Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A streaming ensemble classifier with multi-class imbalance learning for activity recognition

Stream multi-class imbalance learning in smart home applications is an evolving learning area that incorporates the challenges of both multi-class imbalance and stream learning. Moreover, another argument in the learning from the imbalanced multi-class distributions that cause misleading classification outcomes, is the imbalanced ratio in a sensor data stream which is vigorously changing. Due to the presence of an inadequate representation of sensor data stream and class distribution skews, learning from such data entails a new algorithm to transform balanced data into a model in a stream fashion. In this paper, we propose a new multi-class stream imbalance ensemble method where the base learner is a Naïve Bayesian classifier. In this approach, each training instance from any of the classes involved in learning based on thresholding on the median prior probability to aid in balancing the classes. Our proposed method diverges from state-of-the-art approaches with regard to being robust to outliers, retains more useful information, and is less sensitive to over-fitting. Also, it has a simple conceptual justification and is easy to implement. We illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method on two smart home testbed datasets. Our proposed method compares favourably with state-of-the-art approaches.
Natural bactericidal activity of human serum against Neisseria meningitidis isolates of different serogroups and serotypes

We used a microtiter assay, standardized with serum-sensitive and serum-resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, to determine the serum sensitivity of Neisseria meningitidis isolates of different serogroups and serotypes. Numbers of serum-resistant isolates varied among serogroups: group A = 7/8 (88%), group B = 26/50 (52%), group C = 5/8 (63%), group Y = 4/6 (67%), group W135 = 5/8 (63%), group 29E (Z') = 0/8 (0%), nongroupable isolates = 0/8 (0%). In comparison to group B isolates, group A isolates were more serum resistant (P less than 0.06), and group 29E and nongroupable isolates were more serum sensitive (P less than 0.001). Poor correlation was observed between serum sensitivity results and group-specific levels of bactericidal antibody in the normal human serum of volunteers. The frequency of serum-resistant strains among group B disease isolates (45%) was not significantly different from throat isolates of asymptomatic carriers (52%). Serotype 2 isolates of group B were no more serum resistant than were other serotypes examined. The serum sensitivity of meningococci appears to involve both capsular and noncapsular antigens and varies between serogroups. The increased serum sensitivity of nongroupable and group 29E isolates may account for the low incidence of disease caused by these organisms.
Structural features of the cytoplasmic region of CD4 required for internalization.

CD4, the T cell surface antigen, is phosphorylated and internalized when T cells are activated or treated with a phorbol ester, PMA. The actual phosphorylation sites have been identified and the role of phosphorylation of each on CD4 internalization investigated. Seven different mutants, in each of which one, two or all three of the serine residues of the cytoplasmic region was modified to alanine(s) (CD4.SA mutants) and one mutant in which the whole amino acid sequence from Gln421 to the C‐terminal Ile433 was changed (CD4.EP mutant) were constructed and used to determine the effect of phosphorylation on CD4 internalization. Ser408 was the most efficiently phosphorylated by PMA treatment, Ser415 next and Ser431 to a minor extent. The effect of mutation on internalization was well matched with the effect on extent of phosphorylation, i.e. Ser408 was the residue most important for internalization. However, complete inhibition of CD4 internalization was achieved only by mutating all three serine residues. Interestingly, the mutant CD4.EP in which Ser408 was present and phosphorylated was not measurably internalized, suggesting that phosphorylation of Ser408 induces CD4 internalization only when other structural features of the cytoplasmic domain remain intact. In addition, the data suggest the existence of an additional minor pathway for CD4 internalization which is phosphorylation independent.
Antigenic Detection of Human Strain of Influenza Virus A (H3N2) in Swine Populations at Three Locations in Nigeria and Ghana during the Dry Early Months of 2014

Since the first detection of human H3N2 influenza virus in Taiwanese pigs in 1970, infection of pigs with wholly human viruses has been known to occur in other parts of the world. These viruses, referred to as human‐like H3N2 viruses, have been known to cause clinical and subclinical infections of swine populations. Due to the paucity and complete unavailability of information on transmission of influenza viruses from other species, especially humans, to swine in Nigeria and Ghana, respectively, this study was designed to investigate the presence and prevalence of a human strain of influenza A (H3N2) in swine populations at three locations in two cities within these two West African countries in January and February, 2014. Using stratified random technique, nasal swab specimens were collected from seventy‐five (75) pigs at two locations in Ibadan, Nigeria and from fifty (50) pigs in Kumasi, Ghana. These specimens were tested directly by a sensitive Quantitative Solid Phase Antigen‐detection Sandwich ELISA using anti‐A/Brisbane/10/2007 haemagglutinin monoclonal antibody. Influenza virus A/Brisbane/10/2007 (H3N2) was detected among pigs at the three study locations, with an aggregate prevalence of 4.0% for the two locations in Ibadan, Nigeria and also 4.0% for Kumasi, Ghana. Transmission of influenza viruses from other species to swine portends serious sinister prospects for genetic reassortment and evolvement of novel viruses. We therefore recommend that further studies should be carried out to investigate the presence of other circulating human and avian influenza viruses in swine populations in West Africa and also determine the extent of genetic reassortment of strains circulating among these pigs. This would provide an early warning system for detection of novel influenza viruses, which could have pandemic potentials.
A Road Less Traveled: Learning With And From Contemporary Black Secondary School Leaders

