Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Submitted to the Annals of Applied Statistics STATISTICAL MODELING AND ANALYSIS OF TRACE ELEMENT CONCENTRATIONS IN FORENSIC GLASS EVIDENCE By

The question of the validity of procedures used to analyze forensic evidence was raised many years ago by Stephen Fienberg, most notably when he chaired the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee that issued the report The Polygraph and Lie Detection (National Research Council 2003); his role in championing this cause and drawing other statisticians to these issues continued throughout his life. We investigate the validity of three standards related to different test methods for forensic comparison of glass (micro X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF) spectrometry, ICP-MS, LA-ICP-MS), all of which include a series of recommended calculations from which “it may be concluded that [the samples] did not originate from the same source. ” Using publicly available data and data from other sources, we develop statistical models based on estimates of means and covariance matrices of the measured trace element concentrations recommended in these standards, leading to population-based estimates of error rates for the comparison procedures stated in the standards. Our results therefore do not depend on internal comparisons between pairs of glass samples, the representativeness of which cannot be guaranteed: our results apply to any collection of glass samples that have been or can be measured via these technologies. They suggest potentially higher false positive rates than have been reported, and we propose alternative methods that will ensure lower error rates.
Very low-voltage analog signal processing based on quasi-floating gate transistors

A novel design principle for very low-voltage analog signal processing in CMOS technologies is presented. It is based on the use of quasi-floating gate (QFG) MOS transistors. Similar to multiple input floating gate (MIFG) MOS transistors, a weighted averaging of the inputs accurately controlled by capacitance ratios can be obtained, which is the basic operating principle. Nevertheless, issues often encountered in MIFG structures, such as the initial charge trapped in the floating gates or the gain-bandwidth product degradation, are not present in QFG configurations. Several CMOS circuit realizations using open- and closed-loop topologies, have been designed. They include analog switches, mixers, programmable-gain amplifiers, track and hold circuits, and digital-to-analog converters. All these circuits have been experimentally verified, confirming the usefulness of the proposed technique for very low-voltage applications.
New hand gesture recognition method for mouse operations

Hand gestures can be used for natural and intuitive human-computer interaction. Our new method combines existing techniques of skin color based ROI segmentation and Viola-Jones Haar-like feature based object detection, to optimize hand gesture recognition for mouse operation. A mouse operation has two parts, movement of cursor and clicking using the right or left mouse button. In this paper, color is used as a robust feature to first define a Region of Interest (ROI). Then within this ROI, hand postures are detected by using Haar-like features and AdaBoost learning algorithm. The AdaBoost learning algorithm significantly speeds up the performance and constructs an accurate cascaded classifier by combining a sequence of weak classifiers.
Effects of cannabis on cognition in patients with MS

Objective: To determine functional and structural neuroimaging correlates of cognitive dysfunction associated with cannabis use in multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 20 subjects with MS who smoked cannabis and 19 noncannabis users with MS, matched on demographic and neurologic variables, underwent fMRI while completing a test of working memory, the N-Back. Resting-state fMRI and structural MRI data (lesion and normal-appearing brain tissue volumes, diffusion tensor imaging metrics) were also collected. Neuropsychological data pertaining to verbal (Selective Reminding Test Revised) and visual (10/36 Spatial Recall Test) memory, information processing speed (Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test [2- and 3-second versions] and Symbol Digit Modalities Test), and attention (Word List Generation) were obtained. Results: The cannabis group performed more poorly on the more demanding of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test tasks (i.e., 2-second version) (p < 0.02) and the 10/36 Spatial Recall Test (p < 0.03). Cannabis users had more diffuse cerebral activation across all N-Back trials and made more errors on the 2-Back task (p < 0.006), during which they displayed increased activation relative to nonusers in parietal (p < 0.007) and anterior cingulate (p < 0.001) regions implicated in working memory. No group differences in resting-state networks or structural MRI variables were found. Conclusions: Patients with MS who smoke cannabis are more cognitively impaired than nonusers. Cannabis further compromises cerebral compensatory mechanisms, already faulty in MS. These imaging data boost the construct validity of the neuropsychological findings and act as a cautionary note to cannabis users and prescribers.
Comparison of Quantitative Cytomegalovirus (CMV) PCR in Plasma and CMV Antigenemia Assay: Clinical Utility of the Prototype AMPLICOR CMV MONITOR Test in Transplant Recipients

