Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
(Decision and regression) tree ensemble based kernels for regression and classification

Tree based ensembles such as Breiman's random forest (RF) and Gradient Boosted Trees (GBT) can be interpreted as implicit kernel generators, where the ensuing proximity matrix represents the data-driven tree ensemble kernel. Kernel perspective on the RF has been used to develop a principled framework for theoretical investigation of its statistical properties. Recently, it has been shown that the kernel interpretation is germane to other tree-based ensembles e.g. GBTs. However, practical utility of the links between kernels and the tree ensembles has not been widely explored and systematically evaluated. Focus of our work is investigation of the interplay between kernel methods and the tree based ensembles including the RF and GBT. We elucidate the performance and properties of the RF and GBT based kernels in a comprehensive simulation study comprising of continuous and binary targets. We show that for continuous targets, the RF/GBT kernels are competitive to their respective ensembles in higher dimensional scenarios, particularly in cases with larger number of noisy features. For the binary target, the RF/GBT kernels and their respective ensembles exhibit comparable performance. We provide the results from real life data sets for regression and classification to show how these insights may be leveraged in practice. Overall, our results support the tree ensemble based kernels as a valuable addition to the practitioner's toolbox. Finally, we discuss extensions of the tree ensemble based kernels for survival targets, interpretable prototype and landmarking classification and regression. We outline future line of research for kernels furnished by Bayesian counterparts of the frequentist tree ensembles.
Simulation Environment for Safety Assessment of CEAV Deployment in Linden

This report presents a simulation environment for pre-deployment testing of the autonomous shuttles that will operate in the Linden Residential Area. An autonomous shuttle deployment was already successfully launched and operated in the city of Columbus and ended recently. This report focuses on the second autonomous shuttle deployment planned to start in December, 2019, using a route that will help to solve first-mile / last-mile mobility challenges in the Linden neighborhood of Columbus by providing free rides between St. Stephens Community House, Douglas Community Recreation Center, Rosewind Resident Council and Linden Transit Center. This document presents simulation testing environments in two open source simulators and a commercial simulator for this residential area route and how they can be used for model-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop simulation testing of autonomous shuttle operation before the actual deployment.
Difference Rewards Policy Gradients

Policy gradient methods have become one of the most popular classes of algorithms for multi-agent reinforcement learning. A key challenge, however, that is not addressed by many of these methods is multi-agent credit assignment: assessing an agent’s contribution to the overall performance, which is crucial for learning good policies. We propose a novel algorithm called Dr.Reinforce that explicitly tackles this by combining difference rewards with policy gradients to allow for learning decentralized policies when the reward function is known. By differencing the reward function directly, Dr.Reinforce avoids difficulties associated with learning the Q-function as done by counterfactual multi-agent policy gradients (COMA), a state-of-the-art difference rewards method. For applications where the reward function is unknown, we show the effectiveness of a version of Dr.Reinforce that learns an additional reward network that is used to estimate the difference rewards.
Bayesian Semi-supervised Crowdsourcing

—Crowdsourcing has emerged as a powerful paradigm for efﬁciently labeling large datasets and performing various learning tasks, by leveraging crowds of human annotators. When additional information is available about the data, semi-supervised crowdsourcing approaches that enhance the aggregation of labels from human annotators are well motivated. This work deals with semi-supervised crowdsourced classiﬁcation, under two regimes of semi-supervision: a) label constraints, that provide ground-truth labels for a subset of data; and b) potentially easier to obtain instance-level constraints, that indicate relationships between pairs of data. Bayesian algorithms based on variational inference are developed for each regime, and their quantiﬁably improved performance, compared to unsupervised crowdsourcing, is analytically and empirically validated on several crowdsourcing datasets.
Diagnostic value of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cryptococcal antigen-lateral flow immunochromatographic assay for pulmonary cryptococcosis in non-HIV patients.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of cryptococcal antigen-lateral flow immunochromatographic assay (CrAg-LFA) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of patients with pulmonary cryptococcosis (PC). METHODS A total of 308 patients were divided into the PC group (n = 72) and the non-PC group (n = 236). The clinical data, pathogen detection, radiological imaging, and the detection of the cryptococcal antigen in blood and BALF samples were analyzed. RESULTS The sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative predicted values of CrAg-LFA in the serum were 75.0%, 99.6%, 98.2%, and 92.9%, respectively, while those in the BALF were 93.1%, 100.0%, 100.0%, and 97.9%, respectively. The sensitivity of the CrAg-LFA in BALF was significantly higher than that in the serum of the patients in the PC group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION CrAg-LFA has a higher diagnostic value for PC when analyzing BALF samples compared to serum samples.
Composition and freezing of aqueous H2SO4/HNO3 solutions under polar stratospheric conditions

