Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Community-based intervention study on knowledge and training needs of disaster medicine among local residents in a disaster-prone coastal area of Southern India

Background: A state of preparedness to a natural calamity can considerably mitigate loss of life and property and the human suffering and restore normalcy at the earliest. This study aimed at evaluation of knowledge levels on disaster management among community residents in Puducherry.Methods: Community based intervention study involving 150 community residents from a disaster affected coastal area was carried out employing convenient sampling. One-to-one interview was conducted using a structured questionnaire. Intervention through posters, lectures and disaster management mock drills was done. Evaluation was made using the same questionnaire following the intervention. The pre- and post-test evaluation were compared and analysed.Results: The study showed lower levels of knowledge regarding disaster management. Following the intervention there was a significant rise in the knowledge levels (p<0.005). Conclusions: This study may be useful for planning future training needs and IEC strategies for the community regarding disaster management.
Semantic Image Annotation based on Robust Probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis

Automatic image annotation is a promising solution to enable the semantic image retrieval via keywords. In this paper, we present a robust probabilistic latent semantic analysis (PLSA) for the task of automatic image annotation. On the one hand, since labeled images are often hard to obtain or create in large quantities while the unlabeled ones are easier to collect. Semi-supervised learning aims to achieve good classiﬁcation performance with the help of unlabelled data in the presence of the small sample size problem. Based on this recognition, the transductive support vector machine (TSVM) is exploited to enhance the quality of the training image data. On the other hand, the traditional bag-of-visual-words model is improved by integrating the contextual semantic information among visual words based on the PLSA. In the meanwhile, the approximation strategy of pseudo-likelihood in Markov random ﬁeld (MRF) is introduced to combine the feature appearance similarity in feature domain and the contextual semantic information in spatial domain. Extensive experiments on the general-purpose Corel5k dataset validate that the proposed method is much more eﬀective than several state-of-the-art approaches regarding their eﬀectiveness and eﬃciency in the tasks of automatic image annotation and retrieval.
Learning Efficient Sparse and Low Rank Models

Parsimony, including sparsity and low rank, has been shown to successfully model data in numerous machine learning and signal processing tasks. Traditionally, such modeling approaches rely on an iterative algorithm that minimizes an objective function with parsimony-promoting terms. The inherently sequential structure and data-dependent complexity and latency of iterative optimization constitute a major limitation in many applications requiring real-time performance or involving large-scale data. Another limitation encountered by these modeling techniques is the difficulty of their inclusion in discriminative learning scenarios. In this work, we propose to move the emphasis from the model to the pursuit algorithm, and develop a process-centric view of parsimonious modeling, in which a learned deterministic fixed-complexity pursuit process is used in lieu of iterative optimization. We show a principled way to construct learnable pursuit process architectures for structured sparse and robust low rank models, derived from the iteration of proximal descent algorithms. These architectures learn to approximate the exact parsimonious representation at a fraction of the complexity of the standard optimization methods. We also show that appropriate training regimes allow to naturally extend parsimonious models to discriminative settings. State-of-the-art results are demonstrated on several challenging problems in image and audio processing with several orders of magnitude speed-up compared to the exact optimization algorithms.
Applications of the lasso and grouped lasso to the estimation of sparse graphical models

We propose several methods for estimating edge-sparse and nodesparse graphical models based on lasso and grouped lasso penalties. We develop ecien t algorithms for tting these models when the numbers of nodes and potential edges are large. We compare them to competing methods including the graphical lasso and SPACE (Peng, Wang, Zhou & Zhu 2008). Surprisingly, we nd that for edge selection, a simple method based on univariate screening of the elements of the empirical correlation matrix usually performs as well or better than all of the more complex methods proposed here and elsewhere. Running title: Applications of the lasso and grouped lasso
Isotope constraints on seasonal dynamics of dissolved and particulate N in the Pearl River Estuary, south China

