Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
GENETIC ALGORITHMS FOR OUTLIER IDENTIFICATION OF ADDITIVE AND INNOVATIONAL TYPE IN TIME SERIES

The detection of multiple outliers in time series is a cumbersome task because of the large number of combinations of the candidate locations. A genetic algorithm is proposed for identifying additive and innovational outliers. The objective function depends on both the likelihood function and the number of outliers. The genetic algorithm allows simultaneous comparison of a great number of outliers' patterns. This way we may hope to overcome the problems of masking and swamping, that are very likely to arise in the context of time series analysis with aberrant observations. We are using the standard genetic algorithm with complete replacement of the past population and elitist strategy. Crossover looks quite a natural operator in the present framework because it accomplishes the task of combining together sets of locations where outlying observations are likely to exist. In the specification of the fitness function we take advantage of the well known relationship between inverse correlations and additive outliers. Such a relationship extends to innovational outliers as well by means of the Parzen-Cleveland equations. It results a fitness function which looks both simple and powerful and may be quickly computed by Trench's algorithm, which exploits the Toeplitz form of the inverse variance-covariance matrix. It is apparent that fast computation is necessary for the genetic algorithm approach to turn out viable in practice. Some case studies show that the algorithm is effective in detecting outliers' location and type and in estimating their size.
Profit Maximization in Femtocell Service with Contract Design

Most service providers offer an unlimited data service plan under a flat, fixed-rate contract to meet the huge demand. However, because service quality and user experience can vary dramatically in wireless communications, such a contract design is unable to provide equal service quality for all users, which greatly limits the profit potential of service providers. As a result, mobile industries look to femtocell technology to improve service quality and increase profit by attracting customers. Meanwhile, differentiated contracts for different types of users also show great potential for profit increase. In this paper, we investigate unlimited data service plans in terms of enhancements from both femtocell systems and differentiated contracts. The incentive compatibility (IC) issue in differentiated contract design is considered under the overlay macrocell-femtocell system in both split-spectrum and shared-spectrum models. The profits under optimal differentiated contracts, with and without the IC condition are compared to traditional flat fee contracts, and numerical results show that optimal differentiated contracts indeed generate more profits and serve more users.
A morphological study of the human prepubertal and pubertal larynx.

Measurements were made from ten Caucasian male and ten Caucasian female cadaveric larynges ranging in age from 9 to 18 years. The sample was divided into prepubertal and pubertal groups of each sex, respectively. Each specimen was dissected and measured according to a specified protocol so that data on linear and angular dimensions of the laryngeal cartilages and the weight of each cartilage were obtained. Results from this study highlighted differences in the developmental morphology of the circumpubertal larynx. With few exceptions, pubertal laryngeal measurements were significantly larger than prepubertal counterparts in both sexes. No clear sexual dimorphism was found between male and female prepubertal larynges though measurements of the prepubertal female larynx were closer to adult counterparts in size and weight than were those in the male. Thus the female larynx requires less growth per unit time to reach maturity than the male. By puberty, clear sexual dimorphism was evident in the larynx. Linear and weight measurements of the pubertal male larynx were significantly larger than in the female. Though the angle of the thyroid laminae was not significantly different in pubertal male and female cartilages, the thyroid eminence was clearly more prominent in the male. The vocal folds in both sexes reached essentially their adult length by puberty; however, the absolute length of the male vocal folds had increased by over two times that of the female.
Self-Reported Disability in Adults with Severe Obesity

