Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring the X‐ray spectral variability of MCG–6‐30‐15 with XMM–Newton

We present a study of the spectral variability of the Seyfert I galaxy MCG‐6-30-15 based on the two long XMM‐Newton observations from 2000 and 2001. The X‐ray spectrum and variability properties of the 2001 data have previously been well described with a two-component model consisting of a variable power-law and a much less variable reflection component, containing a broad relativistic iron line from the accretion disc around a rapidly rotating Kerr black hole. The lack of variability of the reflection component has been interpreted as an effect of strong gravitational light bending very close to the central black hole. Using an improved reflection model, we fit the two-component model to time-resolved spectra of both observations. Assuming that the photon index of the power law is constant, we reconfirm the old result and show that this does not depend on the time-scale of the analysis.
A Joint Model for Normalizing Gene and Organism Mentions in Text

The aim of gene mention normalization is to propose an appropriate canonical name, or an identifier from a popular database, for a gene or a gene product mentioned in a given piece of text. The task has attracted a lot of research attention for several organisms under the assumption that both the mention boundaries and the target organism are known. Here we extend the task to also recognizing whether the gene mention is valid and to finding the organism it is from. We solve this extended task using a joint model for gene and organism name normalization which allows for instances from different organisms to share features, thus achieving sizable performance gains with different learning methods: Naive Bayes, Maximum Entropy, Perceptron and MIRA, as well as averaged versions of the last two. The evaluation results for our joint classifier show F1 score of over 97%, which proves the potential of the approach.
Wheel Torque Control in Rough Terrain - Modeling and Simulation

This paper presents a method for wheel-ground contact angle measurement and a traction control strategy minimizing slip in rough terrain. The slip minimization algorithm has been tested and compared with a standard speed control in simulation, which allows to verify the validity of the assumptions taken during the modeling phase. The simulations show clearly the advantage of torque control versus speed control. Furthermore, the proposed method has the advantage to avoid relying on complex wheel-soil interaction models, whose parameters are generally unknown in challenging terrains.
Effect of Education on Stress of Exposure to Sharps Among Nurses in Emergency and Trauma Care Wards

Background: Health care services can cause injuries to medical staff. One of these injuries is exposure to needle-sticks. This can result in the transmission of blood-borne diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis B; the staff undergo continuous stress. Thus, it is necessary to use some method to reduce this stress. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of education based on the stabilization model on stress induced exposure to needle sticks among nurses working in emergency and trauma wards. Patients and Methods: This Quast- Experiental Study was performed on 35 nurses working in emergency and trauma wards of our hospital in October-December 2013. Data were collected using a two-part questionnaire; Reliability and validity of the questionnaire were confirmed (α = 0. 92 and ICC = 0.94). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. The one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, independent t-test and paired sample t-test were also used. Results: The mean and standard deviation of stress experienced by nurses before and after the intervention were 64.94 ± 15.67 and 43.91 ± 10.73, respectively. Findings indicated that education decrease needle stick stress in nurses significantly (P < 0.001). Conclusions: According to the results of this study, the stress level induced due to needle-stick exposure and its complications is high and interventions for reduction are essential.
Lung volume reduction surgery versus conservative treatment in severe emphysema.

Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) has been proposed for patients with severe emphysema to improve dyspnoea and pulmonary function. It is unknown, however, whether prognosis and pulmonary function in these patients can be improved compared to conservative treatment. The effect of LVRS and conservative therapy were compared prospectively in 57 patients with emphysema, who fulfilled the standard criteria for LVRS. The patients were divided into two groups according to their own decision. Patients in group 1 (n=29, eight females, mean+/-SEM 58.8+/-1.7 yrs, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) 27.6+/-1.3% of the predicted value) underwent LVRS. Patients in group 2 (n=28, five females, 58.5+/-1.8 yrs, FEV1 30.8+/-1.4% pred) preferred to postpone LVRS. There were no significant differences in lung function between the two groups at baseline; however, there was a tendency towards better functional status in the control group. The control group had a better modified Medical Research Council (MMRC) dyspnea score (3.1+/-0.15 versus 3.5+/-0.1, p<0.04). Model-based comparisons were used to estimate the differences between the two groups over 18 months. Significant improvements were observed in the LVRS group compared to the control group in FEV1, total lung capacity (TLC), Residual volume (RV), MMRC dyspnea score and 6-min walking distance on all follow up visits. The estimated difference in FEV1 was 33% (95% confidence interval 13-58%; p>0.0001), in TLC 12.9% (7.9-18.8%; p>0.0001), in RV 60.9% 32.6-89.2%; p>0.0001), in 6-min walking distance 230 m (138-322 m; p<0.002) and in MMRC dyspnoea score 1.17 (0.79-1.55; p<0.0001). In conclusion, lung volume reduction surgery is more effective than conservative treatment for the improvement of dyspnoea, lung function and exercise capacity in selected patients with severe emphysema.
news recommendations credibility : The tie is mightier than the source

In this paper, we wish to examine the perceived credibility of news items shared through Social Networking Sites (SNS) – specifically, as a function of tie strength and perceived credibility of the media source from which the content originated. We utilized a between-subjects design. The Facebook account of each participant (N=217) was analyzed. Based on this analysis, our participants were shown a fictitious Facebook post that was presumably shared by one of their Facebook friends with whom they had either a strong social tie (experiment group), or a weak social tie (control group). All recipients were then asked about their perceptions regarding the news source (from which the item presumably originated), and their perception regarding the credibility of the presented item. Our findings indicate that the strength of the social tie between the sharer of the item and its recipient mediates the effect of the credibility perception regarding the news source, and the perceived item credibility, as well as the likelihood of searching for additional information regarding the topic presented in the shared item. RESUMEN Se examina en este trabajo la credibilidad percibida de las noticias compartidas a través de los sitios de redes sociales (RRSS), específicamente, en función de la fuerza de enlace y la credibilidad percibida de la fuente de los medios de la cual se originó el contenido. Utilizamos un diseño entre sujetos. Se analizó la cuenta de Facebook de cada participante (N=217). Sobre la base de este análisis, a nuestros participantes se les mostró una publicación ficticia de Facebook que supuestamente fue compartida por uno de sus amigos de Facebook con los que tenían un vínculo social fuerte (grupo experimental) o un vínculo social débil (grupo de control). Luego se les preguntó a todos los destinatarios acerca de sus percepciones con respecto a la fuente de noticias (de la cual se supone que se originó el artículo), y su percepción con respecto a la credibilidad del artículo presentado. Nuestros hallazgos indican que la fuerza del vínculo social entre el que comparte el elemento y su destinatario media el efecto de la percepción de credibilidad con respecto a la fuente de noticias, y la credibilidad percibida del elemento, así como la posibilidad de buscar información adicional sobre el tema presentado en el elemento compartido.
Video Coding Without Motion Compensation Using a 3-D Dual-Tree Wavelet Transform

This paper explores the use of a recently introduced 3-D dual-tree discrete wavelet transform (DDWT) for video coding. The 3-D DDWT is an attractive video representation because it isolates motion along different directions in separate subbands. However, it is an overcomplete transform with 8:1 or 4:1 redundancy. Based on the effectiveness of the iterative projectionbased noise shaping scheme proposed by Kingsbury on reducing the number of coefficients, and the investigation about the correlation between subbands at the same spatial/temporal location, both in the significance map and in actual coefficient values, a new video coding scheme using 3D DDWT is proposed. The proposed video codec does not require motion compensation and provides better performance than 3D SPIHT, both objectively and subjectively, despite the fact that the raw number of coefficients resulting from the 3-D DDWT is much more than that of the conventional 3-D DWT. The proposed coder allows full scalability in spatial, temporal and quality dimensions.
Informed Trading in Stock and Option Markets 1

