Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
KelpFusion: A Hybrid Set Visualization Technique

We present KelpFusion: a method for depicting set membership of items on a map or other visualization using continuous boundaries. KelpFusion is a hybrid representation that bridges hull techniques such as Bubble Sets and Euler diagrams and line- and graph-based techniques such as LineSets and Kelp Diagrams. We describe an algorithm based on shortest-path graphs to compute KelpFusion visualizations. Based on a single parameter, the shortest-path graph varies from the minimal spanning tree to the convex hull of a point set. Shortest-path graphs aim to capture the shape of a point set and smoothly adapt to sets of varying densities. KelpFusion fills enclosed faces based on a set of simple legibility rules. We present the results of a controlled experiment comparing KelpFusion to Bubble Sets and LineSets. We conclude that KelpFusion outperforms Bubble Sets both in accuracy and completion time and outperforms LineSets in completion time.
Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome: A Functional Disorder

Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) is a functional disorder characterized by stereotypical episodes of intense vomiting separated by weeks to months. Although it can occur at any age, the most common age at presentation is 3-7 years. There is no gender predominance. The precise pathophysiology of CVS is not known but a strong association with migraine headaches, in the patient as well as the mother indicates that it may represent a mitochondriopathy. Studies have also suggested the role of an underlying autonomic neuropathy involving the sympathetic nervous system in its pathogenesis. CVS has known triggers in many individuals and avoiding these triggers can help prevent the onset of the episodes. It typically presents in four phases: a prodrome, vomiting phase, recovery phase and an asymptomatic phase until the next episode. Complications such as dehydration and hematemesis from Mallory Wise tear of the esophageal mucosa may occur in more severe cases. Blood and urine tests and abdominal imaging may be indicated depending upon the severity of symptoms. Brain magnetic resonance imaging and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy may also be indicated in certain circumstances. Management of an episode after it has started ('abortive treatment') includes keeping the patient in a dark and quiet room, intravenous hydration, ondansetron, sumatriptan, clonidine, and benzodiazepines. Prophylactic treatment includes cyproheptadine, propranolol and amitriptyline. No mortality has been reported as a direct result of CVS and many children outgrow it over time. A subset may develop other functional disorders like irritable bowel syndrome and migraine headaches.
Extra-articular ACL Reconstruction and Pivot Shift

Background: The pivot-shift test is considered a reliable examination to evaluate the results of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, as it strongly correlates with patient satisfaction, giving-way episodes, and activity level. The addition of lateral tenodesis (LT) to current techniques of intra-articular reconstruction with a hamstring graft could potentially improve knee laxity in cases of severe rotational instability. Purpose: To biomechanically investigate the effect of intra- and extra-articular ACL reconstructions on knee laxity and the pivot-shift phenomenon. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: Twenty patients underwent anatomic single-bundle ACL reconstruction with doubled semitendinosus and gracilis tendons with the addition of extra-articular reconstruction. In patients in group A, intra-articular reconstruction was performed first and LT thereafter; in patients in group B, LT was performed first and intra-articular reconstruction thereafter. A navigator equipped with software designed for both static and dynamic evaluations was used to measure maximum anterior tibial translation (ATT) and axial tibial rotation (ATR) at 30° of flexion (static evaluation) and during the pivot-shift test (dynamic evaluation). Measurements were performed before reconstruction, after the first procedure, and after the second procedure. Results: For the static evaluation, in group A, the mean ATT significantly decreased from 14.1 ± 3.7 mm in the preoperative (ACL-deficient) condition to 6.0 ± 1.9 mm after ACL reconstruction and to 5.3 ± 1.6 mm after LT. The mean ATR at 30° of knee flexion significantly decreased from 35.7° ± 4.8° to 28.9° ± 4.1° and to 20.9° ± 4.8°, respectively. In group B, the mean ATT significantly decreased from 13.5 ± 6.5 mm in the preoperative (ACL-deficient) condition to 10.2 ± 3.2 mm after LT and to 4.0 ± 1.6 mm after ACL reconstruction. The mean ATR at 30° of knee flexion significantly decreased from 36.7° ± 4.8° to 26.2° ± 6.2° and to 23.5° ± 4.9°, respectively. For the dynamic evaluation (pivot-shift test), in group A, the mean ATT significantly decreased from 15.0 ± 6.8 mm in the preoperative (ACL-deficient) condition to 9.4 ± 6.4 mm after ACL reconstruction and to 8.5 ± 5.4 mm after LT. The mean ATR significantly decreased from 16.9° ± 4.7° to 11.6° ± 4.1° and to 6.1° ± 2.2°, respectively. In group B, the mean ATT significantly decreased from 12.5 ± 3.3 mm in the preoperative (ACL-deficient) condition to 9.1 ± 5.9 mm after LT and to 8.1 ± 5.4 mm after ACL reconstruction. The mean ATR significantly decreased from 16.0° ± 4.5° to 9.2° ± 4.3° and to 7.5° ± 4.0°, respectively. Conclusion/Clinical Relevance: Extra-articular reconstruction had little effect in reducing the anterior displacement of the tibia at 30° of flexion, but it was more effective than intra-articular reconstruction in reducing ATR. Anatomic ACL reconstruction and LT were synergic in controlling the pivot-shift phenomenon.
Comparison and Validation of Statistical Methods for Predicting Power Outage Durations in the Event of Hurricanes