Self-reported disability in performing daily life activities was assessed in adults with severe obesity (BMI ≥ 35 kg/m2) using the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ). 262 participants were recruited into three BMI groups: Group I: 35–39.99 kg/m2; Group II: 40–44.99 kg/m2; Group III: ≥45.0 kg/m2. Progressively increasing HAQ scores were documented with higher BMI; Group I HAQ score: 0.125 (median) (range: 0–1.75); Group II HAQ score: 0.375 (0–2.5); Group III HAQ score: 0.75 (0–2.65) (Group III versus II P < 0.001; Group III versus I P < 0.001; Group II versus I P = 0.004). HAQ score strongly correlated with BMI and age. Nearly three-fourths of the study participants reported some degree of disability (HAQ score > 0). The prevalence of this degree of disability increased with increasing BMI and age. It also correlated to type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and clinical depression, but not to gender. Our data suggest that severe obesity is associated with self-reported disability in performing common daily life activities, with increasing degree of disability as BMI increases over 35 kg/m2. Functional assessment is crucial in obesity management, and establishing the disability profiles of obese patients is integral to both meet the specific healthcare needs of individuals and develop evidence-based public health programs, interventions, and priorities.
Susceptibility to Stress Corrosion Cracking in Ammonia of Nanostructured Cu-10wt%Zn Alloy Produced by Severe Plastic Deformation

In this study, susceptibility to SCC of nanostructured Cu-10wt%Zn alloys, produced by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) was investigated under the constant stress test in ammonia vapour, which has been well-known typical environment for IGSCC of Cu-Zn alloy. Billets having diameter of 20 mm and length of 100 mm were subjected to ECAP for eight passes at room temperature to obtain structure with grain size of about 100 nm. After ECAP, some of the billets were flush-annealed in 473 K for 60 seconds to decrease excessive unequilibrium dislocations at grain boundaries. Coarse grained specimens without ECAP and one-pass specimens were also tested for comparison. The specimens for SCC were tensioned by a constant load in ammonia vapour inside a glass chamber for 24 hours at room temperature. After the SCC tests, maximum length of cracks was evaluated by SEM. Specimen having UFG structure by 8-passes exhibited cracks in lower applied stress ratio, (=σa/σys) compared with 0- and 1-pass samples, where σa is applied stress and σys is yield stress, respectively. Most importantly, the specimen with annealed at 473K for 60s after ECAP cracked in higher applied stress. It became less sensitive to SCC after flush annealing although mechanical properties were not changed considerably. In our previous studies, we reported that the SCC of UFG copper produced by ECAP, and the sensitivity to SCC becomes lower by flush annealing. Results are discussed in terms of grain boundary state with or without extrinsic grain boundary dislocations
Continuous sequential infusion of fludarabine and cytarabine for elderly patients with acute myeloid leukaemia secondary to a previously diagnosed myelodysplastic syndrome

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) secondary to myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is characterized by poor prognosis, namely in older patients. The combination of fludarabine (F) with cytarabine (ARA‐C) ± G‐CSF was proven as effective in patients with poor risk AML. The efficacy and toxicity of a regimen including F + ARA‐C as sequential continuous infusion (CI‐FLA) in 64 untreated patients aged >60 years, in which AML arose after a previous MDS, was investigated. Median age was 67 years (61–81). In patients achieving CR, an additional course, followed by G‐CSF to mobilize CD34+ cells and subsequent autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) were programmed. Overall, 43 patients (67%) achieved complete remission (CR). There were 10 induction deaths (16%), while 11 patients (17%) were refractory to induction treatment. Thirty‐four patients (79% of remitters) were eligible for the consolidation and 30 were monitorized for the mobilization of CD34+ cells, collection being successful in 20 of them (67%). Median number of CD34+ cells/kg collected was 6.8 × 10E6. Thirteen patients (20% of the whole population) received ASCT. Median disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were 10 and 9 months, respectively. Survival at 5 years is projected to 15%. The only parameter significantly related to either DFS duration or OS duration was unfavourable cytogenetics, which did significantly influence also CR achievement. CI‐FLA is effective in elderly patients with AML secondary to previously diagnosed MDS. Best results are achievable in the subgroup of patients with diploid karyotype. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Propensity Score–matched Comparison of Postoperative Adverse Outcomes between Geriatric Patients Given a General or a Neuraxial Anesthetic for Hip Surgery: A Population-based Study

