Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Comparative Study of Sparseness Measures for Segmenting Textures

The concept of sparseness has played an important role in classical signal processing applications such as the acquisition, sampling, and compression of high-dimensionality signals, as well as in various machine learning techniques. Computer vision applications have also benefited in more recent years from sparse representations, which can help recover semantic information from images. In this paper, we shed a unique light on the concept of sparseness and propose a comparative study of four popular sparseness measures applied in a novel way to the problem of texture segmentation. Low-dimensional, contextual, multi-resolution descriptors are derived directly from the sparseness of the pixels' responses to a Gabor filter bank, unlike traditional sparseness-based approaches, we do not impose constraints on or make assumptions about the sparseness of the data or of their representation. Textured images are segmented through pixel labelling via supervised machine learning using the sparseness-based descriptors. The behaviour of the four compared sparseness measures, namely Hoyer's measure, the Gini index, the kurtosis, and the normalized hyperbolic tangent, is analyzed with respect to general rules and desirable attributes using synthetic examples, and is evaluated for texture segmentation problems on the public Outex dataset with respect to texture classes and pixel pattern categories. We found that although the four measures all intend to capture the same information, they yield very different segmentation results, and we recommend the Gini index as the sparseness measure of choice for texture segmentation problems.
Radar and electrical characteristics of convection observed during MCTEX

Our understanding of tropical convection has grown substantially in recent years due to several comprehensive field campaigns. The Global Atmosphere Research Program (GARP), Atlantic Tropical Experiment GATE, the Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) (Webster and Lucas 1992), the Central Pacific Equatorial Experiment (CEPEX 1993), and the Equatorial Mesoscale Experiment (EMEX; Webster and House 1991; Gamache et al. 1987) all provided new insights in understanding tropical oceanic convection. The Aust. Met. Mag. 49 (2000) 165-180
High frequency of pre-diabetes, undiagnosed diabetes and metabolic syndrome among overweight Arabs in Israel.

BACKGROUND Increased insulin resistance, which is associated with obesity, is believed to underlie the development of metabolic syndrome. It is also known to increase the risk for the development of glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes. Both conditions are recognized as causing a high rate of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVES To assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and different glucose intolerance states in healthy, overweight Arab individuals attending a primary healthcare clinic in Israel. METHODS We randomly recruited 95 subjects attending a primary healthcare clinic who were healthy, overweight (body mass index > 27) and above the age of 40. Medical and family history was obtained and anthropometric parameters were measured. Blood chemistry and oral glucose tolerance test were performed after overnight fasting. RESULTS Twenty-seven percent of the subjects tested had undiagnosed type 2 diabetes according to WHO criteria, 42% had impaired fasting glucose and/or impaired glucose tolerance and only 31% had a normal OGTT. Metabolic syndrome was found in 48% according to criteria of the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program, with direct correlation of this condition with BMI and insulin resistance calculated by homeostasis model assessment. Subjects with metabolic syndrome had a higher risk for abnormality in glucose metabolism, and the more metabolic syndrome components the subject had the higher was the risk for abnormal glucose metabolism. Metabolic syndrome predicted the result of OGTT with 0.67 sensitivity and 0.78 specificity. When combined with IFG, sensitivity was 0.83 and specificity 0.86 for predicting the OGTT result. CONCLUSIONS According to our initial evaluation approximately 70% of the overweight Arab population in Israel has either metabolic syndrome or abnormal glucose metabolism, indicating that they are at high risk to develop type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This population is likely to benefit from an intervention program.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis Hip1 Dampens Macrophage Proinflammatory Responses by Limiting Toll-Like Receptor 2 Activation

ABSTRACT Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a highly successful human pathogen that evades host innate immunity by interfering with macrophage functions. In addition to avoiding macrophage microbicidal activities, M. tuberculosis triggers secretion of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines in macrophages. The levels of proinflammatory cytokines induced by clinical M. tuberculosis isolates are thought to play an important role in determining tuberculosis disease progression and severity, but the mechanisms by which M. tuberculosis modulates the magnitude of inflammatory responses remain unclear. Here we show that M. tuberculosis restricts robust macrophage activation and dampens proinflammatory responses through the cell envelope-associated serine hydrolase Hip1 (hydrolase important for pathogenesis 1). By transcriptionally profiling macrophages infected with either wild-type or hip1 mutant bacteria, we found that the hip1 mutant induced earlier and significantly higher levels of several proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines. We show that increased activation of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2)- and MyD88-dependent signaling pathways mediates the enhanced cytokine secretion induced by the hip1 mutant. Thus, Hip1 restricts the onset and magnitude of proinflammatory cytokines by limiting TLR2-dependent activation. We also show that Hip1 dampens TLR2-independent activation of the inflammasome and limits secretion of interleukin-18 (IL-18). Dampening of TLR2 signaling does not require viable M. tuberculosis or phagocytosis but does require Hip1 catalytic activity. We propose that M. tuberculosis restricts proinflammatory responses by masking cell surface interactions between TLR2 agonists on M. tuberculosis and TLR2 on macrophages. This strategy may allow M. tuberculosis to evade early detection by host immunity, delay the onset of adaptive immune responses, and accelerate disease progression.
Markov-chain Monte Carlo-based image reconstruction for streak artefact reduction on contrast-enhanced computed tomography

