Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A hybrid methodology for effort estimation in Agile development: an industrial evaluation

In agile software development, functionality is added to the system in an incremental and iterative manner. Practitioners often rely on expert-judgment to estimate effort in this context. The impact of a change on the existing system can provide objective information to practitioners to arrive at an informed estimate. In this regard, we have developed an innovative hybrid method that utilizes change impact analysis information for improving effort estimation. Additionally, an estimation model based on boosted trees is also developed. In this study, we evaluate the performance and usefulness of our innovative method and model in the context of agile software development from the perspective of agile development teams. A case study has been conducted with Insiders Technologies, a German software company, where we have applied our proposed method with tool-support in a live iteration and have evaluated it. The results show that the proposed method is useful and effective. It produces more accurate estimates than purely expert-based or purely model-based estimates.
MIXED CAUSAL-NONCAUSAL AR PROCESSES AND THE MODELLING OF EXPLOSIVE BUBBLES

Noncausal autoregressive models with heavy-tailed errors generate locally explosive processes and, therefore, provide a convenient framework for modelling bubbles in economic and financial time series. We investigate the probability properties of mixed causal-noncausal autoregressive processes, assuming the errors follow a stable non-Gaussian distribution. Extending the study of the noncausal AR(1) model by Gouriéroux and Zakoian (2017), we show that the conditional distribution in direct time is lighter-tailed than the errors distribution, and we emphasize the presence of ARCH effects in a causal representation of the process. Under the assumption that the errors belong to the domain of attraction of a stable distribution, we show that a causal AR representation with non-i.i. d. errors can be consistently estimated by classical least-squares. We derive a portmanteau test to check the validity of the estimated AR representation and propose a method based on extreme residuals clustering to determine whether the AR generating process is causal, noncausal, or mixed. An empirical study on simulated and real data illustrates the potential usefulness of the results.
THE EFFECTS OF HYPERSALINE EXPOSURE ON OXYGEN-AFFINITY OF THE BLOOD OF THE FRESHWATER TELEOST CATOSTOMUS COMMERSONI

Summary After 10 days' exposure to an environmental salinity of 300mosmolkg -1 NaCl, the freshwater stenohaline teleost Catostomus commersoni exhibited an increase in plasma osmolality and a reduction in plasma strong ion difference (SID). There were reductions in plasma pH (pHe), red blood cell (RBC) pH (pHi), plasma total CO2 and erythrocyte nucleoside triphosphate (N IP) concentration, and increases in mean erythrocyte volume and plasma catecholamine levels. Despite the acidosis, the in vitro haemoglobin oxygen-affinity of blood from saline-acclimated fish was not significantly different from that of control fish (held in fresh water) which had higher pHe and pHi values at the Pcc^ tensions used. In vitro adjustment of SID of blood from control fish to approximate that of the salineacclimated fish by the addition of NaOH and HC1 significantly reduced pHe, pHi and the haemoglobin oxygen-affinity. Adjustment of the plasma osmolality of blood from control fish to values identical to those of the saline-acclimated fish by the addition of NaCl in vitro did not alter the haemoglobin oxygen-affinity. An increase in catecholamine concentration and a decrease in red blood cell NTP concentration in the saline-acclimated fish may have been compensatory mechanisms to maintain haemoglobin oxygen-affinity against acidosis-induced Bohr and Root effects during saline exposure.
Multilayer Black Phosphorus Near-Infrared Photodetectors

Black phosphorus (BP), owing to its distinguished properties, has become one of the most competitive candidates for photodetectors. However, there has been little attention paid on photo-response performance of multilayer BP nanoflakes with large layer thickness. In fact, multilayer BP nanoflakes with large layer thickness have greater potential from the fabrication viewpoint as well as due to the physical properties than single or few layer ones. In this report, the thickness-dependence of the intrinsic property of BP photodetectors in the dark was initially investigated. Then the photo-response performance (including responsivity, photo-gain, photo-switching time, noise equivalent power, and specific detectivity) of BP photodetectors with relative thicker thickness was explored under a near-infrared laser beam (λIR = 830 nm). Our experimental results reveal the impact of BP’s thickness on the current intensity of the channel and show degenerated p-type BP is beneficial for larger current intensity. More importantly, the photo-response of our thicker BP photodetectors exhibited a larger responsivity up to 2.42 A/W than the few-layer ones and a fast response photo-switching speed (response time is ~2.5 ms) comparable to thinner BP nanoflakes was obtained, indicating BP nanoflakes with larger layer thickness are also promising for application for ultra-fast and ultra-high near-infrared photodetectors.
Tuberculosis-associated mortality and its risk factors in a district of Shanghai, China: a retrospective cohort study.

