Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reply to “ Multifractality : at least three moments ! ” by Schertzer et al .

We thank very much D. Schertzer, I. Tchiguirinskaia, and S. Lovejoy for their thoughtful contribution (hereinafter Schertzer et al., 2013) to the discussion following the publication of our manuscript (Lombardo et al., 2013) in HESSD. We address below four main points. To improve readability, we quoted the original comments as indented Italic text. 1. First, the conclusions of this paper, as well as part of its title, are misleading. The authors indeed claim that only the first and second statistical moments of a multifractal field are safely estimated. Unfortunately, these two moments are insufficient to determine the nonlinear scaling moment function K(q) of a multifractal field R, e.g. the rain rate, observed at various resolutions λ = L/l (where L is the largest scale, l is the observation scale) and where < . > denotes a given ensemble average, ≈λ (1). Indeed, contrary to the linear case of a scaling moment function K(q) of a uni/monofractal field, a third independent value is at least required to estimate the curvature of K(q) for multifractal fields. Therefore, their conclusions would mean that the multifractal parameters could not be safely assessed and multifractals would be therefore of little interest to simulate rainfall.
Acceptance Model-Based Research on Differences of Enterprise Resources Planning Systems Use in India and the European Union

Acceptance of enterprise resources planning (ERP) systems remains among the major concerns of organisations in the global economy. In the past, research has primarily focused on ERP systems in the early stages of their life-cycle. Because ERP systems are no longer new for organisations, recent research attempts are focused on their use in the maturity stage and different environments. In the article, we compared the results of two studies focused on ERP advanced use in their maturity stage in two different but important socio-economic cultural backgrounds. This has, from the research perspective and to the best of our knowledge, not yet been compared. Thus, the purpose of this study was to research whether and to what extent users’ extensive and explorative use of the ERP system differs in various regions. The main objective of this study was to reveal determinants that have an impact on user acceptance of ERP systems and the extended use in different cultural environments – in the EU (developed countries) and India (developing country). The research was based on an extended technology acceptance model (TAM), where two additional factors (work compatibility and extended use) were added together with additional external factors that can influence users’ acceptance of ERP systems. We analysed and compared the data of 444 ERP users from 14 organisations in the EU and 577 ERP users from 13 organisations in India. Even though the use of ERP systems in India and the EU is at the same advanced level, ERP users exhibit various behaviours and focus attention on different factors. Research data shows differences regarding the impact of extended TAM model factors and some differences regarding the impact of external factors researched.
Meprin α combined with CEA and CA19-9 improves prognostic prediction for surgically treated colorectal cancer patients.

BACKGROUND Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) are generally used as tumour markers in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), and meprin α might be an additional marker. METHODS The preoperative expression of serum CEA and CA19-9 was evaluated using a C12 protein biochip system, and tissue meprin α expression in CRC cells was detected by immunohistochemistry. The relationships of these indexes with clinicopathological parameters and the survival of CRC patients were analysed. RESULTS Of the 147 CRC patients, the preoperative seropositive rates for CEA and CA19-9 were 51.70% and 44.22%, respectively, and the tissue meprin α positive rate was 39.46%. Preoperative seropositivity for CEA was correlated with tumour size (P = 0.019), T stage (P = 0.005) and staging of CRC based on the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) guidelines (P = 0.032). The preoperative seropositive rate for CA19-9 was correlated with AJCC tumour stage (P = 0.031). High expression of meprin α was significantly correlated with distant CRC metastasis (P = 0.003), serum CEA (P = 0.002) and serum CA19-9 (P = 0.001). The combination of the three markers was an independent prognostic factor in patients with CRC (HR 3.985, 95% CI 1.106-14.361, P = 0.035 for overall survival). CONCLUSIONS Tissue meprin α expression may be a useful predictor of metastasis and prognosis in CRC. The combined detection of the three markers may also be helpful to improve the accuracy of CRC prognosis monitoring.
DRAM Bandwidth Optimized Design for High-Throughput Video Decoder Chips

