Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sparse subspace clustering using square-root penalty

We study the sparse subspace clustering problem in presence of both sparse outliers and Gaussian additive noise based on data sparse self-representation. We propose a convex optimization problem which does not only induce sparsity on the representation coefficients and the outliers, but also adopts a square-root penalty to improve the robustness against Gaussian noise. An algorithm based on alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is then devised as a solver for the proposed problem. As a real application, the proposed model and algorithm are applied in motion segmentation. The performances are demonstrated and analyzed by synthetic data, and more importantly, the effectiveness is verified by some real data. Compared with the reference method, numerical results show that the new method achieves higher cluster accuracy and that the choice of the parameter can be less sensitive to the noise level. 1
Metamaterial-Inspired Wire Antennas

Three antennas for Wi-Fi 802.11n applications are presented. The first antenna is a dual-band antenna operating at the 2.4 GHz and the 5.5 GHz bands. This antenna is conceived from the zero-order resonating wire metamaterial antenna. By making a judicious choice for the capacitances and inductances of zero-order mode antenna, the new metamaterial-inspired wire antenna can resonate at two distinct frequencies. The simulated gain is 2 dBi and 4 dBi at lower and upper band, respectively. The two others designed antennas are the compact folded monopole antenna with 0.5 dBi gain, and the compact folded dipole antenna with 2 dBi gain. They were simulated using CST Microwave Studio full-wave simulator and measured.
Risk of benign gynaecological diseases and hormonal disorders according to responsiveness to ovarian stimulation in IVF: a follow-up study of 8714 women.

BACKGROUND Over the past decade, attention has been focused increasingly on the long-term health effects of IVF in women. Assuming that hormonal changes due to stimulation regimens for IVF are strongest among 'high' responders, we evaluated whether responsiveness to ovarian stimulation in IVF is predictive of the risk of benign gynaecological disorders >12 months after the last IVF cycle. METHODS A nationwide historical cohort study of women who underwent IVF treatment was conducted. After a median time of 4.6 years following the last IVF treatment cycle, 8714 cohort members completed a health survey questionnaire that inquired about reproductive variables and the occurrence and age at onset of specific medical conditions including uterine leiomyoma, surgically removed ovarian cysts and thyroid disorders. Detailed data on cause of subfertility and IVF treatment were collected from the medical records. Women were included in the 'high responders' group when on average >/=14 oocytes were retrieved per IVF cycle (n = 1562), in the 'normal responders' group when they had a mean number of 4-13 retrieved oocytes (n = 6033), and in the 'low responders' group when they had a mean number of 0-3 retrieved oocytes per cycle (n = 1119). RESULTS Among women with a high response to ovarian stimulation, we found a borderline significantly decreased risk of uterine leiomyoma [relative risk (RR) = 0.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.4-1.0] and surgically removed ovarian cysts (RR = 0.6; 95% CI 0.3-1.0) in comparison with 'normal responders'. After OHSS, the age-adjusted RRs were 1.8 (95% CI 0.9-3.8) for having surgically removed ovarian cysts and 1.0 (95% CI 0.4-2.2) for uterine leiomyoma (both not significant). CONCLUSIONS Despite the small number of events observed, highly elevated risks of gynaecological disorders and hormonal diseases in women undergoing IVF treatment can be excluded based on the present data and this follow-up period. Women with a low response to ovarian stimulation tended to have higher risks of benign gynaecological diseases than high responders.
A rythmanalytic approach to understand the problematic nature of supply chain integration: The case of a customer ordered production strategy

Implementing a customer ordered production strategy involves changes in supply chain integration compared to if production was based on forecasts of demand. In a study of Volvo Cars’ customer ordered strategy it was found that the degree of implementation changed over time, especially in relation to business cycles. It seems, with reference to statements made by respondents involved in practice at different stages in the supply chain, that there exists different “world views” and logics of action depending of the actors’ position in the chain: A business logic downstream and an industrial logic upstream from the assembler (Volvo Cars split in “manufacturing” and “sales”). Time, space and energy are different in the logics. Transport providers adapt and coordinate activities with logic of their own . To understand time, space and energy we refer to the ideas put forward by Lefebvre on rhythm in everyday life. It is important to be aware of ongoing changes in the everydayness for supply chain integration knowledge. Integration needs to be handled as a process, it is not given by plans and procedures as state. We interpret the empirical findings by applying Lefebvre’s conceptual framework. The approach facilitates a better understanding of the supply chain integration process and potentialities of temporal alignment.
Muscle functional MRI to evaluate quadriceps dysfunction in patellofemoral pain.

