Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Machine Reading the Primeros Libros

Early modern printed books pose particular challenges for automatic transcription: uneven inking, irregular orthographies, radically multilingual texts. As a result, modern efforts to transcribe these documents tend to produce the textual gibberish commonly known as “dirty OCR” (Optical Character Recognition). This noisy output is most frequently seen as a barrier to access for scholars interested in the computational analysis or digital display of transcribed documents. This article, however, proposes that a closer analysis of dirty OCR can reveal both historical and cultural factors at play in the practice of automatic transcription. To make this argument, it focuses on tools developed for the automatic transcription of the Primeros Libros collection of sixteenth century Mexican printed books. By bringing together the history of the collection with that of the OCR tool, it illustrates how the colonial history of these documents is embedded in, and transformed by, the statistical models used for automatic transcription. It argues that automatic transcription, itself a mechanical and practical tool, also has an interpretive effect on transcribed texts that can have practical consequences for scholarly work.
A Self-Adaptive Ant Colony System for Semantic Query Routing Problem in P2P Networks

In this paper, we present a new algorithm to route text queries within a P2P network, called Neighboring-Ant Search (NAS) algorithm. The algorithm is based on the Ant Colony System metaheuristic and the SemAnt algorithm. More so, NAS is hybridized with local environment strategies of learning, characterization, and exploration. Two Learning Rules (LR) are used to learn from past performance, these rules are modified by three new Learning Functions (LF). A Degree-Dispersion-Coefficient (DDC) as a local topological metric is used for the structural characterization. A variant of the well-known one-step Lookahead exploration is used to search the nearby environment. These local strategies make NAS self-adaptive and improve the performance of the distributed search. Our results show the contribution of each proposed strategy to the performance of the NAS algorithm. The results reveal that NAS algorithm outperforms methods proposed in the literature, such as Random-Walk and SemAnt.
Proceedings From an International Consensus Meeting on Posttransplantation Diabetes Mellitus: Recommendations and Future Directions

A consensus meeting was held in Vienna on September 8–9, 2013, to discuss diagnostic and therapeutic challenges surrounding development of diabetes mellitus after transplantation. The International Expert Panel comprised 24 transplant nephrologists, surgeons, diabetologists and clinical scientists, which met with the aim to review previous guidelines in light of emerging clinical data and research. Recommendations from the consensus discussions are provided in this article. Although the meeting was kidney‐centric, reflecting the expertise present, these recommendations are likely to be relevant to other solid organ transplant recipients. Our recommendations include: terminology revision from new‐onset diabetes after transplantation to posttransplantation diabetes mellitus (PTDM), exclusion of transient posttransplant hyperglycemia from PTDM diagnosis, expansion of screening strategies (incorporating postprandial glucose and HbA1c) and opinion‐based guidance regarding pharmacological therapy in light of recent clinical evidence. Future research in the field was discussed with the aim of establishing collaborative working groups to address unresolved questions. These recommendations are opinion‐based and intended to serve as a template for planned guidelines update, based on systematic and graded literature review, on the diagnosis and management of PTDM.
ABJM with Flavors and FQHE

We add fundamental matters to the = 6 Chern-Simons theory (ABJM theory), and show that D6-branes wrapped over AdS4 × S3/2 in type IIA superstring theory on AdS4 × 3 give its dual description with = 3 supersymmetry. We confirm this by the arguments based on R-symmetry, supersymmetry, and brane configuration of ABJM theory. We also analyze the fluctuations of the D6-brane and compute the conformal dimensions of dual operators. In the presence of fractional branes, the ABJM theory can model the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE), with RR-fields regarded as the external electric-magnetic field. We show that an addition of the flavor D6-brane describes a class of fractional quantum Hall plateau transitions.
Effects of Demographic and Health Variables on Rasch Scaled Cognitive Scores

