Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Migration, Urbanization, and Drug Use and Casual Sex in China: A Multilevel Analysis

Using data from a survey conducted in 2003 and employing multilevel modeling, this paper examines the impact of migration and urbanization on drug abuse and casual sex in China. The results suggest that being a migrant predicts significantly higher odds of having casual sex but lower odds of drug abuse. Living in an urban place is a significant risk factor for both illicit drug use and casual sex. There are significant cross-community (primary sampling unit) variances in the random intercept component, suggesting that the likelihood of drug abuse and casual sex is influenced by where one lives. After controlling for differences in individual demographic and psychosocial characteristics, social influences, and community factors, the intracommunity correlation is higher for drug use (0.32) than for casual sex (0.11). The results of random coefficient models further suggest that the impact of migration on drug use and casual sex also varies across communities.
Low power Viterbi Decoder by modified ACSU architecture and clock gating method

The use of error-correcting codes has proven to be an effective way to overcome data corruption in digital wireless communication channels, enabling reliable transmission over noisy and fading channel. This requires low power decoders as they consume lot of power. Power reduction in any system can be achieved at device level, at circuit level or at architectural level. In this paper, power reduction is achieved at architecture level. A Viterbi Decoder (VD) with architectural modification for Add-Compare-Select Unit (ACSU) and clock gated Survivor Memory Unit (SMU) are designed for low power wireless applications. A decoder system with code rate of k/n=1/2 with constraint length K=7 has been implemented with 130nm technology. It is synthesized using design compiler of Synopsys and its power is estimated with power compiler. A throughput of 125 Mbps is achieved satisfying the requirement for wireless applications. Bit error rate of proposed system is same as that of modified register exchange VD. Around 66% power is reduced with clock gating technique.
Evaluating the Performance of A4SDN on Various Network Topologies

Load balancing is one of the main goals of Software-Defined Networking (SDN). Distributing the traffic among the possible paths of a network according to specific rules allows SDN systems to increase their global performance index in term of resource usage and scalability. In a previous paper, the authors introduced Adaptive Alienated Ant Algorithm for Software-Defined Networking (A4SDN), a distributed, adaptive, load-balancing algorithm for traffic engineering on SDN showing its ability to optimise the network performance in terms of throughput, communication delay and packet loss rate. In this paper, the authors analyse how the performance of A4SDN are influenced by the underlying topology. For each considered topology, the performance of A4SDN are successfully with those of Extended Dijkstra algorithm. The tests show that the performance of A4SDN are the best when the average number of available shortest paths for each couple of nodes rises.
Morphology Antibody Chromosome Technique for Determining Phenotype and Genotype of the Same Cell

The morphology antibody chromosome (MAC) technique is a powerful combination of methods that permits analysis of both phenotype and genotype on a single interphase or mitotic cell as a basis for lineage analysis of neoplastic and normal cells. This unit describes MAC with sequential phenotypic analysis using antibody and an alkaline phosphatase anti‐alkaline phosphatase (APAAP) complex and genotypic analysis using in situ hybridization with either enzymatic or fluorescence detection. Alternate methods for phenotypic analysis are also described, which include the use of horseradish peroxidase‐conjugated antibodies, fluorochrome‐conjugated antibodies, May‐Grunwald‐Giemsa cytochemical staining, and Sudan black B cytochemical staining. An additional protocol describes G‐ and C‐banding as alternatives to in situ hybridization (ISH) for genotyping MAC specimens. Support protocols describe methods for preparing specimenscytospin preparations, in situ cultures, paraffin‐embedded or cryostat sections, and blood and bone marrow smears. describes a procedure for chromosome painting of previously GTG‐banded slides.
Towards Recurrent Neural Networks Language Models with Linguistic and Contextual Features

Recent studies show that recurrent neural network language models ( RNNLM ) perform better than traditional language models such as smoothed n -grams. For traditional models it is known that the addition of for example part-of-speech information and topical information can improve performance. In this paper we investigate the usefulness of additional features for RNNLM . We look at four types of features: POS tags, lemmas, and the topics and the socio-situational setting of a conversation. In our experiments, almost all RNNLM models that make use of extra information outperform our baseline RNNLM model in terms of both perplexity and word prediction accuracy. Whereas the baseline model has a perplexity of 114.79, the model that uses a combination of POS tags, socio-situational settings and lemmas achieves the lowest perplexity result of 83 . 59 , and the combination of all 4 types of features, using a network with 500 hidden neurons, achieves the highest word prediction accuracy of 23 . 11%
Differentiation of Tumefactive Demyelinating Lesions from Metastatic Brain Disease with FDG PET-CT: A Case Report

