Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic Feature Construction and a Simple Rule Induction Algorithm for Skin Detection

Many vision systems use skin detection as a principal component. Skin detection algorithms, normally evaluate a single and thus limited color model, such as HSV, Y CrCb, YUV, RGB, normalized RGB, etc. Their limited performance, however, suggests that they are looking at the incorrect color models. This paper describes a new constructive induction algorithm that creates adequate attributes for skin detection. The algorithm starts with normalized RGB and is able to produce a single rule with a small number of easy to evaluate terms with superior performance than existing methods. The constructive induction algorithm uses a new restricted covering algorithm, called RCA, as its learning component, which produces a single rule with competitive results when compared against C4.5.
On Ionization Effects and Abundance Ratios in Damped Lyα Systems

The similarity between observed velocity structures of Al III and singly ionized species in damped Lyα systems (DLAs) suggests the presence of ionized gas in the regions where most metal absorption lines are formed. A simplified model consisting of (region 1) a plane-parallel ionization bounded region illuminated by an internal radiation field and (region 2) a neutral region with a negligible metal content is considered. We calculate photoionization equilibrium models for region 1 and constrain the ionization parameter by the observed N(Al III)/N(Si II) column density ratio. Under these conditions we find that ionization effects are important. If these effects are taken into account, the element abundance ratios in DLAs are quite consistent with those observed in Milky Way stars and in H II regions of local low-metallicity blue compact dwarf galaxies. In particular, we cannot exclude the same primary N origin in both DLAs and metal-poor galaxies. No depletion of heavy elements on dust grains needs to be invoked, although our models do not exclude the presence of little depletion. Although highly simplified and relying on the strong assumption of a significantly lower metal content in region 2, our model appears to be supported by recent data on a local DLA, and it is not in contradiction with the current knowledge on high-redshift DLAs. If correct, it offers a clear simplification in the understanding of heavy element abundance ratios in DLAs and their comparison with the local universe.
Implication of IRF4 Aberrant Gene Expression in the Acute Leukemias of Childhood

The most frequent targets of genetic alterations in human leukemias are transcription factor genes with essential functions in normal blood cell development. The Interferon Regulatory Factor 4 (IRF4) gene encodes a transcription factor important for key developmental stages of hematopoiesis, with known oncogenic implications in multiple myeloma, adult leukemias and lymphomas. Very few studies have reported an association of IRF4 with childhood malignancy, whereas high transcript levels have been observed in the more mature immunophenotype of ALL. Our aim was to investigate the expression levels of IRF4 in the diagnostic samples of pediatric leukemias and compare them to those of healthy controls, in order to determine aberrant gene expression and whether it extends to leukemic subtypes other than the relatively mature ALL subpopulation. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR methodology was used to investigate IRF4 expression in 58 children with acute leukemias, 4 leukemic cell lines and 20 healthy children. We show that aberrant IRF4 gene expression is implicated in a variety of leukemic subtypes; higher transcript levels appear in the more immature B-common ALL subtype and in T-cell than in B-cell leukemias, with the highest expression levels appearing in the AML group. Interestingly, we show that childhood leukemia, irrespective of subtype or cell maturation stage, is characterised by a minimum of approximately twice the amount of IRF4 gene expression encountered in healthy children. A statistically significant correlation also appeared to exist between high IRF4 expression and relapse. Our results show that ectopic expression of IRF4 follows the reverse expression pattern of what is encountered in normal B-cell development and that there might be a dose-dependency of childhood leukemia for aberrantly expressed IRF4, a characteristic that could be explored therapeutically. It is also suggested that high IRF4 expression might be used as an additional prognostic marker of relapse at diagnosis.
The effects of impacted premaxillary supernumerary teeth on permanent incisors

