Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FRANz: Fast Reconstruction of Wild Pedigrees

We present a software package for fast pedigree reconstruction in natural populations using co-dominant genomic markers such as microsatellites and SNPs. If available, the algorithm makes use of prior information such as known relationships (sub-pedigrees) or the age and sex of individuals. Statistical confidence is estimated by a simulation of the sampling process. The parentage inference is robust even in the presence of genotyping errors.
Your Sentiment Precedes You: Using an author’s historical tweets to predict sarcasm

Sarcasm understanding may require information beyond the text itself, as in the case of ‘I absolutely love this restaurant! ’ which may be sarcastic, depending on the contextual situation. We present the first quantitative evidence to show that historical tweets by an author can provide additional context for sarcasm detection. Our sarcasm detection approach uses two components: a contrast-based predictor (that identifies if there is a sentiment contrast within a target tweet), and a historical tweet-based predictor (that identifies if the sentiment expressed towards an entity in the target tweet agrees with sentiment expressed by the author towards that entity in the past).
Latitude Dependence of Geomagnetic Paleosecular Variation and its Relation to the Frequency of Magnetic Reversals: Observations From the Cretaceous and Jurassic

Nearly three decades ago paleomagnetists suggested that there existed a clear link between latitude dependence of geomagnetic paleosecular variation (PSV) and reversal frequency. Here we compare the latitude behavior of PSV for the Cretaceous Normal Superchron (CNS, 84–126 Ma, stable normal polarity) and the preceding Early Cretaceous‐Jurassic interval (pre‐CNS, 126–198 Ma, average reversal rate of ~4.6 Myr−1). We find that the CNS was characterized by a strong increase in the angular dispersion of virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) with latitude, which is consistent with the results of earlier studies, whereas the VGP dispersion for the pre‐CNS period was nearly invariant with latitude. However, the PSV behavior for the last 5 or 10 million years (average reversal frequency of ~4.4–4.8 Myr−1) shows that the latitude invariance of VGP scatter cannot be considered as a characteristic feature of a frequently reversing field and that a strong increase in VGP dispersion with latitude was not restricted to the long periods of stable polarity. We discuss models describing the latitude dependence of PSV and show that their parameters are not reliable proxies for reversal frequency and should not be used to make inferences about the geomagnetic field stability. During the pre‐CNS interval, the geodynamo may have operated in a regime characterized by a high degree of equatorial symmetry. In contrast, more asymmetric geodynamos suggested for 0–10 Ma and the CNS were evidently capable of producing a very wide range of reversal frequencies.
Sum of Squares Certificates for Stability of Planar, Homogeneous, and Switched Systems

We show that existence of a global polynomial Lyapunov function for a homogeneous polynomial vector field or a planar polynomial vector field (under a mild condition) implies existence of a polynomial Lyapunov function that is a sum of squares (sos) and that the negative of its derivative is also a sum of squares. This result is extended to show that such sos-based certificates of stability are guaranteed to exist for all stable switched linear systems. For this class of systems, we further show that if the derivative inequality of the Lyapunov function has an sos certificate, then the Lyapunov function itself is automatically a sum of squares. These converse results establish cases where semidefinite programming is guaranteed to succeed in finding proofs of Lyapunov inequalities. Finally, we demonstrate some merits of replacing the sos requirement on a polynomial Lyapunov function with an sos requirement on its top homogeneous component. In particular, we show that this is a weaker algebraic requirement in addition to being cheaper to impose computationally.
Effects of delaying appendectomy for acute appendicitis for 12 to 24 hours.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether delaying appendectomy for 12 hours to avoid disturbing the operating room schedule and to minimize the number of operations during the night negatively affects the outcome of patients with acute appendicitis. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING Large teaching community hospital. PATIENTS The medical records of 380 patients who underwent appendectomies between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2004, were reviewed. Patients proven to have an inflamed appendix on the pathological report were divided into 2 groups. The early group comprised patients who had undergone appendectomies within 12 hours of presentation to the emergency department, including patients with generalized sepsis. The late group comprised patients who had undergone appendectomies more than 12 to 24 hours after presentation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Length of stay, operative time, and the rate of perforations and complications. INTERVENTIONS Laparoscopic or open appendectomies. RESULTS There were 309 patients included in our study. There were no statistically significant differences between the early and late groups in the length of stay, operative time, the percentage of advanced appendicitis, or the rate of complications. CONCLUSIONS In selected patients, delaying appendectomies for acute appendicitis for 12 to 24 hours after presentation does not significantly increase the rate of perforations, operative time, or length of stay. It decreases the use of the nursing staff, anesthesia team, and surgical house staff during the night shifts, and it decreases the interruption of the regular operating room schedule.
Properties of conjugated Schiff bases on malonaldehyde.

