Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modified Discrete Cosine Transform: Its Implications for Audio Coding and Error Concealment

A study of the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) and its implications for audio coding and error concealment is presented from the perspective of Fourier frequency analysis. A relationship between MDCT and DFT via shifted discrete fourier transform (SDFT) is established, which provides a possible fast implementation of MDCT employing a fast Fourier transform (FFT) routine. The concept of time-domain alias cancellation (TDAC), the symmetric and nonorthogonal properties of MDCT, is analyzed and illustrated with intuitive examples. New insights are given for innovative solutions in audio codec design and MDCT-domain audio processing such as error concealment.
"Like a Prison!": Homeless Women's Narratives of Surviving Shelter

Relying on field observation and twenty qualitative interviews with shelter residents, this article examines how the bureaucracy and institutionalization within a homeless shelter fits various tenets of Goffman's (1961) "total institution," particularly with regard to systematic deterioration of personhood and loss of autonomy. Women's experiences as shelter residents are then explored via a typology of survival strategies: submission, adaptation, and resistance. This research contributes to existing literature on gendered poverty by analyzing the nuanced ways in which institutionalization affects and complicates women's efforts to survive homelessness.
Online Privacy Concerns Among Social Networks’ Users

The study investigates how online social networks’ users in two Arab countries are concerned about their online privacy. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample (N=325) of Arab respondents in Emirates and Egypt. The results reveal a negative correlation between online privacy concerns and respondents' likelihood of providing personal information. Females are found to be more concerned about their privacy than males. Also, they tend to be more concerned than males in taking actions that protect their privacy. Emiratis use less online social networks than Egyptians and Arab residents in the UAE, while Egyptians have greater trust in online social networks. Key words: Online privacy concerns; Online social networks; Trust in online social networks; Privacy protection and Communication Privacy Management theoryResume: L'etude examine comment les utilisateurs des reseaux sociaux en ligne dans deux pays arabes sont preoccupes par leurs affaires personnelles en ligne. Un questionnaire structure a ete utilise pour recueillir des donnees aupres d'un echantillon (N = 325) des repondants dans les Emirats arabes et l'Egypte. Les resultats revelent une correlation negative entre la preoccupation sur la vie privee et la probabilite des repondants de fournir des renseignements personnels en ligne. Les femmes sont plus preoccupees par leur vie privee que les hommes. En outre, elles ont plus de tendance que les hommes a prendre des mesures qui protegent leur vie privee. Les Emiratis utilisent moins les reseaux sociaux en ligne que les Egyptiens et les residents arabes des Emirats Arabes Unis, tandis que les Egyptiens ont une plus grande confiance en reseaux sociaux en ligne.Mots-cles: problemes concernant la vie privee en ligne; reseaux sociaux en ligne; confiance en reseaux sociaux; protection de la vie privee et la theorie de la gestion des affaires personnelles dans la communication
ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL , SOUTH INDIA

Background: Hospital acquired infections continue to be an important cause of morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients. Though Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) is widely analyzed by many researchers, not much is known about the incidence and bacteriological profile i.e., only few studies are being published by them. This study is conducted to evaluate bacteriological profile of HAP in Intensive Medical Care Unit (IMCU) patients. It may increase the awareness of clinicians about the need to reduce the morbidity and mortality by coming to know about the various pathogens causing HAP and its sensitivity and/or resistance to various antibiotics. The aim of this study was to analyze the incidence, epidemiology and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of isolates from HAP patients in IMCU. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was conducted over a period of one year among 2454 patients admitted in IMCU of Coimbatore Medical College & Hospital, Tamil Nadu. The Specimens Sputum, Bronchoscopic Alveolar Lavage (BAL), Endotracheal aspirate (ETA) and Blood were collected and processed using standard laboratory techniques. Results: Out of 2454 cases, 253(10.3%) patients developed HAP. Totally 145 sputum samples, 70 BAL and 38 ETA were collected and processed.The commonest organism isolated was Klebsiella pneumoniae (48.2%) followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (15.3%), E.coli (8.4%), Acinetobactor species (7.7%), Proteus species (6.9%), MRSA (6.2%), MSSA (5.1%), Serratia species (0.7%), Enterobactor species (0.7%), Streptococcus pneumoniae(0.4%) and Candida albicans (0.4%). All Gram negative bacterial isolates had 100% sensitivity to Imipenem. 82% (n=108) of Klebsiella pneumoniae and 52% (n=12) of E.coli were found to be ESBL producers. Staphylococcus aureus had a maximum sensitivity to Vancomycin followed by third generation cephalosporins. 54.84% (n=17) of Staph.aureus were Methicillin Resistant strains. Conclusion: The antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the isolates will help the clinicians to choose the appropriate antimicrobial agents for prophylactic as well as treatment purposes.
Inflammatory Mediators are Altered in the Acute Phase of Posttraumatic Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

