Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fast Classification Rates for High-dimensional Gaussian Generative Models

We consider the problem of binary classification when the covariates conditioned on the each of the response values follow multivariate Gaussian distributions. We focus on the setting where the covariance matrices for the two conditional distributions are the same. The corresponding generative model classifier, derived via the Bayes rule, also called Linear Discriminant Analysis, has been shown to behave poorly in high-dimensional settings. We present a novel analysis of the classification error of any linear discriminant approach given conditional Gaussian models. This allows us to compare the generative model classifier, other recently proposed discriminative approaches that directly learn the discriminant function, and then finally logistic regression which is another classical discriminative model classifier. As we show, under a natural sparsity assumption, and letting s denote the sparsity of the Bayes classifier, p the number of covariates, and n the number of samples, the simple (l1-regularized) logistic regression classifier achieves the fast misclassification error rates of O (s log p/n), which is much better than the other approaches, which are either inconsistent under high-dimensional settings, or achieve a slower rate of O (√s log p/n).
Error Augmentation Enhancing Arm Recovery in Individuals With Chronic Stroke

Background. Neurorehabilitation studies suggest that manipulation of error signals during practice can stimulate improvement in coordination after stroke. Objective. To test visual display and robotic technology that delivers augmented error signals during training, in participants with stroke. Methods. A total of 26 participants with chronic hemiparesis were trained with haptic (via robot-rendered forces) and graphic (via a virtual environment) distortions to amplify upper-extremity (UE) tracking error. In a randomized crossover design, the intervention was compared with an equivalent amount of practice without error augmentation (EA). Interventions involved three 45-minute sessions per week for 2 weeks, then 1 week of no treatment, and then 2 additional weeks of the alternate treatment. A therapist provided a visual cursor using a tracking device, and participants were instructed to match it with their hand. Haptic and visual EA was used with blinding of participant, therapist, technician-operator, and evaluator. Clinical measures of impairment were obtained at the beginning and end of each 2-week treatment phase as well as at 1 week and at 45 days after the last treatment. Results. Outcomes showed a small, but significant benefit to EA training over simple repetitive practice, with a mean 2-week improvement in Fugl-Meyer UE motor score of 2.08 and Wolf Motor Function Test of timed tasks of 1.48 s. Conclusions. This interactive technology may improve UE motor recovery of stroke-related hemiparesis.
Copy Number Variants in Extended Autism Spectrum Disorder Families Reveal Candidates Potentially Involved in Autism Risk

Copy number variations (CNVs) are a major cause of genetic disruption in the human genome with far more nucleotides being altered by duplications and deletions than by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). In the multifaceted etiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), CNVs appear to contribute significantly to our understanding of the pathogenesis of this complex disease. A unique resource of 42 extended ASD families was genotyped for over 1 million SNPs to detect CNVs that may contribute to ASD susceptibility. Each family has at least one avuncular or cousin pair with ASD. Families were then evaluated for co-segregation of CNVs in ASD patients. We identified a total of five deletions and seven duplications in eleven families that co-segregated with ASD. Two of the CNVs overlap with regions on 7p21.3 and 15q24.1 that have been previously reported in ASD individuals and two additional CNVs on 3p26.3 and 12q24.32 occur near regions associated with schizophrenia. These findings provide further evidence for the involvement of ICA1 and NXPH1 on 7p21.3 in ASD susceptibility and highlight novel ASD candidates, including CHL1, FGFBP3 and POUF41. These studies highlight the power of using extended families for gene discovery in traits with a complex etiology.
Can high serum anti-Müllerian hormone levels predict the phenotypes of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and metabolic disturbances in PCOS patients?

