Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High serum selenium levels are associated with increased risk for diabetes mellitus independent of central obesity and insulin resistance

Objective Selenium is an essential micronutrient for human health. Although many observational and interventional studies have examined the associations between selenium and diabetes mellitus, the findings were inconclusive. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum selenium levels and prevalence of diabetes, and correlated the relationship to insulin resistance and central obesity. Research design and methods This was a hospital-based case–control study of 847 adults aged more than 40 years (diabetes: non-diabetes =1:2) in Northern Taiwan. Serum selenium was measured by an inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer. The association between serum selenium and diabetes was examined using multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results After adjusting for age, gender, current smoking, current drinking, and physical activity, the ORs (95% CI, p value) of having diabetes in the second (Q2), third (Q3), and fourth (Q4) selenium quartile groups were 1.24 (95% CI 0.78 to 1.98, p>0.05), 1.90 (95% CI 1.22 to 2.97, p<0.05), and 5.11 (95% CI 3.27 to 8.00, p<0.001), respectively, compared with the first (Q1) quartile group. Further adjustments for waist circumference and homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) largely removed the association of serum selenium levels with diabetes but not in the highest quartile (compared with Q1, Q3: 1.57, 95% CI 0.91 to 2.70, Q4: 3.79, 95% CI 2.17 to 6.32). Conclusions We found that serum selenium levels were positively associated with prevalence of diabetes. This is the first human study to link insulin resistance and central obesity to the association between selenium and diabetes. Furthermore, the association between selenium and diabetes was independent of insulin resistance and central obesity at high serum selenium levels. The mechanism behind warrants further confirmation.
Multi-frequency sparse Bayesian learning with uncertainty models

Sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) has emerged as a fast and competitive method to perform sparse processing. The SBL algorithm, which is developed using a Bayesian framework, approximately solves a non-convex optimization problem using fixed point updates. It provides comparable performance and is significantly faster than convex optimization techniques used in sparse processing. In this paper we propose signal model which accounts for dictionary mismatch and the presence of spurious peaks at low signal-to-noise ratios. As an extension of SBL, modified fixed point update equation is derived which incorporates the statistics of mismatch and spurious peaks. We also extend the SBL algorithm to process multi-frequency observations. The derived update equations are studied quantitatively using beamforming simulations applied to direction-of-arrival (DoA) estimation. Performance of SBL using single frequency and multi-frequency observations, and in the presence of aliasing is evaluated. Data collected from the SwellEx-96 experiment is used to demonstrate qualitatively the advantages of SBL.
Maximizing lifetime in clustered WSNs with energy harvesting relay: Profiling and modeling

Inspired by clustering and energy harvesting techniques, we study multiple-cluster wireless sensor networks with energy harvesting (EH) sensors serving as relay for cluster heads. In this paper, we derive the model for realistic energy harvesting rate. Then we propose distributed matching algorithm for EHs to serve as relay for CHs. The proposed algorithm could find optimal/near-optimal CH-EH matching in short time and still achieve good performance. We evaluate the performance of our method through theoretical analysis as well as simulation.
Information Theoretic Criterion for Stopping Turbo Iteration

Most existing stopping criteria for turbo decoding have their root in hypothesis test, requiring a subjective threshold for decision making. A consequence is that the turbo decoding receiver so-constructed can converge at high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) but fails at low SNRs, thereby calling for a new design philosophy for stopping criteria. In this correspondence, the problem is tackled in the framework of information theoretic criterion, which enables the turbo decoding to properly work in a changing SNR environment. Numerical results are presented for illustrating the good performance of the proposed method.
Excuse Me Ma'am? That's Sir to You!: Perceptions of Butch Privilege in Contemporary Society

This work focuses on perceptions of butch privilege in the undergraduate student body at Georgia State University. Butch privilege is similar to traditional definitions of privilege, whether male, white or heterosexual. I define it as the unearned and unacknowledged privilege experienced by a butch lesbian (perceived or self-identified) due to her occupation of masculinity. In order to investigate this topic, an exploratory quantitative analysis of how perceptions of masculinity and status are associated with butch privilege was conducted. A survey consisting of questions regarding participants’ perceptions of how differential privileges are extended to masculine and feminine looking women were presented to undergraduate students during introductory sociology classes. I found that the privileges traditionally reserved for white males in society are perceived to be extended to white butch lesbians due to their occupation of masculinity.
Designing a System for Real-Time Software Development Management

