Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determination of the efficacy of FEV 6 as a surrogate for FVC in the diagnostic screening for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease through the comparison of FEV 1 / FVC and FEV 1 / FEV 6 ratios *

Objective: To determine the efficacy of using forced expiratory volume in six seconds (FEV6) as a surrogate for forced vital capacity (FVC) in the diagnostic screening for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by comparing FEV1/FVC ratios with FEV1/FEV6 ratios. Methods: In November of 2003, on World COPD Day, we conducted a campaign of diagnostic screening for COPD. The participants completed the clinical questionnaire of the Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease, and those who responded affirmatively to at least three questions underwent spirometry. Results: A total of 134 individuals responded to three questions affirmatively and underwent spirometry. Of those, 59 were excluded: 45 for being non-smokers and 14 due to the fact that their tests did not meet the American Thoracic Society criteria for satisfactory spirometry. The number of tests in which the FEV1/FEV6 ratio was below 70% was similar to that found for the FEV1/FVC ratio. The sensitivity of FEV1/FEV6 in diagnosing airway obstruction (defined as FEV1/FVC below 70%) was 92%, and its specificity was 99%. The positive predictive value was 100%, and the negative predictive value was 98%. The Kendall correlation test revealed r = 0.99 (p < 0.0001). The t-test for paired samples revealed a negative correlation: t = –5.93 (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: The FEV1/FEV6 proved efficient for use in the diagnostic screening for COPD. There is a strong correlation between FEV1/FVC and FEV1/FEV6.
Remote sensing-based estimation of seagrass percent cover and LAI for above ground carbon sequestration mapping

Seagrasses are distinct flowering plants which thrive underwater. They are part of a complex ecosystem that supports different forms of life. Recent studies found out that coastal wetlands – mangroves, saltmarshes, and seagrass, are far more proficient in sequestering and storing carbon than terrestrial ecosystems. Although seagrasses occupy only 0.2% of the area of the oceans, they sequester approximately 15% of total carbon storage in the ocean. Several remote sensing techniques are available to map and monitor seagrasses but most of them focus only on extent and area coverage. To estimate the carbon sequestration of seagrass beds, aside from extent, other parameters are needed such as leaf area index, percent cover, density, biomass etc., However, there are limits in mapping seagrass parameters using remote sensing. The reflectance measured by sensors is affected by other factors such as water absorption, turbidity, dissolved organic matter, depth and phytoplankton which affects the backscattering of energy. In this study, different remotely sensed datasets and field data were used to measure the parameters needed to estimate the carbon sequestration. Multispectral satellite images such as Sentinel-2 and PlanetScope were utilized to map the distribution and percent cover. High-resolution RGB images obtained by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) were also utilized to correlate field data gathered parameters. Field data such as species, percent cover, leaf area index, canopy height and above ground biomass were gathered in situ. Data extracted from different remote sensing technologies were put together to support the estimation of carbon sequestration of seagrass beds.
Spatio-temporal issues in environmental risk assessment and modeling

Risk is defined as the expected losses in economic terms or population death or injured, as a consequence of an extreme event or environmental hazard. The degree of loss or loss function is recognized as the vulnerability function. Vulnerability is the intrinsic capability of a population, ecosystem or community to suffer damage from an environmental hazard. Documentary information of damage from previous events is used to build this vulnerability function for a particular location and time period. The vulnerability function expresses the degree of loss as a function of the intensity of the environmental hazard and geophysical and social-economic variables explaining the observed loses. Main sources of uncertainty in the risk modeling process come from the uncertainty attached to the vulnerability function and the uncertainty attached to the environmental hazard. A spatial-temporal model of the environmental hazard and samples from its posterior predictive distribution can be used to estimate and map risk. This methodology is demonstrated with data from extreme rainfall events for Vargas state, Venezuela.
Retransmission algorithm based on power priorities for wireless networks

A fundamental part of a wireless system is the MAC protocol, whose main goal is to let users gain access quickly and orderly to the needed bandwidth to transmit their information. The main problem in wireless communications is to overcome the disadvantage of the hostile characteristics presented by the radio channel. The paper deals with a proposal for a retransmission algorithm based on power priorities (RAPP), to be used along with S-ALOHA for the retransmission of request packets sent by remote terminals to a base station (BS) in a WATM network. We use WATM as a test platform, but RAPP is general enough to be applied in other scenarios as well. The performance of RAPP is analyzed and compared with that of the binary exponential (BE) retransmission algorithm, highlighting the advantages presented by RAPP in a WATM environment.
Robot Hand-Eye Calibration Using Structure-from-Motion

