Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perilymph Fistula: Fifty Years of Controversy

Perilymph fistula (PLF) is defined as a leak of perilymph at the oval or round window. It excludes other conditions with “fistula” tests due to a dehiscent semi circular canal from cholesteatoma and the superior canal dehiscence syndrome. It was first recognized in the early days of stapedectomy as causing disequilibrium and balance problems before sealing of the stapedectomy with natural tissue became routine. It then became apparent that head trauma and barotraumatic trauma from flying or diving could be a cause of PLF. Descriptions of “spontaneous” PLF with no trauma history followed. A large literature on PLF from all causes accumulated. It became an almost emotional issue in Otolaryngology with “believers” and “nonbelievers. ” The main criticisms are a lack of reliable symptoms and diagnostic tests and operative traps in reliably distinguishing a perilymph leak from local anaesthetic. There are extensive reviews on the whole topic, invariably conveying the authors' own experiences and their confirmed views on various aspects. However, a close examination reveals a disparity of definitions and assumptions on symptoms, particularly, vestibular. This is an intentionally provocative paper with suggestions on where some progress might be made.
Optimal Wigner cross-spectrum estimation

An expression for the mean-square error (MSE) optimal Wigner cross-spectrum estimator is derived within a wide class of estimators. Using this expression and a simplemodel we are able to construct a new estimator which turns out to be superior compared to standard estimators such as Thomson multitapers and Welch method on simulated data.
Leakage-Based Robust Beamforming for Multi-Antenna Broadcast System With Per-Antenna Power Constraints and Quantized CDI

In this paper, we investigate the robust beamforming schemes for a multi-user multiple-input-single-output (MU-MISO) system with per-antenna power constraints and quantized channel direction information (CDI) feedback. Our design objective is to maximize the expectation of the weighted sum-rate performance by means of controlling the interference leakage and properly allocating the power among user equipments (UEs). First, we prove the optimality of the non-robust zero-forcing (ZF) beamforming scheme in the sense of generating the minimum amount of average inter-UE interference under quantized CDI. Then we derive closed-form expressions of the cumulative density function (CDF) of the interference leakage power for the non-robust ZF beamforming scheme, based on which we adjust the leakage thresholds and propose two robust beamforming schemes under per-antenna power constraints with an iterative process to update the per-UE power allocations using the geometric programming (GP). Simulation results show the superiority of the proposed robust beamforming schemes compared with the existing schemes in terms of the average weighted sum-rate performance.
Asymptotic results on the length of coalescent trees

We give the asymptotic distribution of the length of partial coalescent trees for Beta and related coalescents. This allows us to give the asymptotic distribution of the number of (neutral) mutations in the partial tree. This is a first step to study the asymptotic distribution of a natural estimator of DNA mutation rate for species with large families.
Perception and action: Approach to convergence on embodied cognition

Space perception is generally treated as a problem relevant to the ability to recognize objects. Alternatively, the data from shape perception studies contributes to discussions about the geometry of visual space. This geometry is generally acknowledged not to be Euclidian, but instead, elliptical, hyperbolic or affine, which is to say, something that admits the distortions found in so many shape perception studies. The purpose of this review article is to understand perceived shape and the geometry of visual space in the context of visually guided action. Thus, two prominent approaches that explain the relation between perception and action were compared. It is important to understand the fundamental information of how human perceive visual space and perform visually guided action for the convergence on embodied cognition, and further on artificial intelligence researches.
Expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase in the eye from endotoxin-induced uveitis rats.

PURPOSE Inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of endotoxin-induced uveitis (EIU). This study was undertaken to localize the cells, in the eye, which express iNOS during EIU in the rat. METHODS EIU was induced in Lewis rats by a single foot pad injection of 150 micrograms lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Salmonella typhimurium. At different time intervals after LPS injection, the authors evaluated ocular inflammation (slit lamp observation), iNOS localization by in situ hybridization, and comparison of OX-42- and ED1-positive cell appearance and of glial response by specific immunohistochemistry. RESULTS iNOS mRNA was not detected in the iris-ciliary body nor in the retina of control rats. It was detected strongly in the epithelial cells of the iris-ciliary body at 6 hours and also in stromal cells of the ciliary processes at 16 hours after LPS injection. In the neuroretina, iNOS mRNA was observed in the inner layers 16 hours after LPS injection. iNOS-positive cells were also present on the vitreous at this time. At 6 and approximately 16 hours after LPS injection, immunohistochemistry experiments revealed a large number of OX-42- and ED1-positive cells (microglia, macrophages, or polymorphonuclear leukocytes) colocalized in part with some iNOS-positive cells in the ciliary body and in the retina. Furthermore, expression of iNOS in Müller cells cannot be excluded. CONCLUSIONS These observations confirm that subcutaneous injection of endotoxin dramatically induces NOS mRNA expression in the eye, and they demonstrate that epithelial cells of the iris-ciliary body and cells infiltrating the anterior segment of the eye and the retina are the major source of NO. These results support the hypothesis that both inflammatory and resident ocular cells are involved in iNOS expression during EIU.
Incorporating with Recursive Model Training in Time Series Clustering

