Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What's in a Figure? Estimating Recurrence of Civil War

It is often said that a country that has experienced civil war has nearly a 50 per cent risk of sliding back into war within five years. This has been widely cited in the academic literature and in policy debates, including in UN documents and preparatory work for the establishment of the UN Peacebuilding Commission. A closer examination of the origins, circulation and establishment of this figure gives a glimpse into the process whereby academic findings are converted into conventional wisdom and effectively inserted into the policy debate, even though the findings themselves are unstable. In this case, the authors of the original figure revised their initial 50 per cent estimate down to around 20 per cent only four years after their first study, but the change was barely noted. This article examines the process whereby the findings were made, and offers a note of caution about the wholesale adoption of such figures by policymakers and academics.
Light Fields for Minimal Invasive Surgery Using an Endoscope Positioning Robot

Summary Objectives: To generate a fast and robust 3-D visualization of the operation site during minimal invasive surgery. Methods: Light fields are used to model and visualize the 3-D operation site during minimal invasive surgery. An endoscope positioning robot provides the position and orientation of the endoscope. The a priori unknown transformation from the endoscope plug to the endoscope tip (hand-eye transformation) can either be determined by a three-step algorithm, which includes measuring the endoscope length by hand or by using an automatic hand-eye calibration algorithm. Both methods are described in this paper and their respective computation times and accuracies are compared. Results: Light fields were generated during real operations and in the laboratory. The comparison of the two methods to determine the unknown hand-eye transformation was done in the laboratory. The results which are being presented in this paper are: rendered images from the generated light fields, the calculated extrinsic camera parameters and their accuracies with respect to the applied hand-eye calibration method, and computation times. Conclusion: Using an endoscope positioning robot and knowing the hand-eye transformation, the fast and robust generation of light fields for minimal invasive surgery is possible.
Motivating service re-use with a web service ontology learning

Purpose – The purpose of the research is to speed up the process of semantic web services by transformation of current Web services into semantic web services. This can be achieved by applying ontology learning techniques to automatically extract domain ontologies.Design/methodology/approach – The work here presents a Service Ontology Learning Framework (SOLF), the core aspect of which extracts Structured Interpretation Patterns (SIP). These patterns are used to automate the acquisition (from production domain specific Web Services) of ontological concepts and the relations between those concepts.Findings – A Semantic Web of accessible and re‐usable software services is able to support the increasingly dynamic and time‐limited development process. This is premised on the efficient and effective creation of supporting domain ontology.Research limitations/implications – Though WSDL documents provide important application level service description, they alone are not sufficient for OL however, as: they typic.
An adaptive passivity-based controller for a unity power factor rectifier

We develop a passivity-based control scheme for the feedback regulation of a class of switched power converters commonly addressed as power factor pre-compensators. In such applications, aside from load voltage regulation to a prespecified constant level, a vital additional control objective consists of keeping the input power factor close to unity. By forcing the converter input current to follow a sinusoidal reference signal which is in phase with the supplied voltage, one may approximately satisfy both control objectives within a single power stage. A further complication in our design is to consider the output load, usually modeled by a resistance as an unknown. Experimental results are furnished for assessing the performance of the proposed feedback control law.
Existence of Equilibria in All-Pay Auctions

For an all-pay sealed-bid auction of an item for which each bidder's realized value can depend on every bidder's privately observed signal, existence of equilibria in behavioral strategies is established using only the assumption that bidders' value functions and the density function of signals are posi- tive and continuous on a product of intervals. Such equilibria have atomless distributions of bids and thus are not affected by how tied bids are resolved.
A Personal Light-Treatment Device for Improving Sleep Quality in the Elderly: Dynamics of Nocturnal Melatonin Suppression at Two Exposure Levels