i-Abstract The last two decades have witnessed the tremendous advances in video coding technologies. From MPEG-1/2/4 to H.264/AVC, AVS, etc., the continuous innovation in this area has been a significant stimulation of the popularization of multimedia in modern life. For enhancement of coding performance, various new coding tools are adopted in the latest standards. Meanwhile, the use of these new technologies, along with the ever-increasing demand for emerging ultra-high-specification applications such as QFHD (Quad Full High Definition) and SHV (Super Hi-Vision), greatly challenges the design of video decoder chips, with the extensive requirements on both computation power and memory (DRAM) bandwidth. While the advancement of VLSI technology makes it possible to meet the requirement of computation power, the off-chip memory bandwidth is still critically limited by the number and physical design issues of I/O pins. With the current technologies, 4096x2160@60fps requires an average DRAM bandwidth of near 8GB/s, which cannot be handled even by the fastest DDR2 chips with 64-bit parallelism. Besides, DRAM bandwidth efficiency is also a dominant factor in determining the fabrication cost and power consumption of video decoder systems. In this dissertation, various optimization techniques classified into 3 categories are proposed to reduce the DRAM bandwidth of video decoder systems. By combining all the proposed techniques, around 90% saving of DRAM bandwidth can be achieved for high-throughput video decoders, in comparison with the Abstract-ii-state-of-the-art video decoder implementation. Besides, the architecture design of 2 implemented video decoder chips is also presented. This dissertation consists of the following 7 chapters. Chapter 1 [Introduction] introduces the background knowledge of video coding standards, and the DRAM bandwidth issue in video decoder design. Previous works related to this research and an overview of this dissertation, are also presented in this chapter. Chapter 2 [Data Reusing Techniques] presents the techniques for reusing the redundant data transferring between the DRAM and the decoder core. 1) A Pipelined 2-D Cache Architecture is proposed as a basic reference frame sharing component. Under the standard MB scanning order, it is capable of reusing almost all the overlapped reference regions inside MBs and between horizontally neighboring MBs. Therefore 60% DRAM bandwidth for reference frame read can be saved in comparison with the previous VBSMC scheme. 2) A Partial MB Reordering scheme is proposed to achieve an improved MB scanning order, so that most of the overlapped reference regions between vertically adjacent MBs can also be reused, which contributes …
Naujoks 1 DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF AN EXPERT ASSESSMENT METHOD FOR EVALUATING THE USABILITY OF SAE LEVEL 3 ADS HMIS Naujoks,

With the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has provided an outline that can be used to guide the development and validation of Automated Driving Systems (ADS). Acknowledging that the Human-Machine-Interface (HMI) – identified as one of the 12 priority safety design elements in this voluntary guidance – will be crucial for the success of ADSs, we developed a two-step iterative test procedure that serves to evaluate the conformity of SAE level 3 ADS HMIs with the requirements outlined in NHTSA’s Auomated Vehicles policy. The aim of this assessment is to evaluate whether minimum HMI requirements are met that facilitate a safe and efficient use of AVs. The present contribution describes the development of an expert-based checklist, how it was compiled from existing literature, how its content and application were refined in simulator and real-word studies, and how it can be employed as a complimentary or stand-alone tool to assess the conformity of SAE Level 3 ADS HMIs with NHTSA’s AV policy. It also discusses boundary conditions for the application of the method and the generalization of findings. The described method can be employed in a variety of settings to evaluate SAE Level 3 ADS HMIs, therefore making it a valuable tool for both researchers and practitioners alike.
Identification of threshold level of horse purslane in irrigated cowpea

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2007 at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore to study the effect of different densities of Trianthema portulacastrum on growth and yield of cow pea. Plant height, leaf area and dry matter production of cow pea was reduced with 2 2 increase in weed density from 0 to 64 weeds/m in all growth stages. The infestation of 16 weeds/m of Trianthema portulacastrum significantly decreased the dry matter production of cow pea (36.3 2 g/plant) compared to zero weeds/m (64.5 g/plant). The maximum yield reduction (34.8%) was 2 2 observed with 64 weeds/m . It was concluded that the population of 8 weeds/m of T. portulacastrum is the threshold value for cow pea.
PTSD, Immunoglobulins, and Cortisol Changes after the Provision of the EMDR - PRECI to Females Patients with Cancer-Related PTSD Diagnosis

