Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ensemble of classifiers based network intrusion detection system performance bound

This paper provides a performance bound of a network intrusion detection system (NIDS) that uses an ensemble of classifiers. Currently researchers rely on implementing the ensemble of classifiers based NIDS before they can determine the performance of such NIDS. Therefore the knowledge of this bound would help researchers estimate the performance of their ensemble of classifiers based network intrusion detection systems (NIDSs) before they even implement them. The performance bound is defined in terms of the average information gain associated with the features used in building the ensemble and is obtained by Adaboosting a decision stump which is the weak classifier in the ensemble. Different proportions of the NSL KDD dataset that was filtered for Neptune and normal connections were used as different datasets in this study for observing the performance behaviour of the ensemble. The bound is based on the performance of this ensemble in classifying the normal and Neptune connections. Classification accuracy was used as the performance measure in this study. From the experimental results, we therefore deduce that, if the average information gain value amongst features used in the ensemble lies between 0.045651 and 0.25615 then the classification accuracy of the ensemble will be at most 0.9.
The Program Assessment Rating Tool and the Government Performance and Results Act

This article looks at the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) and the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) and how they assess seven programs. It establishes that the PART does not adequately consider different program types and has characteristics that create a disconnection between this tool and the GPRA: It does not enter into dialogue with the GPRA regarding the choice of performance indicators; it evaluates programs through criteria that conflict with the programs' statutes or intent and penalizes programs for the degree of explicitness in their authorizing statutes; it uses standardized measures that sometimes overlook the intent of statutes or the discretionary nature of implementation; it employs a different level of analysis from the GPRA; it places a contradictory emphasis on the relationship between programs with similar goals; and it emphasizes different external factors influencing program performance. The article concludes with recommendations on how to improve the PART.
Legal substance use and the development of a DSM-IV cannabis use disorder during adolescence: the TRAILS study.

AIMS To examine whether early onset of tobacco or alcohol use, and continued use of tobacco or alcohol in early adolescence, are related to a higher likelihood of developing a cannabis use disorder during adolescence. DESIGN AND SETTING Data were used from four consecutive assessment waves of the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a general Dutch population study. TRAILS is an ongoing longitudinal study that will follow the same group of adolescents from the ages of 10 to 24 years. PARTICIPANTS The sample consisted of 1108 (58% female) adolescents (mean ages at the four assessment waves are 11.09, 13.56, 16.27 and 19.05 years, respectively) MEASUREMENTS Cannabis use disorders were assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 (CIDI). Adolescent tobacco and alcohol use were assessed using self-report questionnaires. FINDINGS Early-onset tobacco use [odds ratio (OR) = 1.82, confidence interval (CI) = 1.05-3.14, P < 0.05], but not early-onset alcohol use (OR = 1.33, CI = 0.84-2.12, P > 0.05), was associated with a higher likelihood of developing a cannabis use disorder. Similarly, adolescents who reported continued use of tobacco (OR = 2.47, CI = 1.02-5.98, P < 0.05), but not continued use of alcohol (OR = 1.71, CI = 0.87-3.38, P > 0.05), were more likely to develop a cannabis use disorder. CONCLUSIONS Early-onset and continued tobacco use appear to predict the development of a cannabis use disorder in adolescence, whereas early onset and continued alcohol use do not.
Optimization of nutrition prescription for meals based on Multi-Objective GA