Objective To evaluate correlations between serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels, phenotypes of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), obesity, and metabolic parameters in patients with PCOS. Methods A total of 175 patients with PCOS were diagnosed according to the Rotterdam Consensus were included. Exclusion criteria were age over 40, FSH>25 mIU/mL, and 17a-OHP>1.5 ng/mL. The Phenotypes of PCOS were divided into a severe form (oligo-anovulation, ANOV/hyperandrogenism/polycystic ovary morphology [PCOM]; n=59) and a mild form without HA (ANOV/PCOM, n=105). The serum AMH levels were classified into 3 groups (<5 vs. 5-10 vs. >10 ng/mL). Obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m2 (n=34). Results The mean age was 25.9±5.7 year and mean AMH level was 10.1±5.4 ng/mL. The BMI (kg/m2) was higher in group 1 (24.2±6.3) than in group 2 (21.9±4.3, p=0.046) or group 3 (21.6±3.3, p=0.019). There was no difference among the three groups in age, menstrual interval, antral follicle counts, androgens, or other metabolic parameters. The obesity group showed significantly lower AMH (7.7±3.9 ng/mL vs. 10.7±5.6 ng/mL), p=0.004) and low-density lipoprotein levels (93.1±21.2 mg/dL vs. 107.5±39.3 mg/dL, p=0.031), and showed higher total T (0.74±0.59 ng/mL vs. 0.47±0.36 ng/mL, p=0.001), free T (2.01±1.9 vs. 1.04±0.8 pg/mL, p=0.0001), and free androgen index (6.2±7.9 vs. 3.5±3.0, p=0.003). After controlling for age factors and BMI, the serum AMH levles did not show any significant correlations with other hormonal or metabolic parmeters. Conclusion For PCOS patients under the age 40, serum AMH is not negatively correlated with age. High serum AMH levels can not predict the phenotype of PCOS and metabolic disturbances in PCOS patients in the non-obese group. Further study might be needed to define the relation more clearly.
Research Statement

The main focus of my research is systems security. I seek to create solutions that solve important security issues affecting a large number of users. The goal of my work is to build security systems, deploy them in real-world environments, and perform experiments to characterize and explain their behavior. I believe that creating working systems that address real-world problems not only provides a great incentive for my research, but also allows for the necessary sanity checks of the results. With these goals in mind, I have also contributed to open-source projects and developed software artifacts that have been publicly released. I have always been fascinated by systems security research because it requires an intimate knowledge of many important computer science disciplines such as distributed systems, computer networks, operating systems, and also computer languages. This has allowed me to work on a variety of interesting topics. The following sections highlight some contributions in three areas in which I am active.
Penetration of different nanoparticles through melt-blown filter media used for respiratory protective devices

The appearance of new dangers in the form of harmful aerosols containing nanoparticles has necessitated work on ensuring effective protection of humans’ respiratory systems. So far, there is no uniform method, which would make it possible to classify filtering devices, for evaluating the efficiency of respiratory protective devices against nanoaerosols. The authors assessed the morphology of various nanoaerosols of NaCl, titanium dioxide in two forms, anatase and rutile, and aluminosilicate based on observations using a scanning microscope. Then the efficiency of filtration of meltblown fabrics with surface densities of 30, 50, 70, and 90 g/m2 against those nanoaerosols were tested. The experimental results were subjected to the theoretical analysis based on filtration theory. For all the fabric types, similar filtration efficiencies were obtained irrespective of the morphological structure of the nanoaerosol particles. The theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the experimental results. The conclusion is therefore drawn that equipment can be evaluated based on testing of filtration efficiency against any tested aerosols.
Pathfinder: multiresolution region-based searching of pathology images using IRM

The fast growth of digitized pathology slides has created great challenges in research on image database retrieval. The prevalent retrieval technique involves human-supplied text annotations to describe slide contents. These pathology images typically have very high resolution, making it difficult to search based on image content. In this paper, we present Pathfinder, an efficient multiresolution region-based searching system for high-resolution pathology image libraries. The system uses wavelets and the IRM (Integrated Region Matching) distance. Experiments with a database of 70,000 pathology image fragments have demonstrated high retrieval accuracy and high speed. The algorithm can be combined with our previously developed wavelet-based progressive pathology image transmission and browsing algorithm and is expandable for medical image databases.
Boosting Item Findability: Bridging the Semantic Gap between Search Phrases and Item Information

: Most search engines do their text query and retrieval based on keyword phrases. However, publishers cannot anticipate all possible ways in which users search for the items in their documents. In fact, many times, there may be no direct keyword match between a search phrase and descriptions of items that are perfect “hits” for the search. We present a highly automated solution to the problem of bridging the semantic gap between item information and search phrases. Our system can learn rule-based definitions that can be ascribed to search phrases with dynamic connotations by extracting structured item information from product catalogs and by utilizing a frequent itemset mining algorithm. We present experimental results for a realistic e-commerce domain. Also, we compare our rule-mining approach to vector-based relevance feedback retrieval techniques and show that our system yields definitions that are easier to validate and perform better.
Fracture toughness analysis of laser‐beam‐welded superalloys Inconel 718 and 625

In this study, two 3.2-mm thick Ni-base superalloys, Inconel 718 and 625, have been laser-beam-welded by a 6-kW CO 2 laser and their room temperature fracture toughness properties have been investigated. Fracture toughness behaviour of the base metal (BM), fusion zone (FZ) and heat affected zone (HAZ) regions was determined in terms of crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) using compact tension-type (C(T)) specimens. Laser-beam-weld regions showed no significant strength overmatching in both alloys. Ductile crack growth analysis (R-curve) also showed that both materials exhibited similar behaviour. Compared to the BM there is a slight decrease in fracture toughness of the fusion and the HAZ.
Structural Insights into the Mechanisms of Action of Short-Peptide HIV-1 Fusion Inhibitors Targeting the Gp41 Pocket

