Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quadratic Error and k-Means

This chapter presents an updated review of k-means clustering, arguably the most popular clustering method. First, the square-error k-means criterion and method are introduced in three frameworks: a naive one, data recovery, and mixture of distributions. Then several 33 D ow nl oa de d B y: 1 0. 3. 98 . 9 3 A t: 04 :5 4 05 S ep 2 01 8; F or : 9 78 14 66 55 18 93 , c ha pt er 3, 1 0. 12 01 /b 19 70 65 34 Handbook of Cluster Analysis equivalent reformulations are given as leading to different local optimization strategies. A number of challenges and ways for addressing them are discussed as related to both the properties of solutions and ways for optimum finding. A few extensions are mentioned including fuzzy clustering and feature weighting. 3.1 Conventional k-Means Clustering 3.1.1 General Currently, k-means is the most popular clustering technique. Amazingly, when looking through Google web browser on July 2, 2012, query “k-means” returned 234 million pages, whereas query “clustering” has led to less than 26 million web pages, which has been somewhat alleviated by 208 million pages returned for query “cluster. ” Such a popularity probably is because thousands of data analysis practitioners in banks, marketing research, pharmaceuticals, etc. are using “k-means” software without much regard for more general aspects of clustering. The method became known in late sixties after a first theoretical result was proved in MacQueen (1967). Later predecessors have been found; two histories of the method, with different emphases, are now available (see Bock (2008) and Steinley (2006)). The method is present, in various forms, in major statistics packages such as SPSS (Green and Salkind 2003) and SAS (Der and Everitt 2001) and data mining packages such as Clementine (Clementine 2003) and DBMiner (Han et al. 2011), as well as freeware like Weka (Witten 2011). It is described in all materials on clustering including most classical texts such as in Hartigan (1975) and Jain and Dubes (1988). The algorithm is appealing in many aspects. It is computationally easy, fast, and memory-efficient. Conceptually, this method may be considered a model for the cognitive process of making a data-conditioned typology. Also, it has nice mathematical properties. However, there are some issues too, most urgently with respect to the initial setting and stability of results. Some questions arise with respect to the meaning and relevance of the k-means criterion. 3.1. 2 Three Frameworks for the Square-Error Criterion The square-error clustering criterion can be applied in various settings, for various dataset and cluster structure formats. The generic k-means applies to a most common data format, a set of entities i ∈ I presented as m -dimensional space points xi = (xi1, xi2, . . . , xim ) (see rows of Table 3.1). TABLE 3.1 Illustrative Data of Seven Two-Dimensional Points Points v1 v2 p1 1.0 2.0 p2 1.5 2.2 p3 3.0 1.3 p4 2.5 1.1 p5 0.9 2.1 p6 2.0 1.5 p7 2.5 1.4
Mineralization of organic nitrogen and carbon ( fish food ) added to anoxic sediment microcosms : role of sulphate reduction

Substrate (fish food) was added to gas-tight bags containing sediment, with and without molybdate. Amino-nitrogen (amino-N) was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. The oxidation of 3 representative '"C-labelled amino acids (glutamic acid, alanine and arginine) was measured and the mean decay rate constant was used to calculate turnover rates of amino-N. Concentrations of dissolved organic nitrogen, dissolved organic carbon, total inorganic carbon and ammonium were measured during 28 d of incubation. Inhibition of sulphate-reducing activity gave a 4.2-fold decrease in the rate of ammonium production and a 4.5-fold decrease in the rate of amino acid turnover. These results suggest an active participation of sulphate-reducing bacteria in amino acid oxidation.
MATERIALISM, DEFENSIVE AND ASSERTIVE SELF-PRESENTATIONAL TACTICS, AND LIFE SATISFACTION

