Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Outcome Analysis of Cranial Molding Therapy in Nonsynostotic Plagiocephaly

Background It is known that nonsynostotic plagiocephaly does not spontaneously improve, and the craniofacial deformities that result from it. This study was conducted to analyze the effectiveness of helmet therapy for the nonsynostotic plagiocephaly patient, and to suggest a new treatment strategy based on this analysis. Methods A total of 108 pediatric patients who had undergone helmet therapy after being diagnosed with nonsynostotic plagiocephaly were included in this study. The patients were classified according to the initiation age of the helmet therapy, severity, and helmet wearing time. The treatment effect was compared using cranial vault asymmetry (CVA) and the cranial vault asymmetry index (CVAI), which were obtained from diagonal measurements before and after therapy. Results The discrepancy of CVA and CVAI of all the patients significantly decreased after helmet therapy. According to the initiation time of helmet therapy, the treatment effect was best at 5 months old or less. The helmet wearing time per day was proportional to the treatment effect up to 20 hours. In addition, the rate of the successful treatment (final CVA ≤5 mm) significantly decreased when the initiation age was 9.1 months or older and the treatment period was less than 7.83 months. Conclusions This study showed the effectiveness of the helmet therapy for nonsynostotic plagiocephaly patients. Based on analysis of this study, helmet therapy should be started at the age of 9 months or younger for 7.83 months or more, and the helmet wearing time should be more than 20 hours a day.
Relativistic Invariance in Quantum Mechanics

(*). A detailed analysis is made of the theoretical possibilities of constructing a quantum mechanics and consequently of a description of the elementary particles, based on a definition of the postulates of relativistic invariance and then on the simmetry properties connected with the complete Lorentz group, including displacements in space and time and inversions of both the space and the time coordinates. I t is then pointed out how the validity of every conclusion deriving from simmetry considerations depends essentially from the fundamental problem of the <( measurability ,) of the field quantities.
Scheduling Flexible Servers with Convex Delay Costs: Heavy-Traffic Optimality of the Generalized cµ-Rule

We consider a queueing system with multitype customers and flexible (multiskilled) servers that work in parallel. IfQ iis the queue length of typei customers, this queue incurs cost at the rate ofC i ( Q i ), whereC i (.) is increasing and convex. We analyze the system in heavy traffic (Harrison and Lopez 1999) and show that a very simple generalizedcÂµ-rule (Van Mieghem 1995) minimizes both instantaneous and cumulative queueing costs, asymptotically, over essentially all scheduling disciplines, preemptive or non-preemptive. This rule aims at myopically maximizing the rate of decrease of the instantaneous cost at all times, which translates into the following: when becoming free, serverj chooses for service a typei customer such thati ? arg max i C' i ( Q i )Âµ ij , where Âµ ijis the average service rate of typei customers by serverj.An analogous version of the generalizedcÂµ-rule asymptotically minimizes delay costs. To this end, let the cost incurred by a typei customer be an increasing convex functionC i ( D) of its sojourn timeD. Then, serverj always chooses for service a customer for which the value ofC' i ( D) Âµ ijis maximal, whereD andi are the customer's sojourn time and type, respectively.
Are genes faster than crabs? Mitochondrial introgression exceeds larval dispersal during population expansion of the invasive crab Carcinus maenas

Biological invasions offer unique opportunities to investigate evolutionary dynamics at the peripheries of expanding populations. Here, we examine genetic patterns associated with admixture between two distinct invasive lineages of the European green crab, Carcinus maenas L. , independently introduced to the northwest Atlantic. Previous investigations based on mitochondrial DNA sequences demonstrated that larval dispersal driven by advective currents could explain observed southward displacement of an admixture zone between the two invasions. Comparison of published mitochondrial results with new nuclear data from nine microsatellite loci, however, reveals striking discordance in their introgression patterns. Specifically, introgression of mitochondrial genomes relative to nuclear background suggests that demographic processes such as sex-biased reproductive dynamics and population size imbalances—and not solely larval dispersal—play an important role in driving the evolution of the genetic cline. In particular, the unpredicted introgression of mitochondrial alleles against the direction of mean larval dispersal in the region is consistent with recent models invoking similar demographic processes to explain movements of genes into invading populations. These observations have important implications for understanding historical shifts in C. maenas range limits, and more generally for inferences of larval dispersal based on genetic data.
Automatically assigning research methods to journal articles in the domain of social sciences

