Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Statistical behavior and consistency of classification methods based on convex risk minimization

We study how closely the optimal Bayes error rate can be approximately reached using a classification algorithm that computes a classifier by minimizing a convex upper bound of the classification error function. The measurement of closeness is characterized by the loss function used in the estimation. We show that such a classification scheme can be generally regarded as a (nonmaximum-likelihood) conditional in-class probability estimate, and we use this analysis to compare various convex loss functions that have appeared in the literature. Furthermore, the theoretical insight allows us to design good loss functions with desirable properties. Another aspect of our analysis is to demonstrate the consistency of certain classification methods using convex risk minimization. This study sheds light on the good performance of some recently proposed linear classification methods including boosting and support vector machines. It also shows their limitations and suggests possible improvements.
HCV, but not HIV, is a risk factor for cerebral small vessel disease

Objectives: With the aging of HIV populations, vascular contributions to neuropathogenesis are increasingly important. Indirect analyses of cerebral small vessel disease have been performed, but there have been no direct studies of human brain to elucidate risk factors for arteriolar sclerosis. Methods: Mean arteriolar wall thickness (sclerotic index, SI) was measured in the deep cerebral white matter of 126 brains (96 HIV+, 30 HIV−). Correlations with SI were performed for age, sex, race, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, obesity, cirrhosis, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, herpes infection, HIV infection, HIV risk, cocaine use, CD4 count, plasma HIV load, and combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) at the time of death. Results: Age, hypertension, race, HCV, and cirrhosis were associated with SI; of the HIV variables, only cART at death was associated with SI. To address colinearity, partial correlations were run with HCV and cirrhosis, hypertension and race, and hypertension and age. With HCV controlled, cirrhosis lost significance; with hypertension controlled, age lost significance. For the entire sample, HCV, African American race, and hypertension accounted for 15% of SI variance in multivariate analysis. Each was independently associated with SI, and HCV had the largest effect. For the HIV sample, inclusion of cART in the model increased R2 to 0.205, with only HCV, hypertension, and cART remaining significant or trend level. Conclusions: This tissue-based analysis of cerebral arteriolar disease demonstrates that HCV constitutes an independent risk, in addition to African American race, hypertension, and cART. Further study is needed to understand what aspects of HCV and cART contribute to cerebrovascular neuropathogenesis.
Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation Angiotensin-II type 1 receptor gene polymorphism and diabetic microangiopathy

Background. Genotypic abnormalities of the reninangiotensin system have been suggested as risk factors for the development of hypertension, diabetic nephropathy and proliferative retinopathy. Most of the known actions of angiotensin-II are exerted through the angiotensin-II type 1 receptor, which is present particularly in vascular smooth muscle cells, myocardium and the kidney. A transversion of adenine to cytosine at nucleotide position 1166 in the gene coding for the angiotensin-II type 1 receptor has been associated with hypertension in the non-diabetic population. Methods. We studied the relationship between the A->C polymorphism in the angiotensin-II type 1 receptor gene in patients with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and diabetic nephropathy (121 men, 77 women, age 41 ± 10 years, diabetes duration 27 + 8 years) and in IDDM patients with normoalbuminuria (116 men, 74 women, age 43 + 10 years, diabetes duration 27 + 8 years). 156 patients (40%) had proliferative retinopathy, 67 patients (17%) had no diabetic retinopathy. Results. There was no difference in genotype distribution between IDDM patients with diabetic nephropathy and normoalbuminuria: 103 (52%) / 81 (41%) / 14 (7%) vs. 97 (51%) / 80 (42%) / 13 (7%) had AA/AC/CC genotypes, respectively. The allele frequencies (A/C) in patients with nephropathy (0.73/0.27) and patients with normoalbuminuria (0.72/0.28) were also similar. No difference in genotype distribution between IDDM patients with proliferative retinopathy and without diabetic retinopathy was found either: 77 (50%) / 66 (42%) / 13 (8%) vs. 42 (63%) / 22 (33%) / 3 (4%) had AA/AC/CC genotypes, respectively. Conclusions. The A->C polymorphism in the angiotensin-II type 1 receptor gene does not contribute to the genetic susceptibility to diabetic nephropathy or proliferative retinopathy in Caucasian IDDM patients.
Age distribution of fossil landslides in the Tyrol (Austria) and its surrounding areas