Effective school leadership is at the center of educational reform in urban environments. Constituents expect school leaders to transform under-performing schools. However, the educational leadership field relies on traditional ideologies that largely ignore Black principals’ experiences and exclude their voices from politically engaged conversations on leadership. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore four contemporary Black school leaders’ perspectives of their practices in urban environments. Cultural Historical Activity Theory and Distributed Leadership Theory informed the multiple case study. I employed ethnographic data collection methods of prolonged engagement, interviews (formal and informal), shadowing, documents and artifacts, on-line discussions, field and reflexive journals, and memos, which allowed for crystallization of the data. I adopted and adapted grounded theory and analytic induction to interpret and re-present the Black school leaders’ educational philosophical beliefs, perspectives of traditional preparation, and conceptualizations of leadership that influenced their practices. The findings revealed that the four contemporary Black school leaders from middle and high schools held belief systems that challenged traditional structures and differed from White majority leaders’ beliefs, which aligned with white supremacy and deficit ideologies. The participants thought differently about the purpose of education for all students, especially marginalized groups. These thoughts helped shape their conceptualizations of effective school leadership as an alternative to traditional canons. Their leadership ‘model’ afforded them the ethical latitude to challenge the political sociocultural structure of ‘minimum competency’ standards to afford their students ‘high performance’ school communities. The findings also highlighted traditional leadership programs as ineffective and irrelevant for preparing aspirants to affect substantive changes in contextualized school environments, particularly when the classroom discourse obfuscates issues of equity, race, class, and cultural diversity. Furthermore, the findings revealed participants’ practices, undergirded with moral imperative, humanism, and social justice perspectives, were strategically implemented to dismantle unjust structures. In so doing, they were able to provide students equitable school conditions that allowed them to learn to their highest capacities. Indeed there is the urgent need to include race, ethnic, class, and culturally diverse perspectives in program preparations, policies, and theoretical paradigms to help shape how we think and thus practice school leadership. INDEX WORDS: Black school leadership, Effective school leadership, Educational policy, Educational leadership preparation, Equity and diversity issues, School conditions and practices, School reform, Urban education A ROAD LESS TRAVELED: LEARNING FROM AND WITH CONTEMPORARY BLACK SECONDARY SCHOOL LEADERSHIP by DEMETRICIA L. HODGES
Time Series Analysis of Role of Infrastructure in Growth of FDI: The Case of Pakistan

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has its major contribution in economic development of a country. It has been clear from Literature that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) not only facilitates in capital formation but also a source of new technology development in a country. This study has been conducted to ensure the impact of Infrastructure on FDI with the help of time series analysis by taking Pakistan as a case. The data of 30 years collected from two major sources; World Bank and Ministry of Finance for the time period 1980 to 2013. The variables used for this research are FDI (dependant variable) and Infrastructure (independent variable) also includes proxy variables with independent variable i-e; ((Real Government Expenditure per real GDP), Market size (Real GDP per capital), Openness (Real trade share (Import – export) per capital), Human Capital (total real education expenditure). Time series analysis conducted to find out the relationship between FDI and Infrastructure. First step to start the time series analysis is to check, whether the data is stationary or not. The randomness of time series data is like a basic building block to go for further analysis. In this study, by applying ADF (unit root test) on Eviews it came to know that some of the variables are stationary at I(1) and some of them are stationary at I(2). After getting stationary data at 1 st difference and 2 nd difference, the ordinary least square (OLS) with White Heteroskedasticity employed to estimate the model. Findings showed the positive impact of Infrastructure on FDI, heteroskedasticity does not exist and also the regression is not spurious. The results can definitely be useful for policy makers to take decisions regarding economic growth and development of infrastructure.
Firm Size and the Informational Content of Financial Statements

