Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Time and Performance: A Three-Part Study Examining the Relationships of Job Experience, Organizational Tenure, and Age With Job Performance

Theoretical and empirical research suggests that job experience, organizational tenure, and age have non-linear relationships with performance. Considered simultaneously, there should exist an inverted U-shaped relationship between time and performance. This paper includes three studies — a meta-analysis, a crosssectional sample, and a longitudinal sample—to test these hypotheses. Together, the three studies provide complementary evidence supporting the hypotheses. The set of results has implications for theory, research on dynamic performance, and human resource management practice.
What is WeChat Moments ? A Diffusion-restricted Social Network

WeChat is a mobile messaging application that has 549 million active users as of Q1 2015 (mostly in China), and “WeChat Moments” (WM) serves as its social-networking function that allows users to post/share links of web pages usually in HTML5 (or H5) (a.k.a. WM pages). WM has been exploited by businesses to spread information for viral marketing/advertising. However, WM differs from the other social networks as its service provider (Tencent) imposes many restrictions on the information diffusion process to mitigate the information overload (e.g., limiting a user’s maximum number of friends, access permissions, and re-tweeting actions), which may significantly limit marketing via WM. In this paper, we study the information diffusion in the WM network by crawling the spreading statistics of more than 160,000 WM pages created by businesses in 2015, where approximately 40 million users contribute an average number of 10 million page views every day. By analyzing the overall diffusion graph, we have identified the relationship of the number of posted pages and the number of views, the typical length of diffusion paths, the similarity and distribution of users’ locations as well as their connections to the GDP of the user’s province. For each individual WM page, we have observed its temporal characteristics (e.g., the life time, the popularity within a time period), which helps the business to decide when and how to release the marketing pages for better publicity. For each individual user, we evaluate how many of, or how likely, one’s friends will view his posted pages, and our observations clearly indicate that one’s influence is not dependent on the number of friends. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first study on the WeChat Moments network and the information diffusion over it.
Security-Pattern Recognition and Validation

The increasing and diverse number of technologies that are connected to the Internet, such as distributed enterprise systems or small electronic devices like smartphones, brings the topic IT security to the foreground. We interact daily with these technologies and spend much trust on a well-established software development process. However, security vulnerabilities appear in software on all kinds of PC(like) platforms, and more and more vulnerabilities are published, which compromise systems and their users. Thus, software has also to be modified due to changing requirements, bugs, and security flaws and software engineers must more and more face security issues during the software design; especially maintenance programmers must deal with such use cases after a software has been released. In the domain of software development, design patterns have been proposed as the best-known solutions for recurring problems in software design. Analogously, security patterns are best practices aiming at ensuring security. This thesis develops a deeper understanding of the nature of security patterns. It focuses on their validation and detection regarding the support of reviews and maintenance activities. The landscape of security patterns is diverse. Thus, published security patterns are collected and organized to identify software-related security patterns. The description of the selected software-security patterns is assessed, and they are compared against the common design patterns described by Gamma et al. to identify differences and issues that may influence the detection of security patterns. Based on these insights and a manual detection approach, we illustrate an automatic detection method for security patterns. The approach is implemented in a tool and evaluated in a case study with 25 real-world Android applications from Google Play.
Matching algorithms for three-stage bufferless Clos network switches

Three-stage Clos network switches are an attractive solution for future broadband packet routers due to their modularity and scalability. Most three-stage Clos network switches assume either all modules are space switches without memory (bufferless), or employ shared memory modules in the first and third stages (buffered). The former is also referred to as the space-space-space (S/sup 3/) Clos network switch, while the latter is referred to as the memory-space-memory (MSM) Clos network switch. We provide a survey of recent literature concerning switching schemes in the S/sup 3/ Clos network switch. The switching problem in the S/sup 3/ Clos network switch can be divided into two major parts, namely port-to-port matching (scheduling) and route assignment between the first and third stages. Traditionally, researchers have proposed algorithms to solve these issues separately. Recently, a new class of switching algorithms, called matching algorithms for Clos (MAC), has been proposed to solve scheduling and route assignment simultaneously. We focus on the MAC schemes and show that the new class of algorithms can achieve high performance and maintain good scalability.
A novel lysophosphatidic acid analog, LXR‐1035, inhibits leukocyte‐endothelium interaction via inhibition of cell adhesion molecules

