensitization strategies to improve transfusion safety in Togo.
When vegetation change alters ecosystem water availability

The combined effects of vegetation and climate change on biosphere–atmosphere water vapor (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) exchanges are expected to vary depending, in part, on how biotic activity is controlled by and alters water availability. This is particularly important when a change in ecosystem composition alters the fractional covers of bare soil, grass, and woody plants so as to influence the accessibility of shallower vs. deeper soil water pools. To study this, we compared 5 years of eddy covariance measurements of H2O and CO2 fluxes over a riparian grassland, shrubland, and woodland. In comparison with the surrounding upland region, groundwater access at the riparian sites increased net carbon uptake (NEP) and evapotranspiration (ET), which were sustained over more of the year. Among the sites, the grassland used less of the stable groundwater resource, and increasing woody plant density decoupled NEP and ET from incident precipitation (P), resulting in greater exchange rates that were less variable year to year. Despite similar gross patterns, how groundwater accessibility affected NEP was more complex than ET. The grassland had higher respiration (Reco) costs. Thus, while it had similar ET and gross carbon uptake (GEP) to the shrubland, grassland NEP was substantially less. Also, grassland carbon fluxes were more variable due to occasional flooding at the site, which both stimulated and inhibited NEP depending upon phenology. Woodland NEP was large, but surprisingly similar to the less mature, sparse shrubland, even while having much greater GEP. Woodland Reco was greater than the shrubland and responded strongly and positively to P, which resulted in a surprising negative NEP response to P. This is likely due to the large accumulation of carbon aboveground and in the surface soil. These long‐term observations support the strong role that water accessibility can play when determining the consequences of ecosystem vegetation change.
Welfare Standards in U.S. and EU Antitrust Enforcement

In Part I of this article, we discuss the importance of the development of economic analysis in US and European competition law to better explain how the choice of economic welfare standard has become the fundamental question of which goal to choose for competition law. This discussion sets up our substantive analysis of goals. In this article, we analyze two types of situations in which there would be a different outcome based on the goal implemented. In Part II, we discuss the first scenario. This scenario involves resale price maintenance (RPM). For RPM, we argue that even if there were a different welfare standard across jurisdictions as between Europe and the United States, in practice, it would have very little global impact. In the next part, Part III, we analyze the question of different global standards with regards to merger control. In this second scenario, we analyze a difference in welfare standard between merger regimes where the use of efficiencies might play out differently across Europe and the United States depending on the welfare standard used. Under this second scenario, the welfare standard matters globally as to business outcomes in a way in which it does not under the first scenario. If one major merger regime blocks the merger, it effectively blocks the merger globally. Part IV provides our concluding thoughts on the future and desirability of convergence around total welfare as the sole goal in the practice of competition economics globally.
Design of a switched-capacitors step-down converter

Nowadays, cars are moving toward the 42 V battery architecture, but part of the electronics still rely on the 14 V power line. The alternator, for this type of system, is designed to deliver 42 V. Hence, a converter is needed to deliver power also to the 14 V power line. The typical 14 V-load power consumption is about 1 kW, which is a relatively high power. When working at high power, the most critical parameter to take care of is the efficiency: in the first place, to avoid internal energy dissipation to be critical for the reliability of the converter, but also to make battery-based systems last as long as possible. Instead of resorting to conventional converters (studied for so long, hence reliable and mature in control), this work aims at studying a switched-capacitor converter solution. The most remarkable feature of this type of converter is that high efficiency can be achieved without making use of any inductor. Indeed, this type of converter does not resort to magnetic energy conservation, and uses only capacitors and switches for voltage conversion. Except for low-power applications, in which the output voltage can be regulated maintaining high-efficiency, the voltage gain is fixed (e.g., doubling, halving, inverting the input voltage); that is why they are mainly employed as charge pumps, for instance in electrically re-programmable memories to boost up the voltage and erase the memory, or to drive high-side MOSFETs, as an alternative solution to the bootstrap technique. Starting from an overview of the different available converter solutions, the subset of the switched-capacitors converter is introduced, presenting also some examples where they have been implemented even for high power conversion. Next, this type of converter is studied more in detail. First, the analysis of a simple 1-to-1 switched-capacitors converter is performed, to define the criteria that make any
Sanio's laws revisited. Size-dependent changes in the xylem architecture of trees.

