Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On poisson compressed sensing and parameter estimation in sheet-of-light surface scanning

Compressed Sensing (CS) has been successfully applied in a number of imaging systems since it can fundamentally increase frame rates and/or the resolution. In this paper, we apply CS to 3-D surface acquisition using Sheet-of-Light (SOL) scanning. The application of CS could potentially increase the speed of the measurement and/or enhance scan resolution with fewer measurements. To analyze the potential performance of a CS-SOL system, we formulate the estimation of the height profile of a target object as a compressive parameter estimation problem and investigate the achievable estimation accuracy in the presence of noise. In the context of compressed sensing, measurement models with AWGN are typically analyzed. However, in imaging applications there are multiple noise sources giving rise to different statistical noise models in which Poisson noise can be the dominating noise source. This is particularly true for photon-counting detectors that are used in low light settings. Therefore, in this paper we focus on the compressive parameter estimation problem in presence of Poisson distributed photon noise. The achievable estimation accuracy in obtaining height profiles from compressed observations is systematically analyzed with the help of the Cramer-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB). This analysis allows us to compare different CS measurement strategies and quantify the parameter estimation accuracy as a function of system parameters such as the compression ratio, exposure time, image size, etc.
Evaluation of a Novel Thermosensitive Heparin-Poloxamer Hydrogel for Improving Vascular Anastomosis Quality and Safety in a Rabbit Model

Despite progress in the design of advanced surgical techniques, stenosis recurs in a large percentage of vascular anastomosis. In this study, a novel heparin-poloxamer (HP) hydrogel was designed and its effects for improving the quality and safety of vascular anastomosis were studied. HP copolymer was synthesized and its structure was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR). Hydrogels containing HP were prepared and their important characteristics related to the application in vascular anastomosis including gelation temperature, rheological behaviour and micromorphology were measured. Vascular anastomosis were performed on the right common carotid arteries of rabbits, and the in vivo efficiency and safety of HP hydrogel to achieve vascular anastomosis was verified and compared with Poloxamer 407 hydrogel and the conventional hand-sewn method using Doppler ultrasound, CT angiograms, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and histological technique. Our results showed that HP copolymer displayed special gel-sol-gel phase transition behavior with increasing temperature from 5 to 60 °C. HP hydrogel prepared from 18 wt% HP solution had a porous sponge-like structure, with gelation temperature at approximately 38 °C and maximum elastic modulus at 10,000 Pa. In animal studies, imaging and histological examination of rabbit common jugular artery confirmed that HP hydrogel group had similar equivalent patency, flow and burst strength as Poloxamer 407 group. Moreover, HP hydrogel was superior to poloxamer 407 hydrogel and hand-sewn method for restoring the functions and epithelial structure of the broken vessel junctions after operation. By combining the advantages of heparin and poloxamer 407, HP hydrogel holds high promise for improving vascular anastomosis quality and safety.
Image Decomposition via Generalized Morphological Component Analysis and Split Bregman Algorithm

This paper describes a novel image decomposition algorithm based on sparse representation and split bregman algorithm. This algorithm is a direct extension of morphological component analysis(MCA), which is the typical sparse representation-based image decomposition method designed for the separation of linearly combined texture and cartoon layers in a given image. But when dealing with problems with additional regularization of constraint, such as extra image structure information(e.g. BV), the convergence rate of traditional MCA is slow. To resolve this problem, this article propose a generalized morphological component analysis(GMCA) method. The GMCA algorithm introduce multiple regularization to the traditional MCA, and build a fast algorithm via Split Bregman and proximal method. Experimental results show that this algorithm achieved better results via giving specific constraints on different component and get faster convergence rate.
Geographically-Distributed Databases: A Big Data Technology for Production Analysis in the Oil & Gas Industry

The paper discusses some reported shortcomings of state-of-the-start IT technologies currently employed in the data management of Oil & Gas production operations. Most current IT infrastructures connect historian databases, production databases and application servers. This creates complex issues of data consistency between these systems. In the discussion, a particular focus is put on the geographically-distributed nature of the network which suffers from low-bandwidth limitations and un-reliabilities, e.g. due to satellite communication links. Taking the production engineers’ viewpoint, an example of production allocation using Data Validation and Reconciliation (DVR) serves to stress the malicious impacts of the described architecture. Production allocation represents one of the various monitoring and analysis tasks that are performed, on a daily basis, at the centralized level of data management systems. A quantitative study shows that the problem of mis-synchronization of databases is of great practical importance. We propose solutions to improve the robustness to communication outages. To improve data consistency across sites in a decentralized manner, the paper exposes the key concepts of distributed storage, message-based communication, and clustering. More generally, the paper proposes to shine a light on the potential relevance of several recent advances in the scientific field of “big-data” to the world of Oil & Gas upstream industry. These off-the-shelf technologies must be specifically tailored to geographically-distributed networks. The specificities are detailed, the necessary development work is outlined, and the potential qualitative benefits are estimated. A possible implementation is sketched.
An acoustic-phonetic description of word tone in kagoshima Japanese