Objectives: To determine whether demographic and health variables interact to predict cognitive scores in Asset and Health Dynamics of the Oldest-Old (AHEAD), a representative survey of older Americans, as a test of the developmental discontinuity hypothesis. Methods: Rasch modeling procedures were used to rescale cognitive measures into interval scores, equating scales across measures, making it possible to compare predictor effects directly. Rasch scaling also reduces the likelihood of obtaining spurious interactions. Tasks included combined immediate and delayed recall, the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS), Series 7, and an overall cognitive score. Results: Demographic variables most strongly predicted performance on all scores, with health variables having smaller effects. Age interacted with both demographic and health variables, but patterns of effects varied. Discussion:Demographic variables have strong effects on cognition. The developmental discontinuity hypothesis that health variables have stronger effects than demographic ones on cognition in older adults was not supported.
IP over ICN - The better IP?

This paper presents a proposition for information centric networking (ICN) that lies outside the typical trajectory of aiming for a wholesale replacement of IP as the internetworking layer of the Internet. Instead, we propose that a careful exploitation of key ICN benefits, expanding previously funded ICN efforts, will enable individual operators to improve the performance of their IP-based services along many dimensions. Alongside the main motivation for our work, we present an early strawman architecture for such an IP-over-ICN proposition, which will ultimately be implemented and trialed in a recently started H2020 research effort.
Revisiting dictionary‐based compression

An attractive way to increase text compression is to replace words with references to a text dictionary given in advance. Although there exist a few works in this area, they do not fully exploit the compression possibilities or consider alternative preprocessing variants for various compressors in the latter phase. In this paper, we discuss several aspects of dictionary‐based compression, including compact dictionary representation, and present a PPM/BWCA‐oriented scheme, word replacing transformation, achieving compression ratios higher by 2–6% than the state‐of‐the‐art StarNT (2003) text preprocessor, working at a greater speed. We also present an alternative scheme designed for LZ77 compressors, with the advantage over StarNT of reaching up to 14% in combination with gzip. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Combinatorial ECG analysis for mobile devices

A combinatorial model for analyzing and interpreting an electrocardiogram (ECG) was presented in [Allali et al. '10] and [Iliopoulos & Michalakopoulos '09 and '10]. An application of the model is QRS peak detection and the resulting algorithm was shown to be space, as well as time efficient. Experimental results on the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia database were shown. In this paper, the peak detection algorithm is implemented in Java ME. The program is deployed on a mobile phone and simulators, and experimental results are discussed.
Controlling the Gain of Rod-Mediated Signals in the Mammalian Retina

Effective sensory processing requires matching the gain of neural responses to the range of signals encountered. For rod vision, gain controls operate at light levels at which photons arrive rarely at individual rods, light levels too low to cause adaptation in rod phototransduction. Under these conditions, adaptation within a conserved pathway in mammalian retina maintains sensitivity as light levels change. To relate retinal signals to behavioral work on detection at low light levels, we measured how background light affects the gain and noise of primate ganglion cells. To determine where and how gain is controlled, we tracked rod-mediated signals across the mouse retina. These experiments led to three main conclusions: (1) the primary site of adaptation at low light levels is the synapse between rod bipolar and AII amacrine cells; (2) cellular noise after the gain control is nearly independent of background intensity; and (3) at low backgrounds, noise in the circuitry, rather than rod noise or fluctuations in arriving photons, limits ganglion cell sensitivity. This work provides physiological insights into the rich history of experiments characterizing how rod vision avoids saturation as light levels increase.
Correction: Invasive Breast Cancer Incidence in 2,305,427 Screened Asymptomatic Women: Estimated Long Term Outcomes during Menopause Using a Systematic Review

1 Department of Women’s Health Research, Athena Institute for Women’s Wellness, Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, United States of America, 2 Department of Gynecology, Hirslanden Hospital Group, Bern, Switzerland, 3 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, 4 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Paoli Hospital, Paoli, Pennsylvania, United States of America, 5 Department of Psychology, Ursinus College, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, United States of America, 6 School of Nursing, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, 7 Department of Mathematics and Computer, The Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Connecticut, United States of America
The Southern Megalopolis: Using the Past to Predict the Future of Urban Sprawl in the Southeast U.S