We investigate how much price discovery occurs in the option market, and how much in the underlying stock market, using the technique suggested by Hasbrouck (1995). This approach decomposes observed prices into a permanent, random-walk component interpreted as the implied efficient price, and a temporary component due to temporary mispricing or order imbalances. A market’s share of price discovery is then defined as the proportion of innovations to the efficient price occurring in each market. The analysis is based on transactions data from ISSM and the Berkeley Options Data Base, for a sample of sixty stocks over a period of five years (1988–1992). In addition, we investigate cross-sectional and time-series variation in the amount of price discovery in option markets. Across firms in our sample, the information share attributable to the option market is about 17%, with estimates for individual firms ranging from about 12% to about 23%. We find evidence that more price discovery occurs in the option market when option volume is higher and stock volume is lower, and when option effective spreads are narrower and stock effective spreads are wider. In the cross-section, option market price discovery appears to be greater for high-volatility stocks; however, it tends to be lower on days of extreme positive or negative excess returns.
Explorer Visual Information in Semantic Representation

The question of how meaning might be acquired by young children and represented by adult speakers of a language is one of the most debated topics in cognitive science. Existing semantic representation models are primarily amodal based on information provided by the linguistic input despite ample evidence indicating that the cognitive system is also sensitive to perceptual information. In this work we exploit the vast resource of images and associated documents available on the web and develop a model of multimodal meaning representation which is based on the linguistic and visual context. Experimental results show that a closer correspondence to human data can be obtained by taking the visual modality into account.
Sync HotStuff: Simple and Practical Synchronous State Machine Replication

Synchronous solutions for Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) can tolerate up to minority faults. In this work, we present Sync HotStuff, a surprisingly simple and intuitive synchronous BFT solution that achieves consensus with a latency of 2Δ in the steady state (where Δ is a synchronous message delay upper bound). In addition, Sync HotStuff ensures safety in a weaker synchronous model in which the synchrony assumption does not have to hold for all replicas all the time. Moreover, Sync HotStuff has optimistic responsiveness, i.e., it advances at network speed when less than one-quarter of the replicas are not responding. Borrowing from practical partially synchronous BFT solutions, Sync HotStuff has a two-phase leader-based structure, and has been fully prototyped under the standard synchrony assumption. When tolerating a single fault, Sync HotStuff achieves a throughput of over 280 Kops/sec under typical network performance, which is comparable to the best known partially synchronous solution.
The Impact of Potential Land Cover Misclassification on MODIS Leaf Area Index (LAI) Estimation: A Statistical Perspective

Understanding the impact of vegetation mixture and misclassification on leaf area index (LAI) estimation is crucial for algorithm development and the application community. Using the MODIS standard land cover and LAI products, global LAI climatologies and statistics were obtained for both pure and mixed pixels to evaluate the effects of biome mixture on LAI estimation. Misclassification between crops and shrubs does not generally translate into large LAI errors (<0.37 or 27.0%), partly due to their relatively lower LAI values. Biome misclassification generally leads to an LAI overestimation for savanna, but an underestimation for forests. The largest errors caused by misclassification are also found for savanna (0.51), followed by evergreen needleleaf forests (0.44) and broadleaf forests (~0.31). Comparison with MODIS uncertainty indicators show that biome misclassification is a major factor contributing to LAI uncertainties for savanna, while for forests, the main uncertainties may be introduced by algorithm deficits, especially in summer. The LAI climatologies for pure pixels are recommended for land surface modeling studies. Future studies should focus on improving the biome classification for savanna systems and refinement of the retrieval algorithms for forest biomes.
ATERIAL OF SCOPS : Self-Supervised Co-Part Segmentation

2. Optimization Objectives In the proposed method, we train the part segmentation network and the semantic part basis with several loss functions, including geometric concentration loss Lc, equivariance loss Leqv and semantic consistency loss Lsc, with orthonomal constraint Lot. The final objective function is a linear combination of these loss functions, Lall = λcLc + λeqvLeqv + λscLsc + λotLot. (1)
Vertical Guided Bone Regeneration using Titanium-reinforced d-PTFE Membrane and Prehydrated Corticocancellous Bone Graft