The results of laboratory investigations of the freezing behavior of aqueous acid solutions indicate that in the stratosphere H[sub 2]SO[sub 4]/H[sub 2]O aerosol droplets would not freeze at temperatures above the ice frost point in the absence of HNO[sub 3]; however, in the presence of typical levels of HNO[sub 3] liquid sulfuric acid aerosols take up significant amounts of HNO[sub 3] and H[sub 2]O vapors and freeze much more readily. This is a consequence of the very rapid change in composition of the liquid droplets as the temperature drops to within two to three degrees of the equilibrium temperature at which HNO[sub 3] and H[sub 2]O vapors would co-condense to form a liquid solution. In the high latitude stratosphere this HNO[sub 3]/H[sub 2]O [open quotes]dew point[close quotes] is typically around 192-194 K at 100 mbar. 13 refs., 2 figs., 4 tabs.
Apelin protects against ischemia-reperfusion injury in diabetic myocardium via inhibiting apoptosis and oxidative stress through PI3K and p38-MAPK signaling pathways

Among all diabetes mellitus-associated cardiovascular diseases, morbidity of diabetic myocardium with ischemia reperfusion injury (D-IRI) is increasing year by year. We aimed to discover a therapeutic biomarker and investigate its mechanism in D-IRI. High-fat diet and streptozotocin-induced diabetes rats were operated with IRI or sham. Recombined lentiviral vector encoding Apelin was injected into D-IRI rat via tail vein. Cardiac function, infarct size, cellular death and oxidative stress were major outcome measures. Cardiomyocyte ischemia reperfusion injury was more serious in D-IRI rats than in non-diabetes ischemia reperfusion injury (ND-IRI) rats. The secretion of NTproBNP was increased in D-IRI compared with ND-IRI. Bcl-2 expression was decreased, and Bax and cleaved caspase-3 expression was increased in D-IRI rats compared with ND-IRI rats, which were reversed after treatment with Apelin. Apelin-upregulation improved cardiomyocyte ischemia reperfusion injury and decreased NT-proBNP levels in D-IRI rats. Apelin overexpression enhanced PI3K and eNOS levels while reduced those of p38-MAPK and iNOS in D-IRI rats. Apelin overexpression protected against D-IRI through inhibiting apoptosis and oxidative stress via PI3K and p38MAPK signaling pathways in D-IRI rats. These findings provide critical new insight into understanding of Apelin's cardio-protective effects, which may become a novel therapeutic target for the diabetic IRI patients.
Phase Equilibria of (1-Hexyl-3-methylimidazolium Thiocyanate + Water, Alcohol, or Hydrocarbon) Binary Systems

Imidazolium ionic liquid has been prepared from 1-methylimidazolium as a substrate. The work includes specific basic characterization of a synthesized compound by NMR spectra, water content, and a glass transition temperature determined by the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The mutual solubilities of 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate, [HMIM][SCN], with water, alcohols, n-alkanes (n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane, n-nonane, or n-decane), aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, or ethylbenzene), and cyclic hydrocarbons (cyclohexane or cycloheptane) have been measured at ambient pressure by a dynamic method in a range of temperatures from (200 to 420) K. The simple eutectic system was observed for water with complete miscibility in the liquid phase. Complete miscibility has been observed in the systems of [HMIM][SCN] with alcohols ranging from methanol to 1-decanol at a temperature of T = 298.15 K. The upper critical solution temperatures (UCSTs) were observed for the systems with n-alkanes and.
Molecular structure of two C-aryl-iminocyclitols studied by X-ray and ab initio calculations

