Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fuzzy Cluster Validation Based on Fuzzy PCA-Guided Procedure

Cluster validation is an important issue in fuzzy clustering research and many validity measures, most of which are motivated by intuitive justification considering geometrical features, have been developed. This paper proposes a new validation approach, which evaluates the validity degree of cluster partitions from the view point of the optimality of objective functions in FCM-type clustering. This approach makes it possible to evaluate the validity degree of robust cluster partitions, in which geometrical features are not available because of their possibilistic natures.
Constructing matrix geometric means

In this paper, we analyze the process of "assembling" new matrix geometric means from existing ones, through function composition or limit processes. We show that for n = 4 a new matrix mean exists which is simpler to compute than the existing ones. Moreover, we show that for n > 4 the existing proving strategies cannot provide a mean computationally simpler than the existing ones.
Learning Construction in a Simulated Environment Using Temporal Goal Sequencing and Reinforcement

A behavior-based architecture (ConAg) with a connectionist action selection mechanism is introduced that enables a society of autonomous agents to construct arbitrary structures in their simulated two-dimensional world. Construction in this environment involves the agents picking up colored discs and dropping them at incomplete parts of the structure being built. The ConAg architecture provides both reactive behaviors which are used to maintain the viability of the agent and navigational planning behaviors that are used for construction. The action selection mechanism enables learning the sequence of behaviors required for construction by reinforcement learning. The navigational planning behaviors use a grid-based representation of the world. The shape of the structure to be built is also encoded on an internal spatial map. Path planning is implemented by spreading activations on sets of grid-based maps so that the agents perform the construction task efficiently. Construction of arbitrary structures is supported by temporal sequencing of goals. We present simulation results that demonstrate the performance of the architecture and algorithms.
The Relationship between the Prices of Shipping Market and China's Economy

To explore the relationship between the prices of shipping market and China's economy, this paper analyzes the data of BDI and China's GDP from 2000 to 2015. By stabilizing the BDI and GDP data, this paper identifies the one-way causal relationship between the BDI and China's GDP via the granger causality test. The conclusion shows that BDI effects China's GDP positively at rate of 22% by using impulse response function and variance decomposition method. Accordingly, this paper establishes VAR forecasting model of China's GDP, which has a good forecasting ability.
The Rank Minrelation Coefficient

Abstract Bivariate (or pairwise) information measures such as mutual information or correlation are heavily used in variable selection and network inference algorithms mainly because they are faster and require fewer samples than multivariate (or multidimensional) strategies. This paper proposes a new relevance measure that aims at improving the detection of relevant variables based on pairwise measures. The new measure is called the rank minrelation coefficient because of its connection to the rank correlation coefficient. However, on the contrary to correlation, the minrelation is not symmetric. More explicitly, if a variable X exhibits a minrelation to Y then, as X increases, Y is likely to increases too, but, if X decreases, little can be said on Y values (except that the uncertainty on Y actually increases). In this paper, we introduce a new rank coefficient and an associated relevance measure that targets the detection of a characteristic dependency, connected to the concept of probabilistic implication. Finally, we show through several key examples and experiments that this new coefficient is competitive in order to select relevant variables, in particular when compared to correlations and mutual information.
Coach Bombay’s Kids Learn to Write: Children’s Appropriation oof Media Material for School Literacy

Examines the “whats” and “hows” of first-grade urban children’s appropriation of sports and sports-related media material for participation in unofficial peer worlds and official academic ones. Reveals the potential hybrid nature of even the earliest of children’s written texts. Suggests that learning to write involves work of the imagination on the part of children and teachers.
Immersive augmented reality system for assisting needle positioning during ultrasound guided intervention

Ultrasound (US) guided intervention is a surgical procedure where the clinician makes use of imaging in realtime, to track the position of the needle, and correct its trajectory for accurately steering it to the lesion of interest. However, the needle is visible in the US image, only when aligned in-plane with the scanning plane of the US probe. In practice, clinicians often use a mechanical needle guide, thus restricting their available degrees of freedom in the US probe movement. Alternatively, during free-hand procedure, they use multiple needle punctures to achieve this in-plane positioning. Our present work details an augmented reality (AR) system for patient comfort centric aid to needle intervention through an overlaid visualization of the needle trajectory on the US frame prior to its insertion. This is implemented by continuous visual tracking of the US probe and the needle in 3D world coordinate system using fiducial markers. The tracked marker positions are used to draw the needle trajectory and tip visualized in realtime to augment on the US feed. Subsequently, the continuously tracked US probe and needle, and the navigation assistance information, would be overlaid with the visual feed from a head mounted display (HMD) for generating totally immersive AR experience for the clinician.
FOG-Engine: Towards Big Data Analytics in the Fog

Existing platforms fall short in providing effective solutions for big data analytics while the demands for processing large quantities of data in real-time are increasing. Moving data analytics towards where the data is generated and stored could be a solution for addressing this issue. In this paper, we propose a solution referred as FOG-engine, which is integrated into IoTs near the ground and facilitates data analytics before offloading large amounts of data to a central location. In this work, we introduce a model for data analytic using FOG-engines and discuss our plan for evaluating its efficacy in terms of several performance metrics such as processing speed, network bandwidth, and data transfer size.
Can social bookmarking enhance search in the web?