Guided bone regeneration (GBR) standard protocols call for filling the space underneath the membrane with autogenous bone or a mixture composed of autogenous bone particles and allogeneic bone tissue or heterologous biomaterials. This work describes the case of a GBR performed to restore a vertical bone defect with simultaneous placement of a dental implant in the posterior mandible that was carried out using a high density d-PTFE membrane and corticocancellous porcine-derived bone without the addition of any autogenous bone. Bone regeneration was assessed by histological analysis of a biopsy sample collected from the grafted site nine months after the surgery. Intraoral radiographs taken at follow-up visits showed complete maintenance of the peri-implant bone levels for up to two years after prosthesis delivery. The regenerated site successfully supported functional loading of the implant. The present case report suggests that the use of a heterologous bone substitute alone to restore a vertical defect in a GBR procedure can be as effective as the standard protocol, while avoiding the drawbacks associated with a second surgical site opening.
Gradient preemphasis calibration in diffusion‐weighted echo‐planar imaging

This article describes a method which enables fast and objective pulse‐sequence‐specific preemphasis calibration, using standard pulse sequences and system hardware. The method is based on a k‐space measurement technique, and has been applied to single‐shot, diffusion‐weighted, spin‐echo, echo‐planar imaging (DW‐SE‐EPI), which is particularly sensitive to eddy‐current‐induced image distortions. The efficiency of the technique was demonstrated not only by the reduction of eddy‐current fields to a negligible level using full preemphasis compensation, but also by the fact that adjustment of the slow time‐base alone sufficed for the practical elimination of image distortions in the DW‐SE‐EPI images and the subsequent diffusion tensor maps (in a phantom and a human brain). By seeking to eliminate directly the effect of eddy‐current‐induced phase shifts during the EPI data collection, the method is free of the complications and restrictions associated with other eddy‐current correction techniques for DW‐SE‐EPI (such as acquisition of additional calibration scans, intense postprocessing, extensive pulse‐sequence modifications), making their use redundant. Magn Reson Med 44:616–624, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
DOES DISCOURSE-NEW DETECTION HELP DEFINITE DESCRIPTION RESOLUTION ?

Recent results by Ng and Cardie (2002a) challenge the idea–advanced, e.g., by Vieira and Poesio (2000)–that including methods for identifying discourse new descriptions in an anaphoric resolver leads to better results. In previous work we analyzed the literature on discourse-new detection that followed Vieira and Poesio’s original work, and identified a set of features that appear to be present in all this work. In this paper, we discuss the results obtained by augmenting an existing anaphora resolution system with a statistical discourse-new detector using these features. Our dn classifier achieves F= 90.6 on the discourse new classification task; incorporating this classifier into our existing system results in a significant improvement (from F=79.6 to F=82.4 on hand-annotated text).
Micronutrient Deficiencies Are Common in 6- to 8-Year-Old Children of Rural Nepal, with Prevalence Estimates Modestly Affected by Inflammation12