Model-based clustering is one of the most important ways for time series data mining. However, the process of clustering may encounter several problems. In this paper, a novel clustering algorithm of time-series which incorporates recursive hidden Markov model(HMM) training is proposed. Our contributions are as follows: 1) We recursively train models and use these model information in the process agglomerative hierarchical clustering. 2) We built HMM of time-series clusters to describe clusters. To evaluate the effectiveness of the algorithm, several experiments are conducted on both synthetic data and real world data. The result shows that the proposed approach can achieve better performance in correctness rate than the traditional HMM-based clustering algorithm
Fixated on rejection: Attentional blindness following socially rejecting faces in people with defensive self-esteem

Abstract People with defensive self-esteem (high explicit and low implicit self-esteem) respond more negatively to ego threat than do those with secure (high explicit and implicit) self-esteem. We examined whether they would also be more attentive to a cue indicating the presence of such threat–namely, a face signaling social rejection. In a rapid serial visual presentation task, participants with defensive self-esteem made more errors than those with secure self-esteem following a picture of a rejecting face than following either an accepting face or a negative control image. Our findings suggest a possible relationship between defensive self-esteem and rejection sensitivity. Potential negative ramifications of this sensitivity to rejection cues are discussed.
High-Precision Time-of-Arrival Estimation for UWB Localizers in Indoor Multipath Channels

The global positioning system (GPS) has found application in many different fields, in areas where there is a good line-of-sight (LoS) to GPS satellites, this technique provides a good estimate of the location of user terminal (UT). However, in indoor and dense urban environments, localization has always been a more challenging problem for several reasons. Typically the GPS signal is not strong enough to penetrate through most materials. As soon as an object obscures the GPS satellite from the UT’s view, the signal is corrupted. This constrains the usefulness of GPS to open environments, and limits its performance in forests or in dense urban environments, as retaining a lock on the GPS signals becomes more difficult. GPS typically becomes completely useless inside buildings. However there is an increasing need for accurate localization in cluttered environments, in addition to open spaces. In commercial applications for example, the tracking of inventory in warehouses or cargo ships is an emerging need. In military applications the problem of blue force tracking, i.e., knowing where friendly forces are, is of vital importance. This is not a problem in open environments where systems can rely on GPS, but in dense urban or indoor environment, no satisfactory solution exists. Navigation in GPS-denied environment is also a pressing military need. For example untethered robots operating in enclosed environments such as urban canyons or inside buildings need accurate positioning to safely navigate. Indoor localization is of great importance for the applications that a person or a vehicle enter a building and accurately tracking its position over time is needed and the position estimate should have a precision of under one meter, i.e. on the order of some of the building feature dimensions, such as hallway width.
Innovation through Wearable Sensors to Collect Real-Life Data among Pediatric Patients with Cardiometabolic Risk Factors

Background. While increasing evidence links environments to health behavior, clinicians lack information about patients' physical activity levels and lifestyle environments. We present mobile health tools to collect and use spatio-behavioural lifestyle data for personalized physical activity plans in clinical settings. Methods. The Dyn@mo lifestyle intervention was developed at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary time among children with cardiometabolic risk factors. Mobility, physical activity, and heart rate were measured in free-living environments during seven days. Algorithms processed data to generate spatio-behavioural indicators that fed a web-based interactive mapping application for personalised counseling. Proof of concept and tools are presented using data collected among the first 37 participants recruited in 2011. Results. Valid accelerometer data was available for 5.6 (SD = 1.62) days in average, heart rate data for 6.5 days, and GPS data was available for 6.1 (2.1) days. Spatio-behavioural indicators were shared between patients, parents, and practitioners to support counseling. Conclusion. Use of wearable sensors along with data treatment algorithms and visualisation tools allow to better measure and describe real-life environments, mobility, physical activity, and physiological responses. Increased specificity in lifestyle interventions opens new avenues for remote patient monitoring and intervention.
CISS - A Composite Indicator of Systemic Stress in the Financial System

