Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Computing the Approximate Convex Hull in High Dimensions

In this paper, an effective method with time complexity of $\mathcal{O}(K^{3/2}N^2\log \frac{K}{\epsilon_0})$ is introduced to find an approximation of the convex hull for $N$ points in dimension $n$, where $K$ is close to the number of vertices of the approximation. Since the time complexity is independent of dimension, this method is highly suitable for the data in high dimensions. Utilizing a greedy approach, the proposed method attempts to find the best approximate convex hull for a given number of vertices. The approximate convex hull can be a helpful substitute for the exact convex hull for on-line processes and applications that have a favorable trade off between accuracy and parsimony.
Ageing and dementia in a longitudinal study of a cohort with Down syndrome.

BACKGROUND A population sample of people with Down syndrome has been studied from infancy and has now been followed up again at age 47 years. METHODS Intelligence and language skills were tested and daily living skills assessed. Memory/cognitive deterioration was examined using two test instruments. RESULTS Scores on verbal tests of intelligence changed little. Those on a non-verbal test, on self-help skills and on both memory tests showed some decline, even when the scores of those already suffering from dementia were discounted. CONCLUSIONS At age 47, scores on most tests of even the majority of the cohort (i.e. those not definitely diagnosed with dementia) showed some decline. While this includes the scores of people who may subsequently develop dementia, it may also reflect the normal ageing process in this population.
Caffeine/sleep-deprivation interaction in mice produces complex memory effects

Background Sleep deprivation negatively impacts memory, causing deficits in memory processes. Of interest is any agent that can offset such deficits. Mice were given varying doses of caffeine for 14 days and then deprived of sleep for 6 hours by the ‘gentle handling’ method. Memory was assessed using the Novel Object Recognition Test and Y maze alternation. Purpose The study was designed to ascertain the impact of varying doses of caffeine combined with total sleep-deprivation on spatial and non spatial memory in mice. Methods Adult Swiss Webster mice of both sexes were assigned to six groups viz., vehicle (distilled water), or one of five selected doses of caffeine (10, 20, 40, 80 and 120 mg/kg) for 14 days via the oral route. Open field novel object recognition test and Y maze spatial working memory tests were carried out on day 14. Results were analysed using multi-factorial ANOVA followed by Tukey HSD test and expressed as mean ± S.E. M, with p values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results Novel object recognition tests (NOR) revealed that pre-training and pre-test sleep deprivation and caffeine combination impaired non spatial and spatial memory in male and female mice. Conclusion The study shows the complex interactions with memory that may arise when total sleep deprivation is superimposed on caffeine administration.
Classifier grids for robust adaptive object detection

In this paper we present an adaptive but robust object detector for static cameras by introducing classifier grids. Instead of using a sliding window for object detection we propose to train a separate classifier for each image location, obtaining a very specific object detector with a low false alarm rate. For each classifier corresponding to a grid element we estimate two generative representations in parallel, one describing the object's class and one describing the background. These are combined in order to obtain a discriminative model. To enable to adapt to changing environments these classifiers are learned on-line (i.e., boosting). Continuously learning (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) requires a stable system. In our method this is ensured by a fixed object representation while updating only the representation of the background. We demonstrate the stability in a long-term experiment by running the system for a whole week, which shows a stable performance over time. In addition, we compare the proposed approach to state-of-the-art methods in the field of person and car detection. In both cases we obtain competitive results.
As time goes by: Evidence for two systems in processing space → time metaphors

Temporal language is often couched in spatial metaphors. English has been claimed to have two space → time metaphoric systems: the ego-moving metaphor, wherein the observer's context progresses along the time-line towards the future, and the time-moving metaphor, wherein time is conceived of as a river or conveyor belt on which events are moving from the future to the past. In three experiments, we investigated the psychological status of these metaphors by asking subjects to carry out temporal inferences stated in terms of spatial metaphors. In Experiment 1, we found that subjects were slowed in their processing when the assertions shifted from one spatial metaphoric system to the other. In Experiment 2, we determined that this cost of shifting could not be attributed to local lexical factors. In Experiment 3, we again found this metaphor consistency effect in a naturalistic version of the study in which we asked commonsense time questions of passengers at an airport. The results of the three studies provide converging evidence that people use spatial metaphors in temporal reasoning. Implications for the status of metaphoric systems are discussed.
Antiphospholipid Syndrome Manifested by Gastrointestinal Bleeding: Can We Overlook Endoscopically Revealed Small Lesions?