firm's common stock and the stock's mean return. He found that firms with small market values had large and positive residual returns over a period of at least 40 years. Reinganum [23] found that high earning-price (E/P) stocks had higher re? turns than low E/P-ratio stocks and that, after controlling for size, the E/P effect largely disappeared. Although they rejected the hypothesis that the anomalies are due to inefficiency in the capital market, the two authors are not able to identify the economic factors that might explain the effect of firm size on the functioning ofthe capital market. Banz [3], p. 161 recognizes that: 'There is no theoretical foundation for such an effect. We do not even know whether the factor is size itself or whether size is just a proxy for one or more true but unknown factors correlated with size. " Nevertheless, he puts forward the idea that one possible explanation in? volving size comes from the model of Klein and Bawa [20] concerning the cost of information. They argue that investors require premiums as an inducement to bear the estimation risk associated with stocks of firms about which less informa? tion is available. According to this hypothesis, the amount of information gener? ated is related to the size of the firm. In this study, we work within the framework of the previously mentioned hypothesis in an attempt to identify and analyze the economic factors that might explain the anomalies related to firm size. First, we attempt to analyze, from a theoretical point of view, the relation between firm size and the amount of infor? mation available to investors. (By "amount of information" we mean all infor? mation on a firm at any given time that is relevant to determining security prices.) We conclude that size is positively related to amount of information: the larger
Coffee price volatility and intra-household labour supply

Volatility in commodity markets poses an acute risk to farmers in developing countries who rely on cash crop agriculture. We combine a time series of international coffee prices with a long-running panel on coffee-growing households in Viet Nam to investigate coping mechanisms employed by farmers in a transitioning economy. We find that households cope with lower coffee prices by increasing wage labour of adults with children and adolescents substituting for adults on the farm and in home production. Account should be taken of this finding in formulating and implementing social protection and inclusive growth policies.
2-GHz RF front-end circuits in CMOS/SIMOX operating at an extremely low voltage of 0.5 V

2-GHz RF front-end circuits [low noise amplifier (LNA), mixer, and voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)] enabling 0.5-V operation are presented. The circuits were fabricated by 0.2-/spl mu/m fully depleted CMOS/SIMOX technology. The mixer has an LC-tuned folded structure to avoid stacking transistors. Undoped-channel MOSFETs are used in the VCO core and in a complementary source follower as output buffers for the mixer and the VCO. The noise figures of 3.5 dB (LNA) and 16.1 dB (mixer), IIP3 of -6-dBm (mixer), and phase noise of -110 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset (VCO) are achieved at a supply voltage of 1 V. They dissipate 2 mW (LNA), 4 mW (mixer), and 3 mW (VCO) at 0.5.
Current state of anti-phishing approaches and revealing competencies

Phishing has become a substantial threat for internet users and a major cause of financial losses. In these attacks the cybercriminals carry out user credential information and users can fall victim. The current solution against phishing attacks are not sufficient to detect and work against novel phishes. This paper presents a systematic review of the previous and current research waves done on Internet phishing mitigation in different areas of expertise and highlighted phishing attacks types and some existing antiphishing approaches. Further the discussion about novel phishes and identify the elements of issues highlighted. The review can be valuable source of information to find and identify recent gap and challenges to fulfill the security flaws.
Factors Associated With Health Service Utilization Patterns in Low-Income Women

Little is known about the relationship of demographic, health, and psychosocial factors with health services utilization over time among low-income female heads of household. In a case-control study conducted between 1991 and 1997, 273 homeless and low-income housed mothers living in Worcester, Massachusetts were interviewed at baseline and at a two-year follow-up. The use of outpatient and emergency department care in this study sample was examined. High usage patterns were found at baseline. At the two-year follow-up, poor health status, non-White race, and fewer supportive relationships were significantly associated with frequent emergency department visits. Women with higher rates of ongoing outpatient medical care visits were more likely to have fewer social supports and more bodily pain than women with lower rates of ambulatory care usage. Mental health and victimization were not associated with service use patterns. In order to address poor women's needs in a more effective and potentially less costly way, health programs must understand their need for social support and culturally responsive services.
Diabetic retinopathy: Validation study of ALR2, RAGE, iNOS and TNFB gene variants in a south Indian cohort