ABSTRACT The correlation between the prototype AMPLICOR CMV MONITOR test (Roche Molecular Systems), a quantitative PCR assay, and the cytomegalovirus (CMV) pp65 antigenemia assay was evaluated in transplant recipients. Sequential blood specimens were collected on 29 patients (491 specimens), the leukocyte fraction was tested by CMV antigenemia, and quantitative PCR was performed on plasma specimens. None of the 15 patients (242 specimens) who were antigenemia negative were positive for CMV DNA by PCR, and none of these patients developed active CMV disease. There were 14 antigenemia-positive patients, 8 of whom developed active CMV disease. In all patients, there was a good association between the antigenemia and PCR assays. Ganciclovir-resistant virus was isolated from three patients with active CMV disease. These three patients had persistently elevated levels of antigenemia and CMV DNA by PCR when resistance to ganciclovir developed. This standardized, quantitative CMV PCR assay on plasma has clinical utility for the diagnosis of active disease and in monitoring the response to antiviral therapy in transplant recipients.
The Myth of Individualism-Collectivism: A Critical Review

Abstract The authors critically assess the dimension of individualism-collectivism (I-C) and its various uses in cross-cultural psychology. They argue that I-C research is characterized largely by insufficient conceptual clarity and a lack of systematic data. As a result, they call into question the utility of I-C as an explanatory tool for cultural variation in behavior, suggest alternative dimensions for cross-cultural research, and interpret the weaknesses of research on I-C as illustrative of a general trend in social psychology.
The sequence of a 6·3 kb segment of yeast chromosome III reveals an open reading frame coding for a putative mismatch binding protein

We report the sequence of a 6·3 kb segment of DNA mapping near the end of the right arm of chromosome III of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The sequence reveals a major open reading frame coding for a putative protein of 1047 amino acids with a striking similarity to the bacterial proteins involved in recognition of mismatched DNA base pairs. This is particularly interesting as the existence of a yeast mismatch repair system similar to that of bacteria has been postulated for some years, but a yeast protein homologous to the bacterial mismatch binding protein had not been identified.
A frequency tripler with suppressed harmonics for millimeter-wave applications

A varactor based frequency tripler with suppressed first, second and fourth harmonics of the input signal is presented. Harmonic balance simulations show that the designed tripler delivers an output power of 13.6dBm for an input power of 26dBm at 42 GHz while the first and second harmonics are suppressed by more than 50 dB and the fourth harmonic by 17.5 dB with respect to the output signal at 42 GHz. A 75 pm quartz substrate and GaAs Schottkyvaractor diodes from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory have been used for the circuit design. A metal enclosure has been considered around the microstrip line circuit and the output signal is coupled to a rectangular waveguide using an E-plane probe transition from microstrip line.
Linear Quadratic Synchronization of Multi-Agent Systems: A Distributed Optimization Approach