To learn how materialism is related to defensive and assertive self–presentational tactics, and how such tactics might mediate the established link between materialism and life satisfaction, 277 undergraduates completed a battery of questionnaires. We expected that materialism would be positively related to the use of defensive self–presentational tactics, and that defensive self–presentational tactics, in turn, would mediate the relationship between materialism and life satisfaction. Zero–order correlations generally supported these expectations. Moreover, results of structural equation modeling suggested that it was primarily the defensive self–presentational tactic of self–handicapping that mediated the relationship between materialism and life satisfaction. We discuss our findings with respect to the protective penchant of materialistic individuals.
Physiological Elements Required by Dancers

Abstract Dancing is an excellent alternative exercise for improving health related physical fitness elements. Dance performance requires support from enhanced physiological requirements necessary for dancers including cardiovascular fitness, muscle flexibility, muscular strength/power. A reduction in muscular strength associate with injury risk and many dancers succumb to problems such as the overtraining syndrome. Improvement in lower body muscular strength appears to have positive effects on aspects of dance performance and injury prevention. The qualities and benefits offered by dancing depend on the dance forms concerned but as a general rule, it improves physical health by developing strength, suppleness, coordination and balance in varying amounts. This literature study showed differences in fitness levels exist between in different dance forms but also in levels of dancers. As in most sports, dancing is a demanding exercise form for all styles dancers, taxing both aerobic and anaerobic processes and develops high levels of muscle tension. Joint mobility and body composition are also important parts of dance fitness. Dance training consists of technique and style training with an aim to increase the skill level of dancers. Furthermore, it needs more investigation whether improved physical fitness has positive effect on dance performance.
Comparison of three operative techniques in multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy : a meta-analysis

Background: Three operative techniques: anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF), anterior cervical corpectomy and fusion (ACCF) and Hybrid Surgery (HS), corpectomy combined with discectomy, are used to treat multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). However, which one is the best treatment for multilevel CSM remains considerable controversy. Objective: A meta-analysis was performed to compare the clinical, radiographic and surgical outcomes among three surgical methods in the treatment for multilevel CSM. Methods: An extensive search of literature was performed in Pubmed/MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane library, CNKI and WANFANG databases on three operative techniques treating multilevel CSM from Jan. 2010 to Jan. 2017. The following variables were extracted: length of hospital stay, blood loss, operation time, Japanese Orthopedic Association scores (JOA), neck disability index score (NDI), fusion rate, Cobb angles of C2-C7, dysphagia, hoarseness, C5 palsy, infection, cerebral fluid leakage, epidural hematoma, graft subsidence, graft dislodgment and total complications. Data analysis was conducted with RevMan 5.3 and STATA 12.0. Results: A total of 12 studies with 1468 patients were included in our study. The results showed that there were significant differences among three methods in blood loss and total complications (all p<0.05). ACDF were better in the angle of C2-C7 at the final follow-up (p<0.00001), C5 plasy (p = 0.02), fusion rate (p = 0.04) and graft subsidence (p = 0.004) than ACCF. In term of angle of C2-C7 at final followup (p<0.00001), operation time (p = 0.003), fusion rate (p = 0.02) and hospital stay (p<0.00001), HS was better than ACCF. Conclusions: Based on our meta-analysis, except for blood loss and total complications, ACDF and hybrid surgery are effective choices for the treatment of multilevel CSM and ACCF is the last option.
Extraction of the Volatile Oil of Stachys lavandulifolia and Study the Activity of Antibacterial and Antioxidant