The Japanese dialect of Kagoshima (KJ) has two different surface pitch patterns, (L) 0 HL and (L) 0 H. In this study, the properties of these two surface pitch patterns of KJ will be acoustically-phonetically described by means of z-score normalisation. Words consisting of two, three, four and five syllables were used in this study (the syllable structure is a CV) as test words, and the F0 of each syllable nucleus was extracted and the raw F0 values were z-score normalised. Two native speakers of KJ (one male and one female) participated in this study. The tonal representation of KJ words will be discussed on the basis of the z-score normalised results.
Case Studies in 21st Century School Administration: Addressing Challenges for Educational Leadership

Preface Acknowledgment Guide to Using Case Studies A Matrix of Case Studies Case 1: A Teacher's Absences Create Problems: Holding Educators Accountable for Excesive Absence Case 2: A Good Teacher Turns Bad: Stress at Home Creates Problems at School Case 3: Experienced Teachers Need Clear Expectations, Too: Handling Conflicts with Practiced Educators Case 4: Grandmother's Medicine: A Medical Emergency at School Case 5: Is Dismissal Justified? An Effective Teacher Faces a Moral Issue Case 6: School Property Is Missing: An Employee Is Caught Stealing Case 7: Who Has the Missing Crayons? Dealing with Chronic Theft Case 8: A Good Student Earns Detention: Poor Grades for Misbehavior at School Case 9: Copyright and the Computer: Regulations Governing Technology Case 10: Too Much Parent Involvement! Organizations Need Boundaries Case 11: Double Promotion? Parents Want Child to Skip a Grade Case 12: A Problem with Inclusion: Inadequate Resources for Special Education Case 13: Poor Evaluations for a Teacher: Reassigning an Ineffective Educator Case 14: Missing Booster Club Funds: Athletic Funds are Lost Case 15: Mentoring New Teachers: A Transition to the Classroom Case 16: A Gift for the Principal: "Fringe" Benefits? Case 17: Unprofessional Behavior: A Teacher Retains a Student Who Didn't Fail Case 18: It All Depends on the Numbers: Teacher Success Is Based on Test Scores Case 19: All A's Are Not Enough: Rewards Must Be Earned Case 20: The Community Won't Understand: Diversity Becomes Unpopular Case 21: Every Day Counts: School Attendance Is Important Case 22: Illegal Drugs At School: Zero Tolerance Policies Case 23: Internet Use Violations: Threats over the World Wide Web Bibliography Appendix A: ISLLC Standards Appendix B: Annotated Suggested Readings Index About the Authors
Detection, Disambiguation and Argument Identification of Discourse Connectives in Chinese Discourse Parsing

In this paper, we investigate four important issues together for explicit discourse relation labelling in Chinese texts: (1) discourse connective extraction, (2) linking ambiguity resolution, (3) relation type disambiguation, and (4) argument boundary identification. In a pipelined Chinese discourse parser, we identify potential connective candidates by string matching, eliminate non-discourse usages from them with a binary classifier, resolve linking ambiguities among connective components by ranking, disambiguate relation types by a multiway classifier, and determine the argument boundaries by conditional random fields. The experiments on Chinese Discourse Treebank show that the F1 scores of 0.7506, 0.7693, 0.7458, and 0.3134 are achieved for discourse usage disambiguation, linking disambiguation, relation type disambiguation, and argument boundary identification, respectively, in a pipelined Chinese discourse parser.
Time-to-treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in São Paulo

OBJECTIVE: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, accounting for nearly 50% of the cases in the Hematology Department of the Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo and Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo. The treatment outcome is influenced by age, abnormal lactate dehydrogenase levels, extranodal infiltration, the disease stage and the patient's performance status. In this study, we sought to report the time-to-treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in São Paulo's public health system network and its impact on patient outcomes. METHODS: We prospectively followed a cohort of 42 consecutive patients with de novo diffuse large B-cell lymphoma between 2008 and 2012. RESULTS: Our patients had more advanced disease than that reported in the literature (61.9% vs. 46%). In São Paulo's public health system network, it took an average of 7.4 months for a diagnosis to be made and an additional 1.4 months to obtain an appointment with a specialist. Once at our Hematology Department, it took less than 20 days for staging, confirmation of the diagnosis and treatment initiation. An interval from signs or symptoms to treatment of more than 6 months was associated with inferior progression-free survival in 3 years (p = 0.049). CONCLUSION: A delay in the diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is a public health problem and may be associated with worse progression-free survival.
Toy Block Networking: Easily Deploying Diverse Network Functions in Programmable Networks

