Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determining the relationship between the dielectric properties and the basic physical and chemical parameters of the air-dry soil

Measurements of the electric conductivity, σ, and relative dielectric permittivity, εr, were conducted (0.1Hz –15 MHz) on 40 air-dried soil samples that were subsequently analyzed for pH, total organic matter in soil (ΔM/m1), P2O5, , Fe2O3 and heavy metal concentrations (Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni, Cu и Zn). The pH of soil samples varied between pH 5.25 and pH 7.73 (mean pH 6.71), the ΔM/m1 varied between 1,49 % and 9.96 % (mean 4.56 %). The mean content of Fe2O3 was 44352.5 mg/kg, which was 114 fold higher than the mean concentration of the heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni, Cu и Zn). The mean content of P2O5 was 0.26% . We found a linear relation between σ (1 MHz) and the indicated physicochemical parameters; P2O5 (coefficient of correlation, r = 0.637), рН (R = 0.530 ) , Fe2O3 concentration (r = 0.450), content of ΔM/m1 (r = 0.545) and heavy metal concentration (r = 0.460). Similar relationships and correlation coefficients were found between εr (10 kHz) and the same physicochemical parameters. As the latter represent general biogeochemical parameters, our findings suggest that dielectric spectroscopy may provide useful approach to probing soil geochemistry, iron cycling and anaerobic microbial activity. Furthermore, our results yield insights into the impact of various physicochemical parameters on the induced polarization of soils.
Traffic Lights Detection in Adverse Conditions using Color, Symmetry and Spatiotemporal Information

This paper proposes the use of a monocular video camera for traffic lights detection, in a variety of conditions, including adverse weather and illumination. The system incorporates a color pre-processing module to enhance the discrimination of red and green regions in the image and handle the “blooming effect” that is often observed in such scenes. The fast radial symmetry transform is utilized for the detection of traffic light candidates and finally false positive results are minimized using spatiotemporal persistency verification. The system is qualitatively assessed in various conditions, including driving in the rain, at night and in city roads with dense traffic, as well as their synergy. It is also quantitatively assessed on a publicly available manually annotated database, scoring high detection rates.
Effect of Flat Plate Leading Edge Pattern on Structure of Streamwise Vortices Generated in Its Boundary Layer

The use of leading edge with different geometrical patterns will affect the development of boundary layer flow on a flat plate and its heat transfer properties. In this work, the effects of three patterns namely saw-tooth, semicircular and slots with same wavelength and amplitude were examined. The experiments were carried out for Reynolds number based on wavelength of patterns ranging from 1540 to 3850. For all cases, after each valley, an oval shape region was formed containing a counter- rotating vortex pair. It is also shown that for the flat plate with slots, another vortex was visualized between each valley.
The Relation of Cigarette Smoking to Incident Alzheimer’s Disease in a Biracial Urban Community Population

The relationship between smoking status and incident Alzheimer’s disease (AD) was investigated in a random stratified sample of a biracial community in Chicago. Analyses are based on 1,064 persons (of 1,134 evaluated) who had data on smoking status, disease incidence, and key covariates such as apolipoprotein allele status. During a mean of about 4 years of follow-up, 170 persons met criteria for incident AD. Current smoking was associated with increased risk of incident AD (OR = 3.4, 95% CI = 1.4–8.0) compared to persons who never smoked. There was no apparent increase in risk of AD for former smokers compared to persons who never smoked (OR = 0.9, 95% CI = 0.5–1.7). Apolipoprotein E allele status modified this association in that former smokers with a υ4 allele were less likely to develop AD (p = 0.04) than those who never smoked. Former smokers also appeared to have a reduced risk of developing AD as their pack-years of smoking increased (p = 0.02)such that the odds of developing AD increased by 50% for every 10 years of smoking cessation (OR = 1.3, CI = 0.9–1.7). The results suggest that older people who currently smoke are more likely to develop AD compared to those who never smoked; the relation between those who used to smoke but quit and the risk of AD is complex and requires further research.
Efficient combination of confidence measures for machine translation

