Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Eigenvalue Estimation of Hyperspectral Wishart Covariance Matrices From Limited Number of Samples

Estimation of covariance matrices is a fundamental step in hyperspectral remote sensing where most detection algorithms make use of the covariance matrix in whitening procedures. We present a simple method to estimate all p eigenvalues of a Wishart-distributed sampled covariance matrix (with which an improved covariance can be constructed) when the number of samples (n) is small, n/p >; 1 and less than a few tens. Our method is based on the Marcenko-Pastur (M-P) law, theory of eigenvalue bounds, and energy conservation. We compute an apparent multiplicity for each sampled eigenvalue and then shift the sampled eigenvalues according the maximum likelihood location (M-P mode). We impose energy conservation in two distinct regions; small eigenvalues and large eigenvalues, where the transition between the two regions is found by solving successive first-order regression equation for the sampled data. The method also improves the condition number of the data (small eigenvalues are shifted upward in values), hence, it is also “regularization,” where the regularization is a multiplicative vector regularization as opposed to the traditional additive scalar regularization where all eigenvalues are shifted upward by the same value.
THE HUMAN placenta.

This magnificent treatise on the human placenta is a definitive work on the normal structure of that vital and often-neglected organ. The usual book, like a bottle of wine, is soon finished, leaving only more or less pleasant memories. This book, however, large in size and broad in scope, is more like a whole wine cellar—to be read and enjoyed over a long period of time. Indeed, its wealth of material requires careful, thoughtful, and unhurried reading. The contents are arranged in a logical developmental manner, beginning with "Historical Survey" and ending, 21 chapters later, with "The Placenta in Multiple Pregnancies. " No facet of structure or function is neglected. The authors draw upon their exhaustive personal knowledge, their own significant material and a scholarly, orderly, and relevant review of the literature. More than 1,500 references are cited and analyzed. The authors are extraordinarily skillful in weaving the findings of a
Alcohol and violent and non-violent acquisitive offending

Where alcohol-related crimes are concerned, the focus on violence is not misplaced, however, there is a possibility that some acquisitive offending may be driven to support offenders’ drinking. We examined self-reported information about current offences in a sample of 126 British prisoners, looking at both violent offences motivated by financial gain and property-related acquisitive crimes, and their relationships with drinking. We found that offending to finance drinking was a motivation among a small percentage of both violent and acquisitive offenders, and, although small, these are worthy of attention. Those motivated to offend by the need to finance their drinking score significantly higher than those otherwise motivated on a measure of hazardous drinking.
Bridging the Semantic Gap : Image and video Understanding by Exploiting Attributes

Title of dissertation: BRIDGING THE SEMANTIC GAP : IMAGE AND VIDEO UNDERSTANDING BY EXPLOITING ATTRIBUTES Xiaodong Yu, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Dissertation directed by: Professor Yiannis Aloimonos Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Understanding image and video is one of the fundamental problems in the field of computer vision. Traditionally, the research in this area focused on extracting low level features from images and videos and learning classifiers to categorize these features to pre-defined classes of objects, scenes or activities. However, it is well known that there exists a “semantic gap” between low level features and high level semantic concepts, which greatly obstructs the progress of research on image and video understanding. Our work departs from the traditional view of image and video understanding in that we add a middle layer between high level concepts and low level features, which is called as attribute, and use this layer to facilitate the description of concepts and detection of entities from images and videos. On one hand, attributes are relatively simple and thus can be more reliably detected from the low level features; on the other hand, we can exploit high level knowledge about the relationship between the attributes and the high level concepts and the relationship among attributes, and therefore reduce the semantic gap. Our ideas are demonstrates in three applications as follows: First, we presented an attribute-based learning approach for object recognition, where attributes are used to transfer knowledge on object properties from known classes to unknown classes and consequently reduce the number of training examples needed to learn the new object classes. Next, we illustrate an active framework to recognize scenes based on the objects therein, which are considered as the attributes of the scenes. The active framework utilizes the correlation among objects in a scene and thus significantly reduces the number of objects to be detected in order to recognize the scene. Finally, we propose a novel approach to detect the activity attributes from sports videos, where the contextual constraints are explored to decrease the ambiguity in attribute detection. The activity attributes enable us to go beyond naming the activity categories and achieve a fine-grained description of the activities in the videos. BRIDGING THE SEMANTIC GAP : IMAGE AND VIDEO UNDERSTANDING BY EXPLOITING ATTRIBUTES
Stealing Webpages Rendered on Your Browser by Exploiting GPU Vulnerabilities