Light treatment has been used as a non-pharmacological tool to help mitigate poor sleep quality frequently found in older people. In order to increase compliance to non-pharmacological light treatments, new, more efficacious light-delivery systems need to be developed. A prototype personal light-treatment device equipped with low brightness blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) (peak wavelength near 470 nm) was tested for its effectiveness in suppressing nocturnal melatonin, a measure of circadian stimulation. Two levels of corneal irradiance were set to deliver two prescribed doses of circadian light exposure. Eleven older subjects, between 51 and 80 yrs of age who met the selection criteria, were exposed to a high and a low level of light for 90 min on separate nights from the personal light-treatment device. Blood and saliva samples were collected at prescribed times for subsequent melatonin assay. After 1 h of light exposure, the light-induced nocturnal melatonin suppression level was about 35% for the low-light level and about 60% for the high-light level. The higher level of blue light suppressed melatonin more quickly, to a greater extent over the course of the 90 min exposure period, and maintained suppression after 60 min. The constant exposure of the low-light level resulted in a decrease in nocturnal melatonin suppression for the last sampling time, whereas for the high-light level, suppression continued throughout the entire exposure period. The present study performed with healthy adults suggests that the tested personal light-treatment device might be a practical, comfortable, and effective way to deliver light treatment to those suffering from circadian sleep disorders; however, the acceptance and effectiveness of personal light-treatment devices by older people and by other segments of the population suffering from sleep disorders in a real-life situation need to be directly tested. (Author correspondence: figuem@rpi.edu)
The angiogenic switch occurs at the adenoma stage of the adenoma–carcinoma sequence in colorectal cancer

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between tissue factor (TF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and the onset of angiogenesis in the adenoma–carcinoma sequence (ACS), the stepwise process encompassing colorectal cancer (CRC) disease progression. Patients and methods: 210 surgical specimens comprising the ACS were immunohistochemically stained for endothelial cells (CD31), VEGF and TF. Angiogenesis quantified using Chalkley grid analysis (microvascular density; MVD), and VEGF/TF expression were semiquantitatively graded and correlated with standard prognostic indicators including 5 year follow-up. VEGF and TF were measured by ELISA in tumour specimens and normal mucosa from an additional 90 CRC patients. Results: There was a significant increase in MVD across the ACS (p < 0.0005) with significant correlations with Dukes’ stage (p = 0.01) and lymph node involvement (p = 0.02). The greatest increase in MVD was related to the onset of dysplasia, with an associated significant increase in VEGF expression (p < 0.0005). There was a significant relationship between VEGF and TF expression in the initial phase of the ACS (k = 0.44, p < 0.005), although no correlation between VEGF or TF, and MVD, tumour size, Dukes’ classification, lymph node involvement or survival was found. Conclusions: These findings are the first to suggest that the angiogenic switch occurs at the onset of dysplasia in the ACS, and provide further evidence of the close association between VEGF and TF in the early stages of CRC development.
A WW domain‐containing Yes‐associated protein (YAP) is a novel transcriptional co‐activator

A protein module called the WW domain recognizes and binds to a short oligopeptide called the PY motif, PPxY, to mediate protein–protein interactions. The PY motif is present in the transcription activation domains of a wide range of transcription factors including c‐Jun, AP‐2, NF‐E2, C/EBPα and PEBP2/CBF, suggesting that it plays an important role in transcriptional activation. We show here that mutation of the PY motif in the subregion of the activation domain of the DNA‐binding subunit of PEBP2, PEBP2α, abolishes its transactivation function. Using yeast two‐hybrid screening, we demonstrate that Yes‐associated protein (YAP) binds to the PY motif of PEBP2α through its WW domain. The C‐terminal region of YAP fused to the DNA‐binding domain of GAL4 showed transactivation as strong as that of GAL4–VP16. Exogenously expressed YAP conferred transcription‐stimulating activity on the PY motif fused to the GAL4 DNA‐binding domain as well as to native PEBP2α. The osteocalcin promoter was stimulated by exogenous PEBP2αA and a dominant negative form of YAP strongly inhibited this activity, suggesting YAP involvement in this promoter activity in vivo. These results indicate that the PY motif is a novel transcription activation domain that functions by recruiting YAP as a strong transcription activator to target genes.
LAMP法による耐熱性溶血毒遺伝子陽性 Vibrio parahaemolyticusの海産魚介類からの検出法