The distributed optimal synchronization problem with linear quadratic cost is solved in this paper for multi-agent systems with an undirected communication topology. For the first time, the optimal synchronization problem is formulated as a distributed optimization problem with a linear quadratic cost functional that integrates quadratic synchronization errors and quadratic input signals subject to agent dynamics and synchronization constraints. By introducing auxiliary synchronization state variables and combining the distributed synchronization method with the alternating direction method of multiplier (ADMM), a new distributed control protocol is designed for solving the distributed optimization problem. With this construction, the optimal synchronization control problem is separated into several independent subproblems: a synchronization optimization, an input minimization and a dual optimization. These subproblems are then solved by distributed numerical algorithms based on the Lyapunov method and dynamic programming. Numerical examples for both homogeneous and heterogeneous multi-agent systems are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Differentiation of tuberculous from pyogenic brain abscesses with in vivo proton MR spectroscopy and magnetization transfer MR imaging.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE MR imaging features are nonspecific with respect to the causative organism for patients with brain abscesses. On the basis of the hypothesis that the biochemical environment depends on the infecting organism and might be different in tuberculous compared with pyogenic brain abscesses, this study attempted to determine whether pyogenic brain abscesses can be differentiated from tuberculous brain abscesses by use of magnetization transfer (MT) MR imaging and in vivo proton MR spectroscopy. METHODS Twenty-seven patients with a total of 33 pyogenic brain abscesses and three patients with a total of 12 tuberculous abscesses were evaluated with in vivo MR spectroscopy and MT MR imaging. The diagnosis in all cases was based on the culture of the causative organisms and histopathology whenever done as a part of clinical management. RESULTS All 27 patients with pyogenic brain abscesses had lipid and lactate levels of 1.3 ppm and amino acid levels of 0.9 ppm with or without the presence of succinate, acetate, alanine, and glycine, while the three patients with tuberculous abscesses showed only such lipid and lactate levels. The MT ratio from the wall of the pyogenic abscesses was significantly higher (P <.001) than that from the tuberculous abscess wall. CONCLUSION It might be possible to differentiate tuberculous abscesses from pyogenic abscesses by using MT MR imaging and in vivo MR spectroscopy, which could be of value in influencing the management of such cases.
Acquired Exchange Protein Directly Activated by Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate Activity Induced by p38 Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase in Primary Afferent Neurons Contributes to Sustaining Postincisional Nociception

Background: The molecular mechanisms responsible for sustained pain after tissue injury are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to clarify the role of exchange protein directly activated by cyclic adenosine monophosphate (EPAC) in sustained postincisional nociception, using tissue injury-induced nociceptor priming, and involvement of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK) in EPAC-mediated nociceptor priming. Methods: Plantar incisions were made in the hind paws of Sprague–Dawley rats (n = 144). Nociceptor priming was confirmed by behavior testing followed by prostaglandin E2 injection 14 to 21 days after the incision. ESI-09, a selective EPAC inhibitor, was administered to assess its effects on nociceptor priming. Expression of two isoforms of EPAC (EPAC1/EPAC2) in dorsal root ganglions from naive rats and those 14 days after the incision was detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. Separately, FR167653, a selective p38MAPK inhibitor, was administered to assess its effect on EPAC1/EPAC2 expression and the development of nociceptor priming. Results: Prostaglandin E2 injection 14 to 21 days after the plantar incision induced persistent mechanical hyperalgesia for 7 days. EPAC1/EPAC2 expression in dorsal root ganglion neurons was trivial in naive rats (7.7 ± 4.8% for EPAC1; 6.3 ± 4.1% for EPAC2) but markedly increased 14 days after the incision (21.0 ± 9.4% and 20.1 ± 3.8%, respectively). ESI-09 treatment inhibited prostaglandin E2-induced persistent mechanical hypersensitivity but had no effect on incision-induced acute nociceptive hypersensitivity. Treatment with FR167653 before the incision inhibited the development of nociceptor priming and incision-induced EPAC1/EPAC2 expression (8.5 ± 5.4% and 7.6 ± 3.3%, respectively). Conclusions: Transient inflammatory stimulation causes long-lasting nociceptive hypersensitivity via nociceptor priming during the subacute period after incision. Acquired EPAC activity by p38MAPK in the dorsal root ganglion neurons is a key for this event.
Markerless motion tracking for motion-compensated clinical imaging

