Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of NWS Watch and Warning Performance Related to Tornadic Events

Two organizations within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) are responsible for disseminating critical information to their customers prior to and during severe weather. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) focuses on conducting an overall assessment of the environmental conditions on the national scale, and issues the appropriate severe weather watches. At the local level, Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) are responsible for issuing warnings to cover imminent severe weather threats. The focus of this research is primarily on the evaluation of the NWS watch and warning performance in relation to tornadic events from 1997 to 2007. Data are obtained from the NOAA Performance Management Website and the SPC watch database. The watch and warning records are matched to each tornadic event, allowing an evaluation of tornado warning performance in relation to watch type and lead time. Statistical analysis of the data reveal interesting results on the nature of the relationship between tornado warnings and whether a watch was in effect, and if so, what type. Tornado warning performance and lead time increases with increasing F-scale intensity and also when there is a tornado watch in effect. The lowest tornado warning statistics occur when no watch is in place. Having a tornado watch in effect greatly increases the Probability of Detection (POD), while slightly decreasing the False Alarm Rate (FAR). For all tornado warnings from 1997-2007, there is an increasing of POD, while maintaining a steady FAR. Finally, the entire tornado warning data set is visualized using a new technique (Paul Roebber, 2008), and also added to a previous study (Brooks 2004).
Uncovering patterns of inter-urban trips and spatial interactions from check-in data

The article revisits spatial interaction and distance decay from the perspective of human mobility patterns and spatially-embedded networks based on an empirical data set. We extract nationwide inter-urban movements in China from a check-in data set that covers half million individuals and 370 cities to analyze the underlying patterns of trips and spatial interactions. By fitting the gravity model, we find that the observed spatial interactions are governed by a power law distance decay effect. The obtained gravity model also well reproduces the exponential trip displacement distribution. However, due to the ecological fallacy issue, the movement of an individual may not obey the same distance decay effect. We also construct a spatial network where the edge weights denote the interaction strengths. The communities detected from the network are spatially connected and roughly consistent with province boundaries. We attribute this pattern to different distance decay parameters between intra-province and inter-province trips.
Estimation Mean Change-Point in ARCH Models with Heavy-Tailed Innovations

The quest of the mean change-point in ARCH models with innovations in the domain of attraction of a κ-stable law appears to still be ongoing. We derive the asymptotic distribution of the residuals CUSUM of squares test (RCUSQ) statistic and find it depends on the stable index κ which is often typically unknown and difficult to estimate. Therefore, the subsampling method is proposed to detect changes without estimating κ. The tests are easy to use and are found to perform well in a Monte Carlo experiment.
Régularisation d'Images Multivaluées par EDP et Applications

Nous nous interessons aux approches par EDP pour la regularisation d'images multivaluees, et leurs applications a une large classe de problemes d'interets. L'etude et la comparaison des methodes existantes nous permet a la fois de proposer un cadre mathematique commun mieux adapte aux interpretations geometriques locales de ces EDP, mais aussi de concevoir des schemas numeriques efficaces pour leur mise en oeuvre. Nous developpons de cette facon une nouvelle approche de regularisation multivaluee verifiant certaines proprietes geometriques locales importantes, qui peut etre utilisee dans de nombreuses applications differentes. Nous abordons ensuite le probleme lie a la regularisation de donnees multivaluees contraintes. Un formalisme variationel est propose afin de traiter dans un cadre unifie, des donnees de direction comme les champs de vecteurs unitaires, de matrices de rotation, de tenseurs de diffusion etc. Les solutions apportees sont analysees et utilisees avec succes pour resoudre de nombreux problemes, notamment la regularisation et l'interpolation d'images couleurs, la visualisation de flots, la regularisation de mouvements rigides estimes a partir de sequences videos, et l'aide a la reconstruction de reseaux coherents de fibres dans la matiere blanche du cerveau, a partir de la regularisation d'images d'IRM de diffusion.
A Quantitative Model-Independent Method for Global Sensitivity Analysis of Model Output

A new method for sensitivity analysis (SA) of model output is introduced. It is based on the Fourier amplitude sensitivity test (FAST) and allows the computation of the total contribution of each input factor to the output's variance. The term “total” here means that the factor's main effect, as well as all the interaction terms involving that factor, are included. Although computationally different, the very same measure of sensitivity is offered by the indices of Sobol'. The main advantages of the extended FAST are its robustness, especially at low sample size, and its computational efficiency. The computational aspects of the extended FAST are described. These include (1) the definition of new sets of parametric equations for the search-curve exploring the input space, (2) the selection of frequencies for the parametric equations, and (3) the procedure adopted to estimate the total contributions. We also address the limitations of other global SA methods and suggest that the total-effect indices are id.
Gatekeeping the emergency department: Impact of a Medicaid primary care case management program