PURPOSE A dysfunction of the quadriceps muscle group has often been suggested to play an important role in the pathophysiology of patellofemoral pain (PFP). However, consensus is lacking regarding the quadriceps recruitment pattern of patients with PFP. The aim of this study was to examine by muscle functional magnetic resonance imaging if patients with PFP actually exhibit an altered activation of the muscles that play a significant role in the dynamic balance of the patella. METHODS Forty-six patients with PFP (25 female and 21 male, mean ± SD age = 25.0 ± 7.4 yr) and 30 healthy control subjects (17 female and 13 male, mean ± SD age = 21.6 ± 4.5 yr) underwent MRI of the quadriceps before and immediately after a squat exercise. The transverse relaxation time (T2) and the T2 shift were calculated for the vasti muscles. RESULTS There were no significant differences in the T2 values at rest and the T2 shift values between the patient and the control groups, except for the T2 rest value of the VMVI of females (P = 0.007). The T2 shift of the VL was significantly smaller than the T2 shift of the VMVI in both study groups (male P < 0.001 and female P = 0.044), while in females, the T2 shift of the VMO was also significantly smaller than the T2 shift of the VMVI (P = 0.027). CONCLUSIONS The activation pattern of the quadriceps is not altered in patients with PFP for both males and females. Because the relative contribution of the quadriceps muscles to a functional activity has not been modified, there is no evidence for quadriceps dysfunction.
EVIDENCE FOR A MILKY WAY TIDAL STREAM REACHING BEYOND 100 kpc

We present the analysis of 1207 RR Lyrae found in photometry taken by the Catalina Survey's Mount Lemmon telescope. By combining accurate distances for these stars with measurements for ∼14,000 type-ab RR Lyrae from the Catalina Schmidt telescope, we reveal an extended association that reaches Galactocentric distances beyond 100 kpc and overlaps the Sagittarius stream system. This result confirms earlier evidence for the existence of an outer halo tidal stream resulting from a disrupted stellar system. By comparing the RR Lyrae source density with that expected based on halo models, we find the detection has ∼8σ significance. We investigate the distances, radial velocities, metallicities, and period–amplitude distribution of the RR Lyrae. We find that both radial velocities and distances are inconsistent with current models of the Sagittarius stream. We also find tentative evidence for a division in source metallicities for the most distant sources. Following prior analyses, we compare the locations and distances of the RR Lyrae with photometrically selected candidate horizontal branch stars and find supporting evidence that this structure spans at least 60° of the sky. We investigate the prospects of an association between the stream and the unusual globular cluster NGC 2419.
Autoencoding Variational Inference For Topic Models

Topic models are one of the most popular methods for learning representations of text, but a major challenge is that any change to the topic model requires mathematically deriving a new inference algorithm. A promising approach to address this problem is autoencoding variational Bayes (AEVB), but it has proven diffi- cult to apply to topic models in practice. We present what is to our knowledge the first effective AEVB based inference method for latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), which we call Autoencoded Variational Inference For Topic Model (AVITM). This model tackles the problems caused for AEVB by the Dirichlet prior and by component collapsing. We find that AVITM matches traditional methods in accuracy with much better inference time. Indeed, because of the inference network, we find that it is unnecessary to pay the computational cost of running variational optimization on test data. Because AVITM is black box, it is readily applied to new topic models. As a dramatic illustration of this, we present a new topic model called ProdLDA, that replaces the mixture model in LDA with a product of experts. By changing only one line of code from LDA, we find that ProdLDA yields much more interpretable topics, even if LDA is trained via collapsed Gibbs sampling.
Integrating Evolving Tools for Proteomics Research

The recent development of high-throughput proteomics techniques has resulted in the exponential growth of experimental proteomics data. At the same time, the amount of published biological information—which includes not only journal articles but also gene sequences, annotations, and biological ontologies—is also growing rapidly. To extract information from these large, diverse data sets, biologists will require powerful data management, analysis, and integration tools. More than that, biologists will need these diverse tools integrated into a computational environment that allows them to focus on the science. Without an integrated environment, biologists must attend to non-scientific tasks, for example, moving data files or altering data formats; such tasks can be a nuisance with small data sets and significant obstacles with large data sets. This paper explores an integrated computational environment for proteomics by loosely connecting individual components for data storage, retrieval, analysis, and visualization.
Cloning and expression of the Wnt antagonists Sfrp-2 and Frzb during chick development.

