Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biomarkers for the Discrimination of Acute Kawasaki Disease From Infections in Childhood

Background: Kawasaki disease (KD) is a vasculitis of early childhood mimicking several infectious diseases. Differentiation between KD and infectious diseases is essential as KD's most important complication—the development of coronary artery aneurysms (CAA)—can be largely avoided by timely treatment with intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG). Currently, KD diagnosis is only based on clinical criteria. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether routine C-reactive protein (CRP) and additional inflammatory parameters myeloid-related protein 8/14 (MRP8/14 or S100A8/9) and human neutrophil-derived elastase (HNE) could distinguish KD from infectious diseases. Methods and Results: The cross-sectional study included KD patients and children with proven infections as well as febrile controls. Patients were recruited between July 2006 and December 2018 in Europe and USA. MRP8/14, CRP, and HNE were assessed for their discriminatory ability by multiple logistic regression analysis with backward selection and receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves. In the discovery cohort, the combination of MRP8/14+CRP discriminated KD patients (n = 48) from patients with infection (n = 105), with area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.88. The HNE values did not improve discrimination. The first validation cohort confirmed the predictive value of MRP8/14+CRP to discriminate acute KD patients (n = 26) from those with infections (n = 150), with an AUC of 0.78. The second validation cohort of acute KD patients (n = 25) and febrile controls (n = 50) showed an AUC of 0.72, which improved to 0.84 when HNE was included. Conclusion: When used in combination, the plasma markers MRP8/14, CRP, and HNE may assist in the discrimination of KD from both proven and suspected infection.
Complementary Features Combined in a MLP-based System to Recognize Handwritten Devnagari Character

In this paper a scheme for oﬄine Handwritten Devnagari Character Recognition is proposed, which uses diﬀerent feature extraction and recognition algorithms. The proposed system assumes no constraints in writing style, size or variations.First the character is preprocessed and features namely : Chain code histogram , four side views , shadow based are extracted and fed to Multilayer Perceptrons as a preliminary recognition step. Finally the results of all MLPs are combined using weighted majority scheme. The proposed system is tested on 1500 handwritten devnagari character database collected from diﬀerent people. It is observed that the proposed system achieves 98.16% recognition rates as top 5 results and 89.58% as top 1 results.
Comparing Different Text Similarity Methods

This paper reports experiments on a corpus of news articles from the Financial Times, comparing different text similarity models. First the Ferret system using a method based solely on lexical similarities is used, then methods based on semantic similarities are investigated. Different feature string selection criteria are used, for instance with and without synonyms obtained from WordNet, or with noun phrases extracted for comparison. The results indicate that synonyms rather than lexical strings are important for finding similar texts. Hypernyms and noun phrases also contribute to the identification of text similarity, though they are not better than synonyms. However, precision is a problem for the semantic similarity methods because too many irrelevant texts are retrieved.
Vision and Robotics

Vision and robotics has the well-defined goal of meeting or exceeding human-level capabilities in perception, locomotion, and manipulation. Not surprisingly, that is perhaps easier said than done. Beginning in the 1970s, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency started the ambitious Imaging Understanding program that would continue for more than 20 years. The Imaging Understanding program began with fundamental research and slowly evolved into a host of more applied efforts with specific systems goals. Robotics programs followed a similar arc as the early research-oriented programs generated capabilities from which practical systems could be built. A culmination of the vision and robotics research was the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Grand Challenge, which turned the impossibility of a self-driving car into an imminent reality. This article tells the story of how some of the modern-day technologies we enjoy today trace their evolution from research sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency over the last 40 years.
Design of a Dynamic Boot Loader for Loading an Operating System

Boot Loader is the crucial program that loads the operating system in memory and initializes the system. In today’s world people are constantly on move and portable system are in demand specially the USB devices due to its portability and accessibility compared to CD/DVD drives. The purpose of this paper is to design a dynamic boot loader which removes the BIOS dependency and allow user to boot from USB without changing CMOS settings. The USB is devised as plug and play portable system with puppy Linux and newly developed dynamic boot loader. The device is experimented on a computer machine with 8 GB RAM, i5 processor, 64-bit Operating system and windows 7 and observed that nearly 50% reduction in booting time i.e., the time spent in changing the boot order is eliminated compared to the static boot loader. The time spent in the BIOS is dependent on the user knowledge in changing the boot priority. The portable system allows the user to work in ease in any environment with minimum requirement of Windows XP and USB 2.0 compatible system.
Freshwater Survival of Stranded Steelhead Kelts in Coastal Central California Streams

