Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distance measures and asymptotic relative efficiency

The relationship between distance measures and asymptotic relative efficiency is discussed. It is shown that the ratio of the Bhattacharyya distance or J divergences of two test statistics is equivalent to asymptotic relative efficiency. Two-input systems are discussed as examples, and the performances of the polarity coincidence correlator (PCC) and the correlator are discussed in terms of the distance measures of reduced data.
Task scheduling strategies to mitigate hardware variability in embedded shared memory clusters

Manufacturing and environmental variations cause timing errors that are typically avoided by conservative design guardbands or corrected by circuit level error detection and correction. These measures incur energy and performance penalties. This paper considers methods to reduce this cost by expanding the scope of variability mitigation through the software stack. In particular, we propose workload deployment methods that reduce the likelihood of timing errors in shared memory clusters of processor cores. This and other methods are incorporated in a runtime layer in the OpenMP framework that enables parsimonious countermeasures against timing errors induced by hardware variability. The runtime system “introspectively” monitors the costs of tasks execution on various cores and transparently associates descriptive metadata with the tasks. By utilizing the characterized metadata, we propose several policies that enhance the cluster choices for scheduling tasks to cores according to measured hardware variability and system workload. We devise efficient task scheduling strategies for simultaneous management of variability and workload by exploiting centralized and distributed approaches to workload distribution. Both schedulers surpass current state-of-the-art approaches; the distributed (or the centralized) achieves on average 30% (or 17%) energy, and 17% (4%) performance improvement.
Toward Lower Limbs Functional Rehabilitation Through a Knee-Joint Exoskeleton

This paper presents a bounded control strategy of a knee-joint exoskeleton that ensures knee flexion/extension movements during the assistance and rehabilitation processes. The control strategy is easy to implement, since it does not require any prior knowledge of the human effort. The proposed control law is based on nested saturations with the main advantage of explicitly avoiding the actuator’s saturation, guaranteeing and enhancing the wearer’s security. Lyapunov-based analysis is stated to prove: 1) the asymptotic stability of the shank-foot-exoskeleton in the absence of a human active effort; 2) the trajectories ultimate boundedness in the presence of parameter uncertainties; and 3) the input-to-state stability with respect to a bounded human active torque. Preliminary real-time experiments show satisfactory results in terms of assistance-as-needed and passive/resistive rehabilitation performances following desired trajectories expressing knee flexion/extension movements.
Intrathecal low‐dose hyperbaric bupivacaine–clonidine combination in outpatient knee arthroscopy: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Spinal anesthesia for knee arthroscopy can be produced with a low dose of bupivacaine, but additional intrathecal drugs are often required to lower the risk of failed blocks. We investigated the effect of the addition of clonidine (0, 15 or 30 μg) to 5 mg hyperbaric bupivacaine on the duration of the motor block, analgesic quality and ability to void after the surgery in a randomized controlled trial.
A Structural Equation Model for Spiritual Service Volunteer Labor Supply at Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University

The purpose of this cross-sectional research investigation was to construct a structural equation model applicable to the volunteer provision of spiritual service** by the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (BKWSU) members in the Asia-Pacific region. Using the convenience sampling technique and applying selected inclusion criteria, the researchers gathered a sample population consisting of 159 BKWSU members domiciled in the Asia-Pacific region. The results revealed that upon making suitable adjustments, the model was found to be congruent with empirical data. The factors of religiosity, personality traits, motivation to volunteer and hours of paid work were found to account for 54 percent of the variance with respect to volunteering to perform spiritual service. The current study adds significantly to the body of knowledge on volunteering and suggests that religion can promote volunteering by fostering personality traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion in addition to the motivation to volunteer due to personal values, understanding, and religious motives. The results suggest that a better understanding of the religiosity, personality traits, and motivations of volunteer members result in the ability to better select and retain volunteer members in the religious organization. In addition, governments may incentivize the employed people to undertake the volunteer work by minimizing the opportunity cost of time constraints due to their employment.
Word Fragments Identification Using Acoustic-Prosodic Features in Conversational Speech

Word fragments pose serious problems for speech recognizers. Accurate identification of word fragments will not only improve recognition accuracy, but also be very helpful for disfluency detection algorithm because the occurrence of word fragments is a good indicator of speech disfluencies. Different from the previous effort of including word fragments in the acoustic model, in this paper, we investigate the problem of word fragment identification from another approach, i.e. building classifiers using acoustic-prosodic features. Our experiments show that, by combining a few voice quality measures and prosodic features extracted from the forced alignments with the human transcriptions, we obtain a precision rate of 74.3% and a recall rate of 70.1% on the downsampled data of spontaneous speech. The overall accuracy is 72.9%, which is significantly better than chance performance of 50%.
Locally Adaptive Shearlet Denoising Based on Bayesian MAP Estimate

