Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Machine Learning Framework for Intraoperative Segmentation and Quality Assessment of Pedicle Screw X-Rays

Pedicle screw fixation is a technically demanding procedure with potential difficulties and reoperation rates are currently on the order of 11%. The most common intraoperative practice for position assessment of pedicle screws is biplanar fluoroscopic imaging that is limited to two-dimensions and is associated to low accuracies. We have previously introduced a full-dimensional position assessment framework based on registering intraoperative X-rays to preoperative volumetric images with sufficient accuracies. However, the framework requires a semi-manual process of pedicle screw segmentation and the intraoperative X-rays have to be taken from defined positions in space in order to avoid pedicle screws’ head occlusion. This motivated us to develop advancements to the system to achieve higher levels of automation in the hope of higher clinical feasibility. In this study, we developed an automatic segmentation and X-ray adequacy assessment protocol. An artificial neural network was trained on a dataset that included a number of digitally reconstructed radiographs representing pedicle screw projections from different points of view. This model was able to segment the projection of any pedicle screw given an X-ray as its input with accuracy of 93% of the pixels. Once the pedicle screw was segmented, a number of descriptive geometric features were extracted from the isolated blob. These segmented images were manually labels as ‘adequate’ or ‘not adequate’ depending on the visibility of the screw axis. The extracted features along with their corresponding labels were used to train a decision tree model that could classify each X-ray based on its adequacy with accuracies on the order of 95%. In conclusion, we presented here a robust, fast and automated pedicle screw segmentation process, combined with an accurate and automatic algorithm for classifying Health Sciences EPiC Series in Health Sciences Volume 1, 2017, Pages 144–150 CAOS 2017. 17th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery K. Radermacher and F. Rodriguez Y Baena (eds.), CAOS 2017 (EPiC Series in Health Sciences, vol. 1), pp. 144–150 views of pedicle screws as adequate or not. These tools represent a useful step towards full automation of our pedicle screw positioning assessment system.
Fertility and Child Occupation: Theory and Evidence from Senegal

This paper analyzes household fertility and child occupation decisions in a risky environment. Fertility decisions are made first, when only the distribution of shocks is known. When shocks are realized and fertility is fixed, parents adapt by allocating children's occupations, i.e. school, paid work and domestic chores. Fertility is decreasing with the shock probability and increasing with parental permanent income. Households facing an adverse shock make more use of child labor and send fewer children to school, unless the total number of children is small. These predictions are tested with data from the Senegalese SEHW (2003) following this two-step methodology. A Poisson model estimates the number of children with classical instruments and household-level information on shock distribution, confirming the theory's predictions on fertility. A multivariate Tobit model estimates the determinants of children occupations, including the occurrence of shocks and accounting for the endogeneity of fertility. The number of children increases (decreases) the probability of child specialization (multiple activities). Shock-related variables have an adverse effect on schooling.
Estimating Parameters of Target's Detection Methods

Dictionary attacks are a prevalent phenomenon, which was lately amplified with the onset of insecure SOHO and IoT devices. Some of these devices use their own protection against dictionary attacks and some offload their security to mechanisms deployed in the infrastructure, such as flow-based IPS systems. These mechanism often operate with the notion of a typical attacker, who represent common attacks against the infrastructure and lacks sophistication. However, the emergence of stealthy and distributed dictionary attacks indicate that detection mechanisms should take sophisticated attackers into account. In this paper we explore the capability of a sophisticated attacker, who can estimate parameters of detection methods deployed on target and can then craft an attack which could go undetected for arbitrary long time. For this, we propose a new model of attacker-target interaction during dictionary attacks, which is based on attacker's perspective. Using this model we then postulate and experimentally evaluate an algorithm for estimating parameters of target detection method, illustrating that an attacker requires only a handful of attack attempts to correctly guess these parameters.
Perception of Suspense in Live Football Commentaries from German and British Perspectives

The following study investigates the acoustic cues that British and German speakers rely on to assign the beginning of suspense during live football commentaries. In a perception experiment, participants were asked to listen to goal scenes broadcasted on British and German public radio, German private radio, and German public television, and to determine the point at which they felt that the suspense began. To disentangle textual cues from prosodic factors, a subgroup of participants were presented with delexicalized audio files that had been processed through a low-pass filter to eliminate any textual information, while a further group of participants based their decisions only on orthographic transcripts of the reporters' speech. The results indicated that British and German participants alike regarded a steep increase in fundamental frequency as a clear signal for the onset of suspense, while the verbal content of what was said played a subordinate role. However, there were also differences in the way in which suspense was perceived by German and English listeners. In particular, German participants were more consistent in their interpretation of delexicalized files than English participants, and did not gain as much from the additional information presented in the original files.
Water cycling in a Bornean tropical rain forest under current and projected precipitation scenarios

