Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A qualitative two-step inversion approach for the reconstruction of subsurface defects

In this work, the problem of the localization and shaping of buried objects or voids is addressed considering an innovative two steps strategy in order to enhance the reconstruction accuracy. In particular, at the first step the approach is aimed at firstly estimating the region-of-interest where the defect is supposed to be located. Then at the second step, the qualitative imaging of the object is improved through a level-set based shaping procedure. In order to assess the effectiveness of the proposed approach, selected numerical results concerned with different scenarios and noisy data are presented and discussed.
HMM-based sliding video text recognition for Turkish broadcast news

In this paper, we develop an HMM-based sliding video text recognizer and present our results on Turkish broadcast news for the hearing impaired. We use well known speech recognition techniques to model and recognize sliding video text characters using a minimal amount of labeled data. Baseline system without any language modeling gives a word error rate of 2.2% on 138 minutes of test data. We then provide an analysis of character errors and employ a character-based language model to correct most of them. Finally we decrease the amount of training data to a quarter, split the test data into halves and investigate semi-supervised training. Word error rates after semi-supervised training are significantly lower than to those after baseline training. We see 40% relative reduction in word error rate (1.5 → 0.9) over the test set.
High-Dose Docosahexaenoic Acid Supplementation of Preterm Infants: Respiratory and Allergy Outcomes

BACKGROUND: Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) has been associated with downregulation of inflammatory responses. OBJECTIVE: To report the effect of DHA supplementation on long-term atopic and respiratory outcomes in preterm infants. METHODS: This study is a multicenter, randomized controlled trial comparing the outcomes for preterm infants <33 weeks' gestation who consumed expressed breast milk from mothers taking either tuna oil (high-DHA diet) or soy oil (standard-DHA) capsules. Data collected included incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and parental reporting of atopic conditions over the first 18 months of life. RESULTS: Six hundred fifty-seven infants were enrolled (322 to high-DHA diet, 335 to standard), and 93.5% completed the 18-month follow-up. There was a reduction in BPD in boys (relative risk [RR]: 0.67 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.47–0.96]; P = . 03) and in all infants with a birth weight of <1250 g (RR: 0.75 [95% CI: 0.57–0.98]; P = .04). There was no effect on duration of respiratory support, admission length, or home oxygen requirement. There was a reduction in reported hay fever in all infants in the high-DHA group at either 12 or 18 months (RR: 0.41 [95% CI: 0.18–0.91]; P = .03) and at either 12 or 18 months in boys (RR: 0.15 [0.03–0.64]; P = .01). There was no effect on asthma, eczema, or food allergy. CONCLUSIONS: DHA supplementation for infants of <33 weeks' gestation reduced the incidence of BPD in boys and in all infants with a birth weight of <1250 g and reduced the incidence of reported hay fever in boys at either 12 or 18 months.
Neuronal Correlates of Individual Differences in the Big Five Personality Traits: Evidences from Cortical Morphology and Functional Homogeneity

There have been many neuroimaging studies of human personality traits, and it have already provided glimpse into the neurobiology of complex traits. And most of previous studies adopt voxel-based morphology (VBM) analysis to explore the brain-personality mechanism from two levels (vertex and regional based), the findings are mixed with great inconsistencies and the brain-personality relations are far from a full understanding. Here, we used a new method of surface-based morphology (SBM) analysis, which provides better alignment of cortical landmarks to generate about the associations between cortical morphology and the personality traits across 120 healthy individuals at both vertex and regional levels. While to further reveal local functional correlates of the morphology-personality relationships, we related surface-based functional homogeneity measures to the regions identified in the regional-based SBM correlation. Vertex-wise analysis revealed that people with high agreeableness exhibited larger areas in the left superior temporal gyrus. Based on regional parcellation we found that extroversion was negatively related with the volume of the left lateral occipito-temporal gyrus and agreeableness was negatively associated with the sulcus depth of the left superior parietal lobule. Moreover, increased regional homogeneity in the left lateral occipito-temporal gyrus is related to the scores of extroversion, and increased regional homogeneity in the left superior parietal lobule is related to the scores of agreeableness. These findings provide supporting evidence of a link between personality and brain structural mysteries with a method of SBM, and further suggest that local functional homogeneity of personality traits has neurobiological relevance that is likely based on anatomical substrates.
Effect of Corn Dried Distiller Grains with Solubles (DDGS) in Dairy Cow Diets on Manure Bioenergy Production Potential