Graphics processing units (GPUs) are important components of modern computing devices for not only graphics rendering, but also efficient parallel computations. However, their security problems are ignored despite their importance and popularity. In this paper, we first perform an in-depth security analysis on GPUs to detect security vulnerabilities. We observe that contemporary, widely-used GPUs, both NVIDIA's and AMD's, do not initialize newly allocated GPU memory pages which may contain sensitive user data. By exploiting such vulnerabilities, we propose attack methods for revealing a victim program's data kept in GPU memory both during its execution and right after its termination. We further show the high applicability of the proposed attacks by applying them to the Chromium and Firefox web browsers which use GPUs for accelerating webpage rendering. We detect that both browsers leave rendered webpage textures in GPU memory, so that we can infer which web pages a victim user has visited by analyzing the remaining textures. The accuracy of our advanced inference attack that uses both pixel sequence matching and RGB histogram matching is up to 95.4%.
Interaction between oviposition time, age, and environmental temperature and egg quality traits in laying hens and broiler breeders

An experiment with laying hens and broiler breeders of two ages (young 22 vs. 36 weeks, old 83 vs. 64 weeks) and at temperatures of 20 and 28°C was carried out to evaluate the interactions between oviposition time (7:30; 11:30, and 15:30 h), age, and temperature on the one hand and egg quality on the other. A significant interaction (P ≤ 0.011) was determined in oviposition time. The highest number (25.8%) of eggs was laid at 7:30 h by young laying hens kept at 20°C and the lowest (3.7%) by young layers at 15:30 h kept in the same temperature. Time of oviposition was delayed by age and a higher temperature. Egg weight was significantly influenced by production type (P ≤ 0.001; 60.5 vs. 68.1 g), age (P ≤ 0.001; 59.4 vs. 69.3 g), oviposition (P ≤ 0.001; 66.5, 63.7, 62.8 g), and temperature (P ≤ 0.022; 65.1 vs. 63.6 g). The significant three- way interaction of age, oviposition, and temperature in Haugh unit score (P ≤ 0.013) and four-way interaction of production type, age, oviposition, and temperature (P ≤ 0.05) in specific gravity show that rather than by a single factor the valuable characteristics of egg quality are considerably affected by a combination of factors.
Comparison of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology of Non-Neoplastic Lesions of Breast with Histopathology

The objective of the study was to evaluate efficacy of FNAC (Fine needle aspiration cytology) in nonneoplastic lesions of breast. A total of 300 randomly selected cases of breast lumps over a period of 18 months from Jan 2010 to July 2012 were evaluated clinically and subjected to FNAC to find out spectrum of nonneoplastic lesions. Such cases were studied for cytohistological correlation. The smears were stained with leishman, papanicolaou, H&E and special stains like ZN & PAS wherever necessary. Out of 350 cases, 20 were inadequate aspirations (adequacy 94.3%). Out of 330 breast aspirations, 100 cases showed non-neoplastic pathology. The most commonly encountered lesions were acute mastitis or abscess (52%), followed by fibrocystic disease of breast (31%), followed by lactational breast (8%), simple cyst (4%) and 2% each of tuberculous mastitis and duct ectasia. One case of xanthogranulomatous mastitis was observed. Histopathological studies were possible in 60 cases which were therapeutic interventions. Discordant cases included 4 cases of fibrocystic disease which showed florid ductal hyperplasia on histology and a case of xanthogranulomatous mastitis misdiagnosed on cytology as benign breast disease. Cytohistological correlation of nonneoplastic lesions was seen in 90% cases. Sensitivity of cytology was 98.2 % and specificity was 100%, positive predictive value was 100%, negative predictive value was 93.2%. Our results were correlated with previous studies. From the study it can be concluded that FNAC of non-neoplastic lesions enjoyed utmost sensitivity & specificity and turned out to be cost effective procedure for diagnosis. Cytology helped in avoiding unnecessary surgery in 45% cases.
Attitudes of patients to obstetric analgesia at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria

Pain relief, for different reasons, is controversial worldwide. We designed this study to assess the level of awareness of antenatal patients to analgesia in labour and to evaluate the effect of age, parity and educational status on the awareness and acceptability of pain relief in labour. A structured questionnaire was administered to 1000 antenatal patients between 1 June 2000 and 31 May 2001. Spearman's correlation coefficient was applied to estimate the correlation between the ranked dependent variable (awareness and acceptability) and age, parity and educational status (independent variables). Awareness of pain relief methods was seen in only 27.1%. The most common method known was the use of systemic opiods (80%); only 10% were aware of epidural analgesia and about 14% knew of inhalational analgesia. Acceptance of methods was, however, 57.6%. The most common reason for non-acceptance was that 'The pain of labour is natural' in 76.5%, 12% feared complications to the baby and 25% gave other reasons. Age, parity and educational status did not affect awareness. Educational status had positive correlation ( + = 0.13, P < 0.05) with acceptance while age had a negative correlation ( + = m 0.124, P <0.05). Awareness of obstetric analgesia is still relatively low in this environment; however, a high proportion of patients would accept analgesia in labour if offered.
Estimating the number of peaks in a random field using the Hadwiger characteristic of excursion sets, with applications to medical images

excursion sets has been studied by Adler, who defined the IG (integral geometry) characteristic of excursion sets as a multidimensional analogue of the number of "upcrossings" of the threshold by a unidimensional process. The IG characteristic equals the Euler characteristic of an excursion set provided that the set does not touch the boundary of the volume, and Adler found the expected IG characteristic for a stationary random field inside a fixed volume. Worsley, Evans, Marrett and Neelin used the IG characteristic as an estimator of the number of regions of activation of positron emission tomography (PET) images of blood flow in the brain. Unfortunately the IG characteristic is only defined on intervals: it is not invariant under rotations and it can fail to count connected regions that touch the boundary. This is important since activation often occurs in the cortical regions near the boundary of the brain. In this paper we study the Hadwiger characteristic, which is defined on arbitrary sets, is invariant under rotations and does count connected regions whether they touch the boundary or not. Our main result is a simple expression for the expected Hadwiger characteristic for an isotropic stationary random field in two and three dimensions and on a smooth surface embedded in three dimensions. Results are applied to PET studies of pain perception and word recognition.
Value of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in predicting World Health Organization grade in G1/G2 pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