Background:The effects of the mode of anesthesia on major adverse postoperative outcomes in geriatric patients are still inconclusive. The authors hypothesized that a neuraxial anesthetic (NA) rather than a general anesthetic (GA) would yield better in-hospital postoperative outcomes for geriatric patients undergoing hip surgery. Methods:The authors used data from Taiwan’s 1997–2011 in-patient claims database to evaluate the effect of anesthesia on in-hospital outcomes. The endpoints were mortality, stroke, transient ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, respiratory failure, and renal failure. Of the 182,307 geriatric patients who had hip surgery, a GA was given to 53,425 (29.30%) and an NA to 128,882 (70.70%). To adjust for baseline differences and selection bias, patients were matched on propensity scores, which left 52,044 GA and 52,044 NA patients. Results:GA-group patients had a greater percentage and higher odds of adverse in-hospital outcomes than did NA-group patients: death (2.62 vs. 2.13%; odds ratio [OR], 1.24; 95% CI, 1.15 to 1.35; P < 0.001), stroke (1.61 vs. 1.38%; OR, 1.18, 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.31; P = 0.001), respiratory failure (1.67 vs. 0.63%; OR, 2.71; 95% CI, 2.38 to 3.01; P < 0.001), and intensive care unit admission (11.03 vs. 6.16%; OR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.87 to 2.05; P < 0.001), analyzed using conditional logistic regression. Moreover, patients given a GA had longer hospital stays (10.77 ± 8.23 vs. 10.44 ± 6.67 days; 95% CI, 0.22 to 0.40; P < 0.001) and higher costs (New Taiwan Dollars [NT$] 86,606 ± NT$74,162 vs. NT$74,494 ± NT$45,264; 95% CI, 11,366 to 12,859; P < 0.001). Conclusion:For geriatric patients undergoing hip surgery, NA was associated with fewer odds of adverse outcomes than GA.
Gemcitabine Plus Platinum Combination Chemotherapy for Elderly Patients with Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: A Retrospective Analysis

Purpose This study aimed to analyze the efficacy and toxicity of gemcitabine plus platinum chemotherapy for patients aged 70 years or older with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods We reviewed the records of stage IIIB, IV NSCLC patients or surgically inoperable stage II, IIIA NSCLC patients who were aged 70 years or older when treated with gemcitabine (1,250 mg/m2) plus cisplatin (75 mg/m2) or carboplatin (AUC5) chemotherapy from 2001 to 2010 at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, Uijeongbu St. Mary's Hospital and St. Vincent's Hospital. Gemcitabine was administered on days 1 and 8, and cisplatin or carboplatin was administered on day 1. Treatments were repeated every 3 weeks for a maximum of 4 cycles. Results The median age of the 62 patients was 73.5 years (range, 70 to 84 years). Forty-one (66%) patients exhibited comorbidity. The mean number of treatment cycles was 3.9. The compared average relative dose intensity of gemcitabine plus platinum chemotherapy was 84.8%. The median progression-free survival and overall survival (OS) were 5.0 months and 9.4 months, respectively. Reduced Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (none vs. ≥1) and weight loss (<5% vs. ≥5%) after treatment were found to have a significant effect on OS (p=0.01). Conclusion Gemcitabine plus platinum chemotherapy is an effective treatment option with an acceptable level of toxicity in patients aged 70 years or older with good performance status in advanced NSCLC.
Global LINE-1 DNA methylation is associated with blood glycaemic and lipid profiles

