Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Off-line signature verification using HMM for random, simple and skilled forgeries

The problem of signature verification is in theory a pattern recognition task used to discriminate two classes, original and forgery signatures. Even after many efforts in order to develop new verification techniques for static signature verification, the influence of the forgery types has not been extensively studied. This paper reports the contribution to signature verification considering different forgery types in an HMM framework. The experiments have shown that the error rates of the simple and random forgery signatures are very closed. This reflects the real applications in which the simple forgeries represent the principal fraudulent case. In addition, the experiments show promising results in skilled forgery verification by using simple static and pseudodynamic features.
A consistency property of the AIC for multivariate linear models when the dimension and the sample size are large

It is common knowledge that the Akaike’s information criterion (AIC) is not a consistent model selection criterion. This inconsistency property has been confirmed from an asymptotic selection probability evaluated from a large-sample asymptotic framework. However, when a high-dimensional asymptotic framework, such that the dimension of the response variables and the sample size are approaching 1, is used for evaluating the selection probability, we can prove a consistency property of the AIC for selecting variables in multivariate linear models. This means that the probability of selecting the true model by the AIC goes to 1 as the sample size and the dimension simultaneously approach 1. The consistency property is also checked numerically by conducting a Monte Carlo simulation.
Aligning Knowledge and Text Embeddings by Entity Descriptions

We study the problem of jointly embedding a knowledge base and a text corpus. The key issue is the alignment model making sure the vectors of entities, relations and words are in the same space. Wang et al. (2014a) rely on Wikipedia anchors, making the applicable scope quite limited. In this paper we propose a new alignment model based on text descriptions of entities, without dependency on anchors. We require the embedding vector of an entity not only to fit the structured constraints in KBs but also to be equal to the embedding vector computed from the text description. Extensive experiments show that, the proposed approach consistently performs comparably or even better than the method of Wang et al. (2014a), which is encouraging as we do not use any anchor information.
Energy Sources for Gynecologic Laparoscopic Surgery: A Review of the Literature

Importance A range of energy sources are used in gynecologic laparoscopy. These energy sources include monopolar electrosurgery, bipolar electrosurgery (including “advanced bipolar” devices that incorporate tissue feedback monitoring), and various types of laser and ultrasonic technologies. Gynecologists using these tools should be aware of the potential benefits and potential dangers of these instruments. Objective This review provides an overview of the biophysics of these energy sources, their tissue effects, and the complications that may arise. It aims to highlight any potential advantages or disadvantages of various energy sources, as reported by clinical and laboratory studies. Evidence Acquisition Literature relating to energy sources used in gynecologic laparoscopy was reviewed. Results While laboratory-based studies have reported differences between various energy sources, these differences may not be clinically significant. The choice of instrumentation may depend on the nature of the surgical task being performed, but other factors, such as the surgeon’s training/experience, cost, and industry marketing, may also influence the decision. Conclusions An awareness of the pros and cons of each energy modality and their relative efficacy profiles is paramount. Relevance: It is important that surgeons have an understanding of the biophysics of these technologies in order to understand their limitations and potential dangers and to utilize the most appropriate energy source(s) in the appropriate clinical setting, in order to both minimize the risk of inadvertent injuries during gynecologic laparoscopy and to maximize cost-efficient delivery of health care. Target Audience Obstetricians and gynecologists, family physicians Learning Objectives After completing this CME activity, physicians should be better able to analyze the principle biophysics of electrosurgery and its application to surgery, evaluate the types of injuries that can occur when using energy sources in gynecologic laparoscopy and how these injuries can be minimized, and compare the properties of different laparoscopic energy sources, highlighting the potential advantages and disadvantages of each device.
Globalisation and Inflation: New Cross-Country Evidence on the Global Determinants of Domestic Inflation

There has been mounting evidence that the inflation process has been changing. Inflation is now much lower and much more stable around the globe. And its sensitivity to measures of economic slack and increases in input costs appears to have declined. Probably the most widely supported explanation for this phenomenon is that monetary policy has been much more effective. There is no doubt in our mind that this explanation goes a long way towards explaining the better inflation performance we have observed. In this paper, however, we begin to explore a complementary, rather than alternative, explanation. We argue that prevailing models of inflation are too "country-centric", in the sense that they fail to take sufficient account of the role of global factors in influencing the inflation process. The relevance of a more "globe-centric" approach is likely to have increased as the process of integration of the world economy has gathered momentum, a process commonly referred to as "globalisation". In a large cross-section of countries, we find some rather striking prima facie evidence that this has indeed been the case. In particular, proxies for global economic slack add considerable explanatory power to traditional benchmark inflation rate equations, even allowing for the influence of traditional indicators of external influences on domestic inflation, such as import and oil prices. Moreover, the role of such global factors has been growing over time, especially since the 1990s. And in a number of cases, global factors appear to have supplanted the role of domestic measures of economic slack.
Incidence and management of seizures after ischemic stroke