Early observations led Sanio [Wissen. Bot. , 8, (1872) 401] to state that xylem conduit diameters and lengths in a coniferous tree increase from the apex down to a height below which they begin to decrease towards the tree base. Sanio's law of vertical tapering has been repeatedly tested with contradictory results and the debate over the scaling of conduit diameters with distance from the apex has not been settled. The debate has recently acquired new vigour, as an accurate knowledge of the vertical changes in wood anatomy has been shown to be crucial to scaling metabolic properties to plant and ecosystem levels. Contrary to Sanio's hypothesis, a well known model (MST, metabolic scaling theory) assumes that xylem conduits monotonically increase in diameter with distance from the apex following a power law. This has been proposed to explain the three-fourth power scaling between size and metabolism seen across plants. Here, we (i) summarized available data on conduit tapering in trees and (ii) propose a new numerical model that could explain the observed patterns. Data from 101 datasets grouped into 48 independent profiles supported the notions that phylogenetic group (angiosperms versus gymnosperms) and tree size strongly affected the vertical tapering of conduit diameter. For both angiosperms and gymnosperms, within-tree tapering also varied with distance from the apex. The model (based on the concept that optimal conduit tapering occurs when the difference between photosynthetic gains and wall construction costs is maximal) successfully predicted all three major empirical patterns. Our results are consistent with Sanio's law only for large trees and reject the MST assumptions that vertical tapering in conduit diameter is universal and independent of rank number.
Cannabis and suicide: longitudinal study

Background Some studies suggest that cannabis use is associated with suicidal ideation, but no detailed longitudinal study has examined suicide as an outcome. Aims To examine the association between cannabis use and completed suicide. Method A longitudinal study investigated 50 087 men conscripted for Swedish military service, with cannabis use measured non-anonymously at conscription. Suicides during 33 years of follow-up were identified by linkage with the National Cause of Death Register. Results There were 600 (1.2% of cohort) suicides or deaths from undetermined causes. Cannabis use was associated with an increased risk of suicide (crude OR for ‘ever use’ 1.62, 95% CI 1.28–2.07), but this association was eliminated after adjustment for confounding (adjusted OR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.65–1.20). Conclusions Although there was a strong association between cannabis use and suicide, this was explained by markers of psychological and behavioural problems. These results suggest that cannabis use is unlikely to have a strong effect on risk of completed suicide, either directly or as a consequence of mental health problems secondary to its use.
A coupled modelling approach to assess the effect of fuel treatments on post-wildfire runoff and erosion

The hydrological consequences of wildfires are among their most significant and long-lasting effects. As wildfireseverityaffectspost-firehydrologicalresponse,fueltreatmentscanbeausefultoolforlandmanagerstomoderate this response. However, current models focus on only one aspect of the fire-watershed linkage (fuel treatments, fire behaviour, fire severity, watershed responses). This study outlines a spatial modelling approach that couples three models used sequentially to allow managers to model the effects of fuel treatments on post-fire hydrological responses. Case studies involving a planned prescribed fire at Zion National Park and a planned mechanical thinning at Bryce Canyon NationalParkwereusedtodemonstratetheapproach.FueltreatmentsweremodelledusingFuelCalcandFlamMapwithin theWildlandFireAssessmentTool(WFAT). TheFirstOrderFireEffectsModel(FOFEM)withinWFATwasthenusedto evaluate the effectiveness of the fuel treatments by modelling wildfires on both treated and untreated landscapes. Post- wildfire hydrological response was then modelled using KINEROS2 within the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment tool (AGWA). This coupled model approach could help managers estimate the effect of planned fuel treatments on wildfire severity and post-wildfire runoff or erosion, and compare various fuel treatment scenarios to optimise resources and maximise mitigation results.
Brachial -- ankle pulse wave velocity is a simple and independent predictor of prognosis in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

