Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive cosine transform coding of images in perceptual domain

An adaptive cosine transform coding scheme for color images which incorporates human visual properties into the coding scheme is described. It employs adaptive quantization to exploit the statistical nature of the coefficients and adaptive block distortion equalization to reduce the block edge structures inherent in block transform coding schemes. Results show that the subjective quality of the reconstructed images at a bit rate of 0.4 bit/pixel or a compression ratio of 60:1 is very good. >
CLASS ANCESTRY INTERPRETATION OF RANDOM FORESTS

Interpreting models is necessary in many applications. Notably, linear regression models provide an elegant interpretation of the relationship between feature variables and a response. “Black box” algorithms, such as random forests, lack this interpretation. Instead, features’ relation to the response are buried within the forest structure. Class Ancestry Interpretation of Random Forests (CAIR) presents a parallel approach to Palczewska et al. [12] to understand feature relations to the predictions of a random forest. It summarizes the importance of a feature for each class with a positive or negative value whose magnitude represents the strength of the relationship. We present CAIR using two popular data sets.
Modelling of product demand as a pointer tool for choice of maintenance strategy

The purpose of this paper is to use product demand or sales turnout of products in a competitive environment as an indicator to suggest maintenance strategies for machinery. The model takes account of singular products from several companies or industries, thus giving room for a share factor in the market population. The model is developed based on the factors of maintenance severity, production capacity, output production, production strategies and demand for the product. It also integrates conventional manufacturing, just-in-time (JIT) and automation with maintenance cultures such as predictive, preventive and breakdown, coupled with a spare parts inventory. The software was developed using C# to ease and consolidate the entire research. Production data and product turnout for the same products for twelve weeks from one industry with were collected and analysed to validate this concept. The output of the integrated maintenance product demand model is dynamic, as the suggested maintenance strategy based on product demand varies with time. The model formulated was able to assist in taking appropriate maintenance decisions on machinery, thereby reducing the mean time to failure (MTTF) and thus correcting the products backlog and enhancing overall equipment effectiveness, management of machinery, products flow and materials inventory.
Assay of follicle-stimulating hormone in the hypophysectomized estrogen-treated immature female rat.

An assay for pituitary follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) using the estrogen-treated, hypophysectomized immature rat is presented. Linear dose-response curves, which correlated with histological evidence of maturation of follicles, were observed with various preparations tested for FSH activity. Crude pituitary tissue from several species, as well as purified pituitary gonadotropins, were assayed for FSH content; potencies were evaluated by comparison of the slopes of the regression lines produced.
A network level power management for home network devices

This paper proposes a network level power management based on the energy-aware plug and play (EPnP) for home network devices. The power management can reduce the power consumption of devices by reconfiguring power control elements of each device depending on a service collaborating with many devices in the home network. It also can reduce the power consumption of devices without user intervention by the EPnP technique. It can maximize a power reduction by a fine grain power control based on the power control elements that are functional elements of a device which is related with a specific home network service. The proposed power management showed that it was very effective when a service works together with many devices that have multi-function in ubiquitous home environment .
Colour polymorphism and correlated characters: genetic mechanisms and evolution

Colour polymorphisms (CP’s) continue to be of interest to evolutionary biologists because of their general tractability, importance in studies of selection and potential role in speciation. Since some of the earliest studies of CP, it has been evident that alternative colour morphs often differ in features other than colour. Here we review the rapidly accumulating evidence concerning the genetic mechanisms underlying correlations between CP and other traits in animals. We find that evidence for genetic correlations is now available for taxonomically diverse systems and that physical linkage and regulatory mechanisms including transcription factors, cis‐regulatory elements, and hormone systems provide pathways for the ready accumulation or modification of these correlations. Moreover, physical linkage and regulatory mechanisms may both contribute to genetic correlation in some of the best‐studied systems. These results raise the possibility that negative frequency‐dependent selection and disruptive selection might often be acting on suites of traits and that the cumulative effects of such selection, as well as correlational selection, may be important to CP persistence and evolution. We consider additional evolutionary implications. We recommend continued efforts to elucidate the mechanisms underlying CP‐correlated characters and the more frequent application of comparative approaches, looking at related species that vary in character correlations and patterns of selection. We also recommend efforts to elucidate how frequency‐dependent selection may act on suites of characters.
Small-form hepatitis B surface antigen is sufficient to help in the assembly of hepatitis delta virus-like particles