Abstract (1), C18H26N2O7, Mr = 382.41, P212121, a = 9.7215(9), b = 10.687(1), c = 18.399(2) Å, V = 1911.6(3) Å3, Z = 4, R1 = 0.0395. (2), C12H18 ClNO4, Mr = 275.72, P21, a = 10.431(1), b = 6.9223(8), c = 18.043(2) Å, β = 102.085(7)°, V = 1273.9(2) Å3, Z = 4, R1 = 0.0578. The five membered ring is in a twist conformation in (1) and in the two independent molecules of (2) in an envelope conformation. In both compounds the hydroxyl moieties are involved in hydrogen bonds. The compounds were studied by HF/6-31G** computations.
Discussion on the Gaussian assumption in flow rate measurements using a primary weighing method

Flow rate measurement is a common task in many hydraulic infrastructures included in systems with a large impact on the economy. The quality requirements that such measurement must fulfil imply the best knowledge of the measurement results (estimates and measurement uncertainties). Methods such as those given by the Guide for the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) have been widely used as tools to evaluate measurement uncertainties. However, such methods have implicit assumptions on the nature of the mathematical models and the applicability conditions, which are not often taken into account by their users, who apply them regardless of the specific nature of the actual metrological problems. One such assumption is that the output probability function is Gaussian, which is true only if some input conditions are met. In practice, many metrological problems are described by mathematical models with non-ideal conditions, the measurement uncertainty solutions thus being quite different from those predicted by the GUM method. The development of metrological studies has shown that the Monte Carlo method is suitable to deal with non-ideal problems and has several advantages. One such advantage is particularly useful for the specific problem of flow rate measurement using a primary weighing method: the ability to give information on the output quantity probability function. In this way, it is possible not only to obtain the output quantity estimate but also to test the normality of the output measurement uncertainty interval, which in fact has a non-Gaussian shape.
Extended High Frequencies Provide Both Spectral and Temporal Information to Improve Speech-in-Speech Recognition

Several studies have demonstrated that extended high frequencies (EHFs; >8 kHz) in speech are not only audible but also have some utility for speech recognition, including for speech-in-speech recognition when maskers are facing away from the listener. However, the contribution of EHF spectral versus temporal information to speech recognition is unknown. Here, we show that access to EHF temporal information improved speech-in-speech recognition relative to speech bandlimited at 8 kHz but that additional access to EHF spectral detail provided an additional small but significant benefit. Results suggest that both EHF spectral structure and the temporal envelope contribute to the observed EHF benefit. Speech recognition performance was quite sensitive to masker head orientation, with a rotation of only 15° providing a highly significant benefit. An exploratory analysis indicated that pure-tone thresholds at EHFs are better predictors of speech recognition performance than low-frequency pure-tone thresholds.
Progress Toward Steady-State Operation on Tore Supra

Important technological and physics issues related to steady-state operation required for next step are being examined on Tore Supra, after a major upgrade of internal components in order to increase the heat extraction capability to 25 MW for 1000 s. Here, we show first experimental results, where all the plasma facing components were actively cooled during pulses exceeding four minutes, with reactor-relevant heat load. New physics was observed in non-inductively driven plasmas, including a stationary peaked radial profile of the plasma density generated by an anomalous inward pinch; and a regime characterized by sinusoidal oscillations of central electron temperature, governed by non-linear coupling between heat transport and plasma current analogous to a predator-prey mechanism.
How can team synchronisation tendencies be developed combining Constraint-led and Step-game approaches? An action-research study implemented over a competitive volleyball season