We present in this paper a twofold contribution to Confidence Measures for Machine Translation. First, in order to train and test confidence measures, we present a method to automatically build corpora containing realistic errors. Errors introduced into reference translation simulate classical machine translation errors (word deletion and word substitution), and are supervised by Wordnet. Second, we use SVM to combine original and classical confidence measures both at word- and sentence-level. We show that the obtained combination outperforms by 14% (absolute) our best single word-level confidence measure, and that combination of sentence-level confidence measures produces meaningful scores.
Combined prednisolone and intravenous immunoglobulin treatment for acquired factor VIII inhibitors: a 2‐year review

Acquired inhibitors to factor VIII (FVIII) are rare, but life‐threatening in up to 22% of cases. The optimal therapy for suppression of these inhibitors remains unclear. Prednisolone is the mainstay of therapy, producing responses in approximately 30% of cases. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) has a similar response rate, but a more rapid effect. We report the results of prednisolone 1 mg kg−1 combined with IVIg 2 g kg−1 in divided doses as first‐line therapy in seven consecutive patients with acquired FVIII inhibitors. All patients were bleeding at the time of diagnosis with prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time. There were four complete responses, one partial response, one nonresponse and one with an inadequate follow‐up for assessment of response, giving an overall response rate of 71%. In all complete responders the inhibitor declined rapidly and was undetectable by day 21 from start of treatment. Therapy was well tolerated and responses have been maintained off treatment for 2–8 months. This is a safe, well‐tolerated rapidly acting regimen with good response rates.
Measuring Availability in Optimistic Partition-Tolerant Systems with Data Constraints

Replicated systems that run over partitionable environments, can exhibit increased availability if isolated partitions are allowed to optimistically continue their execution independently. This availability gain is traded against consistency, since several replicas of the same objects could be updated separately. Once partitioning terminates, divergences in the replicated state needs to be reconciled. One way to reconcile the state consists of letting the application manually solve inconsistencies. However, there are several situations where automatic reconciliation of the replicated state is meaningful. We have implemented replication and automatic reconciliation protocols that can be used as building blocks in a partition-tolerant middleware. The novelty of the protocols is the continuous service of the application even during the reconciliation process. A prototype system is experimentally evaluated to illustrate the increased availability despite network partitions.
Measures of functional status in community-dwelling elders

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate two performance-based measures of functional status and assess their correlation with self-report measures.DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.PARTICIPANTS: Of the 363 community-dwelling elders enrolled in a trial of comprehensive geriatric assessment who participated, all had at least one of four target conditions (urinary incontinence, depression, impaired functional status, or history of falling). MEASUREMENTS: Two performance-based measures, National Institute on Aging (NIA) Battery, and Physical Performance Test (PPT), and three self-report functional status measures, basic and intermediate activities of daily living and the Short-Form-36 (SF-36) physical functioning subscale, were used. Measures of restricted activity days, patient satisfaction and perceived efficacy were also used.MAIN RESULTS: All measures were internally consistent. There was a high correlation between the NIA and PPT (κ=0.71), while correlations between the performance-based and self-report measures ranged from 0.37 to 0.50. When patients with values above the median on the two performance-based measures were compared with those below, there were significant differences (p ≤ .0001) for age, number of medications, and the physical function, pain, general health, and physical role function SF-36 subscales.CONCLUSIONS: Performance-based measures correlated highly with each other and moderately with questionnaire-based measures. Performance-based measures also had construct validity and did not suffer from floor or ceiling effects.
Is quality of diet associated with the microvasculature? An analysis of diet quality and retinal vascular calibre in older adults

