Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal Camera Placement for Providing Angular Coverage in Wireless Video Sensor Networks

Wireless Video Sensor Networks (WVSNs) provide opportunities to use large number of low-cost low-resolution wireless camera sensors for large-scale outdoor remote surveillance missions. Camera sensor deployment is crucial in achieving good coverage, accuracy and fault tolerance. In particular, with the decreased costs of wireless cameras, redundant camera deployment is attractive in order to get multiple disparate views of events for improved event identification. If the capturing of an event spans 360°, this is referred to as angular coverage. In this paper, we consider the problem of determining optimal camera placement to achieve angular coverage continuously over a given region. We develop a bi-level algorithm to find the minimum-cost camera placement. In the first level, we run a master problem that identifies the camera placement points to achieve angular coverage of a discrete set of points selected from the region of interest. Next, we use a sub-problem to identify points in the continuous region that are not covered by the cameras placed in the previous run of the master problem. We then add these uncovered points to discrete point set of the master problem and re-run the master problem. We continue running the master and sub-problems iteratively until the sub-problem becomes infeasible indicating that the entire region is covered. In the numerical experiments, we consider two cases 1) placement of homogeneous cameras with fixed resolutions; and 2) placement of heterogeneous cameras with different characteristics and resolutions. We also introduce varying resolution requirements for different parts of the region and place the cameras such that the required resolution is satisfied. The numerical results show the superiority of the bi-level approach respect to existing approaches.
Competitive Advantages of Preschools in Different Urbanized Locations : The Application of RBV and CBV

The recent competitive advantage theory primarily involves two views: RBV (resource-based view) and CBV (competence-based view). While many studies have applied these two theories in different organizations for verification, few have used preschools to confirm the applicability of these two theories. At the same time, in order to cover the fact that preschool competition is competition within the same location, this study explores the different competitive advantages of preschools in different urbanized locations. The 3 R’s of customer satisfaction are converted to the 3 R’s of parental satisfaction as outcome variables to explore the effect of each competitive advantage. The researcher used hierarchical randomized cluster sampling to conduct a questionnaire survey on parents of children in preschools, and obtained a valid sample of 985 people. The research found that: For all preschools, RBV and CBV were applicable. Therefore, the researcher believed that the resource-based and competence-based views, in other words, resource-based and competence-based view (RCBV), should be unified in order to explain the competitive advantages of preschools. This study also discovered that the top three competitive advantages of all preschools were: talent classes, professional level of teachers, and service quality. Preschools in different urbanized locations had different focuses: the most important competitive advantage in highly urbanized locations were “robust finances”; “service quality” in moderately urbanized locations and emerging cities, “professional level of teachers” in mid-level towns, “government accreditation performance” in aging towns, and “talent classes” in agricultural towns and remote locations. In summary, talent classes, professional level of teachers, and robust finances were part of RBV, while service quality and government accreditation performance were part of CBV. Therefore, the application of the competitive advantage theory should simultaneously adopt the resource-based and competence-based views (RCBV) for greater inclusiveness.
Useful But Not Used: Pediatric Critical Care Physician Views on Bedside Ultrasound

Objective The purpose of this study was to assess the learning needs of pediatric critical care (PCC) physicians in bedside ultrasound (BUS) use. Methods This was a survey-based study conducted at an academic center with a PCC fellowship program. We surveyed PCC fellows and faculty to elicit their views on BUS and asked them about the frequency of use, their perception of the clinical utility, and their level of confidence in performing different BUS applications. Results There was no statistical difference in the self-reported use of BUS applications in the faculty and fellows, except for cardiac arrest, which 66.7% of the faculty used but none of the fellows did (P < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between perceived usefulness and confidence in the performance of BUS applications between the fellows and faculty. The largest gaps between perceived usefulness and confidence in performing BUS applications were for left ventricle ejection fraction (&Dgr; = 2.72), inferior vena cava collapse (&Dgr; = 2.67), pulmonary edema (&Dgr; = 2.22), and pneumothorax (&Dgr; = 2.11). Conclusions Pediatric critical care providers report limited confidence in several applications that they perceive as useful and are therefore likely motivated to learn BUS applications. Concentrating curricula on those applications with the greatest differences between usefulness and confidence and building on the confidence of those applications the PCC providers are already using will serve to expand availability and increase use of this high-impact technology.
Psychological Perspectives on Interrogation

