Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combining global and local classifiers with Bayesian network

This paper introduces a classification method based on feature space segmentation. Since the classification task is equivalent to a probability distribution estimation, a Bayesian network is used as an inference mechanism for dealing with the underling probability distribution function that, presumably, is complex and factored. The article presents a method for splitting the feature space into regions that are associated to local classifiers. After that, a Bayesian network is used for combining their outputs. Experimental results reveal that this is a suitable approach for speeding up the training phase for large databases as well as to ensure good recognition rates
An interdecadal regime shift in rainfall predictability related to the Ningaloo Niño in the late 1990s

The global warming and the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) started influencing the coastal ocean off Western Australia, leading to a dramatic change in the regional climate predictability. The warmer ocean started driving rainfall variability regionally there after the late 1990s. Because of this, rainfall predictability near the coastal region of Western Australia on a seasonal time scale was drastically enhanced in the late 1990s; it is significantly predictable 5 months ahead after the late 1990s. The high prediction skill of the rainfall in recent decades is very encouraging and would help to develop an early warning system of Ningaloo Nino/Nina events to mitigate possible societal as well as agricultural impacts in the granary of Western Australia.
Sampling DTI fibers in the human brain based on DWI forward modeling

We present a forward-modeling-based sampling of diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) integral curves. This work has the potential to generate accurate brain neural fiber models that fit the data well with an economic number of curves. DTI integral curves are integrated from the first eigenvector field of the DTI field. Usually the seed points are generated randomly or from a regular grid in the data volume. The resulting set of integral curves is dense around the long and skinny neural fiber structures and sparse around the short and fat structures. There is currently a lack of quantitative indication of how well various models fit the data. We build a forward model that simulates diffusion-weighted images (DWIs) from the DTI integral curves based on a multi-tensor model. We employ the sum of the difference between the simulated DWIs and the acquired DWIs as the goal function and optimize the placement of the DTI integral curves with a greedy algorithm and a simulated annealing algorithm. The results show that with the same number of curves, the optimized set of DTI integral curves fit better to the data than randomly seeded integral curves
Immunogenicity of influenza H1N1 vaccination in mixed connective tissue disease: effect of disease and therapy

OBJECTIVE: To assess the potential acute effects regarding the immunogenicity and safety of non-adjuvanted influenza A H1N1/2009 vaccine in patients with mixed connective tissue disease and healthy controls. METHODS: Sixty-nine mixed connective tissue disease patients that were confirmed by Kasukawa's classification criteria and 69 age- and gender-matched controls participated in the study; the participants were vaccinated with the non-adjuvanted influenza A/California/7/2009 (H1N1) virus-like strain. The percentages of seroprotection, seroconversion, geometric mean titer and factor increase in the geometric mean titer were calculated. The patients were clinically evaluated, and blood samples were collected pre- and 21 days post-vaccination to evaluate C-reactive protein, muscle enzymes and autoantibodies. Anti-H1N1 titers were determined using an influenza hemagglutination inhibition assay. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01151644. RESULTS: Before vaccination, no difference was observed regarding the seroprotection rates (p = 1.0) and geometric mean titer (p = 0.83) between the patients and controls. After vaccination, seroprotection (75.4% vs. 71%, p = 0.7), seroconversion (68.1% vs. 65.2%, p = 1.00) and factor increase in the geometric mean titer (10.0 vs. 8.0, p = 0.40) were similar in the two groups. Further evaluation of seroconversion in patients with and without current or previous history of muscle disease (p = 0.20), skin ulcers (p = 0.48), lupus-like cutaneous disease (p = 0.74), secondary Sjögren syndrome (p = 0.78), scleroderma-pattern in the nailfold capillaroscopy (p = 1.0), lymphopenia ≤1000/mm3 on two or more occasions (p = 1.0), hypergammaglobulinemia ≥1.6 g/d (p = 0.60), pulmonary hypertension (p = 1.0) and pulmonary fibrosis (p = 0.80) revealed comparable rates. Seroconversion rates were also similar in patients with and without immunosuppressants. Disease parameters, such as C-reactive protein (p = 0.94), aldolase (p = 0.73), creatine phosphokinase (p = 0.40) and ribonucleoprotein antibody levels (p = 0.98), remained largely unchanged pre and post-vaccination. No severe side effects were reported. CONCLUSIONS: The non-adjuvanted influenza A/H1N1 vaccination immune response in mixed connective tissue disease patients is adequate and does not depend on the disease manifestations and therapy.
Performance analysis of a high-speed ultra-wideband WPAN MAC