We developed a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay to detect thermostable direct hemolysin (TDH)"producing Vibrio parahaemolyticus strain in seafoods. The detection limit of the LAMP assay was eight cells per LAMP reaction tube. As for the specificity ， all of 15 TDH "producing V parahaemolyticus strains were LAMP reactio n- positive ， while 10 TDH "nonproducing V parahaemolyticus and 29 no n- parahaemolyticus Vibrio strains were negative. In addition ， detection of viable TDH "producing V parahaemolyticus strains was possible within 7hrs. In spiked seafood experiments ， all of 10 samples that had been added with TDH "producing V parahaemolyticus at O.5~ l. 2 cells/g ， were positive after enrichment at 37 0 C for 5 hrs and the 10 ・ foldconcentration of the templates. In conclusion ， the above mentioned LAMP assay is highly sensitive ， and is expected to detect the foods contaminated with V parahaemolyticus thus resulting prevention of the food poisoning.
Target decomposition in polarimetric interferometric SAR

We presented two target decomposition methods for polarimetric interferometric SAR (PolInSAR) images parallel to the eigen-decomposition and scattering power decomposition for polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) images. For both cases, we showed the importance of PolInSAR coherence estimation, and in particular, the newly proposed best normal matrix approximation algorithm in successful decomposition of PolInSAR data. Preliminary results were demonstrated using the ESAR data.
Valuing non-market wildlife commodities: an evaluation and comparison of benefits and costs

This paper compares the benefits and costs of nature conversation at three Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Benefits are estimated by contigent valuation (expressed preferences) and also the travel cost method (revealed preferences). Oppurtunity costs are assessed from a financial cost viewpoint, and also in terms of ‘shadow’ prices or social costs. Results indicate that the valuation of wildlife and nature conservation largely depends upon the frame of reference adopted; that social costs are considerably less than financial costs due to the effect of the Common Agricultural Policy; that user benefits are considerably less than financial costs; and non-user benefits must be included to cover even the social costs of nature conservation.
Prospective Study into Puerperal Depression

Summary A prospective study of mood changes through pregnancy and puerperium was undertaken by a research group centred on the North Middlesex Hospital, Edmonton, London. Data collected from 189 women revealed an evolution of mood changes in those who later developed puerperal depression, which was characterized by anxiety at the first ante-natal visit, elation during later pregnancy and depression in the puerperium. The findings were in agreement with other workers in this field. The arguments in favour of a hormonal aetiology of puerperal depression are presented.
Evolution and Vaccination of Influenza Virus Ham

In this study, we present an application paradigm in which an unsupervised machine learning approach is applied to the high dimensional influenza genetic sequences in order to investigate whether vaccine is a driving force to the evolution of influenza virus. We first used a visualization approach to visualize the evolutionary paths of vaccine-controlled and non-vaccine controlled influenza viruses in low dimensional space. We then quantified the evolutionary differences between their evolutionary trajectories through the use of within and between scatter matrices computation in order to provide the statistical confidence to support the visualization results. We used the influenza surface Hemagglutinin (HA) gene for this study as the HA gene is the major target of the immune system. The visualization is achieved without using any clustering methods or prior information about the influenza sequences. Our results clearly showed that the evolutionary trajectories between vaccine-controlled and non-vaccine controlled influenza viruses are different and vaccine as an evolution driving force cannot be completely eliminated.
A comprehensive Reputation mechanism for ubiquitous healthcare environment exploiting cloud model

Absence of trust foundations may outweigh benefits of ubiquitous and personalized mental healthcare supervision provided within a Ubiquitous Healthcare environment (UH). Trust is composed by patient's Personal Interaction Experience (PIE) and social entourage accumulated PIE, i.e. Reputation (R). In this paper, a cloud-based Reputation mechanism is proposed. Since PIE is the elementary trust information source, also an Updating mechanism of PIE, is introduced, in this paper. Cloud materialization of combined mechanisms provides adaptability to UH Providers' dynamic behavior, facilitates detection of milking behaviors and complex malicious attacks while meets the challenge of limited accuracy in case of data sparseness. The effectiveness of the proposed mechanisms is verified via simulation in MATLAB.
Serially concatenated space-time codes with iterative decoding and performance limits of block-fading channels