ABSTRACT Combining Constraint-led (ecological) and Step-Game (constructivist) approaches through an Action-Research (AR) design conducted throughout a competitive volleyball season, this study aimed to: (i) analyse the impact of increased tactical complexity on lateral and longitudinal collective Synchronisation Tendencies (ST) during defensive and offensive counterattack-subphases, and (ii) examine how opposition attacking contexts (i.e. playing in full-system or in-system) might influence ST throughout each counterattack-subphase. Performance of a youth team, comprised of 15 players, was studied across three AR-cycles. The team's competitive performance was analysed through three competitive matches (one per cycle). Team ST were evaluated using the cluster-phase method and a 3 (matches) × 2 (counterattack-subphases) × 2 (opposition attacking contexts) × 2 (court directions) repeated-measures ANOVA were used to calculate the differences in cluster-amplitude mean values. Results showed that increments in tactical complexity (second AR-cycle) were followed by decreases in collective ST, which were (re)achieved during the third AR-cycle, possibly due to the ecological-constructivist coaching intervention. Our findings imply that coaches could design representative and specific-didactical learning environments, predicated on a team's tactical needs and strategical ideas from a game-plan, framing player intentionality. Results also support the use of questioning strategies to narrow players’ attentional focus, stimulating perceptual attunement to relevant constraints emerging in performance. Finally, the insider AR-design provided valuable contextualised insights on coaching interventions for developing collective coordinative structures.
Synthesis of Cubic and Hexagonal Boron Nitrides by Using Ni Solvent under High Pressure

The reaction boundary between boron nitride (BN) and nickel (Ni) metal was studied at high pressures (HP) of 4.5–6 GPa in the high temperature (HT) 1300–1900 °C region. It can be seen that Ni dissolves BN followed by the precipitation of BN crystals under HP and HT. Full conversion from hexagonal BN (hBN) to cubic BN (cBN) took place above 6 GPa and 1700 °C while cBN started to crystallize from 5.5 GPa and 1500 °C. Near the reaction boundary in the cBN formed region, hBN also spontaneously recrystallized. Although crystallized cBN exhibited irregularity in shape, the recrystallized hBN exhibited crystalline facets and intrinsic optical characteristics. It was found that high quality hBN crystals can be synthesized in the Ni–BN system under HP and HT.
Nanophase Fluorite-Structured CeO2–ZrO2Catalysts Prepared by High-Energy Mechanical Milling☆

The utilization of mechanical milling for the preparation of catalysts based on ceria structurally modified with zirconia is presented. It is shown that room-temperature high-energy ball milling is an effective tool for the synthesis of nanophase CeO2–ZrO2solid solution in a wide composition range. The use of combined X-ray diffraction analysis, Raman spectroscopy, and electron microscopy indicate that the milling process induces the formation of true solid solutions with a contraction of thecell parameter for cubic ceria following the introduction of Zr into the lattice. This, in turn, remarkably enhances the oxygen storage/transport and redox capacity compared to pure ceria and zirconia or to a simple mixture thereof. An unusual resistance to high-temperature cycling was also evidenced. These features were analyzed by the study of the reduction profile of dopedceria carried out by temperature-programmed reduction at different milling times. The oxygen storage capacity (OSC) of the catalysts was also evaluated;both the total and the kinetic accessible OSC indicated that the best composition is CexZr1−xO2withx > 0.5. This was correlated to the structural features and to the presence of a high concentration of ions with redox character (i.e., Ce4+ions) which favor oxygen mobility.
Microfluidic-based approaches for COVID-19 diagnosis.

Novel coronavirus, COVID-19, erupted in Wuhan, China, in 2019 and has now spread to almost all countries in the world. Until the end of November 2020, there were over 50 × 106 people diagnosed with COVID-19 worldwide and it caused at least 1 × 106 deaths. These numbers are still increasing. To control the spread of the pandemic and to choose a suitable treatment plan, a fast, accurate, effective, and ready-to-use diagnostic method has become an important prerequisite. In this Review, we introduce the principles of multiple off-site and on-site detection methods for virus diagnosis, including qPCR-based, ELISA-based, CRISPR-based methods, etc. All of these methods have been successfully implanted on the microfluidic platform for rapid screening. We also summarize currently available diagnostic methods for the detection of SARS, MERS, and COVID-19. Some of them not only can be used to analyze the SARS and MERS but also have the potential for COVID-19 detection after modifications. Finally, we hope that understanding of current microfluidic-based detection approaches can help physicians and researchers to develop advanced, rapid, and appropriate clinical detection techniques that reduce the financial expenditure of the society, accelerate the examination process, increase the accuracy of diagnosis, and eventually suppress the worldwide pandemic.
Rhodium cementation from spent plating solution using Taguchi’s method

