Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Current status of active surveillance in prostate cancer

Active surveillance (AS) is a management strategy involving close monitoring the course of disease with the expectation to intervene if the cancer progress, in a super-selected group of low-risk prostate cancer (PCa) patients. Determining AS candidates should be based on careful individualized weighing of numerous factors: life expectancy, general health condition, disease characteristics, potential side effects of treatment, and patient preference. Several protocols have been developed to determine insignificant PCa for choosing ideal AS candidates. Results regarding disease reclassification during AS have been also reported. In an effort to enhance accuracy during selection of AS candidate, there were several reports on using magnetic resonance imaging for prediction of insignificant PCa. Currently, there is an urgent need for further clinical studies regarding the criteria for recommending AS, the criteria for reclassification on AS, and the schedule for AS. Considering the racial differences in behavior of PCa between Western and Asian populations, more stringent AS protocols for Asian patients should be established from additional, well-designed, large clinical studies.
A study of HMM-based automatic segmentations for Thai continuous speech recognition system

Speech segmentations have been widely using in many speech applications. In speech synthesis, the quality of produced speech depends on the accuracy of labeled acoustic inventory. In speech recognition, segmented utterances according to the labels are usually used as a starting point for training speech models. The segmentation is often manually encoded which is timeconsumption process and has low precision and consistency in some parts of speech. Therefore, the new better technique for speech segmentation using HMM is proposed. In this framework, the effects of manual and automatic segmentation are examined by using the output of final application, the word accuracy of speech recognition. From the experiment, manual segmentation has only 0.59 % better than mono-phone automatic segmentation. The result convinces that tri-phone automatic segmentation will give a better result in the future work.
Covering the semantic space of tourism: an approach based on modularized ontologies

Personalized online tourism services play a crucial role for tourists. In order to deliver adequate information, a semantic matching between tourism services and user context is needed. In the phase of trip planning, the essential user context comprises primarily user preferences and interests, while during the trip location and time context are added. While being on the move, unexpected events might force tourists to completely reschedule their travel plan and look for alternatives. In order to facilitate semantic matching between alternative touristic sites and user context, a specific vocabulary for the tourism domain, user type, time and location is needed. We demonstrate in this paper that existing tourism ontologies can hardly fulfill this goal as they mainly focus on domain concepts. The goal of this paper is to provide an alternative approach for covering the semantic space of tourism through the integration of modularized ontologies, such as user, W3C Time or W3C Geo, that center around a core domain ontology for the tourism sector.
A method to choose an appropriate concatenating position for automatically generated synthesis unites

To make synthesized speech sounds more natural, one would prefer using a larger size of speech data base. However, when we adopt manual segmentation method in making a large size data base, the procedure would be very time-consuming and the constructed data base would be in consistent. Consequently, automatic segmentation using speech recognition system has been used for making a large size of speech synthesis data base. However, when the automatic segmentation were applied to make synthesis speech, significant concatenation distortion happens due to phoneme boundary error. The purpose of our study is to choose an appropriate concatenating position of automatically generated synthesis units which may have errors on their boundaries. We have performed MOS(Mean Opinion Score) tests and analyzed the shape of spectrograms to evaluate our proposed algorithm. Our test results have shown that the quality of concatenated speeches with proposed algorithm is superior to that of concatenated ones generated by automatic segmentation only.
Conditionally linear Gaussian models for estimating vocal tract resonances

Optimization techniques are implemented by means of a program analyzer used in connection with a program compiler to optimize usage of limited register resources in a computer processor. The first optimization technique, called interprocedural global variable promotion allows the global variables of a program to be accessed in common registers across a plurality of procedures. Moreover, a single common register can be used for different global variables in distinct regions of a program call graph. This is realized by identifying subgraphs, of the program call graph, called webs, where the variable is used. The second optimization technique, called spill code motion, involves the identification of regions of the call graph, called clusters, that facilitate the movement of spill instructions to procedures which are executed relatively less often. This decreases the overhead of register saves and restores which must be executed for procedure calls.
Industrial Policy After the Crisis: Seizing the Future

Contents: Introduction 1. The 2008 Financial Crisis 2. Globalisation and the Organisation of Production 3. Division of Labour and Industrial Development 4. A Framework for Defining Industrial Policy 5. Industrial Policies as Long-term Strategies: Some Examples 6. The European Experience Conclusions References Index
Application of ultrasonic method for investigation of porous plates