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) has an envelope composed of large-, middle-, and small-form hepatitis B surface antigens (HBsAgs) provided by the helper hepatitis B virus (HBV). In order to examine the roles of individual HBsAgs in HDV assembly, we constructed plasmids containing each specific HBsAg gene and then cotransfected each plasmid with HDV cDNA into a permissive human hepatoma cell line (HuH-7) to examine the effects on HDV production. Results indicated that the plasmids containing only the HBsAg genes were able to complement HDV cDNA as efficiently as the plasmid containing the complete HBV genome in generating HDV-like particles. Moreover, the small-form HBsAg alone was sufficient for HDV packaging. The particles produced from the cotransfection experiments have density and protein composition characteristics similar to those of naturally occurring HDV. With the electron microscope, they were identified as 36- to 38-nm-diameter particles. It was concluded that only the HBsAgs were able to help in the assembly of HDV-like particles.
Human sensing using the mutual subspace method with multi-view images

This paper describes an approach of human sensing using multi-view image patterns. In particular we will focus on a robust face recognition among various information obtained through human sensing. Since our face recognition method is based on the similarity between the distributions of multi-view face images, how to gather such face images is a key issue to achieve high performance. In order to realize stable gathering face images, we introduce a multi-camera system with six IEEE 13 94 PC cameras installed around the frame of a monitor. We confirmed that the performance of face recognition is improved largely by using the multi-camera system in comparison to a single camera system through experimental results.
A note on a generalized Ehrenfest urn model: another look at the mean transition times

Abstract This note is motivated by Blom's work in 1989. We consider a generalized Ehrenfest urn model in which a randomly-chosen ball has a positive probability of moving from one urn to the other urn. We use recursion relations between the mean transition times to derive formulas in terms of finite sums, which are shown to be equivalent to the definite integrals obtained by Blom.
Nouns before verbs in comprehension vs. production: the view from pragmatics

This study examines pragmatic factors that bias English-speaking children to produce more of the nouns and fewer of the verbs that they know. If nouns are favoured for production, parents should elicit more nouns than verbs in child speech. If verb comprehension is favoured over verb production, parents should more often prompt children to produce an action than to produce a verb. Data from 44 parent–child (age 1;8) dyads in the New England directory of the CHILDES data base were analysed. Children produced more nouns than verbs but mothers produced more verbs than nouns. Speech act analyses indicate that mothers elicited noun production but rarely prompted children to produce verbs. Mothers more often prompted children to produce an action than to produce a verb, and verbs occurred most often in maternal speech acts used to elicit children's actions. Moreover, children comprehended many more verbs than they produced. These data suggest that production measures underestimate the frequency and significance of verb-learning in early lexical development.
Bacteriophage PBC1 and Its Endolysin as an Antimicrobial Agent against Bacillus cereus

ABSTRACT Bacillus cereus is an opportunistic human pathogen responsible for food poisoning and other, nongastrointestinal infections. Due to the emergence of multidrug-resistant B. cereus strains, the demand for alternative therapeutic options is increasing. To address these problems, we isolated and characterized a Siphoviridae virulent phage, PBC1, and its lytic enzymes. PBC1 showed a very narrow host range, infecting only 1 of 22 B. cereus strains. Phylogenetic analysis based on the major capsid protein revealed that PBC1 is more closely related to the Bacillus clarkii phage BCJA1c and phages of lactic acid bacteria than to the phages infecting B. cereus. Whole-genome comparison showed that the late-gene region, including the terminase gene, structural genes, and holin gene of PBC1, is similar to that from B. cereus temperate phage 250, whereas their endolysins are different. Compared to the extreme host specificity of PBC1, its endolysin, LysPBC1, showed a much broader lytic spectrum, albeit limited to the genus Bacillus. The catalytic domain of LysPBC1 when expressed alone also showed Bacillus-specific lytic activity, which was lower against the B. cereus group but higher against the Bacillus subtilis group than the full-length protein. Taken together, these results suggest that the virulent phage PBC1 is a useful component of a phage cocktail to control B. cereus, even with its exceptionally narrow host range, as it can kill a strain of B. cereus that is not killed by other phages, and that LysPBC1 is an alternative biocontrol agent against B. cereus.
Influence of different adhesive restorative materials on mutans streptococci colonization.