Abstract. Some of the largest mass movements in the Alps cluster spatially in the Tyrol (Austria). Fault-related valley deepening and coalescence of brittle discontinuities structurally controlled the progressive failure and the kinematics of several slopes. To evaluate the spatial and temporal landslide distribution, a first comprehensive compilation of dated mass movements in the Eastern Alps has been made. At present, more than 480 different landslides in the Tyrol and its surrounding areas, including some 120 fossil events, are recorded in a GIS-linked geodatabase. These compiled data show a rather continuous temporal distribution of landslide activities, with (i) some peaks of activity in the early Holocene at about 10 500–9400 cal BP and (ii) in the Tyrol a significant increase of deep-seated rockslides in the Subboreal at about 4200–3000 cal BP. The majority of Holocene mass movements were not directly triggered by deglaciation processes, but clearly took a preparation of some 1000 years, after ice withdrawal, until slopes collapsed. In view of this, several processes that may promote rock strength degradation are discussed. After the Late-Glacial, slope stabilities were affected by stress redistribution and by subcritical crack growth. Fracture propagating processes may have been favoured by glacial loading and unloading, by earthquakes and by pore pressure fluctuations. Repeated dynamic loading, even if at subcritical energy levels, initiates brittle fracture propagation and thus substantially promotes slope instabilities. Compiled age dating shows that several landslides in the Tyrol coincide temporally with the progradation of some larger debris flows in the nearby main valleys and, partially, with glacier advances in the Austrian Central Alps, indicating climatic phases of increased water supply. This gives evidence of elevated pore pressures within the intensely fractured rock masses. As a result, deep-seated gravitational slope deformations are induced by complex and polyphase interactions of lithological and structural parameters, morphological changes, subcritical fracture propagation, variable seismic activity and climatically controlled groundwater flows.
Social Relationships and Motivation in Middle School: The Role of Parents, Teachers, and Peers

Adolescents' supportive relationships with parents, teachers, and peers were examined in relation to motivation at school (school- and class-related interest, academic goal orientations, and social goal pursuit). On the basis of 167 sixth-grade students, relations of perceived support from parents, teachers, and peers to student motivation differed depending on the source of support and motivational outcome: Peer support was a positive predictor of prosocial goal pursuit, teacher support was a positive predictor of both types of interest and of social responsibility goal pursuit, and parent support was a positive predictor of school-related interest and goal orientations. Perceived support from parents and peers also was related to interest in school indirectly by way of negative relations with emotional distress. Pursuit of social responsibility goals and school- and class-related interest in 6th grade partly explained positive relations between social support in 6th grade and classroom grades 1 year later. Continued research on the social origins of classroom motivation in early adolescence is needed. For most students, early adolescence is a time of change and transition. With respect to interpersonal relationships and social adjustment, these changes reflect a growing psychological and emotional independence from adults and a corresponding dependence on peer relationships to establish and maintain positive perceptions of the self (Steinberg, 1990; Youniss & Smollar, 1985). Often confounding these general developmental challenges is a transition to a new school environment, which tends to be marked by adolescents' perceptions that teachers no longer care about them, and decreased opportunities to establish meaningful relationships with peers (Eccles & Midgley, 1989). Therefore, young adolescents often must negotiate and establish relationships with adults and peers under less than optimal conditions. A particular concern is that young adolescents who do not enjoy positive, supportive relationships with adults and peers are often at risk for academic problems (e.g., Goodenow, 1993; Midgley, Feldlaufer, & Eccles, 1989; Phelan, Davidson, & Cao, 1991). In the present study, I examined specific ways in which supportive relationships with parents, teachers, and peers are related to young adolescents' motivation at school and to academic performance.
Real Interference Alignment with Real Numbers