diolipin antibodies [1, 2] . In classic APS, thrombus formation is mainly seen in large vessels, and it is common for a single thrombosis to occur at one stage and for another one to occur after an interval [2] . In catastrophic APS, recurring thrombus formation occurs within a short period of time, the condition is characterized by multiple organ failure (e.g. intestinal ischemia, infarctions and involvement of intra-abdominal organs, and symptoms denoting the involvement of the central nervous system), obstruction of two or more vessels, especially small vessels compared with the standard APS, and a high mortality rate [2] . The APS presenting with intestinal involvement has been rarely reported [3] . However, it has become obvious that there is a high frequency of intestinal involvement in catastrophic APS, which is not seen with classic APS [3] . Among classic APS associated with intestinal involvement, the prevalence of clinical manifestations present in patients included gastrointestinal hemorrhage in 14%, and in 4% the histopathologic finding was ischemic Dear Sir, A 19-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with abdominal pain and melena. She had a medical history of habitual abortion. Physical examination of the patient revealed mild reduction of bowel sounds and abdominal pain in the left abdomen. Hematological and biochemical tests were within normal limits. Examinations that included abdominal X-ray, abdominal computed tomography, and radiological enteroclysis failed to reveal the cause of the bleeding. Colonoscopy revealed mucosal redness and edema in the sigmoid colon ( fig. 1 ), and the biopsy findings were compatible with a diagnosis of ischemic colitis. These led to the detection of a highly elevated IgG-anticardiolipin antibody titer of 97 (U/ml). We made a diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) with ischemic colitis, and aspirin therapy was started (100 mg/day). APS is characterized by a clinical syndrome associated with arterial and venous thrombosis, or recurrent fetal losses or thrombocytopenia in the presence of circulating antiphospholipid antibodies, namely lupus anticoagulant and anticarPublished online: April 22, 2008
Dissociating Perceptual Confidence from Discrimination Accuracy Reveals No Influence of Metacognitive Awareness on Working Memory

Visual awareness is hypothesized to be intimately related to visual working memory (WM), such that information present in WM is thought to have necessarily been represented consciously. Recent work has challenged this longstanding view by demonstrating that visual stimuli rated by observers as unseen can nevertheless be maintained over a delay period. These experiments have been criticized, however, on the basis that subjective awareness ratings may contain response bias (e.g., an observer may report no awareness when in fact they had partial awareness). We mitigated this issue by investigating WM for visual stimuli that were matched for perceptual discrimination capacity (d′), yet which varied in subjective confidence ratings (so-called relative blindsight). If the degree of initial subjective awareness of a stimulus facilitates later maintenance of that information, WM performance should improve for stimuli encoded with higher confidence. In contrast, we found that WM performance did not benefit from higher visual discrimination confidence. This relationship was observed regardless of WM load (1 or 3). Insofar as metacognitive ratings (e.g., confidence, visibility) reflect visual awareness, these results challenge a strong relationship between conscious perception and WM using a paradigm that controls for discrimination accuracy and is less subject to response bias (since confidence is manipulated within subjects). Methodologically, we replicate prior efforts to induce relative blindsight using similar stimulus displays, providing a general framework for isolating metacognitive awareness in order to examine the function of consciousness.
Software Performance Estimation in MPSoC Design

Estimation tools are a key component of system-level methodologies, enabling a fast design space exploration. Estimation of software performance is essential in current software-dominated embedded systems. This work proposes an integrated methodology for system design and performance analysis. An analytic approach based on neural networks is used for high-level software performance estimation. At the functional level, this analytic tool enables a fast evaluation of the performance to be obtained with selected processors, which is an essential task for the definition of a "golden" architecture. From this architectural definition, a tool that refines hardware and software interfaces produces a bus-functional model. A virtual prototype is then generated from the bus-functional model, providing a global, cycle-accurate simulation model and offering several features for design validation and detailed performance analysis. Our work thus combines an analytic approach at functional level and a simulation-based approach at bus functional level. This provides an adequate trade-off between estimation time and precision. A multiprocessor platform implementing an MPEG4 encoder is used as case study, and the analytic estimation results in errors only up to 17% when compared to the virtual platform simulation. On the other hand, the analytic estimation takes only 17 seconds, against 10 minutes using the cycle-accurate simulation model.
Effect of feeding duration of diets containing corn distillers dried grains with solubles on productive performance, egg quality, and lutein and zeaxanthin concentrations of egg yolk in laying hens.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding duration of diets containing corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) on productive performance, egg quality, and lutein and zeaxanthin concentrations of egg yolk in laying hens. A total of 300 57-week-old Hy-Line Brown laying hens were randomly assigned to one of 5 treatment groups (feeding duration) with 6 replicates consisting of 5 consecutive cages with 2 hens per cage. Diets were formulated to contain either 0% (the control diet) or 20% DDGS. Experimental diets were fed to hens for 12 wk. The feeding duration of diets containing 20% DDGS was 0, 3, 6, 9, or 12 wk before the conclusion of the experiment. Feeding the diet containing 20% DDGS for 3, 6, or 9 wk followed feeding the control diet for 9, 6, or 3 wk, respectively. The data for productive performance were summarized for 12 wk of the feeding trial. Results indicated that increasing feeding duration of diets containing 20% DDGS had no effects on productive performance of laying hens, but increased egg yolk color (linear, P < 0.01), hunter a* value (linear and quadratic, P < 0.01), and b* values (linear, P < 0.05) with a decrease in hunter L* value (linear and quadratic, P < 0.05). Lutein and zeaxanthin concentrations of egg yolks also were increased (linear, P < 0.01) by increasing the feeding duration of diets containing 20% DDGS. In conclusion, feeding diets containing 20% DDGS to laying hens has no adverse effects on productive performance. Increasing the feeding duration of diets containing 20% DDGS improves egg yolk coloration with a concomitant increase in lutein and zeaxanthin concentrations of egg yolks in laying hens.
Cdc14 Phosphatases Preferentially Dephosphorylate a Subset of Cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) Sites Containing Phosphoserine*♦