We investigate the automatic assignment of research methods to journal articles from the domain of Social Sciences. We employ Computer Science and Computational Linguistics methodology to perform this automatic assignment of metadata. The multi-label classification system we present uses only abstracts and titles of journal articles as input. Our best system is able to assign the important research methods empirical and quantitative empirical with F-scores of 0.67 and 0.68. These research methods are in the focus of many recent manual analyses of publications databases. Our classification approach could be applied to automatically analyze large publications databases and databases of bibliographic references according to the use of empirical and quantitative empirical methods.
Shadow Removal Using Intensity Surfaces and Texture Anchor Points

Removal of shadows from a single image is a challenging problem. Producing a high-quality shadow-free image which is indistinguishable from a reproduction of a true shadow-free scene is even more difficult. Shadows in images are typically affected by several phenomena in the scene, including physical phenomena such as lighting conditions, type and behavior of shadowed surfaces, occluding objects, etc. Additionally, shadow regions may undergo postacquisition image processing transformations, e.g., contrast enhancement, which may introduce noticeable artifacts in the shadow-free images. We argue that the assumptions introduced in most studies arise from the complexity of the problem of shadow removal from a single image and limit the class of shadow images which can be handled by these methods. The purpose of this paper is twofold: First, it provides a comprehensive survey of the problems and challenges which may occur when removing shadows from a single image. In the second part of the paper, we present our framework for shadow removal, in which we attempt to overcome some of the fundamental problems described in the first part of the paper. Experimental results demonstrating the capabilities of our algorithm are presented.
Effect of Glycyrrhiza glabra Extract on Aorta Wall Atherosclerotic Lesion in Hypercholesterolemic Rabbits

Atherosclerosis which results from gradual deposition of lipids in medium and large arteries is a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Glycyrrhiza glabra is an herb of Fabacea family which contain hypolipidemic compounds and flavonoids with high antioxidative properties. This study was conducted to determine the effect of Glycyrrhiza glabra extract on blood lipids and atherosclerosis in rabbits fed with high cholesterol diet. Fifteen male rabbits were randomly divided into three groups (normal diet group, high- cholesterol diet (1% cholesterol) and a group which received high-cholesterol diet supplemented with Glycyrrhiza glabra extract (50 mg/kg body weight every other day). The concentration of Total cholesterol (TC), LDL cholesterol, triglycerides (TG) and HDL cholesterol was determined in rabbits at the start of th e experiment, and at the end of the first and second month of the study. At the end of the experimental period the aorta was removed for assessment of atherosclerot ic plaques. Results show that Glycyrrhiza glabra significantly decreases TC, LDL and TG levels and increase HDL and lessens atherosclerotic lesion in aorta. Hence Glycyrrhiza glabra extract can effectively prevent the progress of atherosclerosis. This is likely due to the effect of Glycyrrhiza glabra on plasma lipoproteins and its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
A high speed scalable shift-register based on-chip serial communication design for SoC applications

In this paper, a high-speed, scalable on-chip serial transmission design is proposed to provide 2Gb/s transmission bandwidth for SoC applications. By using the dynamic control technology and the single-phase pulse-triggered TSPC shift register design, we can provide high-speed on-chip serial transmission. Moreover, the shift register design is a scalable design. By using the proposed method, we can provide 3 times wider bandwidth as compared to the prior art design (Kimura et al., 2003).
SVM Combined with FCM and PSO for Fuzzy Clustering

FCM algorithm is apt to fall into the local optimization, and what fast FCM algorithm can find optimum is greatly depended on the initialization. PSO-based FCM clustering algorithm avoids the local optima, and also is robust to initialization. The fluctuation however has appeared in the new algorithm, and it had been observed that performance of the clustering algorithms deteriorate with more and more overlaps in the data sets. SVM Classifier can handle linear inseparable problems and has the advantages of high accuracy of classification. Motivated by this observation, in this article a new fuzzy clustering technique that SVM Combined with FCM and PSO for Classification Problems has been proposed. Results of numerical experiments on two standard datasets show that the new algorithm is more efficient than the FCM and PSO-based FCM clustering algorithms, it can not only avoids the local optima and is robust to initialization, and also improve accuracy of classification.
How Parental Education and Literacy Skill Levels Affect the Education of Their Wards: The Case of Two Schools in the Effutu Municipality of Ghana.