In this paper, we propose a new flexible method for hand-eye calibration. The vast majority of existing hand-eye calibration techniques require a calibration rig that is used in conjunction with camera pose estimation methods. Instead, we combine structure-from-motion with known robot motions, and we show that the solution can be obtained in linear form. The latter solves for both the hand-eye parameters and the unknown scale factor inherent with structure-from-motion methods. The algebraic analysis that is made possible with such a linear formulation allows investigation of not only the well-known case of general screw motions but also of such singular motions as pure translations, pure rotations, and planar motions. In essence, the robot-mounted camera looks to an unknown rigid layout, tracks points over an image sequence, and estimates the camera-to-robot relationship. Such a self-calibration process is relevant for unmanned vehicles, robots working in remote places, and so forth. We conduct a large number of experiments that validate the quality of the method by comparing it with existing ones.
An active stereoscopic system for iterative 3D surface reconstruction

For most traditional active 3D surface reconstruction methods, a common feature is that the object surface is scanned uniformly, so that the final 3D model contains a very large number of points, which requires huge storage space, and makes the transmission and visualization time-consuming. A post-process then is necessary to reduce the data by decimation. In this paper, we present a newly active stereoscopic system based on iterative spot pattern projection. The 3D surface reconstruction process begins with a regular spot pattern, and then the pattern is modified progressively according to the object’s surface geometry. The adaptation is controlled by the estimation of the local surface curvature of the actual reconstructed 3D surface. The reconstructed 3D model is optimized: it retains all the morphological information about the object with a minimal number of points. Therefore, it requires little storage space, and no further mesh simplification is needed.
201o International Conference on Computer and Communication Technologies in Agriculture Engineering Quality Assessment for Networked Speech Based on Active Packet Detection *

In this paper the assessment of perceived speech quality under packet loss is investigated. Since packet loss would impair the perceived speech quality differently when lost packets are located in different segments in the speech signal, e.g. in speech or silence segments, a new detection method is first proposed to accurately determine the active packets which are related to speech signals only. Based on the detection of active packets, the packet loss rate within speech segments can be determined, which is further incorporated in the E-model for speech quality assessment. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed detection method and the method for speech quality assessment have been verified by experimental results. Performance evaluation shows that the proposed method based on the active packet detection outperforms the original the E­ model by over 8% in accuracy of prediction of the subjective speech quality.
Delayed discharges from Oxford city hospitals: who and why?

Objective: To determine the extent and characteristics of discharge delays of younger patients from acute hospital beds in Oxford, England. Design: Three-month prospective analysis of patients deemed to have delayed discharge. Measures: The primary measure was the number of days from the patient being no longer in need of acute medical inpatient care to eventual discharge. Additional assessments included demographic data, primary diagnosis, Motricity Index, Short Orientation-Memory-Concentration Test (SOMC), Barthel Index and contextual data. Setting: The major acute hospitals serving the county of Oxfordshire (560 000 people). Subjects: Fifty patients aged 18–70 years identi”ed by referrals, delayed discharge lists and ward visits whose discharge from hospital had been delayed. Results: The mean (standard deviation, SD) delay period was 36.1 (26.8) days. The mean prevalence and incidence of discharge delays for each three-day period was 19.7 (SD 1.7) and one (SD 1.7) respectively. Most (88%, n = 44) had a primary neurological diagnosis. Twenty-four (48%) patients had Motricity Index scores of less than 50% in one or more limbs and 16 (32%) in two or more limbs. Twenty-six (52%) patients had cognitive impairment (SOMC <18/28). Thirty-nine (78%) patients had a Barthel Index score of less than 15/20 and 24 (48%) of less than 10/20. The period of discharge delay did not correlate with SOMC, Motricity or Barthel Index scores. Only nine had appropriate accommodation available. Conclusion: Patients whose discharge is delayed were common; most had a neurological disability and cognitive impairment; and accommodation was unsuitable or absent for most. Reorganizing services to give patients access to specialized disability services might both improve the care of these patients and increase the ef”ciency of the health service.
Displacement along the Red River Fault constrained by extension estimates and plate reconstructions

Significant E‐W extension and/or compression must have been generated by displacements along the Red River Fault (RRF) since its curvature does not match a small circle centered at the Euler pole for the Indochina–south China plate pair. The amount of extension perpendicular to the RRF offshore Vietnam depends on the magnitude of left‐lateral displacement along the RRF. In general, the larger the left‐lateral displacement along the fault, the smaller the amount of E‐W extension. All purely strike‐slip models of the opening of the South China Sea that assume large displacements (>250 km) along the RRF encounter major problems because they imply little extension, or even considerable shortening, offshore east Vietnam. This is inconsistent with the presence of large elongated basins offshore Vietnam. Using a plate tectonic model, we compare continental extension values implied by different magnitudes of displacement along the RRF with crustal stretching estimates derived from 2‐D profiles modeled from gravity data. We utilize 2‐D gravity forward models to restore the extended continental margin crust to its original position prior to extension. We find that substantial amounts of extension for offshore Vietnam can only be modeled assuming moderate displacements along the RRF compatible with the presence of a southward subducting proto–South China Sea. The total amount of ENE‐WSW extension offshore northern Vietnam constrained by our 2‐D gravity profiles and gravity inversion increases southward from 36 to 89 km along the Yinggehai Basin. These values of ENE‐WSW extension are consistent with 250 km of left‐lateral displacement along the RRF.
Gastric intramural PCO2 during peritonitis and shock.