Social bookmarking is an emerging type of a Web service that helps users share, classify, and discover interesting resources. In this paper, we explore the concept of an enhanced search, in which data from social bookmarking systems is exploited for enhancing search in the Web. We propose combining the widely used link-based ranking metric with the one derived using social bookmarking data. First, this increases the precision of a standard link-based search by incorporating popularity estimates from aggregated data of bookmarking users. Second, it provides an opportunity for extending the search capabilities of existing search engines. Individual contributions of bookmarking users as well as the general statistics of their activities are used here for a new kind of a complex search where contextual, temporal or sentiment-related information is used. We investigate the usefulness of social bookmarking systems for the purpose of enhancing Web search through a series of experiments done on datasets obtained from social bookmarking systems. Next, we show the prototype system that implements the proposed approach and we present some preliminary results.
A Bi-Criteria Approximation Algorithm for k-Means

We consider the classical $k$-means clustering problem in the setting bi-criteria approximation, in which an algoithm is allowed to output $\beta k > k$ clusters, and must produce a clustering with cost at most $\alpha$ times the to the cost of the optimal set of $k$ clusters. We argue that this approach is natural in many settings, for which the exact number of clusters is a priori unknown, or unimportant up to a constant factor. We give new bi-criteria approximation algorithms, based on linear programming and local search, respectively, which attain a guarantee $\alpha(\beta)$ depending on the number $\beta k$ of clusters that may be opened. Our gurantee $\alpha(\beta)$ is always at most $9 + \epsilon$ and improves rapidly with $\beta$ (for example: $\alpha(2)<2.59$, and $\alpha(3) < 1.4$). Moreover, our algorithms have only polynomial dependence on the dimension of the input data, and so are applicable in high-dimensional settings.
Costa Rica: reformas económicas, sectores dinámicos y calidad de los empleos

Resumen En este documento se aborda la interrogante de cual ha sido la capacidad de generacion de trabajo calificado en la economia costarricense durante la apertura economica. El periodo de analisis es 1987- 1997, caracterizado por el inicio de la implementacion y consolidacion de las politicas de apertura comercial y liberalizacion. Se analiza el desempeno, a nivel de sectores y actividades economicas, en produccion y productividad laboral, asi como en tres dimensiones de la calidad del empleo: calificacion, calidad salarial y calidad no salarial. El estudio concluye que 1. durante el periodo de la apertura economica el crecimiento de la economia ha sido menor y mas volatil, hecho sin embargo no atribuido a las reformas; 2. no ha existido destruccion masiva de empleos en el caso costarricnese debido a la gradualidad de las reformas, las politicas de promocion de exportaciones y el apoyo para la reconversion productiva; 3. el crecimiento economico ha sido uno de los principales determinantes del dinamismo del empleo; 4. los sectores mas dinamicos en crecimiento y empleo han sido los servicios (no gubernamentales); 5. los nuevos empleos se han generado en la micro y pequena empresa, han sido de tiempo parcial, femeninos de tipo independiente y en la zona rural; 6. en terminos generales se dio un mejoramiento de la calificacion de los empleos debido a la mejoria en la mayoria de los macrosectores economicos, sin intensificacion de la polarizacion salarial entre el empleo calificado y el no calificado; 7. los resultados en las dimensiones de calidad salarial y no salarial son variados segun los sectores y las actividades economicas, por heterogeneidad de su estructura productiva y laboral; 8. los sectores dinamicos en produccion lo fueron tambien en empleo, de modo que el crecimiento se dio por acumulacion de trabajo y no por incrementos en productividad; y los dinamicos no fueron necesariamente los sectores que generaron empleos de calidad; 9. no se dio evidencia de que la institucionalidad laboral costarricense haya generado un mal funcionamiento del mercado; 10. este estudio complementa otros resultados sobre un buen desempeno de la economia costarricense durante el periodo de implementacion del modelo 'Tico' de apertura economica.
Relationship Between Blood Pressure Category and Incidence of Stroke and Myocardial Infarction in an Urban Japanese Population With and Without Chronic Kidney Disease: The Suita Study