The primary idea of Genetic Algorithm (GA) and its general method in solving the problem are introduced. Multi-Objective GA is proposed based on the analysis of such factors as energy, protein, carbohydrate, objective cost, other nutriment, and nutrition quality, the optimization model as well as its algorithm for nutrition meals from which some other problems that need further investigation are also discussed.
Effect of oral contrast agents on computed tomography-based positron emission tomography attenuation correction in dual-modality positron emission tomography/computed tomography imaging.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effect of iodine- and barium-based contrast agents on the computed tomography (CT)-based positron emission tomography (PET) attenuation correction in dual-modality PET/CT. METHODS Experiments were conducted on a Society of Nuclear Medicine/National Electrical Manufacturers Association-PET phantom equipped with cylinders containing [18F]-2-fluoro-2-desoxy-D-glucose. The main compartment was filled with iodine (0.5-10%), barium (0.5-50%), or water (negative control). The error in attenuation correction was determined by comparison of measured tracer quantities in the presence of contrast agents with expected quantities. Contrast agent attenuation was demonstrated to be comparable to in vivo conditions. RESULTS The presence of contrast agents resulted in an overestimation of the intracylindrical activity concentration on PET images and overestimation directly related to contrast concentrations (iodine 5-38%; barium 15-580%). Iodine and barium concentrations in clinical use resulted in an activity overestimation of 20 +/- 1.8% for iodine and 21 +/- 2.9% for barium. CONCLUSION An overestimation of the tracer activity concentration is to be expected in the presence of oral contrast agents, if PET attenuation correction is attained CT-based.
Capacity and Power Allocation for Cognitive MAC with Imperfect Channel Estimation

This paper presents a lower-bound on the ergodic sum capacity of single-input single-output (SISO) opportunistic spectrum sharing multiple access channel (MAC) in Rayleigh fading channels with imperfect channel estimates. Unlike the previous studies, this paper considerers the channel estimation errors for both sets of SISO channels between the secondary user (SU) transmitters and the SU receiver and between the SU transmitters and the primary user receivers. By considering these channel estimation errors, an optimal power allocation policy for each SU transmitter is derived to achieve a lower-bound of the ergodic sum capacity of opportunistic spectrum sharing MAC, subject to a set of SUs transmit power constraints and a set of interference power constraints at each PU receiver. Furthermore, convex optimization techniques are exploited to derive an efficient algorithm to obtain the optimal power allocation for each SU transmitter. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the influences of the channel estimation errors on the ergodic sum capacity.
AutoPoly: Predicting a Polygonal Mesh Construction Sequence from a Silhouette Image

Polygonal modeling is a core task of content creation in Computer Graphics. The complexity of modeling, in terms of the number and the order of operations and time required to execute them makes it challenging to learn and execute. Our goal is to automatically derive a polygonal modeling sequence for a given target. Then, one can learn polygonal modeling by observing the resulting sequence and also expedite the modeling process by starting from the auto-generated result. As a starting point for building a system for 3D modeling in the future, we tackle the 2D shape modeling problem and present AutoPoly, a hybrid method that generates a polygonal mesh construction sequence from a silhouette image. The key idea of our method is the use of the Monte Carlo tree search (MCTS) algorithm and differentiable rendering to separately predict sequential topological actions and geometric actions. Our hybrid method can alter topology, whereas the recently proposed inverse shape estimation methods using differentiable rendering can only handle a fixed topology. Our novel reward function encourages MCTS to select topological actions that lead to a simpler shape without self-intersection. We further designed two deep learning-based methods to improve the expansion and simulation steps in the MCTS search process: an $n$-step"future action prediction"network (nFAP-Net) to generate candidates for potential topological actions, and a shape warping network (WarpNet) to predict polygonal shapes given the predicted rendered images and topological actions. We demonstrate the efficiency of our method on 2D polygonal shapes of multiple man-made object categories.
The Improvement of Transductive Support Vector Machine and Its Application to the Environmental Monitoring of Greenhouse Plant Growth

The study on Transductive Support Vector Machine (TSVM) has made little progress since Vapnik has put forth the concept in the late 1990s, as the algorithm for TSVM optimization model cannot be easily found. Here we try to transform the problem of TSVM optimization into an unconstrained one and then to construct the smooth unconstrained optimization with a kernel. Based on this optimization, a TSVM of which optimization problem is easier to solve is devised to break through the bottleneck of deepening the research on TSVM. Furthermore, this TSVM is applied to the environmental monitoring of greenhouse plant growth as a new method.
B-raf Exon 15 Mutations Are Common in Primary Melanoma Resection Specimens but Not Associated with Clinical Outcome