A novel synthetic phosphorothioate analog of oleoyl lysophosphatidic acid LXR‐1035 was studied for its ability to modulate leukocyte‐endothelial cell interactions using intravital microscopy of the rat mesentery. Superfusion of the rat mesentery with 50 μM l‐NAME elicited a significant, time‐dependent increase in leukocyte rolling, adherence, and transmigration compared to control rats superfused with Krebs‐Henseleit solution. However, superfusion of the rat mesentery with 300 nM LXR‐1035 consistently attenuated 65–87% of the l‐NAME‐induced leukocyte rolling, adherence, and transmigration, without altering systemic blood pressure or mesenteric venular shear rate. Similar results were also obtained in rats subjected to 90 min of hemorrhage followed by 90 min of reperfusion. Resuscitation from hemorrhage increased significantly the number of rolling, adherent, and transmigrated leukocytes in the rat mesenteric microcirculation. However, superfusion of the rat mesentery with LXR‐1035 markedly attenuated the leukocyte‐endothelium interaction occurring after hemorrhage and reinfusion by 75 ± 12%. Immunohistochemical localization of P‐selectin expression on mesenteric venular endothelium was significantly increased after exposure to l‐NAME and after hemorrhage‐reinfusion, which was significantly attenuated by LXR‐1035 (P < 0.05). In addition, treatment of isolated rat neutrophils with 300 nM LXR‐1035 significantly attenuated leukotriene B4‐induced up‐regulation of CD18 (P < 0.05). Our data clearly demonstrate that LXR‐1035 can potently inhibit the recruitment of leukocytes in the mesenteric rat microvasculature by attenuating cell‐surface expression of adhesion molecules. J. Leukoc. Biol. 67: 26–33; 2000.
Exploring Spatial-Temporal Patterns of Urban Human Mobility Hotspots

Understanding human mobility patterns provides us with knowledge about human mobility in an urban context, which plays a critical role in urban planning, traffic management and the spread of disease. Recently, the availability of large-scale human-sensing datasets enables us to analyze human mobility patterns and the relationships between humans and their living environments on an unprecedented spatial and temporal scale to improve decision-making regarding the quality of life of citizens. This study aims to characterize the urban spatial-temporal dynamic from the perspective of human mobility hotspots by using mobile phone location data. We propose a workflow to identify human convergent and dispersive hotspots that represent the status of human mobility in local areas and group these hotspots into different classes according to clustering their temporal signatures. To illustrate our proposed approach, a case study of Shenzhen, China, has been conducted. Six typical spatial-temporal patterns in the city are identified and discussed by combining the spatial distribution of these identified patterns with urban functional areas. The findings enable us to understand the human dynamics in a different area of the city, which can serve as a reference for urban planning and traffic management.
A Penalty Function for Computing Orthogonal Non-negative Matrix Factorizations

Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) is a widely-used method for multivariate analysis of nonnegative data to obtain a reduced representation of data matrix only using a basis matrix and a encoding variable matrix having non-negative elements. A NMF of a data matrix can be obtained by finding a solution of a nonlinear optimization problem over a specified cost function. In this paper we investigate the formulation and then the computational techniques to obtain orthogonal NMF, when the orthogonal constraint on the columns of the basis is added. We propose a penalty objective function to be minimized on the intersection of the set of non-negative matrices and the Stiefel manifold in order to derive a projected gradient flow whose solutions preserve both the orthogonality and the non-negativity.
Morphological synthesis of ECG signals for person authentication

In this paper, we propose a novel approach using the morphological properties of the R-R segments in an ECG signal for biometric authentication. The authenticity of a given R-R segment is decided by comparing it to a matching R-R segment morphologically synthesized from a model characterizing the identity to be authenticated. The morphological synthesis process uses a set of R-R segments (templates), recorded during enrolment at different heart-rates, and a time alignment algorithm. This ensures the authentication to be independent of the, usually variable, heart-rate. The optimum average equal-error-rate obtained in our experiments is 2%.
Facets and determinants of quality of life in patients with recurrent high grade glioma

Objectives: To assess patients with recurrent high grade brain glioma with the aim of evaluating facets of quality of life (QOL) and their association with mood, cognition, and physical performance. Methods: Ninety four glioma patients (four groups with different duration of glioma recurrence) were compared with 24 patients with other chronic neurological diseases and 48 healthy subjects. The Functional Living Index—Cancer (FLIC) provided QOL self evaluations, and standardised scales and neuropsychological tests assessed physical performance, mood, and cognition. Results: In glioma patients, factor analysis of the FLIC items documented five domains: Psychological well being, Role/sociability, Inner experience of disease, Isolation/sharing, and Nausea. Higher FLIC total scores were related to better cognition, physical performances, and mood, and lower grading; poorer Psychological well being and worse Inner experience of disease to depressed mood; minor Role/sociability to worse cognitive and physical performances and higher grading; worse Nausea to longer disease duration. Compared with healthy subjects, all glioma groups were cognitively impaired and more anxious, and two groups with short duration of recurrence were also more depressed. Patients with chronic neurological diseases showed worse mood and cognitive abilities compared with healthy subjects, but performed attention tests better than glioma patients. Glioma and chronic disease patients showed similar FLIC scores and autonomy. Conclusions: These results show that QOL of recurrent high grade glioma patients is multifaceted and determined by multiple factors. Disease severity does not necessarily eliminate the possibility of expressing personal feelings and opinions which could provide criteria for clinical decision making and psychological support.
Design of a high efficiency reconfigurable pipeline processor on next generation portable device