Intervertebral disc herniation is a very common disorder and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) is one of the imaging modalities for studying the causes of intervertebral disc herniation and its potential link as a mechanical source of pain. However, streak artefacts caused by the contrast agent reduce the quality of the reconstructed image. We therefore propose a novel image reconstruction technique for reducing streak artefacts in CECT images of the intervertebral disc. The technique identifies the contrast agent-affected region in projection space using a multi-scale segmentation algorithm, which is followed by reconstruction via Markov-chain Monte Carlo estimation. The results were compared with two existing artefact-reducing techniques (non-iterative and iterative), and the proposed method showed an improvement on signal-to-noise ratio (53.1 dB) while non-iterative and iterative approaches yielded 26.5 and 48.4 dB, respectively. The proposed image reconstruction technique can reduce streak .
Comparative Kinetic Study and Microwaves Non-Thermal Effects on the Formation of Poly(amic acid) 4,4′-(Hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic Anhydride (6FDA) and 4,4′-(Hexafluoroisopropylidene)bis(p-phenyleneoxy)dianiline (BAPHF). Reaction Activated by Microwave, Ultrasound and Conventional Heating

Green chemistry is the design of chemical processes that reduce or eliminate negative environmental impacts. The use and production of chemicals involve the reduction of waste products, non-toxic components, and improved efficiency. Green chemistry applies innovative scientific solutions in the use of new reagents, catalysts and non-classical modes of activation such as ultrasounds or microwaves. Kinetic behavior and non-thermal effect of poly(amic acid) synthesized from (6FDA) dianhydride and (BAPHF) diamine in a low microwave absorbing p-dioxane solvent at low temperature of 30, 50, 70 °C were studied, under conventional heating (CH), microwave (MW) and ultrasound irradiation (US). Results show that the polycondensation rate decreases (MW > US > CH) and that the increased rates observed with US and MW are due to decreased activation energies of the Arrhenius equation. Rate constant for a chemical process activated by conventional heating declines proportionally as the induction time increases, however, this behavior is not observed under microwave and ultrasound activation. We can say that in addition to the thermal microwave effect, a non-thermal microwave effect is present in the system.
CSAE WPS / 2005-01 The Effect of Credit on Growth and Convergence of Firms in Kenyan Manufacturing

Although some recent studies have analysed issues relating to credit in African manufacturing, they have not directly tested for the effect of credit on firm growth. The use of bank credit can affect firm growth in two opposite ways. The effect may be positive if credit allows a firm to address its liquidity constraint and increase profitability. However, if macroeconomic shocks such as increases in interest rates make firm debts unsustainable as experienced in Kenya in the 1990s, indebted firms may shrink or even collapse. Hence, empirical testing is necessary to determine which effect dominates in a specific case. Using microeconomic data on the Kenyan manufacturing sector, the study finds that conditional on survival, the firms that use credit grow faster than those not using it. This result is robust to alternative estimation procedures, controlling for both endogeneity of the credit variable and selection bias. Convergence in firm size is significant in all the models except the GMM estimation that controls for several forms of endogeneity. The significance of convergence contradicts Gibrats law of proportionate effects while supporting Jovanovics learning hypothesis.  This paper is based on Chapter 4 of my D. Phil thesis at Oxford University. I wish to sincerely thank Marcel Fafchamps, my supervisor, for his dedication and enlightening ideas. My thanks also go to Francis Teal and Jan W. Gunning for first-rate comments on a previous draft. This paper has also benefited from comments from Oxford University CSAEs seminar participants where an early version was presented. All remaining errors are my sole responsibility.
Impact of somatic comorbidities on quality of life of patients living with epilepsy in Sagamu, Nigeria

Somatic comorbidities are probably as important as the psychiatry comorbidities in people with epilepsy (PWE) although the former has received little attention especially in low‐ and middle‐income countries where the incidence of epilepsy is high. The main objective of this study was to determine the frequencies of somatic comorbidities in PWE. We also compared quality of life of two groups of PWE: Those with somatic comorbidities and those without.
Detection of Dynamic Spatiotemporal Response to Periodic Chemical Stimulation in a Xenopus Embryonic Tissue