Application of ultrasonic method for evaluating porous plates is presented in this article, The ultrasonic echolocation measurement method to evaluate porous structures is presented. The mathematical model is considered for uniform and non-uniform volume structure of the product. The pores on the surface are smaller then in the depth of a flat surface. The indirect ultrasonic measurement method is proposed for investigation of porous plates. The porosity of a product is evaluated by absorbed liquid volume versus time using this method. The volume of the absorbed liquid is calculated according to the liquid level in the cylindrical measurement vessel versus time. The level of liquid is measured by acoustical echolocation method through air. The measurement vessel construction was improved for planar objects. The obtained uncertainty in distance measurements till the liquid surface is five micrometers in the forty millimeters measurement interval. The focusing electroacoustical transducers were used for investigations. The experimentally tested technique allows to apply acoustic method for various porous plates structures investigations when others methods give results with great uncertainties. This article can be beneficial for researchers, who specialize in evaluation of porous structures.
Statistical Analyses of Receiving Water Data

Selection of Appropriate Statistical Analysis Tools and Procedures . 575 Computer Software and Recommended Statistical References to Assist in Data Analysis . 576 Selection of Statistical Procedures.580 Comments on Selected Statistical Analyses Frequently Applied to Receiving Water Data . 582 Determination of Outliers . 582 Exploratory Data Analyses.583 Comparing Multiple Sets of Data with Group Comparison Tests . 588 Data Associations . 591 Regression Analyses . 596 Analysis of Trends in Receiving Water Investigations.601 Specific Methods Commonly Used for Evaluation of Biological Data.603 Summary of Statistical Elements of Concern when Conducting a Receiving Water Investigation . 605 References . 606
Eecient Optimal Recompression

An eecient variant of an optimal algorithm is presented, which reorganizes data that has been compressed by some on-they compression method, into a more compact form, without changing the decoding procedure. The algorithm accelerates and improves the space requirements of a known technique based on a reduction to a graph-theoretic problem, by reducing the size of the graph, without aaecting the eeciency of the solution that is optimal for the given encoding method. The new method can eeectively improve any static dictionary compression scheme using a static encoding method, and in particular some LZ77 variants.
A Novel Facial Feature Localization Method Using Probabilistic-like Output *

Object detection technique generally could not localize facial features precisely because there is a tradeoff between detection robustness and facial feature support [2]. To address this problem, we propose a method to calculate probabilistic-like output for each pixel of image. This output describes the similarity of a patch of image to the training samples. The probabilistic-like output is afterwards used to locate the feature points using a localization approach we proposed. Our algorithm for facial feature localization is fast, accurate and robust. It takes only about 10ms on a computer with P4 CPU to locate five feature points including eye centers, nose tip and mouth corners. The localization accuracy is comparable with hand labeled results. And experimental results on a large size of face database (more than 12,000 images from PIE [10]) demonstrate that the proposed method is robust to the variances of pose, illumination, expression and other appearance factors, such as glasses and beard.
Software-hardware tradeoffs and data processing budgets

This dissertation studies the production of information services and its impact on data processing budgets. It provides a framework for explaining the dynamics of data processing budgets, and, in particular, the allocation of these budgets between software and hardware expenditures. The importance of the problem is underscored by the increasing demand for information services, as well as by the ongoing debate among researchers and industry analysts regarding the allocation of data processing budgets. Two classes of models are developed that dynamically balance the value and cost of information services, taking into account the prevailing cost trends. The results are then applied to aggregate budget data. This serves to calibrate the model and estimate the values of its parameters. Extensions to the model are considered next. These examine the effects of aggregation, the transactions load and learning on the behavior predicted by the models. The results of this research will provide a basis for understanding the budget allocation process and for predicting future trends, and a framework for determining, allocating and evaluating data processing budgets.
Economic comparison of the monitoring programmes for bluetongue vectors in Austria and Switzerland

With the bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8) outbreak in 2006, vector monitoring programmes (according to EU regulation 1266/2007) were implemented by European countries to obtain information on the spatial distribution of vectors and the vector-free period. This study investigates the vector monitoring programmes in Austria and Switzerland by performing a retrospective cost analysis for the period 2006–2010. Two types of costs were distinguished: costs financed directly via the national bluetongue programmes and costs contributed in-kind by the responsible institutions and agricultural holdings. The total net costs of the monitoring programme in Austria amounted to €1,415,000, whereby in Switzerland the costs were valued at €94,000. Both countries followed the legislation complying with requirements, but differed in regard to sampling frequency, number of trap sites and sampling strategy. Furthermore, the surface area of Austria is twice the area of Switzerland although the number of ruminants is almost the same in both countries. Thus, for comparison, the costs were normalised with regard to the sampling frequency and the number of trap sites. Resulting costs per trap sample comprised €164 for Austria and €48 for Switzerland. In both countries, around 50 per cent of the total costs can be attributed to payments in-kind. The benefit of this study is twofold: first, veterinary authorities may use the results to improve the economic efficiency of future vector monitoring programmes. Second, the analysis of the payment in-kind contribution is of great importance to public authorities as it makes the available resources visible and demonstrates how they have been used.
Robust tracking method with drift correction

