Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Continuous-variable optical quantum-state tomography

This review covers the latest developments in continuous-variable quantum-state tomography of optical fields and photons, placing a special emphasis on its practical aspects and applications in quantum-information technology. Optical homodyne tomography is reviewed as a method of reconstructing the state of light in a given optical mode. A range of relevant practical topics is discussed, such as state-reconstruction algorithms (with emphasis on the maximum-likelihood technique), the technology of time-domain homodyne detection, mode-matching issues, and engineering of complex quantum states of light. The paper also surveys quantum-state tomography for the transverse spatial state (spatial mode) of the field in the special case of fields containing precisely one photon.
Listening: An Introduction to the Perception of Auditory Events

Listening combines broad coverage of acoustics, speech and music perception psychophysics, and auditory physiology with a coherent theoretical orientation in a lively and accessible introduction to the perception of music and speech events.Handel treats the production and perception of music and speech in parallel throughout the text, arguing that their production and perception follows identical principles; music and speech share the same formal properties, involve the same cognitive mechanisms, and cannot exist in separate "modules. " The way that a sound is produced determines the physical properties of the acoustic wave. These properties in turn lead to the perception of the event.The initial chapters take up physical processes, including a section on characterization of sound and discussion of the way instruments and speech produce musical sound. Handel explains how the environment affects perceived sounds, including reflection, reverberation, diffraction, and the Doppler effect. Subsequent chapters take up psychological processes: partitioning smeared sounds into discrete events, identifying sound sources, the units and phrases of speech and music, and speech and music rhythms. The final chapter provides a detailed treatment of the physiology and neurophysiology of the auditory system.All of the author's explanations are coherent and clear, and this strategy includes discussing particular pieces of research in detail rather than covering many things superficially Handel analyzes causes as well as describing phenomena and sets out for the reader the difficulties inherent in the research methods he discusses. He defines the physical, musical, and psychological terms used, even the most basic ones, and covers all of the experimental methods and statistical procedures in the text.Stephen Handel is Professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee. A Bradford Book.
SYSTEM SPECIFICATION AND DESIGN FOR NON-REPLICATED SERVICE

With the advent and popularization of high-speed storage area network, non-replicated services are applied in more and more high performance distributed storage systems. In this paper, we define the specification of group communication system for non-replicated service and design a novel group communication system GCSLight according to the specification. GCSLight is novel in the following points: (1) it is lightweight in that it removes those complex and extraneous features, such as multicast and virtual synchrony, which exist in many other group communication systems aiming at replicated service. (2) it may obtain optimized performance in failure-free runs by adopting a lazy failure detection protocol. Finally, the preliminary performance of GCSlight is presented.
FAST SUBPIXEL ACCURATE RECONSTRUCTION USING COLOR STRUCTURED LIGHT

Extracting range data through active optical triangulation requires robust stripe edge detection of the emitted pattern because of undesired shape and shading variations in the scanned object. We propose several extensions to a structured light system originally proposed by Zhang et al. [1]. Assuming stripes of a certain width, our edge detection criterion is achieved simply by restricting the number of consecutive edge pixels. Subpixel accuracy from one single input image can be obtained by approximating the gradient of the square local contrast with a piecewise linear function. Finally, we present a noise reduction technique for the range map through meshing followed by a parameterized face orientation culling. Experimental results have demonstrated major improvements in terms of robustness against acquisition noise, shading variations and complex shapes.
Report on RecSys 2015 Workshop on New Trends in Content-Based Recommender Systems

This article reports on the CBRecSys 2015 workshop, the second edition of the workshop on new trends in content-based recommender systems, co-located with RecSys 2015 in Vienna, Austria. Content-based recommendation has been applied successfully in many different domains, but it has not seen the same level of attention as collaborative filtering techniques have. Nevertheless, there are many recommendation domains and applications where content and metadata play a key role, either in addition to or instead of ratings and implicit usage data. The CBRecSys workshop series provides a dedicated venue for work dedicated to all aspects of content-based recommender systems.
Stability and Convergence of Finite-Element Approximation Schemes for Harmonic Maps

This article discusses stability and convergence of approximation schemes for harmonic maps. A finite-element discretization of an iterative algorithm due to F. Alouges is introduced and shown to be stable and convergent in general only on acute-type triangulations. An\break a posteriori criterion is proposed which allows us to monitor sufficient conditions for weak convergence to a harmonic map on general triangulations and for adaptive mesh refinement. Numerical\break experiments show that an adaptive strategy automatically refines triangulations in neighborhoods of typical point singularities and thereby underline its efficiency.
Turkish female academician self-esteem and health beliefs for breast cancer screening.