This paper introduces a new indicator of contemporaneous stress in the financial system named Composite Indicator of Systemic Stress (CISS). Its specific statistical design is shaped according to standard definitions of systemic risk. The main methodological innovation of the CISS is the application of basic portfolio theory to the aggregation of five market-specific subindices created from a total of 15 individual financial stress measures. The aggregation accordingly takes into account the time-varying cross-correlations between the subindices. As a result, the CISS puts relatively more weight on situations in which stress prevails in several market segments at the same time, capturing the idea that financial stress is more systemic and thus more dangerous for the economy as a whole if financial instability spreads more widely across the whole financial system. Applied to euro area data, we determine within a threshold VAR model a systemic crisis-level of the CISS at which financial stress tends to depress real economic activity. Weekly updates of the CISS dataset at: sdw.ecb. europa.eu/browseSelection.do? node=9551138 JEL Classification: G01, G10, G20, E44
The effect of academic socializing strategies on intercultural collaboration: empirical evidence from european economics departments

We present an explorative analysis from qualitative and quantitative data of fourteen European economics departments for the years 2001 to 2003 and investigate how one component of a successful PhD education, which is socializing PhD students into the academic community, should be designed in order to support intercultural collaboration among PhD students. We employ Multi-Value Qualitative Comparative Analysis (MVQCA) to analyze the data. Our results reveal unique socializing strategies in economics departments that possess either high or low intercultural collaboration among PhD students. It turns out that high intercultural collaboration is characterized by two configurations of different socializing strategies. In the first configuration we find that a "high number of foreign PhD students" in a department sufficiently explains high intercultural collaboration as it is realized in American research universities. In the second configuration we find that a combination of "different backgrounds in academic disciplines" among PhD students with "active support for research visits" sufficiently explains high intercultural collaboration. Low intercultural collaboration is characterized by three single strategies: "Financing attendance at academic conferences or events about once per year", "no active support for research visits" and a "small number of foreign PhD students". Each condition is sufficient to explain the outcome. The results for high intercultural collaboration are not affected by any of five resource conditions we added as controls. Low intercultural collaboration though was partly co-explained by low amounts of extra time among faculty and low financial resources of the department. The results indicate that high intercultural collaboration is not only supported by a socializing strategy typical for American research universities but can also be achieved by different socializing strategies.
Queueing Analysis for Self-similar Traffic by Simulator

The scale-invariant burstiness or self-similarity has been found in real network. Relation between self-similarity and network parameter is mainly discussed in the context of application layer, and this self-similarity is caused by the file size of Web servers or the duration of user sessions. Traffic dynamics, however, are mainly generated by physical conditions such as the resource restrainment, and the queue size on intermediate routers. In this paper, we have investigated queueing property for self-similar traffic using network simulator. After analyzing the simulated results, following properties were extracted. Firstly, the traffics with self- similar property are transmitted without consuming the queue resources on the bottleneck link. Secondly, queueing dynamics tend to exceed the linear manner for increase of packet flows.
Catching the video virus: Understanding individuals involved in diffusion of online videos through social networks

In the process of computer-mediated exchange, some online videos travel from one person to another resulting in the process of diffusion of the video. However, there are very few empirical investigations of the audience involved in the process. This exploratory research employs Rogers’ diffusion of innovations as a theoretical framework to study online video users. Theories from social networks on tie strength and homophily are applied to create an integrated diffusion model. Based on survey data from college students, online video audience was profiled in two ways: one based on individual characteristics and another on activities with video content. Participants in the viral transmission process were found to be novelty-seekers, highly connected to others and appreciative of entertaining videos. An integrated model exploring the antecedents of viral transmission of online videos identified age, sex, Internet usage, and network connectedness as significant predictors. Contrary to previous findings, strong and homophilous ties were found to significantly contribute toward the viral spread. The findings of this study will add to the body of knowledge on diffusion research by enhancing understanding of individuals involved in an evolving medium. A profile of online video users will help marketers identify and reach the right audience.
Looking beyond ‘imaginary’ analytics and hermeneutics in comparative politics

Multiple modernities has emerged as the post-Huntingtonian paradigm in the study of secularism and religion, and the concepts ‘imaginary’ or ‘verstehen’ are the most common candidates guiding research aiming to articulate this multiplicity. This article revisits Shmuel Eisenstadt’s original ‘Multiple Modernities’ thesis, Charles Taylor’s concept ‘imaginary’ and Max Weber’s ‘verstehen’, and offers concise examples on how they are put into practice in the current literature on secularism and religion. I argue that the original Eisenstadt thesis is built upon interactions of modernities, and the ‘imaginary’ and ‘verstehen’ analytics eliminate from sight non-isomorphic relations between ideas and actions, despite the ample presence of both interactions and non-isomorphic relations in the politics of secularism and modernity. Turning multiple modernities into an exercise in typologies of non-interacting modernities articulated in isomorphic relations between ideas and actions produces new kinds of post-Huntingtonian culturalism. I finally sketch a comparative politics of new meanings as the counter-hypothesis to which ‘imaginary’, ‘verstehen’ and non-interacting typology analytics of modernities have to respond.
New insights and new therapies in vitiligo.