This article presents the impact of a primary care case management program on reducing the use of the emergency department (ED) as a source of nonemergency care. Medicaid-eligible persons enrolled with one of four different types of case managers. The emergency department use of enrollees is contrasted with that of persons remaining in traditional Medicai
Conduction and Trapping in RF MEMS capacitive switches with a SiN layer

This paper deals with dielectric charging phenomenon - a key failure mechanism for electrostatically actuated MEMS. Conduction mechanisms and trap properties of silicon nitride are investigated by current-voltage measurements on Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) capacitors and RF MEMS capacitive switches. Both structures show a similar behavior with two bulk-controlled conduction mechanisms: space-charge-limited current below 1.5MV/cm and Poole-Frenkel conduction above 1.5MV/cm. The number of trapped charges is extracted from the hysteresis of I-V sweeps and used to estimate the corresponding shift of the pull-in voltage on the switches. These results are in agreement with functional tests performed on the switches.
Integrated Planar Monopole Antenna With Microstrip Resonators Having Band-Notched Characteristics

Novel integrated planar monopole antennas with various microstrip resonators are presented. The proposed integrated antennas consist of wideband planar monopole antennas and electromagnetically coupled microstrip resonators producing band-notched characteristics. Various types of microstrip resonators such as open-circuited line resonator, short-circuited line resonator, closed-loop resonator and open-loop resonator are described. The proposed designs are suitable for wideband antennas with narrowband interferer rejection characteristic or multi-band antennas.
Simulation Study of Detecting Pulse Signal Based on Wavelet transform

Based on the principle that wavelet transform can calculate the correlation of wavelet function and the observed data, a signal detector is developed. It can distinguish pulse signal real-time from random noise signal. The detection process is analyzed with Mexican Hat wavelet and the first derivative of Gaussian wavelet. And the simulation experiment presents the validity of the signal detector.
Chemistry and biology of bile acids

This review makes an attempt to combine the insights gained into the biochemistry and physiology of bile acids with the elegant supramolecular systems designed from them. Bile acids are cholesterol-derived facial amphiphiles responsible for the solubilization of cholesterol and fat through mixed micelle formation with phospholipids. An intriguing aspect of bile acids is that their chemical structure has been postulated to correlate with vertebrate evolution. However, the etiology of molecular evolution of bile acids is still poorly understood. There has been a steady progress in the studies aimed at elucidating physiological functions and developing pharmacological applications of bile acids. In recent years, bile acids and their analogues have been extensively utilized as supramolecular receptors for various types of guest molecules and ions. Under certain defined conditions, the supramolecular association of bile acids and their derivatives leads to gel formation. Thus, modified bile acids might find use in the design of futuristic materials.
Birth Weight Percentiles by Gestational Age in Canada

Objective: To develop current birth weight norms by gestational age for singleton and twin births in Canada. Methods: Birth weight data were obtained from vital statistics and health department birth registrations for over one million live births in Canada from 1986-1988. Unlikely combinations of birth weight and gestational age were defined within each stratum of multiplicity, gender, gestational age as records with birth weights more than interquartile ranges above the 75th percentile or below 25th percentile. Birth weight percentiles (from first to 99th) by gestational age and sex were calculated for singleton and twin live births. Results: Of the total records, 0.4% were missing data on birth weight or gestational age, and an additional 0.4% were identified as extreme outliers and were excluded from the analysis. Charts of birth weight by gestational age show percentiles 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 90, 95, 97, and 99 by sex singleton and twin live births. Conclusions: The large data base assembled for this analysis provides current, stable birth weight-gestational age percentiles for classifying newborns from a developed country as small, appropriate, or large for gestational age. Compared with birth weight distributions from the 1970s, these current norms are heavier for full-term infants and the interdecile range for preterm infants is narrower. We recommend that birth weight norms be updated every 5-10 years. (Obstet Gynecol 1993;81:39-48)
Constellation Rotation for DVB Multiple Access Channels With Raptor Coding