A new method is proposed to address the problem of template drift, a common phenomenon in which the target gradually shifts away from the template in object tracking. This paper integrates drift monitoring and drift correction with template matching. During the tracking based on template matching, drift is corrected once it is detected. The robustness and practicality of the method have been proven by experimental results.
Multirate Media Streaming Using Network Coding

Multimedia data transfers typically involve large volumes of data. Multirate multicast transmissions using layered source coding are generally used to deliver data streams to heterogeneous receivers. Network coding has been envisioned to increase throughput and deliver higher data rates than conventional source coding or no coding. The paper proposes a polynomial time algorithm for multicast to heterogeneous receivers using network coding. The overall goal of the algorithm is to maximize the aggregate rate to all the receivers. The problem is formulated as a linear programming optimization and solution from this optimization is used to assign linear network codes to all nodes using the Linear Information Flow (LIF) algorithm described in [1]. Empirical evaluation of the proposed solution shows that all receivers can be given a rate equal to their max-flows in all of the simulated instances.
Radicalisation as a moral career: a qualitative study of how people become terrorists in the United Kingdom

This thesis is a study of radicalisation within the context of the UK. The research focuses on how people become radicalised, why some are rendered susceptible to radicalisation, and why some go on to commit acts of violence and terrorism. This thesis also critically assesses how radicalisation affects relevant counter-terrorism policy and how this policy affects radicalisation. The research has been informed through the analysis of empirical data in the form of 61 qualitative semi-structured interviews. A number of these interviews were completed with respondents across government and academia. However, there was a specific focus on conducting interviews with the data set termed as the ‘informed informants’. This group consisted of grassroots workers conducting organic de-radicalisation strategies, religious leaders and imams, and former non-violent and violent extremists. The interviews were supported by fieldwork based observations.
Is The Debt Intolerance Approach Right? Empirical Evidence From Panel Data Analysis

The main task of this article is to assess the recent external debt dynamics in middle-income economies and try to understand how this debt has evolved over time. Then, we intend to shed light on the main hypothesis associated with the well-known “debt intolerance” approach. According to this approach the propensity to default of some developing countries is frequently associated with their history of default and inflation. Our empirical findings suggest that the way developing economies borrow, that is, the debt denomination is still far more important to explain the debt dynamics than the domestic weakness in accepting default and fiscal avoidance. Key-Words: External Debt; Developing Countries; Debt Intolerance; Sustainability Assessment. JEL Classifications: F34; F37; F41; C23.
Representing and Visualizing Text as Ontologies: A Case from the Patent Domain

This paper presents preliminary results on a framework for the representation and visualization of text as OWL ontologies under an open-domain paradigm, where no a priori schema for the facts to be extracted is available. The extracted ontology is visually represented as a specifically tailored node-link diagram. The applicability of the approach is demonstrated on a use case from the patent domain.
Cost-effectiveness analysis of orbital atherectomy plus balloon angioplasty vs balloon angioplasty alone in subjects with calcified femoropopliteal lesions

Introduction As cost considerations become increasingly critical when selecting optimal endovascular treatment strategies, a cost-benefit analysis was conducted comparing the Diamondback 360°® Orbital Atherectomy System (OAS) (Cardiovascular Systems, Inc., St Paul, MN, USA) and balloon angioplasty (BA) vs BA alone for treatment of calcified femoropopliteal lesions. Patients and methods The clinical outcomes from COMPLIANCE 360°, a prospective, multicenter, randomized study comparing OAS+BA vs BA alone for treatment of calcified femoropopliteal lesions, were correlated with cost data and previously published quality of life data. Site of service, hospital charges, and associated medical resource utilization were obtained from Uniform Billing statements for index treatments and associated revascularizations out to 1 year. Hospital costs were estimated using hospital-specific, procedure-specific cost-to-charge ratios. Length of stay and procedural data were collected from participating study sites. Results Twenty-five subjects with 38 lesions and 25 subjects with 27 lesions were randomized to the OAS+BA and BA-alone groups, respectively. Mean hospital charges (US$51,755 vs US$39,922) and estimated hospital costs (US$15,100 vs US$11,016) were higher for OAS+BA compared with BA alone (not statistically significant). Stent utilization was statistically significantly higher with BA-alone treatment for all subjects (1.1 vs 0.1, P=0.001) and in the subset of subjects with one lesion (1.0 vs 0.1, P<0.00001). There was a significant difference in cost for single-lesion versus multiple-lesion treatment. Using costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) for the single-lesion cohort, the 1-year incremental cost of OAS+BA vs BA alone was US$549, and incremental QALY was 0.16. This results in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of US$3,441, well below the US$50,000 threshold. Conclusion One-year index procedure cost and cost-effectiveness were comparable for OAS+BA vs BA alone. This study provides compelling cost-effectiveness data for using atherectomy for treatment of calcified femoropopliteal lesions, a longstanding challenge for peripheral artery disease interventionalists.
Design-Space Exploration of Stream Programs through Semantic-Preserving Transformations

