Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Natural history and risk factors in fulminant hepatic failure

Background: The natural history of fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) without liver transplantation is not well known. Aims: To study the natural history and prognostic factors, especially the presence of ascites and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP), in children with FHF. Methods: FHF was defined by the onset of encephalopathy within 12 weeks of onset of jaundice. From August 1997 to December 2000, 67 children (≤12 years) were diagnosed with FHF. Their clinical features, investigations and outcome were noted. Viral markers A to E (IgM, anti-HAV; IgM, anti-HEV, HBsAg, and anti-HCV) were determined by ELISA. SBP was defined by the presence of ≥250 neutrophils with or without a positive culture in ascitic fluid. Results: Mean age of the children was 5.8 years with an almost equal sex distribution. Viral markers were positive in 63 (94%) cases: hepatitis A in 34 (54%), E in 17 (27%), A+E in seven (11%), and B in five (8%). Thirty one children presented with grade I or II encephalopathy and all recovered, whereas 17 of 36 children who had grade III or IV encephalopathy died. Ascites was detected (both clinically and ultrasonically) in 34 (51%) cases, nine (26%) of which had SBP. Overall mortality was 25%. Mortality was higher in those who had ascites than in those who did not (32% v 18%); among those with ascites it was maximum in those who had SBP (78% v 16%). Total serum bilirubin and grade of encephalopathy were significantly higher, serum albumin was significantly lower, and prothrombin time was significantly prolonged in those who died than in those who recovered. Conclusion: The natural history of FHF in Indian children depends on age, grade of encephalopathy, ascites, and SBP. SBP depicts worse outcome. In all cases of FHF with ascites, the presence of SBP should be investigated.
MELEACH-L: More Energy-Efficient LEACH for Large-Scale WSNs

MELEACH-L proposed in this paper as an expanded version of MELEACH makes the major functions of MELEACH applicable to large-scale WSNs whose dimension is much larger than the largest transmission radius of the sensor nodes. The channel assignment among neighbor clusters and the cooperation among cluster heads during data collection are two major difficulties in a large WSN. MELEACH-L solves the two problems separately by controlling the size of each cluster and separating cluster heads from backbone nodes. According to our analysis and simulations, these two techniques solve the problems satisfactorily efficiently, making MELEACH-L an applicable version of MELEACH for large-scale WSNs.
Audio forensics meets Music Information Retrieval — A toolbox for inspection of music plagiarism

This paper presents a toolbox that has been developed in order to facilitate the inspection of suspected music plagiarism cases. The basic concept is the use of techniques from Music Information Retrieval for semi-automatic inspection of original and suspect song. Basic types of music plagiarism are discussed. Several signal processing approaches suitable to reveal these types are introduced. They are intended to be used under supervision of a human expert. Evaluation of the proposed methods in a non-supervised scenario is not within the scope of this paper.
Higher education institutions and specialist schools: Potential partnerships

This paper argues that the development and growth in numbers of Specialist Schools in England raises a number of key questions about the relationships between higher education institutions (HEIs) involved in initial teacher training (ITT) and continuing professional development (CPD) work, and schools now designated as Specialist Schools. It focuses attention on Specialist Sports Colleges to illustrate the complex, dynamic and contested policy context in which new partnerships are arising. Recent policy statements from government and agencies associated with the development of Specialist Schools in England are identified as according Specialist Schools a clearly privileged position as compared to HEIs in plans for the further reform of education, training and sport provision in England. Discussion emphasises the need for renewed debate about conceptualisations of partnership and for more research that focuses on emerging HEI - Specialist School partnerships.
The Infection Algorithm: An Artificial Epidemic Approach for Dense Stereo Correspondence

We present a new bio-inspired approach applied to a problem of stereo image matching. This approach is based on an artificial epidemic process, which we call the infection algorithm. The problem at hand is a basic one in computer vision for 3D scene reconstruction. It has many complex aspects and is known as an extremely difficult one. The aim is to match the contents of two images in order to obtain 3D information that allows the generation of simulated projections from a viewpoint that is different from the ones of the initial photographs. This process is known as view synthesis. The algorithm we propose exploits the image contents in order to produce only the necessary 3D depth information, while saving computational time. It is based on a set of distributed rules, which propagate like an artificial epidemic over the images. Experiments on a pair of real images are presented, and realistic reprojected images have been generated.
PolSAR Land Cover Classification Based on Roll-Invariant and Selected Hidden Polarimetric Features in the Rotation Domain