A locally adaptive Bayesian estimate for image denoising is proposed by exploiting the correlation among image shear let coefficients in a sub-band. The Laplacian distribution can model a wide range of process, from heavy-tailed to less heavy-tailed processes. This paper deduces Laplacian prior distribution based the MAP estimate formula and sub-band adaptive threshold. Finally, a simulation is carried out to show the effectiveness of the new estimate. Experiment results demonstrate that compared with classical sub-band adaptive algorithms, the new denoising method has significantly increased peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and improved the quality of subjective visual effect.
A rare case of vulvar angiomyofibroblastoma: MRI findings and literature review

Saelin Oh, Deuk Jae Sung, Ki Choon Sim, Na Yeon Han, Beom Jin Park, Min Ju Kim, Jae Yun Song and Joo Young Kim Department of Radiology, Anam Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Anam Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Pathology, Anam Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
An African-Centered Approach to the Black British Experience: With Special Reference to Liverpool

As African-centered scholars become increasingly global minded in the approach to teaching and researching the African diasporan experience: no doubt the “hidden histories” of African-descended communities will continue to come under the analytical telescope. Indeed, the development and dissemination of African-centered research, largely inspired by the African American scholarly tradition, has given the present generation of scholars a solid foundation on which to build theoretical and practical approaches for researching the African continent, its diaspora, and the historical/ sociological unfolding. This article will focus on an aspect of the African diaspora in terms of giving an introduction to the Black British experience, with special reference to the historical and contemporary I3lack settlement in the city of Liverpool.
Joint Tactical Radio System - Connecting the GIG to the Tactical Edge

The Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) is one of the Department of Defense's (DoD) core transformational programs. The Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO) JTRS manages the acquisition of this critical new capability. The mission of the JPEO JTRS is to develop and produce a family of interoperable, affordable software defined radios at moderate risk which provide secure, wireless networking communications capabilities for Joint forces. This paper will explain recent changes to the JTRS program and its new approach to delivering wireless networking capabilities to the warfighter.
Transcriptome Analysis of Post-Hatch Breast Muscle in Legacy and Modern Broiler Chickens Reveals Enrichment of Several Regulators of Myogenic Growth

Agriculture provides excellent model systems for understanding how selective pressure, as applied by humans, can affect the genomes of plants and animals. One such system is modern poultry breeding in which intensive genetic selection has been applied for meat production in the domesticated chicken. As a result, modern meat-type chickens (broilers) exhibit enhanced growth, especially of the skeletal muscle, relative to their legacy counterparts. Comparative studies of modern and legacy broiler chickens provide an opportunity to identify genes and pathways affected by this human-directed evolution. This study used RNA-seq to compare the transcriptomes of a modern and a legacy broiler line to identify differentially enriched genes in the breast muscle at days 6 and 21 post-hatch. Among the 15,945 genes analyzed, 10,841 were expressed at greater than 0.1 RPKM. At day 6 post-hatch 189 genes, including several regulators of myogenic growth and development, were differentially enriched between the two lines. The transcriptional profiles between lines at day 21 post-hatch identify 193 genes differentially enriched and still include genes associated with myogenic growth. This study identified differentially enriched genes that regulate myogenic growth and differentiation between the modern and legacy broiler lines. Specifically, differences in the ratios of several positive (IGF1, IGF1R, WFIKKN2) and negative (MSTN, ACE) myogenic growth regulators may help explain the differences underlying the enhanced growth characteristics of the modern broilers.
RATES OF MORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION ARE CORRELATED WITH SPECIES RICHNESS IN SALAMANDERS

The tempo and mode of species diversification and phenotypic evolution vary widely across the tree of life, yet the relationship between these processes is poorly known. Previous tests of the relationship between rates of phenotypic evolution and rates of species diversification have assumed that species richness increases continuously through time. If this assumption is violated, simple phylogenetic estimates of net diversification rate may bear no relationship to processes that influence the distribution of species richness among clades. Here, we demonstrate that the variation in species richness among plethodontid salamander clades is unlikely to have resulted from simple time‐dependent processes, leading to fundamentally different conclusions about the relationship between rates of phenotypic evolution and species diversification. Morphological evolutionary rates of both size and shape evolution are correlated with clade species richness, but are uncorrelated with simple estimators of net diversification that assume constancy of rates through time. This coupling between species diversification and phenotypic evolution is consistent with the hypothesis that clades with high rates of morphological trait evolution may diversify more than clades with low rates. Our results indicate that assumptions about underlying processes of diversity regulation have important consequences for interpreting macroevolutionary patterns.
Transient-fault recovery for chip multiprocessors

