Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Technology selection and forecasting at the fuzzy front end with the use of social media

In this paper, we investigate the possibility of using social media technologies to select and forecast the viability of early-stage technological ideas at the fuzzy front-end (FFE) of the product development process. During the FFE, market needs, wants, and preferences are seldom clear, especially when considering radical new technologies. For a company seeking clarity on the preferences in its selection of ideas at the FFE, communicating with markets is essential. Additionally, the importance of cross-functional communication at the FFE is emphasized in current literature. Technological and market uncertainties push and pull multiple stakeholders in the formation of heterogeneous views on the customers' needs, and social media technologies may be used in finding a shared vision amongst these divergent views. The main research question is whether the adoption of social media technologies will result in a shared, convergent vision, or is social media usage more likely to generate scattered visions during the initial phase of the new product development. The paper presents a propositional framework arguing social media technologies' contributions to FFE performance. We argue that the FFE phase is expected to receive a beneficial impact from social media adoption as the business potential can be analyzed from various sources already in the early stages.
A Real-time, Automatic Target Detection and Tracking Method for Variable Number of Targets in Airborne Imagery

In this study, a real-time fully automatic detection and tracking method is introduced which is capable of handling variable number of targets. The procedure starts with multiple scale target hypothesis generation in which the distinctive targets are revealed. To measure distinctiveness; first, the interested blobs are detected based on Canny edge detection with adaptive thresholding which is achieved by a feedback loop considering the number of target hypotheses of the previous frame. Then, the irrelevant blobs are eliminated by two metrics, namely effective saliency and compactness. To handle the missing and noisy observations, temporal consistency of each target hypothesis is evaluated and the outlier observations are eliminated. To merge data from multiple scales, a target likelihood map is generated by using kernel density estimation in which weights of the observations are determined by temporal consistency and scale factor. Finally, significant targets are selected by an adaptive thresholding scheme; then the tracking is achieved by minimizing spatial distance between the selected targets in consecutive frames.
Operative Venography

Urografin, 60 to 76 per cent, was injected into selected veins for a precise study. For a study of the femoral vein for evidence of thrombosis or dilation and the great saphenous tree for single or multiple columns or anomalous connections and the thigh communicator veins, 20 ml of Urografin were injected through a cannula inserted down the great saphenous vein which was exposed and divided in the groin. Segmental filling through communicator veins depended on the length of the cannula passed down the vein. For the pelvic veins an injection was made upwards through the upper divided portion of the great saphenous vein in the groin. Similar information concerning the great saphenous tree and its connections to popliteal and femoral vein was obtained by injecting upwards into the great saphenous vein at the ankle. Injection distally down the great saphenous vein at the medial malleolus provided information concerning the deep calf veins and communicator veins from them connecting to superficial varicosities in the mid and upper calf. Injection distally down the small saphenous vein laterally demonstrated the peroneal and lateral muscular compartment veins whereas injection medially down the small saphenous branch in that direction demonstrated the posterior arch vein and medial supramalleolar communicator veins and deep posterior tibial veins. By distal injection down a posterior branch of the great saphenous vein below the knee a typical system can be shown in the upper medial calf region. Finally injection upwards in the small saphenous vein demonstrates the upper terminations of that vein.
Delivering application-layer traffic optimization services based on public routing data at Internet eXchange points : Serviços para otimização do tráfego de aplicações a partir de informações públicas de roteamento nos Pontos de troca de tráfego na internet

Otimizacao de Trafego na Camada de Aplicacao (ALTO - Application-Layer Traffic Optimization) e um protocolo recentemente padronizado que fornece uma topologia da rede e mapa de custos abstratos, alem de servicos de informacao de endpoints que podem ser consumidos pelos aplicativos, a fim de tornar-se conscientes da rede e tomar decisoes otimizadas sobre os fluxos de trafego. Neste trabalho, propomos um servico publico baseado nas especificacoes ALTO usando informacao de roteamento publica disponivel nos Pontos de Troca de Trafego (PTTs) brasileiros. Nosso prototipo de servidor ALTO, representado pela sigla AaaS (ALTO-as-a-Service), e baseado em mais de 2,5 GB de dados BGP reais dos 25 PTTs publicos brasileiros (IX.br). Nossa proposta e avaliada em termos de comportamento funcional e desempenho atraves de experimentos de prova de conceito que apontam como potencial beneficio das aplicacoes, a capacidade de tomar decisoes inteligentes na selecao de endpoint ao consumir as APIs ALTO. Abstract
Collision energy dependence of state-to-state differential cross sections for rotationally inelastic scattering of H2O by He.

