Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Niche Method Complementing the Nearest-better Clustering

We propose a two-stage niching algorithm that separates local optima areas in the first stage and finds the optimum point of each area using any optimization technique in the second stage. The proposed first stage has complementary characteristics to the shortcoming of Nearest-better Clustering (NBC). We introduce a weighted gradient and distance-based clustering method (WGraD) and two methods for determining its weights to find out niches and overcome NBC. The WGraD creates spanning trees by connecting each search point to other suitable one decided by weighted gradient information and weighted distance information among search points. Since weights influence its clustering result, we propose two weight determination methods 1 and 2. The weight determination method 1 firstly forms one spanning tree and then uses a dynamic pruning method and the Hill-Valley test to cut long edges and repair them. The weight determination method 2 assigns different weights to different search points based on distance information. We combine these methods into WGrad, i.e. WGraD1 and WGraD2, and compare the characteristics of NBC, WGraD1, and WGraD2 using differential evolution (DE) as a baseline search algorithm for obtaining the optimum of each niche after clustering local areas. We design a controlled experiment and run (NBC + DE), (WGraD1 + DE) and (WGraD2 + DE) on 8 benchmark functions from CEC 2015 test suite for single objective multiniche optimization. The experimental results confirmed that the proposed strategy can overcome the shortcoming of NBC and be a complementary niche method of NBC.
An Ontology-Based Framework for Publishing and Exploiting Linked Open Data: A Use Case on Water Resources Management

This work has been partially funded by Grants TIN2017-86049-R and ECLIPSE-UA RTI2018-094283-B-C32 (Spanish Ministry of Education and Science). Jose Garcia-Nieto is the recipient of a Post-Doctoral fellowship of “Captacion de Talento para la Investigacion” Plan Propio at Universidad de Malaga.
Breath-hold Blood-Oxygen Level Dependent MRI: a tool for the assessment of cerebrovascular reserve in children with Moyamoya Cover Title: Breath-hold Cerebrovascular Reactivity in Moyamoya

Background and Purpose: There is a critical need for a reliable and clinically-feasible imaging technique that can enable prognostication and selection for revascularization surgery in children with Moyamoya. Blood-oxygen level dependent MRI assessments of cerebrovascular reactivity, using voluntary breath-hold hypercapnic challenge is one such simple technique. However, its repeatability and reliability in children with Moyamoya is unknown. The current study sought to address this limitation. Methods: Children with Moyamoya underwent dual breath-hold hypercapnic challenge bloodoxygen level dependent MRI cerebrovascular reactivity studies, in the same MRI session. Within-day, within-subject repeatability of cerebrovascular reactivity estimates, derived from blood-oxygen level dependent signal, was computed. Estimates were associated with demographics, and intellectual function. Inter-rater reliability of a qualitative and clinicallyapplicable scoring scheme was assessed. Results: Twenty children (11 males; 12.1±3.3 years) with 30 MRI sessions (60 MRI scans) were included. Repeatability was "good" based on intra-class correlation (0.70±0.19). Agreement of qualitative scores was “substantial” (K=0.711) and intra-rater reliability of scores was “almost perfect” (K=0.83 and 1). Younger participants exhibited lower repeatability (p=0.027). Repeatability was not associated with cognitive function (p>0.05). However, abnormal cerebrovascular reactivity was associated with slower processing speed (p=0.015). Conclusion: Breath-hold hypercapnic challenge blood-oxygen level dependent MRI is a repeatable technique for the assessment of cerebrovascular reactivity in children with Moyamoya and is reliably interpretable for use in clinical practice. Standardization of such protocols will
Improving Estimates of Transitions from Satellite Data: A Hidden Markov Model Approach