EMDR therapy administered to patients with cancer has proven to be effective in the reduction of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and PTSD diagnosis remission. The main objective of this study was to measure the PTSD scores and diagnosis changes before and after the provision of the EMDR-Protocol for Recent Critical Incidents and Ongoing Traumatic Stress (EMDR-PRECI) to female patients with cancer-related PTSD diagnosis. A secondary objective was to observe the immunoglobulins and the cortisol changes pre and post-treatment. Seven female patients with different types of cancer (5 breast, 1 colon, and 1 lymphatic cancer), different cancer treatments (radiation, chemotherapy, radiation, and chemotherapy), and PTSD diagnosis related to their diagnosis and cancer treatment met the inclusion criteria. Participants’ age ranged from 40 to 57 years old (M = 52.28 years old). For PTSD diagnosis and total scores, we used the Global Assessment of Posttraumatic Stress Questionnaire validated for the Mexican population. Biomarkers (cortisol and immunoglobulins) were measured before and after EMDR treatment. For the neuroendocrine measure, we used the cortisol levels in the participant’s blood. For the immunological measure, we used the Nephelometry technique. We measured the changes in the following types of antibodies (immunoglobulins): a) Immunoglobulin A (IgA), b) Immunoglobulin G (IgG), and c) Immunoglobulin M (IgM). EMDR-PRECI was provided by three licensed EMDR clinicians formally trained in the protocol administration. Each EMDR-PRECI session lasted 50-60 minutes. The minimum number of sessions was three and the maximum ten with an average of five. Treatment focused only on the distressing memories related to diagnosis and cancer treatment. No adverse effects were reported during treatment or at six months post-treatment assessment. Results showed a full PTSD diagnosis remission in all participants with significant differences for PTSD scores, t (6) = 2.44, p < . 05. These results are in concordance with Carletto et al., study in which all patients treated with EMDR no longer met criteria for PTSD [12]. No significant differences were found for immunoglobulins or cortisol. We believe that the administration of the EMDR-PRECI could be an efficient and effective component of a psychosocial approach to reduce or eliminate cancer-related PTSD symptoms and diagnosis.
Evaluation of Risk Factors For Fever Onset as an Early Complication in Patients Who Suffered Acute Ischemic Stroke

Objectives: The aim of our study was to evaluate distribution and influence of selective risk factors for a fever onset as an early complication in patients who suffered the acute ischemic stroke. Methods: The study included 106 patients who suffered acute ischemic stroke. Patients were divided into two groups: group with fever and group without fever. Further parameters were evaluated: age, gender, presence of hypertension, presence of previous stroke, systolic and diastolic blood pressures at admission, glycemia levels, hematocrit levels, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, cholesterol and triglycerides levels, distribution of different stroke types according to Bamford classification, and degree of functional disability according to NIH stroke scale –NINDS. Results: There is statistically significant difference in distribution of patients with previous stroke event (p=0.043) and different stroke types according to Bamford clinical classification (p=0.000) between evaluated groups regarding fever presence. Patients with fever had significantly increased levels of glycemia (p=0.010), score on NIH stroke scale-NINDS (p=0.000) and significantly decreased hematocrit (p=0.028). Significant risk factors for the fever onset in patients who suffered acute stroke are: previous stroke (p=0.048); increased glycemia levels (p=0.041); decreased hematocrit levels (p=0.035); clinical classification of stroke according to Bamford scale (p=0.004) and degree of functional lesion on NIH stroke scale –NINDS (p=0.000). Conclusion: Risk factors for a fever onset as an early complication in post acute ischemic stroke are: previous strokes, increased glycemic levels, decreased hematocrit levels, the size of ischemic zone of affected brain tissue and higher degree of functional lesion according to NIHstroke scale-NINDS.
Understanding and Visualizing Raw Waveform-Based CNNs