Stream languages explicitly describe fork-join parallelism and pipelines, offering a powerful programming model for many-core Multi-Processor Systems on Chip (MPSoC). In an embedded resource-constrained system, adapting stream programs to fit memory requirements is particularly important. In this paper we present a design-space exploration technique to reduce the minimal memory required when running stream programs on MPSoC; this allows to target memory constrained systems and in some cases obtain better performance. Using a set of semantically preserving transformations, we explore a large number of equivalent program variants; we select the variant that minimizes a buffer evaluation metric. To cope efficiently with large program instances we propose and evaluate an heuristic for this method. We demonstrate the interest of our method on a panel of ten significant benchmarks. As an illustration, we measure the minimal memory required using a multi-core modulo scheduling. Our approach lowers considerably the minimal memory required for seven of the ten benchmarks.
Computational Aspects of Discrete Minimal Surfaces

In differential geometry the study of smooth submanifolds with distinguished curvature properties has a long history and belongs to the central themes of this Þeld. Modern work on smooth submanifolds, and on surfaces in particular, relies heavily on geometric and analytic machinery which has evolved over hundreds of years. However, non-smooth surfaces are also natural mathematical objects, even though there is less machinery available for studying them. Consider, for example , the pioneering work on polyhedral surfaces by the Russian school around Alexandrov [1], or Gromov's approach of doing geometry using only a set with a measure and a measurable distance function [10]. Also in other Þelds, for example in computer graphics and numerics, we nowadays encounter a strong need for a discrete differential geometry of arbitrary meshes. These tutorial notes introduce the theory and computation of discrete minimal surfaces which are characterized by variational properties , and are based on a part of the authors Habilitationsschrift [27]. In Section 1 we introduce simplicial surfaces and their function spaces. Laplace-Beltrami harmonic maps and the solution of the discrete Cauchy-Riemann equations are introduced on simplicial surfaces in Section 2. These maps are the basis for an interative algorithm to compute discrete minimal and constant mean curvature surfaces which is discussed in Section 3. There we deÞne the discrete mean curvature operator, derive the associate family of discrete minimal surfaces in terms of conforming and non-conforming triangles meshes, and present some recently discovered complete discrete surfaces, the family of discrete catenoids and helicoids. Polyhedral meshes belong to the most basic structures for the representation of geometric shapes not only in numerics and computer graphics. Especially the Þniteness of the set of vertices and of their combinatorial relation makes them an ideal tool to reduce inÞnite dimensional problems to Þnite problems. In this section we will review the basic combinatorial and topological deÞnitions and state some of their differential geometric properties. In practice, a variety of different triangle and other polyhedral meshes are used. In this introduction we restrict ourselves to simplicial complexes , or conforming meshes, where two polygons must either be disjoint or have a common vertex or a common edge. Or for short, a polygon is not allowed to contain a vertex of another polygon in the interior of one of its edges. This restriction avoids discontinuity problems in the shape, so-called hanging nodes. Further, we restrict our discussion to …
QSAR Model of Hydroxy- or Methoxy-substituted Benzaldoximes and Benzaldehyde-o-alkyloximes as Tyrosinase Inhibitors

Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) study on the tyrosinase inhibition activities of hydroxy- or methoxy-substituted benzaldoximes and benzaldehyde-O-alkyloximes was performed using support vector machines (SVM) method. The predictive power of the models was verified with the leave one out cross validation test and independent test methods. The cross validation squared correlation coefficient value for optimal SVM model was 0.6880. Compared with stepwise multiple linear regression and back propagation artificial neural network models, the SVM model was the most powerful with a square of predictive correlation coefficient of 0.6117 for the test set.