ObjectivesComplex regional pain syndrome type 1 (CRPS 1) is a disorder that can affect an extremity after minor trauma or surgery. The pathogenesis of this syndrome is unclear. It has clinical signs of severe local inflammation as a result of an exaggerated inflammatory response, but neurogenic dysregulation also may contribute to it. MethodsFor further insights into the pathogenesis of CRPS 1, the authors investigated inflammatory and neurogenic mediators—C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor I/II (sTNFR I/II), sE-selectin, sL-selectin, sP-selectin, substance P, neuropeptide Y, and calcitonin gene-related peptide—in venous blood from both the healthy arm and the arm with acute CRPS I from 25 patients and from 30 healthy volunteers. ResultsLevels of IL-8 and sTNFR I/II were significantly elevated in patients, whereas all soluble forms of selectins were significantly suppressed. There was no significant difference in white blood cell count (WBC), CRP, and IL-6. Substance P was significantly elevated in patients. The other two neuropeptides were unchanged. None of the parameters studied showed any differences between the CRPS I-affected arm and the normal arm. ConclusionsElevated IL-8 and sTNFR I/II levels indicate an association between CRPS I and an inflammatory process. Normal WBC, CRP, and IL-6 give evidence for localized inflammation. The hypothesis of neurogenic-induced inflammation mediated by neuropeptides is supported by elevated substance P levels.
[Changes in IL-17 and TGF-β1 levels in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and their clinical significance among children with asthma].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the changes in the levels of interleukin-17 (IL-17) and transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and their clinical significance among children with asthma. METHODS Fifty-six children with asthma were divided into moderate or severe asthma (n=37) and mild asthma groups (n=19) and 18 children without asthma were selected as the control group. Cells in BALF were counted under a microscope. The levels of IL-17 and TGF-β1 in serum and BALF were measured using ELISA. RESULTS were no significant differences in total cell count and percentage of macrophages between the two asthma groups and the control group (P>0.05). The percentages of neutrophils, eosinophils and epithelial cells in BALF were significantly higher in the two asthma groups than in the control group (P<0.05). The two asthma groups had significantly higher levels of IL-17 and TGF-β1 in serum and BALF than the control group (P<0.05), and the moderate or severe asthma group had significantly higher levels of IL-17 and TGF-β1 in serum and BALF than the mild asthma group (P<0.05). Levels of IL-17 and TGF-β1 in serum were significantly positively correlated with those in BALF (r=0.935 and 0.943, P<0.05 for both). In children with asthma, serum IL-17 level was significantly positively correlated with the percentage of neutrophils, eosinophils and epithelial cells in BALF (r=0.802, 0.799, and 0.674, P<0.05 for all), and a significant positive correlation was also seen between serum levels of IL-17 and TGF-β1 (r=0.878, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Levels of IL-17 and TGF-β1 in serum and BALF are elevated in children with asthma. IL-17 and TGF-β1 may be involved in the occurrence and development of asthma, and they play important roles in asthma attack and aggravation.
“We Do It, but They Don't”: Multiple Categorizations and Work Team Communication