Simple Summary Among the measures proposed to reduce environmental pollution from the livestock sector, animal nutrition has a strong potential to reduce enteric and manure storages methane emissions. Changes in diet composition also affect the bioenergy potential of dairy manures. Corn dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), which are rich in fat, can be included in animal diets to reduce enteric methane (CH4) emissions, while increasing the bioenergy potential of the animal manure during anaerobic digestion. The inclusion of 30% DDGS in the cow diet caused a significant increase of 14% in daily bioenergy production (NL methane day−1·cow−1). abstract The main objective of this study was to obtain scientifically sound data on the bioenergy potential of dairy manures from cows fed different levels of corn dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS). Three diets differing in corn DDGS content were formulated: 0% corn DDGS (DDGS0; control diet), 10% corn DDGS (DDGS10) and 30% corn DDGS (DDGS30). Bioenergy production was determined in psychrophilic (25 ± 1 °C) sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) fed 3 g COD L−1·day−1 during a two-week feeding period followed by a two-week react period. Compared to the control diet, adding DDGS10 and DDGS30 to the dairy cow diet increased the daily amount of fat excreted in slurry by 29% and 70%, respectively. The addition of DDGS30 increased the cows’ daily production of fresh feces and slurry by 15% and 11%, respectively. Furthermore, the incorporation of DDGS30 in the diet increased the daily amounts of dry matter (DM), volatile solids (VS), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and hemicellulose by 18%, 18%, 30%, 15% and 53%, respectively, compared to the control diet. While the addition of DDGS did not significantly affect the specific CH4 production per kg VS compared to the control diet, DDGS30 increased the per cow daily CH4 production by 14% compared to the control diet.
The Accuracy of Early Post-Operative Abdominal CT Scan

Background: Data is lacking regarding the optimal CT timing for diagnosing intra-abdominal post-operative complications. Our aim was to examine the accuracy of CT imaging performed in the early post-operative period (POD 1-5) compared to late post-operative period (POD 6-14), in the detection of post-operative complications. Methods: Post-operative CT scans performed in the first 14 days following abdominal surgery, between 2011 and 2013 were reviewed and divided into two groups: early CT scans performed at POD 1-5 and late CT scans performed at POD 6-14. Analysis included clinical and laboratory parameters, radiologic findings and assessment of post-operative course according to CT scan results. Results: 318 CT scans were performed. The rate of repeated CT scans was higher in the patients included in the early CT scan group compared to the late CT scan group (23.1% vs. 11.2%, p=0.013). There were more re-operations in the early CT group, with no statistical difference (12.8% vs. 7.9%, p=0.23), whereas drainage procedures were more frequent in the late CT group (22.1% vs. 9.0%, p=0.008). Early CT scans were less sensitive in detecting post-operative GI complications (56% vs. 73%, p=0.018). The accuracy to detect post-operative complications was similar between the groups (83% vs. 88%, p=0.42). Conclusion: CT scans performed in the early post-operative period are less sensitive and tend to necessitate repeated scans. The accuracy of abdominal CT examination in detecting post-operative GI complications was not found to be statistically different between the early and late CT scan groups.
Analysis of RAKE receiver in W-CDMA systems with downlink beamforming

This paper presents an analysis of a RAKE receiver in a W-CDMA downlink. The base station employs transmit beamforming, while each user employs R-finger RAKE receiver under selective fading channels. Spreading sequences are composed of Walsh codes and a common long code based on 3GPP standardization. We derive an exact expression for the instantaneous signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at the output of the RAKE receiver. In the derivation process, the effect of spreading sequences, downlink beamforming, and the RAKE receiver are taken into account. Simulation examples for a 4-finger RAKE receiver are given to verify the derived expression. Our expression can be applied to evaluate transmit beamforming as well as to evaluate the performance of the RAKE receiver.
A Unified Model for Unsupervised Opinion Spamming Detection Incorporating Text Generality

Many existing methods on review spam detection considering text content merely utilize simple text features such as content similarity. We explore a novel idea of exploiting text generality for improving spam detection. Besides, apart from the task of review spam detection, although there have also been some works on identifying the review spammers (users) and the manipulated offerings (items), no previous works have attempted to solve these three tasks in a unified model. We have proposed a unified probabilistic graphical model to detect the suspicious review spams, the review spammers and the manipulated offerings in an unsupervised manner. Experimental results on three review corpora including Amazon, Yelp and Trip Advisor have demonstrated the superiority of our proposed model compared with the state-of-the-art models.
Childhood social class and adult adiposity and blood-pressure trajectories 36–53 years: gender-specific results from a British birth cohort