Southeastern Asian tropical rain forests are among the most important biomes in terms of annual productivity and water cycling. How their hydrologic budgets are altered by projected shifts in precipitation is examined using a combination of field measurements, global climate model (GCM) simulation output, and a simplified hydrologic model. The simplified hydrologic model is developed with its primary forcing term being rainfall statistics. A main novelty in this analysis is that the effects of increased (or decreased) precipitation on increased (or decreased) cloud cover and hence evapotranspiration is explicitly considered. The model is validated against field measurements conducted in a tropical rain forest in Sarawak, Malaysia. It is demonstrated that the model reproduces the probability density function of soil moisture content (s), transpiration (Tr), interception (Ic), and leakage loss (Q). On the basis of this model and projected shifts in precipitation statistics by GCM the probability distribution of Ic, Q and, to a lesser extent, s varied appreciably at seasonal timescales. The probability distribution of Tr was least impacted by projected shifts in precipitation.
Improvement of SURF-Based Photo Clustering using RANSAC Post-processing

This paper presents a novel classifying method using SURF (Speeded Up Robust Features) results. For a given photo set, features are first extracted and matched by SURF. We improve the SURF results using RANSAC(RANdom SAmple Consensus) post-processing, which removes outliers from the results. We define how to measure the similarities of the input photos by ratio of entire result pairs to inlier pairs. Our proposed method shows an average 87% precision and 89% recall. We will improve the method by considering both feature points and color information in future works.
Does hygiene training among farmers in Northeast India give healthier cows

In the years of 2009-2013 a hygiene training program was developed in the north eastern state of Assam, India, by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) together with local partners. The goal was to improve the hygiene and quality throughout the process of producing and selling milk. This study aimed to follow up the training and to critically evaluate the impact the training had on the overall health and welfare of the animals as well as the milk production. Seroprevalence of brucellosis in the area was also investigated. The study was carried out as a Minor Field Study financed by the Swedish international development cooperation agency (SIDA). A comparison was made between 74 farms where the farmer previously had engaged in hygiene training (“trained farm”) and 76 farms where nobody had been trained (“non-trained farm”) regarding overall health status, hygiene routines and seroprevalence of brucellosis. Clinical examinations were used to check body condition, hygiene status and hoof status of the cows. Milk sampling took place to investigate milk seroprevalence of brucellosis, using the Brucella milk ring test (MRT) and a questionnaire was used to interview farmers about hygiene routines, health status, milk yield etc. The results showed that the ILRI hygiene training had positive effects in some areas and foremost was associated with a significant increase in the milk yield (p=0.003), with a mean increase of 0.67 liters of milk per cow per day in trained farms. Because milk production is the main income for 90% of the farmers, this increase should have a large impact on their economy. No difference was seen between trained and non-trained farms regarding body condition, hygiene and hoof status. However, a majority of the trained farmers had experienced an improvement in the overall health status of the animals. The MRT showed that at least half of the tested cows in Assam were positive for brucellosis. No difference was seen between trained and non-trained farmers which was not surprising since the hygiene training did not focus on disease control. Six areas were visited and significant differences were seen in seroprevalence with the area of 8th Mile having the most brucellosis and Amsing Jorabat having the least. One important factor in the spreading of brucellosis is through infected semen, and it is recommended that routines for breeding are studied further. Increasing the general knowledge about the ways of infection is important in trying to limit the spread of the disease, especially in a country like India where slaughter of cows is prohibited. The conclusions of the study were that hygiene training is associated with a positive effect in milk yield thus having an important impact in improving the economy of the farmers. It also seems to have improved the over-all health status among dairy cows based on experience of the farmers.
Stream macrophytes increase invertebrate production and fish habitat utilization in a California stream

Stable flow and thermal regimes, coupled with geologically derived nutrients, are drivers of enhanced productivity in volcanic spring‐fed rivers. However, little information exists on biotic mechanisms or species interactions contributing to elevated productivity at higher trophic levels. In a California stream, juvenile steelhead trout were observed to preferentially select macrophyte habitat at a rate three times greater, on average, than five other habitat types. To understand the potential rearing benefits associated with macrophytes, we conducted a manipulative experiment to determine how macrophytes affect invertebrate prey availability and stream water velocity. Macrophytes supported up to nine times greater abundance of invertebrates than adjacent open gravel habitats. They also doubled invertebrate drift rates and reduced water velocity by up to 42‐fold. The results show that aquatic macrophytes are an important stream habitat feature that may be bioenergetically more favourable for rearing salmonids than more traditional lotic habitats. We suggest that macrophytes have the potential to enhance growth rates of juvenile salmonids when compared with other habitat types. Habitats that confer growth and size advantages may ultimately improve fitness and contribute to conservation of imperilled salmonids.
Comparisons in heart rate readings between the Bioconnected wireless exercise earpiece and a Polar T31-Coded Chest Strap during a GXT