Downstream of Ras, the serine/threonine kinase B-raf has recently been reported to be mutated, among other carcinomas, in a majority of melanoma cell lines with a preponderance of mutations within the kinase domain including the activating V599E transition. We therefore investigated a representative number of 50 primary melanoma resection specimens for the presence of mutations within the activation segment (exon 15) of the B-raf kinase domain. Applying polymerase chain reaction and single-strand conformation polymorphism gel electrophoresis, followed by DNA cloning and sequencing, we found 19 cases (38%) to harbor somatic B-raf exon 15 mutations. With respect to the B-raf protein sequence, the V599E mutation was predicted in 63% of these positive melanomas, followed in frequency by the V599K transition (31%). Detection of B-raf exon 15 mutations or prediction of the activating mutation V599E were not statistically associated with the risk for subsequent metastasis in the follow-up of patients. Altogether, the B-raf oncogene is affected in a substantial subset of melanoma resection specimens. As B-raf alterations possibly affect melanocyte-specific pathways controlling proliferation and differentiation, activation of this oncogene may contribute to the development of melanoma.
On-Site Fecal Sludge Treatment with the Anaerobic Digestion Pasteurization Latrine

Abstract The Anaerobic Digestion Pasteurization Latrine (ADPL) is a self-contained and energy neutral on-site sanitation system using anaerobic digestion of fecal sludge to generate biogas and then uses the biogas to pasteurize the digester effluent at 65–75°C to produce a safe effluent that can be reused locally as a fertilizer. Two ADPL systems were installed on residential plots with 17 and 35 residents in a peri-urban area outside of Eldoret, Kenya. Each system comprised three toilets built above a floating dome digester and one heat pasteurization system to sanitize the digested effluent. ADPLs are simple systems, with no moving parts and relying on gravity-induced flows. Adoption at the two sites was successful, and residents reported that the systems had little to no odor or flies. ADPLs were monitored for biogas production and temperatures in the pasteurization system. ADPLs serving 17 and 35 residents produced on average 16 and 11 Lbiogas/person/day (maximum of 20 and 15 Lbiogas/p/d), respectively. The temperature in the sterilization system was greater than 65°C on 58% and 87% of sampling days during the most stable period of operation. Treated effluent was analyzed periodically for chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), pH, and fecal coliform (FC). On average, the effluent at the two locations contained 4,540 and 6,450 mg COD/L (an 85% or 89% reduction of the estimated input), 2,050 and 3,970 mg BOD/L, and 2,420 and 4,760 mg NH3-N, respectively, and greater than 5 log reductions of FC (nondetectable) in the sterilization tank. Results from this field study show that anaerobic digestion of minimally diluted fecal sludge can provide enough energy to pasteurize digester effluent and that the ADPL may be a suitable option for on-site fecal sludge treatment.
Fast Parallel Object Tracking

The task of object tracking is the following: given a video and an identified object (usually given by a bounding box in the first frame), track the position of the object over the frames of the video. Difficulties in this process include occlusion or changes in orientation. The algorithm by Grabner, Grabner, and Bischof [3] is robust against these changes by using a large number of “weak classifiers” and “selectors” and is illustrated in Figure 1. The main building block of this system is the “weak classifier. ” These are relatively simple objects that classify a group of pixels as the target object positively or negatively. The most important part is that they must do better than 50-50 guessing (a relatively loose condition). This heavy relaxation allows these types of classifiers to be computed very quickly. Selectors have the job of boosting the accuracy far beyond 50-50 guessing. By choosing the most accurate weak classifiers, selectors are much more likely to accurately pinpoint the location of the object. Further, combining the outputs of the selectors creates a confidence map that accurately and precisely locates the object. The input to the algorithm is a new frame. This is then preprocessed and then passed to the weak classifiers to create individual confidence maps. These confidence maps are then chosen by the selectors based on error rate and linearly combined to create a confidence map for the strong classifier. This can then be translated to a coordinate which is the output of the algorithm. We then treat the coordinate to be the truth and update all weak classifiers to better recognize the object in the future. I chose to use a weak classifier based on Haarlike features. In essence, these take the weighted sum of rectangles of pixels and use a threshold to determine classification. The upside of this type of classifier is that it can be computed
Executive Dyscontrol of Learning and Memory on the HVLT-R : Findings from a clade C HIV-positive South African sample