SETTING Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) causes a considerable number of deaths in China; however, the factors related to mortality are not well known. OBJECTIVE To determine mortality among PTB patients and to explore its risk factors in Shanghai, China. DESIGN This was a retrospective population-based study. A cohort of PTB patients who initiated treatment in a district of Shanghai from 2004 to 2015 was evaluated. Mortality in PTB patients was studied using the standardised mortality ratio (SMR) and Cox's proportional hazards model. RESULTS Of 2741 PTB patients recruited in our study, 394 (14.4%) died during the 12-year follow-up. The summarised SMR was 2.8, and death was most likely to occur during the first months of anti-tuberculosis treatment. Age 60 years (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 4.039, P < 0.001), male sex (aHR 1.603, P < 0.001), sputum smear test positivity (aHR 1.945, P < 0.001), multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB; aHR 3.502, P = 0.001), diabetes mellitus (aHR 1.422, P = 0.012), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (aHR 2.505, P < 0.001) and having cancer (aHR 4.319, P < 0.001) were risk factors for PTB mortality. CONCLUSION The overall mortality in PTB patients was higher than that in the general population. MDR-TB and comorbidity were the two leading risk factors for mortality in PTB patients. Early, accurate diagnosis, together with comprehensive management and treatment, can reduce the mortality rate in PTB patients.
LightDenseYOLO: A Fast and Accurate Marker Tracker for Autonomous UAV Landing by Visible Light Camera Sensor on Drone

Autonomous landing of an unmanned aerial vehicle or a drone is a challenging problem for the robotics research community. Previous researchers have attempted to solve this problem by combining multiple sensors such as global positioning system (GPS) receivers, inertial measurement unit, and multiple camera systems. Although these approaches successfully estimate an unmanned aerial vehicle location during landing, many calibration processes are required to achieve good detection accuracy. In addition, cases where drones operate in heterogeneous areas with no GPS signal should be considered. To overcome these problems, we determined how to safely land a drone in a GPS-denied environment using our remote-marker-based tracking algorithm based on a single visible-light-camera sensor. Instead of using hand-crafted features, our algorithm includes a convolutional neural network named lightDenseYOLO to extract trained features from an input image to predict a marker’s location by visible light camera sensor on drone. Experimental results show that our method significantly outperforms state-of-the-art object trackers both using and not using convolutional neural network in terms of both accuracy and processing time.
Full EM Design Method For HTS MMIC Josephson Mixers

We report the full electromagnetic (EM) design and simulation method, and applied it to develop a 34-GHz high-temperature superconducting (HTS) microwave monolithic integrated circuit Josephson mixer. The mixer is modeled in EM simulation software, high-frequency simulation structural simulator, with the junction area modeled as an excitation port with frequency-dependent impedance. Impedance matching between the junction and RF/IF ports is then optimized accordingly. Module design is carried out for the optimized HTS Josephson mixer, and the cavity resonance issue is investigated and eliminated. The HTS mixer module was experimentally developed and measured to verify the simulation. The measured frequency response of the conversion gain agrees with the simulation results of combined RF and IF transmission loss.
Maternal height and risk of caesarean section in singleton births in Sweden—A population-based study using data from the Swedish Pregnancy Register 2011 to 2016

Caesarean section (CS) has short and long term adverse health consequences, and should therefore only be undertaken when necessary. Risk factors such as maternal age, maternal body mass index (BMI) and fetal weight have been extensively investigated in relation to CS, but the significance of maternal height has been less explored in Sweden. The aim was to investigate the significance of maternal height on risk of CS in a representative, population-based sample from Sweden, also taking into account confounders. Data on singleton births in the Swedish Pregnancy Register 2011 to 2016 were collected, including women with heights of 140 cm and above, constituting a sample of 581,844 women. Data were analysed with epidemiological and biostatistical methods. Mean height was 166.1 cm. Women born outside Sweden were significantly shorter than women born in Sweden (162.8 cm vs. 167.1 cm, p<0.001). There was a decreasing risk of CS with increasing maternal height. This effect remained after adjustment for other risk factors for CS such as maternal age, BMI, gestational age, parity, high birth weight and country of birth. Frequency of CS was higher among women born outside Sweden compared with Swedish-born women (17.3% vs. 16.0%), however, in a multiple regression model country of birth outside Sweden diminished as a risk factor for CS. Maternal height of 178–179 cm was associated with the lowest risk of CS (OR = 0.76, CI95% 0.71–0.81), whereas height below 160 cm explained 7% of CS cases. BMI and maternal age are established factors involved in clinical assessments related to birth, and maternal height should increasingly enjoy a similar status in these considerations. Moreover, when healthcare professionals are counselling pregnant women, taller stature should be more emphasized as a positive indicator for successful vaginal birth to increase pregnant women’s confidence in giving birth vaginally, with possible positive impacts for lowering CS rates.
Antibacterial Effect of Silver Diammine Fluoride on Cariogenic Organisms