Background In this study, the authors investigate gender-specific effects of childhood socio-economic position (SEP) on adiposity and blood pressure at three time points in adulthood. Methods Mixed models were used to assess the association of childhood SEP with body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) at ages 36, 43 and 53 years in a British birth cohort. Results The adverse effect of lower childhood SEP on adiposity increased between ages 36 and 53 years in women (BMI: trend test: p=0.03) and remained stable in men, but the opposite was seen for SBP, where inequalities increased in men (p=0.01). Childhood SEP inequalities in DBP were stable with age in both men and women. Educational attainment mediated some but not all of the effects of childhood SEP on adiposity and SBP, and their rate of change; adult social class was a less important mediator. Conclusion Childhood SEP is important for adult adiposity and blood pressure across midlife, especially for BMI in women and for blood pressure in men. Thus, pathways to adult health differ for men and women, and public health policies aimed at reducing social inequalities need to start early in life and take account of gender.
Women’s Small-Medium and Micro Enterprises as Engines for Income-Poverty Alleviation: A Renewed Approach to Tackling Urban Poverty in South Africa

Poverty deprives people of their rights to socio-economic well-being. Forthwith, lack of income inherently worsens the plight of the poor and further deteriorates their living standards. The resultant of income-poverty is failure to afford basic needs such as food, health and education, amongst others. Basically, women and children are the most vulnerable when it comes to the manifestation of poverty and its social ills. Income-poverty is unquestionably the greatest challenge facing developing countries. As a result of high unemployment rates in most developing countries, urban poverty remains a threat to development. However, there appears to be some hope in the continued fight against poverty as Small-Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) are taking a stand as a strategic approach to income-poverty alleviation in developing countries. On that note, in South Africa, Women’s Small-Medium and Micro Enterprises (WSMMEs) are gaining momentum as a strategy to income-poverty alleviation. The paper strongly believes that women engaged in SMMEs have the potential and capacity to contribute to economic development, job creation and ultimately income-poverty alleviation. Theoretically, this paper reveals the positive relationship between WSMMEs and income-poverty alleviation. Additionally, the paper argues that WSMMEs contribute to a greater extent on the improvement of households’ living standards. Therefore, the paper concludes that although WSMMEs face a wide array of challenges, ranging from lack of finance, lack of equipment, poor access to business training and lack of information on institutional support, amidst others, their contribution towards income-poverty alleviation can be reckoned as indispensable. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014. v5n23p632
Testing a European set of indicators for the evaluation of the management of primary care practices.

BACKGROUND Effective practice management is an important prerequisite for offering good clinical care. Internationally valid, reliable and feasible indicators and instruments are needed to describe and compare the management of primary care practices in Europe. OBJECTIVE This paper describes development and evaluation of the European Practice Assessment instrument and indicators (Engels Y, Campbell S, Dautzenberg M et al. Developing a framework of, and quality indicators for, general practice management in Europe. Fam Pract 2005; 22(2): 215-22). METHODS The study design was a validation and feasibility study set in 273 general practices in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Israel, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Switzerland and the UK. Use was made of a set of 62 valid quality indicators derived previously from an international Delphi procedure. The EPA instrument, based on this set of indicators, was used to collect data in the 273 practices. This instrument consists of self-completed questionnaires for doctors, staff managers and patients. In addition, there is an interview schedule for use by an outreach visitor, to be held with the lead GP or manager, and a visitor checklist. The instrument was analysed using expert review by the project partners, factor and reliability analyses, ANOVA analyses and by determining intraclass correlations. RESULTS Fifty-seven indicators were found to be valid, feasible, reliable and discriminative in all participating countries. The instrument was able to determine differences in practice management within and between countries. All (but one) practices completed the assessment procedure. The data collection method appeared to be feasible, although some aspects can be improved. CONCLUSION The EPA instrument provides feedback to practices that facilitates quality improvement and can compare primary care practices on a national and an international level.
Occupational and leisure-time energy expenditure and body mass index.

OBJECTIVES Almost all over the world, both high- and low-income countries have been experiencing the obesity epidemic. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between occupational energy expenditure and body mass index (BMI). MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was performed in a randomly selected group of 508 full-time employees, including 272 men (mean age, 42.6 +/- 10.6 years) and 236 women (mean age, 41.5 +/- 9.9 years). Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals as well as to control the effects of occupational workload and BMI. Physical activity was determined by the Seven Day Physical Activity Recall (SDPAR). RESULTS The multifactorial logistic regression analysis did not indicate that weekly energy expenditure on occupational physical activity (kcal/week) was linked with the risk for BMI over 25 (kg/m). But leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) was associated with BMI level in both men and women. In the group of men declaring no energy expenditure on physical activity, the risk for BMI > 25 (kg/m) was significantly higher than among men expending 1000 kcal/week or more on LTPA (adjusted OR = 1.05; 95%CI: 1.03-2.27). Also, among women not taking up any recreational physical activity, the risk of BMI > 25 (kg/m) was higher than in females, reaching a satisfactory level of recreational physical activity (adjusted OR = 2.39; 95%CI: 1.07-7.42). A higher educational attainment and a higher socioeconomic status were also associated with a lower risk of unhealthy body weight in the study participants. CONCLUSIONS Prophylactic schedules associated with management of overweight and obesity should be addressed to all adults, above all to older age groups. Future programs aimed at decreasing the spread of overweight and obesity in adults should consider an improvement in health habits, including leisure-time physical activity and diet as well as socioeconomic factors. Targeted health education interventions should assist in reducing the obesity epidemic.
Prototyping a bidirectional processor design based on reversible principles