The goal of our research project (the EASE project) is to establish Empirical Software Engineering, a development approach based on scientiﬁc evidence, in the ﬁeld of software development where there are many issues regarding reliability and productivity. We have been developing a computational environment for supporting practical software process improvement. This paper describes Empirical Project Monitor (EPM) which is an automatic data collection and analysis system. EPM automatically collects and measures history data accumulated during everyday software development activities. By providing graphical views of measurement results, EPM helps developers and managers keep their projects under control in real time without additional work.
Practical considerations on end-to-end cellular/PWLAN architecture in support of bilateral roaming

To offer a more efficient wireless data access service than 2G/2.5G/3G networks, public WLAN (PWLAN) stands in a predominant position to embrace the wireless broadband era. Reusing existing mechanisms for user authentication, access control, billing and roaming handling procedures in the mobile territory to construct a complementary network, PWLAN attracts the attention of cellular operators. We investigate a practical end-to-end PWLAN architecture capable of using 2G/3G SIM-based authentication for current mobile users and of simultaneously carrying out Web-based authentication for ordinary users without SIMs (subscriber identity modules). Additionally, we give consideration to confederating various wireless Internet service providers (WISPs) by the RADIUS based roaming mechanism and leverage the existing cellular resource. The proposed considerations and guidelines provide a baseline skeleton for building an extendable and flexible cellular/PWLAN architecture.
Underdetermined Source Separation for Non-Stationary Signal

This paper proposes a new blind source separation (BSS) technique for underdetermined MIMO system using space-time-frequency distributions. The sparseness in time-frequency domain is exploited for underdetermined BSS. The paper also proposed a new detection technique for auto sources time-frequency points, which is incorporated into the BSS technique. The proposed BSS technique applicable to the situations where sources' time-frequency signatures overlap at certain points in the time-frequency plane and even in situations where there are sources with multicomponent signals. In these situations, where time-frequency planes cannot be partitioned (masked) into groups of fewer or equal number sources than antennas, the existing overdetermined time-frequency BSS techniques could not be applied. Simulation results are included to show its effectiveness.
Brand orientation and financial performance nexus

The aim of the article was to find nexus between brand orientation and financial performance in companies doing business in Serbia. We surveyed general managers, marketing managers, and brand managers in order to examine their views on the brand orientation dimensions of their companies. We matched the survey results with financial performance of those companies (EBITDA margin) in order to find linkages between these variables. We got expected results in the sense that strong brand orientation and weaker brand barriers lead to better financial performance. Overall brand orientation is significantly positively correlated with EBITDA margin, and brand barriers are significantly negatively correlated with that measure. We analysed the brand orientation and brand barriers between groups of companies classified according to their size, internationalization, origin of company ownership, origin of brand, specific business area of key brands and type of goods sold. Interestingly, there are undoubted differences in brand orientation and brand barriers only between foreign and domestic companies. These differences could be seen as one of the main reasons of differences between their EBITDA margins. Also, we saw some differences in brand orientation in case of companies with international brands in relation to companies with domestic brands, but those differences are fewer and smaller. We did not find any other statistically significant difference. The significance of the paper is in emphasizing that development of brand orientation of domestic companies could lead to improvement of their profitability and competitiveness.
Evaluation of Aimhigher: Excellence Challenge: economic evaluation of opportunity bursaries

This paper looks at the impact of Opportunity Bursaries on young adults who received payments in 2001-02 and 2002-03. Both linear regression and propensity score matching techniques are used to compare to outcomes of individuals in receipt of an Opportunity Bursary with those who were eligible for the policy but not able to receive it since only a limited number were available. We find some evidence that the policy has lead to increased retention in the first year of university study - using a linear regression technique we find a statistically significant increase of 2.6 percentage points while using propensity score matching we find an increase of 1.6 percentage points, although this latter result was not statistically significant at conventional levels. We also find some evidence that receipt of an Opportunity Bursary led to lower levels of debt - in particular 'liquid debt' defined as bank overdrafts or credit card debt. The evidence suggests that the majority of the £1,500 that will have been paid to recipients by the time of our survey has been spent which is consistent with students facing credit constraints. The fact that they will receive a further £500 in the following year, and that their lower levels of debt may enable them to borrow more if needed, suggests that those in receipt of an Opportunity Bursary should be better placed to complete their course. Opportunity Bursaries are also found to be associated with lower average parental financial support. An assessment of whether the benefits of the policy in terms of increased lifetime wages are sufficient to justify the total £2,000 Opportunity Bursary payments and the loss of wages while additional individuals choose to attend Higher Education is not possible without an estimate of the increase in numbers completing Higher Education as a result of receiving an Opportunity Bursary. However a simple cost benefit calculation suggests that to justify Opportunity Bursaries on the sole basis of the increased (gross) wages of those who complete Higher Education as a direct result of the policy would require the policy to increase Higher Education completion among those eligible for the policy by at least 2.7% if the required rate of return was 2½% a year. The required impact of the policy on those eligible for it is estimated to rise to 3.5% if the required rate of return was 3½% and 5.1% if the required real rate of return was 5% a year.
Scaling methods for categorical self-assessed health measures