This article compares statistical methods for modeling power outage durations during hurricanes and examines the predictive accuracy of these methods. Being able to make accurate predictions of power outage durations is valuable because the information can be used by utility companies to plan their restoration efforts more efficiently. This information can also help inform customers and public agencies of the expected outage times, enabling better collective response planning, and coordination of restoration efforts for other critical infrastructures that depend on electricity. In the long run, outage duration estimates for future storm scenarios may help utilities and public agencies better allocate risk management resources to balance the disruption from hurricanes with the cost of hardening power systems. We compare the out‐of‐sample predictive accuracy of five distinct statistical models for estimating power outage duration times caused by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The methods compared include both regression models (accelerated failure time (AFT) and Cox proportional hazard models (Cox PH)) and data mining techniques (regression trees, Bayesian additive regression trees (BART), and multivariate additive regression splines). We then validate our models against two other hurricanes. Our results indicate that BART yields the best prediction accuracy and that it is possible to predict outage durations with reasonable accuracy.
Modeling the dynamics of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica

Author(s): Yu, Hongju | Advisor(s): Rignot, Eric | Abstract: Thwaites Glacier (TG), West Antarctica, has been experiencing rapid mass loss and ground- ing line retreat in the past few decades. The mass loss of TG is now responsible for 4% of global sea level rise. It is therefore crucial to simulate the future evolution of TG to make projections for future sea level rise. The cause of the dramatic changes is dynamic through the loss of buttressing from its ice shelf due to calving and ice shelf melting. In this thesis, we employ various numerical ice sheet models to study the calving dynamics of TG and the response of TG to enhanced ice shelf melting. We combine a two-dimensional ice flow model with the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) theory to model crevasse propagation and ice fracturing. We find that the combination of a full-Stokes (FS) model and LEFM produces surface and bottom crevasses that are consistent with the distribution of depth and width of surface and bottom crevasses observed, whereas the combinations of simplified models with LEFM do not. We find that calving is enhanced when pre-existing surface crevasses are present, when the ice shelf is shortened, or when the ice shelf front is undercut. We show that the FS/LEFM combination yields substantial improvements in capturing the stress field near the grounding line of a glacier for constraining crevasse formation and iceberg calving. We then simulate the evolution of TG under different ice shelf melt scenarios and different ice sheet model configurations. We find that the grounding line retreat and its sensitivity to ocean forcing is enhanced when a full-Stokes model is used, ice shelf melt is applied on partially floating elements, and a Budd friction is used. Initial conditions also impact the model results. Yet, all simulations suggest a rapid, sustained retreat along the same preferred pathway. The highest retreat rate occurs on the eastern side of the glacier and the lowest rate on a subglacial ridge on the western side. Combining the results, we find the differences among simulations are small in the first 30 years, with a cumulative contribution to sea level rise of 5 mm, similar to the current rate. After 30 years, the mass loss highly depends on the model configurations, with a 300% difference over the next 100 years, ranging from 14 to 42 mm.
Latent variable graphical model selection via convex optimization

Suppose we have samples of a subset of a collection of random variables. No additional information is provided about the number of latent variables, nor of the relationship between the latent and observed variables. Is it possible to discover the number of hidden components, and to learn a statistical model over the entire collection of variables? We address this question in the setting in which the latent and observed variables are jointly Gaussian, with the conditional statistics of the observed variables conditioned on the latent variables being specified by a graphical model. As a first step we give natural conditions under which such latent-variable Gaussian graphical models are identifiable given marginal statistics of only the observed variables. Essentially these conditions require that the conditional graphical model among the observed variables is sparse, while the effect of the latent variables is “spread out” over most of the observed variables. Next we propose a tractable convex program based on regularized maximum-likelihood for model selection in this latent-variable setting; the regularizer uses both the ℓ1 norm and the nuclear norm. Our modeling framework can be viewed as a combination of dimensionality reduction (to identify latent variables) and graphical modeling (to capture remaining statistical structure not attributable to the latent variables), and it consistently estimates both the number of hidden components and the conditional graphical model structure among the observed variables. These results are applicable in the high-dimensional setting in which the number of latent/observed variables grows with the number of samples of the observed variables. The geometric properties of the algebraic varieties of sparse matrices and of low-rank matrices play an important role in our analysis.
Interactions and Nuclear Import of the N and P Proteins of Sonchus Yellow Net Virus, a Plant Nucleorhabdovirus

