Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Health-Care Service Guarantees on Consumer Decision-Making: An Experimental Investigation

While examples of the successful use of service guarantees in health-care do exist, to-date, researchers have yet to examine this industry-specific application beyond a case study perspective. The results of this experiment begin to shed light on whether or not guarantees should be used, and if so, under what conditions are they appropriate. Respondents indicate that the thoughtful use of service guarantees can positively impact their perceptions of the health-care provider's reputation and, ultimately, their behavioral intentions towards the same provider. However, consideration must be given to the type of guarantee being offered and to whom the guarantee is targeted.
Multivariate analysis of craniofacial measurements in twin and family data.

Thirty-three cephalometric variables and height have been measured on each of 630 individuals (316 male and 314 female) from 157 families. After age and sex differences were adjusted for each measurement, a rotated factor analysis was undertaken to account for the variation by a limited number of linear combinations of the adjusted measurements. It was found that most of the variation could be explained by nine independent factors. Finally, correlation coefficients were computed on twins, siblings and parent-offspring data for factor scores. The results suggest that each factor which is measured by a linear combination of a set of variables could result from the interaction of independent sets of genes with the environment.
Stereo Pair Matching of Archaeological Scenes using Phase Domain Methods

This paper conducts an experimental study on the application of some recent theories of image preprocessing and analysis in the frequency domain, particularly the phase congruency and monogenic filtering methods. Our goal was to examine the performance of such methods in a stereo matching problem setting, with photos of complicated scenes. Two objects were used: a scene of an ancient Greek temple of Acropolis and the outside scene of the gate of an ancient theatre. Due to the complex structure of the photographed object, classic techniques used for feature detection and matching give poor results. The phase-domain approach followed in this paper is based on the phase-congruency method for feature extraction, together with monogenic filtering and a new correlation measure in the frequency domain for image correspondence and stereo matching. Comparative results show that the three-dimensional models of the scene computed when applying these phase domain methods are much more detailed and consistent as compared to the models obtained when using classic approaches or the SIFT based techniques, which give poor depth representation and less accurate metric
Pre- and Postnatal Lung Development, Maturation, and Plasticity LPS-induced lung injury in neonatal rats: changes in gelatinase activities and consequences on lung growth

Franco, Marie-Laure, Paul Waszak, Gaelle Banalec, Micheline Levame, Chantal Lafuma, Alain Harf, and Christophe Delacourt. LPS-induced lung injury in neonatal rats: changes in gelatinase activities and consequences on lung growth. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 282: L491–L500, 2002; 10.1152/ajplung.00140. 2001. —Postnatal lung growth disorders may involve imbalance between metalloproteinases and their inhibitors. Inflammatory cell 92kDa gelatinase overactivity has been reported in adults with lung injury but has not been looked for in neonates. We compared gelatinase activity in neonatal and adult rats and evaluated postnatal lung growth after lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced lung injury. Significant intra-alveolar inflammatory cell recruitment occurred in adults and neonates; cell counts increased 16-fold in adults and 2.7-fold in neonates. Total 92-kDa gelatinase activity was increased in neonates and adults and was significantly correlated to inflammatory cell counts. For a given cell count, 92-kDa gelatinase increased more in neonates than in adults. Morphometric neonatal lung analysis showed that LPS-injured lungs had decreases in absolute values of lung volume (P 0.03), alveolar surface (P 0.004), and air space volume (P 0.03). Doxycycline, a nonspecific metalloproteinase inhibitor, partly inhibited LPS-induced 92-kDa gelatinase overactivity but did not improve LPS-induced alveolar growth disorders. LPSmediated lung injury in neonatal rats induced both gelatinase B overactivity and alveolar growth disorders, although no causal link between these two effects was demonstrated.
Pedro Miguel Neves Marques Discriminative Sparse Representation for Expression Recognition