To address the increasing susceptibility of commodity chip multiprocessors (CMPs) to transient faults, we propose Chip-level Redundantly Threaded multiprocessor with Recovery (CRTR). CRTR extends the previously-proposed CRT for transient-fault detection in CMPs, and the previously-proposed SRTR for transient-fault recovery in SMT. All these schemes achieve fault tolerance by executing and comparing two copies, called leading and trailing threads, of a given application. Previous recovery schemes for SMT do not perform well on CMPs. In a CMP, the leading and trailing threads execute on different processors to achieve load balancing and reduce the probability of a fault corrupting both threads; whereas in an SMT, both threads execute on the same processor. The interprocessor communication required to compare the threads introduces latency and bandwidth problems not present in an SMT. To hide interprocessor latency, CRTR executes the leading thread ahead of the trailing thread by maintaining a long slack, enabled by asymmetric commit. CRTR commits the leading thread before checking and the trailing thread after checking, so that the trailing thread state may be used for recovery. Previous recovery schemes commit both threads after checking, making a long slack suboptimal. To tackle interprocessor bandwidth, CRTR not only increases the bandwidth supply by pipelining the communication paths, but also reduces the bandwidth demand. By reasoning that faults propagate through dependences, previously-proposed dependence based checking elision (DBCE) exploits (true) register dependence chains so that only the value of the last instruction in a chain is checked. However, instructions that mask operand bits may mask faults and limit the use of dependence chains. We propose death-and dependence-based checking elision (DDBCE), which chains a masking instruction only if the source operand of the instruction dies after the instruction. Register deaths ensure that masked faults do not corrupt later computation. Using SPEC2000, we show that CRTR incurs negligible performance loss compared to CRT for interprocessor (one-way) latency as high as 30 cycles, and that the bandwidth requirements of CRT and CRTR with DDBCE are 5.2 and 7.1 bytes/cycle, respectively.
The higher-order power method revisited: convergence proofs and effective initialization

We revisit the higher-order power method of De Lathauwer et al. (1995) for rank-one tensor approximation, and its relation to contrast maximization as used in blind deconvolution. We establish a simple convergence proof for the general nonsymmetric tensor case. We show also that a symmetric version of the algorithm, offering an order of magnitude reduction in computational complexity but discarded by De Lathauwer et al. as unpredictable, is likewise provably convergent. A new initialization scheme is also developed which, unlike the TSVD-based initialization, leads to a quantifiable proximity to the globally optimal solution.
Properties of Agro-Industrial Aerated Concrete as Potential Thermal Insulation for Building

The present paper is aiming to provide an actual state of the development of non autoclaved Agro-Industrial aerated concrete by using multiple ashes as improvement of thermal behavior for building. The feasibility of Agro-Industrial wastes as lightweight concrete by utilizing the Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA) as binder replacement and bottom ash as fine aggregate was investigated in this paper. Portland cement, bottom ash, aluminum powder and lime (Ca(OH)2) were used in this study. The POFA was used to replace Portland cement and Hydrated Lime at 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% by weight and aluminum powder was added at 0.75% dry weight in order to form bubbles. The compressive strength, water absorption, porosity and the thermal conductivity test were carried out after the concrete were water cured for 7 days and later being exposed to the air and water until 28days. The results show that the 20% replacements give the optimum strength of 7.143MPa and 30% give the best thermal conductivity with 0.48W/mK. Hence, this study aim, was to develop an agro-industrial aerated concrete good in insulation but having an optimum strength. Hence, it has been found that the more the percentage of POFA is added the lower the thermal conductivity since the pore structure is increasing and by the optimization done, 30% replacement has been chosen as the best mix design for Agro-Industrial Aerated Concrete.
Revisiting the relationship between pattern recall and anticipatory skill

This study compared expert, intermediate and novice participants on their ability to recall and anticipate structured rugby union line-out patterns. The recall task required participants to recall the location of each player in a line-out formation at a time point when the pattern was considered structured. The anticipation task required participants to predict the final location of each player in the line-out and identify which player would catch the ball. Strong expertise effects were found with the expert rugby players able to recall and anticipate structured patterns of play with significantly greater accuracy than the lesser skilled participants. Multiple regressions revealed that the pattern recall skill accounted for 40% of the variance in anticipatory skill. Discussion centres on the robustness of this relationship when the relative skill level of the performers, the nature of the patterns presented, and the experimental task used are collectively considered.
The European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), a Source of Zoonotic Cryptosporidiosis