The lack of a continuous health valuation is a major drawback in health analyses over broad populations. The use of categorical health variables to estimate a continuous health variable is an usual procedure in healthstudies. The most common approaches (ordered probit/logit model and interval regression model) do not admit any skewness in the distribution of health. In the present study a new procedure is suggested, that is attaching a log-normal distribution to health values. Different scaling procedures have been compared, with data obtained from the Catalan Health Survey (2006). The validity of the scaling approaches is assessed by measuring to what extent the health values derived from categorical health variables suit the actual health values. Two different health tariffs have been used for each procedure (VAS tariff and TTO tariff), so that the results are robust to the selection of a metric. In general, models under log normality outperform the other approaches.
Varying levels of 6-keto-prostaglandin F1α and thromboxane B2 in serum and endothelialization and hyperplasia in small-diameter grafts seeded with CD34+ bone marrow cells in canines

The aim of the present study was to investigate the serum levels of 6-keto-prostaglandin (PG)F1α and thromboxane (TX)B2, as well as the endothelialization and hyperplasia of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and Dacron prostheses seeded with CD34+ cells in medium-term observation. A total of 24 crossbred dogs were randomly distributed into PTFE or Dacron groups. CD34+ cells were isolated from bone marrow aspirate and collected using an immunomagnetic bead-based system. The PTFE or Dacron prostheses were implanted into the abdominal aortic artery and inferior vena cava of the dogs. In each group, 8 dogs were implanted with prostheses that had been seeded with CD34+ cells, while 4 dogs were implanted with prostheses that had been seeded with autogenous blood as a control. Serum concentrations of 6-keto-PGF1α and TXB2 were determined at days 0, 10, 30 and 60 following surgery. The grafts were removed and examined at days 10, 30, 60 and 100 following surgery. Finally, CD34 factor staining was used to identify endothelial cells, while light and electron microscopy were applied to examine endothelialization and patency. The results revealed that confluent endothelial cells appeared on the neointima of prostheses seeded with CD34+ cells at day 30 following surgery. In the control groups compared with the experimental groups, there were fewer endothelial cells and the neointima was significantly thicker in the arterial (PTFE, 174±1.41 vs. 117±2.83 μm, respectively; P=0.001; Dacron, 187.5±3.5 vs. 100±1.41 μm, respectively; P<0.001) and venous (PTFE, 230.5±6.36 vs. 135±5.66 μm, respectively; P=0.001; Dacron, 249±2.83 vs. 121.5±3.54 μm, respectively; P<0.001) prostheses. In the experimental groups, intimal hyperplasia in the venous prostheses (PTFE, 135±5.66 μm; Dacron, 121.5±3.54 μm) was more severe compared with that in the arterial prostheses (PTFE, 117±2.83 μm; Dacron, 100±1.41 μm) at day 60. Compared with the 6-keto-PGF1α concentrations in the experimental groups, those in the control groups were significantly lower on day 10 (PTFE, 135±6.01 vs. 80.5±4.35 pg/l, respectively; P=0.001; Dacron, 145±6.54 vs. 81.2±5.10 pg/l, respectively; P<0.001) and were then maintained at a lower level. By contrast, the TXB2 concentration, following marked increases on day 10 in the experimental and control groups (PTFE, 635±32.8 vs. 1,256±63.5 pg/l, respectively; P<0.001; Dacron, 652±30.9 vs. 1,136±53.2 pg/l, respectively; P=0.001), remained at a high level in the control groups. Therefore, the results of the present study indicate that it is possible to achieve rapid endothelialization in PTFE or Dacron prostheses by implanting CD34+ cells. Endothelialization inhibited the reduction in the concentration of 6-keto-PGF1α and the increase in the concentration of TXB2. In addition, endothelialization inhibited excessive intimal hyperplasia and thrombosis. Thus, CD34+ cell seeding provides a theoretical basis for the clinical application of artificial vessel endothelialization.
Minimal Decision Rules Based on the A Priori Algorithm

Based on rough set theory many algorithms for rules extraction from data have been proposed. Decision rules can be obtained directly from a database. Some condition values may be unnecessary in a decision rule produced directly from the database. Such values can then be eliminated to create a more comprehensi- ble (minimal) rule. Most of the algorithms that have been proposed to calculate minimal rules are based on rough set theory or machine learning. In our ap- proach, in a post-processing stage, we apply the Apriori algorithm to reduce the decision rules obtained through rough sets. The set of dependencies thus obtained will help us discover irrelevant attribute values.
Raised intracranial pressure and cerebral blood flow