Land cover classification is an important application for polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR). Target polarimetric response is strongly dependent on its orientation. Backscattering responses of the same target with different orientations to the SAR flight path may be quite different. This target orientation diversity effect hinders PolSAR image understanding and interpretation. Roll-invariant polarimetric features such as entropy, anisotropy, mean alpha angle, and total scattering power are independent of the target orientation and are commonly adopted for PolSAR image classification. On the other aspect, target orientation diversity also contains rich information which may not be sensed by roll-invariant polarimetric features. In this vein, only using the roll-invariant polarimetric features may limit the final classification accuracy. To address this problem, this work uses the recently reported uniform polarimetric matrix rotation theory and a visualization and characterization tool of polarimetric coherence pattern to investigate hidden polarimetric features in the rotation domain along the radar line of sight. Then, a feature selection scheme is established and a set of hidden polarimetric features are selected in the rotation domain. Finally, a classification method is developed using the complementary information between roll-invariant and selected hidden polarimetric features with a support vector machine (SVM)/decision tree (DT) classifier. Comparison experiments are carried out with NASA/JPL AIRSAR and multi-temporal UAVSAR data. For AIRSAR data, the overall classification accuracy of the proposed classification method is 95.37% (with SVM)/96.38% (with DT), while that of the conventional classification method is 93.87% (with SVM)/94.12% (with DT), respectively. Meanwhile, for multi-temporal UAVSAR data, the mean overall classification accuracy of the proposed method is up to 97.47% (with SVM)/99.39% (with DT), which is also higher than the mean accuracy of 89.59% (with SVM)/97.55% (with DT) from the conventional method. The comparison studies clearly demonstrate the efficiency and advantage of the proposed classification methodology. In addition, the proposed classification method achieves better robustness for the multi-temporal PolSAR data. This work also further validates that added benefits can be gained for PolSAR data investigation by mining and utilization of hidden polarimetric information in the rotation domain.
Sensorless control of permanent-magnet synchronous motor based on high-frequency signal injection and Kalman filter

This paper presents a method for permanent magnet synchronous motor rotor position estimation at low speed with high accuracy. The high-frequency voltage signal is injected into motor stator windings, and the corresponding current signal containing information of rotor position estimation error is demodulated. A Kalman filter is chosen as the rotor position observer to depress the nonlinear effect caused by inverter and improve the estimation accuracy at low speed. Simulation results show that this method is applicable to both steady state and dynamic state estimation of rotor position. With the method proposed, a DSP (TMS320F2812) based position control system is implemented and tested. The experimental results are also presented in this paper, which show that the proposed scheme can achieve high accuracy at low speed.
Performance of Ultra-Deep Pyrosequencing in Analysis of HIV-1 pol Gene Variation

Introduction Ultra-deep pyrosequencing (UDPS) has been used to detect minority variants within HIV-1 populations. Some aspects of the quality and reproducibility of UDPS have been previously evaluated, but comprehensive studies are still needed. Principal Finding In this study the UDPS technology (FLX platform) was evaluated by analyzing a 120 base pair fragment of the HIV-1 pol gene from plasma samples from two patients and artificial mixtures of molecular clones. UDPS was performed using an optimized experimental protocol and an in-house data cleaning strategy. Nine samples and mixtures were analyzed and the average number of reads per sample was 19,404 (range 8,858–26,846). The two patient plasma samples were analyzed twice and quantification of viral variants was found to be highly repeatable for variants representing >0.27% of the virus population, whereas some variants representing 0.11–0.27% were detected in only one of the two UDPS runs. Bland-Altman analysis showed that a repeated measurement would have a 95% likelihood to lie approximately within ±0.5 log10 of the initial estimate. A similar level of agreement was observed for variant frequency estimates in forward vs. reverse sequencing direction, but here the agreement was higher for common variants than for rare variants. UDPS following PCR amplification with alternative primers indicated that some variants may be incorrectly quantified due to primer-related selective amplification. Finally, the in vitro recombination rate during PCR was evaluated using artificial mixtures of clones and was found to be low. The most abundant in vitro recombinant represented 0.25% of all UDPS reads. Conclusion This study demonstrates that this UDPS protocol results in low experimental noise and high repeatability, which is relevant for future research and clinical use of the UDPS technology. The low rate of in vitro recombination suggests that this UDPS system can be used to study genetic variants and mutational linkage.
The Relationship Between Self and Activity in the Context of Artists Making Art