Motion-compensated brain imaging can dramatically reduce image artifacts and degradation associated with head motion. However, it has been slow to enter routine clinical use, and remained largely a research tool. One possible reason for this is the lack of a practical motion tracking method for the clinical setting. Here we present the initial validation of a highly convenient markerless motion tracking method, previously developed for motion-compensated PET imaging of rats, for human head motion estimation in a mock imaging scenario. Sixteen reclining volunteers followed the projected path of a robotically controlled laser beam during a 2 min experiment in which their resulting head motion was simultaneously tracked at 30 Hz from the anterior and posterior using the markerless system and a marker-based system, respectively. Motion estimates were compared in a common coordinate system and generally showed excellent agreement, especially in early frames (RMSE of 1-3 mm). Larger discrepancies were associated with the unwanted detection of non-rigid features which could be prevented in future studies. These results are a promising first step in translating the markerless tracking system to clinical use.
A quantitative comparison of dibenzo[a,l]pyrene‐DNA adduct formation by recombinant human cytochrome P450 microsomes

Dibenzo[a,l]pyrene (DB[a,l]P), an extremely potent environmental carcinogen, is metabolically activated in mammalian cells and microsomes through the fjord‐region dihydrodiol, trans‐DB[a,l]P‐11,12‐diol, to syn‐ and anti‐DB[a,l]P‐11,12‐diol‐13,14‐epoxides (syn‐ and anti‐DB[a,l]PDEs). The role of seven individual recombinant human cytochrome P450s (1A1, 1A2, 1B1, 2B6, 2C9, 2E1, and 3A4) in the metabolic activation of DB[a,l]P and formation of DNA adducts was examined by using 32P postlabeling, thin‐layer chromatography, and high‐pressure liquid chromatography. We found that, in the presence of epoxide hydrolase, only P450 1A1 and P450 1B1 catalyzed the formation of DB[a,l]PDE‐DNA adducts and several unidentified polar adducts. Human P450 1A1 catalyzed the formation of DB[a,l]PDE‐DNA adducts and unidentified polar adducts at rates threefold and 17‐fold greater than did human P450 1B1 (256 fmol/h/nmol P450 versus 90 fmol/h/nmol P450 and 132 fmol/h/nmol P450 versus 8 fmol/h/nmol P450, respectively). P450 1A1 DNA adducts were derived from both anti‐ and syn‐DB[a,l]PDE at rates of 73 fmol/h/nmol P450 and 51 fmol/h/nmol P450, respectively. P450 1B1 produced adducts derived from anti‐DB[a,l]PDE at a rate of 82 fmol/h/nmol, whereas only a small number of adducts were derived from syn‐DB[a,l]PDE (0.4 fmol/h/nmol). These results demonstrated the potential of human P450 1A1 and P450 1B1 to contribute to the metabolic activation and carcinogenicity of DB[a,l]P and provided additional evidence that human P450 1A1 and 1B1 differ in their stereospecific activation of DB[a,l]P. Mol. Carcinog. 26:74–82, 1999. Published 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Modelling and control of a new hybrid compensator for grid power fluctuations

Renewable energies are increasingly used in the alternative supply of the future. Based on this, different energy source are interconnected in order to provide the sufficient energy to the electrical grid. However, meteorological conditions may affect the produced energy from photovoltaic panels and wind turbine generators. As a consequence, it may also trouble the quality of the exchanged power. This paper proposes a new storage system (hybrid four-level inverter) to solve the problem caused by the brutal impact of active and reactive powers. The main idea of the proposed hybrid structure is to compensate active and reactive power fluctuations through the intermediate stored energy into supercapacitors. To regulate the current injected or absorbed by the inverter, the control strategy is expressed by means of Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMI) technique. In addition, Space Vector Modulation (SVM) technique is applied for this hybrid structure to produce pulses for the different switches. Simulation results are presented to verify the advantages of the developed system in smoothing fast power variation.
Soil carbon and nitrogen stocks in forests along an altitudinal gradient in the eastern Himalayas and a meta‐analysis of global data