Cryptosporidium spp. have been found in the faeces of over 150 mammalian host species, but the risks to public health from wildlife are poorly understood. In summer 2008, the Cryptosporidium sp. rabbit genotype was identified as the aetiological agent in an outbreak of waterborne human cryptosporidiosis. The source was a wild rabbit that had entered a treated water tank. To establish current knowledge about Cryptosporidium spp. infecting lagomorphs, especially the host range and biological characteristics of the rabbit genotype, and the potential risks to public health that rabbits may pose in the transmission of zoonotic cryptosporidiosis, we undertook a literature and data review. The literature returned demonstrates that although the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) has been the most widely studied lagomorph, few large scale studies were found. The prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. in wild rabbit populations in the two large scale studies was 0.9% (95%CI 0.2–5.0) and 0.0% (95%CI 0.0–1.6). Neither study provided age nor sex profiles nor typing of Cryptosporidium isolates. The infecting Cryptosporidium species was confirmed in just four other studies of rabbits, all of which showed the rabbit genotype. Human‐infectious Cryptosporidium species including Cryptosporidium parvum have caused experimental infections in rabbits and it is likely that this may also occur naturally. No published studies of the host range and biological features of the Cryptosporidium rabbit genotype were identified, but information was generated on the identification and differentiation of the rabbit genotype at various genetic loci. Both pet and wild rabbits are a potential source of human cryptosporidiosis and as such, good hygiene practices are recommended during and after handling rabbits or exposure to their faeces, or potentially contaminated surfaces. Water supplies should be protected against access by wildlife, including rabbits.
Genomic Analyses Reveal Broad Impact of miR-137 on Genes Associated with Malignant Transformation and Neuronal Differentiation in Glioblastoma Cells

miR-137 plays critical roles in the nervous system and tumor development; an increase in its expression is required for neuronal differentiation while its reduction is implicated in gliomagenesis. To evaluate the potential of miR-137 in glioblastoma therapy, we conducted genome-wide target mapping in glioblastoma cells by measuring the level of association between PABP and mRNAs in cells transfected with miR-137 mimics vs. controls via RIPSeq. Impact on mRNA levels was also measured by RNASeq. By combining the results of both experimental approaches, 1468 genes were found to be negatively impacted by miR-137 – among them, 595 (40%) contain miR-137 predicted sites. The most relevant targets include oncogenic proteins and key players in neurogenesis like c-KIT, YBX1, AKT2, CDC42, CDK6 and TGFβ2. Interestingly, we observed that several identified miR-137 targets are also predicted to be regulated by miR-124, miR-128 and miR-7, which are equally implicated in neuronal differentiation and gliomagenesis. We suggest that the concomitant increase of these four miRNAs in neuronal stem cells or their repression in tumor cells could produce a robust regulatory effect with major consequences to neuronal differentiation and tumorigenesis.
Placebos for athletes: do they exist? If not, do they work anyway?

Introduction Some say the placebo effect gets no respect. It certainly has had its ups and downs in medicine and sports medicine; I have covered this in prior columns (4,6). Now a provocative editorial in a sports medicine journal questions even the very logic of the placebo. It asks, in essence, how can something inert (a placebo) have an effect? It asks, if the effect is mediated not physically but psychologically, how can the ‘‘psychotherapy’’ involved still be called inert? It ponders possible negative or ‘‘nocebo’’ effects of placebos; this is relevant to sports performance, as will be seen in the latter part of this article. It argues that the same agent may be a placebo, a nocebo, or an active intervention, depending on who gives it, who gets it, or when it is given. It calls for abandoning ‘‘the black box named placebo’’ and where effects of socalled placebo treatments are observed, attempting to identify and directly assess their cause (8). This is easier said than done, as also will be seen in the latter part of this article, where I cover new research on placebos and nocebos in sports performance.
Epidemiology and clinical characteristics of autoimmune hepatitis in the Netherlands

Abstract Background and aims. Epidemiological data on autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) are scarce. In this study, we determined the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of AIH patients in the Netherlands (16.7 million inhabitants). Methods. Clinical characteristics were collected from 1313 AIH patients (78% females) from 31 centers, including all eight academic centers in the Netherlands. Additional data on ethnicity, family history and symptoms were obtained by the use of a questionnaire. Results. The prevalence of AIH was 18.3 (95% confidential interval [CI]: 17.3–19.4) per 100,000 with an annual incidence of 1.1 (95% CI: 0.5–2) in adults. An incidence peak was found in middle-aged women. At diagnosis, 56% of patients had fibrosis and 12% cirrhosis in liver biopsy. Overall, 1% of patients developed HCC and 3% of patients underwent liver transplantation. Overlap with primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis was found in 9% and 6%, respectively. The clinical course did not differ between Caucasian and non-Caucasian patients. Other autoimmune diseases were found in 26% of patients. Half of the patients reported persistent AIH-related symptoms despite treatment with a median treatment period of 8 years (range 1–44 years). Familial occurrence was reported in three cases. Conclusion. This is the largest epidemiological study of AIH in a geographically defined region and demonstrates that the prevalence of AIH in the Netherlands is uncommon. Although familial occurrence of AIH is extremely rare, our twin data may point towards a genetic predisposition. The high percentage of patients with cirrhosis or fibrosis at diagnosis urges the need of more awareness for AIH.