In this paper we investigate a technique for increasing the capacity of a Digital Video Broadcasting-Return Channel via Satellite (DVB-RCS) system. In our previous work, we proposed a scheme consisting in adding a non-orthogonal interfering source to a DVB-RCS channel carrying data from an existing source. The inclusion of the new source does not cause bandwidth increase. The secondary source uses Raptor code. The destination will use successive decoding. It decodes the interfering source first, and after its removal, decodes the main source. In this paper, we generalize our work to allow possibility of decoding either the secondary source data (as in our previous work) or the main source data first. We investigate the performance and delay for each decoding scheme. Since the channels are non-orthogonal, it is possible that for some power allocation scenarios constellation points get erased. To address this problem, we use constellation rotation. The constellation map of the secondary source is rotated to increase the average distance between the points in the constellation resulting from the superposition of the main and interfering sources' constellations. Finally, we determine the optimum constellation rotation angle for the interfering source analytically and confirm it with simulations.
Mining Multicity Urban Data for Sustainable Population Relocation

In this research, we propose to conduct diagnostic and predictive analysis about the key factors and consequences of urban population relocation. To achieve this goal, urban simulation models extract the urban development trends as land use change patterns from a variety of data sources. The results are treated as part of urban big data with other information such as population change and economic conditions. Multiple data mining methods are deployed on this data to analyze nonlinear relationships between parameters. The result determines the driving force of population relocation with respect to urban sprawl and urban sustainability and their related parameters. This work sets the stage for developing a comprehensive urban simulation model for catering to specific questions by targeted users. It contributes towards achieving sustainability as a whole.
Determinants of Personnel Differentiation for Competitive Advantage: From the Perspective of Customer Satisfaction.

Personnel differentiation has been viewed as one of the immeasurable competitive advantage for the service sector in the world. Such advantage or human resource based advantage is difficult for a competitor to imitate because the source of the advantage may not be very apparent to an outsider. If the service organization wants to achieve competitive advantage they must differentiate their personnel to satisfy their customer. Satisfied customer can loyal to the organization and loyal customer increases its profitability and sustainability. So, Different dimensions of personnel differentiation have been considered by various previous scholars. This study is an attempt to identify the factor causing personnel differentiation to satisfy customer for banking service for achieving competitive advantage. The study is exploratory in nature and uses Factor Analysis (Principal Component Analysis) to identify the most important factors of personnel differentiation which can help to achieve the competitive advantage of bank among 15 variables. The research methodology is empirical and a survey of different customers (sample-150) was conducted. The reliability test was used; the variable under study and sample size came reliable for the study. The findings reveal that six factors are considered important for determining personnel differentiation from the perspective of customer satisfaction. These factors are 'Visually Appealing personality and Tangibility '; 'Assurance'; 'Credibility and Accessibility';
CAPD and Bone Marrow Cell-Cell Interaction Abnormality in end Stage Renal Disease

In this research the early erythroid progenitor (BFU-E) growth has been observed in patients with chronic renal failure by studing in «in vitro» cultures the number of BFU-E developed per plate under various experimental conditions. Our results demonstrate that the BFU-E growth of uremic patients in the predialysis phase or on hemodialysis is suppressed both in basal conditions and with the addition of lympho-monocytes of normal subjects or CAPD patients to the «in vitro» cultures. In CAPD patients, on the contrary, the BFU-E growth appears near normal levels in basal conditions and is further more enhanced by adding the normal lympho-monocytes to the «in vitro» cultures. The above mentioned facts signify that in uremic patients both the abnormality of bone marrow and immunocompetent cells may be responsable for the suppressed BFU-E growth, while with CAPD the improvement of both systems allow a normalisation of erythropoiesis. Such a recovery with CAPD demonstrates the presence of an inhibitor material in uremia which is better depurated by this technique.
Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis: Lessons from Animal Models

Summary Atherothrombosis defines the occurrence of thrombosis on athero-sclerotic lesions. Atherosclerosis is the most prevalent disease of our time and its thrombotic complications are responsible for an exceedingly high number of deaths and disabilities. Over the past few years, experimental investigation and clinical and pathologic observations have led to a better understanding of how a thrombus forms and also of its incidence in acute ischemic syndromes. A thrombus is usually found secondary to atherosclerotic plaque disruption. Mural thrombosis, also at the site of plaque rupture, is an important mechanism in the progression of atherosclerosis even when symptoms are absent. Because atherosclerosis is a silent and asymptomatic disease until complications arise with thrombosis producing clinical symptoms, it is necessary to have models that reproduce the human disease in its early stages. Unfortunately, not all the experimental models of vascular disease have human resemblance and validity. Knowledge of the disease process and of what an experimental animal model can offer is a milestone for a successful investigation. Experimental models of vascular disease have enhanced our understanding of the pathophysiological processes leading to vascular obstruction in both spontaneous and accelerated atherosclerosis and thrombosis. Animal models have provided insight into the role of platelets, lipids, renin-angiotensin system (RAS), cytokines and growth factors in the evolution and progression of atherosclerosis and have suggested potential therapeutic interventions. Significant advances in our understanding of the vascular biology and pathology of atherosclerosis and thrombosis, and of the interactions of blood cells, lipids and proteins with the vascular wall, have allowed us to formulate new experimental hypotheses and to test therapeutic strategies, either pharmacological or surgical.
(How) observed eye-contact modulates gaze following. An fMRI study