Subclinical micronutrient deficiencies remain a hidden aspect of malnutrition for which comprehensive data are lacking in school-aged children. We assessed the micronutrient status of Nepalese children, aged 6 to 8 y, born to mothers who participated in a community-based antenatal micronutrient supplementation trial from 1999 to 2001. Of 3305 participants, plasma indicators were assessed in a random sample of 1000 children. Results revealed deficiencies of vitamins A (retinol <0.70 μmol/L, 8.5%), D (25-hydroxyvitamin D <50 nmol/L, 17.2%), E (α-tocopherol <9.3 μmol/L, 17.9%), K (decarboxy prothombin >2 μg/L, 20%), B-12 (cobalamin <150 pmol/L, 18.1%), B-6 [pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP) <20 nmol/L, 43.1%], and β-carotene (41.5% <0.09 μmol/L), with little folate deficiency (6.2% <13.6 nmol/L). Deficiencies of iron [ferritin <15 μg/L, 10.7%; transferrin receptor (TfR) >8.3 mg/L, 40.1%; TfR:ferritin >500 μg/μg, 14.3%], iodine (thyroglobulin >40 μg/L, 11.4%), and selenium (plasma selenium <0.89 μmol/L, 59.0%) were observed, whereas copper deficiency was nearly absent (plasma copper <11.8 μmol/L, 0.7%). Hemoglobin was not assessed. Among all children, 91.7% experienced at least 1 micronutrient deficiency, and 64.7% experienced multiple deficiencies. Inflammation (α-1 acid glycoprotein >1 g/L, C-reactive protein >5 mg/L, or both) was present in 31.6% of children, affecting the prevalence of deficiency as assessed by retinol, β-carotene, PLP, ferritin, TfR, selenium, copper, or having any or multiple deficiencies. For any nutrient, population deficiency prevalence estimates were altered by ≤5.4% by the presence of inflammation, suggesting that the majority of deficiencies exist regardless of inflammation. Multiple micronutrient deficiencies coexist in school-aged children in rural Nepal, meriting more comprehensive strategies for their assessment and prevention.
Application layer ddos detection using clustering analysis

Many methods were designed in previous literatures to protect systems from IP and TCP layers distributed denial of service attacks instead of the application layer. However, they will not work well any more when encountering with application layer distributed denial of service. We will introduce clustering method to analysis application layer ddos in this paper. To capture users' browsing behavior, we cluster users' sessions. We consider bots' browsing behavior as abnormally behavior. That is, different from normal human behavior. We first extract four features from session to cluster users sessions-average size of objects requested in the session, request rate, average popularity of all objects in the session, average transition probability. Then, we use large amount of legitimate request sequence to get normal user browsing behavior models. Finally, conduct simulation experiments with attack dataset to validate the models.
The Swedish PFs-Star Multimodal Corpora

In this thesis, different aspects concerning how to make synthetic talking faces more expressive have been studied. How can we collect data for the studies, how is the lip articulation affected by expressive speech, can the recorded data be used interchangeably in different face models, can we use eye movements in the agent for communicative purposes? The work of this thesis includes studies of these questions and also an experiment using a talking head as a complement to a targeted audio device, in order to increase the intelligibility of the speech. The data collection described in the first paper resulted in two multimodal speech corpora. In the following analysis of the recorded data it could be stated that expressive modes strongly affect the speech articulation, although further studies are needed in order to acquire more quantitative results and to cover more phonemes and expressions as well as to be able to generalise the results to more than one individual. When switching the files containing facial animation parameters (FAPs) between different face models (as well as research sites), some problematic issues were encountered despite the fact that both face models were created according to the MPEG-4 standard. The evaluation test of the implemented emotional expressions showed that best recognition results were obtained when the face model and FAP-file originated from the same site. The perception experiment where a synthetic talking head was combined with a targeted audio, parametric loudspeaker showed that the virtual face augmented the intelligibility of speech, especially when the sound beam was directed slightly to the side of the listener i. e. at lower sound intesities. In the experiment with eye gaze in a virtual talking head, the possibility of achieving mutual gaze with the observer was assessed. The results indicated that it is possible, but also pointed at some design features in the face model that need to be altered in order to achieve a better control of the perceived gaze direction.
Simulation Study of Thin-Body Ballistic n-MOSFETs Involving Transport in Mixed $\Gamma$-L Valleys

Transistor designs based on using mixed Γ-L valleys for electron transport are proposed to overcome the density of states bottleneck while maintaining high injection velocities. Using a self-consistent top-of-the-barrier transport model, improved current density over Si is demonstrated in GaAs/AlAsSb, GaSb/AlAsSb, and Ge-on-insulator-based single-gate thin-body n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors. All the proposed designs successively begin to outperform strained-Si-on-insulator and InAs-on-insulator (InAs-OI) in terms of ON-state currents as the effective oxide thickness is reduced below 0.7 nm. InAs-OI still exhibits the lowest intrinsic delay (τ) due to its single Γ valley.