VITILIGO IS A RELATIVELY COMmon, acquired pigmentary disorder characterized by areas of depigmented skin resulting from loss of epidermal melanocytes. The prevalence of this disease varies from 0.1% to 2% in various global populations. Onset may occur at any age, but the incidence usually peaks in the second and third decades of life. Patterns of distribution of the disease include the generalized, acral or acrofacial, localized, and segmental types. The generalized distribution is the most common pattern and is characterized by symmetrically distributed areas of depigmentation. Segmental vitiligo is the least common pattern and occurs in a dermatomal or quasi-dermatomal distribution, often following the distribution of the trigeminal nerve. The course of the disease is unpredictable. Vitiliginous skin lesions may remain stable or slowly progress for years. In some instances, however, patients undergo rapid, complete depigmentation in 1 or 2 years. The disease shows no racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic predilection. However, given the contrast between the depigmented areas and healthy skin, the disease ismostdisfiguring indarkerracial or ethnic groups. Vitiligo is one of the most psychologically devastating skin diseases. The psychological effects of vitiligo are influenced and exacerbated by societal perceptions of skin disfigurement and irregularities in skin color. Patientswithvitiligoexperience lowselfesteem, job discrimination, depression, and embarrassment in social and sexual relationships. Genetic studies support a nonmendelian inheritance pattern for vitiligo and suggest that vitiligo is a multifactorial, polygenic disorder. Twenty percent to 30% of patients report vitiligo in firstand second-degree relatives. The disease has been associated with specific HLA haplotypes including HLA-DR4, Dw7, DR7, DR1, B13, Cw6, DR53, and A19; however, haplotypes may vary considerably with the population studied. Recently, a genome-wide linkage scan was performed in 71 white multiplex families with vitiligo. Linkage was assessed by a multipoint nonparametric linkage analysis. AIS1 located at 1p31 showed highly significant linkage, suggesting that it is a major susceptibility locus in whites. Additional signals on chromosomes 1, 7, 8, 11, 19, and 22 have met genome criteria for suggestive linkage. Other candidate genes reported to mediate vitiligo susceptibility include the catalase gene, VIT1 at chromosome 2p16, and the guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase I gene.
Circulating plasma serine208-phosphorylated troponin T levels are indicator of cardiac dysfunction

Heart failure (HF) following myocardial infarction (MI) is characterized by progressive alterations of left ventricular (LV) structure and function, named LV remodelling. Although several risk factors such as infarct size have been identified, HF remains difficult to predict in clinical practice. Recently, using phosphoproteomic technology, we found that serine208‐phosphorylated troponin T (P‐Ser208‐TnT) decreases in LV of HF rats. Our aim was to determine the performance of P‐Ser208‐TnT as plasma biomarker of HF compared to conventional cardiac biomarkers such as B‐type natriuretic peptide (BNP), cardiac troponin I (cTnI), C‐reactive protein (CRP) or tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase I (TIMP‐1) measured by x‐MAP technology, as well as its capacity to reflect a pharmacological improvement of HF. We observed a significant increase of BNP, TnT and cTnI levels and a significant decrease of P‐Ser208‐TnT and TIMP‐1 in the plasma of 2‐month‐MI rats compared with control rats with no modulation of CRP level. Circulating levels of P‐Ser208‐TnT were shown to be associated with most of the echocardiographic and haemodynamic parameters of cardiac function. We verified that the decrease of P‐Ser208‐TnT was not because of an excess of phosphatase activity in plasma of HF rats. Two‐month‐MI rats treated with the heart rate reducing agent ivabradine had improved LV function and increased plasma levels of P‐Ser208‐TnT. Thus, circulating phosphorylated troponin T is a highly sensitive biological indicator of cardiac dysfunction and has the potentiality of a new biomarker of HF post‐MI, and of a surrogate marker for the efficacy of a successful treatment of HF.
Organization OR Environment? Disentangling Employees’ Rationales Behind Organizational Citizenship Behavior for the Environment

Scholars and managers have raised the question of how to encourage employees to perform discretionary pro-environmental behaviors at work, termed organizational citizenship behaviors toward the environment (OCB-Es). This study examined how rationales for organizational sustainability relate to employees’ OCB-Es. We considered two rationales—eco-centric and organization-centric—and two sources—employees’ rationales and their perceptions of their employers’ rationales. Results from 489 working adults across a variety of organizations and occupations revealed that both eco-centric and organization-centric rationales at both individual and perceived organizational levels related to employees’ OCB-Es. Furthermore, we found interactive effects, such that employees’ perceptions of their organizations’ rationales were more important than their own rationales in determining OCB-Es. These findings contribute to a theoretical understanding of the complex and interrelated factors motivating employees to perform voluntary sustainability behaviors in organizations. In addition, our results are valuable for managers looking to increase employee sustainability behaviors.