Abstract During 2008, spring drought conditions in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California resulted in hundreds of postspawn adult steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss becoming stranded in streams and unable to return to sea. These individuals had no other option than to spend the entire summer and fall in freshwater habitats. As the fate of stranded kelts is poorly documented, we attempted to estimate the oversummer survival of steelhead kelts and to assess whether local habitat characteristics influenced survival rates. We found that nearly 40% of kelts observed during summer surveys were still alive in late October, just before the first significant rains of the season, and most individuals were observed to be in fair condition. Survival was higher for fish that resided in pools with substantial cover than for fish that occupied pools with only partial or no concealment. Overall, the unexpectedly high survival rates of stranded kelts suggest that the rescue and relocation of stranded steelhead to other habitat.
It's the thought that counts: The role of intentions in reciprocal altruism *

This paper examines play in repeated interactions where intended actions are implemented with noise and intentions are perfectly observable, and compares it to play in cases where intentions are not observed. We find that the effect of directly observing intentions varies with the strategic incentives of the game: as theory predicts, observing intentions leads to more cooperation, especially if these observations support a cooperative equilibrium that would not otherwise be present. Moreover when there is a high return to cooperation, some subjects are tolerant, using intentions to forgive accidental defections while not punishing partners who meant to defect but cooperated by accident. Conversely, when there is a low return to cooperation, some subjects are punitive: outcomes are used to punish accidental defections, but accidental cooperation is not punished. Observing intentions leads subjects to use simpler lowermemory strategies; this suggests that the more complex cooperative strategies seen in games where intentions are not observable arise from an attempt to infer intentions.
Integrated Statistical and Machine Learning Algorithms for Predicting and Classifying G Protein-Coupled Receptors

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are transmembrane proteins with important functions in signal transduction and often serve as drug targets. With increasing availability of protein sequence information, there is much interest in computationally predicting GPCRs and classifying them according to their biological roles. Such predictions are cost-efficient and can be valuable guides for designing wet lab experiments to help elucidate signaling pathways and expedite drug discovery. There are existing computational tools of GPCR prediction that involve principal component analysis (PCA), intimate sorting (IS), support vector machine, and random forest (RF) techniques using various sequence derived features. While accuracies of over 90% were reported for their own test datasets, the capabilities in distinguishing GPCRs from transmembrane non-GPCRs had not been measured in any of these tools. Furthermore, no direct comparison of the different approaches has been conducted. In this project, we have established two new GPCR prediction algorithms that integrate combinations of PCA, IS, and RF with the univariate feature selection method that has not been used for GPCR predictions before. The same 1355 sequence features are used uniformly with a test dataset with 2179 positive examples of confirmed GPCRs, and 3781 negative examples including transmembrane non-GPCRs. Overall prediction accuracies are over 90%, and the false positive rates among the transmembrane non-GPCRs are substantially lower than those in existing tools. These results suggest that integrated algorithms perform well with GPCR prediction. We plan to further explore different integrated prediction approaches and apply them to the GPCR classification problem in the future.
The Benthic Algal Flora of Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea, Antarctica)

The authors report the results of a floristic study of the benthic macroalgae from Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea, Antarctica) based on collections made during two Italian expeditions to Antarctica. A brief description, phytogeographic data and, where necessary, taxonomic and nomenclatural observations are given for the 17 taxa encountered (9 Rhodophyceae, 4 Fucophyceae and 4 Chlorophyceae)
Reexamining the Returns to Training: Functional Form, Magnitude, and Interpretation

We investigate the functional form for formal training in a wage equation and derive estimates of its rate of return. The cube root fits best in our two data sets. We show that if wages are not adjusted continuously, estimating the return to training requires one lag and one lead of training. Using the cube root and a semi-nonparametric estimator, estimated returns are 150–180 percent. Adjusting for heterogeneity in wage growth, promotions, and direct costs reduces the return to 40–50 percent. We find evidence of heterogeneity in returns. Our estimates can thus be regarded as the return to training for the trained, but cannot be extrapolated to the untrained.
A phylogenetic analysis for K‐Hox linked gene families of vertebrates

Abstract The human chromosomes 2, 7, 12 and 17 show genomic homology around Hox gene clusters, is taken as evidence that these paralogous gene families might have arisen from a ancestral chromosomal segment through genome duplication events. We have examined protein data from vertebrate and invertebrate genomes to analyze the phylogenetic history of multi‐gene families with three or more of their representatives linked to human Hox clusters. Topology comparison based upon statistical significance and information of chromosome location for these genes examined have revealed many of linked genes co‐duplicated with Hox gene clusters. Most linked genes to Hox clusters share the same evolutionary history and are duplicated in concert with each other. We conclude that gene families linked to Hox clusters may be suggestion of ancient genome duplications.
Amygdala Circuitry During Neurofeedback Training and Symptoms’ Change in Adolescents With Varying Depression