Changes in cerebral blood flow during incremental increases of intracranial pressure produced by infusion of fluid into the cisterna magna were studied in anaesthetized baboons. Cerebral blood flow remained constant at intracranial pressure levels up to approximately 50 mm Hg. At intracranial pressure levels between 50-96 mm Hg a marked increase in cerebral blood flow occurred, associated with the development of systemic hypertension and changes in cerebrovascular resistance. Further increases of intracranial pressure led to a progressive fall in cerebral blood flow. Prior section of the cervical cord prevented both the increase in cerebral blood flow and the systemic hypertension. Alteration of cerebral perfusion pressure by bleeding during the hyperaemia in a further group of animals suggested that autoregulation was at least partially preserved during this phase. After maximum hyperaemia had occurred, however, autoregulation appeared to be lost. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
A network interface card architecture for I/O virtualization in embedded systems

In this paper we present an architectural concept for network interface cards (NIC) targeting embedded systems and supporting I/O virtualization. Current solutions for high performance computing do not sufficiently address embedded system requirements i.e., guarantee real-time constraints and differentiated service levels as well as only utilize limited HW resources. The central ideas of our work-in-progress concept are: A scalable and streamlined NIC architecture storing the rule sets (contexts) for virtual network interfaces and associated information like DMA descriptors and producer/consumer lists primarily in the system memory. Only for currently active interfaces or interfaces with special requirements, e.g. hard real-time, the required information is cached on the NIC. By switching between the contexts the NIC can flexibly adapt to service a scalable number of interfaces. With the contexts the proposed architecture also supports differentiated service levels. On the NIC (re-)configurable finite state machines (FSM) are handling the data path for I/O virtualization. This allows a more resource-limited NIC implementation. With a preliminary analysis we estimate the benefits of the proposed architecture and key components of the architecture are outlined.
Survey on Examplar-Based Super-ResolutionBased Inpainting

Inpainting methods play a vital role in various applications such as object removal, scratch removal, Image restoration. The filling-in missing region in an image is called image Inpainting. Time to time different algorithms came into existence for Inpainting missing region of an image. This paper introduces a novel framework for examplar based Inpainting. This paper presents a novel combination of patch- based inpainting and single image superresolution algorithm. The advantage of this approach is that it is easier to inpaint low-resolution images than highresolution ones.
Star Formation Thresholds

Abstract To make predictions for the existence of “dark galaxies”, it is necessary to understand what determines whether a gas cloud will form stars. Star formation thresholds are generally explained in terms of the Toomre criterion for gravitational instability. I contrast this theory with the thermo-gravitational instability hypothesis of Schaye (2004), in which star formation is triggered by the formation of a cold gas phase and which predicts a nearly constant surface density threshold. I argue that although the Toomre analysis is useful for the global stability of disc galaxies, it relies on assumptions that break down in the outer regions, where star formation thresholds are observed. The thermo-gravitational instability hypothesis can account for a number of observed phenomena, some of which were thought to be unrelated to star formation thresholds.
Using concept structures for efficient document comparison and location

A method is discussed for comparing and locating similar documents in a computationally efficient manner by making use of inferred concept statistics, rather than word frequencies. This novel technique uses natural language structures to create a short 'concept signature' vector, which locates a document in 'concept space'. Similar documents can be located in large corpora in O(log(n)) time by making use of this space for indexing. Results from trials with reference and real world data sets are presented, along with a comparison of the method's document similarity characteristics and the cosine metric
Error analysis of free-form surfaces for manufacturing applications

Error analysis of free-form surfaces is a requirement to assure quality and to reduce manufacturing costs and rework. This paper proposes a new approach and algorithms for the error analysis of free-form surfaces. Given the measured surface as an input the approach first uses a statistical method to determine the number of test-points with suitable sample size for shape error analysis. Then, the system applies a robust mathematic model, Implicit polynomials (IP), to construct the model of the test-points. To perform detailed comparison of the shapes, the CAD model is geometrically adjusted with the input using model-based matching algorithm developed in this paper. Once the CAD model is adjusted, it is compared with input to reveal the errors between their shapes. To accomplish this task a new shape matching algorithm is developed. Experimental results on error analysis of a variety of the machined metal skin of aircraft are reported to show the validity of the proposed methodology.
Single product, multi-supplier order quantity decision considering materials demand features of different production methods

This paper studies the replenishment problem in a single item, multi-supplier environment. A cost optimal model is presented. A comparative analysis with singe supplier model showed the difference in two conditions. An extended model based on model in MTP is proposed when considering the time and production capability constraints in MTO and shows the management issues in organizing MTO supply chain.