In this paper, we propose a reconfigurable pipeline processor to support 128/256/512/1024/1536/2048-point 1D FFT/IFFT computations and 16×16 2D DCT computation. To adopt the radix-42+radix-2n algorithm, the proposed single path delay feedback (SDF) based architecture achieves low computation complexity, low cost and high utilization rate advantages. So as to further reduce the cost of constant multiplier, the complex conjugate symmetry rule and sub-expression elimination algorithm have been used on the shift-and-add circuit without complex multiplier. Moreover, from the derivation results, the proposed architecture meets the high efficiency for next-generation portable device requirements on LTE and HEVC standard.
Learning to rank with voted multiple hyperplanes for documents retrieval

The central problem for many applications in Information retrieval is ranking. Learning to rank has been considered as a promising approach for addressing the issue. In this paper, we focus on applying learning to rank to document retrieval, particularly the approach of using multiple hyperplanes to perform the task. Ranking SVM (RSVM) is a typical method of learning to rank. We point out that although RSVM is advantageous, it still has shortcomings. RSVM employs a single hyperplane in the feature space as the model for ranking, which is too simple to tackle complex ranking problems. In this paper, we look at an alternative approach to RSVM, which we call ¿multiple vote ranker¿ (MVR), and make comparisons between the two approaches. MVR employs several base rankers and uses the vote strategy for final ranking. We study the performance of the two methods with respect to several evaluation criteria, and the experimental results on the OHSUMED dataset show that MVR outperforms RSVM, both in terms of quality of results and in terms of efficiency.
Embedded space-time block codes for concatenated systems

In this paper we propose new coded modulation for multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems. This coded modulation is a generalised concatenated code. Its inner code is embedded Golden code which we introduce in this paper with a decoding algorithm. Its outer code is a product code with component Reed-Solomon code. We use iterative decoding algorithm for this product code. The performance of the proposed system is estimated with a computer simulation.
An Investigation into the Relationship Between Soft Tissue Body Composition and Bone Mineral Density in a Young Adult Twin Sample

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of fat mass (FM) and lean mass (LM) with bone mineral density (BMD) independent of genetic effects. We also assessed the extent to which genetic and environmental influences explain the associations between these phenotypes. Body composition and BMD were measured using dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry in 57 monozygotic and 92 same‐sex dizygotic twin pairs, aged 23 to 31 years, chosen to represent a wide range of intrapair differences in body mass index (BMI; 0 to 15.2 kg/m2). Heritability estimates were adjusted for height and gender. In multiple linear regression analysis, intrapair differences in both FM and LM were independently associated with intrapair differences in BMD at most skeletal sites after adjustment for gender and differences in height. Within monozygotic and dizygotic pairs, LM was a significantly stronger predictor of whole‐body BMD than FM (p < .01). Additive genetic factors explained 87% [95% confidence interval (CI) 80%–91%), 81% (95% CI 70%–88%), and 61% (95% CI 41%–75%) of the variation in whole‐body BMD, LM, and FM, respectively. Additive genetic factors also accounted for 69% to 88% of the covariance between LM and BMD and for 42% to 72% of the covariance between FM and BMD depending on the skeletal site. The genetic correlation between LM and whole‐body BMD (rg = 0.46, 95% CI 0.32–0.58) was greater than that of FM and whole‐body BMD (rg = 0.25, 95% CI 0.05–0.42). In conclusion, our data indicate that peak BMD is influenced by acquired body weight as well as genetic factors. In young adulthood, LM and BMD may have more genes in common than do FM and BMD. © 2011 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
The association of heavy and light chain variable domains in antibodies: implications for antigen specificity

The antigen‐binding site of immunoglobulins is formed by six regions, three from the light and three from the heavy chain variable domains, which, on association of the two chains, form the conventional antigen‐binding site of the antibody. The mode of interaction between the heavy and light chain variable domains affects the relative position of the antigen‐binding loops and therefore has an effect on the overall conformation of the binding site. In this article, we analyze the structure of the interface between the heavy and light chain variable domains and show that there are essentially two different modes for their interaction that can be identified by the presence of key amino acids in specific positions of the antibody sequences. We also show that the different packing modes are related to the type of recognized antigen.
Treatment of hypertension in patients 80 years of age or older.

