Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Handwriting Analysis for Detection of Personality Traits using Machine Learning Approach

Among all the unique characteristics of a human being, handwriting carries the richest information to gain the insights into the physical, mental and emotional state of the writer. Graphology is the art of studying and analysing handwriting, a scientific method used to determine a person‟s personality by evaluating various features from the handwriting. The prime features of handwriting such as the page margins, the slant of the alphabets, the baseline etc. can tell a lot about the individual. To make this method more efficient and reliable, introduction of machines to perform the feature extraction and mapping to various personality traits can be done. This compliments the graphologists, and also increases the speed of analysing handwritten samples. Various approaches can be used for this type of computer aided graphology. In this paper, a novel approach of machine learning technique to implement the automated handwriting analysis tool is discussed.
Role of Androgen Metabolism Genes CYP 1 B 1 , PSA / KLK 3 , and CYP 11 a in Prostate Cancer Risk and Aggressiveness

Candidate genes involved with androgen metabolism have been hypothesized to affect the risk of prostate cancer. To further investigate this, we evaluated the relationship between prostate cancer and multiple potentially functional polymorphisms in three genes involved in androgen metabolism: CYP1B1 (two single nucleotide polymorphisms: 355G/T and 4326C/G), prostate-specific antigen (PSA/KLK3 (three single nucleotide polymorphisms: 158A/G, 4643G/ A , and 5412C/T), and CYP11a [(tttta)n repeat], using a moderately large (n = 918) sibling-based case-control population. When looking at all subjects combined, no association was observed between any polymorphism—or their haplotypes— and prostate cancer risk. However, among men with more aggressive prostate cancer, the CYP1B1 355G/T variant was positively associated with disease: carrying one or two T alleles gave odds ratios (OR) of 1.90 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.09-3.31; P = 0.02] and 3.73 (95% CI, 1.39-10.0; P = 0.009), respectively. Similarly, carrying the CYP1B1 355T4326C haplotype was positively associated with prostate cancer among men with high aggressive disease (P = 0.01). In addition, the PSA 158G/ 158G genotype was positively associated with prostate cancer among men with less aggressive disease (OR, 2.71; 95% CI, 1.06-6.94; P = 0.04). Our findings suggest that CYP1B1 and PSA variants may affect the risk of prostate cancer and tumor aggressiveness. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2005;14(9):2173–7)
Expectation Formation and Social Influence

This article investigate the role of social influence for the expectation formation of economic agents. Using self-organizing Kohonen maps the repeated cross-section data set of the University of Michigan consumer survey is transformed into a pseudo panel allowing to monitor the expectation formation of cohorts with regard to business confidence over the whole available time span (January 1978 - June 2013). Subsequently the information theoretic concept of transfer entropy is used to reveal the role of social influence on the expectation formation as well as the underlying network structure. It is shown that social influence strongly depends on socio-demographic characteristics and also coincides with a high degree of connectivity. The social network estimated in this way follows a power-law and thus exhibits similar structure as networks observed in other contexts.
Comparison of Viral Isolation and Multiplex Real-Time Reverse Transcription-PCR for Confirmation of Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Influenza Virus Detection by Antigen Immunoassays

We evaluated the Prodesse ProFlu-1 real-time reverse transcription-PCR multiplex assay with the SmartCycler instrument for the detection of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza A and B viruses in comparison to conventional cell culture and antigen immunoassays with the BD Directigen A+B and Binax NOW RSV assays over two successive respiratory virus seasons. Ninety-two percent of the 361 specimens tested were nasopharyngeal aspirates obtained from individual patients, of which 119 were positive for RSV and 59 were positive for influenza virus. The median age of the patients whose specimens were positive for RSV and influenza virus were 6.3 months and 42.4 years, respectively. The specificity of all of the methods tested was ≥99%, and the individual sensitivities of NOW RSV, RSV culture, Directigen A+B, influenza virus culture, and the Proflu-1 PCR for influenza/RSV were 82% (95% confidence interval [CI], 73 to 88), 57% (95% CI, 44 to 69), 59% (95% CI, 44 to 72), 54% (95% CI, 38 to 69), and 98% (95% CI, 93 to 100)/95% (95% CI, 85 to 99), respectively. In a clinical setting where viral isolation is performed to confirm rapid antigen immunoassay results for these common respiratory viruses, one-step real-time reverse transcriptase PCR testing can be a more sensitive and timely confirmatory method.
The Unexpected Real: Negotiating Fantasy and Reality on the Road to Santiago