Background Patterns of DNA methylation change with age and these changes are believed to be associated with the development of common complex diseases. The hypothesis that Long Interspersed Nucleotide Element 1 (LINE-1) DNA methylation (an index of global DNA methylation) is associated with biomarkers of metabolic health was investigated in this study. Methods Global LINE-1 DNA methylation was quantified by pyrosequencing in blood-derived DNA samples from 228 individuals, aged 49–51 years, from the Newcastle Thousand Families Study (NTFS). Associations between log-transformed LINE-1 DNA methylation levels and anthropometric and blood biochemical measurements, including triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, fasting glucose and insulin secretion and resistance were examined. Results Linear regression, after adjustment for sex, demonstrated positive associations between log-transformed LINE-1 DNA methylation and fasting glucose {coefficient 2.80 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.39–5.22]}, total cholesterol [4.76 (95% CI 1.43–8.10)], triglycerides [3.83 (95% CI 1.30–6.37)] and LDL-cholesterol [5.38 (95% CI 2.12–8.64)] concentrations. A negative association was observed between log-transformed LINE-1 methylation and both HDL cholesterol concentration [−1.43 (95% CI −2.38 to −0.48)] and HDL:LDL ratio [−1.06 (95% CI −1.76 to −0.36)]. These coefficients reflect the millimoles per litre change in biochemical measurements per unit increase in log-transformed LINE-1 methylation. Conclusions These novel associations between global LINE-1 DNA methylation and blood glycaemic and lipid profiles highlight a potential role for epigenetic biomarkers as predictors of metabolic disease and may be relevant to future diagnosis, prevention and treatment of this group of disorders. Further work is required to establish the role of confounding and reverse causation in the observed associations.
Murine Hepatitis Virus Replicase Protein nsp10 Is a Critical Regulator of Viral RNA Synthesis

ABSTRACT Coronavirus replication requires proteolytic processing of the large polyprotein encoded by ORF1a/ab into putative functional intermediates and eventually ∼15 mature proteins. The C-terminal ORF1a protein nsp10 colocalizes with viral replication complexes, but its role in transcription/replication is not well defined. To investigate the role of nsp10 in coronavirus transcription/replication, alanine replacements were engineered into a murine hepatitis virus (MHV) infectious clone in place of conserved residues in predicted functional domains or charged amino acid pairs/triplets, and rescued viruses were analyzed for mutant phenotypes. Of the 16 engineered clones, 5 viable viruses were rescued, 3 mutant viruses generated no cytopathic effect but were competent to synthesize viral subgenomic RNAs, and 8 were not viable. All viable mutants showed reductions in growth kinetics and overall viral RNA synthesis, implicating nsp10 as being a cofactor in positive- or negative-strand synthesis. Viable mutant nsp10-E2 was compromised in its ability to process the nascent polyprotein, as processing intermediates were detected in cells infected with this virus that were not detectable in wild-type infections. Mapping the mutations onto the crystal structure of severe acute respiratory syndrome virus nsp10 identified a central core resistant to mutation. Mutations targeting residues in or near either zinc-binding finger generated nonviable phenotypes, demonstrating that both domains are essential to nsp10 function and MHV replication. All mutations resulting in viable phenotypes mapped to loops outside the central core and were characterized by a global decrease in RNA synthesis. These results demonstrate that nsp10 is a critical regulator of coronavirus RNA synthesis and may play an important role in polyprotein processing.
Automatic identification of the pectoral muscle in mammograms

The pectoral muscle represents a predominant density region in most medio-lateral oblique (MLO) views of mammograms; its inclusion can affect the results of intensity-based image processing methods or bias procedures in the detection of breast cancer. Local analysis of the pectoral muscle may be used to identify the presence of abnormal axillary lymph nodes, which may be the only manifestation of occult breast carcinoma. We propose a new method for the identification of the pectoral muscle in MLO mammograms based upon a multiresolution technique using Gabor wavelets. This new method overcomes the limitation of the straight-line representation considered in our initial investigation using the Hough transform. The method starts by convolving a group of Gabor filters, specially designed for enhancing the pectoral muscle edge, with the region of interest containing the pectoral muscle. After computing the magnitude and phase images using a vector-summation procedure, the magnitude value of each pixel is propagated in the direction of the phase. The resulting image is then used to detect the relevant edges. Finally, a post-processing stage is used to find the true pectoral muscle edge. The method was applied to 84 MLO mammograms from the Mini-MIAS (Mammographic Image Analysis Society, London, U.K.) database. Evaluation of the pectoral muscle edge detected in the mammograms was performed based upon the percentage of false-positive (FP) and false-negative (FN) pixels determined by comparison between the numbers of pixels enclosed in the regions delimited by the edges identified by a radiologist and by the proposed method. The average FP and FN rates were, respectively, 0.58% and 5.77%. Furthermore, the results of the Gabor-filter-based method indicated low Hausdorff distances with respect to the hand-drawn pectoral muscle edges, with the mean and standard deviation being 3.84/spl plusmn/1.73 mm over 84 images.
Evaluation of a novel endoluminal brush method for in situ diagnosis of catheter related sepsis.