BACKGROUND Whether the treatment of patients with hypertension who are 80 years of age or older is beneficial is unclear. It has been suggested that antihypertensive therapy may reduce the risk of stroke, despite possibly increasing the risk of death. METHODS We randomly assigned 3845 patients from Europe, China, Australasia, and Tunisia who were 80 years of age or older and had a sustained systolic blood pressure of 160 mm Hg or more to receive either the diuretic indapamide (sustained release, 1.5 mg) or matching placebo. The angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitor perindopril (2 or 4 mg), or matching placebo, was added if necessary to achieve the target blood pressure of 150/80 mm Hg. The primary end point was fatal or nonfatal stroke. RESULTS The active-treatment group (1933 patients) and the placebo group (1912 patients) were well matched (mean age, 83.6 years; mean blood pressure while sitting, 173.0/90.8 mm Hg); 11.8% had a history of cardiovascular disease. Median follow-up was 1.8 years. At 2 years, the mean blood pressure while sitting was 15.0/6.1 mm Hg lower in the active-treatment group than in the placebo group. In an intention-to-treat analysis, active treatment was associated with a 30% reduction in the rate of fatal or nonfatal stroke (95% confidence interval [CI], -1 to 51; P=0.06), a 39% reduction in the rate of death from stroke (95% CI, 1 to 62; P=0.05), a 21% reduction in the rate of death from any cause (95% CI, 4 to 35; P=0.02), a 23% reduction in the rate of death from cardiovascular causes (95% CI, -1 to 40; P=0.06), and a 64% reduction in the rate of heart failure (95% CI, 42 to 78; P<0.001). Fewer serious adverse events were reported in the active-treatment group (358, vs. 448 in the placebo group; P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS The results provide evidence that antihypertensive treatment with indapamide (sustained release), with or without perindopril, in persons 80 years of age or older is beneficial. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00122811 [ClinicalTrials.gov].).
Touching Cells Splitting by Using Concave Points and Ellipse Fitting

A novel touching cells splitting algorithm by using concave points and ellipse fitting is proposed to split circle-like or ellipse-like touching cells in this paper. The algorithm is divided into two parts. The first part is contour pre-processing, whose purpose is to find the concave points of the contour and separate the contour into different segments using the concave points. The second part is ellipse processing, whose purpose is to process the different segments of the contour as a possible single cell by using the properties of the fitted ellipse. The second part is the main contribution of this paper which demonstrates a new way to use ellipse fitting to split the binary contour of the touching cells. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is efficient.
Spinal curvature determination from x-ray image using GVF snake

Scoliosis is where the spine is curved, forming a "C" or "S" shape. The treatments are differs depending on the severity of Cobb Angle. But Cobb Angle measurement has a very low accuracy because of the unclear feature of spine in x-ray image. This paper discuss about spinal curvature determination using GVF Snake as the segmentation method and modified top-hat filter as pre-processing method. GVF Snake could fit the "S" shape best with parameters alpha=0.9, beta=0.5, and gamma=0.3. 10 frontal spinal x-ray images of scoliosis patients were used as segmentation samples. The modified top-hat filter is used for pre-processing the image with combination of disk sizes and attenuation factors of 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. The average error of the qualified contour results is 6569 pixels. The best result gave an error of 3118 which is still couldn't fit the desired contour well.
Computing hermite forms of polynomial matrices

This paper presents a new algorithm for computing the Hermite form of a polynomial matrix. Given a nonsingular <i>n</i> x <i>n</i> matrix <i>A</i> filled with degree <i>d</i> polynomials with coefficients from a field, the algorithm computes the Hermite form of <i>A</i> using an expected number of (<i>n</i>3<i>d</i>)<sup>1+o(1)</sup> field operations. This is the first algorithm that is both softly linear in the degree <i>d</i> and softly cubic in the dimension <i>n</i>. The algorithm is randomized of the Las Vegas type.
WatchMI: pressure touch, twist and pan gesture input on unmodified smartwatches

The screen size of a smartwatch provides limited space to enable expressive multi-touch input, resulting in a markedly difficult and limited experience. We present WatchMI: Watch Movement Input that enhances touch interaction on a smartwatch to support continuous pressure touch, twist, pan gestures and their combinations. Our novel approach relies on software that analyzes, in real-time, the data from a built-in Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) in order to determine with great accuracy and different levels of granularity the actions performed by the user, without requiring additional hardware or modification of the watch. We report the results of an evaluation with the system, and demonstrate that the three proposed input interfaces are accurate, noise-resistant, easy to use and can be deployed on a variety of smartwatches. We then showcase the potential of this work with seven different applications including, map navigation, an alarm clock, a music player, pan gesture recognition, text entry, file explorer and controlling remote devices or a game character.