The present study aimed to investigate the value of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) in the grading of well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs). A total of 44 patients with histologically proven well-differentiated PanNET [grade 1 (G1) and grade 2 (G2) according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria] underwent pretreatment magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which was retrospectively analyzed. The location, size, cystic or solid appearance, boundary, presence or absence of tumor contrast enhancement, and MRI signal of the tumor were assessed. Apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) within the primary tumor were measured on ADC maps. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine ADC cut-off values and the sensitivity and specificity of the grade prediction. Spearman's rank correlation was utilized to probe the association between ADC value and PanNET grade or pathological parameters. G1 tumors exhibited a well-circumscribed border more often than G2 tumors. No marked differences were observed between PanNET G1 and PanNET G2 for cystic or solid appearance, enhancement, and T1- and T2-weighted imaging signals. Marked hyperintensities were more common in PanNET G2 tumors than in PanNET G1 tumors (P<0.01). The mean ADC values were statistically different between the normal pancreas and G1 and G2 tumors (P<0.01), and between PanNET G1 and PanNET G2 (P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that ADC value was negatively correlated with PanNET grade, mitotic count and Ki-67 proliferation index (P<0.05). The cut-off ADC value was 0.930×10−3 mm2/sec, which identified G2 tumors with 82.4% sensitivity and 79.5% selectivity. ADC value therefore represents a non-invasive and valuable imaging parameter in predicting the WHO grade of tumors in well-differentiated PanNET.
Improving Self-control by Practicing Logical Reasoning

We tested the hypothesis that practicing logical reasoning can improve self-control. In an experimental training study (N = 49 undergraduates), for one week participants engaged in daily mental exercises with or without the requirement to practice logical reasoning. Participants in the logic group showed improvements in self-control, as revealed by anagram performance after a depleting self-control task. The benefits of the intervention were short-lived; participants in the two groups performed similarly just one week after the intervention had ended. We discuss the findings with respect to the strength model of self-control and consider possible benefits of regular cognitive challenges in education.
Attitudes, Intentions, and Behavior: A Study of Women's Participation in Collective Action

The present study tests the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior in the context of women's participation in collective action. Participants were 387 women who completed two questionnaires with an interval of 1 year. In the first questionnaire, participants were asked to provide measures of attitudinal, normative, and control factors, as well as measures of intention to participate in 4 group-related activities over the coming year. One year later in the second questionnaire, the same women provided measures of the degree to which they had actually participated in these behaviors during the course of the year. Findings showed strong relationships between attitudinal factors and intentions, and between intentions and behavior. The addition of perceived behavioral control, as specified by the theory of planned behavior, made little difference in regression analyses. Further analyses focused on the mediating role of identification as an activist. This revealed that attitudinal considerations were only important in the prediction of intention for those individuals with a weaker sense of themselves as activists. It is suggested that expectancy-value calculations may be less important in predicting the intentions of strongly committed individuals to engage in group-relevant acts.
Incorporating the Dynamics of Leverage into Default Prediction

A firm’s current leverage ratio is one of the core characteristics of credit quality used in statistical default prediction models. Based on the capital structure literature, which shows that leverage is mean-reverting to a target leverage, we forecast future leverage ratios and include them in the set of default risk drivers. An out-of-sample analysis of default predictions from a hazard model reveals that the discriminative power increases substantially when leverage forecasts are included. We further document that credit ratings contain information beyond the one contained in standard variables but that this information is unrelated to forecasts of leverage ratios.
Immunophenotypes of Acute Myeloid Leukemia From Flow Cytometry Data Using Templates

Motivation: We investigate whether a template-based classification pipeline could be used to identify immunophenotypes in (and thereby classify) a heterogeneous disease with many subtypes. The disease we consider here is Acute Myeloid Leukemia, which is heterogeneous at the morphologic, cytogenetic and molecular levels, with several known subtypes. The prognosis and treatment for AML depends on the subtype. Results: We apply flowMatch, an algorithmic pipeline for flow cytometry data created in earlier work, to compute templates succinctly summarizing classes of AML and healthy samples. We develop a scoring function that accounts for features of the AML data such as heterogeneity to identify immunophenotypes corresponding to various AML subtypes, including APL. All of the AML samples in the test set are classified correctly with high confidence. Availability: flowMatch is available at www.bioconductor. org/packages/devel/bioc/html/flowMatch.html; programs specific to immunophenotyping AML are at www.cs. purdue.edu/homes/aazad/software.html.
Father Dead, Mother Dead: Bereavement and Fictive Death in Penan Geng Society