South Africa is home to the largest number of people living with HIV in the world. The virus follows a distinct neuropathological and neuropsychological pattern, affecting specific neural structures and neurocognitive functions. One of the neurocognitive functions affected is verbal learning and memory. I explored clade C HIV-positive participants’ performance on component processes of a verbal learning and memory test, known as the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test—Revised (HVLT-R). While this test was designed for verbal learning and memory performance, it also taps into various aspects of executive functioning, that can either improve or inhibit performance. My study looked at whether poor performance on the HVLT-R was purely a memory deficit, or whether it was due to aspects of executive dyscontrol related to prefrontostratial circuitry damage. I used independent samples t-tests to look at group differences between 53 HIV-positive individuals, and 53 HIV-negative individuals.
Mutated mitofusin 2 presents with intrafamilial variability and brain mitochondrial dysfunction

Background: The axonal forms of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT2) disease are a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of disorders. Mitofusin 2 gene (MFN2) mutations are the most common cause of CMT2. Complex phenotypes have been described in association with MFN2 gene mutations, including CMT2 with pyramidal features (hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy [HSMN V]) and CMT2 with optic atrophy (HMSN VI). Objective: To report on the clinical, neurophysiologic, and neuropathologic features of an Italian family with a novel MFN2 gene mutation and investigate brain functional parameters using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Methods: Three family members, a father and his two sons, were affected by peripheral neuropathy, cognitive impairment, and poor nocturnal vision (also optic neuropathy in one case). A member of this family also showed spastic paraparesis. The MFN2 gene sequence was analyzed. A sural nerve biopsy as well as brain 1H-MRS and 31P-MRS were evaluated in two patients. Results: Affected family members carried a novel MFN2 missense mutation, namely R104W, located within the critical GTPase domain of the protein which affects a highly conserved amino acid position. Sural nerve biopsies showed a normal mitochondrial network, particularly at the nodes of Ranvier, upon electron microscopy examination. A significant defect of high energy phosphates (HEPs) in the visual cortex was observed at rest by 31P-MRS in the adult proband, while his son showed a defective recovery of HEPs after stimulation of the visual cortex. Conclusion: Cognitive impairment may be another feature of the MFN2-related phenotype. The widespread peripheral and CNS involvement, as well as the neurosensorial defects, underline the similarities among MFN2-related and primary mitochondrial disorders.
Predictors of Nonmedical Use of Prescription Stimulants

Abstract College students across the U.S. engage in nonmedical use of prescription stimulants (NMUPS) at increasing rates. While it has been found that use is frequently motivated by a belief that stimulants will act as a study aid, little is known about predictors of NMUPS. The present study addressed impulsivity, outcome expectancies, and evaluations of expected outcomes as predictors of NMUPS in a sample of 206 college students at a mid-Atlantic university. Approximately 26.1% of students endorsed past year NMUPS. Results indicated an increased likelihood of self-reported NMUPS was associated with increases in lack of premeditation, sensation seeking, positive expectancies and positive evaluations. Moreover, the extent to which participants believed that potential negative consequences were more severe was associated with a decreased likelihood of NMUPS. The current study suggests that impulsive personality, outcome expectancies, and evaluations of expected outcomes are important predictors of NMUPS among college students. Future research should consider other potential predictors of NMUPS in order to inform the development of prevention strategies.
Hiring Top Workers , Absorptive Capacity and Productivity ∗