Recent progress on virtualization and deeply programmable network technologies brings opportunities for network operators to flexibly deploy a diverse set of network functions as software-based middle boxes. We present a new deployment and configuration management framework for network functions, called toy block networking. In our framework, an operator can describe its network-wide deployment plan of various network functions by using a unified abstraction representing essential features of composition of network functions, without including the detail of the functions and specific configuration interfaces. This abstraction is based on a network-wide configuration graph that captures the relationships between various network functions, and thus network-wide consistency of their configurations is systematically validated by the framework. Our framework enables the network operator, like building toy blocks into a structure, to compose various network functions from different vendors into a unified network service plan, and deploy them in an operational network.
Phylodynamics of the Emergence of Influenza Viruses after Cross-Species Transmission

Human populations are constantly exposed to emerging pathogens such as influenza A viruses that result from cross-species transmissions. Generally these sporadic events are evolutionary dead-ends, but occasionally, viruses establish themselves in a new host that offers a novel genomic context to which the virus must adjust to avoid attenuation. However, the dynamics of this process are unknown. Here we present a novel method to characterize the time it takes to G+C composition at third codon positions (GC3 content) of influenza viruses to adjust to that of a new host. We compare the inferred dynamics in two subtypes, H1N1 and H3N2, based on complete genomes of viruses circulating in humans, swine and birds between 1900–2009. Our results suggest that both subtypes have the same fast-adjusting genes, which are not necessarily those with the highest absolute rates of evolution, but those with the most relaxed selective pressures. Our analyses reveal that NA and NS2 genes adjust the fastest to a new host and that selective pressures of H3N2 viruses are relaxed faster than for H1N1. The asymmetric nature of these processes suggests that viruses with the greatest adjustment potential to humans are coming from both birds and swine for H3N2, but only from birds for H1N1.
Star/Galaxy Separation Revisited : Into the Zone of Avoidance

The problem of automated separation of stars and galaxies on photographic plates is revisited with two goals in mind : First, to separate galaxies from everything else (as opposed to most previous work, in which galaxies were lumped together with all other non-stellar images). And second, to search optically for galaxies at low Galactic latitudes (an area that has been largely avoided in the past). This paper demonstrates how an artificial neural network can be trained to achieve both goals on Schmidt plates of the Digitised Sky Survey. Here I present the method while its application to large numbers of plates is deferred to a later paper. Analysis is also provided of the way in which the network operates and the results are used to counter claims that it is a complicated and incomprehensible tool.
A New Context Awareness Service Decision Method

This paper presents a new context awareness service decision method based on fuzzy set theory and the knowledge discovery technique in rough set theory. The established system model in the paper provides users with a service list ranking according to possibilities of each service that users may need. Moreover, accuracy of decision rules can conclude from the system model. Keywords-context awareness; rough set; decision; fuzzy; accuracy
A matching-based view interpolation scheme

A view interpolation algorithm for image-based rendering applications is proposed. In the proposed method, the view change is specified through the motions of feature points, which serve as control points. Triangulation of the images, combined with an affine transformation model, has been applied for texture mapping. Simulation results show that the new synthesized views are of good quality and can well represent the view change due to virtual camera movement.
Predicting AKI in emergency admissions: an external validation study of the acute kidney injury prediction score (APS)

Objectives Hospital-acquired acute kidney injury (HA-AKI) is associated with a high risk of mortality. Prediction models or rules may identify those most at risk of HA-AKI. This study externally validated one of the few clinical prediction rules (CPRs) derived in a general medicine cohort using clinical information and data from an acute hospitals electronic system on admission: the acute kidney injury prediction score (APS). Design, setting and participants External validation in a single UK non-specialist acute hospital (2013–2015, 12 554 episodes); four cohorts: adult medical and general surgical populations, with and without a known preadmission baseline serum creatinine (SCr). Methods Performance assessed by discrimination using area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCROC) and calibration. Results HA-AKI incidence within 7 days (kidney disease: improving global outcomes (KDIGO) change in SCr) was 8.1% (n=409) of medical patients with known baseline SCr, 6.6% (n=141) in those without a baseline, 4.9% (n=204) in surgical patients with baseline and 4% (n=49) in those without. Across the four cohorts AUCROC were: medical with known baseline 0.65 (95% CIs 0.62 to 0.67) and no baseline 0.71 (0.67 to 0.75), surgical with baseline 0.66 (0.62 to 0.70) and no baseline 0.68 (0.58 to 0.75). For calibration, in medicine and surgical cohorts with baseline SCr, Hosmer-Lemeshow p values were non-significant, suggesting acceptable calibration. In the medical cohort, at a cut-off of five points on the APS to predict HA-AKI, positive predictive value was 16% (13–18%) and negative predictive value 94% (93–94%). Of medical patients with HA-AKI, those with an APS ≥5 had a significantly increased risk of death (28% vs 18%, OR 1.8 (95% CI 1.1 to 2.9), p=0.015). Conclusions On external validation the APS on admission shows moderate discrimination and acceptable calibration to predict HA-AKI and may be useful as a severity marker when HA-AKI occurs. Harnessing linked data from primary care may be one way to achieve more accurate risk prediction.
Overview and performance analysis of AVS mobility features