Modeling directly raw waveforms through neural networks for speech processing is gaining more and more attention. Despite its varied success, a question that remains is: what kind of information are such neural networks capturing or learning for different tasks from the speech signal? Such an insight is not only interesting for advancing those techniques but also for understanding better speech signal characteristics. This paper takes a step in that direction, where we develop a gradient based approach to estimate the relevance of each speech sample input on the output score. We show that analysis of the resulting “relevance signal” through conventional speech signal processing techniques can reveal the information modeled by the whole network. We demonstrate the potential of the proposed approach by analyzing raw waveform CNN-based phone recognition and speaker identification systems.
Wages , Capital and Top Incomes : The Factor Income Composition of Top Incomes in the USA , 1960-2005

This paper is motivated by two observations. First, top income shares in the United States increased rapidly since the 1980s. Second, at the same time, the share of income from labour at the top of the income distribution increased substantially. Using data derived from tax records, we study the joint distribution of capital and labour incomes. The marginal distributions of labour and capital income have both become more unequal. Using a non-parametric copula framework, we show that incomes from labour and capital have become more closely associated at the top. This can explain why the top income share in terms of total income increased faster than in either of the marginal distributions. Furthermore, the association is asymmetric such that top wage earners are more likely to also receive high capital incomes, compared with top capital income recipients receiving high wages. Hence the richest tax units are highly paid but also receive high incomes from capital, while there remain some rentiers who receive little income from work. ∗Atkinson is at Nu eld College, University of Oxford and INET at the Oxford Martin School. Lakner is at the Department of Economics, University of Oxford and INET at the Oxford Martin School. Contact information: tony.atkinson@nu eld.ox. ac.uk; christoph.lakner@st-hughs.oxon. org. Emmanuel Saez participated in the rst stages of this project, and we should like to thank him for his assistance with the US data. This paper has been developed from one of the chapters of Lakner's DPhil thesis. We are most grateful to participants of the Oxford INET workshop, and to Rolf Aaberge, La-Bhus Jirasavetakul, Sebastian Königs, Branko Milanovic, Bob Rijkers and Francis Teal for comments on earlier versions. Lakner gratefully acknowledges nancial support from the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/G011974/1], the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) at the Oxford Martin School and the Center for Equitable Growth at UC Berkeley.
Air-sea interaction through waves

At ECMWF suggestions emanating from the 1970’s regarding th e sea state dependence of air-sea fluxes have been followed up by introducing a coupled ocean-wave, atmosphere mo del into operations in 1998. The properties of the ECMWF air-sea interaction model in extreme conditions and extens ions towards the determination of the heat flux and the ocean mixed layer are briefly discussed.
A Package for an English Paragraph: An Evaluation of the Coursebook Used in Two EFL Writing Courses

On EFL writing courses where no specific materials exist, the selection and use of a coursebook are important issues. The major aim of this study is to evaluate the coursebook used in two EFL writing courses in a university in Korea, applying a systematic model of material evaluation, and to see how it relates to other writing materials. The results show that the principal role of the coursebook as a whole is to structure the teaching and learning of English, focusing on the paragraph as the basis for writing within the Current-Traditional approach, for those who are encountering writing in English as beginners. Although this is partly consistent with the aims of the two courses, the coursebook is not concerned with the reader, classroom interactions, and a consideration of the real/social context. A comparison of the coursebook with two other writing materials indicates that there is a gradual shift from guiding learners through cognitive aspects to a concern with paragraph and text structure, and to a communicative perspective which focuses on purpose, audience, and the development and organization of thinking for real-world.
Towards a Common Ontology for Improved Traceability of Human Behavior Models