This thesis is focused on recognising emotions of different subjects through facial expressions in 2D images. We will go through the multiple stages of this problem where we aim to take maximum advantage of supervised algorithms and labelled information. We will compare different pixel processing techniques and show that the histogram based ones, like HOG and LBP, have the best performance for this particular problem. Sparse representation has definitely been proved to be a very good way to solve computer vision problems in facial understanding over the last couple of years. Therefore we will make use of a new label consistent singular value decomposition algorithm to learn a discriminative dictionary and compare its performance with several supervised dimensionality reduction techniques. Finally we will obtain state-of-the-art classification accuracies for the problem of recognising facial expressions with our histogram supervised manifold preserving sparse representation technique. We will test different methods across multiple databases containing images of various subjects performing various expressions, aligned or non-aligned.
A finite element model for radiofrequency ablation of the myocardium

A finite element model was developed to simulate the temperature distributions produced by radiofrequency catheter ablation. This model incorporated blood, myocardium and torso tissues. The Laplace equation was solved to determine the steady-state electric field. The heat generation in the tissues was then computed from the power density distribution and the bioheat equation was solved to determine the time-varying temperature distribution, taking into account the convective energy exchange at the blood-myocardium and torso-air interfaces. This model was used to predict the lesion depth and to evaluate the effects of electrode location, changes of the electrical and thermal conductivities, and the electrode radius on the thermally induced damage to the myocardium. Temperature distributions induced by radiofrequency ablation were found to be: i) not very sensitive to the reference electrode location, ii) more sensitive to electrical conductivity changes than to thermal conductivity changes, and iii) larger electrodes allow a current distribution at higher level of power with reducing the chance of impedance rise. <<ETX>>
Practical learning of deep gaussian processes via random Fourier features

The composition of multiple Gaussian Processes as a Deep Gaussian Process (DGP) enables a deep probabilistic approach to flexibly quantify uncertainty and carry out model selection in various learning scenarios. In this work, we introduce a novel formulation of DGPs based on random Fourier features that we train using stochastic variational inference. Our proposal yields an efficient way of training DGP architectures without compromising on predictive performance. Through a series of experiments, we illustrate how our model compares favorably to other state-of-the-art inference methods for DGPs for both regression and classification tasks. We also demonstrate how an asynchronous implementation of stochastic gradient optimization can exploit the computational power of distributed systems for large-scale DGP learning.
Exploiting Reviews to Generate Personalized and Justified Recommendations to Guide Users' Selections

We introduce RUS, a recommender that assists users by providing personalized and justified suggestions to facilitate the task of deciding which items, among the recommended ones, are best tailored towards their individual interests. We exploit users’ reviews and matrix factorization to generate recommendations that include reviewers’ opinions related to item characteristics that each individual user frequently mentions. To demonstrate the validity of RUS we use the Amazon dataset.
Safety of Duloxetine in a Multidrug Regimen for Chronic Prostatitis / Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome

400 a 2014 Else All Rights Re affected by chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS). METHODS Thirty-eight CP/CPPS patients completed the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI) and International Index of Erectile Function-Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5) questionnaires, uroflowmetry, and evaluation of psychologic status using Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A) and Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D). Patients were randomly assigned to 2 treatments groups. Treatment in group 1 consisted of a simultaneous oral administration of tamsulosin (0.4 mg/d, 60 mg/d), saw palmetto (320 mg/d), and duloxetine (60 mg/d). Treatment in group 2 consisted of tamsulosin (0.4 mg/d) and saw palmetto (320 mg/d). NIHCPSI and IIEF-5 questionnaires, uroflowmetry, and evaluation of the psychological status were repeated at 16 weeks of follow-up. RESULTS At 16 weeks, a significant improvement in NIH-CPSI pain subscore, NIH-CPSI quality of life subscore, and NIH-CPSI total score were observed in group 1 patients compared with those in group 2 (P <.01, respectively), together with a significant improvement in HAM-A and HAM-D scores (P <.01, respectively). Patients in group 2 showed a significant improvement in NIH-CPSI total score, in the urinary symptoms subscore, and in the HAM-A total score. No significant differences were observed in IIEF-5 scores in the 2 groups. Maximum flow rate significantly increased in both groups. In group 1, 20% of patients stopped the study due to adverse effects. CONCLUSION The use of duloxetine in a multimodal treatment with an a-blocker medication and a saw palmetto extract allowed better results in controlling clinical symptoms, psychologic status and quality of life patients affected by CP/CPPS. UROLOGY 83: 400e405, 2014. 2014 Elsevier Inc.
Psychometric Properties of Language Assessments for Children Aged 4–12 Years: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Standardized assessments are widely used by speech pathologists in clinical and research settings to evaluate the language abilities of school-aged children and inform decisions about diagnosis, eligibility for services and intervention. Given the significance of these decisions, it is important that assessments have sound psychometric properties. Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to examine the psychometric quality of currently available comprehensive language assessments for school-aged children and identify assessments with the best evidence for use. Methods: Using the PRISMA framework as a guideline, a search of five databases and a review of websites and textbooks was undertaken to identify language assessments and published material on the reliability and validity of these assessments. The methodological quality of selected studies was evaluated using the COSMIN taxonomy and checklist. Results: Fifteen assessments were evaluated. For most assessments evidence of hypothesis testing (convergent and discriminant validity) was identified; with a smaller number of assessments having some evidence of reliability and content validity. No assessments presented with evidence of structural validity, internal consistency or error measurement. Overall, all assessments were identified as having limitations with regards to evidence of psychometric quality. Conclusions: Further research is required to provide good evidence of psychometric quality for currently available language assessments. Of the assessments evaluated, the Assessment of Literacy and Language, the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-5th Edition, the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool: 2nd Edition and the Preschool Language Scales-5th Edition presented with most evidence and are thus recommended for use.
Inhibition of field stimulation‐induced contractions of rabbit vas deferens by muscarinic receptor agonists: selectivity of McN‐A‐343 for M1 receptors

Inhibition of the field stimulation‐induced twitch responses of the rabbit vas deferens by the muscarinic receptor agonist, McN‐A‐343, has been attributed to presynaptic muscarinic receptors of the M1 subtype located on noradrenergic nerve terminals. Stimulation of these receptors causes inhibition of transmitter release and inhibition of the contractile response. However, the selectivity of McN‐A‐343 for M1 receptors has been questioned and this throws doubt on whether the prejunctional receptors of the rabbit vas deferens are of the M1 subtype. In this study we have undertaken a comprehensive re‐evaluation of the inhibition of prostatic and epididymal portions of the rabbit isolated field‐stimulated vas deferens by several agonists, including McN‐A‐343, and quantified the antagonism by M1‐selective antagonists, pirenzepine and telenzepine.
An effective congestion-driven placement framework

We present a fast but reliable way to detect routing criticalities in very large scale integration chips. In addition, we show how this congestion estimation can be incorporated into a partitioning based placement algorithm. Different to previous approaches, we do not rerun parts of the placement algorithm or apply a postplacement optimization, but we use our congestion estimator for a dynamic avoidance of routability problems in one single run of the placement algorithm. Computational experiments on chips with up to 1300000 cells are presented. The framework reduces the usage of the most critical routing edges by 9.0% on average, the running time increase for the placement is about 8.7%. However, due to the smaller congestion, the running time of routing tools can be decreased drastically, so the total time for placement and (global) routing is decreased by 47% on average.
The effect of histopathologic and clinical features on allograft survival in renal transplant patients with antibody-mediated rejection