Malonaldehyde is one of the end products of lipid oxidation, and because of its bifunctionality it can produce a conjugated Schiff base with a primary amine. The fluorescence properties, the reactivity to thiobarbituric acid (TBA) and the antioxidative activity of conjugated Schiff bases of malonaldehyde and aniline (I1), p-toluidine (I2), p-anisidine (I3), p-chloroaniline (I4) and p-aminoacetophenone (I5) were investigated. Compounds I1-I5 showed no significant intrinsic fluorescence. The unstable compound I5 produced highly fluorescent compound(s) in a mixture of dimethylformamide-tetra-n-propylammonium hydroxide. In the TBA reaction, compounds I1-I4 produced less than 30% as much a red color as malonaldehyde, while the unstable compound I5 produced as intense a red color as malonaldehyde. Compounds I1-I4 were active as antioxidants with methyl oleate, lard and soybean oil.
Estimation of the Lens Distortion Model by Minimizing a Line Reprojection Error

Most techniques for camera calibration that use planar calibration patterns require the computation of a lens distortion model and a homography. Both are simultaneously refined using a bundle adjustment that minimizes the reprojection error of a collection of points when projected from the scene onto the camera sensor. These points are usually the corners of the rectangles of a calibration pattern. However, if the lens shows a significant distortion, the location and matching of the corners can be difficult and inaccurate. To cope with this problem, instead of point correspondences, we propose to use line correspondences to compute the reprojection error. We have designed a fully automatic algorithm to estimate the lens distortion model and the homography by computing line correspondences and minimizing the line reprojection error. In the experimental setup, we focus on the analysis of the quality of the obtained lens distortion model. We present some experiments that show that the proposed method outperforms the results obtained by standard methods to compute lens distortion models based on line rectification.
Prevention of etomidate-induced myoclonus: Which is superior: Fentanyl, midazolam, or a combination? A Retrospective comparative study

Background In this retrospective comparative study, we aimed to compare the effectiveness of fentanyl, midazolam, and a combination of fentanyl and midazolam to prevent etomidate-induced myoclonus. Material/Methods This study was performed based on anesthesia records. Depending on the drugs that would be given before the induction of anesthesia with etomidate, the patients were separated into 4 groups: no pretreatment (Group NP), fentanyl 1 μg·kg−1 (Group F), midazolam 0.03 mg·kg−1 (Group M), and midazolam 0.015 mg·kg−1 + fentanyl 0.5 μg·kg−1 (Group FM). Patients who received the same anesthetic procedure were selected: 2 minutes after intravenous injections of the pretreatment drugs, anesthesia is induced with 0.3 mg·kg−1 etomidate injected intravenously over a period of 20–30 seconds. Myoclonic movements are evaluated, which were observed and graded according to clinical severity during the 2 minutes after etomidate injection. The severity of pain due to etomidate injection, mean arterial pressure, heart rate, and adverse effects were also evaluated. Results Study results showed that myoclonus incidence was 85%, 40%, 70%, and 25% in Group NP, Group F, Group M, and Group FM, respectively, and were significantly lower in Group F and Group FM. Conclusions We conclude that pretreatment with fentanyl or combination of fentanyl and midazolam was effective in preventing etomidate-induced myoclonus.
Medication augmentation after the failure of SSRIs for depression.

BACKGROUND Although clinicians frequently add a second medication to an initial, ineffective antidepressant drug, no randomized controlled trial has compared the efficacy of this approach. METHODS We randomly assigned 565 adult outpatients who had nonpsychotic major depressive disorder without remission despite a mean of 11.9 weeks of citalopram therapy (mean final dose, 55 mg per day) to receive sustained-release bupropion (at a dose of up to 400 mg per day) as augmentation and 286 to receive buspirone (at a dose of up to 60 mg per day) as augmentation. The primary outcome of remission of symptoms was defined as a score of 7 or less on the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD-17) at the end of this study; scores were obtained over the telephone by raters blinded to treatment assignment. The 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology--Self-Report (QIDS-SR-16) was used to determine the secondary outcomes of remission (defined as a score of less than 6 at the end of this study) and response (a reduction in baseline scores of 50 percent or more). RESULTS The sustained-release bupropion group and the buspirone group had similar rates of HRSD-17 remission (29.7 percent and 30.1 percent, respectively), QIDS-SR-16 remission (39.0 percent and 32.9 percent), and QIDS-SR-16 response (31.8 percent and 26.9 percent). Sustained-release bupropion, however, was associated with a greater reduction (from baseline to the end of this study) in QIDS-SR-16 scores than was buspirone (25.3 percent vs. 17.1 percent, P<0.04), a lower QIDS-SR-16 score at the end of this study (8.0 vs. 9.1, P<0.02), and a lower dropout rate due to intolerance (12.5 percent vs. 20.6 percent, P<0.009). CONCLUSIONS Augmentation of citalopram with either sustained-release bupropion or buspirone appears to be useful in actual clinical settings. Augmentation with sustained-release bupropion does have certain advantages, including a greater reduction in the number and severity of symptoms and fewer side effects and adverse events. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00021528.).
Automatic atlas-guided constrained random Walker algorithm for 3D segmentation of muscles on water magnetic resonance images