Objective: We conducted a meta-analysis of the incidence of early and late seizures following ischemic stroke as well as a systematic review of their pharmacologic treatment. Methods: Observational studies that reported incidence of seizures following ischemic stroke and those that reported treatment response to any particular antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were included. Risk of bias was assessed by predefined study characteristics. Random effects meta-analysis was conducted for all studies where data were available for the incidence of early and late stroke-related seizures. Heterogeneity was measured with I2 statistic and sensitivity analyses were performed using prespecified variables. A qualitative synthesis of studies reporting use of AEDs for stroke-related seizures was performed. Results: Forty-one studies from 10,554 articles were identified; 35 studies reported incidence of stroke-related seizures and 6 studies reported effects of specific AEDs. Most studies were of low to moderate quality. Rate of early seizures was 3.3% (95% confidence interval 2.8%–3.9%, I2 = 92.8%), while the incidence of late seizures or epilepsy was 18 per 1,000 person-years (95% confidence interval 1.5–2.2, I2 = 94.1%). The high degree of heterogeneity could not be explained from the sensitivity analyses. For management of stroke-related seizures, no single AED was found to be more effective over others, though newer AEDs were associated with fewer side effects. Conclusions: The burden of stroke-related seizures and epilepsy due to ischemic stroke is substantial. Further studies are required to determine risk factors for epilepsy following ischemic stroke and optimal secondary prevention.
Codelivery of Doxorubicin and Paclitaxel by Cross-Linked Multilamellar Liposome Enables Synergistic Antitumor Activity

Combining chemotherapeutics is a promising method of improving cancer treatment; however, the clinical success of combination therapy is limited by the distinct pharmacokinetics of combined drugs, which leads to nonuniform distribution. In this study, we report a new robust approach to load two drugs with different hydrophilicities into a single cross-linked multilamellar liposomal vesicle (cMLV) to precisely control the drug ratio that reaches the tumor in vivo. The stability of cMLVs improves the loading efficiency and sustained release of doxorubicin (Dox) and paclitaxel (PTX), maximizing the combined therapeutic effect and minimizing the systemic toxicity. Furthermore, we show that the cMLV formulation maintains specific drug ratios in vivo for over 24 h, enabling the ratio-dependent combination synergy seen in vitro to translate to in vivo antitumor activity and giving us control over another parameter important to combination therapy. This combinatorial delivery system may provide a new strategy for synergistic delivery of multiple chemotherapeutics with a ratiometric control over encapsulated drugs to treat cancer and other diseases.
Consumption Volatility Risk: Consumption Volatility Risk

Empirically, the conditional volatility of aggregate consumption growth varies over time. While many papers test the consumption CAPM based on realized consumption growth, little is known about how the time-variation of consumption growth volatility affects asset prices. We show that in a model where (i) the agent has recursive preferences, (ii) the conditional first and second moments of consumption growth follow a Markov chain and (iii) the state of the economy is latent, the perception about conditional moments of consumption growth affect excess returns. In the data, we find that the perceived consumption volatility is a priced source of risk and exposure to it strongly negatively predicts future returns in the cross-section. These results suggest that the representative agent has an elasticity of intertemporal substitution greater than unity. In the time-series, changes in beliefs about the volatility state strongly forecast aggregate quarterly excess returns. JEL Classification: G12, G17, E44.
Nuclear Phosphoproteomic Screen Uncovers ACLY as Mediator of IL-2-induced Proliferation of CD4+ T lymphocytes*

Anti-cancer immunotherapies commonly rely on the use of interleukin-2 (IL-2) to promote the expansion of T lymphocytes. IL-2- dependent proliferation is the culmination of a complex network of phosphorylation-driven signaling events that impact on gene transcription through mechanisms that are not clearly understood. To study the role of IL-2 in the regulation of nuclear protein function we have performed an unbiased mass spectrometry-based study of the nuclear phosphoproteome of resting and IL-2-treated CD4+ T lymphocytes. We detected 8521distinct phosphosites including many that are not yet reported in curated phosphorylation databases. Although most phosphorylation sites remained unaffected upon IL-2 treatment, 391 sites corresponding to 288 gene products showed robust IL-2-dependent regulation. Importantly, we show that ATP-citrate lyase (ACLY) is a key phosphoprotein effector of IL-2-mediated T-cell responses. ACLY becomes phosphorylated on serine 455 in T lymphocytes upon IL-2-driven activation of AKT, and depletion or inactivation of ACLY compromises IL-2-promoted T-cell growth. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that ACLY is required for enhancing histone acetylation levels and inducing the expression of cell cycle regulating genes in response to IL-2. Thus, the metabolic enzyme ACLY emerges as a bridge between cytokine signaling and proliferation of T lymphocytes, and may be an attractive candidate target for the development of more efficient anti-cancer immunotherapies.
Mapping Forest Canopy Height over Continental China Using Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data