The volatile oil of Stachys lavandulifolia was extracted from the aerial parts of the plant, with colorless and has aromatic odor. The yield were represented in the weight percentage of extracted oil was obtained (0.195% w/w) at best condition. Effects of experimental parameters such as temperature at (40 - 100) C⁰ and the time (1 - 5) hrs on the efficiency of the extraction were studied.The experiments were designed by using Box-Wilson method, a relationship between the above two experimental parameters and weight percentage of extracted oil were obtained. The experimental data were fitted to second order polynomial methods, and the optimum conditions for the extraction process were obtained.The chemical composition of extracted volatile oil was analyzed by GC/MS showed the presence of fifty fife components representing (96.4)% of the volatile oil. The main components were α-Thujene (3.8)%, α-Pinene (7.8)%, β-Pinene (8.2)%, Myrcene (11.4)%, β-Phellandrene (14.9)%, Z-β-Ocimene (5.0)%, germacrene-D (16.1)%. The volatile oil has limited inhibition and show activity against gram positive comparative with gram negative. Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae were more resistance of volatile oil, which showed good antioxidant activity.
THE EVIDENCE FOR MINDFULNESS IN SCHOOLS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

This paper reviews the evidence for mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in school contexts with children and young people. The MBIs reviewed here are short, on average 10 sessions, usually the length of an average class session, with an invitation to home practice. They are typically based on the adult Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction/ Cognitive Therapy (MBSR/MBCT) course content, including breath awareness and present moment awareness (watching thoughts, feelings, sounds and bodily sensations come and go), and sometimes include mindful movement, mindful eating, relaxation, and body scan/body awareness. They are being taught through both universal and targeted approaches about evenly to both genders and age ranges, and are taught alone or integrated most typically with yoga and social and emotional learning (SEL). The papers that report such short, focused, classroombased interventions have been reviewed in 3 recent systematic reviews, and 5 meta-analyses, with 43 individual studies identified in school contexts which were published in peer-reviewed journals and scientific books, and we review the results here as well as looking at the evidence for particular outcomes. We include 11 case studies of particular programmes and their impacts where there are several studies of one programme.
TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNING FOR AREA BASED DEFORMATION ANALYSIS OF TOWERS AND WATER DAMNS

Laserscanners have so far not frequently been used for high precision engineering geodesy measurement tasks, such as deformation monitoring, since the technical specifications of most laserscanners do not fulfil the accuracy requirements in such applications. The paper describes methods which allow for the use of laserscanners in this field. The methods are based on the analysis of highly redundant unstructured point clouds which represent the surface of objects. The precision potential in these applications is not limited by the single point accuracy of laserscanners, since surface elements derived from a large number of points are used for deformation analysis. The practical example presented here is the determination of the bending line of a television tower. Finally an outlook on future work - the analysis of deformations on water dams - will be shown.
Assessing Indirect Environmental Effects of Information and Communication Technology (ICT): A Systematic Literature Review

Indirect environmental effects of information and communication technology (ICT) are those effects of ICT that change patterns of production or consumption in domains other than ICT, or more precisely, the environmental consequences of these changes. Digitalization as the societal process of ICT-driven change has created increasing interest in the indirect environmental effects of this technology. Assessments of indirect effects face various methodological challenges, such as the definition of the system boundary, the definition of a baseline as a reference or the occurrence of rebound effects. Existing studies use various approaches or methods to assess a spectrum of ICT use cases in several application domains. In view of the large number of assessments that have been conducted, the choices made when applying assessment methods, and the variety of ICT use cases in different application domains investigated, we present a systematic literature review of existing assessments of indirect environmental effects of ICT. The review provides a state-of-the-art overview of the methods used in the research field and is intended to support researchers in designing sound assessments which yield significant results. We identified 54 studies in seven main application domains using 15 different assessment approaches. The most common application domains are virtual mobility (e.g., telecommuting), virtual goods (e.g., digital media), and smart transport (e.g., route optimization). Life-cycle assessment, partial footprint, and the “ICT enablement method” are the most common approaches. The major part of the assessments focuses on patterns of production (e.g., production of paper-based books vs. e-books), a smaller part on patterns of consumption (e.g., changes in media consumption). Based on these results, we identify as a research gap the investigation of ICT impacts on consumer behavior, which could, for example, focus on social practices, and account for the dynamic implications of change. Elaborating such an approach could provide valuable insights into ICT’s impact on society and the resulting environmental consequences.
Morphological sub-classification of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and their Clinio-pathological correlation: Experience from a tertiary care centre