Art is an activity that has historically invited self-reflection, self-immersion, and self-exploration—for example, in self-portraits, exhibitions, experimentation with media—and that as such may open a window onto the relationship between self and activity. In this article, we describe two cases studies involving observation of and interviews with two artists to explore what it feels like to invest oneself in an activity emotionally, cognitively, sensuously, and reciprocally to “make oneself” through this activity. These case studies highlight the importance of authenticity in both the activity of making art and the making of self through making art. The implications for agency, emotion, and ethical activity are analysed and some of the implications for a sociocultural approach to activity discussed.
Are humans resources

Purpose – This paper aims to offer a critique, from a career studies perspective, of the common term “human resource management. ”Design/methodology/approach – Provides a literature review and critique.Findings – The term “human resource management” is a metaphor that presents employees as passive commodities or assets rather than as active agents, and thereby potentially de‐humanizes them. In an alternative view based on career studies, individual employees are active agents utilizing the resources of employing organizations to pursue personal goals. Alternative terms to “human resource management” are suggested.Research limitations/implications – There is scope for study of the effects of “human resources” terminology on employees' and others' view of and attitude to the human resource management function.Practical implications – Examination of “human resources” discourse may promote examination of the implications of current discourse for practice, facilitate moderation of practice, and stimulate the se.
The Impact of Sensory Processing Abilities on the Daily Lives of Young Children and Their Families: A Conceptual Model

The article describes a proposed model for considering sensory processing an important factor in young children's performance. The author reviews constructs from neuroscience and behavioral science to propose how the transaction among these constructs may provide a framework for understanding various patterns of behavior and for developing methods for handling young children's sensory processing needs in a functional and supportive manner. The author reviews data from a series of studies on the Sensory Profile, a family -report measure of a child's responses to sensory experiences during daily life, to illustrate the utility and possible quantitative support for the
A Link Transmission Model for Air Traﬃc Flow Management

Optimization of the air traﬃc ﬂow in the National Airspace System is by nature a large-scale problem which entails intensive computation. This paper presents a linear integer programming approach which decreases the computing time by aggregating the aircraft count at a link level based on the Large-capacity Cell Transmission Model. The improved model has fewer state variables and constraints which result in a reduced dimension problem. Taking advantage of dual decomposition method, the nationwide optimization is decomposed into independent subproblems path by path and optimized sequentially. The solution converges asymptotically to the global optimum. The major contribution of the proposed model is that it is about six times faster than Large-capacity Cell Transmission Model while maintaining an equally optimal solution. Another improvement is the modeling of ground delay and air delay. The traﬃc forecasting capability of the new model is also examined statistically at the sector level and nationwide level respectively. Accuracy statistics indicate that the sector counts are predicted with relative errors less than 20% within 80% of the high altitude sectors in the U.S. airspace, further analysis also suggests that the proposed model is comparable to two earlier Eulerian models.
Semisupervised hyperspectral image classification based on affinity scoring

There are two great challenges for classification of hyperspectral images (HSIs): lack in prior knowledge and serious internal-class variability. To address the issues, we propose a novel semisupervised method based on affinity scoring (AS). It can harness the fuzzy state of the contributions of spectral and spatial features to classification. The method consists of three major steps: over-segmentation, semisupervised classification and modification. First, superpixels are generated to maintain local class consistency, which can balance spectral variability. Then unlabeled samples are classified by AS in an iterative manner, whereas precious labeled samples are made most use of. Finally, AS is adopted again to refine the classification map, which further exploits spatial smoothness in HSIs. Experiments show that the proposed method can largely outperform several state-of-the-art classifiers.
Perceived flexibility requirements: Exploring mediating mechanisms in positive and negative effects on worker well-being

Based upon the interdisciplinary literature on organizational flexibility, the study investigates positive and negative effects of perceived flexibility requirements (PFR) on worker well-being. The authors define PFR as perceived expectations conveyed by the organization to its employees, regarding self-directed behavior related to flexibility and efficiency in organizational practices; their content can refer to (1) task fulfillment, (2) career development, (3) learning, and (4) working time. Based on a heterogeneous sample of N = 931 employees, the authors tested a structural equation model, in which time pressure, work–family conflict, and personal initiative mediated between PFR and strain. Negative effects on well-being were most pronounced for PFR with regard to working time and mediated via time pressure and work–family conflict. PFR related to task fulfillment had both negative and positive effects via time pressure, but also stimulating employee initiative. The other two dimensions of PFR explained only small amounts of additional variance in dependent variables.
Negotiating Masculinities: Advertising and the Inversion of the Male Gaze