The deep hydrophobic pocket of HIV-1 gp41 has been considered a drug target, but short-peptides targeting this site usually lack potent antiviral activity. By applying the M-T hook structure, we previously generated highly potent short-peptide fusion inhibitors that specifically targeted the pocket site, such as MT-SC22EK, HP23L, and LP-11. Here, the crystal structures of HP23L and LP-11 bound to the target mimic peptide N36 demonstrated the critical intrahelical and interhelical interactions, especially verifying that the hook-like conformation was finely adopted while the methionine residue was replaced by the oxidation-less prone residue leucine, and that addition of an extra glutamic acid significantly enhanced the binding and inhibitory activities. The structure of HP23L bound to N36 with two mutations (E49K and L57R) revealed the critical residues and motifs mediating drug resistance and provided new insights into the mechanism of action of inhibitors. Therefore, the present data help our understanding for the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of HIV-1 fusion inhibitors and facilitate the development of novel antiviral drugs.
The Influence of Environmental Structures on International Digital Integration: A Theory of Embeddedness

The goal of this dissertation is to propose a theory of embeddedness and test it in the context of inter-organizational relationships. The theory argues that the structure of organizational relationships is determined by the setting in which they exist, and that this setting may be defined in terms of four inter-related dimensions: cognitive, cultural, structural and political. The study will investigate international inter-organizational relationships. This particular context adds to the complexity of the study by creating two environments in which the organizations are embedded.
The Review of New NDT Methods of Metal Material Fatigue Monitoring

Non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques have been employed in all kinds of fields successfully for many years. Newly developed and applied NDT methods of detecting and monitoring fatigue crack in metal material are reviewed in this paper. Some methods based on machine vision technique and image recognition techniques are introduced for at or near surface visible crack testing. As a newborn offspring of acoustic emission technique, electromagnetically induced acoustic emission methods also introduced for both visible and invisible fatigue cracks on metal structure. Nonlinear ultrasonic method and some other NDT methods presently available are mentioned, too. The principles, applied testing fields, data processing algorithms, advantages and disadvantages of these methods are discussed.
Evidence‐based practice for the busy nurse practitioner: Part four: Putting it all together

Purpose: Understanding the critical appraisal process allows nurse practitioners (NPs) to determine a study's reliability, validity, and applicability to their client(s)/families, and to their clinical practice setting. The purpose of this final part of this four‐part evidence‐based practice (EBP) series is designed to utilize a clinical scenario that will walk the NP through EBP steps 1 through 3 while providing an example of how to critically appraise a randomized control trial. Data sources: Scientific literature review, gray literature, PubMed and other online literature databases and resources, and online EBP websites. Conclusions: As healthcare providers, our role is to provide the best possible care we can to our client(s) and their families. One way to do this is through the utilization of the EBP process. When EBP processes are integrated into our clinical practice settings it augments the existing provider–client relationship and shared decision‐making process. Implications for practice: It is hoped that this four‐part series enhanced NPs' understanding of the EBP processes of developing a clinical inquiry, searching for the best evidence, critically appraising the evidence, and integrating EBP into clinical practice.
Pathological Prion Protein in the Tongues of Sheep Infected with Naturally Occurring Scrapie

ABSTRACT Tongue involvement by prion spreading was shown to be a common outcome after oral or intracranial experimental challenge with scrapie and transmissible mink encephalopathy sources in rodent models. It is also known that bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which is pathogenic for humans, is experimentally transmissible to sheep and can lead to a disease indistinguishable from scrapie. A recent European Food Safety Authority opinion recommended research into PrPsc accumulation in the tongues of ruminants. We report on the detection of PrPsc in the tongues of seven scrapie-infected sheep by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting.
Effect of Sintering Temperature on Mechanical Properties of Electrospun Silica Nanofibers