It is unknown whether diet quality is associated with microvascular structure. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between diet quality, reflecting adherence to dietary guidelines, with retinal microvascular calibre in older adults. The dietary data of 2720 Blue Mountains Eye Study participants, aged 50+ years, were collected using a semi-quantitative FFQ. A modified version of the Healthy Eating Index for Australians was developed to determine total diet scores (TDS). Fundus photographs were taken and retinal vascular calibre measured using computer-assisted techniques and summarised. After adjusting for age, sex, BMI, mean arterial blood pressure, smoking, serum glucose, leucocyte count and history of diagnosed stroke or CHD, persons with higher TDS had healthier retinal vessels cross-sectionally, with wider retinal arteriolar calibre (by approximately 3 μm, comparing the highest with the lowest quartile of TDS, Ptrend= 0·0001) and narrower retinal venular calibre (by approximately 2·5 μm; Ptrend= 0·02). In younger subjects aged ≤ 65 years, increasing TDS (lowest to the highest quartile) was associated with healthier retinal vessels: approximately 4·4 μm wider retinal arteriolar (Ptrend< 0·0001) and approximately 2·3 μm narrower venular calibre (Ptrend= 0·03). After multivariable adjustment, however, baseline TDS were not associated with retinal arteriolar (Ptrend= 0·89) or venular calibre (Ptrend= 0·25), 5 years later. Also, baseline TDS were not associated with the 5-year change in retinal arteriolar (β = 0·14; P= 0·29) or venular calibre (β = − 0·26; P= 0·07). Greater compliance with published dietary guidelines (higher diet quality) was cross-sectionally associated with wider retinal arterioles and narrower venules, indicating better retinal microvascular health.
A Novel Approach for Selecting the Participants to Collect Data in Participatory Sensing

This paper works on the participatory sensing in the area of sensor network. One of the most important challenges in participatory sensing is selecting the participants to collect their sensed data to monitor the environment. The goal here is to obtain the data of high quality with low payment from a predefined number of participants. To achieve the goal, this paper proposes a novel approach using the techniques of evolutionary algorithm. It models the goal as a multi-objective Knapsack problem, which is resolved by the hybrid scheme of Univariate Model Distribution Algorithm (UDMA) and the enhanced Third Evolution step of Generalized Differential Evolution (EGDE3). The experiment results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach in terms of the ratio of the payment and data quality, and takeover time compared with the Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Reverse Auction based Dynamic Price (RADP) scheme.
Diminution of Heart Rate Variability in Bipolar Depression

Autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysregulation in depression is associated with symptoms associated with the ANS. The beat-to-beat pattern of heart rate defined as heart rate variability (HRV) provides a noninvasive portal to ANS function and has been proposed to represent a means of quantifying resting vagal tone. We quantified HRV in bipolar depressed (BDD) patients as a measure of ANS dysregulation seeking to establish HRV as a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for treatment outcome. Forty-seven BDD patients were enrolled. They were randomized to receive either escitalopram–celecoxib or escitalopram-placebo over 8 weeks in a double-blind study design. Thirty-five patients completed the HRV studies. Thirty-six healthy subjects served as controls. HRV was assessed at pretreatment and end of study and compared with that of controls. HRV was quantified and corrected for artifacts using an algorithm that incorporates time and frequency domains to address non-stationarity of the beat-to-beat heart rate pattern. Baseline high frequency-HRV (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia) was lower in BDD patients than controls, although the difference did not reach significance. Baseline low-frequency HRV was significantly lower in BDD patients (ln4.20) than controls (ln = 5.50) (p < 0.01). Baseline heart period was significantly shorter (i.e., faster heart rate) in BDD patients than controls. No significant change in HRV parameters were detected over the course of the study with either treatment. These findings suggest that components of HRV may be diminished in BDD patients.
Parity and low birth weight and preterm birth: a systematic review and meta‐analyses

Objective. To systematically review the risks of pregnancy outcomes among women of different parity. Material and methods. Electronic databases were searched for studies, in English language, in which primary objective was to assess association between parity and pregnancy outcomes. Meta‐analyses were performed and unadjusted odds ratios (ORs) and mean differences along with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Main outcome measures. Low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth (PTB), small for gestational age (SGA), birth weight, and gestational age. Results. Forty‐one studies, most with moderate risk of bias were included. Nulliparity was associated with increased unadjusted odds of LBW (OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.26, 1.58) and SGA (OR 1.89, 95% CI 1.82, 1.96) and reduction in birth weight (weighted mean difference −282 g, 95% CI −486, −79 g) but not PTB (OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.96, 1.34). Grand multiparity and great grand multiparity were not associated with LBW (OR 1.10, 95% CI 0.95, 1.32 and OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.78, 1.09) or PTB (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.77, 1.19 and OR 1.32, 95% CI 0.61, 2.83). Conclusions. Nulliparity was associated with a significantly increased unadjusted risk of LBW/SGA birth, whereas grand multiparity and great grand multiparity were not associated with increased risk of pregnancy outcomes.
Two Sides to Every Story: Measuring the Polarisation of Work