Satellite-based image classification facilitates low-cost measurement of the Earth's surface composition. However, misclassified imagery can lead to misleading conclusions about transition processes. We propose a correction for transition rate estimates based on the econometric measurement error literature to extract the signal (truth) from its noisy measurement (satellite-based classifications). No ground-truth data is required in the implementation. Our proposed correction produces consistent estimates of transition rates, confirmed by longitudinal validation data, while transition rates without correction are severely biased. Using our approach, we show how eliminating deforestation in Brazil's Atlantic forest region through 2040 could save $100 billion in CO2 emissions.
Potential health-care associated respiratory syncytial virus in three referral Hospitals in Kenya, 2009-2011

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of community acquired severe respiratory illness in infants, immunocompromised individuals and the elderly. Limited information exists on the contribution of RSV in respiratory Hospital Associated Infection (rHAI) in developing countries. Objective: To characterize Respiratory Syncytial Virus in the three Kenyan referral setting as a potential contributor to respiratory hospital acquired infection. Methods: The study targeted all patients whose samples tested positive for RSV from the ongoing surveillance on healthcare associated respiratory infections. The study collected nasal and oropharyngeal samples from patients who developed new-onset axilla fever and influenza like illness, in patients who had been afebrile for at least three (3) days in the wards and tested them for different respiratory pathogens (Influenza A and B, Parainfluenza, Human metapneumovirus and adenovirus) alongside RSV. During this period A total of 37 samples tested RSV positive. These were characterized as RSV-A and -B using RT-PCR. Those that typed successfully were then sequenced in the attachment G protein and phylogenetically analyzed. Results: Of the 37 samples, 13(35%) were RSV A, 6 (16%) RSV B, 1 (3%) was AB and 17 (46%) did not type. Twenty out of the 37 attained the sequencing criteria and only seventeen gave successful sequences. Three RSV- A and 2 RSV-B sequenced samples from KNH were 100% identical in the G ectodomain sequences. One RSV-A specimen from MDH and one RSV-A positive from NNPGH had 100% identity. Three sequences from KNH clustered with high nucleotide sequence identity. Children below 2years were significantly more at risk of RSV than those aged 5years and above (aOR=0.21,p=0.012). Conclusions: The study inferred possibility of spread of RSV within the hospitals especially the paediatric ward. Any interventions to curb the spread should specifically target all children ≤ 2 years. Afr J Health Sci . 2016; 29(1):1-12
Clinical features of drug-induced liver injury:A review of Chinese literatures 2003—2007

Objective To analyse the overall clinical features of drug-induced liver injury from Chinese literatures published during the past five years.Methods Using drug-induced liver injury as key words, cases-analyze literatures on drug-induced liver injury from 2003 to 2007 in Chinese Periodical Full-text Database were searched, downloaded and recorded gender, age, drugs characters, clinical classifications and prognosis data. Results Among the recorded information, there were 7 465 (57.8%) male and 5 450(42.2%) female, the ratio of male to female is 1.37∶1. Age ranged from 3 months to 92 years old with the average 46.1 years. Drugs of antituberculotics, Chinese herbs, antibiotics, anti-hyperthyroidism drugs and antineoplastics were 5 484(43.78%), 2 026(16.17%), 1 579 (12.60%), 702(5.60%) and 640(5.11%) patients respectively. 2 510(62.73%)cases were classified to hepatocellular type, 830(20.74%) cases were cholestasis type and 661(16.52%) cases were mixed type. As the prognosis, 8 654(92.80%)cases cured or improve well , 239(2.56%) cases no change, 131(1.40%)cases became worse and 299(3.21%) cases dead.Conclusion It is reported in China that drug-induced liver injury occured more frequent in male; Antituberculotics, chinese herbs, antibiotics, anti-hyperthyroidism drugs, and antineoplastics were the five most common of drugs, most patients were hepatocellular and in general the prognosis is good.
THE EFFECT OF Ti ON HIGH-ZINC Al CAST ALLOYS STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES

The paper comprises investigations of binary Al – 2 0 wt% Zn sand cast alloy (AlZn20) doped by 0.04 wt% Ti, introduced into melt with the AlTi5B1, AlTi3C0.15 and AlZn-Ti3 MA (master alloy). The LM (Light Microscopy) structural examin ations, UTS (Ultimate Tensile Strength) and Elongation (A5) as well as DP (damping properti es) tests were performed for the initial, non refined alloy, and for the grain refined ones. On t he basis of these examinations it was stated that the implemented inoculation process causes signific a t increase of grains population. Elongation of the grain refined alloys increases from the rang e of 1.7 – 2.1 % (initial, non refined samples) to the range of 2.1 – 2.9 % (grain refined samples) . At the same time, UTS and attenuation coefficient remain basically preserved.
Translating Video Recordings of Mobile App Usages into Replayable Scenarios

Screen recordings of mobile applications are easy to obtain and capture a wealth of information pertinent to software developers (e.g., bugs or feature requests), making them a popular mechanism for crowdsourced app feedback. Thus, these videos are becoming a common artifact that developers must manage. In light of unique mobile development constraints, including swift release cycles and rapidly evolving platforms, automated techniques for analyzing all types of rich software artifacts provide benefit to mobile developers. Unfortunately, automatically analyzing screen recordings presents serious challenges, due to their graphical nature, compared to other types of (textual) artifacts. To address these challenges, this paper introduces V2S, a lightweight, automated approach for translating video recordings of Android app usages into replayable scenarios. V2S is based primarily on computer vision techniques and adapts recent solutions for object detection and image classification to detect and classify user actions captured in a video, and convert these into a replayable test scenario. We performed an extensive evaluation of V2S involving 175 videos depicting 3,534 GUI-based actions collected from users exercising features and reproducing bugs from over 80 popular Android apps. Our results illustrate that V2S can accurately replay scenarios from screen recordings, and is capable of reproducing ≈ 89% of our collected videos with minimal overhead. A case study with three industrial partners illustrates the potential usefulness of V2S from the viewpoint of developers.
MASK-CONSTRAINED POWER SYNTHESIS OF LARGE AND ARBITRARY ARRAYSAS A FEW-SAMPLES GLOBAL OPTIMIZATION

With reference to the mask-constrained power synthesis of shaped beams through fixedgeometry antenna arrays, we elaborate a recently proposed approach and introduce an innovative effective technique. In particular, the proposed formulation, which can take into account mutual coupling and mounting platform effects, relies on a nested optimization where the external global optimization acts on the field’s phase shifts over a minimal number of ‘control points’ located into the target region whereas the internal optimization acts instead on excitations. As the internal optimization of the ripple is shown to result in a Convex Programming problem and the external optimization deals with a reduced number of unknowns, a full control of the shaped beam’s ripple and sidelobe level is achieved even in the case of arrays having a large size and aimed at generating large-footprint patterns. Examples involving comparisons with benchmark approaches as well as full-wave simulated realistic antennas are provided.
How Incumbents Beat Disruptors? Evidence from Hotels’ Responses to Home-Sharing Rivals

Growing research attention is paid to the disruption of sharing economy services (Airbnb, Uber, Lending Club, etc.) and how they cut into incumbent firmsâ€™ profit. Yet, the literature is silent on how incumbents respond to the rivalry and what are the performance outcomes if taking a defensive stance. In this paper, we investigate incumbent hotelsâ€™ responses to home sharing and how different reactions among hotels lead to distinct outcomes in customer satisfaction. Integrating casual inference and machine learning, we analyze large-scale, multidimensional data on hotels and home-sharing services in Beijing from March, 2015 to December, 2017 and three findings are gleaned. First, we find heterogeneous reactions of hotels, with their management responses to online guest reviews (reviews, hereafter) surging at higher-priced hotels while plunging at lower-priced ones compared with hotels that do not experience home sharingâ€™s entry. The distinct response strategy (active vs passive) is likely due to different extent of decline in sales at these two types of hotels after home sharingâ€™s entry. Second, hotels that are responsive to reviews experience a significant rise in customer satisfaction while the less responsive hotels do not. We show that this difference can be attributed to distinct response strategies of hotels and not their price segment (higher-priced or lower-priced). Third, utilizing state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms combined with topic modeling, we identify the theme-specific content features (topics and their sentiments) in reviews on both hotels and home sharing. Hotels that are responsive to reviews improve significantly on sentiments of two out of seven topics (i.e., cleanliness and service), which explains their performance gains when facing the disruption. And these two topics are the exact areas where home sharing outperforms hotels based on the review comparison. These suggest that responding to reviews allows hotel managers to not only bridge the gap between their property and home-sharing rivals but also differentiate from hotels less responsive - an interesting segmentation in the market when disruptors enter the game. This study makes the first attempt to investigate incumbent firms acting to sharing economy disruptors. Implications are made on how different types of hotels can and should react for improved performance.
Low-Resource Knowledge-Grounded Dialogue Generation