OBJECTIVE To define whether increases in gastric intramural tissue CO2 and H+ increase during experimentally induced peritonitis with circulatory shock as they do under conditions of hemorrhagic shock and cardiac arrest. DESIGN AND SETTING Peritonitis was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats by cecal ligation and fecal spillage. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Over an interval of 260 +/- 20 min in 5 animals, there was a progressive reduction in mean aortic pressure from 153 +/- 12 to 40 +/- 20 mm Hg and a decline in cardiac index from 429 +/- 135 to 178 +/- 7 ml/min. This was associated with increases in gastric intramural [H+] from 34 +/- 5 to 217 +/- 93 mmol/L (p = 0.001). Arterial blood lactate content concurrently increased from 0.9 +/- 0.1 to 4.6 +/- 0.7 mmol/L (p = 0.001). Only a late increase in gastric intramural PCO2 from 45 +/- 5 to 128 +/- 38 mm Hg (p = 0.01) was observed. CONCLUSION In contrast to the gastric acid base changes that accompany hemorrhagic shock, in which there is an early and prominent increase in both PCO2 and [H+] in close relationship to decreases in cardiac output and arterial pressure, there was a prominent increase in gastric [H+] but only a delayed rise in gastric intramural PCO2. Arterial blood lactate and central venous oxygen saturation were earlier indicators of perfusion failure. Since the bicarbonate concentration in the stomach wall was substantially greater than that of simultaneously measured arterial blood, this has bearing on the current clinical method of gastric tonometry which assumes that arterial blood bicarbonate is equivalent to gastric wall bicarbonate.
Compressive sensing of the Tohoku‐Oki Mw 9.0 earthquake: Frequency‐dependent rupture modes

Compressive sensing (CS) is a technique for finding sparse signal representations to underdetermined linear measurement equations. We use CS to locate seismic sources during the rupture of the 2011 Tohoku‐Oki Mw9.0 earthquake in Japan from teleseismic P waves recorded by an array of stations in the United States. The seismic sources are located by minimizing the ℓ2‐norm of the difference between the observed and modeled waveforms penalized by the ℓ1‐norm of the seismic source vector. The resulting minimization problem is convex and can be solved efficiently. Our results show clear frequency‐dependent rupture modes with high‐frequency energy radiation dominant in the down‐dip region and low‐frequency radiation in the updip region, which may be caused by differences in rupture behavior (more intermittent or continuous) at the slab interface due to heterogeneous frictional properties.
A new cascaded multilevel inverter structure with less number of switches

Because of many features of multilevel inverters, its applications in industries are not negligible. This paper proposes a new topology for multilevel inverters that has been obtained from series blocks of sub multilevel inverter. One of the issues in this kind of inverters is quantity of switches. The proposed inverter consists of fewer number of power electronic switches which leads to lower switching loss, weight, and cost in comparison with conventional inverters. Another advantage of this structure is its modular capability. In this paper, three algorithms are considered to determine the size of DC voltage source and eventually accuracy of proposed inverter has been approved by PSCAD/EMTDC software.
Intrusion Detection and Ubiquitous Host to Host Encryption

Growing concern for individual privacy, driven by an increased public awareness of the degree to which many of our electronic activities are tracked by interested third parties (e.g. Google knows what I am thinking before I finish entering my search query), is driving the development anonymizing technologies (e.g. Tor). The coming mass migration to IPv6 as the primary transport of Internet traffic promises to make one such technology, end-to-end host based encryption, more readily available to the average user. In a world where end-to-end encryption is ubiquitous, what can replace the existing models for network intrusion detection? How can network administrators and operators, responsible for securing networks against hostile activity, protect a network they cannot see? In an encrypted world, signature based event detection is unlikely to prove useful. In order to secure a network in such an environment, without trampling the privacy afforded to users by end-to-end encryption, our threat detection model needs to evolve from signature based detection to a heuristic model that flags deviations from normal network-wide behavior for further investigation. In this paper we present such a heuristic model and test its effectiveness for detecting intrusions in an entirely encrypted network environment. Our results demonstrate the network intrusion detection system's ability to monitor a network carrying only host-to-host encrypted traffic. This work indicates that a broad perspective change is required. Network security models need to evolve from endeavoring to define attack signatures to describing what the network looks like under normal conditions and searching for deviations from the norm.
Inhibition of mTOR by Rapamycin Abolishes Cognitive Deficits and Reduces Amyloid-β Levels in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease

Background Reduced TOR signaling has been shown to significantly increase lifespan in a variety of organisms [1], [2], [3], [4]. It was recently demonstrated that long-term treatment with rapamycin, an inhibitor of the mTOR pathway[5], or ablation of the mTOR target p70S6K[6] extends lifespan in mice, possibly by delaying aging. Whether inhibition of the mTOR pathway would delay or prevent age-associated disease such as AD remained to be determined. Methodology/Principal Findings We used rapamycin administration and behavioral tools in a mouse model of AD as well as standard biochemical and immunohistochemical measures in brain tissue to provide answers for this question. Here we show that long-term inhibition of mTOR by rapamycin prevented AD-like cognitive deficits and lowered levels of Aβ42, a major toxic species in AD[7], in the PDAPP transgenic mouse model. These data indicate that inhibition of the mTOR pathway can reduce Aβ42 levels in vivo and block or delay AD in mice. As expected from the inhibition of mTOR, autophagy was increased in neurons of rapamycin-treated transgenic, but not in non-transgenic, PDAPP mice, suggesting that the reduction in Aβ and the improvement in cognitive function are due in part to increased autophagy, possibly as a response to high levels of Aβ. Conclusions/Significance Our data suggest that inhibition of mTOR by rapamycin, an intervention that extends lifespan in mice, can slow or block AD progression in a transgenic mouse model of the disease. Rapamycin, already used in clinical settings, may be a potentially effective therapeutic agent for the treatment of AD.
Axonal Transport of Microtubule-Associated Protein 1B (MAP1B) in the Sciatic Nerve of Adult Rat: Distinct Transport Rates of Different Isoforms

Cytoskeletal proteins are axonally transported with slow components a and b (SCa and SCb). In peripheral nerves, the transport velocity of SCa, which includes neurofilaments and tubulin, is 1–2 mm/d, whereas SCb, which includes actin, tubulin, and numerous soluble proteins, moves as a heterogeneous wave at 2–4 mm/d. We have shown that two isoforms of microtubule-associated protein 1B (MAP1B), which can be separated on SDS polyacrylamide gels on the basis of differences in their phosphorylation states (band I and band II), were transported at two different rates. All of band I MAP1B moved as a coherent wave at a velocity of 7–9 mm/d, distinct from slow axonal transport components SCa and SCb. Several other proteins were detected within the component that moved at the velocity of 7–9 mm/d, including the leading wave of tubulin and actin. The properties of this component define a distinct fraction of the slow axonal transport that we suggest to term slow component c (SCc). The relatively fast transport of the phosphorylated MAP1B isoform at 7–9 mm/d may account for the high concentration of phosphorylated MAP1B in the distal end of growing axons. In contrast to band I MAP1B, the transport profile of band II was complex and contained components moving with SCa and SCb and a leading edge at SCc. Thus, MAP1B isoforms in different phosphorylation states move with distinct components of slow axonal transport, possibly because of differences in their abilities to associate with other proteins.
Recommending Machine Translation Output to Translators by Estimating Translation Effort: A Case Study

In this paper we use the statistics provided by a field experiment to explore the utility of supplying machine translation suggestions in a computer-assisted translation (CAT) environment. Regression models are trained for each user in order to estimate the time to edit (TTE) for the current translation segment. We use a combination of features from the current segment and aggregated features from formerly translated segments selected with content-based filtering approaches commonly used in recommendation systems. We present and evaluate decision function heuristics to determine if machine translation output will be useful for the translator in the given segment. We find that our regression models do a reasonable job for some users in predicting TTE given only a small number of training examples; although noise in the actual TTE for seemingly similar segments yields large error margins. We propose to include the estimation of TTE in CAT recommendation systems as a well-correlated metric for translation quality.
An optimal algorithm for on-line bipartite matching

There has been a great deal of interest recently in the relative power of on-line and off-line algorithms. An on-line algorithm receives a sequence of requests and must respond to each request as soon as it is receiveD. An off-line algorithm may wait until all requests have been received before determining its responses. One approach to evaluating an on-line algorithm is to compare its performance with that of the best possible off-line algorithm for the same problem. Thus, given a measure of "profit", the performance of an on-line algorithm can be measured by the worst-case ratio of its profit to that of the optimal off-line algorithm. This general approach has been applied in a number of contexts, including data structures [SITa], bin packing [CoGaJo], graph coloring [GyLe] and the k-server problem [MaMcSI]. Here we apply it to bipartite matching and show that a simple randomized on-line algorithm achieves the best possible performance.