Background and Purpose— Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasingly recognized as an independent risk factor for stroke and myocardial infarction (MI). Few studies, however, have examined the relationship between blood pressure (BP) category and these diseases in subjects with and without CKD. Methods— We studied 5494 Japanese individuals (ages 30 to 79, without stroke or MI at baseline) who completed a baseline survey and received follow-up through December 2005. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was estimated using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease study equation modified by the Japanese coefficient. CKD was defined as an estimated GFR <60 mL/min/1.73m2. BP categories were defined by the European Society of Hypertension and European Society of Cardiology 2007 criteria. Results— In 64 395 person-years of follow-up, we documented 346 incidences of cardiovascular diseases (CVD; 213 strokes and 133 MI events). Compared with the GFR (≥90 mL/min/1.73m2) group, the hazard ratios (95% confidential intervals) for stroke were 1.9 (1.3 to 3.0) in the GFR 50 to 59 mL/min/1.73m2 group and 2.2 (1.2 to 4.1) in the GFR <50 mL/min/1.73m2 group. Results for cerebral infarction were similar. Compared with the optimal BP subjects without CKD, the normal BP, high-normal BP, and hypertensive subjects without CKD showed increased risks of CVD and stroke; however the impact of each BP category on CVD (P for interaction: 0.04 in men, 0.49 in women) and stroke (0.03 in men, 0.90 in women) was more evident in men with CKD. Conclusions— CKD may increase the association of BP and CVD in a Japanese urban population.
Matroidal Structure of Rough Sets Based on Serial and Transitive Relations

The theory of rough sets is concerned with the lower and upper approximations of objects through a binary relation on a universe. It has been applied to machine learning, knowledge discovery, and data mining. The theory of matroids is a generalization of linear independence in vector spaces. It has been used in combinatorial optimization and algorithm design. In order to take advantages of both rough sets and matroids, in this paper we propose a matroidal structure of rough sets based on a serial and transitive relation on a universe. We define the family of all minimal neighborhoods of a relation on a universe and prove it satisfies the circuit axioms of matroids when the relation is serial and transitive. In order to further study this matroidal structure, we investigate the inverse of this construction: inducing a relation by a matroid. The relationships between the upper approximation operators of rough sets based on relations and the closure operators of matroids in the above two constructions are studied. Moreover, we investigate the connections between the above two constructions.
Integrated Power Electronics Interface for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Applications

In Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), the battery system would be recharged from the AC grid at home or at work and would thus allow for a reduction in the overall fuel consumption. This paper proposes an advanced power electronics interface (APEI) for PHEV applications, which mainly comprises a Bidirectional Multi-Device Interleaved Converter (BMDIC) and Eight-Switch Inverter (ESI), in order to reduce the cost and the volume of the power electronics interface (PEI) used in PHEVs with high performance at any operating mode. In the proposed power electronics interface, the Eight-Switch Inverter (ESI) is able to function as a bidirectional single-phase AC/DC battery charger/vehicle to grid (V2G) interface and to transfer electrical energy between the DC-link (connected to the battery) and the electric traction system as a three-phase DC/AC inverter. In addition, a novel bidirectional multi-device interleaved converter (BMDIC) is proposed for interfacing the ESI to a low-voltage Li-Ion battery to minimize the input current/output voltage ripples and to improve the efficiency of the DC system. In this paper, the four-quadrant operation of the proposed topology is analyzed and investigated to evaluate the dynamic performance of the proposed configuration. This configuration is simulated and its performance is validated by using MATLAB/Simulink. Moreover, Simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the proposed configuration.
Transmission of Asthma Susceptibility Allergen-Independent Maternal

Maternal asthma is a risk factor for development of asthma in children, but mechanisms remain unclear. Offspring of asthmatic mother mice (sensitized and repeatedly exposed to OVA Ag) showed airway hyperresponsiveness and allergic pulmonary inﬂammation after an intentionally suboptimal OVA sensitization and exposure protocol that had little effect on normal offspring. Similar results were obtained when offspring of OVA-allergic mothers were exposed to an unrelated allergen, casein, indicating that the maternal effect is allergen independent and not transferred by OVA-speciﬁc Abs. Premating treatment with neutralizing anti-IL-4 Ab or reduction of maternal allergen exposure abrogated the maternal effect, showing a critical mechanistic role for IL-4 and suggesting an additional beneﬁt of allergen avoidance. The Journal of Immunology, 2003, 170: 1683–1689.
A Novel Microarray Gene Selection Method Based on Consistency