Tumefactive demyelinating brain disease can pose a diagnostic challenge in patients without a pre-existing diagnosis of multiple sclerosis by mimicking intra-cranial neoplasms, infarction, as well as infections. Choosing when to biopsy a tumefactive lesion to exclude alternative pathology can be difficult. Here we report a case of a 44 year old female patient without a previous history of multiple sclerosis who presented with two brain lesions mimicking metastatic brain disease which pose a serious diagnostic dilemma. FDG PET CT and follow up magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) helped to rule out tumor etiology of those lesions and spared patient from invasive procedures such as biopsy or radiotherapy.
The impact of concept (re)presentation on users' evaluation and perception

Early product concept evaluation, which is based on descriptions or conceptual sketches instead of functional prototypes or design models, has many practical advantages. However, a question at hand is whether the format of representation impacts the results of empirical "user studies". A study with two different design concepts and 326 participants revealed that global product evaluation (i.e., goodness) and high-level product perceptions (i.e., pragmatic quality, hedonic quality) are not influenced by differences in the concept (re)presentation (text, pictures, video, functional prototype). Only the assessment of interaction characteristics, such as its speed, was affected.
Study of ameliorating effects of ethanolic extract of Centella asiatica on learning and memory deficit in animal models.

OBJECTIVE The present study investigated the effect of Centella asiatica ethanolic extract (CE) on learning and memoly imnpairment induced by either transient bilateral common carotid arteries occlusion (T2 VO) or an intraperitoneal injection of scopolamine in mice. MATERIAL AND METHOD CE (100, 300, 1000 or 1500 mg/kg, p.o.) were administered to learning and memory impaired mice once daily for 8 consecutive days. Learning and memory performance were evaluated by Morris water maze (MWM) and step-down passive avoidance (PA) test. Changes in malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in the brain were determined by lipid peroxidation assay. RESULTS T2 VO mice exhibited learning and memory impairment in the MWM and PA tests. Treatment with CE ameliorated the learning and memory impairment of T2VO mice. Furthermore, CE significantly reduced MDA level in the brain of T2VO mice. On the other hand, administration of CE did not attenuate learning and memory impairment induced by scopolamine in mice. CONCLUSION The present study demonstrated ameliorating effect of CE on learning and memory impairment in T2VO mice. Furthermore, it is likely that the positive effect of CE observed could be, at least partly, accounted by its antioxidative property. Thus, CE might be beneficial for memory impairment in which oxidative stress is an underlying cause.
An enhanced shape descriptor based on radial distances

Contour and region based descriptors are among the main approaches in content based image retrieval (CBIR). In the contour based approaches, Fourier Transform is applied on the shape signatures to obtain Fourier descriptors (FD), which has attractive properties such as rotational, scale, and translational invariance. However, the FD derived from different signatures can have significant effect on the performance of retrieval. In this paper we introduce a new shape signature, which is called the radial distance with triangular centroid area (RDTCA) signature. Based on our retrieval experiments using Kimia 99 and Kimia 216 dataset, FD derived from RDTCA signature outperformed the FD derived from other signatures in terms of robustness and retrieval performance.
Iterative power and subcarrier allocation for maximizing WSMR in cellular OFDMA systems

We consider the resource allocation (RA) problem of maximizing the weighted sum of the minimal user rates (WSMR) of coordinated cells subject to a total power constraint at each base station (BS) in the downlink of a cellular orthogonal frequency division multi-access (OFDMA) system. In particular, the solution of this problem corresponds to a RA that guarantees similar rates to users in each cell. We propose a coordinate ascent (CA) based algorithm which alternatively updates the power allocation by solving a successive set of convex optimization problems with a duality-based numerical algorithm, and the subcarrier allocation by solving a mixed integer linear program for each cell. The effectiveness of the algorithm is illustrated by numerical experiments.
A novel technique to achieve unity power factor and high quality waveform in AC-to-DC converters

This paper presents a novel power factor correction technique for boost type AC-to-DC power converters in continuous conduction mode. Instead of using the inductor current or switching device current, in this paper, the diode current in the boost converter is used to formulate the duty ratio of the switch in a special way which makes the input current sinusoidal and in phase with the input voltage. To improve the dynamic performance and minimize the input current harmonic components, a new double-injection compensation method is employed in the voltage feedback loop. This power factor corrector has the following advantages: (1) operation with constant switching frequency; (2) elimination of input voltage sensing, the error amplifier in the current loop and the multiplier in output voltage feedback loop; (3) minimal total harmonic distortions in the input current; (4) fast dynamic response in the voltage loop; (5) simple implementation of the control circuit; and (6) smaller output filter capacitor. The principle of operation is explained. Experimental results are presented to verify the feasibility of the control strategy.
The use of fluconazole as a local irrigant for nephrostomy tubes.