Proponents of “enhanced interrogation techniques” in the United States have claimed that such methods are necessary for obtaining information from uncooperative terrorism subjects. In the present article, we offer an informed, academic perspective on such claims. Psychological theory and research shows that harsh interrogation methods are ineffective. First, they are likely to increase resistance by the subject rather than facilitate cooperation. Second, the threatening and adversarial nature of harsh interrogation is often inimical to the goal of facilitating the retrieval of information from memory and therefore reduces the likelihood that a subject will provide reports that are extensive, detailed, and accurate. Third, harsh interrogation methods make lie detection difficult. Analyzing speech content and eliciting verifiable details are the most reliable cues to assessing credibility; however, to elicit such cues subjects must be encouraged to provide extensive narratives, something that does not occur in harsh interrogations. Evidence is accumulating for the effectiveness of rapport-based information-gathering approaches as an alternative to harsh interrogations. Such approaches promote cooperation, enhance recall of relevant and reliable information, and facilitate assessments of credibility. Given the available evidence that torture is ineffective, why might some laypersons, policymakers, and interrogation personnel support the use of torture? We conclude our review by offering a psychological perspective on this important question.
Engineering of cellular behaviors with multiscale surface patterns

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Midwifery care, social and medical risk factors, and birth outcomes in the USA.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine if there are significant differences in birth outcomes and survival for infants delivered by certified nurse midwives compared with those delivered by physicians, and whether these differences, if they exist, remain after controlling for sociodemographic and medical risk factors. DESIGN: Logistic regression models were used to examine differences between certified nurse midwife and physician delivered births in infant, neonatal, and postneonatal mortality, and risk of low birthweight after controlling for a variety of social and medical risk factors. Ordinary least squares regression models were used to examine differences in mean birthweight after controlling for the same risk factors. STUDY SETTING: United States. PATIENTS: The study included all singleton, vaginal births at 35-43 weeks gestation delivered either by physicians or certified nurse midwives in the United States in 1991. MAIN RESULTS: After controlling for social and medical risk factors, the risk of experiencing an infant death was 19% lower for certified nurse midwife attended than for physician attended births, the risk of neonatal mortality was 33% lower, and the risk of delivering a low birthweight infant 31% lower. Mean birthweight was 37 grams heavier for the certified nurse midwife attended than for physician attended births. CONCLUSIONS: National data support the findings of previous local studies that certified nurse midwives have excellent birth outcomes. These findings are discussed in light of differences between certified nurse midwives and physicians in prenatal care and labour and delivery care practices. Certified nurse midwives provide a safe and viable alternative to maternity care in the United States, particularly for low to moderate risk women.
Separating DAG-Like and Tree-Like Proof Systems

We show that tree-like (Gentzen's calculus) PK where all cut formulas have depth at most a constant d does not simulate cut-free PK. Generally, we exhibit a family of sequents that have polynomial size cut-free proofs but requires superpolynomial tree-like proofs even when the cut rule is allowed on a class of cut-formulas that satisfies some plausible hardness assumption. This gives (in some cases, conditional) negative answers to several questions from a recent work of Maciel and Pitassi (LICS 2006). Our technique is inspired by the technique from Maciel and Pitassi. While the sequents used in earlier work are derived from the Pigeonhole principle, here we generalize Statman's sequents. This gives the desired separation, and at the same time provides stronger results in some cases.
Structural and Functional Evolution of Positively Selected Sites in Pine Glutathione S-Transferase Enzyme Family*

Background: The functional significance of positive selection in enzyme families is largely unknown. Results: The structural and biochemical properties of positively selected sites in pine GST enzyme family were characterized. Conclusion: The positively selected sites significantly affect enzyme activity and specificity. Significance: This study sheds light on the selective aspects of the functional and structural divergence of plant enzyme family. Phylogenetic analyses have identified positive selection as an important driver of protein evolution, both structural and functional. However, the lack of appropriate combined functional and structural assays has generally hindered attempts to elucidate patterns of positively selected sites and their effects on enzyme activity and substrate specificity. In this study we investigated the evolutionary divergence of the glutathione S-transferase (GST) family in Pinus tabuliformis, a pine that is widely distributed from northern to central China, including cold temperate and drought-stressed regions. GSTs play important roles in plant stress tolerance and detoxification. We cloned 44 GST genes from P. tabuliformis and found that 26 of the 44 belong to the largest (Tau) class of GSTs and are differentially expressed across tissues and developmental stages. Substitution models identified five positively selected sites in the Tau GSTs. To examine the functional significance of these positively selected sites, we applied protein structural modeling and site-directed mutagenesis. We found that four of the five positively selected sites significantly affect the enzyme activity and specificity; thus their variation broadens the GST family substrate spectrum. In addition, positive selection has mainly acted on secondary substrate binding sites or sites close to (but not directly at) the primary substrate binding site; thus their variation enables the acquisition of new catalytic functions without compromising the protein primary biochemical properties. Our study sheds light on selective aspects of the functional and structural divergence of the GST family in pine and other organisms.
Improving the joint strength of the friction stir spot welding of carbon steel and copper using the design of experiments method