The present study adopted an intergroup approach to information sharing and ratings of work team communication in a public hospital (N = 142) undergoing large-scale restructuring. Consistent with predictions, ratings of communication followed a double ingroup serving bias: while team members reported sending about the same levels of information to double ingroup members (same work team/same occupational group) as they did to partial ingroup members (same work team/different occupational group), they reported receiving less information from partial ingroup members than from double ingroup members and rated the communication that they received from partial ingroup members as less effective. We discuss the implication of these results for the management of information sharing and organizational communication.
A first approach to global runoff simulation using satellite rainfall estimation

Motivated by the recent increasing availability of global remote sensing data for estimating precipitation and describing land surface characteristics, this note reports an approximate assessment of quasi‐global runoff computed by incorporating satellite rainfall data and other remote sensing products in a relatively simple rainfall‐runoff simulation approach: the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) runoff curve number (CN) method. Using an antecedent precipitation index (API) as a proxy of antecedent moisture conditions, this note estimates time‐varying NRCS‐CN values determined by the 5‐day normalized API. Driven by a multiyear (1998–2006) Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Multi‐satellite Precipitation Analysis, quasi‐global runoff was retrospectively simulated with the NRCS‐CN method and compared to Global Runoff Data Centre data at global and catchment scales. Results demonstrated the potential for using this simple method when diagnosing runoff values from satellite rainfall for the globe and for medium to large river basins. This work was done with the simple NRCS‐CN method as a first‐cut approach to understanding the challenges that lie ahead in advancing the satellite‐based inference of global runoff. We expect that the successes and limitations revealed in this study will lay the basis for applying more advanced methods to capture the dynamic variability of the global hydrologic process for global runoff monitoring in real time. The essential ingredient in this work is the use of global satellite‐based rainfall estimation.
Convergence of Direct, Indirect, and Objective Risk-Taking Measures in Gambling

Based on dual-process models, we assumed that risk taking depends on implicit and explicit risk attitudes and risk propensity. Specifically, we predicted that the convergence between these indicators would depend on the impulsiveness versus reflectiveness of risk behavior. Two objective personality tests (OPTs) of risk taking that measure risk behavior in standardized situations were employed. We predicted that the impulsive OPT would depend more on implicit risk dispositions. The reverse effect pattern was expected for the reflective OPT. Next, we expected that self-control would amplify the weight of explicit dispositions and attenuate that of implicit dispositions. At Time 1, two direct questionnaire measures of explicit risk proneness, three indirect measures of implicit risk proneness, and a self-control measure were administered. At Time 2, participants participated in a reflective and an impulsive gambling OPT. The assumed pattern of effects was obtained. We conclude with a discussion of future res.
The Dissociations of Everyday Life

Hilgard’s comment has within it two observations: one regarding the ubiquity of dissociative experiences in everyday life, the other concerning our curious lack of awareness of that fact. It is with pleasure, therefore, that I compose this editorial for this special issue of the Journal of Trauma & Dissociation on “Dissociation in Culture. ”2 The articles that constitute this issue–articles that examine dissociative phenomena in aspects of popular culture and religion– represent one of the first efforts, to my knowledge, to explore dissociative experience across a variety of relatively common, and surprisingly normative, life activities.3 Although the topics covered here represent a small subset of those that could be examined, I hope the reader comes away, as I have, with a sense of excitement regarding the potential scope of these phenomena. In the following, I briefly describe these papers, revisit the dissociative continuum, and present several tentative observations regarding the nature, and perhaps the purpose, of dissociations of everyday life. Please note that this electronic prepublication galley may contain typographical errors and may be missing artwork, such as charts, photographs, etc. Pagination in this version will differ from the published version.
Mandarin spontaneous narrative planning - prosodic evidence from national taiwan university lecture corpus