A novel coding scheme applicable in networks with single antenna nodes is proposed. This scheme converts a single antenna system to an equivalent Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system with fractional dimensions. Interference can be aligned along these dimensions and higher Multiplexing gains can be achieved. Tools from the field of Diophantine approximation in number theory are used to show that the proposed coding scheme in fact mimics the traditional schemes used in MIMO systems where each data stream is sent along a direction and alignment happens when several streams arrive at the same direction. Two types of constellation are proposed for the encoding part, namely the single layer constellation and the multi-layer constellation. Using the single layer constellation, the coding scheme is applied to the two-user $X$ channel and the three-user Gaussian Interference Channel (GIC). In case of the two-user $X$ channel, it is proved that the total Degrees-of-Freedom (DOF), i.e. 4/3, of the channel is achievable almost surely. This is the first example in which it is shown that a time invariant single antenna system does not fall short of achieving its total DOF. Using the multi-layer constellation, the coding scheme is applied to the symmetric three-user GIC. Achievable DOFs are derived for all channel gains. As a function of the channel gain, it is observed that the DOF is everywhere discontinuous.
Bud composition, branching patterns and leaf phenology in cerrado woody species.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Plants have complex mechanisms of aerial biomass exposition, which depend on bud composition, the period of the year in which shoot extension occurs, branching pattern, foliage persistence, herbivory and environmental conditions. METHODS The influence of water availability and temperature on shoot growth, the bud composition, the leaf phenology, and the relationship between partial leaf fall and branching were evaluated over 3 years in Cerrado woody species Bauhinia rufa (BR), Leandra lacunosa (LL) and Miconia albicans (MA). KEY RESULTS Deciduous BR preformed organs in buds and leaves flush synchronously at the transition from the dry to the wet season. The expansion time of leaves is <1 month. Main shoots (first-order axis, A1 shoots) extended over 30 d and they did not branch. BR budding and foliage unfolds were brought about independently of inter-annual rainfall variations. By contrast, in LL and MA evergreen species, the shoot extension rate and the neoformation of aerial organs depended on rainfall. Leaf emergence was continuous for 2-6 months and lamina expansion took place over 1-4 months. The leaf life span was 5-20 months and the main A1 shoot extension happened over 122-177 d. Both evergreen species allocated biomass to shoots, leaves or flowers continuously during the year, branching in the middle of the wet season to form second-order (A2 shoots) and third-order (A3 shoots) axis in LL and A2 shoots in MA. Partial shed of A1 shoot leaves would facilitate a higher branching intensity A2 shoot production in LL than in MA. MA presented a longer leaf life span, produced a lower percentage of A2 shoots but had a higher meristem persistence on A1 and A2 shoots than LL. CONCLUSIONS It was possible to identify different patterns of aerial growth in Cerrado woody species defined by shoot-linked traits such as branching pattern, bud composition, meristem persistence and leaf phenology. These related traits must be considered over and above leaf deciduousness for searching functional guilds in a Cerrado woody community. For the first time a relationship between bud composition, shoot growth and leaf production pattern is found in savanna woody plants.
A Review of the Mechanism of Injury and Treatment Approaches for Illness Resulting from Exposure to Water-Damaged Buildings, Mold, and Mycotoxins

Physicians are increasingly being asked to diagnose and treat people made ill by exposure to water-damaged environments, mold, and mycotoxins. In addition to avoidance of further exposure to these environments and to items contaminated by these environments, a number of approaches have been used to help persons affected by exposure to restore their health. Illness results from a combination of factors present in water-damaged indoor environments including, mold spores and hyphal fragments, mycotoxins, bacteria, bacterial endotoxins, and cell wall components as well as other factors. Mechanisms of illness include inflammation, oxidative stress, toxicity, infection, allergy, and irritant effects of exposure. This paper reviews the scientific literature as it relates to commonly used treatments such as glutathione, antioxidants, antifungals, and sequestering agents such as Cholestyramine, charcoal, clay and chlorella, antioxidants, probiotics, and induced sweating.
A simple exponential integral representation of the generalized Marcum Q-function QM (a, b) for real-order M with applications

This article derives a new exponential-type integral representation for the generalized M-th order Marcum Q-function, QM(alpha, beta), when M is not necessarily an integer. Our new representation includes a well-known result due to Helstrom for the special case of positive integer M and an additional integral correction term that vanishes when M is an integer. The new form has both computational utility (numerous existing computational algorithms for QM(alpha, beta) are limited to integer M) and analytical utility (e.g., performance analysis of selection diversity in bivariate Nakagami-m fading with arbitrary fading severity index, computation of the complementary cumulative distribution function of a noncentral chi-square random variable for both odd and even orders, unified analysis of correlated binary and quaternary modulations over generalized fading channels, development of a Markovian threshold model for packet errors in correlated Nakagami-m fading channels and so on). Our alternative representation for QM(alpha, beta) also leads into a new, exact exponential integral formula for the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the output of a dual-diversity selection combiner in correlated Nakagami-m fading (including the non-integer fading index case), which several researchers in the past have concluded as unobtainable. Simple yet tight upper and lower bounds for QM(alpha, beta) (for any arbitrary real order Mges0.5) are also derived.
Resting-state functional MRI predictors and correlates of response to rTMS in major depression

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a debilitating and prevalent psychiatric illness for which an emerging treatment is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Several recent studies have used functional brain imaging modalities to characterize neural predictors and correlates of rTMS response in MDD. Specifically, responders to rTMS may exhibit varying functional abnormalities among brain regions that play roles in cognition, attention, or reward response. Here, using a cohort of 303 patients who received one of two rTMS stimulation protocols, we aimed to identify functional MRI predictors and correlates of response to left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC)rTMS. Based on baseline and post-treatment change in whole-brain functional connectivity to a selection of cortical, striatal, and network-wide seed regions, we identified several predictors and correlates of treatment response that comprise a ventromedial and orbitofrontal functional loop. This study represents a step to understanding maladaptive network interactions in MDD, the impact of non-invasive brain stimulation on improving inter-network function, and the role of functional brain networks in motivation, valuation, and behaviour.
Bilingual memory, to the extreme: Lexical processing in simultaneous interpreters