As modern phenomena, pilgrimages present unique entry points to the study of expressions of meaning and identity. The pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela, a Catholic shrine in north-western Spain, have seen the passing of millions of pilgrims over the last thousand years. Throughout the twentieth century the routes, particularly the Camino Frances in northern Spain, have seen a revival of interest. Accurate statistics have only been kept since 1987, when 2,905 people completed the pilgrimage, yet in 2007 some 114,026 people completed it (up 14,000 from 2006). Part of the reason for this increase is undoubtedly the profusion of literature on the pilgrimage in popular culture, mostly in the form of travel books. Of pilgrims recently interviewed while making the pilgrimage two titles stood out – Coelho’s The Pilgrimage and MacLaine’s The Camino – not only for being far more widely read than others and being seen as inspiration to do the journey, but as an unreal depiction of life on the route itself. This is often a cause for a brief sense of disappointment that, as we shall see, emerges from the fact that many pilgrims embark upon the Camino in order to have precisely the types of experiences read about.
Efficient Correlation Matching for Fitting Discrete Multivariate Distributions with Arbitrary Marginals and Normal-Copula Dependence

A popular approach for modeling dependence in a finite-dimensional random vector X with given univariate marginals is via a normal copula that fits the rank or linear correlations for the bivariate marginals of X. In this approach, known as the NORTA method, the normal distribution function is applied to each coordinate of a vector Z of correlated standard normals to produce a vector U of correlated uniform random variables over (0,1); then X is obtained by applying the inverse of the target marginal distribution function for each coordinate of U. The fitting requires finding the appropriate correlation ρ between any two given coordinates of Z that would yield the target rank or linear correlation r between the corresponding coordinates of X. This root-finding problem is easy to solve when the marginals are continuous but not when they are discrete. In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of this root-finding problem for the case of discrete marginals. We prove key properties of r and of its derivative as a function of ρ. It turns out that the derivative is easier to evaluate than the function itself. Based on that, we propose and compare alternative methods for finding or approximating the appropriate ρ. The case of discrete distributions with unbounded support is covered as well. In our numerical experiments, a derivative-supported method is faster and more accurate than a state-of-the-art, nonderivative-based method. We also characterize the asymptotic convergence rate of the function r (as a function of ρ) to the continuous-marginals limiting function, when the discrete marginals converge to continuous distributions.
Channel Estimation for Millimeter-Wave Multiuser MIMO Systems via PARAFAC Decomposition

We consider the problem of uplink channel estimation for millimeter wave (mmWave) systems, where the base station (BS) and mobile stations (MSs) are equipped with large antenna arrays to provide sufficient beamforming gain for outdoor wireless communications. Hybrid analog and digital beamforming structures are employed by both the BS and the MS due to hardware constraints. We propose a layered pilot transmission scheme and a CANDECOMP/PARAFAC (CP) decomposition-based method for joint estimation of the channels from multiple users (i.e., MSs) to the BS. The proposed method exploits the intrinsic low-rank structure of the multiway data collected from multiple modes, where the low-rank structure is a result of the sparse scattering nature of the mmWave channel. The uniqueness of the CP decomposition is studied, and the sufficient conditions for essential uniqueness are obtained. The conditions shed light on the design of the beamforming matrix, the combining matrix, and the pilot sequences, and meanwhile provide general guidelines for choosing system parameters. Our analysis reveals that our proposed method can achieve a substantial training overhead reduction by leveraging the low-rank structure of the received signal. Simulation results show that the proposed method presents a clear advantage over a compressed sensing-based method in terms of both estimation accuracy and computational complexity.
Identification and catabolic activity of well-derived gasoline-degrading bacteria from a contaminated aquifer

Approximately 300 gasoline-degrading bacteria were isolated from well water and core material from a shallow coastal aquifer contaminated with unleaded gasoline. Identification of 244 isolates revealed four genera: Pseudomonas, Alcaligenes, Nocardia, and Micrococcus, with pseudomonads making up 86.9% of bacteria identified. A total of 297 isolates was sorted into 111 catabolic groups on the basis of aerobic growth responses on 15 gasoline hydrocarbons. Each test hydrocarbon was degraded by at least one isolate. Toluene, p-xylene, ethylbenzene, and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene were most frequently utilized as growth substrates, whereas cyclic and branched alkanes were least utilized. Most isolates were able to grow on 2 or 3 different hydrocarbons, and nearly 75% utilized toluene as a sole source of carbon and energy. Isolates were remarkably specific for hydrocarbon usage, often catabolizing only one of several closely related compounds. A subset of 220 isolates was sorted into 51 groups by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was partitioned into 16 protein-banding groups (i.e., subspecies) whose catabolic activities were largely restricted to substituted aromatics. Different members of subspecies groups defined by protein-banding pattern analysis often exhibited different growth responses on the same hydrocarbon, implying marked strain diversity. The catabolic activities of well-derived, gasoline-degrading bacteria associated with this contaminated aquifer are consonant with in situ adaptation at the site.
Healthy Kids: Examining the Effect of Message Framing and Polarity on Children's Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions

Should we ask children to be “more healthy” or “less unhealthy”? Drawing from both prospect and psycholinguistic theory, we manipulate the framing (gain versus loss) and linguistic polarity (affirmation versus negation) of a child-directed health message. Results from two experiments demonstrate that, in a behavioral adoption context, a message employing gain framing or affirmation leads to more positive attitudes and greater intention to adopt the target behavior; while in a behavioral cessation context, messages utilizing loss framing or negation are most effective. Results also indicate a developmental-based boundary for message polarity, with effects not observed for younger children.
Consumer animosity, economic hardship, and normative influence: how do they affect consumers' purchase intention?

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the concept of “consumer animosity”, model its antecedents, and assess its influence on intention to purchase.Design/methodology/approach – Survey questionnaires were distributed by a quasi‐random sample of school pupils across Taiwan to an adult member of their household, for completion and return. A return rate of 70 percent yielded 456 usable questionnaires, the data from which were analysed by the LISREL structural equation modelling software.Findings – The results suggest that perceived personal economic hardship and the normative influence of members of a consumers' reference group have a positive impact on the phenomenon of consumer animosity, which in turn negatively affects the intentions of consumers in Taiwan to purchase products originating in mainland China and Japan. Contradicting previous studies, consumer animosity was found to be dependent on judgments of product quality.Research limitations/implications – The research model was built from data collect.
Enhanced Estrogen Receptor (ER) α, ERBB2, and MAPK Signal Transduction Pathways Operate during the Adaptation of MCF-7 Cells to Long Term Estrogen Deprivation*

The mechanisms involved in resistance to estrogen deprivation are of major importance for optimal patient therapy and the development of new drugs. Long term culture of MCF-7 cells in estrogen (E2)-depleted medium (long term estrogen deprivation; LTED) results in hypersensitivity to E2 coinciding with elevated levels of estrogen receptor (ER) α phosphorylated on Ser118 and MAPK, together with several of its downstream targets associated previously with ERα phosphorylation. Our data suggest elevated MAPK activity results from enhanced ERBB2 expression in the LTED cells versus the wild-type (wt), and treatment with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor ZD1839 revealed increased sensitivity in both transcription and proliferation assays. Similarly the MEK inhibitor U0126 decreased transcription and proliferation in the LTED cells and reduced their sensitivity to the proliferative effects of E2, while having no effect on the wt. However, the complete suppression of MAPK activity in the LTED cells did not inhibit ERα Ser118 phosphorylation suggesting that ER activity remained ligand-dependant. The LTED cells also expressed elevated levels of insulin-like growth factor-1R, and inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity with LY294002 reduced basal ERα transactivation by 70% in the LTED cells compared with the wt. However, LY294002 had no effect on ERα Ser118 phosphorylation. These data suggest that although elevated levels of MAPK occur during LTED and influence the phenotype, this is unlikely to be the sole pathway operating to achieve adaptation.
Hardware-software trade-offs in a direct Rambus implementation of the RAMpage memory hierarchy

The RAMpage memory hierarchy is an alternative to the traditional division between cache and main memory: main memory is moved up a level and DRAM is used as a paging device. The idea behind RAMpage is to reduce hardware complexity, if at the cost of software complexity, with a view to allowing more flexible memory system design. This paper investigates some issues in choosing between RAMpage and a conventionalcache architecture, with a view to illustrating trade-offs which can be made in choosing whether to place complexity in the memory system in hardware or in software. Performance results in this paper are based on a simple Rambus implementation of DRAM, with performance characteristics of Direct Rambus, which should be available in 1999. This paper explores the conditions under which it becomes feasible to perform a context switch on a miss in the RAMpage model, and the conditions under which RAMpage is a win over a conventional cache architecture: as the CPU-DRAM speed gap grows, RAMpage becomes more viable.
Dimensioning cultural diversity in eServices architectures

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the development of a culturally sensitive and end‐user‐centric software architectural framework for the development of eService applications in information and communication technologies for development (ICTD) contexts. The research is undertaken within the Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL) in South Africa.Design/methodology/approach – Action research is the approach undertaken in this research with an extensive literature review to inform the development of the architecture, which is later qualitatively and quantitavely validated.Findings – Various factors have to be taken into consideration for technology solutions to be effective in their context of deployment. The authors have provided an architecture that intrinsically enables software solutions to be developed from the ground up with concern for flexibility for context sensitivity. The PIASK architecture separates the presentation, interaction, access, social networking and knowledge base components int.
Fault detection and diagnosis of renewable energy systems: An overview