The future health of ecosystems is arguably as dependent on urban sprawl as it is on human-caused climatic warming. Urban sprawl strongly impacts the urban ecosystems it creates and the natural and agro-ecosystems that it displaces and fragments. Here, we project urban sprawl changes for the next 50 years for the fast-growing Southeast U.S. Previous studies have focused on modeling population density, but the urban extent is arguably as important as population density per se in terms of its ecological and conservation impacts. We develop simulations using the SLEUTH urban growth model that complement population-driven models but focus on spatial pattern and extent. To better capture the reach of low-density suburban development, we extend the capabilities of SLEUTH by incorporating street-network information. Our simulations point to a future in which the extent of urbanization in the Southeast is projected to increase by 101% to 192%. Our results highlight areas where ecosystem fragmentation is likely, and serve as a benchmark to explore the challenging tradeoffs between ecosystem health, economic growth and cultural desires.
Small supernumerary marker chromosome causing partial trisomy 6p in a child with craniosynostosis

We report on a child with a small supernumerary marker chromosome (sSMC) causing partial trisomy 6p. The child showed a phenotype consisting of neonatal craniosynostosis, microcephaly, and borderline developmental delay. By molecular techniques the sSMC has been shown to contain ∼16 Mb of genomic DNA from 6p21.1 to 6cen, being de novo and of maternal origin. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Finding Textures in Sketches using Planar Ising Models

Creating software that can understand the range of sketches that people produce is a challenging problem. One source of difficulty is that people often include textures in their drawings. This paper shows how to use Ising models, a technique from computer vision at the level of pixels, for decomposing digital ink into a hierarchy of edge-based structures that provide more concise qualitative representations of textures in hand-drawn sketches. We analyze the compression efficacy, strengths and weaknesses of this qualitative representation technique using a subset of a large-scale sketch corpus.
A Method for Accurate Estimation of Stimulating Sites Based on Cerebral Cortex Structure in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive and painless method to stimulate the cortex. Accurate estimation of stimulating points is much important to evaluate cortical functions such as cortical motor output maps. However, most studies using TMS have not achieved to estimate the stimulating points exactly. This study proposed the novel method to provide the accurate estimation of stimulating points of the cortex in TMS taking account of the individual cortical anatomy and property of nerve excitation. We conducted TMS mapping of the motor cortex to confirm the validity of this method. The cortex sites which innervate muscles of the upper limb and hand were successfully delineated in primary motor area
(Benzene-1,3-dicarboxylato-κ2 O 1,O 1′)(1,12,15,26-tetraaza-5,8,19,22-tetraoxa-3,4:9,10:17,18:23,24-tetrabenzocyclooctacosane-κ4 N 1,N 12,N 15,N 26)cadmium(II) benzene-1,3-dicarboxylic acid solvate

In the title compound, [Cd(C8H4O4)(C36H44N4O4)]·C8H6O4, the CdII atom is six-coordinated by four N atoms from the macrocyclic ligand and two O atoms from a benzene-1,3-dicarboxylate ligand. The complex molecules are linked by N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming a one-dimensional chain structure along the b axis. The chains are further connected through N—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds between the complex molecule and an uncoordinated benzene-1,3-dicarboxylic acid molecule, resulting in a two-dimensional supramolecular network.
Enhanced reliable transmission control protocol for spatial information networks

Satellites channels are generally featured by high bit error rate (BER), long propagation delay, large bandwidth-delay product (BDP) and so on. This tends to make the traditional TCP suffer from serious performance degradation in satellite networks. Therefore, a TCP-compatible reliable transmission protocol (i.e., TCP-AX) for spatial information networks is proposed in this paper. And a bandwidth probing mechanism is designed to distinguish network congestion and link error. Simulation results show that TCP-AX has better performance than some popular enhanced TCP protocols.
Inflammation and Infection Do Not Promote Arterial Aging and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors among Lean Horticulturalists