BACKGROUND Although a very simple method of measuring brachial -- ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) has become available in a clinical setting, whether baPWV can predict future cardiovascular events remains uncertain. We examined whether baPWV is a predictor of cardiovascular events in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). METHODS AND RESULTS baPWV measurement was performed in 215 consecutive patients with ACS. During the follow-up period (26+/-10 months), 46 patients experienced post-hospitalization cardiovascular events (18 patients experienced a major event (eg, stroke, re-admission for heart failure or cardiac death), and 28 patients experienced coronary re-intervention). A receiver operating characteristic curve demonstrated that the best cut-off point of a baPWV for predicting a post-hospitalization cardiovascular event was 17.00 m/s and that for predicting a major cardiovascular event was 18.00 m/s. After the adjustment for the conventional risk factors influencing the prognosis, a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model demonstrated that both cut-off points of baPWV had a significant hazard ratio for a post-hospitalization event: 5.47 (2.69-11.09) and for a major cardiovascular event: 9.22 (2.78-30.56). CONCLUSIONS baPWV is a simple predictor of the prognosis of patients with ACS that is independent of conventional risk factors for ACS.
Public Transportation and Tuberculosis Transmission in a High Incidence Setting

Background Tuberculosis (TB) transmission may occur with exposure to an infectious contact often in the setting of household environments, but extra-domiciliary transmission also may happen. We evaluated if using buses and/or minibuses as public transportation was associated with acquiring TB in a high incidence urban district in Lima, Peru. Methods Newly diagnosed TB cases with no history of previous treatment and community controls were recruited from August to December 2008 for a case-control study. Crude and adjusted odd ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using logistic regression to study the association between bus/minibus use and TB risk. Results One hundred forty TB cases and 80 controls were included. The overall use of buses/minibuses was 44.9%; 53.3% (72/135) among cases and 30.4% (24/79) among controls [OR: 3.50, (95% CI: 1.60–7.64)]. In the TB group, 25.7% (36/140) of subjects reported having had a recent household TB contact, and 13% (18/139) reported having had a workplace TB contact; corresponding figures for controls were 3.8% (3/80) and 4.1% (3/73), respectively[OR: 8.88 (95% CI: 2.64–29.92), and OR: 3.89 (95% CI: 1.10–13.70)]. In multivariate analyses, age, household income, household contact and using buses/minibuses to commute to work were independently associated with TB [OR for bus/minibus use: 11.8 (95% CI: 1.45–96.07)]. Conclusions Bus/minibus use to commute to work is associated with TB risk in this high-incidence, urban population in Lima, Peru. Measures should be implemented to prevent TB transmission through this exposure.
Participation of the Classical Speech Areas in Auditory Long-Term Memory

Accumulating evidence suggests that storing speech sounds requires transposing rapidly fluctuating sound waves into more easily encoded oromotor sequences. If so, then the classical speech areas in the caudalmost portion of the temporal gyrus (pSTG) and in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) may be critical for performing this acoustic-oromotor transposition. We tested this proposal by applying repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to each of these left-hemisphere loci, as well as to a nonspeech locus, while participants listened to pseudowords. After 5 minutes these stimuli were re-presented together with new ones in a recognition test. Compared to control-site stimulation, pSTG stimulation produced a highly significant increase in recognition error rate, without affecting reaction time. By contrast, IFG stimulation led only to a weak, non-significant, trend toward recognition memory impairment. Importantly, the impairment after pSTG stimulation was not due to interference with perception, since the same stimulation failed to affect pseudoword discrimination examined with short interstimulus intervals. Our findings suggest that pSTG is essential for transforming speech sounds into stored motor plans for reproducing the sound. Whether or not the IFG also plays a role in speech-sound recognition could not be determined from the present results.
Improving Crowdsourced Label Quality Using Noise Correction