Purpose The aim of this study was to examine the radiographic features associated with impacted premaxillary supernumerary teeth, to determine the relationship between their characteristics and their effects on permanent incisors, and to investigate the types of orthodontic treatment that patients received after the extraction of impacted supernumerary teeth. Materials and Methods The clinical records and radiographs of 193 patients whose impacted premaxillary supernumerary teeth were removed were retrospectively reviewed, and 241 impacted supernumerary teeth were examined. Cone-beam computed tomographic images and panoramic radiographs were examined to determine the number, location, sagittal position, orientation, and morphology of the supernumerary teeth. Their effects on permanent incisors and the orthodontic treatment received by patients after the extraction of the supernumeraries were also investigated. Results Supernumerary teeth were most frequently observed in the central incisor region, in the palatal position, in the inverted orientation, and were most commonly conical in shape. The most common complication was median diastema, followed by displacement and delayed eruption of the adjacent incisors. Ten (71.4%) of the 14 odontomas showed delayed eruption of the adjacent incisors. Displacement of the incisors was more frequently observed in association with supernumerary teeth with tuberculate or supplemental shapes. Orthodontic traction was most frequently performed after the removal of odontomas. In 32 cases (13.3%), permanent incisors erupted after the orthodontic creation of sufficient space. Conclusion Median diastema was most common complication. The delayed eruption of incisors was common in supernumerary teeth with a vertical orientation and an odontoma shape.
Altered Lipid Profile After Kawasaki Syndrome

BackgroundDelineation of lipid values in children after Kawasaki syndrome is important because of the predilection of this disease for the coronary arteries. Methods and ResultsWe measured plasma concentrations of total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides using enzymatic methods in 105 patients with a history of Kawasaki syndrome. Measurements were obtained during six time periods: 10 days or less, 11–31 days, 1–3 months, 3–12 months, 1–3 years, and more than 3 years. Total cholesterol was depressed in the first interval (122.0 ± 19.8 mg/dl, mean+SD), but the mean values were normal in all periods after clinical recovery (overall mean, 149.0 ± 24.0 mg/dl). High density lipoprotein cholesterol was also depressed in the first interval (15.2 ± 9.9 mg/dl); although high density lipoprotein cholesterol increased significantly with duration since disease onset (p < 0.001), it remained significantly lower than expected (p < 0.001), even in the latest interval (47.2 ± 10.9 mg/dl). Nonfasting triglyceride levels were high (162.5 ± 63.4 mg/dl) in the first interval and then diminished steadily with time, but this relation did not achieve statistical significance. We compared adjusted lipid levels (z scores) of 46 Kawasaki patients after clinical recovery with those of their parents; patients had similar total cholesterol levels but significantly lower high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (p =0.021 for mothers, p = 0.001 for fathers). Mean high density lipoprotein cholesterol after clinical recovery tended to be lower in patients with persistent coronary abnormalities than in those without such lesions (p =0.085). ConclusionsKawasaki syndrome is associated with important abnormalities in lipid metabolism. Continued long-term surveillance of this population is necessary to monitor lipid levels and their relation to future development of coronary atherosclerosis.
Reward Unpredictability inside and outside of a Task Context as a Determinant of the Responses of Tonically Active Neurons in the Monkey Striatum

Tonically active neurons (TANs) in the monkey striatum are involved in detecting motivationally relevant stimuli. We recently provided evidence that the timing of conditioned stimuli strongly influences the responsiveness of TANs, the source of which is likely to be the monkey's previous experience with particular temporal regularities in sequential task events. To extend these findings, we investigated the relationship of TAN responses to a primary liquid reward, the timing of which is more or less predictable to the monkey either outside of a task or during instrumental task performance. Reward predictability was indexed by the timing characteristics of the mouth movements. The responsiveness of TANs to reward increased with the range and variability of time periods before reward, notably when the liquid was delivered outside of a task. A change in the temporal order of events in a task context produced an increase of response to reward, suggesting an influence of the predicted nature of the event in addition to its time of occurrence. By contrast, we observed no substantial changes in neuronal activity at the expected time of reward when this event failed to occur, suggesting that these neurons do not appear to carry information about an error in reward prediction. These results demonstrate that TANs constitute a neuronal system that is involved in detecting unpredicted reward events, irrespective of the specific behavioral situation in which such events occur. The responses influenced by stimulus prediction may constitute a neuronal basis for the notion that striatal processing is crucial for habit learning.
Altered Spontaneous Brain Activity in Schizophrenia: A Meta-Analysis and a Large-Sample Study