High‐altitude soils potentially store a large pool of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N). The assessment of total C and N stocks in soils is vital to understanding the C and N dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we examined effects of altitude and forest composition on soil C and N along a transect from 317 to 3300 m a.s. l. in the eastern Himalayas. We used meta‐analysis to establish the context for our results on the effects of altitude on soil C, including variation with depth. Total C and N contents of soils significantly increased with altitude, but decreased with soil depth. Carbon and N were similarly correlated with altitude and temperature, and temperature was seemingly the main driver of soil C along the altitudinal gradient. Altitude accounted for 73% of the variation in C and 47% of the variation in N stocks. Soil pH and cation exchange capacity were correlated with both soil C and N stocks. Increases in soil C and N stocks were related to forest composition, forest basal area as well as quantity of leaf litter that were in turn influenced by altitude and temperature. Concentrations of C in foliage increased by 2.1% for every 1000 m rise in altitude, while that in leaf litter increased by 2.3%.
Genetics of the apnea hypopnea index in Caucasians and African Americans: I. Segregation analysis

Differences in age of presentation and anatomic risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in Caucasians and African Americans suggest possible racial differences in the genetic underpinnings of the disorder. In this study, we assess transmission patterns in a Caucasian sample consisting of 177 families (N = 1,195) and in an African American sample consisting of 125 families (N = 720) for two variables: 1) apnea hypopnea index (AHI) log transformed and adjusted for age, and 2) AHI log transformed and adjusted for age and body mass index (BMI). We allowed for residual familial correlations and sex‐specific means in all models. Analysis of the Caucasian sample showed transmission patterns consistent with that of a major gene that were stronger in the age‐adjusted variable than in the age‐ and BMI‐adjusted variable. However, in the African American families, adjusting for BMI in addition to age gave stronger evidence for segregation of a codominant gene with an allele frequency of 0.14, accounting for 35% of the total variance. These results provide support for an underlying genetic basis for OSA that in African Americans is independent of the contribution of BMI. Genet. Epidemiol. 22:243–253, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Monitoring the Top-m Rank Aggregation of Spatial Objects in Streaming Queries

In this paper, we propose and study the problem of top-m rank aggregation of spatial objects in streaming queries, where, given a set of objects O, a stream of spatial queries (kNN or range), the goal is to report the m objects with the highest aggregate rank. The rank of an object with respect to an individual query is computed based on its distance from the query location, and the aggregate rank is computed from all of the individual rank orderings. In order to solve this problem, we show how to upper and lower bound the rank of an object for any unseen query. Then we propose an approximation solution to continuously monitor the top-m objects efficiently, for which we design an Inverted Rank File (IRF) index to guarantee the error bound of the solution. In particular, we propose the notion of safe ranking to determine whether the current result is still valid or not when new queries arrive, and propose the notion of validation objects to limit the number of objects to update in the top-m results. We also propose an exact solution for applications where an approximate solution is not sufficient. Last, we conduct extensive experiments to verify the efficiency and effectiveness of our solutions. This is a fundamental problem that draws inspiration from three different domains: rank aggregation, continuous queries and spatial databases, and the solution can be used to monitor the importance / popularity of spatial objects, which in turn can provide new analytical tools for spatial data.
An Affective Video Generation System Supporting Impromptu Musical Performance

When a musical instrument player performs music, the accompanying visual information can have a significant effect on the performance. For example, several players in a jam session may change their style of playing immediately by closely examining the co-players' expressions and behaviors and predicting their emotion and intention on the fly. In this paper, we propose a system that generates videos in response to the impromptu performance of a single musical instrumental player. The system evaluates the input signals in an affective way and generates a corresponding video based on the results of the evaluation. The player tends to change his/her performance while being inspired by the generated video and giving further triggers for the system to modify the video. The system aims to establish such an affective loop, where it is expected to act as a “co-player” who continues having an influence on the performance of the real player. The final goal of this study is to improve the quality of the player's performing experience through such interactions between the player and the system. By conducting a user evaluation, it was proven that we were able to inspire an amateur guitarist as the subject through the affective video generation and provide a cyberworld where he is allowed to experience a better performance than playing alone.