The inelastic scattering of H2O by He as a function of collision energy in the range 381 cm-1 to 763 cm-1 at an energy interval of approximately 100 cm-1 has been investigated in a crossed beam experiment using velocity map imaging. Change in collision energy was achieved by varying the collision angle between the H2O and He beam. We measured the state-to-state differential cross section (DCS) of scattered H2O products for the final rotational states JKaKc = 110, 111, 221 and 414. Rotational excitation of H2O is probed by (2 + 1) resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) spectroscopy. DCS measurements over a wide range of collision energies allowed us to probe the H2O-He potential energy surface (PES) with greater detail than in previous work. We found that a classical approximation of rotational rainbows can predict the collision energy dependence of the DCS. Close-coupling quantum mechanical calculations were used to produce DCS and partial cross sections. The forward-backward ratio (FBR), is introduced here to compare the experimental and theoretical DCS. Both theory and experiments suggest that an increase in the collision energy is accompanied with more forward scattering.
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) for Neonatal Respiratory Failure

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been a successful treatment (82% survival) in over 5000 neonates with severe respiratory failure (80% predicted mortality without ECMO). ECMO is prolonged extracorporeal cardiopulmonary bypass achieved by extrathoracic vascular cannulation using a modified heart-lung machine. ECMO is currently the treatment of choice for full-term newborns with severe respiratory failure. The report summarizes indications, resulting complications, and future applications of neonatal ECMO.
Defocus difference matting

Introduction: Matting is a classic problem in both computer graphics and vision. Practical solutions that yield high quality results are important for special effects in the movie industry. In our defocus difference matting (DDM) approach, we assume that the background is known, typically because it is static and prerecorded. In this respect, our work is related to blue-screen matting. Two common problems with blue-screen matting are the limitations imposed on the color of the foreground, e.g., the actor cannot wear a blue shirt, and more importantly a color spill of the background on the foreground, which considerably changes the lighting of the scene. Our method alleviates both of these problems.
Estimating the Effort of Independent Verification and Validation in the Context of Mission-critical Software Systems - A Case Study

The ability to generate sufficiently accurate effort estimates can be seen as a key success factor for multiorganizational projects focusing on the development of large and critical software systems. This is caused, for instance, by the need for synchronizing multiple development and verification and validation processes. Paradoxically, effort predictions in the critical software systems domain are still relying on human judgment. This requires much overhead and its reliability depends largely on the expertise and individual preferences of the involved experts. In particular, verification and validation by independent entity (IV&V) needs an estimation method that supports negotiating and managing IV&V costs in the context of sparse measurement data and low availability of domain experts. In order to address these problems, in this paper we propose applying a hybrid effort estimation method called CoBRA for estimating effort for IV&V of mission-critical software systems. When applied in an industrial context, CoBRA improved estimation accuracy and precision by about 40%, on average, compared to experts estimates and OLS regression.
Combined comparative genomic hybridization and genomic microarray for detection of gene amplifications in pulmonary artery intimal sarcomas and adrenocortical tumors