PURPOSE To evaluate the effect of some restorative materials on mutans streptococci colonization. METHODS Awild strain of mutans streptococci was isolated from human dental plaque and a monospecific biofilm adherent to the surfaces of 12 adhesive restorative materials (F2000, Dyract AP, Compoglass F, Z100 MP, Filtek Z250, Clearfil, Ketac-Bond, Ketac-Fil Plus, Ketac-Molar, Fuji Cap II, Fuji Bond LC and Fuji II LC) were tested. A colorimetric technique (MTT assay), based on the reduction of a yellow tetrazolium salt to a purple formazan, was used to evaluate the biomass adherent to the disk surfaces after a 24-hour growth. RESULTS One-way ANOVA showed that glass-ionomer cements (Fuji Cap II, Ketac-Bond, Ketac-Fil and Ketac-Molar) had similar antibacterial effects on mutans streptococci and were significantly more effective (P < 0.001) than all other products tested in reducing the biofilm development on their surfaces. The compomers (Dyract, Compoglass F and F 2000) showed a significantly higher value of bacterial colonization than all the other materials (P < 0.001).
Product Feature Taxonomy Learning based on User Reviews

In recent years, the Web 2.0 has provided considerable facilities for people to create, share and exchange information and ideas. Upon this, the user generated content, such as reviews, has exploded. Such data provide a rich source to exploit in order to identify the information associated with specific reviewed items. Opinion mining has been widely used to identify the significant features of items (e.g., cameras) based upon user reviews. Feature extraction is the most critical step to identify useful information from texts. Most existing approaches only find individual features about a product without revealing the structural relationships between the features which usually exist. In this paper, we propose an approach to extract features and feature relationships, represented as a tree structure called feature taxonomy, based on frequent patterns and associations between patterns derived from user reviews. The generated feature taxonomy profiles the product at multiple levels and provides more detailed information about the product. Our experiment results based on some popularly used review datasets show that our proposed approach is able to capture the product features and relations effectively.
Design and characterization of calcium alginate microparticles coated with polycations as protein delivery system

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) loaded calcium alginate microparticles (MPs) produced in this study by a w/o emulsification and external gelation method exhibited spherical and fairly smooth and porous morphology with 1.052 ± 0.057 µm modal particle size. The high permeability of the calcium alginate hydrogel lead to a potent burst effect and too fast protein release. To overcome these problems, MPs were coated with polycations, such as chitosan, poly-L-lysine and DEAE-dextran. Our results demonstrated that coated MPs showed slower release and were able to significantly reduce the release of BSA in the first hour. Therefore, this method can be applied to prepare coated alginate MPs which could be an optimal system for the controlled release of biotherapeutic molecules. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to optimize delivery properties which could provide a sustained release of proteins.
How commercial are we? : a study of how identity influences auditors' perception of commercialisation in audit firms

Aim: The aim of this study is to explain how professional and organisational identity influence auditors’ perception of commercialisation in audit firms. The purpose is to see if there are possible differences between these identities and how they influence auditors’ perception of commercialisation in audit firms and if this perception is positive or negative.Theoretical approach: Theory that focuses on commercialisation in especially marketing literature and theory regarding professional identify in foremost organisational research, have been used.Empirical Methodology: A quantitative approach was used to be able to analyse auditors’ response from a questionnaire. When analysing the data, Pearson correlation matrix and multiple linear regression have been used. 374 answers from participating auditors in Sweden have been analysed.Conclusions: The empirical result of this study suggests that both professional and organisational identity influence auditors’ perception of commercialisation in audit firms positively.
Crystal Structure of Human Spermine Synthase

The crystal structures of two ternary complexes of human spermine synthase (EC 2.5.1.22), one with 5′-methylthioadenosine and spermidine and the other with 5′-methylthioadenosine and spermine, have been solved. They show that the enzyme is a dimer of two identical subunits. Each monomer has three domains: a C-terminal domain, which contains the active site and is similar in structure to spermidine synthase; a central domain made up of four β-strands; and an N-terminal domain with remarkable structural similarity to S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase, the enzyme that forms the aminopropyl donor substrate. Dimerization occurs mainly through interactions between the N-terminal domains. Deletion of the N-terminal domain led to a complete loss of spermine synthase activity, suggesting that dimerization may be required for activity. The structures provide an outline of the active site and a plausible model for catalysis. The active site is similar to those of spermidine synthases but has a larger substrate-binding pocket able to accommodate longer substrates. Two residues (Asp201 and Asp276) that are conserved in aminopropyltransferases appear to play a key part in the catalytic mechanism, and this role was supported by the results of site-directed mutagenesis. The spermine synthase·5′-methylthioadenosine structure provides a plausible explanation for the potent inhibition of the reaction by this product and the stronger inhibition of spermine synthase compared with spermidine synthase. An analysis to trace possible evolutionary origins of spermine synthase is also described.
T.J.S Consultants' First Customer Reference - a Teaching Case for IT Firms Entering Business