Typical adolescents have increased limbic engagement unchecked by regulatory medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity as well as heightened self-focus. The resulting emotion dysregulation and self-focused rumination make adolescents more susceptible to depression and suicide attempts. Heightened self-focus converges with mental illness among depressed adolescents, who deploy exaggerated attention to negative self-relevant stimuli and neglect positive ones as part of depression’s phenomenology. This results in rigid negative self-representations during an identity formative period with potential lifetime repercussions. Current empirically supported treatments fail to allay recurrent depression. Evidence-based interventions for illnesses linked to suicide ideation and attempts (e.g., depression) underperform across the lifespan. This could be because current treatments are not successful in altering pervasive negative self-representations and affect dysregulation, which is known to be a risk factor of chronic depression. This study departs from the premise that increasing positive self-processing might be protective against chronic depression particularly during adolescence. The present research is a novel investigation of neurofeedback as a potential treatment alternative for adolescent depression. To enhance positive self-processing, we used the happy self-face as a cue to initiate neurofeedback from the bilateral amygdala and hippocampus and adolescents attempted to upregulate that limbic activity through the recall of positive autobiographical memories. We identified limbic functional circuitry engaged during neurofeedback and links to short-term symptoms’ change in depression and rumination. We found that depressed youth showed greater right amygdala to right frontocortical connectivity and lower left amygdala to right frontocortical connectivity compared to healthy controls during neurofeedback vs. control conditions. Depressed youth also showed significant symptom reduction. Connectivity between the right amygdala and frontocortical regions was positively correlated with rumination and depression change, but connectivity between frontocortical regions and the left amygdala was negatively correlated with depression change. The results suggest that depressed youth might engage implicit emotion regulation circuitry while healthy youth recruit explicit emotion regulation circuits during neurofeedback. Our findings support a compensatory approach (i.e., target the right amygdala) during future neurofeedback interventions in depressed youth. Future work ought to include a placebo condition or group.
Secure Sharing of Data for Dynamic Group in Public Cloud

Cloud Computing has been envisioned as the next-wave system architectures of IT. Cloud storage service brings beneﬁt of not only low cost and scalability, but also great appropriateness for group sharing, such as e-learning resource storage. In this paper, a scalable and eﬃcient group sharing method for public cloud is proposed. It is based on the key tree approach and the well-known Diﬃe-Hellman cryptographic protocol. Security and performance analysis shows that our proposed scheme is secure and highly eﬃcient for public cloud based secure storage.
An Assessment of Environmental Impacts of Building Construction Projects

The environment is threatened severely by so many problems, some of which are caused by the activities of Construction Projects. The global concern to address environmental degradation caused by various developmental actions (construction projects inclusive) is the basis for calls to assess environmental impacts of building construction projects in Nigeria. Data for the study were collated through a questionnaire survey administered to stakeholders of Nigeria’s building construction industry. Data collected were analysed and ranked using Relative Importance Index (RII), result shows impacts listed are above the mid (RII) index of 3.0 suggesting that they significantly impact on the environment thereby causing environmental degradation. The research also reveals major environmental impacts of building construction projects to include environmental pollution, resource depletion and habitat destruction causing Destruction of ecosystem, Desertification, Soil Erosion and increasing Material Wastage. Waste Management, Pollution Control and Ecology Conservation were ranked as the most important environmental protection measures used in controlling building construction environmental impacts. The study therefore suggest that in order to reduce environmental degradation, building construction stakeholders must adopt fully environmental impact assessment document and other regulations relevant for environmental protection. Also, all environmental regulatory agencies and sensitization organizations should continuously sensitize the building construction public on requisite environmental management practice and sanction erring agents. Keywords : Environmental Impacts; Building Construction Projects;
Anterior Segment Biometry with Phenylephrine and Tropicamide during Accommodation Imaged with Ultralong Scan Depth Optical Coherence Tomography

Purpose To investigate the influence of phenylephrine and tropicamide on anterior segment biometry with ultralong scan depth optical coherence tomography (UL-OCT) during accommodation. Methods In this study, 20 left eyes of healthy volunteers with a mean ± standard deviation age of 31.05 ± 5.84 years and a mean refraction of −1.16 ± 1.11 diopters (range 0∼−3.0 D) were imaged using UL-OCT after instillation of artificial tears, phenylephrine, and tropicamide in three follow-up trials, respectively. At each follow-up trial, two repeated measurements were performed at states of relax and 5D accommodative stimulation. The dimensional parameters included central corneal thickness (CCT), anterior chamber depth (ACD), pupil diameter (PD), lens thickness (LT), and horizontal radii of the lens anterior and posterior surface curvatures (LAC and LPC). Results Tropicamide led to larger pupil, deeper ACD, thinner LT, and flatter crystalline lens surface (P < 0.05). Phenylephrine induced an increase in PD (P < 0.05), while no significant changes were seen in ACD, LT, LAC, and LPC (P > 0.05). CCT did not change after both phenylephrine and tropicamide instillation in this study (P > 0.05). Tropicamide induced the loss of accommodation and phenylephrine achieved pupil dilation without affecting the accommodation. PD, ACD decreased, LT increased significantly and the anterior and posterior surface of the lens in a 6.294 mm of diameter optical zone became steeper during accommodation after administration of phenylephrine (P < 0.05). Conclusion The anterior segment physiology changed after tropicamide instillation. Besides, tropicamide induced the loss of accommodation and phenylephrine preserved the accommodation with a larger pupil. And, the anterior and posterior surface of lens in a 6.294 mm of diameter optical zone became steeper during the accommodation.
'Smoking kills' vs. 'Smoking makes restless': Effectiveness of different warning labels on smoking behavior