Humans are highly sensitive to directional gaze cues and rapidly shift attention in accordance with others’ gaze (i.e., gaze following). Besides providing information about the physical environment, for instance, the location of an object, gaze direction can be used to extract information about the social environment, such as whether or not two people are interacting with each other. In the present fMRI study we investigated how these two different types of information conveyed by gaze direction interact with one another. Participants saw two faces that were either looking at each other or away from each other before jointly shifting gaze toward one of two target locations. Targets either appeared at the gazed at or the non-gazed at location. Behaviorally, gaze following (faster responses to congruent versus incongruent trials) was more prominent after observing eye contact than after observing no eye contact. In line with behavioral findings, neuroimaging results revealed enhanced activation in fronto-parietal and temporal areas in congruent trials when faces had looked at each other versus away from each other. These findings demonstrate that observing an attentional relation between others augments processing of their subsequent gaze cues.
MRI Coil Design Using Boundary-Element Method With Regularization Technique: A Numerical Calculation Study

A new boundary element method (BEM) based method is described for the design of coils for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems. BEM is an effective approach for solving the electromagnetic forward problem and has been used in the design of MRI gradient coils. However, BEM-based gradient coil design faces an ill-posed mathematical problem, which is conventionally handled by means of a Lagrange multiplication method. This work attempts to improve the BEM method for MRI coil designs by applying the Tikhonov regularization scheme to solve the ill-posed matrix system formulated by the BEM forward model. The objective of the study is not to design some specific gradient or radio-frequency (RF) coils for MRI system, but to discuss the design scheme with practical regularization and constraints. The proposed approach was explained in the design of MRI coils including biplanar transverse gradient coils and RF phased array coils. With the consideration of the practical engineering requirements, physical constraints such as wire intervals are transformed into mathematical constraints and formulated into BEM equations. The examples demonstrate that the proposed method is efficient and flexible for the design of MRI coils with arbitrary geometries and engineering constraints.
The Effects of Virtual Reality-based Balance Training on Balance of the Elderly

[Purpose] The objective of this study was to determine the effects of virtual reality-based balance training on balance of the elderly. [Methods] The subjects were 32 healthy elderly people aged between 65 and 80, who were divided into a VR (virtual reality) training group (n=17) and a control group (n=15). The VR training group engaged in a 30-minute exercise session using Wii Fit three times a week for eight weeks, while the control group received no intervention. The balance of the two groups was measured before and after the intervention. [Results] According to the Romberg Test conducted to examine the effects of the training on balance, both the area covered by the body’s center of pressure movement, and movement distances per unit area of the body’s center of pressure envelope significantly decreased in the VR training group. Moreover, the two groups showed significant differences in balance. [Conclusion] Virtual reality training is effective at improving the balance of the healthy elderly. Thus, virtual reality training can be proposed as a form of fall prevention exercise for the elderly.
An adaptive reliable multicast protocol in ad hoc networks

Multicasting is an essential service for ad-hoc wireless networks. In multicast communication, many reliable multicast schemes were studied in order to overcome packet losses in the network. This paper describes our effort to build a Source Tree Reliable Multicast protocol for ad-hoc networks (STRM). STRM provides the delivery of an ordered contiguous sequence of data packets from one sender to many receivers in an ad-hoc network. It is designed to support applications based on bulk data transfer, like files, images and software packages. The core to its support of node mobility, and also what makes the protocol unique, is the dynamic selection of a sub set of 1-hop neighbors from the sender as its Forward Servers (FSs). The key idea behind selecting this sub set 1-hop neighbors is to forward the retransmit lost data packets that needed by some receivers to achieve higher throughput and to receive the ACK packet from receivers to avoid the ACK-implosion problem inherent in any reliable multicast scheme. Finally, simulation results show that the protocol has high delivery ratio and low end-to-end delay comparing with ReMHoc protocol.