Crowdsourcing systems provide a cost effective and convenient way to collect labels, but they often fail to guarantee the quality of the labels. This paper proposes a novel framework that introduces noise correction techniques to further improve the quality of integrated labels that are inferred from the multiple noisy labels of objects. In the proposed general framework, information about the qualities of labelers estimated by a front-end ground truth inference algorithm is utilized to supervise subsequent label noise filtering and correction. The framework uses a novel algorithm termed adaptive voting noise correction (AVNC) to precisely identify and correct the potential noisy labels. After filtering out the instances with noisy labels, the remaining cleansed data set is used to create multiple weak classifiers, based on which a powerful ensemble classifier is induced to correct these noises. Experimental results on eight simulated data sets with different kinds of features and two real-world crowdsourcing data sets in different domains consistently show that: 1) the proposed framework can improve label quality regardless of inference algorithms, especially under the circumstance that each instance has a few repeated labels and 2) since the proposed AVNC algorithm considers both the number of and the probability of potential label noises, it outperforms the state-of-the-art noise correction algorithms.
Validation of LRG1 as a Potential Biomarker for Detection of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer by a Blinded Study

Background Leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein (LRG1) was found to be differentially expressed in sera from patients with Epithelial Ovarian Cancer (EOC). The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of LRG1 for detection of EOC, including early stage EOC, and to evaluate if LRG1 can complement CA125 in order to improve EOC detection using two independent blinded sample sets. Methods and Results Serum LRG1 and CA125 were measured by immunoassays. All assays were performed blinded to clinical data. Using the two independent sample sets (156 participants for sample set 1, and 233 for sample set 2), LRG1 was differentially expressed in EOC cases as compared to healthy, surgical, and benign controls, and its performance was not affected by the conditions of blood collection. The areas under the ROC curve (AUC) for LRG1 in differentiating EOC cases from non-cases were 0.797 and 0.786 for sample set 1 and 2. For differentiating EOC cases from healthy controls, the AUC values for LRG1 were 0.792 and 0.794. At a fixed specificity of 95%, LRG1 detects 52%, and 53.5% of EOC cases from healthy controls for sample set 1 and 2. When combining LRG1 and CA125, the AUC value increased to 0.927, which was improved compared to CA125 (AUC=0.916) (p=0.008) alone in distinguishing EOC cases from non-cases. More importantly, LRG1 also showed potential performance in differentiating early stage EOC from non-cases with an AUC of 0.715 for sample set 1, and 0.690 for sample set 2. The combination of LRG1 and CA125 resulted in an AUC of 0.838, which outperforms CA125 (AUC=0.785) (p=0.018) in detecting early stage EOC cases from non-cases using the larger sample set. Conclusions LRG1 could be a useful biomarker alone or in combination with CA125 for the diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS IN BARNARD’S LOOP, COMPONENTS OF THE ORION-ERIDANUS BUBBLE, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE WARM IONIZED MEDIUM COMPONENT OF THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM

We have supplemented existing spectra of Barnard's Loop with high accuracy spectrophotometry of one new position. Cloudy photoionization models were calculated for a variety of ionization parameters and stellar temperatures and compared with the observations. After testing the procedure with recent observations of M43, we establish that Barnard's Loop is photoionized by four candidate ionizing stars, but agreement between the models and observations is only possible if Barnard's Loop is enhanced in heavy elements by about a factor of 1.4. Barnard's Loop is very similar in properties to the brightest components of the Orion-Eridanus Bubble and the warm ionized medium (WIM). We are able to establish models that bound the range populated in low-ionization color–color diagrams (I([S ii])/I(Hα) versus I([N ii])/I(Hα)) using only a limited range of ionization parameters and stellar temperatures. Previously established variations in the relative abundance of heavy elements render uncertain the most common method of determining electron temperatures for components of the Orion-Eridanus Bubble and the WIM based only on the I([N ii])/I(Hα) ratio, although we confirm that the lowest surface brightness components of the WIM are on average of higher electron temperature. The electron temperatures for a few high surface brightness WIM components determined by direct methods are comparable to those of classical bright H ii regions. In contrast, the low surface brightness H ii regions studied by the Wisconsin Hα Mapper are of lower temperatures than the classical bright H ii regions.