The current paper addresses the problem of the throughput-delay performance of a contemporary WPAN MAC standard. A brief overview of the standard functionality is first presented that allows a system model derivation. Two different acknowledgement policies are described under which the channel operation is considered. Two possible input traffic models are also considered one of them being saturation conditions under which the performance analysis is done that is further verified by means of the simulation. The obtained results show the system behavior as the number of channel users increase and allow the tuning of the protocol parameters to improve the performance.
Energy-efficient MAC for Broadcast Problems in Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper describes a medium access control protocol for wireless sensor networks designed for broadcast communication. The RI-MAC (Random Interference Medium Access Control) protocol uses random slot assignmen t i each MAC frame, along with knowledge of neighbors’ transmission schedules to mitigate some of the energy wasting pr oblems with existing MAC protocols. RI-MAC conserves ener gy, transmits messages fairly among the nodes in the sy stem, and is adaptive to changes in the topology. Preliminar y evaluation tests indicate that RI-MAC uses less energy than CS MA. *
Book Review Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity Edited by Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein. 542 pp., illustrated. New York, Oxford University Press, 2008. $34.95. 978-0-19-517509-7

times, and lists red algae, green algae, plants, animals, and fungi. He forgets the heterokonts, which can be exemplified by kelp, one of the largest organisms in existence. Some readers may object to the listing of both green algae and plants, but Lane is right here, although he also forgets that there are multicellular prokaryotes: Heterocyst-forming filamentous cyanobacteria have true differentiation of cell types with functional cooperation. Lane loves the word “iconoclastic” which he uses repeatedly. Also frequent are his direct or indirect references to book titles, when he uses expressions as “chance and necessity” (Jaques Monod), “the red queen” (Lewis Carroll and Matt Ridley), “in the blink of an eye” (Andrew Parker), to mention a few. He demonstrates his knowledge of classical literature. He rather dogmatically says that there were two different Homers authoring the Iliad and the Odyssey, while it seems that expert opinions still differ on whether there were one, two, or more authors of these epics. The very title of Lane’s book is a slight variation of Bronowski’s “The Ascent of Man,” to which he pays homage in the Epilogue. At the end of the book, there are also notes and a bibliography, which increase the usefulness of the book as reading for university students. “Life Ascending” by Nick Lane is well written, as are his previous books. It should be read by all biology students and their professors. I have just concluded reading it, and despite having studied biology for about six decades I have learnt a lot from it.
Detection of EGFR gene mutations in non-small cell lung cancer: Lessons from a single-institution routine analysis of 1,403 tumor samples

Activating mutations of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in lung tumors are associated with a dramatic response to tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Therefore, routine analysis of pathological specimens is mandatory in clinical practice. We have prospectively tested tumors from Caucasian lung tumor patients between January 2010 and June 2012. DNA was extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues following macrodissection. The p.L858R substitution was assessed by allele-specific PCR and exon 19 deletions by PCR and DNA fragment analysis. Using a robust process from patient sampling to screening methods, we analyzed samples from 1,403 patients. The EGFR status could be successfully determined for 1,322 patients. EGFR mutations were detected in 179 (13.5%) patients, with female and adenocarcinoma histology predominance. Mutated patients were significantly older than non-mutated patients. Similar mutation rates were obtained with primary tumors and metastases, and with surgical resection, bronchial biopsies, CT-guided needle biopsies and transbronchial needle aspiration. The sensitivity of our assays allowed us to detect EGFR mutations in samples poor (<10%) in tumor cells. Finally, the mutation rate was much higher in tumors expressing the TTF-1 antigen (145/820; 17.7%) than in TTF-1 negative tumors (3/218; 1.4%). The results obtained through routine analysis of more than 1,300 samples indicated that all types of specimen can be analyzed without any significant bias. TTF-1 immunostaining may be used to predict negative EGFR mutation status.
A hybrid feature parametrization for improving stereo-SLAM consistency

In visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) field, especially for feature based stereo-SLAM, data association is one of the most important and time-consuming sub-tasks. In this paper, we investigate the roles of different measured features during the data association process and present a new hybrid feature parametrization approach for stereo SLAM, which only selects a subset of the matched features that contributes most and treats nearby and distant features separately with different parametrization. We formulate a pipeline to filter, store and track the features which saves time for further state estimation. For different types of features on manifold and Euclidean space we apply corresponding designed maximum likelihood estimator with quadratic constraints and thus get a near-optimal estimation. Experimental results on EuRoC dataset and real tests show that our proposed algorithm leads to accurate state estimation with big progress in consistency.
Parametric Type Inferencing for Helium

Helium is a compiler for a large subset of Haskell under development at Universiteit Utrecht. A major design criterion is the ability to give superb error messages. This is especially needful for novice functional programmers. In this paper we document the implementation of the Helium type inferencer. For purposes of experimentation with various methods of type inferencing, the type inferencer can be parameterized in a number of ways. Among the instances we find not only standard algorithms such asM andW, but also more global type inferencers based on type graphs.
Mobile Computing and Communications: An Introduction