Responding with knowledge has been recognized as an important capability for an intelligent conversational agent. Yet knowledge-grounded dialogues, as training data for learning such a response generation model, are difficult to obtain. Motivated by the challenge in practice, we consider knowledge-grounded dialogue generation under a natural assumption that only limited training examples are available. In such a low-resource setting, we devise a disentangled response decoder in order to isolate parameters that depend on knowledge-grounded dialogues from the entire generation model. By this means, the major part of the model can be learned from a large number of ungrounded dialogues and unstructured documents, while the remaining small parameters can be well fitted using the limited training examples. Evaluation results on two benchmarks indicate that with only $1/8$ training data, our model can achieve the state-of-the-art performance and generalize well on out-of-domain knowledge.
The Hierarchical Effects of Individual and Organizational Variables on Elementary School Teachers Lifelong Learning Competence

The purpose of this study was to analyze the hierarchical effects of individual and organizational variables on elementary school teachers’ lifelong learning competence. The participants in this study comprised 1,077 teachers in service in 70 public elementary schools in Seoul, Korea. In this study, 70 schools were sampled using multi-stage stratified sampling, and 10 to 20 teachers were randomly selected for each school. The collected data was analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling. There are three major findings. First, gender, lifelong learning experience, learning agility, learning motivation, and positive psychological capital among the individual variables had meaningful positive effects on lifelong learning competence. Second, knowledge sharing among the organizational variables had meaningful influence on lifelong learning competence. Finally, interactions between gender and knowledge sharing and between learning motivation and learning organization culture had statistically meaningful effects.
Inhibitory Activity of Illicium verum Extracts against Avian Viruses

This study aimed at screening the inhibitory activity of Illicium verum extracts against avian reovirus, infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), Newcastle disease virus (NDV), and infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV). The cytotoxic and antiviral actions of 3 extracts, absolute methanol (100MOH), 50% methanol (50MOH), and aqueous extracts (WA.), were evaluated by MTT assay. The Illicium verum extracts were added to the cultured chick embryo fibroblast (CEF) with tested viruses in three attacks, preinoculation, postinoculation, and simultaneous inoculation. The three extracts showed antiviral inhibitory activity against all tested viruses during simultaneous inoculation and preinoculation except 100MOH and 50MOH that showed no effect against IBDV, thereby suggesting that the extracts have a preventive effect on CEF against viruses. During postinoculation, the extracts exhibited inhibitory effects against NDV and avian reovirus, while no effect against IBDV recorded and only the 100MOH showed an inhibitory effect against ILTV. The initial results of this study suggest that Illicium verum may be a candidate for a natural alternative source for antiviral agents.
Adult Learners' Needs in Online and Blended Learning.