Individual and household based aggregate measures of joblessness can, and do, offer conflicting signals about labour market performance if work is unequally distributed. This paper introduces a simple set of indices that can be used to measure the extent of divergence between individual and household-based jobless measures. The indices, built around a comparison of the actual household jobless rate with that which would occur if work were randomly distributed over the working age population, conform to basic consistency axioms and can be decomposed to try to identify the likely source of any disparity between nonemployment rates calculated at the 2 levels of aggregation. Applying these measures to data for Britain, we show that there has been a growing disparity ? polarisation - between the individual and household based jobless measures that are largely unrelated to changes in household structure or the principal characteristics associated with individual joblessness.
Direct flux and torque control of induction motor drive for speed regulator using PI and fuzzy logic controllers

This paper presents a direct flux and torque control (DTC) of induction motor drive (IMD) for speed regulator (SR) using fuzzy logic controller (FLC). This control method is based on DTC operating principles. The DTC is one of the most excellent strategies of torque and flux ripples control of IMD. The DTC control method has been optimized by using conventional PI controller in the SR loop of IMD. The main drawback of the DTC of IMD using conventional PI controller based SR is high torque, stator flux ripples and speed of IMD is decreasing under transient and steady state operating conditions. This drawback was eliminated using the FLC based SR loop. The FLC based SR control scheme combines the benefits of DTC technique along with FLC technique. Also Comparing with the conventional PI based SR, the FLC based SR is achieved high quality of torque, stator flux, and rated speed of IMD. The stability of IMD during transient and steady state operations is assured through the application of FLC based SR along with DTC. Finally the effectiveness, validity, and performance of the DTC of IMD using both conventional PI and FL controller based SR has been analyzed, studied, compared, and confirmed by simulating results, from the simulation results found that the low torque, stator flux ripples, and rated speed with the FLC technique using MATLAB/SIMULINK.
Association of polymorphi sms in the LEDGF / p 75 gene ( PSIP 1 ) with susceptibility to HIV-1 infection and disease progression

Methods: Integrase binding domain of LEDGF/p75 was sequenced in 126 participants. Four haplotype tagging SNPs rs2277191, rs1033056, rs12339417 and rs10283923 referred to as SNP1, SNP2, SNP3 and SNP4, respectively, and one exonic SNP rs61744944 (SNP5, Q472L) were genotyped in 195 HIV-1 seronegative, 52 primary and 403 chronically infected individuals using TaqMan assays. LEDGF/p75 expression was quantified by real-time RT-PCR. The impact of Q472L mutation on the interaction with HIV_1 IN was measured by AlphaScreen. Results: rs2277191 (SNP1) A was more frequent among seropositives (P1⁄40.06, Fisher’s exact test). Among individuals followed longitudinally SNP1A trended towards association with higher likelihood of HIV-1 acquisition [relative hazard (RH)1⁄42.21, P1⁄40.08; Cox model] and it was also associated with rapid disease progression (RH1⁄45.98, P1⁄40.04; Cox model) in the recently infected (primary infection) cohort. rs12339417 (SNP3)C was associated with slower decline of CD4þ T cells (P1⁄40.02) and lower messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of LEDGF/p75 (P<0.01). Seroconverters had higher preinfection mRNA levels of LEDGF/p75 (P<0.01) and these levels decreased after HIV-1 infection (P1⁄40.02).
Joint Discussion 6 Neutron stars and black holes in star clusters