Early and accurate fault detection and diagnosis for renewable energy systems can increase their safety and ensure the continuity of the service. In this paper, the authors are interested in presenting different methods of fault detection and diagnosis for industrial systems. Then, an overview of the diagnosis of wind turbine power generator, PV cell and PEM fuel cell is presented.
Functional Fluorescent Protein Insertions in Herpes Simplex Virus gB Report on gB Conformation before and after Execution of Membrane Fusion

Entry of herpes simplex virus (HSV) into a target cell requires complex interactions and conformational changes by viral glycoproteins gD, gH/gL, and gB. During viral entry, gB transitions from a prefusion to a postfusion conformation, driving fusion of the viral envelope with the host cell membrane. While the structure of postfusion gB is known, the prefusion conformation of gB remains elusive. As the prefusion conformation of gB is a critical target for neutralizing antibodies, we set out to describe its structure by making genetic insertions of fluorescent proteins (FP) throughout the gB ectodomain. We created gB constructs with FP insertions in each of the three globular domains of gB. Among 21 FP insertion constructs, we found 8 that allowed gB to remain membrane fusion competent. Due to the size of an FP, regions in gB that tolerate FP insertion must be solvent exposed. Two FP insertion mutants were cell-surface expressed but non-functional, while FP insertions located in the crown were not surface expressed. This is the first report of placing a fluorescent protein insertion within a structural domain of a functional viral fusion protein, and our results are consistent with a model of prefusion HSV gB constructed from the prefusion VSV G crystal structure. Additionally, we found that functional FP insertions from two different structural domains could be combined to create a functional form of gB labeled with both CFP and YFP. FRET was measured with this construct, and we found that when co-expressed with gH/gL, the FRET signal from gB was significantly different from the construct containing CFP alone, as well as gB found in syncytia, indicating that this construct and others of similar design are likely to be powerful tools to monitor the conformation of gB in any model system accessible to light microscopy.
The social semiotics of mass communication

PART ONE: SOURCES OF SOCIAL SEMIOTICS Introduction From Structuralism through Poststructuralism to Pragmatism Semiotic Action Recovering Pragmatism Meaningful Society Recontextualizing Social Science PART TWO: COMMUNICATION THEORY: FIRST-ORDER SEMIOTICS A New Theory of Mass Communication Constituents of Social Semiotics The Politics of Polysemy Context Constituents of Social Semiotics Television Futures Audience Constituents of Social Semiotics Reception as Flow Media Constituents of Social Semiotics Discourses of Research Analytical Constituents of Social Semiotics PART THREE: THEORY OF SCIENCE: SECOND-ORDER SEMIOTICS The Epistemology of Communication Abduction and the Logic of Qualitative Research The Ontology of Communication Another Guess at the Riddle The Politics of Communication How to Make a Difference
Improving the health and well-being of young people leaving care

This is the only book about the health and well being of young people leaving care, bringing together two funded leaving care research studies, one with co-researcher Lesley Saunders, and the other with co-researcher Maddy Monaghan. The health focus of the research gives this publication its unique position in the leaving care literature. The research studies’ statistical and qualitative methodologies, including peer research, lend the book its strength, credibility, and wide appeal. Its important theoretical underpinnings are two-fold; methodological, deriving from grounded and triangulation theories, and its social inclusion framework, for comprehending health and well being.
Historical document enhancement using Shearlet Transform and mathematical morphological operations

Document image binarization is a process of converting the document image into binary image containing text as foreground and plain white as background or vice versa. Characters from the document image should be extracted from the binaried image, in order to recognize them. So performance of the character recognition system completely depends on the binarization quality. In this paper, an efficient hybrid binarization method is proposed to binarize the degraded document image. The proposed method is based on: Adaptive Histogram Equalization (AHE), Shearlet Transform (ST) and simple morphological reconstruction techniques and proved better in enhancing degraded documents images. The proposed technique is efficient to tolerate the high inter and intra intensity variation in the degraded document image.
Service quality and customer satisfaction: qualitative research implications for luxury hotels

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to determine whether luxury hotel managers and customers have the same understanding of service quality and satisfaction and whether there is a disparity between services offered by luxury hotels and the way customers actually experience them. Design/methodology/approach – This paper used interviews with managers and guests of 5-Star hotels in Taiwan and qualitative analysis to understand definitions and perceptions of luxury, service quality and satisfaction. Findings – The major findings of the study were that: there were no fundamental disconnects in the respective understandings of managers and guests; however, the two groups used different language to describe luxury, service quality and satisfaction; the managers evaluated satisfaction in terms of services provided, but the guests conceptualized satisfaction in terms of value received for the price of lodging; and luxury, service quality and satisfaction were closely related in the minds of the managers and gu.