Identifying and fulfilling adult learners' needs is critical to instructional designs aimed at enhancing their achievement and self-empowerment. In reviewing different theories and perspectives on adult learning and online and blended learning (OBL), it is noteworthy that there is not a comprehensive framework to guide the design of OBL environments that meet adult learners' needs, and that are underpinned by adult learning theories, online knowledge construction, motivational theories, and technological acceptance models. In this respect, the theory of existence, relatedness, and growth (ERG) (Alderfer, 1972) is applicable to interpret different types of needs to sustain learning motivation. Employing the ERG theory as the overarching framework, the purpose of this paper is to capture adult learners' needs from both positivist and subjectivist perspectives. In other words, the identified needs are to help adult learners optimally perform the learning activities designed to achieve the learning goals on the one hand, and to sustain their motivation during the learning process on the other hand. Thus, the framework is helpful for practitioners, curriculum developers, and researchers who are in search of a theoretical background for both instructional design and empirical investigation.
CMAR_A_211727 7515..7524

Xiang Tu* Fan Wang* Tiancong Chang* Chichen Zhang Mengni Zhang Zhenhua Liu Shi Qiu Lu Yang Qiang Wei 1Department of Urology, Institute of Urology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 2West China School of Clinical Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Pathology and Laboratory of Pathology, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, West China Medical School, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China
Anatomy of a Credit Crunch: From Capital to Labor Markets

Why are financial crises associated with a sustained rise in unemployment? We develop a tractable model with frictions in both credit and labor markets to study the aggregate and micro-level implications of a credit crunch--i.e., a tightening of collateral constraints. When we simulate a credit crunch calibrated to match the observed decline in the ratio of debt to non-financial assets of the United States business sector following the 2007-8 crisis, our model generates a sharp decline in output--explained by a drop in aggregate total factor productivity and investment--and a protracted increase in unemployment. We then explore the micro-level impact by tracking the employment dynamics for firms of different sizes and ages. The credit crunch causes a much larger reduction in the net employment growth rate of small, young establishments relative to that of large, old producers, consistent with the recent empirical findings in the literature.
Development and validation of a stability indicating UHPLC method for Sacubitril/Valsartan complex in the presence of impurities and degradation products

Sacubitril/Valsartan (SAC/VAL) is a combination drug used for the treatment of heart failure. In the present work, novel and rapid, sensitive, specific, and robust ultra high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed and validated for the simultaneous estimation of SAC/VAL in presence of their seven related impurities and degradation products. The chromatographic separation was achieved on Accucore XL C8, (100 × 4.6) mm; 3 μm reverse phase column maintained at 30°C. The peaks were eluted using tetrahydrofuran (THF) and 0.1% perchloric acid in water (8:92, %v/v) as a mobile phase A and THF:water:acetonitrile (5:15:80, %v/v/v) as mobile phase B in a gradient mode. The flow rate was set at 0.6 ml/minute and the analytes were monitored in the range of 200–400 nm using a Photo Diode Array (PDA) detector for 21 minutes run time. The method was validated as per ICH Q2 (R1) guideline and all the validation parameters were found within the acceptance criteria. The forced degradation study for SAC/VAL showed that the drugs were prone to acidic, alkaline, and neutral hydrolytic as well as oxidative stress conditions. All the degradation products were separated from each other, SAC/VAL and their impurities showing the stability indicating power of the method. The newly developed method can be used for estimation of assay and related substances from bulk or their finished products with good efficiency.
E-Cigarettes: Perceived Harm among Youth in the United States

Studies have shown e-cigarette use surged among youth, but there is limited literature about how youth perceived the harm of these products. In this dissertation study, perceived harm of e-cigarettes and e-cigarette use over time among youth in the United States was explored. The dissertation study also included assessment of associations between perceived harm and susceptibility to e-cigarette use. A subset of data from Wave 1 and Wave 2 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, a national longitudinal study, was utilized. The PATH study used a questionnaire to capture self-reported data from non-institutionalized participants. Data from 12,154 youth who participated in the PATH study were analyzed. The results showed perceived harm of e-cigarettes changed over time among youth and changes in perceived absolute harm of e-cigarettes coincided with changes in e-cigarette use. The results also indicated that perceived absolute harm of e-cigarettes was associated with susceptibility to use of ecigarettes and susceptibility to use of e-cigarettes was associated with subsequent ecigarette use. With the dissertation study, the need for integration of perceived harm of e-cigarettes into tobacco control strategies aimed at reducing e-cigarette use among youth was underscored.