Abstract Background: Antibody-mediated rejection is a frequent cause of graft failure; however, prognostic indications of this complication have not been well defined. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of histopathological and clinical features and to determine the effect of these findings on allograft survival in patients with AMR. Methods: Fifty-two patients suffered from AMR (30 male; mean age 39 ± 11 years) were included in the study. Data were investigated retrospectively and graft survival was analyzed. All transplant biopsies were evaluated according to Banff 2009 classification. Results: Of the 52 cases, 45 were transplanted from living-donors. Twenty-one patients were diagnosed in the first 3-months after transplantation. Graft survival was 65% at 12 months and 54% at 36 months. Mean serum creatinine at time of biopsy was 3.8 ± 3.6 mg/dL. Thirty-five of the 52 cases showed diffuse C4d positivity, 12 cases showed focal and 5 remained C4d negative. One of the patients died, 13 experienced graft loss and 38 survived with functioning grafts. Serum creatinine levels at time of biopsy were correlated with graft survival (p = .021: OR = 1.10: 95 % CI = 1.015–1.199). In terms of the impact of pathological findings; tubulitis (p=.007: OR = 2.62: 95 % CI = 1.301–5.276), intimal arteritis (p=.017: OR = 2.85: 95% CI = 1.205–6.744) and interstitial infiltration (p=.004: OR = 3.37: 95% CI = 1.465–7.752) were associated with graft survival. Conclusions: Serum creatinine at time of biopsy, tubulitis, intimal arteritis and interstitial infiltration were significantly associated with graft survival. Antibody-mediated rejection is associated with reduced long-term graft survival.
Mutagenesis of an Arginine- and Lysine-rich Domain in the gp91 phox Subunit of the Phagocyte NADPH-oxidase Flavocytochromeb 558 *

Site-directed mutagenesis was used to generate a series of mutants harboring point or multiple substitutions within the hydrophilic, polybasic domain of gp91 phox encompassed by residues 86–102, which was previously identified as a site of interaction with p47 phox during phagocyte NADPH oxidase assembly. Recombinant wild-type or mutant gp91 phox was expressed in a human myeloid leukemia cell line in which the endogenous gp91 phox gene was disrupted by gene targeting. NADPH oxidase activity was measured in a cytochrome c reduction assay following granulocytic differentiation of cells that expressed recombinant gp91 phox . Expression of a gp91 phox mutant in which amino acids 89–97 were replaced with nine alternate amino acids abolished NADPH oxidase activity. Expression of gp91 phox mutants R89T, D95A, D95R, R96A, R96E, or K102T did not significantly affect NADPH oxidase activity. However, mutations of individual or paired arginine residues at positions 91 and 92 had substantial effects on superoxide generation. The R91E/R92E mutation completely abolished both NADPH oxidase activity and membrane-translocation of the cytosolic oxidase proteins p47 phox , p67 phox , Rac1, and Rac2. The phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-induced rate of superoxide production was reduced by ∼75% in cells expressing R91T/R92A, R91E, or R92E gp91 phox along with an increased lag time to the maximal rates of superoxide production relative to cells expressing wild-type gp91 phox . Taken together, these results demonstrate that Arg91 and Arg92 of gp91 phox are essential for flavocytochrome b 558 function in granulocytes and suggest that these residues participate in the interaction of gp91 phox with the cytosolic oxidase proteins.
Global Asymptotic Stability of a Class of Dynamical Neural Networks

The dynamics of cortical cognitive maps developed by self-organization must include the aspects of long and short-term memory. The behavior of the network is such characterized by an equation of neural activity as a fast phenomenon and an equation of synaptic modification as a slow part of the neural biologically relevant system. We present new stability conditions for analyzing the dynamics of a biological relevant system with different time scales based on the theory of flow invariance. We prove the existence and uniqueness of the equilibrium, and give a quadratic-type Lyapunov function for the flow of a competitive neural system with fast and slow dynamic variables and thus prove the global stability of the equilibrium point.
Power injection system for photovoltaic generation plants with active filtering capability