Purpose. The advent of mobile technology has provided a convenient method of measuring heart rate in clinical settings and athletic training with limited support. Therefore the purpose of this research was to evaluate the validity of an earpiece HR monitoring device against a previously validated chest strap HR monitoring device. Method. A convenient sample of college students (n=15), performing a modified Bruce protocol, provided 25 data samples. Heart rates obtained from both the Bioconnected wireless exercise earpieces and a Polar T31-Coded Chest Strap where compared by correlation and coefficient. The Bioconnected wireless exercise earpieces were considered to be valid if the correlation between the recorded heart rate of the Bioconnected device and the corresponding heart rate Polar T31-Coded Chest Strap measurement was r ≥0.90. Results. Five samples were corrupted due to displacement of chest strap (n=3) and dislodgement of earpiece (n=2) during testing, as such data from those tests were excluded from the correlation analysis. The remaining 20 data samples provided mean totals of 521±117 HR data points (earpiece) and 517±118 HR data points (chest strap). A strong correlation (r=0.97) between the Bioconnected wireless exercise earpieces and a Polar T31-Coded Chest Strap. Conclusions. The results of this study show that the HR measurements of the Bioconnected wireless exercise earpieces and the Polar Chest Strap are highly correlated, supporting the Bioconnected wireless exercise earpieces in monitoring HR during a GXT on a treadmill in healthy adults. However, as exercise transitioned from walking to jogging, at times, both devices had problems with displacement and loss of HR signal, suggesting the need for improved methods of securing both devices. Future research of the Bioconnected wireless exercise earpiece is required to evaluate performance in varying environments, levels of low light and increased background noise.
A NOVEL CONCEPT OF SECURITY AUTHENTICATION AS A SERVICE TO ENHANCE RFID BASED MANUFACTURING

RFID plays a significant role in current manufacturing automation. Automatic identification as fundamental characteristic of RFID enables manufactures to reduce cost and time which in turn let them increase total productivity. However, security is still regarded as a serious issue to entirely deploying RFID for whole identification processes of manufacturing systems. This paper proposes a new insight on how to tackle the security problem by taking into account cloud computing technology to current RFID based manufacturing system. After careful review on related literature, hash chain authentication protocols in different approaches were chosen as the viable option to address the problem. Using cloud computing paradigm, a novel cloud based RFID manufacturing system powered by hash chain authentication protocol is conceptualized from the perspective of Security Authentication as a Service.
Petrology and Geochemistry of Volcanic Rocks from the South Kaua`i Swell Volcano, Hawai`i: Implications for the Lithology and Composition of the Hawaiian Mantle Plume

The South Kauai Swell (SKS) volcano was sampled during four JASON dives and three dredge hauls recovering rocks that range from fresh pillow lavas to altered volcanic breccias. Two geo- chemical groups were identified: shield-stage tholeiites (5� 4-3� 9 Ma) and rejuvenation-stage alkalic lavas (1� 9-0� 1 Ma). The young SKS ages and the coeval rejuvenated volcanism along a 400 km segment of the Hawaiian Islands (Maui to Niihau) are inconsistent with the timing and duration predictions by the flexure and secondary plume melting models for renewed volcanism. The SKS tholeiites are geochemically heterogeneous but similar to lavas from nearby Kauai, Niihau and Waianae volcanoes, indicating that their source regions within the Hawaiian mantle plume sampled a well-mixed zone. Most SKS tholeiitic lavas exhibit radiogenic Pb isotope ratios ( 208 Pb*/ 206 Pb*) that are characteristic of Loa compositions (>0� 9475), consistent with the volcano's location on the west side of the Hawaiian Islands. These results document the existence of the Loa component within the Hawaiian mantle plume prior to 5 Ma. Loa trend volcanoes are thought to have a major pyroxenite component in their source. Calculations of the pyroxenitic component in the parental melts for SKS tholeiites using high-precision olivine analyses and modeling of trace element ratios indicate a large pyroxenite proportion (� 50%), which was predicted by recent nu- merical models. Rejuvenation-stage lavas were also found to have a significant pyroxenite compo- nent based on olivine analyses (40-60%). The abundance of pyroxenite in the source for SKS lavas may be the cause of this volcano's extended period of magmatism (>5 Myr). The broad distribution of the Loa component in the northern Hawaiian Island lavas coincides with the start of a dramatic magma flux increase (300%) along the Hawaiian Chain, which may reflect a major structural change in the source of the Hawaiian mantle plume.
LIBTP: Portable, Modular Transactions for UNIX