Identification of gene amplifications in human tumors is important for the understanding of tumorigenesis and may lead to discovery of diagnostic and prognostic markers. In this study, we used a microarray‐based comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) technique, combined with conventional CGH, to identify gene amplifications in 43 tumors including eight pulmonary artery intimal sarcomas and 35 adrenocortical tumors. Conventional CGH revealed gains or amplifications of 12q13–q15 in six sarcomas and in two adrenocortical carcinomas. Using microarrays, we demonstrated that, among genes located on 12q13–q15, SAS/CDK4 were amplified in six sarcomas, and MDM2 and GLI in five and four sarcomas, respectively. The two adrenocortical tumors showed coamplifications of SAS/CDK4 and MDM2. Furthermore, PDGFRA (located on 4q12) amplification was identified in five sarcomas. Our data demonstrate: (1) amplifications of SAS/CDK4, MDM2, GLI, and PDGFRA are strongly associated with the tumorigenesis of pulmonary artery intimal sarcomas, whereas SAS/CDK4 and MDM2 coamplification may contribute to the progression of adrenocortical tumors; (2) microarray‐based CGH is a useful tool for simultaneous detection of multiple gene amplifications, with a high sensitivity and resolution compared to that of conventional CGH. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Novel Control Strategy of the Class-D Stereo Audio Amplifier

This paper presents a class-D stereo audio amplifier that controls directly the current of speakers using three phase full bridge circuit. And a new switching method for the current control of the amplifier is proposed. The proposed switching strategy is an improved version of the dead time minimization method, which can reduce current intermittence that commonly occurs with the conventional dead time minimization method whenever the current changes polarity. Dead time is not always adapted in the proposed method, which makes it different from the conventional practice of applying dead time in every current polarity changing point. In this paper, the specific strategy for the stereo operation is discussed. With the experimental results, usefulness of the control strategy is confirmed.
Adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy, in depressed peoples living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, West Africa

Objectives: Non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy has serious consequences for prognosis and may lead to the development of resistant strains of the virus. This study determined the prevalence and effect of depressive disorders on Anti- Retroviral Therapy (ART) as well as factors responsible for non adherence in North Central Nigeria. Methods: This was a hospital based, cross sectional, descriptive study of three hundred adult HIV/AIDS patients attending the HIV clinic of Kwara State specialist hospital, Sobi, Ilorin from 1st April to 30th June, 2013. Respondents were evaluated for various socio-demographic and clinical related variables. The PHQ-9 was administered to screen for depression. Those who scored one and more were assessed clinically for depression. The CAGE questionnaire was used to assess alcohol misuse. A modified version of the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness scale (ISMI) was used as a measure of self-stigma. Adherence was assessed using self-reporting method. Structured questionnaire was used to evaluate factors responsible for treatment adherence. Results: One hundred and seventy (56.7%) satisfied the criteria for a depressive disorder using the PHQ-9 score. The adherence rate to antiretroviral therapy was 81%. This represented those who ingested 95% or more of their drugs in the one week preceding the interview. Adherence was higher among non-alcoholics than current or ex-alcoholics. Forgetfulness, 37.1% and stigmatization, 18.2% were the major reasons proffered for non compliance with ART. Stigma had profound effect on the adherence. Conclusion: Depressive disorder in PLWHA is associated with poor adherence to antiretroviral medication. Early identification and treatment of depression in such patients may improve antiretroviral medication adherence and treatment outcomes.
Performance of PTS techniques with varied partition size in PAPR reduction of OFDM system

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a promising modulation technique for transmitting large amounts of digital data through radio waves. One major drawback in OFDM communication is peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). Mainly because of the nonlinearity of the high power amplifier, these results in high out-of-band radiation, inter-carrier interference, and bit error rate performance degradation. Partial transmit sequences (PTS), an attractive technique of PAPR reduction, provides significant PAPR reduction performance for (OFDM) signals. It essentially involves partitioning the OFDM data frame into disjoint sub-blocks. Adjacent partitioning (AP) scheme can be regarded as the best of the existing partitioning schemes when PAPR reduction performance and cost are considered together. In this paper, we study the impact of the size of PTS partitions on the performance through varying the size of the disjoint sub-blocks partition and comparing the PAPR reduction performance of three well known sub-block partitioning schemes namely Adjacent Partitioning (AP), Interleaved Partitioning (IP) and Pseudorandom Partitioning (PRP). Simulation results showed that performance of these PTS schemes largely depends on the chosen size of the partitions.
Compressed Sensing Radar Imaging With Compensation of Observation Position Error