Altered spontaneous brain activity as measured by ALFF, fALFF, and ReHo has been reported in schizophrenia, but no consensus has been reached on alternations of these indexes in the disorder. We aimed to clarify the regional alterations in ALFF, fALFF, and ReHo in schizophrenia using a meta-analysis and a large-sample validation. A meta-analysis of activation likelihood estimation was conducted based on the abnormal foci of ten studies. A large sample of 86 schizophrenia patients and 89 healthy controls was compared to verify the results of the meta-analysis. Meta-analysis demonstrated that the alternations in ALFF and ReHo had similar distribution in schizophrenia patients. The foci with decreased ALFF/fALFF and ReHo in schizophrenia were mainly located in the somatosensory cortex, posterior parietal cortex, and occipital cortex; however, foci with increased ALFF/fALFF and ReHo were mainly located in the bilateral striatum, medial temporal cortex, and medial prefrontal cortex. The large-sample study showed consistent findings with the meta-analysis. These findings may expound the pathophysiological hypothesis and guide future research.
Containment of misinformation spread in online social networks

With their blistering expansions in recent years, popular on-line social sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Bebo, have become some of the major news sources as well as the most effective channels for viral marketing nowadays. However, alongside these promising features comes the threat of misinformation propagation which can lead to undesirable effects, such as the widespread panic in the general public due to faulty swine flu tweets on Twitter in 2009. Due to the huge magnitude of online social network (OSN) users and the highly clustered structures commonly observed in these kinds of networks, it poses a substantial challenge to efficiently contain viral spread of misinformation in large-scale social networks. In this paper, we focus on how to limit viral propagation of misinformation in OSNs. Particularly, we study a set of problems, namely the β1T -- Node Protectors, which aims to find the smallest set of highly influential nodes whose decontamination with good information helps to contain the viral spread of misinformation, initiated from the set I, to a desired ratio (1 − β) in T time steps. In this family set, we analyze and present solutions including inapproximability result, greedy algorithms that provide better lower bounds on the number of selected nodes, and a community-based heuristic method for the Node Protector problems. To verify our suggested solutions, we conduct experiments on real world traces including NetHEPT, NetHEPT_WC and Facebook networks. Empirical results indicate that our methods are among the best ones for hinting out those important nodes in comparison with other available methods.
Divide and Concur and Difference-Map BP Decoders for LDPC Codes

The “Divide and Concur” (DC) algorithm introduced by Gravel and Elser can be considered a competitor to the belief propagation (BP) algorithm, in that both algorithms can be applied to a wide variety of constraint satisfaction, optimization, and inference problems. We show that DC can be interpreted as a message-passing algorithm on a “normal” factor graph. The “difference-map” dynamics of the DC algorithm enables it to avoid “traps” which may be related to the “trapping sets” or “pseudo-codewords” that plague BP decoders of low-density parity check (LDPC) codes in the error-floor regime. We investigate two decoders for LDPC codes based on these ideas. The first decoder is based directly on DC, while the second decoder borrows the important “difference-map” concept from the DC algorithm and translates it into a BP-like decoder. We show that this “difference-map belief propagation” (DMBP) decoder has dramatically improved error-floor performance compared to standard BP decoders, while maintaining a similar computational complexity. We present simulation results for LDPC codes comparing DC and DMBP decoders with other decoders based on sum-product BP, linear programming, and mixed-integer linear programming. We also describe the close relation of the DMBP decoder to reweighted min-sum algorithms, including those recently proposed by Ruozzi and Tatikonda.
Metabolic Consequences and Vulnerability to Diet-Induced Obesity in Male Mice under Chronic Social Stress