This paper gives an overview of mobile computing and issues related to the field. The discussion starts with definitions of various terms associated with mobile computing. The diversity of mobile applications is explored to give readers an idea of what mobile computing has to offer, followed by a discussion on the limitations of wireless networks and the issues which have to be addressed in order to support roaming users.
Aptamer-based radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic imaging and targeted radiotherapy of epithelial tumors

In the continuous search for earlier diagnosis and improved therapeutic modalities against cancer, based on our constantly increasing knowledge of cancer biology, aptamers hold the promise to expand on current antibody success, but overcoming some of the problems faced with antibodies as therapeutic or delivery agents in cancer. However, as the first aptamer reached the market as an inhibitor against angiogenesis for the treatment of macular degeneration, aptamers have found only limited applications or interest in oncology, and even less as radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic imaging and targeted radiotherapy of tumours. Yet, the chemistry for the labelling of aptamers and the options to alter their pharmacokinetic properties, to make them suitable for use as radiopharmaceuticals is now available and recent advances in their development can demonstrate that these molecules would make them ideal delivery vehicles for the development of targeted radiopharmaceuticals that could deliver their radiation load with accuracy to the tumour site, offering improved therapeutic properties and reduced side effects.
Searching for Common Sense: Populating Cyc™ from the Web

The Cyc project is predicated on the idea that effective machine learning depends on having a core of knowledge that provides a context for novel learned information - what is known informally as "common sense. " Over the last twenty years, a sufficient core of common sense knowledge has been entered into Cyc to allow it to begin effectively and flexibly supporting its most important task: increasing its own store of world knowledge. In this paper, we present initial work on a method of using a combination of Cyc and the World Wide Web, accessed via Google, to assist in entering knowledge into Cyc. The long-term goal is automating the process of building a consistent, formalized representation of the world in the Cyc knowledge base via machine learning. We present preliminary results of this work and describe how we expect the knowledge acquisition process to become more accurate, faster, and more automated in the future.
Withaferin A Induces Proteasome Inhibition, Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress, the Heat Shock Response and Acquisition of Thermotolerance

In the present study, withaferin A (WA), a steroidal lactone with anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor properties, inhibited proteasome activity and induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and cytoplasmic HSP accumulation in Xenopus laevis A6 kidney epithelial cells. Proteasomal inhibition by WA was indicated by an accumulation of ubiquitinated protein and a decrease in chymotrypsin-like activity. Additionally, immunoblot analysis revealed that treatment of cells with WA induced the accumulation of HSPs including ER chaperones, BiP and GRP94, as well as cytoplasmic/nuclear HSPs, HSP70 and HSP30. Furthermore, WA-induced an increase in the relative levels of the protein kinase, Akt, while the levels of actin were unchanged compared to control. Northern blot experiments determined that WA induced an accumulation in bip, hsp70 and hsp30 mRNA but not eIF-1α mRNA. Interestingly, WA acted synergistically with mild heat shock to enhance HSP70 and HSP30 accumulation to a greater extent than the sum of both stressors individually. This latter phenomenon was not observed with BiP or GRP94. Immunocytochemical analysis indicated that WA-induced BiP accumulation occurred mainly in the perinuclear region in a punctate pattern, while HSP30 accumulation occurred primarily in a granular pattern in the cytoplasm with some staining in the nucleus. Prolonged exposure to WA resulted in disorganization of the F-actin cytoskeleton as well as the production of relatively large HSP30 staining structures that co-localized with F-actin. Finally, prior exposure of cells to WA treatment, which induced the accumulation of HSPs conferred a state of thermal protection since it protected the F-actin cytoskeleton against a subsequent cytotoxic thermal challenge.
Delineating Hummocky Terrain: A Field-Based Approach