A characteristic of the mortuary complexes of central Bornean societies is the existence of systems of “death-names. ” Death-names are actually titles, given to persons on the death of a relative. This article examines the system employed by Penan Geng hunter-gatherers. What is significant about the Penan complex is that death-names are employed in a wider range of contexts than that of bereavement: they are used 1) to express affection, 2) to verify statements, and 3) as curses. Each of these usages derives from the assumption that reference to the death of a living individual may bring it about. Much recent scholarship on death has been predicated on the assumption that humans deny death. The Penan case would seem to counter this. Penan have incorporated the theme of death into all forms of social discourse. Rather than denying death, this discursive complex uses reference to the death of self or others to social ends.
Parental Choice of Self-Care for School-Age Children.

This paper provides national estimates from the December 1984 Current Population Survey of the number of school-age children who in the past 4 weeks have been in self-care or in the care of a sibling or other person under the age of 14 during non-school hours either before school after school or at night. The paper then a logit model to analyze the choice of self-care for their children by parents who use non-parental care. Preliminary results suggest that self-care is primarily used by married educated mothers for older children when there is only a small gap between the time their children arrive home from school and the mother arrives home or between the time the mother leaves home in the morning and the child leaves for school. (authors)
The Role of Alternative Splicing in the Control of Immune Homeostasis and Cellular Differentiation

Alternative splicing of pre-mRNA helps to enhance the genetic diversity within mammalian cells by increasing the number of protein isoforms that can be generated from one gene product. This provides a great deal of flexibility to the host cell to alter protein function, but when dysregulation in splicing occurs this can have important impact on health and disease. Alternative splicing is widely used in the mammalian immune system to control the development and function of antigen specific lymphocytes. In this review we will examine the splicing of pre-mRNAs yielding key proteins in the immune system that regulate apoptosis, lymphocyte differentiation, activation and homeostasis, and discuss how defects in splicing can contribute to diseases. We will describe how disruption to trans-acting factors, such as heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs), can impact on cell survival and differentiation in the immune system.
HEMOSTASIS, THROMBOSIS, AND VASCULAR BIOLOGY Human Platelets Contain SNARE Proteins and a Sec1p Homologue That Interacts With Syntaxin 4 and Is Phosphorylated After Thrombin Activation: Implications for Platelet Secretion

In response to thrombin and other extracellular activators, platelets secrete molecules from large intracellular vesicles (granules) to initiate thrombosis. Little is known about the molecular machinery responsible for vesicle docking and secretion in platelets and the linkage of that machinery to cell activation. We found that platelet membranes contain a full complement of interacting proteins—VAMP, SNAP-25, and syntaxin 4—that are necessary for vesicle docking and fusion with the plasma membrane. Platelets also contain an uncharacterized homologue of the Sec1p family that appears to regulate vesicle docking through its binding with a cognate syntaxin. This platelet Sec1 protein (PSP) bound to syntaxin 4 and thereby excluded the binding of SNAP-25 with syntaxin 4, an interaction critical to vesicle docking. As predicted by its sequence, PSP was detected predominantly in the platelet cytosol and was phosphorylated in vitro by protein kinase C (PKC), a secretion-linked kinase, incorporating 0.87 6 0.11 mol of PO4 per mole of protein. PSP was also specifically phosphorylated in permeabilized platelets after cellular stimulation by phorbol esters or thrombin and this phosphorylation was blocked by the PKC inhibitor Ro-318220. Phosphorylation by PKC in vitro inhibited PSP from binding to syntaxin 4. Taken together, these studies indicate that platelets, like neurons and other cells capable of regulated secretion, contain a unique complement of interacting vesicle docking proteins and PSP, a putative regulator of vesicle docking. The PKC-dependent phosphorylation of PSP in activated platelets and its inhibitory effects on syntaxin 4 binding provide a novel functional link that may be important in coupling the processes of cell activation, intracellular signaling, and secretion. r 1999 by The American Society of Hematology.