Consistency modeling for gene selection is a new topic emerging from recent cancer bioinformatics research. The result of classification or clustering on a training set was often found very different from the same operations on a testing set. Here, we address this issue as a consistency problem. We propose a new concept of performance-based consistency and a new novel gene selection method, Genetic Algorithm Gene Selection method in terms of consistency (GAGSc). The proposed consistency concept and GAGSc method were investigated on eight benchmark microarray and proteomic datasets. The experimental results show that the different microarray datasets have different consistency characteristics, and that better consistency can lead to an unbiased and reproducible outcome with good disease prediction accuracy. More importantly, GAGSc has demonstrated that gene selection, with the proposed consistency measurement, is able to enhance the reproducibility in microarray diagnosis experiments.
Operon prediction by Markov clustering

The prediction of operons is a critical step for the reconstruction of biochemical and regulatory networks at the whole genome level. In this paper, a novel operon prediction model is proposed based on Markov Clustering (MCL). The model employs a graph-clustering method by MCL for prediction and does not need a classifier. In the cross-species validation, the accuracies of E. coli K12, Bacillus subtilis and P. furiosus are 92.1, 86.9 and 87.3%, respectively. Experimental results show that the proposed method has a powerful capability of operon prediction. The compiled program and test data sets are publicly available at http://ccst.jlu. edu.cn/JCSB/OPMC/.
Volumetric shape description of range data using “Blobby Model”

Recently in the field of computer vision, there have been many attempts to obtain a symbolic shape description of an object by fitting simple primitives to the range data of the object. In this paper, we introduce the "Blobby Model" for automatically generating a shape description from range data. This model can express a 3D surface as an isosurface of a scalar field which is produced by a number of field generating primitives. The fields from many primitives are blended with each other and can form a very complicated shape. To determine the number and distribution of primitives required to adequately represent a complex 3D surface, an energy function is minimized which measures the shape difference between the range data and the "Blobby Model". We start with a single primitive and introduce more primitives by splitting each primitive into two further primitives so as to reduce the energy value. In this manner, the shape of the 3D object is slowly recovered as the isosurface produced by many primitives. We have successfully applied this method to human face range data and typical results are shown. The method herein does not require any prior range segmentation.
Biphasic ordered induction of heme synthesis in differentiating murine erythroleukemia cells: role of erythroid 5-aminolevulinate synthase

During dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-stimulated differentiation of murine erythroleukemia (MEL) cells, one of the early events is the induction of the heme biosynthetic pathway. While recent reports have clearly demonstrated that GATA-1 is involved in the induction of erythroid cell-specific forms of 5-aminolevulinate synthase (ALAS-2) and porphobilinogen (PBG) deaminase and that cellular iron status plays a regulatory role for ALAS-2, little is known about regulation of the remainder of the pathway. In the current study, we have made use of a stable MEL cell mutant (MEAN-1) in which ALAS-2 enzyme activity is not induced by DMSO, hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA), or butyric acid. In this cell line, addition of 2% DMSO to growing cultures results in the normal induction of PBG deaminase and coproporphyrinogen oxidase but not in the induction of the terminal two enzymes, protoporphyrinogen oxidase and ferrochelatase. These DMSO-treated cells did not produce mRNA for beta-globin and do not terminally differentiate. In addition, the cellular level of ALAS activity declines rapidly after addition of DMSO, indicating that ALAS-1 must turn over rapidly at this time. Addition of 75 microM hemin alone to the cultures did not induce cells to terminally differentiate or induce any of the pathway enzymes. However, the simultaneous addition of 2% DMSO and 75 microM hemin caused the cells to carry out a normal program of terminal erythroid differentiation, including the induction of ferrochelatase and beta-globin. These data suggest that induction of the entire heme biosynthetic pathway is biphasic in nature and that induction of the terminal enzymes may be mediated by the end product of the pathway, heme. We have introduced mouse ALAS-2 cDNA into the ALAS-2 mutant cell line (MEAN-1) under the control of the mouse metallothionein promoter (MEAN-RA). When Cd and Zn are added to cultures of MEAN-RA in the absence of DMSO, ALAS-2 is induced but erythroid differentiation does not occur and cells continue to grow normally. In the presence of metallothionein inducers and DMSO, the MEAN-RA cells induce in a fashion similar to that found with the wild-type 270 MEL cells. Induction of the activities of ALAS, PBG deaminase, coproporphyrinogen oxidase, and ferrochelatase occurs. In cultures of MEAN-RA where ALAS-2 had been induced with Cd plus Zn 24 h prior to DMSO addition, onset of heme synthesis occurs more rapidly than when DMSO and Cd plus Zn are added simultaneously. This study reveals that induction of ALAS-2 alone is not sufficient to induce terminal differentiation of the MEAN-RA cells, and it does not appear that ALAS-2 alone is the rate-limiting enzyme of the heme biosynthetic pathway during MEL cell differentiation.