We examine heterogeneous effects of hiring top workers on the productivity of small and medium-sized enterprises. Using longitudinal employer-employee data, we find the effect to be stronger for firms with higher absorptive capacity in terms of having an well-educated workforce, being in an knowledge-intensive industry or performing R&D. Technological laggards within an industry benefit more strongly from hiring top workers if their workforce is more well-educated. JEL Classification: D22, D24, D83, J24, J62
Vancomycin-Intermediate Staphylococcus aureus in Korea

ABSTRACT Recent reports on some methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with reduced susceptibility to vancomycin have been a major concern in Korea because of the widespread use of vancomycin due to a high prevalence of MRSA in the country. We describe a 45-year-old man with long-standing pelvic abscess due to MRSA. In spite of vancomycin and teicoplanin treatment for a long period of time, the patient died from MRSA sepsis. The blood culture isolate of MRSA exhibited reduced susceptibility to vancomycin (MIC, 8 μg/ml). This is the first report of a vancomycin-intermediate S. aureuscase from Korea.
Pattern of sexually transmitted diseases in Allahabad.

The distribution of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in 1922 consecutive patients of the PG Department of Medicine, MLN Medical College, Allahabad, India, from 1978-1988 is reviewed. 95.3% were male; ages ranged from 4 months-72 years; most were aged 20-29 years old. The STDs found in descending order were chancroid in 33.1%, gonorrhea 21.3%, syphilis 16.7%, genital herpes 13.9%, venereal warts 5.41%, balanoposthitis 3.6%, Donovanosis 3.02%, condyloma accuminata 2.5%, lymphogranuloma venereum 1.46%, and molluscum contagiosum 0.62%. 1.14% were mixed infections. In women secondary syphilis was the most common infection. Men almost always reported prostitutes as the source of their illness, while women always cited spouses: 86% of husbands of infected married women had evidence of STDs.
Bridging peripheral nerve defects with muscle–vein combined guides

Abstract Various tubulization techniques can be used to bridge peripheral nerve lesions with substance loss. Among the different materials that have been used so far in alternative to traditional fresh nerve autografts, fresh muscle-vein combined conduits (made by a vein segment filled with fresh skeletal muscle) proved to be particularly effective. In this study, nerve repair of 10-mm long nerve defects by means of muscle-vein combined tubes was compared with repair by means of traditional nerve autografts in the rat sciatic nerve experimental model. Results did not reveal any significant difference between the two groups of regenerated nerves with respect to the total number, mean density and mean size of myelinated nerve fibers. In addition, we also report the results of an experimental study in the rabbit sciatic nerve model, which showed that fresh skeletal muscle enrichment of the vein segment made it possible to bridge 55-mm long nerve gaps. These results provide further evidence of the effectiveness of fresh muscle-vein combined grafts and support the view that this type of conduit can be used also for repairing long nerve gaps.
Discrimination of task-related words for vocabulary design of spoken dialog systems

This paper describes a method used to determine if a speciﬁc word is related to a certain spoken dialog task. In most ordinary spoken dialog systems, only the words that are actually used to achieve the task are included in the vocabulary. Therefore, the system cannot recognize utterances that contain OOV words that are related to the task. Therefore, we developed a method for determining the words that are related to a speciﬁed task in order to augment the system’s vocabulary. Our method is based on word similarity. We examined three similarities: word occurrence frequency on the Web, distance in a thesaurus and word similarity using LSA. The experiment revealed that the thesaurus-based and LSA-based methods have an OOV problem. To solve the problem, we developed a way to combine these two methods with the Web-based method. In addition, we tried combining the methods using the AdaBoost algorithm.