OBJECTIVES Few data exist concerning the combined use of fluconazole systemically and as an irrigant for nephrostomy tubes in a patient with renal candidiasis. The patient described here presented with renal fungal balls obstructing the drainage of urine from her nephrostomy tubes. METHODS Twelve months after chemoradiation for a stage IIB squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix, a 35-year-old woman presented with renal obstruction necessitating insertion of ureteral stents. After 6 months of chemotherapy, the patient developed uremia. After nephrostomy tubes were placed, renal candidiasis was noted, and fluconazole was begun systemically. When the renal candidiasis failed to clear, nephrostomy tube irrigations were begun. RESULTS Fourteen days of therapy with fluconazole resulted in the resolution of the uremia. The patient died 6 months later with her nephrostomy tubes in situ and without evidence of candidiasis in her urinary tract. CONCLUSIONS The patient described was successfully treated without having to remove her nephrostomy tubes. Two other authors have reported the successful use of fluconazole irrigation to treat candidiasis in nephrostomy tubes that was unresponsive to systemic fluconazole. Before the appearance of these reports, the best results were obtained with removal of the catheter in renal candidiasis.
Supervector Dimension Reduction for Efficient Speaker Age Estimation Based on the Acoustic Speech Signal

This paper presents a novel dimension reduction method which aims to improve the accuracy and the efficiency of speaker's age estimation systems based on speech signal. Two different age estimation approaches were studied and implemented; the first, age-group classification, and the second, precise age estimation using regression. These two approaches use the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) supervectors as features for a support vector machine (SVM) model. When a radial basis function (RBF) kernel is used, the accuracy is improved compared to using a linear kernel; however, the computation complexity is more sensitive to the feature dimension. Classic dimension reduction methods like principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) tend to eliminate the relevant feature information and cannot always be applied without damaging the model's accuracy. In our study, a novel dimension reduction method was developed, the weighted-pairwise principal components analysis (WPPCA) based on the nuisance attribute projection (NAP) technique. This method projects the supervectors to a reduced space where the redundant within-class pairwise variability is eliminated. This method was applied and compared to the baseline system where no dimensionality reduction is done on the supervectors. The conducted experiments showed a dramatic speed-up in the SVM training testing time using reduced feature vectors. The system accuracy was improved by 5% for the classification system and by 10% for the regression system using the proposed dimension reduction method.
Willingness to Share Knowledge Compared with Selected Social Psychology Theories

Knowledge is one of the key determinants in the growth and competitiveness of modern enterprises. Hence, it is essential to analyse the factors that induce employees to exchange knowledge. The problem of sharing an intangible asset - in this case, the knowledge of individuals - can be viewed from many perspectives: psychological, economic, organisational, sociological and technological. The aim of this article is to explore selected social psychology theories and to analyse the incentives for people to share knowledge. The article attempts to interpret the willingness to share knowledge through the Social Exchange Theory, the Social Impact Theory, the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Theory of Planned Behaviour. This analysis leads to the following conclusions: • we share our knowledge and expect a return; • we share our knowledge when we believe that the benefits of this action outweigh the costs; • we are pushed to share knowledge by the power of empathy; • workers’ willingness to share knowledge is influenced by three social processes: subordination, identification and internalisation; • the decision to share knowledge is preceded by an intention formed under the influence of an individual attitude towards that behaviour, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control; and • the decision to share knowledge is also influenced by additional components, including the knowledge and skills to implement this behaviour, environmental limitations, behavioural emphasis and habits.
String-Inspired Gravity through Symmetries

We study a string-inspired cosmological model from the symmetries point of view. We start by deducing the form that each physical quantity must take so that the field equations, in the string frame, admit self-similar solutions. In the same way, we formalize the use of power-law solutions (less restrictive than the self-similar ones) by studying the wave equation for the dilaton through the Lie group method. Furthermore, we show how to generate more solutions by using this approach. As examples, we calculate exact solutions to several cosmological models in the four-dimensional NS-NS (Neveu-Schwarz-Neveu-Schwarz) sector of low-energy effective string theory coupled to a dilaton and an axion-like H-field within the string frame background, with FRW and the Bianchi Type II metrics. We also study the existence of Noether symmetries, which allow us to determine the form of the physical quantities in the framework of FRW geometry and to find exact cosmological solutions.
Reconstructing the History of Early Communism and Armed Resistance in Romania

This article examines the role played by the armed resistance in Romania during the period of Sovietisation and Stalinisation (1944–1962) and its significance within the politics of memory and justice after 1989. One conclusion of the analysis is that opposing interpretations by political actors each in search of legitimacy correspond to attempts to manufacture plausible narratives of the specific historical discontinuity posed by the revolutionary break of 1989. A second conclusion reveals how memory and identity conflicts at group and individual levels can easily result in the translation of historical myths into enduring historical facts.
Improved reconstruction of non-cartesian magnetic resonance imaging data through total variation minimization and POCS optimization