Isotope measurements were performed on dissolved NO3−, NH4+ and suspended particulate total N along a salinity gradient in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) to investigate seasonal changes in main N sources and its biogeochemical processing under the influence of monsoon climate. Our data revealed that municipal sewage and re-mineralized soil organic N were the major sources of DIN (NO3− and/or NH4+) in freshwater during winter and summer, respectively, whereas phytoplankton biomass was a major component of PN in both seasons. In low salinity waters (<2–3), nitrification was proved to be a significant NO3− source via NH4+ consumption, with N isotope effects of −15.3‰ in summer and −23.7‰ in winter for NH4+ oxidation. The contribution of nitrification to the total NO3− pool was smaller in summer than in winter, most likely due to freshwater dilution. At mid-salinities (3–20), δ15N values of PN were similar to those of NO3− and NH4+ in summer, reflecting a strong coupling between assimilation and remineralization. In winter, however, higher δ15NNH4 but lower δ15NNO3 than δ15NPN were observed, even though δ15NPN was similar between summer and winter. Intense sediment-water interaction and resuspension of sediments during winter appeared largely responsible for the decoupling. At high salinities, the greater enrichment in δ18ONO3 than in δ15NNO3 (up to 15.6‰) in winter suggests that atmospheric deposition may contribute to NO3− delivery during the dry season. Overall, these results show the importance of seasonal variability in physical forcing on biological N sources and its turnover processes in the highly dynamic river-dominated estuary. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Spatial partitioning of road traffic networks and their temporal evolution

Urban areas generally attract people from all interior areas. According to the current global trend, people are rapidly migrating from rural towards urban areas for several reasons that include availing better livelihood services and seeking better employment opportunities. Consequently, the population of cities all over the world is increasing significantly, and thereby raising the mobility demands manyfold. This strongly motivates the research areas of urban planning and urban computing to develop innovative technologies and move towards smart and more sustainable cities. As most of the urban population travel daily or frequently for their work or studies, traffic congestion has become a very important practical problem. It is affecting the urban population directly by incurring extra cost on the fuel and extra time spent, and indirectly in many ways. An important concern in smart urbanization of our societies is the avoidance of such congestions and maintenance of a smooth transportation. While the infrastructure development is one direction to deal with this problem, the analysis of spatial traffic data to discover the congestion formation and propagation patterns, and apply them to optimize the traffic flow is another direction. The research on road traffic networks data analysis is growing with the problems like fastest route computation, traffic clustering, traffic prediction, emerging event detection, anomaly detection and bottleneck identification. To discover the congestion patterns, the continuous tracking of the spatiotemporal evolution of the traffic load leading to congestions is an important problem. The research on development of methods to identify the congested partitions effectively and track their evolution efficiently has been very limited so far. In this thesis, we aim to capture the spatiotemporal evolution of urban road traffic networks. To this end, we propose technical methods to effectively partition road traffic networks in order to obtain the differently congested partitions at a point of time, and incrementally update those partitions in an efficient manner in order to track their evolution in real time. We firstly present a scalable method for traffic-based spatial partitioning of urban road traffic networks. It is based on a spectral theory based novel graph cut (referred as α-Cut)
Role of Iron in Brain Injury After Intraventricular Hemorrhage