The market for complex software systems is sometimes called a 'reference business', because in this business the need for references are emphasized by corporate customers. The first customer references are especially important for start-up companies, which try to enter a potential business-to-business market with complex products. This teaching case helps to explore this important but very under-researched topic. The case company, T.J.S. Consultants Co., Ltd., constitutes an excellent case for analysing the meaning of first customer references in the growth of a company as the case company has repeatedly been forced to change its product and market focus. The case company's first product was a software package for pig farms. After several phases of new product introductions the company is selling complex systems for Human Resource Management to other companies. The history of the case company has been followed from its conception in the mid 1980s until 2004. The company has been managed by its founder and main owner, who is a highly educated female entrepreneur. The company is located in Thailand, which illustrates well technology-based companies in newly industrialised countries.
State of the art in Turkish Named Entity Recognition 1

Named entity recognition (NER), which provides useful information for many high level NLP applications and semantic web technologies, is a well-studied topic for most of the languages and especially for English. However the studies for Turkish, which is a morphologically richer and lesser-studied language, have fallen behind these for a long while. In recent years, Turkish NER intrigued researchers due to its scarce data resources and the unavailability of high-performing systems. Especially, the need to discover named entities occurring in Web datasets initiated many studies in this field. This article presents the state of the art in Turkish named entity recognition both on well formed texts and user generated content, and introduces the details of the best-performing system so far. The introduced approach uses conditional random fields and obtains the highest results in the literature for Turkish NER with 92% CoNLL score on a dataset collected from Turkish news articles and ∼65% on different datasets collected from Web 2.0. The article additionally introduces the re-annotation of the available datasets to extend the covered named entity types, and a brand new dataset from Web 2.0.
Pokemon Go: A Study on Fit in Virtual-Reality Integration

Augmented reality has become a trend today. The effects of Pokémon Go, the most popular smart phone game recently, on medicine and tourism have been explored in many studies. However, few studies on the cognition and the consistence between emotions and the integration of virtuality (the Pokémon projected in the game) and reality (information quality) have been done. With the Stimulus-OrganismResponse (S-O-R) model as the framework, this study aims to explore the fit (cognitive/emotional) and reactions (user satisfaction) of the user in the virtualityreality integration. According to the findings of this study, information quality and virtual features have significant influence on cognitive and emotional fit and emotional fit has significant influence on user satisfaction; however, cognitive fit doesn’t have significant influence on user satisfaction. It has been found that the user pays much attention to his/her feelings when playing games. Therefore, we should get acquainted with the types and emotions of game players in addition to maintaining the quality of games.
Dementia and Medicare at life's end.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or related dementias (ADRD), and the timing of first ADRD diagnosis, on Medicare expenditures at end of life. DATA SOURCES Monthly Medicare payment data for the 5 years before death linked to the National Long-Term Care Survey (NLTCS) for decedents between 1996 and 2000 (N=4,899). DATA EXTRACTION METHODS Medicare payment data for the 5 years before death were used to compare 5-year and 6-month intervals of expenditures (total and six subcategories of services) for persons with and without a diagnosis of ADRD during the last 5 years of life, controlling for age, gender, race, education, comorbidities, and nursing home status. Covariate matching was used. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS On average, ADRD diagnosis was not significantly associated with excess Medicare payments over the last 5 years of life. Regarding the timing of ADRD diagnosis, there were no significant 5-year total expenditure differences for persons diagnosed with dementia more than 1 year before death. Payment differences by 6-month intervals were highly sensitive to timing of ADRD diagnosis, with the highest differences occurring around the time of diagnosis. There were reduced, non-significant, or negative total payment differences after the initial diagnosis for those diagnosed at least 1 year before death. Only those diagnosed with ADRD in the last year of life had significantly higher Medicare payments during the last 12 months of life, primarily for acute care services. CONCLUSIONS ADRD has a smaller impact on total Medicare expenditures than previously reported in controlled studies. The significant differences occur primarily around the time of diagnosis. Although rates of dementia are increasing per se, our results suggest that long-term (1+ year) ADRD diagnoses do not contribute to greater total Medicare costs at the end of life.
ALLOCATING STORAGE SPACES FOR TEMPORARY INVENTORIES CONSIDERING HANDLING, TRANSPORTATION, AND STORAGE CAPACITIES

Space may be a scarce resource in manufacturing shops, warehouses, freight terminals, and container terminals. This paper discusses how to locate temporary storage inventories in limited storage areas. A typical inventory is delivered from the location of the preceding process to the storage area and stored in the storage area during a certain period of time. It may then be relocated from the original storage position to another storage position. Finally, it is delivered from the final storage area to the location of the next process. Because this logistic process for an inventory requires handling activities, transportation activities, and storage spaces, the limitation in capacities of handling equipment, transportation equipment, and storage space must be considered when allocating spaces to the inventory. This problem is modeled as a multicommodity minimal cost flow problem. A numerical example is presented to validate the model.