AIM To screen the possible antimicrobial activity of a range of clinically used, silver-based compounds on cariogenic organisms: silver diammine fluoride (SDF), silver fluoride, and silver nitrate. MATERIALS AND METHODS Preliminary screening disk-diffusion susceptibility tests were conducted on Mueller-Hinton agar plates inoculated with Streptococcus mutans, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Actinomyces naeslundii, organisms known to be cariogenic. In order to identify which component of the silver compounds was responsible for any antibacterial (AB) effect, and to provide controls, the following were also investigated at high and low concentrations: sodium fluoride, ammonium fluoride, ammonium chloride, sodium fluoride, sodium chloride, and sodium nitrate, as well as deionized water as control. A volume of 10 pL of a test solution was dispensed onto a paper disk resting on the inoculated agar surface, and the plate incubated anaerobically at 37°C for 48 hours. The zones of inhibition were then measured. RESULTS Silver diammine fluoride, silver fluoride, silver nitrate, and ammonium fluoride had significant AB effect (p < 0.05) on all three test organisms, although ammonium fluoride had no effect at low concentration; the remaining other compounds had no effect. CONCLUSION Silver ions appear to be the principal AB agent at both high and low concentration; fluoride ions only have an AB effect at high concentration, while ammonium, nitrate, chloride and sodium ions have none. The anticaries effect of topical silver solutions appears restricted to that of the silver ions. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE Silver compounds, such as SDF, silver fluoride, and silver nitrate have AB effect against cariogenic organisms and these may have clinical impact in arresting or preventing dental decay. Sodium fluoride did not have AB effect under the conditions tested.
Resonant-cavity-enhanced amorphous Germanium nanoabsorber solar cells

Hydrogenated amorphous germanium (a-Ge:H) is a group IV semiconductor exhibiting an exceptionally high absorption coefficient and a bandgap energy similar to crystalline and microcrystalline silicon. Hence, it could be an ideal absorber material for photovoltaic power conversion. Up to now, unfavorable charge carrier transport properties resulting from high defect densities hinder the fabrication of highly efficient a-Ge:H thin-film solar cells. However, by exploiting the optical resonances of planar resonant cavities, strong infrared absorption can be achieved with amorphous germanium nanoabsorbers that are only 25 nm or less in thickness. In this contribution, two different types of such devices are presented and discussed.
Using Neural Networks to Include Semantic Information into Classification

The accuracy of pattern-classification methods depends on how well the measured characteristics (i.e., features) represent the object to be classified. When using pre-designed features as it is the case of many pattern classifiers, one can try to enhance the features’ discriminative power by inserting high-level semantic information into the feature vectors. In this paper, we propose a method that increases the discriminative power of features by augmenting them with high-level semantic information learned from training data. Our method combines the advantages of dimensionality reduction techniques and feature-selection techniques. Instead of augmenting feature vectors, we map them using a modified neural network that has been trained to categorize the data into target groups. This neural network embeds categorization information. We tested the method on classification tasks for pollen species, human action, and acoustic signals. In all these tasks, our feature-enhancing method improved classification rates.
Experimental evidence for delayed contingent cooperation among wild dwarf mongooses

Significance Humans frequently trade goods and can track the amount they owe using memories of past exchanges. While nonhuman animals are also known to be capable of trading cooperative acts immediately for one another, more contentious is the possibility that there can be delayed rewards. We use detailed field observations, social-network analyses, and a playback experiment to demonstrate that wild dwarf mongooses provide more grooming to those groupmates who contribute more to sentinel behavior (acting as a raised guard to look out for danger). We therefore provide experimental evidence of delayed contingent cooperation, and cross-commodity exchange, in a wild nonprimate. Many animals participate in biological markets, with strong evidence existing for immediate cooperative trades. In particular, grooming is often exchanged for itself or other commodities, such as coalitionary support or access to food and mates. More contentious is the possibility that nonhuman animals can rely on memories of recent events, providing contingent cooperation even when there is a temporal delay between two cooperative acts. Here we provide experimental evidence of delayed cross-commodity grooming exchange in wild dwarf mongooses (Helogale parvula). First, we use natural observations and social-network analyses to demonstrate a positive link between grooming and sentinel behavior (acting as a raised guard). Group members who contributed more to sentinel behavior received more grooming and had a better social-network position. We then used a field-based playback experiment to test a causal link between contributions to sentinel behavior and grooming received later in the day. During 3-h trial sessions, the perceived sentinel contributions of a focal individual were either up-regulated (playback of its surveillance calls, which are given naturally during sentinel bouts) or unmanipulated (playback of its foraging close calls as a control). On returning to the sleeping refuge at the end of the day, focal individuals received more grooming following surveillance-call playback than control-call playback and more grooming than a matched individual whose sentinel contributions were not up-regulated. We believe our study therefore provides experimental evidence of delayed contingent cooperation in a wild nonprimate species.
Exacerbated Type II Interferon Response Drives Hypervirulence and Toxic Shock by an Emergent Epidemic Strain of Streptococcus suis