Background and Purpose— Intraventricular extension of hemorrhage is a predictor of poor outcome in intracerebral hemorrhage, and iron overload contributes to brain injury after intracerebral hemorrhage. The current study investigated the role of iron in ventricular dilatation and neuronal death in a rat model of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH). Methods— There were 2 parts in this study. First, male Sprague-Dawley rats had a 200-&mgr;L injection of either autologous blood or saline into the right lateral ventricle and were euthanized at different time points. Rats had MRI and brains were used for Western blot analysis, immunohistochemistry, histology, and brain tissue nonheme iron measurements. Second, rats had IVH and were treated with deferoxamine or vehicle, and rats were euthanized 4 weeks later for brain tissue loss and lateral ventricle size measurements. Results— IVH resulted in brain iron accumulation, bilateral enlargement of the lateral ventricles, and hippocampal brain tissue loss. Iron accumulation was associated with upregulation of heme oxygenase-1 and ferritin. Systemic deferoxamine treatment reduced IVH-induced ventricular enlargement (eg, day 28: 32.7±10.6 vs 43.8±9.7 mm3 in vehicle-treated group, n=8 to 9; P<0.05) and hippocampal brain tissue loss (hippocampal volume: 89.0±2.7 vs 85.2±4.1 mm3 in the vehicle-treated group; P<0.05). Conclusions— Iron has a role in brain injury after IVH. Deferoxamine may be a therapy for patients with IVH or intraventricular extension after intracerebral hemorrhage.
Prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux symptoms in asthma.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalences of symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux (GER), reflux-associated respiratory symptoms (RARS), and reflux-associated beta-agonist inhaler use in asthmatics. DESIGN Questionnaire-based, cross-sectional analytic survey. SETTING Outpatient asthma and clinical research clinics attached to the University of Calgary tertiary care centre and two family practices. PATIENTS Asthma group consisted of 109 patients referred to an outpatient asthma clinic. First control group consisted of 68 patients visiting their family physicians. Second control group consisted of 67 patients with thyroid disease, hypercholesterolemia, or diabetes participating in drug trials. RESULTS Among the asthmatics, 77%, 55%, and 24% experienced heartburn, regurgitation, and swallowing difficulties, respectively. Symptoms were less prevalent in the control groups. At least one antireflux medication was required by 37% of asthmatics (p < 0.001, vs controls). None of the asthma medications were associated with an increased likelihood of symptomatic GER. In the week prior to completing the questionnaire, 41% of the asthmatics noted RARS, including cough, dyspnea, and wheeze and 28% used their inhalers while experiencing GER symptoms. Inhaler use correlated with the severity of heartburn (r = 0.28, p < 0.05) and regurgitation (r = 0.40, p < 0.05) CONCLUSIONS The questionnaire demonstrated a greater prevalence of GER symptoms, RARS, and reflux-associated inhaler use in asthmatics. This excessive inhaler use may explain how GER indirectly causes asthma to worsen.
Peritonitis in patients over the age of 50 years: 98 cases managed surgically

Generalized peritonitis in patients over the age of 50 years is a common surgical emergency. This is a retrospective analysis of 98 cases managed surgically. Duodenal ulcer perforations, necrotizing enteritis, acute cholecystitis with perforation and small bowel perforations were the common causes. Most of them presented late, and many had associated conditions. Re-look laparotomies had a definite role to play. While there is significant decrease in the number of typhoid and tubercular peritonitis, there appears to be an increase in the incidence of necrotizing enteritis and acute cholecystitis.
RELATIONSHIPS OF RESTING AUTONOMIC ACTIVITY, MOTOR IMPULSIVITY, AND EEG TRACINGS IN CHILDREN.

Introduction A NUMBER OF investigators in studying continuous recordings of autonomic functioning of humans at rest have reported short-lived bursts of sympathetic-like activity. 2,3,5,9,11,12,15-20 These atypical fluctuations, appearing as periodic and aperiodic deviations from the mean trend of the record, are denoted spontaneous autonomic activity or background activity (BA). Johnson 9 defines this activity as "fluctuations of autonomic response in the apparent absence of external stimulation" (p 415). Spontaneous autonomic activity has been shown to be a reliable characteristic of the individual over time and across different experimental conditions. There is little or no correlation between BA and absolute levels of physiological functioning, and BA in one system is, in general, not predictive of BA in another. The autonomic functions most extensively studied are heart rate (HR) and skin resistance ( SR). Lacey and Lacey 11 devised an arbitrary method of quantifying BA in these two systems, later
A randomized clinical trial of progressive addition lenses versus single vision lenses on the progression of myopia in children.