Background: Cdc14 phosphatases help control mitosis by dephosphorylating sites (Ser/Thr-Pro) targeted by cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks). Results: Cdc14 family phosphatases strongly prefer phosphoserine over phosphothreonine at Cdk sites. Conclusion: By discriminating among Cdk sites, Cdc14 may participate in setting the order and timing of Cdk substrate dephosphorylation. Significance: Mechanisms governing the timing of Cdk site dephosphorylation are crucial for proper coordination of late mitotic events. Mitotic cell division is controlled by cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks), which phosphorylate hundreds of protein substrates responsible for executing the division program. Cdk inactivation and reversal of Cdk-catalyzed phosphorylation are universal requirements for completing and exiting mitosis and resetting the cell cycle machinery. Mechanisms that define the timing and order of Cdk substrate dephosphorylation remain poorly understood. Cdc14 phosphatases have been implicated in Cdk inactivation and are thought to be generally specific for Cdk-type phosphorylation sites. We show that budding yeast Cdc14 possesses a strong and unusual preference for phosphoserine over phosphothreonine at Pro-directed sites in vitro. Using serine to threonine substitutions in the Cdk consensus sites of the Cdc14 substrate Acm1, we demonstrate that phosphoserine specificity exists in vivo. Furthermore, it appears to be a conserved property of all Cdc14 family phosphatases. An invariant active site residue was identified that sterically restricts phosphothreonine binding and is largely responsible for phosphoserine selectivity. Optimal Cdc14 substrates also possessed a basic residue at the +3 position relative to the phosphoserine, whereas substrates lacking this basic residue were not effectively hydrolyzed. The intrinsic selectivity of Cdc14 may help establish the order of Cdk substrate dephosphorylation during mitotic exit and contribute to roles in other cellular processes.
Orbitofrontal Gray Matter Relates to Early Morning Awakening: A Neural Correlate of Insomnia Complaints?

Sleep complaints increase profoundly with age; prevalence estimates of insomnia in the elderly reach up to 37%. The three major types of nocturnal complaints are difficulties initiating (DIS) and maintaining (DMS) sleep and early morning awakening (EMA), of which the latter appears most characteristic for aging. The neural correlates associated with these complaints have hardly been investigated, hampering the development of rational treatment and prevention. A recent study on structural brain correlates of insomnia showed that overall severity, but not duration, of insomnia complaints is associated with lower gray matter (GM) density in part of the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Following up on this, we investigated, in an independent sample of people not diagnosed with insomnia, whether individual differences in GM density are associated with differences in DIS, DMS, and EMA. Sixty five healthy participants (mean age = 41 years, range 18–56) filled out questionnaires and underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging. Three compound Z-scores were computed for questionnaire items relating to DIS, DMS, and EMA. Whole-brain voxel-based morphometry was used to investigate their association with GM density. Results show that participants with lower GM density in a region where the left inferior OFC borders the insula report more EMA, but not DIS or DMS. This is the first study to investigate structural brain correlates of specific sleep characteristics that can translate into complaints in insomniacs. The selective association of EMA with orbitofrontal GM density makes our findings particularly relevant to elderly people, where EMA represents the most characteristic complaint. It is hypothesized that low GM density in aforementioned orbitofrontal area affects its role in sensing comfort. An intact ability to evaluate comfort may be crucial to maintain sleep, especially at the end of the night when sleep is vulnerable because homeostatic sleep propensity has dissipated.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest Risk Assessment: Population Science and the Individual Risk Mandate