Background Arterial aging is well characterized in industrial populations, but scantly described in populations with little access to modern medicine. Here we characterize health and aging among the Tsimane, Amazonian forager-horticulturalists with short life expectancy, high infectious loads and inflammation, but low adiposity and robust physical fitness. Inflammation has been implicated in all stages of arterial aging, atherogenesis and hypertension, and so we test whether greater inflammation associates with atherosclerosis and CVD risk. In contrast, moderate to vigorous daily activity, minimal obesity, and low fat intake predict minimal CVD risk among older Tsimane. Methods and Findings Peripheral arterial disease (PAD), based on the Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI), and hypertension were measured in Tsimane adults, and compared with rates from industrialized populations. No cases of PAD were found among Tsimane and hypertension was comparatively low (prevalence: 3.5%, 40+; 23%, 70+). Markers of infection and inflammation were much higher among Tsimane than among U.S. adults, whereas HDL was substantially lower. Regression models examine associations of ABI and BP with biomarkers of energy balance and metabolism and of inflammation and infection. Among Tsimane, obesity, blood lipids, and disease history were not significantly associated with ABI. Unlike the Tsimane case, higher cholesterol, C-reactive protein, leukocytes, cigarette smoking and systolic pressure among North Americans are all significantly associated with lower ABI. Conclusions Inflammation may not always be a risk factor for arterial degeneration and CVD, but instead may be offset by other factors: healthy metabolism, active lifestyle, favorable body mass, lean diet, low blood lipids and cardiorespiratory health. Other possibilities, including genetic susceptibility and the role of helminth infections, are discussed. The absence of PAD and CVD among Tsimane parallels anecdotal reports from other small-scale subsistence populations and suggests that chronic vascular disease had little impact on adult mortality throughout most of human evolutionary history.
Inter-connection automation for OF@TEIN multi-point international OpenFlow islands

In realizing futuristic services with agility, testbed environments that provide converged computing/networking resources based on SDN (Software--Defined Networking) and CC (Cloud Computing) are becoming important. Following this trend, OF@TEIN OpenFlow--enabled SDN testbed environment is built with internationally-distributed unique SmartX Racks. In this paper, to automate the multi-point L2 inter-connections of OpenFlow islands, we design and implement a configuration tool for NVGRE (Network Virtualization using Generic Routing Encapsulation) tunneling. The proposed tool manages the desired topology by leveraging the OVSDB (Open vSwitch Database) configuration interface for OpenFlow switches. With the implemented tool and appropriate admin/user privilege management, we can quickly inter-connect the multi-point international OpenFlow islands while letting users to freely control (i.e., tag/steer/map) their own flows for experimentation.
Permafrost thaw affects boreal deciduous plant transpiration through increased soil water, deeper thaw, and warmer soils

The effect of thawing permafrost on boreal ecosystem water cycling represents a significant knowledge gap of how climate change will affect northern landscapes. Evapotranspiration, particularly transpiration, may be changing in response to changes in permafrost conditions, vegetation, and climate. This study focuses on the effect of permafrost thaw on boreal plant transpiration over two summers with contrasting weather conditions. We quantified the response of stomatal conductance (gs), from which transpiration was calculated, of deciduous and evergreen plants to soil environmental factors that permafrost thaw affects: soil water content (S), depth of seasonal thaw (D), and soil temperature (T). We found that gs was least sensitive to T compared with S and D at both sites and across both years. At the thawing site, gs was more sensitive to S in a dry year (2009) and to D in a wet year (2010). In the wet year, S of ~50 cm represented a threshold wherein the sensitivity of gs to T and D switched between positive (S < 50 cm) and negative (S > 50 cm). However, the sensitivities to T and D were negative when S was consistently less than 50 cm in the dry year. This is one of the first studies to explore the effect of permafrost thaw on boreal plant gs and transpiration, and our model predicted higher transpiration rates from deciduous plants located on thawing permafrost. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
eIF3k regulates apoptosis in epithelial cells by releasing caspase 3 from keratin-containing inclusions