PURPOSE This study aimed to analyse female academician health beliefs for breast cancer screening and levels of self-esteem. MATERIALS AND METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2010 and March 2011, covering female academicians working in all faculties and vocational schools at Ondokuz Mayis University, except for the ones in the field of health (n=141). Data was collected using a questionnaire developed by researchers in the light of the related literature, the Champion's Health Belief Model Scale for Breast Cancer, and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. Descriptive statistics, the t-test, Mann-Whitney U and correlation analysis were used to analyze the data with the SPSS 13.0 statistical package. RESULTS 53.8% of the participants were single, 58.6% did not have children, 80.7% had regular menstrual cycles, 28.3% was taking birth control pills, 17.9% were undergoing hormone therapy, 11% suffered breast problems, 8.3% had relatives with breast cancer, 78,6% knew about breast self-examination (BSE), 68.3% was performing BSE, 16.2% were performing BSE monthly, 17.9% had had mammograms, and 30.3% had undergone breast examinations conductedby physicians. The women who had breast physical examinations done by physicians had higher susceptibility, self-efficacy and health motivation, and fewer barriers to mammography than those who did not have breast physical examinations. CONCLUSIONS There was a relationship between the female academician self-esteem and their perceived seriousness of breast cancer, perceived barriers to BSE and health motivation. Our Turksih female academicians had medium levels of self-esteem.
Contribution-Based Energy-Trading Mechanism in Microgrids for Future Smart Grid: A Game Theoretic Approach

This paper designs a contribution-based energy-trading mechanism among microgrids in a competitive market. In each fixed time interval, each microgrid can be an energy provider or a consumer according to their energy generation and local demand. Under the trading mechanism, there is a distributor which gathers the surplus energy from providers and distributes it to the consumers based on the consumers' historical contribution level. To design the trading mechanism, a novel contribution-based energy allocation policy (EAP) is proposed. Each consumer who knows this distribution rule decides the amount of requesting energy in order to maximize its utility, i.e., the quantity of energy it will receive. Finally, the economic benefits of such trading mechanism are studied by analyzing the decision-making procedures of consumers and distributor. The problem is formulated as a noncooperative energy competition game (ECG) among the consumers. The existence and the uniqueness of Nash equilibrium (NE) are shown, and the NE solution is given as a closed form. Also, even though there are foolish consumers which do not take the given NE solution, a consumer which takes the NE solution will not lose out on its utility. The proposed energy-trading mechanism is stable enough to be applied to a practical microgrid trading market.
Classification and Aanalysis of clone attack detection procedures in mobile wireless sensor networks

In this paper, regarding accelerating development of mobile sensor nodes technology and increasing the utilization of them and alsothese networks are faced with security challenges; specially clone nodes attack, our focus is on exploiting optimum criteria of node clone intrusion detection procedures in mobile wireless sensor networks by using theoretical analysis of procedures. Since many of recommended protocols in this area have not been experimentalised and also no comprehensive study has been carried out on the possibility and capability of these procedures, in this paper all types of sensor network architecture, with the presence of mobile sensor node, are analyzed and then according to the type of architecture, the procedures of clone node intrusion detection is classified and meticulously scrutinized. Finally the conclusion is presented based on theoretical analysis.
Meromorphic Lévy processes and their fluctuation identities.