Importance High-resolution stratification of risk of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in individual patients is a tool that is necessary for achieving effective and efficient application of data generated by population-based research. This concept is at the core of initiatives for merging cost effectiveness with maximized clinical efficiency and individual patient treatment. Observations For this review, we analyzed data on sudden cardiac death and SCA available from population studies that included large longitudinal and cross-sectional databases, observational cohort studies, and randomized clinical trials. In the context of population science, we treated clinical trials as small, scientifically rigid population studies that generate outcomes focused on defined segments of the population. Application of probabilistic outcomes from these available sources to individual patients generally and patients at risk for SCA and sudden cardiac death in particular is limited by the diversity of the study population based on inclusion criteria and/or the absence of uniformly large effect sizes. Limited information is available on the requirements for defining small high-risk density subgroups that would lead to identification of individuals at a sufficiently high probability of SCA to have a significant effect on clinical decision making. Conclusions and Relevance Synthesis of available population and clinical science data demonstrates the limitations for prediction and prevention of SCA and sudden cardiac death and provides justification for a research mandate for improving risk prediction at the level of individual patients. This leads to suggested approaches to new data generation and required research funding to address this large public health burden.
Discriminative Metric Learning by Neighborhood Gerrymandering

We formulate the problem of metric learning for k nearest neighbor classification as a large margin structured prediction problem, with a latent variable representing the choice of neighbors and the task loss directly corresponding to classification error. We describe an efficient algorithm for exact loss augmented inference, and a fast gradient descent algorithm for learning in this model. The objective drives the metric to establish neighborhood boundaries that benefit the true class labels for the training points. Our approach, reminiscent of gerrymandering (redrawing of political boundaries to provide advantage to certain parties), is more direct in its handling of optimizing classification accuracy than those previously proposed. In experiments on a variety of data sets our method is shown to achieve excellent results compared to current state of the art in metric learning.
Dissolved Organic Matter in the Ocean

DIssolVeD oRgaNIc MatteR IN the oceaN a coNtRoVeRsy stIMulates New INsIghts abstR act. Containing as much carbon as the atmosphere, marine dissolved organic matter is one of Earth's major carbon reservoirs. With invigoration of scientific inquiries into the global carbon cycle, our ignorance of its role in ocean biogeochemistry became untenable. Rapid mobilization of relevant research two decades ago required the community to overcome early false leads, but subsequent progress in examining the global dynamics of this material has been steady. Continuous improvements in analytical skill coupled with global ocean hydrographic survey opportunities resulted in the generation of thousands of measurements throughout the major ocean basins. Here, observations and model results provide new insights into the large-scale variability of dissolved organic carbon, its contribution to the biological pump, and its deep ocean sinks.
Task Loss Estimation for Sequence Prediction

Often, the performance on a supervised machine learning task is evaluated with a emph{task loss} function that cannot be optimized directly. Examples of such loss functions include the classification error, the edit distance and the BLEU score. A common workaround for this problem is to instead optimize a emph{surrogate loss} function, such as for instance cross-entropy or hinge loss. In order for this remedy to be effective, it is important to ensure that minimization of the surrogate loss results in minimization of the task loss, a condition that we call emph{consistency with the task loss}. In this work, we propose another method for deriving differentiable surrogate losses that provably meet this requirement. We focus on the broad class of models that define a score for every input-output pair. Our idea is that this score can be interpreted as an estimate of the task loss, and that the estimation error may be used as a consistent surrogate loss. A distinct feature of such an approach is that it defines the desirable value of the score for every input-output pair. We use this property to design specialized surrogate losses for Encoder-Decoder models often used for sequence prediction tasks. In our experiment, we benchmark on the task of speech recognition. Using a new surrogate loss instead of cross-entropy to train an Encoder-Decoder speech recognizer brings a significant ~13% relative improvement in terms of Character Error Rate (CER) in the case when no extra corpora are used for language modeling.
Preliminary development of remedial treatments for thermally degraded fire-retardant-treated wood

Thermal degrade of fire-retardant-(FR-)treated plywood roof sheathing and roof-truss lumber is a complex function of wood and treatment chemistry and field exposure conditions. Because borate-based treatments inhibit or reduce the rate of thermal degradation in wood exposed to elevated temperatures, they may also be effective as a remedial treatment for FR-treated plywood if sufficient penetration and retention of the borate chemical can be obtained. To increase the penetration of a borate remedial treatment (without using excess water that might leach the FR chemicals), we applied the borates in a glycol/water mixture. Our preliminary results indicate that borate/glycol remedial treatments can partially mediate thermal degrade of FR-treated plywood. Further work is now underway