This work considers space-time channel coding for systems with multiple-transmit and a single-receive antenna, over space uncorrelated block-fading (quasi-static) channels. Analysis of the outage probability over such channels reveals the existence of a threshold phenomenon. The outage probability can be made arbitrary small by increasing the number of transmit antennas, only if the E/sub b//N/sub 0/ is above a threshold which depends on the coding rate. Furthermore, it is shown that when the number of transmit antennas is increased, the /spl epsi/-capacity of a block-fading Rayleigh channel tends to the Shannon capacity of an additive white Gaussian noise channel. This paper also presents space-time codes constructed as a serial concatenation of component convolutional codes separated by an interleaver. These schemes provide full transmit diversity and are suitable for iterative decoding. The rate of these schemes is less than 1 bit/s/Hz, but can be made arbitrary close to 1 bit/s/Hz by the use of Wyner-Ash codes as outer components. Comparison of these schemes with structures from literature shows that performance gains can be obtained at the expense of a small decrease in rate. Computer simulation results over block-fading Rayleigh channels show that the frame-error rate of several of these schemes is within 2-3 dB from the theoretical outage probability.
BRAF/MEK inhibitors promote CD47 expression that is reversible by ERK inhibition in melanoma

The expression of CD47 on the cancer cell surface transmits “don’t eat me” signalling that not only inhibits phagocytosis of cancer cells by phagocytes but also impairs anti-cancer T cell responses. Here we report that oncogenic activation of ERK plays an important role in transcriptional activation of CD47 through nuclear respiratory factor 1 (NRF-1) in melanoma cells. Treatment with BRAF/MEK inhibitors upregulated CD47 in cultured melanoma cells and fresh melanoma isolates. Similarly, melanoma cells selected for resistance to the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib expressed higher levels of CD47. The increase in CD47 expression was mediated by ERK signalling, as it was associated with rebound activation of ERK and co-knockdown of ERK1/2 by siRNA diminished upregulation of CD47 in melanoma cells after exposure to BRAF/MEK inhibitors. Furthermore, ERK1/2 knockdown also reduced the constitutive expression of CD47 in melanoma cells. We identified a DNA fragment that was enriched with the consensus binding sites for NRF-1 and was transcriptionally responsive to BRAF/MEK inhibitor treatment. Knockdown of NRF-1 inhibited the increase in CD47, indicating that NRF-1 has a critical role in transcriptional activation of CD47 by ERK signalling. Functional studies showed that melanoma cells resistant to vemurafenib were more susceptible to macrophage phagocytosis when CD47 was blocked. So these results suggest that NRF-1-mediated regulation of CD47 expression is a novel mechanism by which ERK signalling promotes the pathogenesis of melanoma, and that the combination of CD47 blockade and BRAF/MEK inhibitors may be a useful approach for improving their therapeutic efficacy.
Heart Rate Responses and Technical Comparison Between Small- vs. Large-Sided Games in Elite Professional Soccer