The study sought to explore how parents’ level of education and literacy skills affect their children’s basic education within the context of cultural capital theory.To achieve the objectives of this study, a case study design was employed which comprised the use of interviews with twelve parents and twelve teachers in two school communities in the Winneba East educational circuit of the Effutu Municipality of Ghana.The population of the study consisted of all parents in the Effutu Municipality in the Central Region of Ghana. A snowball sampling technique was used to select the individual parents for the study. The data were analysed through coding to identify themes.The study reveals that most parents were aware of the benefits of education but the reality of their lives including educational and literacy challenges affected involvement in their children’s basic education.In-spite of this handicap, most parents relied on extended families and community members for assistance.Thus, when parents are eager to see their wards through formal education, their own illiterate status does not become a handicap. Consequently, the study recommends that policies on education decentralization must reflect greater consideration of contextual factors including formal education and literacy skill levels which impact on parental involvement in children’s basic education.
Evaluation Framework for 3D Collaborative Virtual Environments (the Core)

As a consequence of the increasing interest in Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) and the complex nature of such systems, the need for a thorough evaluation framework has become necessary. The current evaluation frameworks suffer from limitations in assessment because they are either confined to evaluation of a specific type of CVE or they focus on a restricted aspect of CVE. This paper presents a framework for THorough Evaluation of COllaborative viRtual Environment (THE CORE). The proposed framework is structured in a four-layered architecture to assure evaluation of the multi-faceted aspects comprising a CVE. The layers evaluate the application usability, tool usability, companion interaction and collaboration outcome. Within each layer, key evaluation tools and factors are provided. In addition, the framework is designed to be generic to be suitable for different types of CVEs. In order to validate the proposed framework, a case study was conducted involving development and evaluation of a 3D CVE. The case study found the four-layered framework to be useful for evaluating both the technical and behavioural aspects of the 3D CVE. As future work, the generality of the framework will be further tested on different types of CVE, potentially leading to modifications and extensions.
Why Larger Lenders Obtain Higher Returns: Evidence from Sovereign Syndicated Loans

Lenders that fund larger shares of a syndicated loan typically receive larger percentage upfront fees than smaller lenders. This paper studies sovereign syndicated loan contracts in the period 1982-2006 to explore this fact. In our dataset of 288 contracts large lenders obtain on average an 8.5 percent higher return on their funds than small lenders who join the syndicate. Our analysis shows that the return premium large lenders receive is positively affected by anticipated future liquidity problems of the borrower and by the number of banks. Our analysis also reveals that the return premium is not used to control the number of banks that join the syndicate. We interpret our findings as indicating that the fee structure on syndicated loans incorporates anticipated costs associated with a borrower illiquidity, notably the costs of coordinating the workout and providing liquidity insurance, but that the fee structure does not serve the additional purpose of curbing these costs by reducing the number of lenders in the syndicate.
Does Semantic Information Help in the Text Categorization Task?

In this paper, we investigate how effective the use of semantic information could be in text categorization tasks. To this end, we consider distinct representations of documents differing in the kind of information incorporated: (a) information about terms only, (b) semantic information, and (c) a combination of both types of information. Moreover, we study how the vocabulary size reduction affects this task. The k Nearest Neighbours method was used to perform the categorization, and the vocabulary size was reduced by means of the Information Gain technique. A number of different document codifications were tested. The experimental results showed that the inclusion of semantic information in syntactically and semantically richer corpora could improve the text categorization task, if vocabularies with a sufficient number of features are considered. In our view, however, it is not yet possible to affirm that the introduction of semantic information ensures an improvement on the text categorization task. Our results suggest that the performance depends heavily on the particular characteristics of the corpus used in each case.
Taxonomy for Social Network Data Types from the Viewpoint of Privacy and User Control

The growing relevance and usage intensity of Online Social Networks (OSNs) along with the accumulation of a large amount of user data has led to privacy concerns among researchers and end users. Despite a large body of research addressing OSN privacy issues, little differentiation of data types on social network sites is made and a generally accepted classification and terminology for such data is missing, hence leading to confusion in related discussions. This paper proposes a taxonomy for data types on OSNs based on a thorough literature analysis and a conceptualization of typical OSN user activities. It aims at clarifying discussions among researchers, benefiting comparisons of data types within and across OSNs and at educating the end user about characteristics and implications of OSN data types. The taxonomy is evaluated by applying it to four major OSNs.
Methodology for calculation of spectrum requirements for the future development of the terrestrial component of IMT-2000 and systems beyond IMT-2000