Social and psychological factors interact with genetic predisposition and dietary habit in determining obesity. However, relatively few pre-clinical studies address the role of psychosocial factors in metabolic disorders. Previous studies from our laboratory demonstrated in male mice: 1) opposite status-dependent effect on body weight gain under chronic psychosocial stress; 2) a reduction in body weight in individually housed (Ind) male mice. In the present study these observations were extended to provide a comprehensive characterization of the metabolic consequences of chronic psychosocial stress and individual housing in adult CD-1 male mice. Results confirmed that in mice fed standard diet, dominant (Dom) and Ind had a negative energy balance while subordinate (Sub) had a positive energy balance. Locomotor activity was depressed in Sub and enhanced in Dom. Hyperphagia emerged for Dom and Sub and hypophagia for Ind. Dom also showed a consistent decrease of visceral fat pads weight as well as increased norepinephrine concentration and smaller adipocytes diameter in the perigonadal fat pad. On the contrary, under high fat diet Sub and, surprisingly, Ind showed higher while Dom showed lower vulnerability to obesity associated with hyperphagia. In conclusion, we demonstrated that social status under chronic stress and individual housing deeply affect mice metabolic functions in different, sometime opposite, directions. Food intake, the hedonic response to palatable food as well as the locomotor activity and the sympathetic activation within the adipose fat pads all represent causal factors explaining the different metabolic alterations observed. Overall this study demonstrates that pre-clinical animal models offer a suitable tool for the investigation of the metabolic consequences of chronic stress exposure and associated psychopathologies.
Stability of Generalised Static Black Holes in Higher Dimensions

We discuss the stability of (charged) static black holes in higher-dimensional spacetimes with and without cosmological constant by using gauge-invariant master equations of the Schroedinger equation type for black hole perturbations derived by the authors recently. In particular, we show that the stability of higher-dimensional Schwarzschild black holes can be proved with the help of a technique called S-deformation of the master equations. We also point out that higher-dimensional static black holes might be unstable only against scalar-type perturbations in the neutral case and in the charged case with spherically symmetric or flat horizons.
Regulating a Monopolist with Unknown Costs

We consider the problem of how to regulate a monopolistic firm whose costs are unknown to the regulator. The regulator's objective is to maximize a linear social welfare function of the consumers' surplus and the firm's profit. In the optimal regulatory policy, prices and subsidies are designed as functions of the firm's cost report so that expected social welfare is maximized, subject to the constraints that the firm has nonnegative profit and has no incentive to misrepresent its costs. We explicitly derive the optimal policy and analyze its properties. IN THEIR CLASSIC PAPERS Dupuit [2] and Hotelling [5] considered pricing policies for a bridge that had a fixed cost of construction and zero marginal cost. They demonstrated that the pricing policy that maximizes consumer well-being is to set price equal to marginal cost and to provide a subsidy to the supplier equal to the fixed cost, so that a firm would be willing to provide the bridge. This first-best solution is based on a number of informational assumptions. First, the demand function is assumed to be known to both the regulator and to the firm. While the assumption of complete information may be too strong, the assumption that information about demand is as available to the regulator as it is to the firm does not seem unnatural. A second informational assumption is that the regulator has complete information about the cost of the firm or at least has the same information about cost as does the firm. This assumption is unlikely to be met in reality, since the firm would be expected to have better information about costs than would the regulator. As Weitzman has stated, "An essential feature of the regulatory environment I am trying to describe is uncertainty about the exact specification of each firm's cost function. In most cases even the managers and engineers most closely associated with production will be unable to precisely specify beforehand the cheapest way to generate various hypothetical output levels. Because they are yet removed from the production process, the regulators are likely to be vaguer still about a firm's cost function" [12, p. 684]. As this observation suggests, it is natural to expect that a firm would have better information regarding its costs than would a regulator. The purpose of this paper is to develop an optimal regulatory policy for the case in which the regulator does not know the costs of the firm. One strategy that a regulator could use in the absence of full information about costs is to give the firm the title to the total social surplus and to delegate the pricing decision to the firm. In pursuing its own interests, which would then be to maximize the total social surplus, the firm would adopt the same marginal cost pricing strategy that the regulator would have imposed if the regulator had
Smoking, Income and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Smoking Bans