Background: The word focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) is used to describe the common morphologic pattern occurring due to various progressive renal diseases and also to describe the primary idiopathic lesion of FSGS. Here, we are documenting the distribution of various types of FSGS and associated morphological lesion in the renal biopsy which may help to define the underlying cause of FSGS Methods: Total 47 cases of FSGS were retrieved from the archives and classified according to Agati’s classification. Acid Fuchsin Orange G (AFOG) stain was done to look for immune deposits. Direct immunofluorescence (DIF) was done in few cases. Result: FSGS - NOS was most common variant followed by perihilar and cellular variant. Focal segmental mesangial cell proliferation and GBM thickening were commonly found in NOS variant. Interstitial non caseating granulomas and mononuclear cell infiltrate admixed with neutrophils were more frequent in perihilar FSGS. Many cases earlier diagnosed as perihilar or tip lesion, latter turned out to be NOS variety on serial sections. AFOG stain revealed mesangial deposits in 70.22% cases, suggesting immunological aetiology of the disease instead of primary FSGS. DIF was performed in seven cases and all showed predominant IgM deposits in mesangium. Conclusion: Typing of FSGS should be done on the serial sections, especially of tip lesion. Most of FSGS cases turned out to be secondary to other glomerular disease instead of idiopathic variant. So, FSGS appear to be a morphological descriptor of various chronic renal diseases instead of being a separate entity.
Did stress triggering cause the large off‐fault aftershocks of the 25 March 1998 Mw=8.1 Antarctic Plate earthquake?

The 1998 Antarctic plate earthquake produced clusters of aftershocks (Mw ≤6.4) up to 80 km from the fault rupture and up to 100 km beyond the end of the rupture. Because the mainshock occurred far from the nearest plate boundary and the nearest recorded earthquake, it is unusually isolated from the stress perturbations caused by other earthquakes, making it a good candidate for stress transfer analysis despite the absence of near‐field observations. We tested whether the off‐fault aftershocks lie in regions brought closer to Coulomb failure by the main rupture. We evaluated four published source models for the main rupture. In fourteen tests using different aftershocks sets and allowing the rupture sources to be shifted within their uncertainties, 6 were significant at ≥ 99% confidence, 3 at > 95% confidence, and 5 were not significant (< 95% level). For the 9 successful tests, the stress at the site of the aftershocks was typically increased by 1–2 bars (0.1–0.2 MPa). Thus the Antarctic plate event, together with the 1992 Mw=7.3 Landers and its Mw=6.5 Big Bear aftershock 40 km from the main fault, supply evidence that small stress changes might indeed trigger large earthquakes far from the main fault rupture.
Granger-causality in Markov switching models

In this paper, we propose a new approach for characterizing and testing Granger-causality, which is well equipped to handle models where the change in regime evolves according to multiple Markov chains. Differently from the existing literature, we propose a method for analysing causal links that specifically takes into account Markov chains. Tests for independence are also provided. We illustrate the methodology with an empirical application, and in particular, we investigate the causality and interdependence between financial and economic cycles in USA using the bivariate Markov switching model proposed by Hamilton and Lin [13]. We find that financial variables are useful in forecasting the aggregate economic activity, and vice versa.
Comparisons between bio-radiation effects of X-rays and carbon-ion irradiation on glioma stem cells