Embryonic development is guided by a complex and integrated set of stimuli that results in collective system-wide organization that is both time and space regulated. These regulatory interactions result in the emergence of highly functional units, which are correlated to frequency-modulated stimulation profiles. We have determined the dynamic response of vertebrate embryonic tissues to highly controlled, time-varying localized chemical stimulation using a microfluidic system with feedback control. Our approach has enabled localized spatiotemporal manipulation of the steroid hormone dexamethasone (DEX) in Animal Cap (AC) tissues isolated from gastrulating Xenopus embryos. Using this approach we investigated cell-scale responses to precisely controlled stimulation by tracking the redistribution of a GFP-tagged DEX-reporter constructed from the human glucocorticoid receptor (GR). We exposed defined regions of a single AC explant to different stimulation conditions—continuous stimulation, periodic stimulation, and no stimulation. We observed collective behavior of the GR transport into the nucleus was first-order. Furthermore, the dynamic response was well-modeled by a first-order differential equation with a single time derivative. The model predicted that responses to periodic stimulations closely matched the results of the frequency-based experiments. We find that stimulation with localized bursts versus continuous stimulation can result in highly distinct responses. This finding is critical as controlled space and time exposure to growth factors is a hallmark of complex processes in embryonic development. These complex responses to cellular signaling and transport machinery were similar to emergent behaviors in other complex systems, suggesting that even within a complex embryonic tissue, the overall system can converge toward a predictive first-order response.
A Radio-independent Authentication Protocol (EAP-CRP) for Networks of Cognitive Radios

Securing future wireless networks will be a critical challenge as the popularity of mobile communications implies that wireless networks will be the target of abuse. The next generation of wireless networks, as envisioned by recent advances in cognitive radio (CR) technologies, will be autonomic and able to adjust their configuration to changes in the communication environment. Unfortunately, the authentication frameworks for various radio technologies, such as IEEE802.11 and 802.16, are quite different from one another and, in order to support radio reconfiguration, it is necessary to devise an appropriate authentication framework for CR systems. In this paper, we propose a radio-independent authentication protocol for CRs that is independent of the underlying radio protocols and able to support EAP transport. The re-keying protocol assumes user-specific information, such as location information, as a key seed. The keys for authentication and encryption are derived from the historical location registry of a mobile terminal. The keys are frequently updated as mobile users' position varies. After discussing authentication issues for CR networks, radio-independent authentication via location information, and application to EAP transport, we evaluate the confidentiality of the key management method and its integration with EAP, thereby supporting the effectiveness of our key management method for CR networks.
Use of criterion‐based clinical audit to improve the quality of obstetric care: A systematic review

Although there is evidence that audit and feedback can improve health outcomes, little is known about the effect of audit on the quality of care from client's perspective. The aim of the current review was to explore the use of criterion‐based audit to improve quality of obstetric care from both the midwives/doctors’ and women/mothers’ perspectives. Electronic searches of Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, and EMBASE were conducted. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and before‐and‐after studies that assessed the effect of criterion‐based audit on health outcomes or women/mothers’ perception of obstetric care were set as selection criteria. Data were extracted, analyzed using Revman 4.2 software, and results expressed as weighted mean differences for continuous data, and odds ratios for dichotomous data. Nineteen studies (one RCT and 18 before‐and‐after studies) involving 32,972 participants met our inclusion criteria. None of these studies assessed the effect of audit on quality from the women/mothers’ perspective and none of the studies compared the effectiveness of different types of feedback. Ninety‐five percentage (18/19) of studies showed significant improvement in at least one standard measured. Criterion‐based audit has been used in obstetrics to improve quality from one dimension, namely the midwives/doctors’ perspective. Midwives/doctors should consider the use of audit to improve quality of care from the mothers’ view. There is need for well‐designed RCTs to assess the effectiveness of different types of feedback in criterion‐based audit.
Maximum Margin Bayesian Network Classifiers

We present a maximum margin parameter learning algorithm for Bayesian network classifiers using a conjugate gradient (CG) method for optimization. In contrast to previous approaches, we maintain the normalization constraints on the parameters of the Bayesian network during optimization, i.e., the probabilistic interpretation of the model is not lost. This enables us to handle missing features in discriminatively optimized Bayesian networks. In experiments, we compare the classification performance of maximum margin parameter learning to conditional likelihood and maximum likelihood learning approaches. Discriminative parameter learning significantly outperforms generative maximum likelihood estimation for naive Bayes and tree augmented naive Bayes structures on all considered data sets. Furthermore, maximizing the margin dominates the conditional likelihood approach in terms of classification performance in most cases. We provide results for a recently proposed maximum margin optimization approach based on convex relaxation [1]. While the classification results are highly similar, our CG-based optimization is computationally up to orders of magnitude faster. Margin-optimized Bayesian network classifiers achieve classification performance comparable to support vector machines (SVMs) using fewer parameters. Moreover, we show that unanticipated missing feature values during classification can be easily processed by discriminatively optimized Bayesian network classifiers, a case where discriminative classifiers usually require mechanisms to complete unknown feature values in the data first.
Characterization of Low-Pathogenicity H5N1 Avian Influenza Viruses from North America