Mechanical Properties of materials depend upon the crystal structure, presence of dislocations and slip planes in the unit cells. Nano-structures due to its nano scale size are expected to have defect free unit cells and hence posses very good mechanical properties. Electrospinning provides simple and cost effective means to produce nanofibers on a mass scale. These electrospun nanofibers could be subsequently used in woven composites to improve interlaminar properties. This paper addresses manufacturing of silica nanofibers by electrospinning and effect of sintering temperature on properties of these fibers. Electrospinning produces nanofibers by stretching liquid droplet emanating from spinnerate under the combined action of Columbic forces due to applied voltage and repulsion of charged ions. When the formed electrospun silica nanofibers are sintered at different temperatures, there is variation SiO2 content due to evaporation of solvents. This results into variation in the mechanical properties of electrospun silica nanofibers based on the sintering temperature. Differential Scanning Calorimetric (DSC) studies are carried out to relate variation in SiO2 content with sintering temperature. The mechanical properties of these electrospun fibers under various sintering temperatures are ascertained by evaluating their performance of composite laminates with electrospun interlaminate layers. © 2008 ASME
Response Inhibition and Response Selection: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Response inhibition refers to the suppression of actions that are inappropriate in a given context and that interfere with goal-driven behavior. Studies using a range of methodological approaches have implicated executive control processes mediated by frontal-subcortical circuits as being critical to response inhibition; however, localization within the frontal lobe has been inconsistent. In this review, we present evidence from behavioral, lesion, neuroimaging, electrophysiology, and neurological population studies. The findings lay the foundation for a construct in which response inhibition is akin to response selection, such that pre-SMA circuits are critical to selection of appropriate behavior, including both selecting to engage appropriate motor responses and selecting to withhold (inhibit) inappropriate motor responses. Recruitment of additional prefrontal and posterior cortical circuits, necessary to guide response selection, varies depending on the cognitive and behavioral demands of the task.
Scalable cache memory design for large-scale SMT architectures

The cache hierarchy design in existing SMT and superscalar processors is optimized for latency, but not for band-width. The size of the L1 data cache did not scale over the past decade. Instead, larger unified L2 and L3 caches were introduced. This cache hierarchy has a high overhead due to the principle of containment. It also has a complex design to maintain cache coherence across all levels. Furthermore, this cache hierarchy is not suitable for future large-scale SMT processors, which will demand high bandwidth instruction and data caches with a large number of ports.This paper suggests the elimination of the cache hierarchy and replacing it with one-level caches for instruction and data. Multiple instruction caches can be used in parallel to scale the instruction fetch bandwidth and the overall cache capacity. A one-level data cache can be split into a number of block-interleaved cache banks to serve multiple memory requests in parallel. An interconnect is used to connect the data cache ports to the different cache banks, thus increasing the data cache access time. This paper shows that large-scale SMTs can tolerate long data cache hit times. It also shows that small line buffers can enhance the performance and reduce the required number of ports to the banked data cache memory.
Time-aware Reasoning in Uncertain Knowledge Bases

Time information is ubiquitous on the Web, and considering temporal constraints among facts extracted from the Web is key for high-precision query answering over time-variant factual data. In this paper, we present a simple and efficient representation model for time- dependent uncertainty in combination with first-order inference rules and recursive queries over RDF-like knowledge bases. In the spirit of data lineage, the intensional (i.e., rule-based) structure of query answers is reflected by Boolean formulas that capture the logical dependencies of each derived answer fact back to its extensional roots (i.e., base facts). Our approach incorporates simple weight aggregations for begin, end and during evidences for base facts, but also generalizes the common possible- worlds semantics known from probabilistic databases to histogram-like confidence distributions for derived facts. In particular, we show that adding time to the latter probabilistic setting adds only a light overhead in comparison to a time-unaware probabilistic setting.
Cocirculation of Antigenic Variants and the Vaccine-Type Virus during the 2004-2005 Influenza B Virus Epidemics in Japan

ABSTRACT In the 2004-2005 season, there was a large epidemic of the influenza B virus Yamagata group in Kobe, Japan. In hemagglutination inhibition tests, most of the clinical isolates from Kobe showed antigenicities similar to those of previous isolates (the vaccine-type virus). Only a few antigenic variants were isolated around the peak of the epidemic; however, Kobe residents developed antibodies against the variants during the season. The antigenic variants showed a one-point mutation of a nucleotide in the HA1 gene (C440A or G421A), which resulted in the substitution of one amino acid in the 150 loop of the HA molecule (T147N or G141R). The 150 loop is one of four epitopes of the hemagglutinin molecule of the influenza B virus. We established a system to detect one-point differences in the nucleotides of the 150 loop by means of high-resolution melting curve analysis with LCGreen. With this system, the isolates were determined to be the vaccine-type virus, antigenic variants, or a mixture of both. Some isolates were shown to be mixtures although they had been recognized as the vaccine-type virus with the hemagglutination inhibition tests. Thus, the antigenic variants appeared in the early period of the epidemic and were cocirculating with the vaccine-type virus during the epidemic.