PURPOSE The purpose of the Correction of Myopia Evaluation Trial (COMET) was to evaluate the effect of progressive addition lenses (PALs) compared with single vision lenses (SVLs) on the progression of juvenile-onset myopia. METHODS COMET enrolled 469 children (ages 6-11 years) with myopia between -1.25 and -4.50 D spherical equivalent. The children were recruited at four colleges of optometry in the United States and were ethnically diverse. They were randomly assigned to receive either PALs with a +2.00 addition (n = 235) or SVLs (n = 234), the conventional spectacle treatment for myopia, and were followed for 3 years. The primary outcome measure was progression of myopia, as determined by autorefraction after cycloplegia with 2 drops of 1% tropicamide at each annual visit. The secondary outcome measure was change in axial length of the eyes, as assessed by A-scan ultrasonography. Child-based analyses (i.e., the mean of the two eyes) were used. Results were adjusted for important covariates, by using multiple linear regression. RESULTS Of the 469 children (mean age at baseline, 9.3 +/- 1.3 years), 462 (98.5%) completed the 3-year visit. Mean (+/-SE) 3-year increases in myopia (spherical equivalent) were -1.28 +/- 0.06 D in the PAL group and -1.48 +/- 0.06 D in the SVL group. The 3-year difference in progression of 0.20 +/- 0.08 D between the two groups was statistically significant (P = 0.004). The treatment effect was observed primarily in the first year. The number of prescription changes differed significantly by treatment group only in the first year. At 6 months, 17% of the PAL group versus 30% of the SVL group needed a prescription change (P = 0.0007), and, at 1 year, 43% of the PAL group versus 59% of the SVL group required a prescription change (P = 0.002). Interaction analyses identified a significantly larger treatment effect of PALs in children with lower versus higher baseline accommodative response at near (P = 0.03) and with lower versus higher baseline myopia (P = 0.04). Mean (+/- SE) increases in the axial length of eyes of children in the PAL and SVL groups, respectively, were: 0.64 +/- 0.02 mm and 0.75 +/- 0.02 mm, with a statistically significant 3-year mean difference of 0.11 +/- 0.03 mm (P = 0.0002). Mean changes in axial length correlated with those in refractive error (r = 0.86 for PAL and 0.89 for SVL). CONCLUSIONS Use of PALs compared with SVLs slowed the progression of myopia in COMET children by a small, statistically significant amount only during the first year. The size of the treatment effect remained similar and significant for the next 2 years. The results provide some support for the COMET rationale-that is, a role for defocus in progression of myopia. The small magnitude of the effect does not warrant a change in clinical practice.
EXCAVATIONS AT KURD QABURSTAN, A SECOND MILLENNIUM b.c. URBAN SITE ON THE ERBIL PLAIN 1

Excavations at the 109 hectare site of Kurd Qaburstan on the Erbil plain in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq were conducted by the Johns Hopkins University in 2013 and 2014. The Middle Bronze Age (Old Babylonian period) is the main period of occupation evident on the site, and the project therefore aims to study the character of a north Mesopotamian urban centre of the early second millennium b.c. On the high mound, excavations revealed three phases of Mittani (Late Bronze) period occupation, including evidence of elite residential architecture. On the low mound and the south slope of the high mound, Middle Bronze evidence included domestic remains with numerous ceramic vessels left in situ. Also dating to the Middle Bronze period is evidence of a city wall on the site edges. Later occupations include a cemetery, perhaps of Achaemenid date, on the south slope of the high mound and a Middle Islamic settlement on the southern lower town. Faunal and archaeobotanical analysis provide information on the plant and animal economy of the second millennium b.c. occupations, and geophysical results have documented a thirty-one hectare expanse of dense Middle Bronze Age architecture in the northern lower town.
Dynamic Scaling in the Growth of a Non-Branching Plant, Cardiocrinum cordatum

We investigated whole-plant leaf area in relation to ontogenetic variation in leaf-size for a forest perennial herb, Cardiocrinum cordatum. The 200-fold ontogenetic variability in C. cordatum leaf area followed a power-law dependence on total leaf number, a measure of developmental stage. When we normalized for plant size, the function describing the size of single leaves along the stem was similar among different-sized plants, implying that the different-sized canopies observed at different times in the growth trajectory were fundamentally similar to each other. We conclude that the growth trajectory of a population of C. cordatum plant leaves obeyed a dynamic scaling law, the first reported for a growth trajectory at the whole-plant level.
Supporting task-oriented navigation in IDEs with configurable HeatMaps