Automatic segmentation of distinct muscles is a crucial step for quantitative analysis of muscle's tissue properties. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging provides a superior soft tissue contrast and noninvasive means for assessing muscular characteristics. However, automatic segmentation of muscles using common morphological MR imaging is very challenging as the intensities and textures of adjacent muscles are similar and the boundaries between them are mostly invisible or discontinuous. In this paper, we propose a novel fully automatic framework for 3D segmentation of muscles on water MR images. This framework generates the 3D average and probabilistic atlases of the targeted muscle to automatically define the labeled seeds, the edges weights, and the constraints of a constrained Random Walker algorithm. Also, the low-pass filtered atlas-derived muscle probability map is used to augment the intensities prior to the graph-based segmentation. This enables automatic localization of the targeted muscle and enforces dissimilarities between its intensities and the intensities of adjacent lean tissues. The proposed algorithm outperforms the original random Walker algorithm and the conventional multi-atlas registration for muscle segmentation and is less sensitive to errors in the manually segmented muscle masks used for training (atlas computation).
Guidelines and Recommendations for Laboratory Analysis in the Diagnosis and Management of Diabetes Mellitus

BACKGROUND Multiple laboratory tests are used to diagnose and manage patients with diabetes mellitus. The quality of the scientific evidence supporting the use of these tests varies substantially. APPROACH An expert committee compiled evidence-based recommendations for the use of laboratory testing for patients with diabetes. A new system was developed to grade the overall quality of the evidence and the strength of the recommendations. Draft guidelines were posted on the Internet and presented at the 2007 Arnold O. Beckman Conference. The document was modified in response to oral and written comments, and a revised draft was posted in 2010 and again modified in response to written comments. The National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry and the Evidence-Based Laboratory Medicine Committee of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry jointly reviewed the guidelines, which were accepted after revisions by the Professional Practice Committee and subsequently approved by the Executive Committee of the American Diabetes Association. CONTENT In addition to long-standing criteria based on measurement of plasma glucose, diabetes can be diagnosed by demonstrating increased blood hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) concentrations. Monitoring of glycemic control is performed by self-monitoring of plasma or blood glucose with meters and by laboratory analysis of HbA1c. The potential roles of noninvasive glucose monitoring, genetic testing, and measurement of autoantibodies, urine albumin, insulin, proinsulin, C-peptide, and other analytes are addressed. SUMMARY The guidelines provide specific recommendations that are based on published data or derived from expert consensus. Several analytes have minimal clinical value at present, and their measurement is not recommended.
Relationship between alexithymia and coping strategies in patients with somatoform disorder

Purpose A multidimensional intervention integrating alexithymia, negative affect, and type of coping strategy is needed for the effective treatment of somatoform disorder; however, few studies have applied this approach to the three different dimensions of alexithymia in patients with somatoform disorder. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between type of coping strategy and three different dimensions of alexithymia expressed in patients. Patients and methods A total of 196 patients with somatoform disorder completed the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, the Spielberger State–Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Somatosensory Amplification Scale, and the Lazarus Stress Coping Inventory. The relationships between alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale – 20 score and subscales), demographic variables, and psychological inventory scores were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Results The mean Toronto Alexithymia Scale – 20 total score (56.1±10.57) was positively correlated with the number of physical symptoms as well as with psychopathology scores (Self-Rating Depression Scale, State–Trait Anxiety Inventory trait, state, and Somatosensory Amplification Scale), but negatively correlated with planful problem solving, confrontive coping, seeking social support, and positive reappraisal coping scores. With respect to coping strategy, multiple regression analyses revealed that “difficulty in identifying feelings” was positively associated with an escape–avoidance strategy, “difficulty in describing feelings” was negatively associated with a seeking social support strategy, and “externally oriented thinking” was negatively associated with a confrontive coping strategy. Conclusion Alexithymia was strongly associated with the number of somatic symptoms and negative affect. Patients with high “difficulty in describing feelings” tend to rely less on seeking social support, and patients with high “externally oriented thinking” tend to rely less on confrontive coping strategies. The coping skills intervention implemented should differ across individuals and should be based on the alexithymia dimension of each patient.
An Efficient Procedure for the Time-Domain Sensitivity Analysis