Compressed sensing (CS) based radar imaging requires the use of a mathematical model of the observation process. Inaccuracies in the observation model may cause defocusing in the reconstructed images. In the observation process, the observation positions are usually not known perfectly. Imperfect knowledge of the observation positions is a major source of model errors in imaging. In this paper, a method is proposed to compensate the observation position errors in CS-based radar imaging. Instead of treating the observation-position-induced model errors as phase errors in the data, the proposed method can determine the observation position errors as part of the imaging process. It uses an iterative algorithm, which cycles through steps of target reconstruction and observation position error estimation and compensation. The proposed method can estimate the observation position errors accurately, and the reconstruction quality of the target images can be improved significantly. Simulation results and experimental results from rail-mounted radar and airborne synthetic aperture radar are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Improved Obstacle Relevancy, Distance, and Angle for Crowds Constrained to Arbitrary Manifolds in 3D Space

Recent work has proposed crowd simulation algorithms on arbitrary manifolds in 3D space. These algorithms simulate crowds on far more realistic surfaces than previously possible, including multi-story structures, science ﬁction scenarios, and habitats for insects and other animals that can walk on walls. However, current implementations can have distinct artifacts, including collision false positives and false negatives. Also, current implementations fail to account for the cylindrical shape of the characters being simulated. The resulting crowds move unnaturally and have obvious collisions. After identifying the cause of these artifacts, we propose an algorithm that does not struggle from these false positives or false negatives and correctly accounts for the non-spherical shape of agents. The resulting crowds move on large surfaces (over 100k triangles) running with a thousand agents in real-time.
A radiation-hardened low-power pipelined SAR ADC for CZT-based imaging system

A 12-bit 2M Samples/s pipelined SAR ADC for CZT-based imaging system is presented. It pipelines a first stage 6-bit SAR-based Multiplying Digital Analog Converter (MDAC) and a second stage 8-bit SAR ADC. The inter-stage gain of 16 instead of 64 is implemented in the 6-bit SAR-based MDAC for minimizing the power dissipation. The second stage 8-bit SAR ADC uses a split-capacitor architecture for reducing the load capacitance of the residue amplifier and then the power dissipation is minimized. In addition, several radiation-hardened-by-design technologies are adopted at layout design for improving pipelined SAR ADC's radiation tolerance. The prototype chip was fabricated in 0.18 μm mixed-signal 1.8V/3.3V process and occupies a core area of 700μm × 1018 μm. The proposed pipelined SAR ADC achieves 63.7 dB SNDR at 2M Samples/s sampling rate and consumes 12 mW power. The FOM of the proposed ADC is 4.76pJ/conversion-step.
Theory of mind plasticity in aging: The role of baseline, verbal knowledge, and executive functions

ABSTRACT Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute mental states to the self and others in order to explain and predict social behaviour. Meta-analytic results have shown a decline in ToM abilities in healthy older adults. Recent research has also highlighted the possibility of enhancing older adults’ ToM performance through group conversations focused on mental states. Our aim was to determine whether the extent to which older people benefited from a ToM training was predicted by performance on a battery of executive functioning tasks, on baselines in ToM tasks, on verbal knowledge. Forty-three older adults (60–84 years) participated in a three-session ToM training programme that has previously shown to be effective in improving ToM ability. Results showed that verbal knowledge predicted training gains in practiced ToM tasks. In addition, age, executive functions and baseline performance predicted training gains in non-practiced ToM tasks. Results are discussed in light of the amplification model.
Compact Dual-Band Antenna for Implantable Devices

A miniaturized dual-band implantable antenna is presented for medical communications service (MICS) (402-405 MHz) and industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) (2.4-2.48 GHz) applications. Compared to traditional dual-band antennas, the proposed antenna is small in size and also covers the suitable wide bandwidth at both bands. The proposed antenna has dimensions of 16.5 × 16.5 × 2.54 mm3. The simulated bandwidths are 12.6% at MICS and 5.7% at ISM, and the measured bandwidths are found to be 13% at MICS and 4.4% at ISM, respectively.
Outcomes of invasive treatment in very elderly Polish patients with non-ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction from 2003-2009 (from the PL-ACS registry).