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to optimize the welding parameters: rotating speed and plunging depth of carbon steel and pure copper joints using friction stir spot welding (FSSW) with the aid of the design of experiments (DOE) method. Design/methodology/approach Carbon steel and pure copper sheets were welded using the FSSW technique with a cylindrical tool and without a probe. The welding parameters were: rotating speed: 1,120, 1,400 and 1,800 RPM and plunging depth: 0.2 and 0.4 mm. The welding process was carried out both with and without pre-heating. The welded specimens were analyzed using a shear tensile test. A microstructural investigation at the optimum conditions was carried out. The results were analyzed and optimized using the statistical software Minitab and following the DOE method. Findings Pre-heating the sample and increasing the rotating speed and plunging depth increased the tensile shear force of the joint. The plunging depth has the biggest effect on the joint efficiency compared with the rotating speed. The optimum shear force (4,560 N) was found at 1,800 RPM, 0.4 mm plunge depth and with pre-heating. The welding parameters were modified so that the samples were welded at 1,800 RPM and at plunging depths of 0.45–1 mm in 0.05 mm steps. The optimized shear force was 5,400 N. The fractured samples exhibited two types of failure mode: interfacial and nugget pull-out. Originality/value For the first time, pure copper and carbon steel sheets were welded using FSSW and a tool without a probe with ideal joint efficiency (95 percent).
Economic analysis of endovascular drug-eluting treatments for femoropopliteal artery disease in the UK

Objectives To estimate the clinical and economic impact of drug-eluting endovascular treatment strategies for femoropopliteal artery disease compared with current standard of care. Design Systematic literature search to pool target lesion revascularisations (TLR). Model-based per-patient cost impact and quasi-cost-effectiveness projection over 24 months based on pooled TLRs and current reimbursement. Setting The UK's National Health Service (NHS). Participants Patients presenting with symptomatic femoropopliteal disease eligible for endovascular treatment. Interventions Current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline-recommended treatment with percutaneous transluminal balloon angioplasty (PTA) and bailout bare metal stenting (BMS) versus primary BMS placement, or drug-coated balloon (DCB), or drug-eluting stent (DES) treatment. Primary and secondary outcome measures 24-month per-patient cost impact to NHS (primary outcome). Secondary outcomes: pooled 24-month TLR rates; numbers needed to treat (NNTs); cost per TLR avoided and estimated incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) in £ per quality-adjusted life year (QALY). Results N=28 studies were identified, reporting on 5167 femoropopliteal lesions. Over 24 months, DCB, DES and BMS reduced TLRs of de novo lesions from 36.2% to 17.6%, 19.4% and 26.9%, respectively, at an increased cost of £43, £44 and £112. NNTs to avoid 1 TLR in 24 months were 5.4, 6.0 and 10.8, resulting in cost per TLR avoided of £231, £264 and £1204. DCB was estimated to add 0.011 QALYs, DES 0.010 QALYs and BMS 0.005 QALYs, resulting in estimated ICERs of £3983, £4534 and £20 719 per QALY gained. A subset analysis revealed more favourable clinical and economic outcomes for a 3.5 µg/mm2 DCB with urea excipient, compared with the rest of DCBs. A modest reduction of 10% in DCB and DES prices made drug-eluting treatments dominant. Conclusions Widespread adoption of drug-eluting endovascular therapies for femoropopliteal disease would add meaningful clinical benefit at reasonable additional costs to the NHS. Based on currently available data, DCBs offer the highest clinical and economic value.
Have recommended protein and phosphate intake recently changed in maintenance hemodialysis?

The protein requirements recommended by international guidelines are uncommonly met in many dialysis patients. Recent large scale epidemiological studies have shown that survival impairs only when protein intake decreases below 0.9 g/kg body weight/day, and patients survival is highest for a protein intake comprised between 1.0 and 1.4 g/kg body weight/day. In case of inflammation, protein intake is frequently decreased by anorexia, however artificial nutritional support (either orally or intravenously) is able to improve nutritional status. Concerning phosphate intake, whereas increasing protein intake will slightly augment serum phosphate, the strongly observed beneficial survival benefit largely overcomes the serum phosphate increase risk. Finally, new dialysis techniques and/or membranes should be adequately assessed for their consequences on patients' nutritional status since there is a theoretical risk of increased nutrient losses.
Effective Compiler Support For Predicated Execution Using The Hyperblock