Heavy-ion therapy has demonstrated significant benefits such as well-defined range, small entrance dose and high relative biological effectiveness, but the characteristics of heavy-ion induced radio-biological effects on cancer stem cells is not completely clear. We used human glioma cancer stem cells and glioma virus-induced mice model irradiated by carbon ions or X-rays to investigate whether heavy ions offering a radio-biological advantage, by effectively eliminate cancer stem cells, in comparison with conventional X-rays. In in vitro experiments, the repair rate of DNA damage generated by 2 Gy carbon ions was lower than that by X-rays in glioma stem cells. Micronucleus assay showed the micronuclei frequency induced by carbon ions was higher than that by X-rays. MTT assay showed the cellular viability of glioma stem cells irradiated by 1-4 Gy carbon ions was lower than that by X-rays. Results of in vivo experiment demonstrated carbon-ion radiation could significantly reduce the radio of CD133+ glioma stem-like cells compared with X-rays. In conclusion, carbon ions showed radio-biological advantage over X-rays by effectively eliminate glioma cancer stem cells both in vitro and in vivo, which have significant importance in understanding the high relative biological effectiveness related to heavy-ion therapy.
Why Do Stores Drive Online Sales? Evidence of Underlying Mechanisms from a Multichannel Retailer

How does reducing customers’ store access costs affect the quantity and nature of their online purchase? We answer this question by designing a quasi-natural experiment around the event of store opening by a large US fashion apparel and accessories multichannel retailer. While the distance from nearest store (store access costs) was significantly reduced for customers living in the vicinity of the opened store (affected customers), it remained unaffected for other customers (unaffected customers). We utilize both propensity score based inexact matching and coarsened exact matching methods to create matched samples of affected and unaffected customers based on their past purchase/return behaviors and demographics. The difference in purchase and return behaviors for the affected customers from that of the matched sample of unaffected customers provide treatment effect of reduction in customers’ store access costs on their purchase and return behaviors. Our estimates reveal that reduction in customers’ store access costs results in their (1) higher store purchase and returns, (2) higher and more diverse online purchase, (3) higher average product price of online purchase, and (4) higher total net purchase on all channels. We find the effect of store opening only for the affected customers in the lowest quartile of post store opening distance from the nearest store, which suggests that observed store opening effect occurs due to reduction in customers’ store access costs. The observed effect on customers’ online purchase behavior can be explained due to their higher store visits after the store opening near them. Higher store visits may allow customers to evaluate wider variety of retailer’s products that may lead to a higher and more diverse product purchase on the online channel. Moreover, the ability to evaluate and return products in store may mitigate customers’ uncertainty about product fit in the online purchase and thus result in purchase of higher quantities and higher priced products on the online channel. We provide empirical validation of these mechanisms by showing that quantities, diversity, and average product price in online purchase increases only for those customers who make higher store purchase or return interactions with the retailer after the store opening.
Optical characterization of epsilon-near-zero, epsilon-near-pole, and hyperbolic response in nanowire metamaterials

We report on the optical and physical characterization of metallic nanowire (NW) metamaterials fabricated by electrodeposition of ≈30 nm diameter gold nanowires in nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide. We observe a uniaxial anisotropic dielectric response for the NW metamaterials that displays both epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) and epsilon-near-pole (ENP) resonances. We show that a fundamental difference in the behavior of NW metamaterials from metal-dielectric multilayer (ML) metamaterials is the differing directions of the ENZ and ENP dielectric responses relative to the optical axis of the effective dielectric tensor. In contrast to multilayer metamaterials, nanowire metamaterials exhibit an omnidirectional ENP and an angularly dependent ENZ. Also in contrast to ML metamaterials, the NW metamaterials exhibit ENP and ENZ resonances that are highly absorptive and can be effectively excited from free space. Our fabrication allows a large tunability of the epsilon-near-zero resonance in the visible and near-IR spectrum from 583 to 805 nm as the gold nanorod fill fraction changes from 26% to 10.5%. We support our fabrication process flow at each step with rigorous physical and optical characterization. Energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses are used to ascertain the quality of electrochemically deposited Au nanowires prior to and after annealing. Our experimental results are in agreement with simulations of the periodic plasmonic crystal and also analytical calculations in the effective medium metamaterial limit. We also experimentally characterize the role of spatial dispersion at the ENZ resonance and show that the effect does not occur for the ENP resonance. The application of these materials to the fields of biosensing, quantum optics, and thermal devices shows considerable promise.