This paper discusses discourse planning of pre-organized spontaneous narratives (SpnNS) in comparison with read speech (RS). F0 and tempo modulations are compared by speech paragraph size and discourse boundaries. The speaking rate of SpnNS from university classroom lecture is 2 to 3 times to that of RS by professionals; paragraph phrasing of SpnNS is 6 times that of RS. Patterns of paragraph association are distinct for SpnNS and RS. Sub-paragraph and paragraph units in RS are marked by distinct relative F0 resets and boundary pause duration, but by patterns of intensity contrasts in SpnNS instead. Consistent to both data sets is the finding that combined relative supra-segmental cues reflecting global prosodic properties are more discriminative to distinguish discourse boundaries than any fragments of singular cue, supporting higher-level discourse planning in the acoustic signals. We believe these findings can be directly applied to speech technology development.
The behaviour of quasar C IV emission-line properties with orientation

With a quasar sample designed for studying orientation effects, we investigate the orientation dependence of characteristics of the C IV 1549 broad emission line in approximately 50 Type 1 quasars with z=0.1-1.4. Orientation is measured for the sample via radio core dominance. In our analysis we include measurements of the continuum luminosity and the optical-to-X-ray spectral slope, spectral properties commonly included in the suite known as "Eigenvector 1", and the full-width at half maximum, full-width at one-quarter-maximum, shape, blueshift, and equivalent width of the C IV broad emission line. We also investigate a new prescription that we recently developed for predicting the velocity line width of the H-beta broad emission line based on the velocity line width of the C IV line and the ratio of continuum subtracted peak fluxes of Si IV + O IV] at 1400 A to C IV. In addition to a correlation analysis of the ultraviolet spectral properties and radio core dominance, we provide composite spectra of edge-on and face-on sources for this sample. In particular, we highlight the orientation dependence of the velocity line width predicted for H-beta. We find that this predicted line width depends on orientation in a manner similar to the true velocity line width of H-beta, where no such dependence is observed for C IV. This is an indication that orientation information concerning the line emitting regions can be extracted from ultraviolet spectra. [abridged]
Distributed computation of averages over ad hoc networks

In this paper, we develop algorithms for distributed computation of averages of the node data over networks with arbitrary but fixed connectivity. The algorithms we develop are linear dynamical systems that generate sequences of improving approximations to the desired computation at each node, via iterative processing and broadcasting. The algorithms are locally constructed at each node by exploiting only locally available and macroscopic information about the network topology. We present methods for optimizing the convergence rates of these algorithms to the desired computation, and evaluate their performance characteristics in the context of a problem of signal estimation from multinode noisy observations. By conducting simulations based on simple power-loss propagation models, we perform a preliminary comparison of the algorithms we develop against other types of distributed algorithms for computing averages, and identify transmit-power optimized algorithmic implementations as a function of the size and density of the sensor network.
A randomized scheduler with probabilistic guarantees of finding bugs

This paper presents a randomized scheduler for finding concurrency bugs. Like current stress-testing methods, it repeatedly runs a given test program with supplied inputs. However, it improves on stress-testing by finding buggy schedules more effectively and by quantifying the probability of missing concurrency bugs. Key to its design is the characterization of the depth of a concurrency bug as the minimum number of scheduling constraints required to find it. In a single run of a program with n threads and k steps, our scheduler detects a concurrency bug of depth d with probability at least 1/nkd-1. We hypothesize that in practice, many concurrency bugs (including well-known types such as ordering errors, atomicity violations, and deadlocks) have small bug-depths, and we confirm the efficiency of our schedule randomization by detecting previously unknown and known concurrency bugs in several production-scale concurrent programs.
Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamases in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae in Gulls, Alaska, USA