Foreword The role of the Radiocommunication Sector is to ensure the rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radio-frequency spectrum by all radiocommunication services, including satellite services, and carry out studies without limit of frequency range on the basis of which Recommendations are adopted. Series Title BO Satellite delivery BR Recording for production, archival and play-out; film for television BS Broadcasting service (sound) BT Broadcasting service (television) F Fixed service M Mobile, radiodetermination, amateur and related satellite services P Radiowave propagation RA Radio astronomy RS Remote sensing systems S Fixed-satellite service SA Space applications and meteorology SF Frequency sharing and coordination between fixed-satellite and fixed service systems SM Spectrum management SNG Satellite news gathering TF Time signals and frequency standards emissions V Vocabulary and related subjects 1 Scope This Recommendation describes a methodology for the calculation of terrestrial spectrum requirement estimation for the future development of IMT-2000 and systems beyond IMT-2000. It provides a systematic approach that incorporates service categories (a combination of service type and traffic class), service environments (a combination of service usage pattern and teledensity), radio environments, market data analysis and traffic estimation by using these categories and environments, traffic distribution among radio access technique groups (RATGs), required system capacity calculation and resultant spectrum requirement determination. The methodology is applicable to both circuit switched and packet switch-based traffic and can accommodate multiple services. 2 Background The estimation of spectrum requirements of wireless applications as described in Recommendation ITU-R M.1390 has been considered as a framework focusing on a single system and market scenario. In the advent of a convergence of mobile and fixed telecommunication and multi-network environments as well as supporting attributes like seamless interworking between different complementary access systems, as described in Recommendation ITU-R M.1645, application of such a simple approach is no longer suitable. Spectrum requirements for the terrestrial components of IMT-2000 were estimated in Report ITU-R M.2023 prior to WRC-2000 by using a spectrum calculation methodology of Recommendation ITU-R M.1390, which is based on a blended 2G and IMT-2000 technology networks. This methodology was essentially based on the paradigm of circuit switching. As indicated in Recommendation ITU-R M.1645, the majority of the future traffic is changing from speech-oriented communications to multimedia communications. Networks and systems will be designed to economically transfer packet data. Therefore, there was a need to develop this Recommendation for the determination of spectrum requirements for the future development of …
Constant-Competitive Prior-Free Auction with Ordered Bidders

A central problem in Microeconomics is to design auctions with good revenue properties. In this setting, the bidders' valuations for the items are private knowledge, but they are drawn from publicly known prior distributions. The goal is to find a truthful auction (no bidder can gain in utility by misreporting her valuation) that maximizes the expected revenue. Naturally, the optimal-auction is sensitive to the prior distributions. An intriguing question is to design a truthful auction that is oblivious to these priors, and yet manages to get a constant factor of the optimal revenue. Such auctions are called prior-free. Goldberg et al. presented a constant-approximate prior-free auction when there are identical copies of an item available in unlimited supply, bidders are unit-demand, and their valuations are drawn from i.i. d. distributions. The recent work of Leonardi et al. [STOC 2012] generalized this problem to non i.i. d. bidders, assuming that the auctioneer knows the ordering of their reserve prices. Leonardi et al. proposed a prior-free auction that achieves a $O(\log^* n)$ approximation. We improve upon this result, by giving the first prior-free auction with constant approximation guarantee.
Broad Coverage Multilingual Deep Sentence Generation with a Stochastic Multi-Level Realizer

Most of the known stochastic sentence generators use syntactically annotated corpora, performing the projection to the surface in one stage. However, in full-fledged text generation, sentence realization usually starts from semantic (predicate-argument) structures. To be able to deal with semantic structures, stochastic generators require semantically annotated, or, even better, multilevel annotated corpora. Only then can they deal with such crucial generation issues as sentence planning, linearization and morphologization. Multilevel annotated corpora are increasingly available for multiple languages. We take advantage of them and propose a multilingual deep stochastic sentence realizer that mirrors the state-of-the-art research in semantic parsing. The realizer uses an SVM learning algorithm. For each pair of adjacent levels of annotation, a separate decoder is defined. So far, we evaluated the realizer for Chinese, English, German, and Spanish.
Inflow and outflow from the accretion disc of the microquasar SS 433: UKIRT spectroscopy

A succession of near-infrared (near-IR) spectroscopic observations, taken nightly throughout an entire cycle of SS 433's orbit, reveal (i) the persistent signature of SS 433's accretion disc, having a rotation speed of ∼500 km s ―1 , (ii) the presence of circumbinary disc recently discovered at optical wavelengths by Blundell, Bowler & Schmidtobreick (2008) and (iii) a much faster outflow than has previously been measured for the disc wind, with a terminal velocity of ∼1500 km s ―1 . The increased wind terminal velocity results in a mass-loss rate of ∼10 ―4 M ⊙ yr ―1 . These, together with the newly (upwardly) determined masses for the components of the SS 433 system, result in an accurate diagnosis of the extent to which SS 433 has super-Eddington flows. Our observations imply that the size of the companion star is comparable with the semiminor axis of the orbit which is given by 1-e 2 40 R ⊙ , where e is the eccentricity. Our relatively spectral resolution at these near-IR wavelengths has enabled us to deconstruct the different components that comprise the Brackett-γ (Brγ) line in this binary system, and their physical origins. With this line being dominated throughout our series of observations by the disc wind, and the accretion disc itself being only a minority (∼15 per cent) contribution, we caution against use of the unresolved Brγ line intensity as an 'accretion signature' in X-ray binaries or microquasars in any quantitative way.