Standard tools for CAD have limited modes of the sensitivity analysis: PSPICE only contains a static mode and SPECTRE includes frequency-domain and static modes. However, many RF systems use symmetrical structures for enhancing the circuit properties. For such systems, the static sensitivities are zero on principle and hence the time-domain sensitivity analysis should be used. In the paper, a novel re- current formula for the time-domain sensitivity analysis is derived which uses by-products of an efficient implicit in- tegration algorithm. As the selected integration algorithm is more flexible than the Gear's one that is ordinarily used, the sensitivity analysis is more efficient in comparison with the standard CAD tools. An implementation of the method is demonstrated using the analysis of a low-voltage four- quadrant RF multiplier. Nonstandard temperature sensitivity analyses are also tested in the static and dynamic modes.
Competitiveness on Social Networking Sites and Its Implications on Individuals' Security and Privacy Concerns

Privacy and security of personal information in online settings continues to be a relevant and alarming issue for individuals who participate in social networking sites (SNS). A potential contributing factor of one’s propensity to share information online could be level of competitiveness embedded in one’s personality. Those who are more likely to socially engage in competitive activities may also be prone to conducting similar comparisons among peers in computer-mediated situations, such as SNS. In an effort to prove one’s superiority in an online setting, one may unknowingly reveal important personal information. In this paper, we present a research model intended to help predict SNS usage based on users’ innate propensity to be competitive with other SNS users, whether through the pure enjoyment of engaging in competition or via the desire to create conflict. Analysis of the model and potential implications are discussed further.
Kinship verification from facial images under uncontrolled conditions

In this paper, we present an automatic kinship verification system based on facial image analysis under uncontrolled conditions. While a large number of studies on human face analysis have been performed in the literature, there are a few attempts on automatic face analysis for kinship verification, possibly due to lacking of such publicly available databases and great challenges of this problem. To this end, we collect a kinship face database by searching 400+ pairs of public figures and celebrities from the internet, and automatically detect them with the Viola-Jones face detector. Then, we propose a new spatial pyramid learning-based (SPLE) feature descriptor for face representation and apply support vector machine (SVM) for kinship verification. The proposed system has the following three characteristics: 1) no manual human annotation of face landmarks is required and the kinship information is automatically obtained from the original pair of images; 2) both local appearance information and global spatial information have been effectively utilized in the proposed SPLE feature descriptor, and better performance can be obtained than state-of-the-art feature descriptors in our application; 3) the performance of our proposed system is comparable to that of human observers.
Soft Recovery Through ℓ1, 2 Minimization with Applications in Recovery of Simultaneously Sparse and Low-Rank Matrice

This article provides a new type of analysis of a compressed-sensing based technique for recovering column-sparse matrices, namely minimization of the $\ell_{1,2}$-norm. Rather than providing conditions on the measurement matrix which guarantees the solution of the program to be exactly equal to the ground truth signal (which already has been thoroughly investigated), it presents a condition which guarantees that the solution is approximately equal to the ground truth. Soft recovery statements of this kind are to the best knowledge of the author a novelty in Compressed Sensing. Apart from the theoretical analysis, we present two heuristic proposes how this property of the $\ell_{1,2}$-program can be utilized to design algorithms for recovery of matrices which are sparse and have low rank at the same time.
Modelling and Image Processing of Constriction and Proliferation in the Gastrulation Process of Drosophila melanogaster

The initial stage of gastrulation, an early stage of embryogenesis, is called invagination, or primitive streak formation. In the first part of the paper, we analyse by using image processing techniques the cell deformation and motion in he Drosophila melanogaster embryo searching to delimit the first period of invagination without proliferation. Then, in a second part, we propose a biomechanical model, based only on the consideration of elastic and contractile forces exerted on cell walls and on the centrosome through the combination of myosin contraction and cytoskeleton rigidity. Numerical simulations of this model made during the period of gastrulation without proliferation suggest that the model adequately simulates in-vivo cell behaviour, showing the start of the streak formation at the two extremities of the embryo cylinder, followed by a propagation of the invagination to its central part.
Copula and semicopula transforms

We characterize the transformation, defined for every copula C , by C h ( x , y ) : = h [ − 1 ] ( C ( h ( x ) , h ( y ) ) ) , where x and y belong to [ 0 , 1 ] and h is a strictly increasing and continuous function on [ 0 , 1 ] . We study this transformation also in the class of quasi-copulas and semicopulas.