Previously reported babesiosis cases in children have been mostly acquired by blood transfusion (10). The patient had no history of transfusions with blood products and had never traveled outside his home town before disease onset. Although he and his parents did not recall any tick bites, he was at high risk for exposure to ticks because he often played with his dog, which frequently went outdoors in a tick-infested forested area. The dog may have transmitted a Babesia sp. –infected tick to the patient. However, ticks from the dog were not available for identification and testing. The patient in our study was presumed to be healthy and immunocompetent, which indicates that Babesia species can cause infections even in healthy persons. Babesiosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with a history of tick exposure and prolonged and irregular fever. Blood smear evaluation for intraerythrocytic parasites should be considered. The patient was treated with azithromycin and atovaquone and the parasites were cleared within 1 month. This combined treatment was well tolerated and effective, and it can be recommended as an alternative treatment to the commonly used therapy of quinine and clindamycin (1).
Measurement Error, Skewness, and Risk Analysis: Coping with the Long Tail of the Distribution

Probabilistic risk analyses often construct multistage chance trees to estimate the joint probability of compound events. If random measurement error is associated with some or all of the estimates, we show that resulting estimates of joint probability may be highly skewed. Joint probability estimates based on the analysis of multistage chance trees are more likely than not to be below the true probability of adverse events, but will sometimes substantially overestimate them. In contexts such as insurance markets for environmental risks, skewed distributions of risk estimates amplify the ``winner's curse'' so that the estimated risk premium for low‐probability events is likely to be lower than the normative value. Skewness may result even in unbiased estimators of expected value from simple lotteries, if measurement error is associated with both the probability and pay‐off terms. Further, skewness may occur even if the error associated with these two estimates is symmetrically distributed. Under certain circumstances, skewed estimates of expected value may result in risk‐neutral decisionmakers exhibiting a tendency to choose a certainty equivalent over a lottery of equal expected value, or vice versa. We show that when distributions of estimates of expected value are positively skewed, under certain circumstances it will be optimal to choose lotteries with nominal values lower than the value of apparently superior certainty equivalents. Extending the previous work of Goodman (1960) , we provide an exact formula for the skewness of products.
Dose Reduction in Contrast-Enhanced Cervical MR Angiography: Field Strength Dependency of Vascular Signal Intensity, Contrast Administration, and Arteriographic Quality.

OBJECTIVE Cervical contrast-enhanced MR angiography (MRA) has proven accurate and superior to noncontrast alternatives. We proposed the systematic investigation of dose reduction in contrast-enhanced MRA, hypothesizing heightened tolerance at 3 T vs 1.5 T. Quantitative and qualitative features were compared between full-dose and 50%-reduced dose examinations at 1.5 T and 3 T. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred eight cervical contrast-enhanced MRA examinations were reviewed for qualitative and quantitative (signal-to-noise ratio [SNR] and contrast-to-noise ratio [CNR]) features across four dose-field strength combinations: 1.5 T, 0.05 mmol/kg; 3 T, 0.05 mmol/kg; 1.5 T, 0.1 mmol/kg; and 3 T, 0.1 mmol/kg. Quantitative features were evaluated among the following segments: aortic arch, common carotid arteries, common carotid bifurcations, and cervical internal carotid arteries. A qualitative visual rating scale was applied for the same segments as well as to the vertebral arteries along their proximal (V1), intraforaminal (V2), and distal extraforaminal (V3) courses. Significant between-group differences were reported at p < 0.05. RESULTS Qualitatively good arteriography was observed in all segments for all protocols. No significant qualitative differences between protocols were noted throughout evaluation of the anterior cervical circulation. Significant qualitative differences were observed only for V2 and V3 segments at half-dose 1.5-T compared with the remaining protocols (p < 0.05). No significant quantitative differences were present between full-dose and dose-reduced 3-T MRA in any segment. At 1.5 T, significant decrement in SNR and CNR at half-dose was present only within the cervical internal carotid artery. CONCLUSION Dose reduction in cervical contrast-enhanced MRA is feasible at 3 T without significant compromise in arteriographic quality in most segments. Particularly at 3 T, arteriography is quantitatively and qualitatively robust and may be advisable in high-risk patients.