Keratins 8 and 18 (collectively referred to as K8/K18) are the major components of intermediate filaments of simple epithelial cells. Recent studies have revealed the function of K8/K18 in apoptosis modulation. Here, we show that eIF3k, originally identified as the smallest subunit of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 (eIF3) complexes, also localizes to keratin intermediate filaments and physically associates with K18 in epithelial cells. Upon induction of apoptosis, eIF3k colocalizes with K8/K18 in the insoluble cytoplasmic inclusions. Depletion of endogenous eIF3k de-sensitizes simple epithelial cells to various types of apoptosis through a K8/K18-dependent mechanism and promotes the retention of active caspase 3 in cytoplasmic inclusions by increasing its binding to keratins. Consequently, the cleavage of caspase cytosolic and nuclear substrates, such as ICAD and PARP, respectively, is reduced in eIF3k-depleted cells. This study not only reveals the existence of eIF3k in a subcellular compartment other than the eIF3 complex, but also identifies an apoptosis-promoting function of eIF3k in simple epithelial cells by relieving the caspase-sequestration effect of K8/K18, thereby increasing the availability of caspases to their non-keratin-residing substrates.
Institutions, Parasites and the Persistence of In-group Preferences

Much research has established reliable cross-population differences in motivations to invest in one’s in-group. We compare two current historical-evolutionary hypotheses for this variation based on (1) effective large-scale institutions and (2) pathogen threats by analyzing cross-national differences (N = 122) in in-group preferences measured in three ways. We find that the effectiveness of government institutions correlates with favoring in-group members, even when controlling for pathogen stress and world region, assessing reverse causality, and providing a check on endogeneity with an instrumental variable analysis. Conversely, pathogen stress shows inconsistent associations with in-group favoritism when controlling for government effectiveness. Moreover, pathogen stress shows little to no association with in-group favoritism within major world regions whereas government effectiveness does. These results suggest that variation in in-group preferences across contemporary nation-states is more consistent with a generalized response to institutions that meet basic needs rather than an evolved response dedicated to pathogens.
Efficient multicasting scheme for irregular mesh-based NoCs

In this paper, a simple, yet efficient hardware-based multicasting scheme is proposed for irregular mesh-based Network-on-Chips. First, an irregular oriented multicast strategy is proposed. Literally, following this strategy, an irregular oriented multicast routing algorithm can be designed based on any regular mesh-based multicast routing algorithm. One such algorithm, namely, Alternative XY (AL+XY), is proposed based on XY routing, Experimental results show that AL+XY achieve significant reduction in power consumption and packet latency compared with existing solutions.
Should Lactobacillus sporogenes and Bacillus coagulans Have a future?

Abstract Probiotics are gaining increasing scientific and commercial interest as functional foods. Their success has led to the development and marketing of a broad range of products based on probiotics. In this context, resolution of the taxonomy of microbial species remains a key point, since different species belonging to the same genus may have different beneficial properties. Lactobacillus sporogenes, which should be correctly classified as Bacillus coagulans, represents the archetypal misidentified probiotic and its inclusion among probiotics has often been a matter of debate. Since this bacterium shows characteristics of both genera Lactobacillus and Bacillus, its taxonomic position between the families lactobacillaceae and bacillaceae has often been discussed. This review summarizes the salient probiotic features of L. sporogenes/B. coagulans by examining currently available information. Although the use of L. sporogenes spores as a probiotic has increased in recent years, clinical evidence of its benefits are limited to only a few studies involving small patient populations.