Abstract The Taguchi method was used as the experimental design to determine the optimum conditions of cementation behaviour of the spent rhodium sulphate plating solution. Cementation was carried out using metallic zinc powder. The experimental conditions were studied in the range of 25–45°C for reaction temperature (A), 0·5–1·5 for pH of solution (B), 30–50 mg for zinc powder (C) and 30–60 min for reaction time (D). Experimental parameters and their levels were determined in the light of preliminary tests. An orthogonal array (OA) L934 consisting of four parameters each with three levels, was chosen. The optimal conditions found for cementation of rhodium, such as: reaction temperature, pH of the solution, mass of zinc and reaction time are respectively: 45°C, 1·5, 50 mg and 60 min. A verification experiment was conducted under optimum conditions and it was found that theoretically calculated and experimentally obtained results were in good agreement at 99·98 and 99·95% respectively. On a utilisé la méthode de Taguchi comme plan expérimental dans la détermination des conditions optimales du comportement de cémentation de la solution usée de sulfate de rhodium pour galvanoplastie. On a effectué la cémentation en utilisant de la poudre métallique de zinc. On a étudié les conditions expérimentales dans la gamme de 25 à 45°C pour la température de la réaction (A), 0·5 à 1·5 pour le pH de la solution (B), 30 à 50 mg pour la poudre de zinc (C) et 30 à 60 min pour la durée de réaction (D). On a déterminé les paramètres expérimentaux et leurs niveaux au moyen d’essais préliminaires. On a choisi un arrangement orthogonal (OA) L9(34) comprenant quatre paramètres, chacun à trois niveaux. Les conditions optimales de la cémentation du rhodium, incluant la température de réaction, le pH de la solution, la masse du zinc et la durée de réaction étaient respectivement de 45°C, 1·5, 50 mg et 60 min. On a effectué une expérience de vérification sous les conditions optimales et l’on a trouvé que les résultats calculés théoriquement et les résultats obtenus expérimentalement étaient en bon accord, avec 99·98 et 99·95% respectivement
How do routine laboratory tests change in coronavirus disease 2019?

Abstract How the routine laboratory tests change in terms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was retrospectively analyzed in a large group of patients. Biochemical, hematological and inflammatory variables of a totaly 555 (n = 532 in non-intensive care unit (non-ICU), n = 23 in ICU) patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were analyzed accessing them through the laboratory information system. White blood cell (WBC), neutrophil (NEU), platelet large cell ratio, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), derived NLR (d-NLR), aspartate aminotransferase, urea, creatine kinase (CK) myocardial band (CK-MB), procalcitonin (PCT) values were high whereas lymphocyte (LYM), eosinophil, red blood cells (RBC), hemoglobin, lymphocyte to monocyte ratio, estimated glomerular filtration rate values were low in the ICU group when compared with non-ICU. WBC, NEU, red cell distribution width, alanine transaminase, creatinine, urea, CK-MB, CK, direct bilirubin, lactate dehydrogenase, glucose, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, ferritin, D-dimer, PCT and international normalized ratio values increased while RBC, hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume and total bilirubin values decreased in a significant proportion of patients in both groups based on the normal reference ranges. LYM count was found to be low in a significant number of patients (57.5%) especially in the ICU group and as an important risk factor and diagnostic parameter on admission to ICU (OR: 125, AUC: 0.74). Routine laboratory tests provide important information in terms of both diagnosis and severity of COVID-19. Lymphopenia is a condition that should be monitored which indicates the severity of the disease.