Spatially-detailed forest height data are useful to monitor local, regional and global carbon cycle. LiDAR remote sensing can measure three-dimensional forest features but generating spatially-contiguous forest height maps at a large scale (e.g., continental and global) is problematic because existing LiDAR instruments are still data-limited and expensive. This paper proposes a new approach based on an artificial neural network (ANN) for modeling of forest canopy heights over the China continent. Our model ingests spaceborne LiDAR metrics and multiple geospatial predictors including climatic variables (temperature and precipitation), forest type, tree cover percent and land surface reflectance. The spaceborne LiDAR instrument used in the study is the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS), which can provide within-footprint forest canopy heights. The ANN was trained with pairs between spatially discrete LiDAR metrics and full gridded geo-predictors. This generates valid conjugations to predict heights over the China continent. The ANN modeled heights were evaluated with three different reference data. First, field measured tree heights from three experiment sites were used to validate the ANN model predictions. The observed tree heights at the site-scale agreed well with the modeled forest heights (R = 0.827, and RMSE = 4.15 m). Second, spatially discrete GLAS observations and a continuous map from the interpolation of GLAS-derived tree heights were separately used to evaluate the ANN model. We obtained R of 0.725 and RMSE of 7.86 m and R of 0.759 and RMSE of 8.85 m, respectively. Further, inter-comparisons were also performed with two existing forest height maps. Our model granted a moderate agreement with the existing satellite-based forest height maps (R = 0.738, and RMSE = 7.65 m (R2 = 0.52, and RMSE = 8.99 m). Our results showed that the ANN model developed in this paper is capable of estimating forest heights over the China continent with a satisfactory accuracy. Forth coming research on our model will focus on extending the model to the estimation of woody biomass.
A novel circuit model of nanotechnology-enabled inkjet-printed gas sensors using multi-wall carbon nanotubes

This paper presents a novel electrical model of multi-walled carbon-nanotube based gas sensors completely patterned using low-cost inkjet printing. The obtained results (validated through measurements from 50 MHz to 3 GHz) demonstrate that the nanostructure-based sensing mechanisms yields a quite evident shift of circuit resistive elements. A narrowband investigation of the resistive variation depending on gas concentration has been performed as well. The input impedance has been found to be significantly lower than that reported for metal oxide sensors, thus facilitating the integration in electronic circuitry. The suggested equivalent model can be exploited in the implementation of large-scale nanotechnology-enabled inkjet-printed modules.
Distribution of dystrophin gene deletions in a Chinese population

Objective To describe the deletion patterns and distribution characteristics of the dystrophin gene in a Chinese population of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) or Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD). Methods Patients with DMD/BMD were recruited. Deletions in 19 exons of the dystrophin gene were evaluated using accurate multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Result Multiplex PCR identified deletions in 238/401 (59.4%) patients with DMD/BMD. Of these, 196 (82.4%) were in the distal hotspot, 32 (13.4%) were in the proximal hotspot, five (2.1%) were in both regions and five (2.1%) were in neither hotspot. Deletions were classified into 54 patterns. Exon 49 was the most frequently deleted. The reading frame rule was upheld for 91.9% of cases. Conclusion Accurate multiplex PCR for 19 exons is an effective diagnostic tool.
Synthesis of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles from egg shells by sol-gel method

Hydroxyapatite, [Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, (HAp)] is widely used in medical fields especially as a bone and teeth substitute. Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles have been succesfully synthesized from egg shells as a source of calcium by using sol-gel method. The egg shells were calcined, hydrated (slaking) and undergone carbonation to form Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC). Then the PCC was added (NH4)2HPO4 to form HAp with variation the mole ratio Ca and P (1.57; 1.67 and 1.77), aging time (24, 48, and 72 hr) and under basic condition pH (9, 10 and 11). The formation of hydroxyapatite biomaterial was characterized using XRD, FTIR, SEM-EDX. The XRD patterns showed that the products were hydroxyapatite crystals. The best result was obtained at 24 hr aging time, pH 9 with hexagonal structure of hydroxyapatite. Particle size of HAp was 35-54 nm and the morphology of hydroxyapatite observed using SEM, it showed that the uniformity crystal of hydroxyapatite.
A Direct Digital Technique Implementation of General Discontinuous Pulse Width Modulation Strategy