AIMS: To determine the accuracy of a novel endoluminal brush method for the diagnosis of catheter related sepsis (CRS), which is performed in situ and hence does not require line sacrifice. METHODS: 230 central venous catheters in 216 patients were examined prospectively for evidence of CRS or colonisation using an endoluminal brush method in conjunction with peripheral blood cultures. The results were compared with those obtained using methods that require line sacrifice: extraluminal sampling (Maki roll) or endoluminal sampling (modified Cleri flush) of microorganisms. RESULTS: Only 16% of 128 patients suspected clinically of having line associated infection were confirmed as having CRS. In addition, 2 of 102 patients not suspected of having line associated infection had CRS. Line colonisation was apparent in approximately twice as many catheters using the Maki roll criteria (92%) compared with either the endoluminal brush (43%) or Cleri flush (43%). Furthermore, colonised catheters sampled using the Maki roll technique yielded mixed growth twice as often as when examined by endoluminal methods (17 and 8 cases, respectively). It was rare to detect either only endoluminal (4 of 22 episodes) or extraluminal (1 of 22 episodes) microorganisms in cases of CRS. In contrast, catheters defined as being colonised most frequently (59% of episodes) yielded only significant extraluminal growth. Only one case of CRS (5%) would have been "missed" if lines yielding a negative result from endoluminal brush sampling had been left in situ. Conversely, four episodes of CRS (18%) would not have been diagnosed by relying on extraluminal sampling alone. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnosis of CRS by the endoluminal brush method can be achieved without line sacrifice and is more sensitive (95%) and specific (84%) than extraluminal sampling of the catheter tip by the Maki roll technique (82% and 66%, respectively).
LFSR based hybrid pattern scheme achieving low power dissipation and high fault coverage

This paper presents a low hardware overhead scan-based test pattern generator (TPG) that can reduce switching activity in circuit under test (CUT) during test and also achieve very high fault coverage with reasonable lengths of test sequences. The proposed TPG is comprised of two TPGs: seed selected random test pattern generator (RTPG) and 3-weight weighted random built-in-self test (WRBIST). Test pattern generated by seed selected RTPG detect easy-to-detect faults and test pattern generated by 3-weight WRBIST detect hard faults that remain undetected after seed selected RTPG patterns are applied. Experimental results show that the proposed TPG schemes can attain 100% fault coverage for all benchmark circuits with drastically reduced test sequence lengths. This reduction in test sequence length achieved at low hardware cost even for benchmark circuits that have large number of scan inputs.
Modelling adversaries and security objectives for routing protocols in wireless sensor networks

The literature is very broad considering routing protocols in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). However, security of these routing protocols has fallen beyond the scope so far. Routing is a fundamental functionality in wireless networks, thus hostile interventions aiming to disrupt and degrade the routing service have a serious impact on the overall operation of the entire network. In order to analyze the security of routing protocols in a precise and rigorous way, we propose a formal framework encompassing the definition of an adversary model as well as the "general" definition of secure routing in sensor networks. Both definitions take into account the feasible goals and capabilities of an adversary in sensor environments and the variety of sensor routing protocols. In spirit, our formal model is based on the simulation paradigm that is a successfully used technique to prove the security of various cryptographic protocols. However, we also highlight some differences between our model and other models that have been proposed for wired or wireless networks. Finally, we illustrate the practical usage of our model by presenting the formal description of a simple attack against an authenticated routing protocol, which is based on the well-known TinyOS routing.