This article was co-authored by all invited speakers at Joint Discussion 6 on Neutron Stars and Black Holes in Star Clusters, which took place during the IAU General Assembly in Prague, Czech Republic, on August 17 and 18, 2006. Each section presents a short summary of recent developments in a key area of research, incorporating the main ideas expressed during the corresponding panel discussion at the meeting.
Relating semantic similarity and semantic association to how humans label other people

Computational linguists have long relied on a distinction between semantic similarity and semantic association to explain and evaluate what is being learned by NLP models. In the present work, we take these same concepts and explore how they apply to an entirely different question - how individuals label other people. Leveraging survey data made public by NLP researchers, we develop our own survey to connect semantic similarity and semantic association to the process by which humans label other people. The result is a set of insights applicable to how we think of semantic similarity as NLP researchers and a new way of leveraging NLP models of semantic similarity and association as researchers of social science.
Flow and Drag in a Seagrass Bed

We report direct measurement of drag forces due to tidal ﬂ ow over a submerged seagrass bed in Ngeseksau Reef, Koror State, Republic of Palau. In our study, drag is computed using an array of high ‐ resolution pressure measurements, from which values of the drag coef ﬁ cients, C D , referenced to measured depth ‐ averaged velocities, V , were inferred. Re ﬂ ecting the fact that seagrass blades de ﬂ ect in the presence of ﬂ ow, we ﬁ nd that C D is O(1) when ﬂ ows are weak and tends toward a value of 0.03 at the highest velocities, behavior that is consistent with existing theory for canopy ﬂ ows with ﬂ exible canopy elements. A limited subset of velocity pro ﬁ les obey the law of the wall, producing values of shear velocity that, while noisy, broadly agree with values inferred from the pressure measurements.
The AG recombinant IbNG and novel strains of group M HIV-1 are common in Cameroon.

The genetic diversity of group M HIV-1 is highest in west central Africa. Blood samples from four locations in Cameroon were collected to determine the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1. The C2-V5 region of envelope was sequenced from 39 of the 40 samples collected, and 7 samples were sequenced across the genome. All strains belonged to group M of HIV-1. The circulating recombinant form CRF02 AG (IbNG) was the most common strain (22/39, 56%). Two of these were confirmed by full genome analysis. Four samples (4/39, 10%) clustered with the sub-subtype F2 and one of these was confirmed by full genome sequencing. Recombinant forms, each different but containing subtype A, accounted for the next most common form (7/39, 18%). Among these recombinants, those combining subtypes A and G were the most common (4/7, 57%). Also found were 3 subtype A, 2 subtype G, and 1 subtype B strain. Many recombination break points were shared between IbNG and the other AG recombinants, though none of these other AG recombinants included IbNG as a parent. This suggests that there was an ancestral AG recombinant that gave rise to CRF02 AG (IbNG), the successful circulating recombinant form, and to others that were less successful and are now rare.
The PTK7-Related Transmembrane Proteins Off-track and Off-track 2 Are Co-receptors for Drosophila Wnt2 Required for Male Fertility

Wnt proteins regulate many developmental processes and are required for tissue homeostasis in adult animals. The cellular responses to Wnts are manifold and are determined by the respective Wnt ligand and its specific receptor complex in the plasma membrane. Wnt receptor complexes contain a member of the Frizzled family of serpentine receptors and a co-receptor, which commonly is a single-pass transmembrane protein. Vertebrate protein tyrosine kinase 7 (PTK7) was identified as a Wnt co-receptor required for control of planar cell polarity (PCP) in frogs and mice. We found that flies homozygous for a complete knock-out of the Drosophila PTK7 homolog off track (otk) are viable and fertile and do not show PCP phenotypes. We discovered an otk paralog (otk2, CG8964), which is co-expressed with otk throughout embryonic and larval development. Otk and Otk2 bind to each other and form complexes with Frizzled, Frizzled2 and Wnt2, pointing to a function as Wnt co-receptors. Flies lacking both otk and otk2 are viable but male sterile due to defective morphogenesis of the ejaculatory duct. Overexpression of Otk causes female sterility due to malformation of the oviduct, indicating that Otk and Otk2 are specifically involved in the sexually dimorphic development of the genital tract.