ABSTRACT We have characterized the interaction and nuclear localization of the nucleocapsid (N) protein and phosphoprotein (P) of sonchus yellow net nucleorhabdovirus. Expression studies with plant and yeast cells revealed that both N and P are capable of independent nuclear import. Site-specific mutagenesis and deletion analyses demonstrated that N contains a carboxy-terminal bipartite nuclear localization signal (NLS) located between amino acids 465 and 481 and that P contains a karyophillic region between amino acids 40 and 124. The N NLS was fully capable of functioning outside of the context of the N protein and was able to direct the nuclear import of a synthetic protein fusion consisting of green fluorescent protein fused to glutathioneS-transferase (GST). Expression and mapping studies suggested that the karyophillic domain in P is located within the N-binding domain. Coexpression of N and P drastically affected their localization patterns relative to those of individually expressed proteins and resulted in a shift of both proteins to a subnuclear region. Yeast two-hybrid and GST pulldown experiments verified the N-P and P-P interactions, and deletion analyses have identified the N and P interacting domains. N NLS mutants were not transported to the nucleus by import-competent P, presumably because N binding masks the P NLS. Taken together, our results support a model for independent entry of N and P into the nucleus followed by associations that mediate subnuclear localization.
Can Macroeconomists Forecast Risk? Event-Based Evidence from the Euro Area SPF

We propose methods to evaluate the risk assessments collected as part of the ECB Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF). Our approach focuses on direction-of-change predictions as well as the prediction of relatively more extreme macroeconomic outcomes located in the upper and lower regions of the predictive densities. For inflation and GDP growth, we find such surveyed densities are informative about future direction of change. Regarding more extreme high and low outcome events, the surveys are really only informative about GDP growth outcomes and at short-horizons. The upper and lower regions of the predictive densities for inflation are much less informative. JEL Classification: C22, C53
A Cognitive Model for Software Architecture Complexity

This paper introduces a Software Architecture Complexity Model (SACM) based on theories from cognitive science and system attributes that have proven to be indicators of maintainability in practice. SACM can serve as a formal model to reason about why certain attributes influence the complexity of an implemented architecture. Also, SACM can be used as a starting point in existing architecture evaluation methods such as the ATAM. Alternatively, SACM can be used in a stand-alone fashion to reason about a software architecture's complexity.
Estimation of Renyi Entropy and Mutual Information Based on Generalized Nearest-Neighbor Graphs

We present simple and computationally efficient nonparametric estimators of Renyi entropy and mutual information based on an i.i. d. sample drawn from an unknown, absolutely continuous distribution over ℝd. The estimators are calculated as the sum of p-th powers of the Euclidean lengths of the edges of the 'generalized nearest-neighbor' graph of the sample and the empirical copula of the sample respectively. For the first time, we prove the almost sure consistency of these estimators and upper bounds on their rates of convergence, the latter of which under the assumption that the density underlying the sample is Lipschitz continuous. Experiments demonstrate their usefulness in independent subspace analysis.
The effects of morphine on blood-brain barrier disruption caused by intracarotid injection of hyperosmolar mannitol in rats.

UNLABELLED This study was performed to evaluate whether morphine could alter the degree of disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) caused by hyperosmolar mannitol. Under isoflurane anesthesia, rats in a control group were infused with 25% mannitol into the internal carotid artery before measuring the transfer coefficient (Ki) of (14)C-alpha-aminoisobutyric acid. Infusion of morphine 3 mg/kg in the small-dose morphine group and 10 mg/kg in the large-dose morphine group was completed, 10 min before administering mannitol. There were no statistical differences in systemic blood pressures between these three groups of animals. In the control group, the Ki of the ipsilateral cortex where mannitol was injected, increased to 4.6 times that of the contralateral cortex (19.5 +/- 8.5 vs 4.2 +/- 1.2 microL. g(-1). min(-1), P < 0.002). The Ki of the ipsilateral cortex of the small-dose morphine group was 13.5 +/- 7.6 microL. g(-1). min(-1). The Ki of the ipsilateral cortex of the large-dose morphine group was 9.2 +/- 4.5 microL. g(-1). min(-1) and was smaller than that of control animals (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the Ki of the contralateral cortex among the three groups. In conclusion, morphine attenuated BBB disruption induced by hyperosmolar solution without significant effects on systemic blood pressure. IMPLICATIONS Our study suggests that morphine may be effective in reducing the blood-brain barrier disruption by hyperosmolar mannitol without significant effects on systemic blood pressure.
How Good is Volunteered Geographical Information? A Comparative Study of OpenStreetMap and Ordnance Survey Datasets