Warning labels on cigarette packages rely on the negative health aspects of smoking. For smokers, however, smoking is related to positive as well as to negative outcomes. Positive smoking outcomes are shown to be crucial in activating smoking behaviour. Thus, this study compared current health warnings with warning labels contradicting positive outcomes. In a field study, 39 adult smokers were followed over a 5-day period to investigate the effect of the different types of warning labels on actual smoking behaviour. Our results provide evidence that smokers, who received warning labels contradicting positive outcome expectancies, smoked less than smokers, who received current health warnings. Thus, contradicting positive smoking outcomes on cigarette warning labels may be an effective tool in smoking prevention and intervention.
Enhanced Repeat Transmission Technique for Statistical Signal Transmission

Statistical signal transmission (SST) is a developing technology, which can carry additional data over conventional signal streams without extra bandwidth sacrifice. A latest research provided an automatic repeat transmission technique for SST, which can largely strengthen SST's detection performance by identifying and handling deep fading situations. In this paper, we discover a novel negative effect, i.e., high divergence of channel coefficients (HDCC) effect for SST. Such an effect brings in a performance bottleneck for SST while it cannot be well tackled by the latest repeat transmission technique. Motivated by this circumstance, we analyze the essential cause of HDCC effect, and design an enhanced repeat transmission technique for SST accordingly. The proposed method can not only well address the impact of HDCC effect, but also absorb the advantages of the latest repeat transmission technique. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed method obviously improve the detection performance upon existing techniques.
Quality of water from dug wells and the lagoon in Lagos Nigeria and associated health risks

Oworonshoki area of Lagos and water samples were collected during July to August 2010. The samples were checked for odour, colour and taste and these largely satisfied consumer preferences. Physicochemical analyses were conducted to determine the concentrations of pH, total solids, total hardness, Cl, SO4, NO3, Mg, Ca, Mn, Na, Cu, Zn, Fe and Pb, while microbiological analyses were done to assess the levels of total viable count, total coliform count, faecal coliform count and faecal streptococci count. Most of the samples met WHO guideline values for these parameters, although the pH values were outside the recommended range. Maggots and entero bacteria were found in several well and lagoon samples thus confirming certain health risks associated with these samples. This study recommends that various states in Nigeria create agencies which can be effective in monitoring private water wells from a public health stand point and compel adherence to regulations on the part of the owners.
Phytochemical constituents and allelopathic effect of Aloe ferox Mill. root extract on tomato

Phytochemical constituents of the root extract of Aloe ferox were estimated using standard quantitative analysis. The extract contained phenols, flavonoids, flavonols, tannins alkaloids and saponins in different proportions; with more of phenols and saponins. Allelopathic effect of the aqueous root extract of the plant on tomato was also investigated. The extract reduced the germination of the tomato seeds. However, root and shoot elongations of the tomato seedlings were significantly inhibited by the extract, with the percentage inhibition increasing as the concentration of the extract increased. The observed allelopathic activity of the root extract of A. ferox on the seed germination and seedling growth of tomato was attributed to the presence of the allelopathic phytochemicals in A. ferox roots.
A Õ (n2) Time-Space Trade-off for Undirected s-t Connectivity

In this paper, we make use of the Metropolis-type walks due to Nonaka et al. (2010) to provide a faster solution to the $S$-$T$-connectivity problem in undirected graphs (USTCON). As our main result, we propose a family of randomized algorithms for USTCON which achieves a time-space product of $S\cdot T = \tilde O(n^2)$ in graphs with $n$ nodes and $m$ edges (where the $\tilde O$-notation disregards poly-logarithmic terms). This improves the previously best trade-off of $\tilde O(n m)$, due to Feige (1995). Our algorithm consists in deploying several short Metropolis-type walks, starting from landmark nodes distributed using the scheme of Broder et al. (1994) on a modified input graph. In particular, we obtain an algorithm running in time $\tilde O(n+m)$ which is, in general, more space-efficient than both BFS and DFS. We close the paper by showing how to fine-tune the Metropolis-type walk so as to match the performance parameters (e.g., average hitting time) of the unbiased random walk for any graph, while preserving a worst-case bound of $\tilde O(n^2)$ on cover time.