The Wnt genes are known to play fundamental roles during patterning and development of a number of embryonic structures. Receptors for Wnts are members of the Frizzled family of proteins containing a cysteine-rich domain (CRD) that binds the Wnt protein. Recently several secreted frizzled-related proteins (Sfrps) that also contain a CRD have been identified and some of these can both bind and antagonise Wnt proteins. In this paper we report the expression patterns of the chick homologues of Frzb, a known Wnt antagonist, and Sfrp-2. Both genes are expressed in areas where Wnts are known to play a role in development, including the neural tube, myotome, cartilage, and sites of epithelial-mesenchymal interactions. Initially, Sfrp-2 and Frzb are expressed in overlapping areas in the neural plate and neural tube, whereas later, they have distinct patterns. In particular Sfrp-2 is associated with myogenesis while Frzb is associated with chondrogenesis, suggesting that they play different roles during development. Finally, we have used the early Xenopus embryo as an in vivo assay to show that Sfrp-2, like Frzb, is a Wnt antagonist. These results suggest that Sfrp-2 and Frzb may function in the developing embryo by modulating Wnt signalling.
A Critical Appraisal of Kuppuswamy's Socioeconomic Status Scale in the Present Scenario

The socioeconomic status (SES) is widely recognized as one of the important factors affecting the health condition of an individual or a family. One of the scales widely used and quoted even today is the one developed by Kuppuswamy. The Kuppuswamy scale in its various forms has held steady over three decades now and is still widely used as a measure of socioeconomic status in the urban population. However, it is important to discuss the applicability in the changed modern scenario.
Left Them 4 Dead: Perception of Humans versus Non-Player Character Teammates in Cooperative Gameplay

Why do we care if our teammates are not human? This study seeks to uncover whether or not the perception of other players as human or artificial entities can influence player experience. We use both deception and a between-participants blind study design to reduce bias in our experiment. Our qualitative results show that people do care about the perceived nature of other players, even though they are not always able to correctly identify them as human or as non-player character teammates. Interview data suggest believing that one is playing with other humans can positively affect a player's subjective experience. Furthermore, our qualitative results indicate that players view their non-player character teammates as humanized entities, but adopt a neo-feudalistic (i.e., an unequal rights) view of them. Based on our results, we establish game design guide- lines for non-player character teammates leading to stronger, emotional human-computer relationships in video games.
Improved Message Passing Algorithms for Sparse Code Multiple Access

Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) is one of the nonorthogonal multiple access techniques for the 5G system. SCMA can provide different levels of overloading to meet the diverse traffic connectivity requirements. However, its relatively high computational complexity of multiuser detection is still a significant concern for practical implementation, even when the sparse structure has already been employed. In this paper, a design framework for an improved SCMA multiuser detector is proposed based on the message passing algorithm (MPA). As the primary SCMA detector, two aspects of MPA are simplified and optimized. First, we introduce a lookup table (LUT) scheme to reduce the computational complexity of the ${\max }^*$ operation in the MPA. In contrast to the extensive Jacobian approximation, the proposed LUT method can guarantee the stable convergence of the MPA for SCMA. Second, a series of novel scheduling schemes are proposed to speed up the convergence. A single scheduling MPA (SS-MPA) method is given to enhance the convergence performance of MPA, where the soft messages in the function nodes and variable nodes are serially calculated and synchronously updated. To further improve the throughput of the MPA, a multiple scheduling MPA (MS-MPA) is proposed. In this method, multiple detectors are used to calculate in parallel and update the node messages by different orders. Since the scheduling strategies of message update are optimized, both the SS-MPA and MS-MPA can converge more quickly than the conventional MPA. Theoretical analyses and simulation results regarding the error performance and convergence properties of the above schemes are included.
The Multiple Hop Test: A Discriminative or Evaluative Instrument for Chronic Ankle Instability?

Objective:To determine whether the multiple hop test should be used as an evaluative or a discriminative instrument for chronic ankle instability (CAI). Design:Blinded case–control study. Setting:University research laboratory. Participants:Twenty-nine healthy subjects (21 men, 8 women, mean age 21.8 years) and 29 patients with CAI (17 men, 12 women, mean age 24.9 years) were selected. Interventions:Subjects performed a multiple hop test and hopped on 10 different tape markers while trying to avoid any postural correction. Main Outcome Measures:Minimal detectable changes (MDC) of the number of balance errors, the time value, and the visual analog scale (VAS) score (perceived difficulty) were calculated as evaluative measures. For the discriminative properties, a receiver operating characteristic curve was determined and the area under curve (AUC), the sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic accuracy (DA), and likelihood ratios (LR) were calculated whether 1, 2, or 3 outcomes were positive. Results:Based on their MDC, outcomes should, respectively, change by more than 7 errors (41%), 6 seconds (15%), and 27 mm (55%, VAS score) before considering it as a real change. Area under curves were, respectively, 79% (errors), 77% (time value), and 65% (VAS score). The most optimal cutoff point was, respectively, 13.5 errors, 35 seconds, and 32.5 mm. When 2 of 3 outcomes were positive, the sensitivity was 86%, the specificity was 79%, the DA was 83%, the positive LR was 4.2, and the negative LR was 0.17. Conclusions:The multiple hop test seems to be more a discriminative instrument for CAI, and its responsiveness needs to be demonstrated.
An IoT based robust healthcare model for continuous health monitoring