ABSTRACT Streptococcus suis, a major porcine pathogen, can be transmitted to humans and cause severe symptoms. A large human outbreak associated with an unusual streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome (STSLS) was described in China. Albeit an early burst of proinflammatory cytokines following Chinese S. suis infection was suggested to be responsible for STSLS case severity, the mechanisms involved are still poorly understood. Using a mouse model, the host response to S. suis infection with a North American intermediately pathogenic strain, a European highly pathogenic strain, and the Chinese epidemic strain was investigated by a whole-genome microarray approach. Proinflammatory genes were expressed at higher levels in mice infected with the Chinese strain than those infected with the European strain. The Chinese strain induced a fast and strong gamma interferon (IFN-γ) response by natural killer (NK) cells. In fact, IFN-γ-knockout mice infected with the Chinese strain showed significantly better survival than wild-type mice. Conversely, infection with the less virulent North American strain resulted in an IFN-β-subjugated, low inflammatory response that might be beneficial for the host to clear the infection. Overall, our data suggest that a highly virulent epidemic strain has evolved to massively activate IFN-γ production, mainly by NK cells, leading to a rapid and lethal STSLS.
Does Matching Quality Matter in Mode Comparison Studies?

This article provides a brief overview and comparison of three matching approaches in forming comparable groups for a study comparing test administration modes (i.e., computer-based tests [CBT] and paper-and-pencil tests [PPT]): (a) a propensity score matching approach proposed in this article, (b) the propensity score matching approach used by Lottridge, Nicewander, and Mitzel, and (c) a modified approach of matched samples comparability analyses (MSCA) mentioned by Way, Davis, and Fitzpatrick. Different matching approaches resulted in different matched data with differing degrees of matching quality, and matched data from each matching approach were then used in the mode comparison investigation. Construct equivalence was examined and the level of invariance was found to be consistent across modes for all three matching approaches. Raw-to-scale score conversion tables were created, and the impact on CBT students’ proficiency classification was examined. The comparison of the number of CBT students whose proficiency classification would be affected and the equality of score distributions between modes on raw scores and scale scores across the three matching approaches indicate that the propensity score matching approach delineated in this article led to the most consistent evidence for the conclusion of the mode comparison.
Toward the integration and advancement of herbal medicine: a focus on traditional Indian medicine

Indian traditional codified medicinal systems and folk medicine are a vast lexicon of herbal formulations and medicinal plants. In last few decades, the popularity of herbal medicine/ products has increased worldwide, not only as part of conventional treatment strategies but also for health care management, and thus the opportunity to promote Indian traditional medicine is increasing globally. Recently people from several developed and developing countries have been attracted toward traditional Indian herbal medicines. A large number of modern medi- cines are derived from the plants used in Ayurveda and other traditional medicinal systems. Ayurveda and other traditional herbal medicines are capable of addressing some modern unmet medical needs, and can provide the basis for developing potential medicines. Lack of drug standardization, information, quality control, and strict monitoring are the primary lacunae in the promotion of traditional Indian herbal products. In recent years several regulatory and promotional approaches have been undertaken to overcome such problems. Quality control, rigorous research to establish the effectiveness and safety, and credible clinical trials of the herbal products are required. Thus the careful and scientific integration of Indian traditional herbal medicine into evidence-based clinical management of diseases is essential to provide better health care facilities to people.
Acetylator Status on Tuberculosis Patients Receiving Isoniazid-Contained Antituberculosis Regiment

Hepatotoxic incidence after tuberculosis treatment might reach 48%. Isoniazid was the most important antituberculosis related to hepatotoxic effect. One of the important risk factor related to hepatotoxic is acetylator status that reflects the metabolism rate of isoniazid in the body. Slow acetylator was proven as significant risk factor of hepatotoxic effect after tuberculosis treatmment. The acetylator status is related to genetic variation on NAT2 gene, whereas genetic variation of NAT2 gene is strongly related to ethnic or race. This study aimed to study the acetylator status on tuberculosis patients receiving isoniazid-contained antituberculosis regiment. Acetylator status was analyzed from the NAT2 genotypes (NAT2*5, NAT2*6 and NAT2*7). Detection of NAT2*5, *6, and *7 genotypes was performed using PCR/RFLP technique. From 35 DNA samples isolated from tuberculosis patients receiving antituberculosis, as many as 8 subjects (22.9%) and 27 subjects (77.1%) were categorized as slow acetylator and rapid acetylator, respectively. The dominant acetylator status in tuberculosis patients was rapid acetylator.