This paper provides estimates of the effects of smoking policies on self-reported well-being using US county-level data. Because the bans were implemented at different times, it is possible to exploit these variations to identify the effect on a broad range of outcomes like self-reported well-being. The impact of smoking bans is estimated on those likely to be smokers relatively to others in order to take into account the effect on former, potential and current smokers. Our estimates suggest that the implementation of smoking bans make those who are predicted to be smokers more satisfied with their life. Within-family externalities and time-inconsistent family-utility maximization explain these findings. Additionally, there is evidence that the largest effect of smoking bans is for parents and married couples where the spouse is predicted to smoke.
Sleep and Multisystem Biological Risk: A Population-Based Study

Background Short sleep and poor sleep quality are associated with risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and mortality. This study examines the contribution of sleep duration and sleep quality on a multisystem biological risk index that is known to be associated with morbidity and mortality. Methods Analyses include a population-based sample from the Midlife Development in the United States survey recruited to the Biomarker substudy. A total of 1,023 participants aged 54.5 years (SD = 11.8), 56% female and 77.6% white, were included in the analyses. A multisystem biological risk index was derived from 22 biomarkers capturing cardiovascular, immune, lipid-metabolic, glucose-metabolic, sympathetic, parasympathetic, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal systems. Self-reported average sleep duration was categorized as short (<5 hrs), below normal (5 to <6.5 hrs), normal (6.5 to <8.5 hrs), and long sleepers (8.5+ hrs). Sleep quality was determined using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index categorized as normal (≤5) and poor quality (>5) sleep. Findings Linear mixed effect models adjusting for age, gender, race, education, income, BMI, and health status were performed. As compared to normal sleepers, multisystem biological risk in both short (B(SE) = . 38(.15), p<. 01) and long sleepers (B(SE) = . 28(.11), p<. 01) were elevated. Poor quality sleep alone was associated with elevated multisystem biological risk (B(SE) = . 15(.06), p = . 01), but was not significant after adjustment for health status. All short sleepers reported poor sleep quality. However in the long sleepers, only those who reported poor sleep quality exhibited elevated multisystem biological risk (B(SE) = . 93(.3), p = . 002). Conclusions Self-reported poor sleep quality with either short or long sleep duration is associated with dysregulation in physiological set points across regulatory systems, leading to elevated multisystem biological risk. Physicians should inquire about sleep health in the assessment of lifestyle factors related to disease risk, with evidence that healthy sleep is associated with lower multisystem biological risk.
NON-COMMUTATIVE SPHERES AND NUMERICAL QUANTUM MECHANICS

We discuss some basic issues that arise when one attempts to model quantum mechanical systems on a computer, and we describe the mathematical structure of the resulting discretized cannonical commutation relations. The C - algebras associated with the discretized CCRs are the non-commutative spheres of Bratteli, Elliott, Evans and Kishimoto.
The ECIR 2010 large scale hierarchical classification workshop

This paper reports on the Large Scale Hierarchical Classification workshop (http://kmi.open.ac.uk/events/ecir2010/workshops-tutorials), held in conjunction with the European Conference on Information Retrieval (ECIR) 2010. The workshop was associated with the PASCAL 2 Large-Scale Hierarchical Text Classification Challenge (http://lshtc.iit.demokritos.gr), which took place in 2009. We first provide information about the challenge, presenting the data used, the tasks and the evaluation measures and then we provide an overview of the approaches proposed by the participants of the workshop, together with a summary of the results of the challenge.