This paper seeks to underline the negotiated character of male identities by demonstrating the means by which lifestyle magazine advertising has caused men to gaze upon images of their own bodies and by outlining the implications of this inversion of the male gaze. The paper begins by delineating the unfinished nature of our bodies and their role in identity projects. It then charts the emergence of men's lifestyle magazines in the UK and their position in the representation of male bodies. Next, the paper outlines the traditional understanding of the male gaze and identifies how that gaze is being inverted by the advertising images contained in men's lifestyle magazines. The paper then explains how men can adopt multiple subject positions in their consumption of such advertising and what the implications of this are for the negotiation of male identities. Finally, conclusions are drawn and recommendations made for further research.
Female pubertal timing and problem behaviour

We tested the peer-socialization/contextual-amplification explanation for the link between early female puberty and problem behaviour. We propose that in cultures with high tolerance for adolescent heterosexual involvement, early puberty should be linked with problem behaviour—not in other cultures. We compared girls in two cultures (Slovakia and Sweden) that differ in acceptance of adolescent girls’ heterosexual involvement. Findings supported the hypothesis by showing that in Sweden, a culture that facilitates adolescent heterosexual involvement, early-maturing girls reported more problem behaviours than in Slovakia. The mediation link (heterosexual involvement as the mechanism linking early puberty with problem behaviour) was moderated by culture. The findings expand our understanding of the role of macro-cultural contexts in the developmental significance of female puberty.
WHO BUYS AND WHO SELLS OPTIONS : THE ROLE OF OPTIONS IN AN ECONOMY WITH BACKGROUND RISK

Abstract In this paper, we derive an equilibrium in which some investors buy call/put options on the market portfolio while others sell them. Since investors are assumed to have similar risk-averse preferences, the demand for these contracts is not explained by differences in the shape of utility functions. Rather, it is the degree to which agents face other, non-hedgeable, background risks that determines their risk-taking behavior in the model. We show that investors with low or no background risk have a concave sharing rule, i.e., they sell options on the market portfolio, whereas investors with high background risk have a convex sharing rule and buy these options. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D52, D81, G11, G13”
OBO & OWL: Roundtrip Ontology Transformations

The Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) format emerged from the Gene Ontology, and now supports many other important ontologies. If we compare OBO to OWL, the ontology language of the Semantic Web, the latter anticipates integral query languages, rule languages and distributed infrastructure for information interchange. A convenient method for leveraging these other features for OBO ontologies is by transforming OBO ontologies to OWL. We have developed a methodology for translating OBO ontologies to OWL using the organization of the Semantic Web layer cake to guide the work. The approach reveals that the constructs of OBO can be grouped together to form a similar layer cake. Thus we were able to identify the constructs of OBO that have easy semantic equivalence to a construct in the OWL stack, and as well as those constructs that entail the challenges to a transformation system. As a result, we have developed a standard common mapping between OBO and OWL for the OBO community. Our mapping produces OWL-­DL ± a Description Logics based dialect of OWL with desirable computational properties for efficiency and correctness. Our Java implementation of the mapping is part of the official Gene Ontology project source. Our transformation system provides a lossless roundtrip mapping for OBO ontologies, i.e. an OBO ontology may be translated to OWL and back without loss of knowledge.
A SoC with FPGA Landmark Acquisition System for Binocular Visual SLAM

The present paper analyzes the use of an embedded system-on-a-chip (SoC) platform, integrating a multicore ARM processor with FPGA fabric in a single chip, as a stereo vision pre-processing module, used to retrieve depth information from the features to compose 3D landmark points. The Harris and Stephens corner detector is applied to an image pair acquired from a stereo camera setup using a hardware co-processor synthesized in the FPGA to speed up feature extraction and relieve this highly parallelizable process from the main embedded processor. The other tasks that compose the stereo vision processing module, such as image correction from camera calibration, finding a unique descriptor for the detected features, determining the correspondence between POIs in the stereo pair and retrieving depth are solved in software running on the main processor. The proposed hardware implementation enabled the corner extraction task to be performed in about half the time taken solely by the embedded ARM processor, speeding up the vision pre-processing task as a whole.
A Mixed Hierarchical Algorithm for Nearest Neighbor Search

The k nearest neighbor (kNN) search is a computationally intensive application critical to fields such as image processing, statistics, and biology. Recent works have demonstrated the efficacy of k-d tree based implementations on multi-core CPUs. It is unclear, however, whether such tree based implementations are amenable for execution in high-density processors typified today by the graphics processing unit (GPU). This work seeks to map and optimize kNN to massively parallel architectures such as the GPU. Our approach synthesizes a clustering technique, k-means, with traditional brute force methods to prune the search space while taking advantage of data-parallel execution of kNN on the GPU. Overall, our general case GPU version outperforms a singlethreaded CPU by factors as high as 108.