Transactions provide a useful programming paradigm for maintaining logical consistency, arbitrating concurrent access, and managing recovery. In traditional UNIX systems, the only easy way of using transactions is to purchase a database system. Such systems are often slow, costly, and may not provide the exact functionality desired. This paper presents the design, implementation, and performance of LlBTP, a simple, non-proprietary transaction library using the 4.4BSD database access routines (db(3)). On a conventional transaction processing style benchmark, its performance is approximately 85% that of the database access routines without transaction protection, 200% that of using fsyuc(2) to commit modifications to disk, and 125% that of a commercial relational database system.
FINDING ENERGY SUBSIDY SAVINGS FOR MALAYSIAN CITIES

Authorities around the world have adopted fossil fuel energy subsidies for price stability, developmental, and equity considerations—but those subsidies have come at a considerable fiscal and environmental cost. As a result, several dozen top-down initiatives have been implemented to reform these subsidies. Many of those initiatives, however, proved difficult to implement, as sponsors backtracked and key stakeholders refused to accept them. The result was continued economic inefficiencies, social inequities, and political instability. This paper reviews past subsidy-reform episodes to identify barriers to successful reform; develops a series of simple steps that a hypothetical country could take to incorporate a bottom-up or consensus building approach that would complement the prevailing top-down approach; and uses the steps outlined herein to propose an energy subsidy reform package for Malaysia, the savings from which are estimated at 1.1 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). Introduction: energy subsidies and their unintended
The Decline in the Cost of Private Placements

This study documents and examines a decrease in the price discounts associated with private investments in public equity (PIPE) issues. PIPE discounts decreased from an average of 16.4 percent during the 1995 to 2000 period to an average of 9.8 percent during the 2001 to 2007 period. This decrease reflects changes in the characteristics of the public firms that are accessing the PIPE markets as well as changes in the pricing of issue characteristics. In addition, part of the decrease is attributable to contracting practices that caused PIPE discounts in recent years to better reflect market conditions on the day that the securities were issued.
Combining Intelligent Recommendation and Mixed Reality in Itineraries for Urban Exploration

Exploration of points of interest (POI) in urban environments is challenging for the large amount of items near or reachable by the user and for the modality hindrances due to reduced manual flexibility and competing visual attention. We propose to combine different modalities, VR, AR, haptics-audio interfaces, with intelligent recommendation based on a computational method combining different data graph overlays: social, personal and search-time user input. We integrate such features in flexible itineraries that aid different phases and aspects of exploration.
Comparing TR-Classifier and KNN by using Reduced Sizes of Vocabularies

The aim of this study is topic identification by using two methods, in this case, a new one that we have proposed: TR-classifier which is based on computing triggers, and the well-known k Nearest Neighbors. Performances are acceptable, particularly for TR-classifier, though we have used reduced sizes of vocabularies. For the TR-Classifier, each topic is represented by a vocabulary which has been built using the corresponding training corpus. Whereas, the kNN method uses a general vocabulary, obtained by the concatenation of those used by the TR-Classifier. For the evaluation task, six topics have been selected to be identified: Culture, religion, economy, local news, international news and sports. An Arabic corpus has been used to achieve experiments.
A Communication-Aware Energy-Efficient Graph-Coloring Algorithm for VM Placement in Clouds

The problem of virtual machine (VM) consolidation has received a lot of attention over the past years. Most of the proposed techniques tackling the VM consolidation problem focus on energy consumption ignoring the network traffic incurred within the system. Redundant network traffic may be crucial for the sustainability of cloud computing systems. To tackle the aforementioned problem, we propose a communication-aware graph-coloring algorithm placing the VMs in the underlying system in an energy efficient manner. Specifically, the proposed algorithm considers migrating VMs in batches resulting in energy efficient placements against approaches tackling single VM migrations. We have conducted an experimental evaluation to show the superiority of the proposed algorithm against state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of network overhead reduction, while keeping the energy consumption at low levels.
Tinbergen Institute The Tinbergen Institute is the institute for economic research of the Erasmus Universiteit

Working with a mix of panel data on goods and services trade for the OECD for 1994-2004, combined with social accounts data (i.e. data on intermediate linkages) for 78 countries benchmarked to the panel midpoint, we examine the role of services as inputs in manufacturing, with a particular focus on indirect exports of services through merchandise exports, and also on the related interaction between service sector openness and the overall pattern of manufacturing exports. From the cross-section, we also develop a set of stylized facts linking services to level of development and the density of intermediate linkages. We find significant and strong positive effects from increased business service openness (i.e. greater levels of imports) on industries like machinery, motor vehicles, chemicals and electric equipment, supporting the notion that off-shoring of business services may promote the competitiveness of the most skill and technology intensive industries in the OECD. Conversely, we find evidence of negative general equilibrium effects for sectors that are less service intensive. JEL:, F14, L8, O11