This study assessed whether bilingual memory is susceptible to the extreme processing demands of professional simultaneous interpreters (PSIs). Seventeen PSIs and 17 non-interpreter bilinguals completed word production, lexical retrieval, and verbal fluency tasks. PSIs exhibited enhanced fluency in their two languages, and they were faster to translate words in both directions. However, no significant differences emerged in picture naming or word reading. This suggests that lexical enhancements in PSIs are confined to their specifically trained abilities (vocabulary search, interlingual reformulation), with no concomitant changes in other word-processing mechanisms. Importantly, these differences seem to reflect specifically linguistic effects, as both samples were matched for relevant executive skills. Moreover, only word translation performance correlated with the PSIs’ years of interpreting experience. Therefore, despite their tight cooperation, different subcomponents within bilingual memory seem characterized by independent, usage-driven flexibility.
STREP Thematic Priority : IST / FET D 5 . 1 PART A : Description of the ACORNS computational model version 2 . 0 PART B : Bootstrapping the lexicon – a model for first language acquisition

Organisation name of lead contractor for this deliverable: RUN Project co-funded by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme (2002-2006) Dissemination Level PU Public X PP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services) RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services) CO Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services)
Weight filtration on the cohomology of algebraic varieties

We show that the etale cohomology (with compact supports) of an algebraic variety $X$ over an algebraically closed field has the canonical weight filtration $W$, and prove that the middle weight part of the cohomology with compact supports of $X$ is a subspace of the intersection cohomology of a compactification $X'$ of X, or equivalently, the middle weight part of the (so-called) Borel-Moore homology of $X$ is a quotient of the intersection cohomology of $X'$. We are informed that this has been shown by A. Weber in the case $X$ is proper (and $k=\bC$) using a theorem of G. Barthel, J.-P. Brasselet, K. -H. Fieseler, O. Gabber and L. Kaup on morphisms between intersection complexes. We show that the assertion immediately follows from Gabber's purity theorem for intersection complexes.
The aging brain: The cognitive reserve hypothesis and hominid evolution

Compared to other primates, humans live a long time and have large brains. Recent theories of the evolution of human life history stages (grandmother hypothesis, intergenerational transfer of information) lend credence to the notion that selection for increased life span and menopause has occurred in hominid evolution, despite the reduction in the force of natural selection operating on older, especially post‐reproductive, individuals. Theories that posit the importance (in an inclusive fitness sense) of the survival of older individuals require them to maintain a reasonably high level of cognitive function (e.g., memory, communication). Patterns of brain aging and factors associated with healthy brain aging should be relevant to this issue. Recent neuroimaging research suggests that, in healthy aging, human brain volume (gray and white matter) is well‐maintained until at least 60 years of age; cognitive function also shows only nonsignificant declines at this age. The maintenance of brain volume and cognitive performance is consistent with the idea of a significant post‐ or late‐reproductive life history stage. A clinical model, “the cognitive reserve hypothesis,” proposes that both increased brain volume and enhanced cognitive ability may contribute to healthy brain aging, reducing the likelihood of developing dementia. Selection for increased brain size and increased cognitive ability in hominid evolution may therefore have been important in selection for increased lifespan in the context of intergenerational social support networks. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 17:673–689, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Microsurgical treatment for parasagittal meningioma in the central gyrus region

The aim of the present study was to determine the efficacy of microsurgery treatment for parasagittal meningioma in the central gyrus region. A microsurgical technique was used to treat 26 patients with large parasagittal meningioma in the central gyrus region. The Rolandic and draining veins and the peritumoral normal brain tissue were retained, and the associated sagittal sinus was appropriately protected. A Simpson grade I, II or III resection was performed in 8 (30.8%), 12 (46.2%) and 6 (23.1%) patients, respectively, with no post-operative mortalities. Following treatment, 9 patients exhibited hemiparalysis. No tumor recurrence was found in 21 patients during the follow-up examination. The treatment protocol described in the current study included sufficient pre-operative imaging evaluations, a skilled microsurgical technique, improved protection of the Rolandic vein and treatment of the sagittal sinus, and was found to significantly increase the total tumor removal rate and decrease post-operative recurrence.