ABSTRACT: A geomorphological study was conducted to determine the most accurate and efficient number of primary data points necessary for modelling hummocky terrain with subtle elevation changes. Primary elevation data were collected on hummocky terrain using an S320 GNSS survey receiver, interpolated using ordinary kriging in ArcGIS, and analyzed using a Monte Carlo simulation in MATLAB. This analysis was done to suggest an ideal number of sample points required to produce a highly accurate digital elevation model. From research conducted in Georgetown, ON, it was determined that 20,000 points should be sampled per square kilometer, but the findings can be altered slightly to best suit future geomorphological and hydrological studies. The findings will increase the understanding of the subtle relationship between topography and interpolation error and will guide future data capture and modelling of terrain with subtle elevation variation of less than 10 m. Results can influence the scope of point collection and the clustering of points or boreholes across terrain with variable elevation changes. There is also a potential for application in regions where placing boreholes would be difficult or costly when trying to understand subsurface geometries. RÉSUMÉ: Les auteurs procèdent à une étude géomorphologique afin de déterminer le nombre le plus exact et efficient de points de données primaires nécessaires à la modélisation des moutonnements présentant de légers dénivelés. Les données primaires d’élévation sont colligées en terrain moutonné à l’aide d’un récepteur géodésique GNSS S320, interpolées au moyen du krigeage ordinaire avec ArcGIS et analysées à l’aide d’une simulation de Monte Carlo avec MATLAB. Cette analyse vise la proposition d’un nombre idéal de points échantillons nécessaires à la production d’un modèle numérique d’élévation d’une très grande exactitude. Les recherches effectuées à Georgetown (Ontario) indiquent que le nombre de points échantillonnés devrait être de 20 000 par kilomètre carré, mesure pouvant être légèrement modifiée selon les exigences des futures études géomorphologiques et hydrologiques. Ces constatations permettront de mieux comprendre la relation subtile entre la topographie et l’erreur d’interpolation et orienteront la saisie future des données et la modélisation de terrains présentant de faibles variations des données d’élévation de moins de 10 mètres. Les résultats de l’étude sont susceptibles d’avoir une incidence sur l’étendue de la collecte de points et sur le regroupement des points ou des trous de sonde sur un terrain dont les dénivelés varient. Ils sont également susceptibles d’être appliqués dans des régions où la pratique de trous de sonde pour tenter de comprendre la géométrie de subsurface est difficile ou onéreuse.
Self-Join Size Estimation in Large-scale Distributed Data Systems

In this work we tackle the open problem of self-join size (SJS) estimation in a large-scale distributed data system, where tuples of a relation are distributed over data nodes which comprise an overlay network. Our contributions include adaptations of five well-known SJS estimation centralized techniques (coined sequential, cross-sampling, adaptive, bifocal, and sample-count) to the network environment and a novel technique which is based on the use of the Gini coefficient. We develop analyses showing how Gini estimations can lead to estimations of the underlying Zipfian or power-law value distributions. We further contribute distributed sampling algorithms that can estimate accurately and efficiently the Gini coefficient. Finally, we provide detailed experimental evidence testifying for the claimed increased accuracy, precision, and efficiency of the proposed SJS estimation method, compared to the other methods. The proposed approach is the only one to ensure high efficiency, precision, and accuracy regardless of the skew of the underlying data.
Diaquabis(2-hydroxybenzoato-κO 1)bis(nicotinamide-κN 1)cadmium–diaquabis(2-hydroxybenzoato-κ2 O 1,O 1′)(nicotinamide-κN)cadmium–water (1/2/4)

The crystal structure of the title compound, [Cd(C7H5O3)2(C6H6NO)2(H2O)2]·2[Cd(C7H5O3)2(C6H6NO)(H2O)2]·4H2O, consists of two kinds of CdII complexes (A and B) and lattice water molecules. In complex A, [Cd(C7H5O3)2(C6H6NO)2(H2O)2], the CdII cation is located on an inversion center and is coordinated by two salicylate anions, two nicotinamide (NA) ligands and two water molecules in a slightly distorted octahedral geometry. In complex B, [Cd(C7H5O3)2(C6H6NO)(H2O)2], the CdII cation is coordinated by two salicylate anions, one nicotinamide (NA) ligand and two water molecules in an irregular seven-coordinate geometry. There are extensive intramolecular O—H⋯O and weak C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds as well as extensive intermolecular O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonding in the crystal structure. π–π stacking between the pyridine and benzene rings, between the benzene rings, between the benzene and pyridine rings and between the pyridine rings [centroid–centroid distances = 3.5989 (10), 3.6005 (10), 3.5800 (9) and 3.5205 (10) Å, respectively] further stabilize the crystal structure. A weak N—H⋯π interaction also occurs. One of the lattice water molecules is disordered over two positions with an occupancy ratio of 0.70:0.30.
Design principle of two mass jumping system

In our previous research, we developed a jumping legged robot aiming at expansion of mobile robot's activities. In jumping motion, the velocity and mass of robot have large effect on jumping height and motion. In order to analyze the jumping motion, one-mass or two-mass models are proposed. At the moment of jumping, the velocity of the robot in two-mass model changes rapidly because the top mass of robot lifts up the foot mass together. The balance of two masses, upper and lower bodies, is one of the important parameters to have enough jumping height. For designing a real robot, we must estimate/design the robot function, total weight, actuator type, motor power, etc, however, it is difficult to find optimal design under ill-defined constraints. It is known that relative proportion of the body and length in animals follows the elastic similarity law. One reason for the relationship is supposed that animals keep safety and robustness in the strength of body. In this paper, we propose index parameters for jumping robot by taking into account the elastic similarity law in animals, and the mass of the robot and necessary actuator power are estimated.