A single-phase power injection system for photovoltaic generation plants based in two collaborative inverters is presented in this paper. The first converter works as a quasi-square waveform inverter with the main objective of injecting the energy produced by the photovoltaic generation system. The second converter acts as an active power filter with the objective that the current that flows from or to the grid is sinusoidal. The presented power injection system will be able to achieve a sinusoidal current even when a non-linear load is connected to the same point of common coupling. The performance of the proposed system, including the maximum power point tracking algorithm, is evaluated through simulation.
Identification of Risk Factors in Clinical Texts through Association Rules

We describe a method which extracts Association Rules from texts in order to recognise verbalisations of risk factors. Usually some basic vocabulary about risk factors is known but medical conditions are expressed in clinical narratives with much higher variety. We propose an approach for data-driven learning of specialised medical vocabulary which, once collected, enables early alerting of potentially affected patients. The method is illustrated by experimens with clinical records of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and comorbidity of CORD, Diabetes Melitus and Schizophrenia. Our input data come from the Bulgarian Diabetic Register, which is built using a pseudonymised collection of outpatient records for about 500,000 diabetic patients. The generated Association Rules for CORD are analysed in the context of demographic, gender, and age information. Valuable anounts of meaningful words, signalling risk factors, are discovered with high precision and confidence.
Fuzzy Clustering by Particle Swarm Optimization

This paper deals with fuzzy clustering by minimizing the fuzzy c-means (FCM) model. We introduce two new methods for minimizing the two reformulated versions of the FCM objective function by particle swarm optimization (PSO). In PSO-V each particle represents a component of a cluster center. In PSO-U each particle represents an unsealed and unnormalized membership value. PSO-V and PSO-U are compared with alternating optimization (AO) and with ant colony optimization (ACO) on two benchmark data sets: the single outlier and the lung cancer data sets. The stochastic methods ACO, PSO-V, and PSO-U are slower than AO, but in each experiment one of the two PSO variants significantly outperforms the other algorithms.
INCOHERENCE AND INCONSISTENCY

Abstract This paper scrutinizes the relationship between inconsistency and incoherence with a special focus on probabilistic measures of coherence. As is shown, while the majority of extant coherence measures face problems regarding the assessment of inconsistent sets of propositions, it is possible to adapt the measures in order to improve their performance. Furthermore, different intuitions regarding the degree of incoherence of inconsistent sets of propositions are surveyed and assessed with respect to extant measures. In this context, a refined approach to measuring coherence is introduced. As is argued, by means of this approach one can account for the diverging coherence intuitions regarding inconsistent sets independently of the discussion on the adequacy of different probabilistic explications of coherence. The last part of the paper is devoted to the question of whether there is a covariation between degrees of inconsistency and degrees of incoherence in the sense that the higher the degree of inconsistency of a set of propositions, the higher its degree of incoherence. Focusing on two straightforward measures of the degree of inconsistency, this latter question is answered in the negative.
Evaluation of a novel tubular sample holder for dielectric measurements with Abdulnour's method

This paper assesses the accuracy of a rectangular waveguide pierced by a tubular load sample holder for measuring liquid materials at high temperatures with a formulation based on Abdulnour's method. The measurement technique is derived from the transmission line method. The sample holder is adapted from a section of a rectangular waveguide pierced by a tubular load for high temperature measurements at 2.45 GHz. Simulations of the loaded sample holder are carried out with CST Microwave Studio® for several values of sample permittivity. The accuracy of the technique is evaluated by comparing these values to those obtained from Abdulnour's extraction model. It is shown that by properly choosing a set of calibration standards the technique can be quite accurate.
Geometrical Feature Extraction for Robust Speech Recognition

Visual information from lip contour has been successfully shown to improve the robustness of automatic speech recognition especially in noisy environments. In this paper, a novel method for lip reading is presented. In the method, hue information of input images is used for lip area detection. Then, a set of morphological operations is applied to detect lip contour. Polynomial fitting is designed for geometrical feature extraction. With the extracted features, hidden Markov models and Gaussian mixture models are trained to recognize speech. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method improved speech recognition rates in noisy environment. Another advantage of the method is its robustness to lighting variances