As human behavior models (HBMs) increase in complexity to meet escalating fidelity requirements, it has become more difficult to predict and assess the dynamic behavior of these models with any degree of depth or certainty. Consequently, a need exists for effective analysis and visualization tools that provide model traceability to support the model developer, analyst, and end-user in gaining detailed understanding of the underlying complex behaviors of HBMs. A common ontology for HBMs will allow different HBMs to be analyzed and compared using the same terminology, even when their underlying implementations may differ substantially. We are currently developing a set of model traceability tools that separate the tracing tools from the underlying HBM architecture, by employing the common HBM ontology. 1. Analyzing Complex Human Behavior
Linking Empowering Leadership, Psychological Empowerment, Self-Leadership, Creative Involvement and Creativity: A Sequential Mediation Model

This study examines the relationship between empowering leadership and employee creativity through the serial mediating role of psychological empowerment and self-leadership with creative work involvement. Applying a chain mediation approach to a sample of 314 respondents, we find that empowering leadership has a significant effect on the selected mediators (self-leadership, psychological empowerment and creative work involvement), which in turn transfer this effect to employee creativity.
Effects of feeding two different tannin-containing diets on ruminal fermentation profiles and microbial community changes in meat goats

Phytochemical plant tannins (condensed and hydrolysable tannins) are one of the most abundantly available plant secondary metabolites. These plant tannins have potential to significantly impact rumen fermentation, rumen microbiota population changes, nutrient digestibility and animal production. The objective of this study was to determine whether the phytochemical tannin-containing sericea lespedeza leaf pellet, ground pine bark, or its combination would have effects on rumen fermentation and microbial diversity in meat goats. Twenty four Kiko-crossbreed intact male goats (Capra hircus; BW= 38.6 ± 2.7 kg) were randomly assigned to four treatments (n = 6): 1) 30% bermudagrass hay and 70% grain mix, 2) 30% pine bark (PB) and 70% grain mix, 3) 30% sericea lespedeza (SLP) and 70% grain mix, and 4) 15% PB, 15% SL pellet, and 70% grain mix. Goats supplemented with mixed diets had decreased (P < 0.05) concentrations of acetate, while goats received PB diet exhibited reduced concentrations of isobutyrate (P < 0.001), isovalerate (P < 0.01), and valerate (P < 0.01) acids compared to those in the control and SLP diets. In this study, Bacteroides (30 to 55%) and Firmicutes (30 to 47%) were the major bacterial phyla, while Prevotella spp. was the most predominant rumen bacterial species in the percentage of 22.1, 42.2, 28.9, and 23.9 for control, PB, SLP, and mixed diets, respectively. The community of rumen bacterial species in PB-supplemented group was greater for Marinifilum spp. (P < 0.04), Bacteroides spp. (P < 0.02), and Oribacterium spp. (P < 0.03) compared with other treatment groups. Supplementing tannins in goat diets such as PB and SLP diets has a potential to positively modify rumen bacterial community, but there were no synergistic effects on rumen fermentation.
Pleistocene Rock Art in Australia

– The occurrence of Pleistocene rock art in Australia is reviewed against the background of historical developments in the age estimation of rock art. Despite errors in interpreting data and the continuing paucity of credibly dated examples, it is apparent that most rock art of the earliest phase has survived as petroglyphs, which is consistent with the rest of the world. The author estimates that a large proportion of Australian petroglyphs are of the Pleistocene, and he points out that this corpus relates exclusively to Mode 3 (Middle Palaeolithic) technological traditions. It therefore follows that, contrary to conventional notions, which see palaeoart traditions commencing with the Aurignacian, there is actually far more surviving “Middle Palaeolithic” rock art in the world than there is “Upper Palaeolithic. ” The Pleistocene rock art of Australia is very similar to the Middle Palaeolithic or Middle Stone Age petroglyphs of other continents. [Australia, Pleistocene, rock art, palaeoart,
3 D mosaic documentation using close range photogrammetry

The paper describes the close range photogrammetric survey of a roman mosaic stored at Regional Archaeological Museum “Antonino Salinas” in Palermo (Italy). The aim of the work is the production of a full-scale representation (scale 1:1) of the mosaic useful for documentation and restoration processes. The research has allowed evaluating limit and potentiality of image-based approach using photogrammetric and computer vision (Structure for Motion) techniques in a context where the metric point of view is a very important factor.