This paper presents direct digital technique-generalized discontinuous pulse width modulation (PWM) - a new implementation method for an optimal discontinuous PWM (DPWM) in terms of switching losses of the inverter on an embedded system. At each sampling period, an optimal choice is done in order to clamp one of the three half-bridges. Its advantages compared to classic ones (DPWM) are as follows: needless to know the load power factor, operational under steady-state and dynamic operating conditions, and low computation time. The proposed algorithm is then verified by simulation. Experimental results, based on a resistance-inductance load and a starter-generator application, are provided to show its effectiveness.
A Novel Method of Characterizing Genetic Sequences: Genome Space with Biological Distance and Applications

Background Most existing methods for phylogenetic analysis involve developing an evolutionary model and then using some type of computational algorithm to perform multiple sequence alignment. There are two problems with this approach: (1) different evolutionary models can lead to different results, and (2) the computation time required for multiple alignments makes it impossible to analyse the phylogeny of a whole genome. This motivates us to create a new approach to characterize genetic sequences. Methodology To each DNA sequence, we associate a natural vector based on the distributions of nucleotides. This produces a one-to-one correspondence between the DNA sequence and its natural vector. We define the distance between two DNA sequences to be the distance between their associated natural vectors. This creates a genome space with a biological distance which makes global comparison of genomes with same topology possible. We use our proposed method to analyze the genomes of the new influenza A (H1N1) virus, human rhinoviruses (HRV) and mammalian mitochondrial. The result shows that a triple-reassortant swine virus circulating in North America and the Eurasian swine virus belong to the lineage of the influenza A (H1N1) virus. For the HRV and mammalian mitochondrial genomes, the results coincide with biologists' analyses. Conclusions Our approach provides a powerful new tool for analyzing and annotating genomes and their phylogenetic relationships. Whole or partial genomes can be handled more easily and more quickly than using multiple alignment methods. Once a genome space has been constructed, it can be stored in a database. There is no need to reconstruct the genome space for subsequent applications, whereas in multiple alignment methods, realignment is needed to add new sequences. Furthermore, one can make a global comparison of all genomes simultaneously, which no other existing method can achieve.
Determinants of burnout among public hospital nurses

Objective: The present study extends our knowledge of the main determinants of burnout among nurses working in public hospitals and investigates the impact of work support on the stress-burnout relationship. Design: A cross-sectional, survey design. Setting: Data were collected from three public hospitals in south east Queensland, Australia. Subjects: A convenience sample of 273 nursing staff (235 females, 38 males) participated in the study. Main outcome measures: The influence of work stressors (i.e., job-specific stressors and role stressors) and work support (i.e., supervisor and coworker support) on burnout amongst public hospital nurses. Results: Overall, nurses reported moderate levels of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that sociodemographic factors play a small, but significant role in predicting burnout. Role Overload, Job Conflicts and Role Boundary contributed to higher levels of Emotional Exhaustion. Role Boundary and Professional Uncertainty contributed to higher levels of Depersonalisation and Role Boundary and Role Ambiguity contributed to lower levels of Personal Accomplishment. Only Supervisor Support had a significant main effect on Depersonalisation and Personal Accomplishment. No evidence was found to indicate that work support had a buffering effect on the stress-burnout relationship. Conclusions: The results highlight the need for organisational interventions to reduce the workload placed upon nurses. Supervisors are in a better position than coworkers to reduce burnout among nurses by clearly outlining the boundaries and expectations of the nursing role.
The impact of amyloid precursor protein signalling and histone deacetylase inhibition on neprilysin expression in human prostate cells

The zinc metallopeptidase, neprilysin (NEP), is an endothelin‐1 degrading enzyme whose expression is extensively downregulated in prostate cancer. The expression of NEP in neuronal cells is regulated by intramembrane proteolysis of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) through its intracellular domain (AICD) facilitating histone acetylation of the NEP promoter and gene transcription. The present study has examined whether similar mechanisms operate in prostate cell lines. The expression of APP and its processing enzymes (β‐ and γ‐secretases) was examined in a number of prostate cell lines, and the effect of γ‐secretase inhibition was explored on NEP expression and activity. The potential interaction of AICD with the NEP promoter was examined by chromatin immunoprecipitation. Our results indicated that all key components involved in APP processing were expressed in prostate cancer cell lines but suppression of AICD production using a γ‐secretase inhibitor did not decrease NEP expression and activity, and no direct AICD‐NEP promoter interaction could be detected. However, histone deacetylase inhibitors (valproate and trichostatin A) caused a 2‐ to 3‐fold increase in NEP expression in PC‐3 cells, and combinatorial treatment with the DNA demethylating agent, AzaC, further increased NEP expression levels. Although AICD is detectable in prostate cell lines, it does not appear to regulate NEP by AICD‐mediated signalling. Apart from promoter de‐methylation, the data suggest that histone acetylation may facilitate partial re‐activation of NEP expression in advanced prostate cancer cells. Upregulation of this tumour‐suppressing protein may provide a novel therapeutic strategy in prostate cancer.