In the article, an iterative reconstruction algorithm based on total variation minimization and POCS optimization for non-Cartesian K-space data is proposed. The proposed algorithm interpolates non-Cartesian data onto a 2D Cartesian grid using gridding method first, and then during the iterative process of total variation minimization, the frequency values on grid points near the measured data are replaced with the interpolated ones according to POCS. The experiments on simulated and real data show that the proposed method can reconstruct image more accurately and rapidly than constrained total variation minimization method.
Anatomic Variation of Sphenoid Sinus and Related Structures in Libyan Population: CT Scan Study

Background: Sphenoid sinus is the most inaccessible paranasal sinus, enclosed within the sphenoid bone and intimately related to numerous vital neural and vascular structures. Anatomic variation of the sphenoid sinus is well documented and may complicate surgery in such a place. Objective: To outline the surgically risky anatomic variants of the sphenoid sinus as well as the variable relationships between the sinus and related neurovascular structures, for the safe removal of intrasphenoid and pituitary lesions. Materials and Methods: We undertook a prospective review of 300 paranasal sinus CT scans of Libyan patients; coronal CT scans were obtained by special parameter techniques. We assessed pneumatization of pterygoid process (PP), anterior clinoid process (ACP), and greater wing of sphenoid (GWS); we also examined protrusion and dehiscence of internal carotid artery (ICA), optic nerve (ON), maxillary nerve (MN), and vidian nerve (VN) into the sphenoid sinus cavity. Results: Pneumatization of PP, ACP, and GWS were seen in 87 (29%), 46 (15.3%), and 60 patients (20%), respectively. Protrusion of ICA, ON, MN, and VN were noticed in 123 (41%), 107 (35.6%), 73 (24.3%), and 81 patients (27%), respectively; dehiscence of these structures was encountered in 90 (30%), 92 (30.6%), 39 (13%), and 111 patients (37%), respectively. Statistically, there was a highly significant association between ACP pneumatization and ICA protrusion, ACP pneumatization and ON protrusion, PP pneumatization and VN protrusion; and GWS pneumatization and MN protrusion (p-value < 0.001). Conclusion: The sphenoid sinus is highly variable; this variability necessitates a comprehensive understanding of the regional sphenoid sinus anatomy by a detailed CT scan sinus examination before surgery in and around the sinus. This study indicates the possibility of a racial anatomical variation of the sphenoid sinus in the Libyan population.
Protein pUL128 of Human Cytomegalovirus Is Necessary for Monocyte Infection and Blocking of Migration

ABSTRACT We have previously shown that only endotheliotropic strains of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), such as TB40E, infect monocytes and impair their chemokine-driven migration. The proteins encoded by the UL128-131A region (UL128, UL130, and UL131A) of the HCMV genome, which assemble into a pentameric gH-gL-UL128-UL130-UL131A envelope complex, have been recognized as determinants for HCMV endothelial cell tropism. The genes for these proteins are typically inactivated by mutations in all fibroblast-adapted strains that have lost the diversified tropism of clinical isolates. By using mutant HCMV reconstituted from TB40E-derived bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC) encoding a wild-type (wt) or mutated form of UL128, we show here that UL128-131A products are essential determinants of infection in monocytes and that pUL128, in particular, can block chemokine-driven motility. The virus BAC4, encoding wt UL128, established infection in monocytes, induced the intracellular retention of several chemokine receptors, and rendered monocytes unresponsive to different chemokines. In contrast, the virus BAC1, encoding a mutated UL128, failed to infect monocytes and to downregulate chemokine receptors. BAC1-exposed monocytes did not express immediate-early (IE) products, retained virions in cytoplasmic vesicles, and exhibited normal chemokine responsiveness. A potential role of second-site mutations in the observed phenotype was excluded by using the revertant viruses BAC1rep and BAC4mut. By incubating noninfected monocytes with soluble recombinant pUL128, we observed both the block of migration and the chemokine receptor internalization. We propose that among the gH-gL-UL128-UL130-UL131A complex subunits, the UL128 protein is the one that triggers monocyte paralysis.
Factorial Hidden Markov Models を用いた 部分観測データからの全身運動復元 Whole Motion Recovery from Partial Observation Data using Factorial Hidden Markov Models

This paper proposes a method to recover missing data during observation by factorial hidden Markov models (FHMMs). By combining the motion recognition from partial observation algorithm and the proto-symbol based duplication of observed motion algorithm, whole body motion imitation from partial observation can be achieved. The algorithm for missing data recovery uses the same basic strategy as the whole body motion imitation from partial observation, but requires more accurate spatial representability. FHMMs allow for more efficient representation of a continuous data sequence by distributed state representation compared to hidden Markov models (HMMs). The proposed algorithm is tested with human motion data and the experimental results show improved representability compared to the conventional HMMs.