Mainstream IDEs generally rely on the static structure of a software project to support browsing and navigation. We propose HeatMaps, a simple but highly configurable technique to enrich the way an IDE displays the static structure of a software system with additional kinds of information. A HeatMap highlights software artifacts according to various metric values, such as bright red or pale blue, to indicate their potential degree of interest. We present a prototype system that implements HeatMaps, and we describe an initial study that assesses the degree to which different HeatMaps effectively guide developers in navigating software.
Applying Filtered Historical Simulation to American Options: Evidence form S&P 100 Index Options

We modify and extend the Filtered Historical Simulation (FHS) proposed by Barone-Adesi, Engle, and Mancini (2008) to price American options. The original FHS has been used with unreasonable initial conditional volatility. Therefore, we modify the FHS model by letting the initial conditional volatility be determined by the option market. We further extend the FHS to assess American options by linking to the Least-Square Monte-Carlo method. An empirical investigation on S&P 100 options shows our modified model is superior to the original FHS model. Moreover, we also found we should take both out-of-the-money and in-the-money option prices in consideration while calibrating pricing models to price American options.
Buffer-based channel dependent UpLink scheduling in relay-assisted LTE networks

We consider the problem of UpLink (UL) scheduling in relay-assisted Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks and propose a Buffer-based Channel dependent Scheduler (BCS) for the same. Our objectives are to minimize packet loss due to buffer overflow and increase resource utilization efficiency while ensuring fairness among users. This is achieved by utilizing the Buffer Status Report (BSR) available in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)-LTE. The proposed scheduler comprise three-phases. Phase I partitions the resources between eNB (Base Station in LTE) and Relay Nodes (RNs) while Phase II, between different RNs. This resource partitioning is entailed by Phase III which implements buffer-based channel dependent resource allocation. We perform simulations to illustrate reduction in packet drop probability and increment in resource utilization efficiency when BSR is incorporated in scheduling decision. Further, our simulations show that BCS provides higher degree of fairness and lower outage probability compared to opportunistic and round robin scheduler. We also investigate the impact of buffer based resource partitioning on packet drop probability.
Analysis of Adaptation Mutants in the Hemagglutinin of the Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 Virus

Hemagglutinin is the major surface glycoprotein of influenza viruses. It participates in the initial steps of viral infection through receptor binding and membrane fusion events. The influenza pandemic of 2009 provided a unique scenario to study virus evolution. We performed molecular dynamics simulations with four hemagglutinin variants that appeared throughout the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic. We found that variant 1 (S143G, S185T) likely arose to avoid immune recognition. Variant 2 (A134T), and variant 3 (D222E, P297S) had an increased binding affinity for the receptor. Finally, variant 4 (E374K) altered hemagglutinin stability in the vicinity of the fusion peptide. Variants 1 and 4 have become increasingly predominant, while variants 2 and 3 declined as the pandemic progressed. Our results show some of the different strategies that the influenza virus uses to adapt to the human host and provide an example of how selective pressure drives antigenic drift in viral proteins.
A contribution to branch prediction modeling in WCET analysis

The wider and wider use of high-performance processors as part of real-time systems makes it more and more difficult to guarantee that programs will respect their strict deadlines. While the computation of worst-case execution times (WCET) relies on static analysis of the code, the challenge is to model, with enough safety and accuracy, the behaviour of intrinsically dynamic components. We focus on the dynamic branch predictor. Several models to bound the number of branch mispredictions have previously been published. Some of them exhibit a high complexity while others have shown that taking into account semantic information from the source code makes things more tractable. We extend this work to more general nested loop structures. We also give some simulation results that show that the way branch mispredictions are usually taken into account cannot be both safe and accurate in the case of high-performance pipelines. We propose a more realistic approach to be used as part of WCET computation.