BACKGROUND Elderly patients with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) are rarely included in randomized trials due to concomitant diseases. As a result, invasive treatment and aggressive pharmacotherapy are used less frequently in this group. The aim of the study was to analyze the impact of invasive treatment used for elderly patients (≥ 80 years) with NSTEMI from 2003-2009 and its impact on 24-month outcomes. METHODS We performed analysis of 13,707 elderly patients, out of 78,422 total NSTEMI patients, enrolled in the prospective, nationwide, Polish Registry of Acute Coronary Syndromes (PL-ACS) from 2003 to 2009. RESULTS The percentage of elderly NSTEMI population was 17.5%. Invasive treatment received 24% of them. In-hospital complications (stroke, reinfarction and death) were significantly less frequent in the invasive group, with the exception of major bleeding, which occurred almost three times more frequently (2.9% vs. 1.1%, p < 0.0001) in the invasive group. The 24-month mortality was lower (29.4% vs. 50.4%, p < 0.0001) in the invasive group and remained so after matching patients by the propensity score method (31.1% vs. 40.9%, p < 0.0001). From 2003 to 2009 the use of thienopyridines, beta-blockers and statins rose significantly. The frequency of invasive strategy increased significantly, from 10% in to over 50% in 2009. The frequency of major bleeding increased twofold, however a significant reduction in the 24-month mortality was observed over the years. CONCLUSIONS Elderly patients with NSTEMI benefit significantly from invasive strategies and modern pharmacotherapy recommended by treatment guidelines. Nevertheless, this approach is associated with an increased incidence of major bleeding.
The exocyclic 1,N2-deoxyguanosine pyrimidopurinone M1G is a chemically stable DNA adduct when placed opposite a two-base deletion in the (CpG)3 frameshift hotspot of the Salmonella typhimurium hisD3052 gene.

The pyrimidopurinone adduct M1G [3-(2'-deoxy-beta-D-erythro-pentofuranosyl)pyrimido[1,2-a]-purin-10(3H)-one], formed in DNA upon exposure to malondialdehyde or base propenals, was incorporated into 5'-d(ATCGCMCGGCATG)-3'-5'-d(CATGCCGCGAT)-3', where M = M1G. This duplex contained a two-nucleotide bulge in the modified strand, and was named the M1G-2BD oligodeoxynucleotide. It provided a model for -2 bp strand slippage deletions associated with the (CpG)3-iterated repeat hotspot for frameshift mutations from the Salmonella typhimurium hisD3052 gene. M1G was chemically stable in the M1G-2BD duplex at neutral pH. The two-base bulge in the M1G-2BD oligodeoxynucleotide was localized and consisted of M1G and the 3'-neighbor deoxycytosine. The intrahelical orientation of M1G was established from a combination of NOE and chemical shift data. M1G was in the anti conformation about the glycosyl bond. The 3'-neighbor deoxycytosine appeared to be extruded toward the major groove. In contrast, when M1G was placed into the corresponding fully complementary (CpG)3-iterated repeat duplex at neutral pH, spontaneous and quantitative ring-opening to N(2)-(3-oxo-1-propenyl)-dG (the OPG adduct) was facilitated [Mao, H. , Reddy, G. R. , Marnett, L. J., and Stone, M. P. (1999) Biochemistry 38, 13491-13501]. The structure of the M1G-2BD duplex suggested that the bulged sequence lacked a cytosine amino group properly positioned to facilitate opening of M1G and supports the notion that proper positioning of deoxycytosine complementary to M1G is necessary to promote ring-opening of the exocyclic adduct in duplex DNA. The structure of the M1G-2BD duplex was similar to that of the structural analogue 1,N(2)-propanodeoxyguanosine (PdG) in the corresponding PdG-2BD duplex [Weisenseel, J. P., Moe, J. G. , Reddy, G. R. , Marnett, L. J., and Stone, M. P. (1995) Biochemistry 34, 50-64]. The fixed position of the bulged bases in both instances suggests that these exocyclic adducts do not facilitate transient bulge migration.