Within the framework of Web 2.0 mapping applications, the most striking example of a geographical application is the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project. OSM aims to create a free digital map of the world and is implemented through the engagement of participants in a mode similar to software development in Open Source projects. The information is collected by many participants, collated on a central database, and distributed in multiple digital formats through the World Wide Web. This type of information was termed ‘Volunteered Geographical Information’ (VGI) by Goodchild, 2007. However, to date there has been no systematic analysis of the quality of VGI. This study aims to fill this gap by analysing OSM information. The examination focuses on analysis of its quality through a comparison with Ordnance Survey (OS) datasets. The analysis focuses on London and England, since OSM started in London in August 2004 and therefore the study of these geographies provides the best understanding of the achievements and difficulties of VGI. The analysis shows that OSM information can be fairly accurate: on average within about 6 m of the position recorded by the OS, and with approximately 80% overlap of motorway objects between the two datasets. In the space of four years, OSM has captured about 29% of the area of England, of which approximately 24% are digitised lines without a complete set of attributes. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings to the study of VGI as well as suggesting future research directions.
Mitochondrial dynamism and heart disease: changing shape and shaping change

Mitochondria of adult cardiomyocytes appear hypo-dynamic, lacking interconnected reticular networks and the continual fission and fusion observed in many other cell types. Nevertheless, proteins essential to mitochondrial network remodeling are abundant in adult hearts. Recent findings from cardiac-specific ablation of mitochondrial fission and fusion protein genes have revealed unexpected roles for mitochondrial dynamics factors in mitophagic mitochondrial quality control. This overview examines the clinical and experimental evidence for and against a meaningful role for the mitochondrial dynamism–quality control interactome in normal and diseased hearts. Newly discovered functions of mitochondrial dynamics factors in maintaining optimal cardiac mitochondrial fitness suggest that deep interrogation of clinical cardiomyopathy is likely to reveal genetic variants that cause or modify cardiac disease through their effects on mitochondrial fission, fusion, and mitophagy.
A study of the strong ground motion of the Borrego Mountain, California, earthquake

Several synthetic models are constructed to fit the first 40 sec of the transversely polarized displacement, as recorded at El Centro, of the April 9, 1968 Borrego Mountain earthquake. The modeling is done in the time domain using the response computed for a distributed set of point shear dislocations embedded in a layered half-space. The beginning 10 sec of the observed record is used to model the spatial and temporal distribution of faulting whereas the remaining portion is used to determine the upper crustal structure based on surface-wave periodicity. A natural depth criterion was provided by comparing the amplitude of the direct arrival with the surface-wave excitations. Trade-offs are found to exist between source models and velocity structure models. Within the framework of a layer over a half-space model, faulting of finite vertical extent is required, whereas the horizontal dimensions of faulting are not resolvable. A model which is also consistent with the teleseismic results of Burdick and Mellman indicates massive faulting near a depth of 9 km with a fast rise time producing a 10-cm displacement pulse of 1 sec duration at El Centro. The faulting appears to slow down approaching the surface. The moment is calculated to be approximately 7 ×1025 dyne-cm which is somewhat smaller than the moment found by Burdick and Mellman (1976).
Environmental Factors Influencing the Distribution of Oncomelania hupensis in Central Region, China

Schistosomiasis, caused by the snail-borne parasite Schistosoma japonicum, remains highly prevalent in Hubei, China, especially the central region (Jianghan Plain). Because the control of S. japonica primarily depends on the rapid discovery and elimination of its intermediate host Oncomelania hupensis snails, the spatio-temporal distribution of snails and the environmental factors influencing it warrant clarification. We used geographic information system technology to investigate the spatial dynamics of snail distribution in Jianghan Plain from 2008 to 2012. A generalized linear-mixed model, with time as a random effect, was applied to characterize the relationship between snail density at the village level and the associated environmental factors. The percentage of villages in which the frequency of areas with <50% snail occurrence was 71.74-82.67%, which was much higher than that for villages where snail occurrence was >50% (17.33-28.26%). Precipitation, daylight hours, land surface temperatures, wetness index, and proportion of silt were positively associated with snail density, with precipitation having the greatest effect. Normalized difference vegetation index and elevation were negatively associated with snail density. Our findings can be used as a theoretical basis to develop models predicting outbreaks of snail occurrence in the Jianghan Plain and for preventing and controlling schistosomiasis.