Owen, AL, Wong, DP, McKenna, M, and Dellal, A. Heart rate responses and technical comparison between small- vs. large-sided games in elite professional soccer. J Strength Cond Res 25(8): 2104-2110, 2011—This study aims to examine the difference in heart rate (HR) responses and technical activities placed upon European elite players when exposed to 2-sided games differing in the number of players and playing area. Fifteen male soccer players from a Scottish Premier League team (26.3 ± 4.85 years, 182.4 ± 6.99 cm, 79.5 ± 8.05 kg, &OV0312;O2max of 54.36 ± 5.45 ml·kg−1·min−1) performed both small (3 vs. 3 plus goalkeepers) and large (9 vs. 9 plus goalkeepers) sided games each lasting for 3 × 5 minutes interspersed with 4-minute passive recovery during the 2009-2010 season. The HR responses and players' technical actions were recorded throughout all sided games. Results show that small-sided games (SSG) induced significantly (p < 0.05, large effect) higher HR responses as compared to large-sided games. Furthermore, during SSGs, players spent significantly longer time in the >85% maximal HR zone (p < 0.05, large effect) as compared to large-sided games. Technical analysis revealed a large practical difference (effect size ranged from 1.5 to 21.2) between small- and large-sided games: less number of blocks, headers, interceptions, passes, and receives but more dribbles, shots, and tackles in SSG. Furthermore, SSG induced significantly lesser total ball contacts per game (p < 0.05, large effect) but significantly greater ball contacts per individual (p < 0.05, large effect) when compared to larger-sided games. The different technical requirements also enable coaches to carry out training games more suitable to specific playing positions such as SSG for midfielders (more dribbles, tackles, and ball contacts per player) strikers (more shots), and large-sided games for defender (more blocks, headers, and interceptions).
A Valuation Model for Callable Foreign Bonds

This paper models the value of callable foreign bonds, using stochastic calculus, by assuming that the exchange rate follows a geometric Brownian motion process and the arrival time of an early redemption of the bond by the issuer conforms to a negative exponential distribution. The solution to the stochastic model shows that there is a relationship between the call premium and the expected time to the call which is consistent with traditional Black-Scholes pricing formulae. The magnitude of the call premium can be viewed as a signal to the market on a Government treasury's or company's expectations about the future level of interest rates and possible refinancing strategies.
The Implement of the 10 Mbps Wireless Laser Video Data Transmission System

Wireless laser communication can be employed in “the last one kilometer” access problem. There are two methods of modulation, digital modulation and analogue modulation. Digital modulation is easy to adopt modern channel coding technique and it has very strong ability of anti-jamming. We introduced a wireless laser data transmission system which is adopted in video data transmission. In this system, we adopt pulse position modulation to enhance the ability of anti-jamming, and choose RS(15,9) to conquer three bits errors and employed DSP and FPGA to implement.
Health‐related quality of life of youth with inflammatory bowel disease: A comparison with published data using the PedsQL 4.0 generic core scales

Background: This study compared youth and parent‐proxy reports of health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) among youth with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to published comparison group data and examined concordance between youth and parent‐proxy reports of HRQoL. Methods: One hundred thirty‐six youth and parent‐proxy reports on the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales were compared to published data from chronically ill, acutely ill, and healthy comparison groups using independent samples t‐tests. Reporter agreement was examined using paired samples t‐tests and intraclass correlations (ICCs). Results: Youth with IBD reported lower psychosocial functioning than the healthy comparison group, higher physical and social functioning than the chronically ill group, and lower school functioning than all published comparison groups. Parent‐proxy reports of youth HRQoL were higher than the chronically ill group, but lower than the healthy group on all scales except psychosocial functioning. Youth with active IBD reported lower physical health domain scores than youth with inactive disease. Concordance between youth and parent‐proxy reports was moderate, with the lowest agreement in school and social functioning. Conclusions: Youth with IBD and their parents rate HRQoL as lower than healthy youth but do not perceive the impact of IBD to be as limiting as in other chronic conditions. Youth report suggests that IBD may be particularly detrimental to HRQoL in the school functioning domain. Moderate agreement between parent and youth reports substantiates continued use of multiple informants in studies of pediatric HRQoL. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2010
Consideration the Causality between Information Communications Technology and Economic Growth in Iran

In this paper, we examine the Iran the causal relationship between information and communications technology (ICT) development and economic growth in. The Granger causality test is performed following the cointegration approach to reveal the direction of causality between ICT development and economic growth. Test results indicate that there is a long-run equilibrium relationship that runs from ICT development to economic growth in Iran; and a one-way directional causality of growth-led ICT development for Iran is evidenced. A discussion follows based on the empirical findings. Keywords: Information and communications technology, economic growth, Granger causality.