In terms of the rapidly growth requirements of mobile applications, AVS mobile profile standardization process was started in September 2008 and finalized in September 2009. Several coding tools were developed and selected for the mobile profile. Due to the various aspects of mobile application, the tools can be categorized into three sub-sets: 1. Coding performance improvement tools, 2. Subjective quality tool, and 3. Error resilience tools. An overview of the technical features and the analysis of the performances of AVS mobile profile in those aspects, as well as the performance comparisons with other state-of-art standards are provided in this paper.
A SIMPLE ESTIMATOR OF COINTEGRATING VECTORS IN HIGHER ORDER INTEGRATED SYSTEMS

Efficient estimators of cointegrating vectors are presented for systems involving deterministic components and variables of differing, higher orders of integration. The estimators are computed using GLS or OLS, and Wald Statistics constructed from these estimators have asymptotic x2 distributions. These and previously proposed estimators of cointegrating vectors are used to study long-run U.S. money (Ml) demand. Ml demand is found to be stable over 1900-1989; the 95% confidence intervals for the income elasticity and interest rate semielasticity are (.88,1.06) and (-.13, -.08), respectively. Estimates based on the postwar data alone, however, are unstable, with variances which indicate substantial sampling uncertainty.
Exploring signed language interpreters’ perceptions of e-professionalism on Facebook

This is an exploratory inquiry into signed language interpreters’ perceptions of interpreter e-professionalism on social media, specifically Facebook. Given the global pervasiveness of Facebook, this study presents an international perspective, and reports on findings of focus groups held with a total of 12 professional signed language interpreters from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Denmark, all of whom are also Facebook users. The findings reveal that Facebook is seen to blur the traditional boundaries between personal and professional realms – an overlap which is perceived to be compounded by the nature of the small community in which signed language interpreters typically work –necessitating boundary management strategies in order to maintain perceptions of professionalism on the site. Facebook is considered a valuable professional resource to leverage for networking, professional development, problem solving and assignment preparation, but it is also perceived as a potential professional liability for both individual interpreters and the profession at large. Maintaining client confidentiality was found to be the most pressing challenge Facebook brings to the profession. Educational measures to raise awareness about e-professionalism were generally viewed favourably.
A Survey of group merge and split mobility models

In this paper, we present and visit the limitation of reference point group mobility model. It assumes that nodes in the same group always stay together throughout the simulation process. However, in many real life applications, the nodes’s movement within a group is not always common. In particular, in a military operation, initially there is only one group. With multiple missions assigned to it, the group may be divided into a number of subgroups with each subgroup moving to a different location for accomplishing its task. A subgroup may be further divided into smaller groups or merge with other subgroups after completing its task. In the urban environment, the convoys of cars running on the street can split at the intersections. Therefore, in many real life scenarios mobile nodes (MNs) dynamically re-configure themselves triggering group partition and mergence; MNs sometimes merge and move together and sometimes split and move individually and independently. Some recent researches present mobility models such as reference region group mobility model or virtual track based group mobility model, which model possible group partitioning and group merging. We call this kind of mobility models group merge and split mobility models.
Purification and characterization of an adhesion protein from the skin mucus of Paralichthys olivaceus

Higher adhesion to mucus and subsequent growth is associated with the pathogenicity of Vibrio. Vibrio fluvialis adherence to and growth in skin mucus of Paralichthys olivaceus were examined, and a adhesion-specific protein was purified from the skin mucus of P. olivaceus. The results indicate that V. fluvialis adhered readily to and grew efficiently in skin mucus of P. olivaceus. By Sephadex G-100 column, fractionation of skin mucus resolved 2 major peaks and 1 small peak, and the fractions with higher adhesion of V. fluvialis were focused on the first peak, 5 fractions especially. By the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), the fractions 5 of Sephadex G-100 resolved into 6 major peaks at OD280, and V. fluvialis adhered strongly to fractions of peak 1, 3. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) showed that the fractions 5 of skin mucus on Sephadex G-100 columns yielded two bands, the fractions of peak 3 on HPLC yielded one band with a molecular mass of 66.2 kDa. The results suggest that pathogenic V. fluvialis can adhere to and grow in P. olivaceus skin mucus, and the V. fluvialis -specific receptor present in P. olivaceus skin mucus is a 66.2 kDa glycoprotein.