Health issues are rising progressively due to the ignorance of health monitoring on regular basis which can now be looked after by the fast growing communication technologies and smart devices. In this paper, a robust healthcare model is proposed for continuous monitoring of the patient even when the patient is traveling. Sensitive data is collected from the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors connected to the patient's body and sent to the server through the smartphone of the patient. The mechanism under discussion in this paper ensures that if the patient's smartphone is malfunctioning then IoT sensors will connect to the optimal peer smartphone available in his vicinity and transmit data without interruption. The data received is then analyzed and reports are generated. In case of emergency, stakeholders are informed.
Real-time extensions of April for time-aware multi-agent systems programming

In applications of multi-agent systems which actively involve human participants, agents have temporally constrained goals and need to interact with other agents as well as humans in order to meet their design objectives. Human-to-agent and agent-to-agent interactions are characterised by disparate time scales, time representations and associated guarantees. This thesis argues that it is possible for these interactions to be temporally unified, and for a real-time agent architecture to provide guarantees and reason about both in a uniform and seamless manner. In particular, this thesis presents the design, implementation and evaluation of a series of real-time extensions to the April programming language for realising a time-aware agent architecture. Time-aware agents are defined as agents capable of dealing with the hard, fast temporal dimension of interactions with other agents while equally handling the much softer and slower interactions with humans. The April extensions comprise two layers: the April Real-Time Run-Time (ART) layer and the Time Aware Layer (TAL). The ART layer forms the underlying real-time agent platform. An original on-line, real-time dynamic priority-based scheduling algorithm is described for scheduling the computation time of agent processes, and it is shown that the algorithm’s O (n) complexity and scalable performance are sufficient for application in real-time domains. The algorithm is supported by the following contributions: 1. A flexible mechanism of specifying agent priorities in terms of (otherwise arbitrary) piecewise linear Agent Priority Functions (APFs). 2. The Future Structure, a mechanism for arranging and storing APFs in a form that allows O (1) access to relative agent precedence at run-time. 3. A Scheduler Agent, which encapsulates and enhances conventional scheduling functionality through an agent interface.
Multimodal Event Detection and Summarization in Large Scale Image Collections

This paper describes a multimodal graph-based approach to address the problem of event detection and summarization in large scale image collections. A first version of our system was presented in the Yahoo-Flickr Event Summarization Challenge of ACM Multimedia 2015 [6]. The objective of the approach is to automatically detect events within millions of photos and summarizing them efficiently for user consumption. The presented approach uses a moving time window over the collection of multimedia items to build a same-event image graph and applies graph clustering to detect events. In addition, it makes use of a graph-based diversity-oriented ranking algorithm to summarize instances of the detected events. A demo of the system is online at: http://mklab.iti. gr/acmmm2015-gc/.
A survey of intrusion detection and prevention systems

Purpose – The problem of protecting information and data flows has existed from the very first day of information exchange. Various approaches have been devised to protect and transfer such information securely. However, as technology and communications advance and information management systems become more and more powerful and distributed, the problem has taken on new and more complex dimensions and has become a major challenge. The widespread use of wired and wireless communication networks, internet, web applications and computing has increased the gravity of the problem. Organizations are totally dependent on reliable, secure and fault‐tolerant systems, communications, applications and information bases. Unfortunately, serious security and privacy breaches still occur every day, creating an absolute necessity to provide secure and safe information security systems through the use of firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems (ID/PSs), encryption, authentication and other hardware and softw.
Quality assessment of phase I dose-finding cancer trials: proposal of a checklist

Background Qualitative checklists for phase III trials have been proposed, to improve the reporting of such trials and to assess the validity of their results. Purpose Our objective was to develop such a scale for phase I cancer trials. Methods From a review of existing guidelines and checklists for phase III clinical trials, a staff team was responsible for the first selection of items and the construction of the questionnaire. The proposed quality assessment measures were rated by the survey respondents comprised of phase I research clinicians and statisticians on a 4-point Likert scale. Selected items from the quantitative analysis of the questionnaires were reviewed by an expert team who was responsible for providing the final items list. This was then applied to 103 recently published cancer phase I trials. Results Of the 48 initial items proposed by the staff team, 17 were selected from the quantitative analysis of the 99 participants' ratings. After qualitative analysis by the expert team, a 15-item checklist was derived, with 5 items related to trial objective, 5 to design, and 5 to analysis. The application to 103 recent journal articles on phase I cancer trials evaluating cytotoxic drugs showed on average the report of 10 items (range: 6—13) with 4 items reported in more than 95% of papers, while 2 were poorly reported. Limitations The response rate of participants was 20.7%. Conclusions A quality assessment checklist was developed for improved critical appraisal of the reporting of cytotoxic, dose-finding phase I oncology trials. This may be a first step toward a minimum standard of quality measures for all phase I clinical trial reports. Clinical Trials 2008; 5: 478—485. http://ctj.sagepub. com