This work is motivated towards building a complete bidirectional architecture based on the reversible principles and to study the feasibility of implementation and bottlenecks encountered during this design. A new bidirectional architecture with each core built using infamous single cycle MIPS architecture is proposed. The bidirectional design facilitates the reversible principle of forward and reverse direction of execution of the architecture. The main goal of this work is to implement and empirically study the outcomes of the reversible system built. The architecture is implemented using commercially available 90 nm technology node. The processor operates at 200 MHz with medium mapping and optimization effort and the performance can be improved with further optimization.
A new approach for data protection in case of the physical device being stolen-Using hybrid storage

Flash memory, favored by its high speed, low power dissipation and excellent kinetic shock resistance, is a type of memory widely used in USB mass storage devices. Compared with the data stored in Hard Disk Drive (HDD), which can be easily recovered, data stored in Flash memory is hard to be recovered once erased, and this feature is more beneficial to data security. Under such circumstances, it might be a solution to mix Flash with HDD. Taking into consideration the characteristic that data stored in Flash memory is hard to be recovered once erased, this paper designs a system mixing Flash memory with HDD. It avoids the cracker get the whole plaintext by storing key data, which can be erased when necessary, in Flash.
Oil Droplet Transport under Non-Breaking Waves: An Eulerian RANS Approach Combined with a Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model

Oil droplet transport under a non-breaking deep water wave field is investigated herein using Computational Fluid dynamics (CFD). The Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations were solved to simulate regular waves in the absence of wind stress, and the resulting water velocities agreed with Stokes theory for waves. The RANS velocity field was then used to predict the transport of buoyant particles representing oil droplets under the effect of non-locally generated turbulence. The RANS eddy viscosity exhibited an increase with depth until reaching a maximum at approximately a wave height below the mean water level. This was followed by a gradual decrease with depth. The impact of the turbulence was modeled using the local value of eddy diffusivity in a random walk framework with the added effects of the gradient of eddy diffusivity. The vertical gradient of eddy viscosity increased the residence time of droplets in the water column region of high diffusivity; neglecting the gradient of eddy diffusivity resulted in a deviation of the oil plume centroid by more than a half a wave height after 10 wave periods.
Review of bayesian reasoning and machine learning by David Barber

Yet another book about machine learning? you may be thinking if you are not working in this area and are getting tired of the hype in newspaper, companies and conferences. I would like to add two caveats to such a potential exclamation: first, there are not that many textbooks on the area as one would imagine (David Barber lists 10 in his introduction, and I had a hard time to bring this number up to 15). And, second, strictly speaking, this book is not only about machine learning. It is definitively not an applied toolbox of algorithms and recipes on how to process any data you get. Bayesian Reasoning and Machine Learning (BRML) tries to present a unified view of Machine Learning , using as much as possible a Bayesian approach. It is therefore fitting that BRML uses graphical models as underlying general representation throughout the book. In a nutshell, graphical models permit one to represent random variables (nodes) and their dependencies (edges), and generic algorithms exists for inference and learning. By stating all the dependencies, it suits a Bayesian treatment and at the same time it is general enough so that many algorithms and approaches can be represented as graphical models.
A Generalized Robust Filtering Framework for Nonlinear Differential-Algebraic Systems

A generalized dynamical robust nonlinear filtering framework is established for a class of Lipschitz differential algebraic systems, in which the nonlinearities appear both in the state and measured output equations. The system is assumed to be affected by norm-bounded disturbance and to have both norm-bounded uncertainties in the realization matrices as well as nonlinear model uncertainties. We synthesize a robust H_infty filter through semidefinite programming and strict linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The admissible Lipschitz constants of the nonlinear functions are maximized through LMI optimization. The resulting H_infty filter guarantees asymptotic stability of the estimation error dynamics with prespecified disturbance attenuation level and is robust against time-varying parametric uncertainties as well as Lipschitz nonlinear additive uncertainty. Explicit bound on the tolerable nonlinear uncertainty is derived based on a norm-wise robustness analysis.