ABSTRACT Wild-bird surveillance in North America for avian influenza (AI) viruses with a goal of early identification of the Asian H5N1 highly pathogenic AI virus has identified at least six low-pathogenicity H5N1 AI viruses between 2004 and 2006. The hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) genes from all 6 H5N1 viruses and an additional 38 North American wild-bird-origin H5 subtype and 28 N1 subtype viruses were sequenced and compared with sequences available in GenBank by phylogenetic analysis. Both HA and NA were phylogenetically distinct from those for viruses from outside of North America and from those for viruses recovered from mammals. Four of the H5N1 AI viruses were characterized as low pathogenicity by standard in vivo pathotyping tests. One of the H5N1 viruses, A/MuteSwan/MI/451072-2/06, was shown to replicate to low titers in chickens, turkeys, and ducks. However, transmission of A/MuteSwan/MI/451072-2/06 was more efficient among ducks than among chickens or turkeys based on virus shed. The 50% chicken infectious dose for A/MuteSwan/MI/451072-2/06 and three other wild-waterfowl-origin H5 viruses were also determined and were between 105.3 and 107.5 50% egg infective doses. Finally, seven H5 viruses representing different phylogenetic clades were evaluated for their antigenic relatedness by hemagglutination inhibition assay, showing that the antigenic relatedness was largely associated with geographic origin. Overall, the data support the conclusion that North American H5 wild-bird-origin AI viruses are low-pathogenicity wild-bird-adapted viruses and are antigenically and genetically distinct from the highly pathogenic Asian H5N1 virus lineage.
ZNF9 Activation of IRES-Mediated Translation of the Human ODC mRNA Is Decreased in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 2

Myotonic dystrophy types 1 and 2 (DM1 and DM2) are forms of muscular dystrophy that share similar clinical and molecular manifestations, such as myotonia, muscle weakness, cardiac anomalies, cataracts, and the presence of defined RNA-containing foci in muscle nuclei. DM2 is caused by an expansion of the tetranucleotide CCTG repeat within the first intron of ZNF9, although the mechanism by which the expanded nucleotide repeat causes the debilitating symptoms of DM2 is unclear. Conflicting studies have led to two models for the mechanisms leading to the problems associated with DM2. First, a gain-of-function disease model hypothesizes that the repeat expansions in the transcribed RNA do not directly affect ZNF9 function. Instead repeat-containing RNAs are thought to sequester proteins in the nucleus, causing misregulation of normal cellular processes. In the alternative model, the repeat expansions impair ZNF9 function and lead to a decrease in the level of translation. Here we examine the normal in vivo function of ZNF9. We report that ZNF9 associates with actively translating ribosomes and functions as an activator of cap-independent translation of the human ODC mRNA. This activity is mediated by direct binding of ZNF9 to the internal ribosome entry site sequence (IRES) within the 5′UTR of ODC mRNA. ZNF9 can activate IRES-mediated translation of ODC within primary human myoblasts, and this activity is reduced in myoblasts derived from a DM2 patient. These data identify ZNF9 as a regulator of cap-independent translation and indicate that ZNF9 activity may contribute mechanistically to the myotonic dystrophy type 2 phenotype.
Profile of patients with Kaposi's sarcoma in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy.

PURPOSE Since the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) among AIDS patients has declined both nationwide and in King County, Washington. We sought to compare clinical parameters of patients diagnosed with KS in the pre-HAART (1990 to 1996) and HAART (1997 to 2002) eras. METHODS We used patient data abstracted from the Adult/Adolescent Spectrum of HIV-Related Diseases study of Public Health-Seattle and King County. RESULTS Patients diagnosed with KS in the HAART era (n = 40) were significantly more likely (P < .05) than pre-HAART-era KS patients (n = 366) to be diagnosed with alcohol problems (43% v 18%), noninjection drug use (45% v 18%), injection drug use (25% v 10%), psychosis (25% v 13%), and hypertension (13% v 2%). Although median CD4(+) count and HIV-1 viral load at the time of KS diagnosis were not significantly different between the two groups, significantly fewer (P < .01) HAART-era KS patients developed opportunistic illnesses (OIs) during their follow-up. The risk of dying among KS patients diagnosed in the HAART era is significantly lower (P < .01) than for KS patients diagnosed in the pre-HAART era (hazard ratio, 0.24). CONCLUSION Although HAART-era KS patients in King County were as likely to have a depleted CD4(+) cell count and high HIV-1 viral loads at the time of KS diagnosis as pre-HAART KS patients, they survived longer and fewer of them were diagnosed with other OIs. They also had an increased prevalence of substance abuse and mental illness, contributing to a dynamic and changing KS clinical profile.