Purpose: We previously reported the association of the Z-2 allele of the promoter dinucleotide repeat in the Aldose reductase (ALR2) gene, the (CCTTT)15 allele in the promoter of inductible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene, and the (GT)13 promoter polymorphism in the tumor necrosis factor β (TNFB) gene with an increased risk for diabetic retinopathy (DR), and the Gly82Ser polymorphism in the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) gene and the (GT)9 allele of the TNFB gene with low-risk for DR in a hospital-based self-reported type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. We have repeated the study in a population-based south Indian cohort to validate the same variations in these genes. Materials and Methods: Type 2 diabetic patients with and without retinopathy (DR+ and DR− respectively) were recruited. (CA)n repeat, Gly82Ser, (CCTTT)n repeat and (GT)n repeat in ALR2, RAGE, iNOS and TNFB genes respectively were genotyped and their frequencies were analyzed using the relevant statistical tests. Results: Different allelic associations were observed in the present study as compared to our previous reports. Z+2 allele of ALR2, 13-repeat genotype of iNOS, 15-repeat genotype of TNF-β, genes were associated with susceptibility to DR. Gly82Ser polymorphisms of the RAGE gene were not associated with DR in the present study. Conclusion: The present data show a difference in the association of variations in ALR2, iNOS and TNFB genes with DR, when compared to our previous reports; this could be attributed to differences between the study populations of the past and present report.
Does physician weight affect perception of health advice?

BACKGROUND Obesity is considered a growing health threat in the United States. Although physicians have an important role in counseling their patients for obesity prevention and treatment, physicians themselves are often overweight. There are few data regarding how physician body weight might affect patient receptiveness to obesity counseling. METHODS A 43-item survey instrument was developed that consisted of three scales related to physician characteristics, health locus of control, and perceptions on receiving health advice from overweight physicians. The survey was administered to 226 patients in five physician offices. Two of the physicians were classified as obese using BMI calculations, and three were nonobese. The responses from the surveys were grouped into those from obese and nonobese physicians. RESULTS Significant differences were found for patient receptiveness to counseling for treatment of illness (P = 0.038) and health advice (P = 0.049), with the patients of nonobese physicians indicating greater confidence scores. The difference for weight and fitness counseling did not reach significance (P = 0.075). Analysis revealed that patient BMI was not a significant covariate nor were items related to physician characteristics in general or health locus of control. CONCLUSIONS Patients seeking care from nonobese physicians indicated greater confidence in general health counseling and treatment of illness than patients seeing obese physicians. It is not known if this can be translated into increased success in obesity prevention and treatment.
Disturbed Neuronal ER-Golgi Sorting of Unassembled Glycine Receptors Suggests Altered Subcellular Processing Is a Cause of Human Hyperekplexia

Recent studies on the pathogenic mechanisms of recessive hyperekplexia indicate disturbances in glycine receptor (GlyR) α1 biogenesis. Here, we examine the properties of a range of novel glycine receptor mutants identified in human hyperekplexia patients using expression in transfected cell lines and primary neurons. All of the novel mutants localized in the large extracellular domain of the GlyR α1 have reduced cell surface expression with a high proportion of receptors being retained in the ER, although there is forward trafficking of glycosylated subpopulations into the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment and cis-Golgi compartment. CD spectroscopy revealed that the mutant receptors have proportions of secondary structural elements similar to wild-type receptors. Two mutants in loop B (G160R, T162M) were functional, but none of those in loop D/β2–3 were. One nonfunctional truncated mutant (R316X) could be rescued by coexpression with the lacking C-terminal domain. We conclude that a proportion of GlyR α1 mutants can be transported to the plasma membrane but do not necessarily form functional ion channels. We suggest that loop D/β2–3 is an important determinant for GlyR trafficking and functionality, whereas alterations to loop B alter agonist potencies, indicating that residues here are critical elements in ligand binding.
Development of rodent macrovibrissae: Effects of neonatal whisker denervation and bilateral neonatal enucleation

In this paper we describe the effects of manipulating two kinds of sensory input in neonatal rats upon the development of the macrovibrissae—that movable subset of the rodent mystacial vibrissae. In an initial study of normal whisker development, data on whisker size were obtained from neonatal, perinatal, and adult rats. Data on whisker size were also obtained from rats sustaining either neonatal sensory or motor denervation of the whiskers and from both rats and mice bilaterally enucleated as neonates (BEN). In normally reared rats, most whiskers attain their final size over the first three postnatal weeks but development of rows 6 and 7 are not completed until after the first month. In normal animals we found a significant correlation both between body weight and whisker size and between the size of a whisker and the size of its corresponding cortical barrel. Rats sustaining neonatal denervation of the whiskers have shorter and thinner whiskers as adults than normally reared animals. In both rats and mice bilaterally enucleated as neonates a subset of the macrovibrissae are significantly larger than those of normal controls but no such effect is seen if the enucleation is carried out in adults. Moreover, BEN rats exposed to a novel stimulus environment whisk at a significantly higher frequency than normally reared animals. Mechanisms which might mediate these effects are discussed.