Predicated execution is an effective technique for dealing with conditional branches in application programs. However, there are several problems associated with conventional compiler support for predicated execution. First, all paths of control are combined into a single path regardless of their execution frequency and size with conventional if-conversion techniques. Second, speculative execution is difficult to combine with predicated execution. In this paper, we propose the use of a new structure, referred to as the hyperblock, to overcome these problems. The hyperblock is an efficient structure to utilize predicated execution for both compiletime optimization and scheduling. Preliminary experimental results show that the hyperblock is highly effective for a wide range of superscalar and VLIW processors.
Quantization of hyperbolic N-sphere scattering systems in three dimensions

Most discussions of chaotic scattering systems are devoted to two-dimensional systems. It is of considerable interest to extend these studies to the, in general, more realistic case of three dimensions. In this context, it is conceptually important to investigate the quality of semi-classical methods as a function of the dimensionality. As a model system, we choose various three-dimensional generalizations of the famous three-disk problem which played a central role in the study of chaotic scattering in two dimensions. We present a quantum-mechanical treatment of the hyperbolic scattering of a point particle off a finite number of nonoverlapping and nontouching hard spheres in three dimensions. We derive expressions for the scattering matrix S and its determinant. The determinant of S decomposes into two parts, the first one contains the product of the determinants of the individual one-sphere S-matrices and the second one is given by a ratio involving the determinants of a characteristic KKR-type matrix and its conjugate. We justify our approach by showing that all formal manipulations in these derivations are correct and that all the determinants involved which are of infinite dimension exist. Moreover, for all complex wave numbers, we conjecture a direct link between the quantum-mechanical and semiclassicalmore » descriptions: The semiclassical limit of the cumulant expansion of the KKR-type matrix is given by the Gutzwiller-Voros zeta function plus diffractional corrections in the curvature expansion. This connection is direct since it is not based on any kind of subtraction scheme involving bounded reference systems. We present numerically computed resonances and compare them with the corresponding data for the similar two-dimensional N-disk systems and with semiclassical calculations. {copyright} 1997 Academic Press, Inc.« less
Understanding Fibre-Matrix Degradation of FRP Composites for Advanced Civil Engineering Applications: An Overview

Common concretes use considerable amounts of fresh water and river sand, and their excessive use is already seriously implicating the environment. In this respect, seawater and sea sand concrete (SWSSC) is a very attractive alternative, since it addresses the increasing shortage of fresh water and dredging of river sand. A major concern with reinforced SWSSC is the severe corrosion of the steel reinforcements by seawater (that has a very high content of chloride which is very corrosive), thereby seriously impairing the strength of such concrete. Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) can be a suitable alternative to replace steels as reinforcement. However, there has been little systematic work to understand the degradation kinetics and mechanisms of FRP in the chloride-containing alkaline SWSSC environment. This review first provides an overview of the degradation of FRP composites in normal concrete and chloride-containing alkaline SWSSC environments, and then presents an example of a recent study using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) that may provide a pathway to systematic experimental approach to understanding such degradation. The review also makes a comprehensive assessment of the influence of environment-assisted degradation on mechanical properties of FRPs.
Vegetable‐based dietary pattern and liver cancer risk: Results from the Shanghai Women's and Men's Health Studies

Although dietary patterns, specific foods, and their constituents have been linked to cancer risk, the role of dietary patterns and specific food groups in liver cancer risk has not been investigated. In the Shanghai Women's Health Study (SWHS) and Shanghai Men's Health Study (SMHS), two cohort studies of 132 837 Chinese women and men, we evaluated the relationship between dietary patterns, food groups, and liver cancer risk. Through in‐person interviews, dietary information intake over the preceding year was collected by using a validated food‐frequency questionnaire. Cox regression model was used to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals with adjustment for potential confounders. During an average follow‐up of 10.9 (SWHS) or 5.5 (SMHS) years, 267 incident liver cancer cases were identified after the first 2 years of study enrolment. Three dietary patterns were derived by factor analysis. A vegetable‐based dietary pattern was inversely associated with liver cancer; hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for the lowest to highest quartiles were: 1.00; 0.98 (0.71–1.35); 0.93 (0.67–1.29); and 0.58 (0.40–0.84); Ptrend = 0.01. The association was stronger among participants with a history of chronic liver disease. Further analyses showed high intakes of celery, mushrooms, allium vegetables, composite vegetables (including asparagus lettuce and garland chrysanthemum), legumes and legume products were associated with reduced liver cancer risk (all Ptrend < 0.05). Fruit‐ and meat‐based dietary patterns were not associated with liver cancer risk. Our study suggests that a vegetable‐based dietary pattern is associated with reduced liver cancer risk.