The last couple of years has seen a remarkable number of new, explicit examples of the Wiener.Hopf factorization for Levy processes where previously there had been very few. We mention, in particular, the many cases of spectrally negative Levy processes in [Sixth Seminar on Stochastic Analysis, Random Fields and Applications (2011) 119.146, Electron. J. Probab. 13 (2008) 1672.1701], hyper-exponential and generalized hyper-exponential Levy processes [Quant. Finance 10 (2010) 629.644], Lamperti-stable processes in [J. Appl. Probab. 43 (2006) 967.983, Probab. Math. Statist. 30 (2010) 1.28, Stochastic Process. Appl. 119 (2009) 980.1000, Bull. Sci. Math. 133 (2009) 355.382], Hypergeometric processes in [Ann. Appl. Probab. 20 (2010) 522.564, Ann. Appl. Probab. 21 (2011) 2171.2190, Bernoulli 17 (2011) 34.59], β-processes in [Ann. Appl. Probab. 20 (2010) 1801.1830] and θ-processes in [J. Appl. Probab. 47 (2010) 1023.1033]. In this paper we introduce a new family of Levy processes, which we call Meromorphic Levy processes, or just M-processes for short, which overlaps with many of the aforementioned classes. A key feature of the M-class is the identification of theirWiener.Hopf factors as rational functions of infinite degree written in terms of poles and roots of the Laplace exponent, all of which are real numbers. The specific structure of the M-class Wiener.Hopf factorization enables us to explicitly handle a comprehensive suite of fluctuation identities that concern first passage problems for finite and infinite intervals for both the process itself as well as the resulting process when it is reflected in its infimum. Such identities are of fundamental interest given their repeated occurrence in various fields of applied probability such as mathematical finance, insurance risk theory and queuing theory.
Relationship of baseline serum cholesterol levels in 3 large cohorts of younger men to long-term coronary, cardiovascular, and all-cause mortality and to longevity.

CONTEXT Based on observational and interventional data for middle-aged cohorts (aged 40-64 years), serum cholesterol level is known to be an established major risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). However, findings for younger people are limited, and the value of detecting and treating hypercholesterolemia in younger adults is debated. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the long-term impact of unfavorable serum cholesterol levels on risk of death from CHD, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and all causes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Three prospective studies, from which were selected 3 cohorts of younger men with baseline serum cholesterol level measurements and no history of diabetes mellitus or myocardial infarction. A total of 11,017 men aged 18 through 39 years screened in 1967-1973 for the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry (CHA); 1266 men aged 25 through 39 years examined in 1959-1963 in the Peoples Gas Company Study (PG); and 69,205 men aged 35 through 39 years screened in 1973-1975 for the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Cause-specific mortality during 25 (CHA), 34 (PG), and 16 (MRFIT) years of follow-up; mortality risks; and estimated life expectancy in relation to baseline serum cholesterol levels. RESULTS Death due to CHD accounted for 26%, 34%, and 28% of all deaths in the CHA, PG, and MRFIT cohorts, respectively; and CVD death for 34%, 42%, and 39% of deaths in the same cohorts, respectively. Men in all 3 cohorts with unfavorable serum cholesterol levels (200-239 mg/dL [5.17-6.18 mmol/L] and >/=240 mg/dL [>/=6.21 mmol/L]) had strong gradients of relative mortality risk. For men with serum cholesterol levels of 240 mg/dL or greater (>/=6.21 mmol/L) vs favorable levels (<200 mg/dL [<5.17 mmol/L]), CHD mortality risk was 2.15 to 3.63 times greater; CVD disease mortality risk was 2.10 to 2.87 times greater; and all-cause mortality was 1.31 to 1.49 times greater. Hypercholesterolemic men had age-adjusted absolute risk of CHD death of 59 per 1000 men in 25 years (CHA cohort), 90 per 1000 men in 34 years (PG cohort), and 15 per 1000 men in 16 years (MRFIT cohort). Absolute excess risk was 43.6 per 1000 men (CHA), 81.4 per 1000 men (PG), and 12.1 per 1000 men (MRFIT). Men with favorable baseline serum cholesterol levels had an estimated greater life expectancy of 3.8 to 8.7 years. CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate a continuous, graded relationship of serum cholesterol level to long-term risk of CHD, CVD, and all-cause mortality, substantial absolute risk and absolute excess risk of CHD and CVD death for younger men with elevated serum cholesterol levels, and longer estimated life expectancy for younger men with favorable serum cholesterol levels. JAMA. 2000;284:311-318
A Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Lens Toward Value-Based Preventive Care and Population Health

In 2015, Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, set a new goal for Medicare and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). By 2018, she declared, at least 90% of all Medicare fee-for-service payments should be based on quality or value. In other words, by 2018, most CMS payments will no longer be based on the volume of services delivered (ie, traditional fee for services) but will instead be based on models of delivery that promote meaningful outcomes in care and health. Many people think of CMS as an insurance company that covers individual services provided by physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers or as a policy-writing agency for Medicare and the other government-funded health care coverage that it administers (ie, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Health Insurance Marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act). CMS does reimburse providers for services to millions of individual beneficiaries. However, since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, CMS has been developing focused payment strategies that shift from fee for services toward value-based care (ie, health care with meaningful patient outcomes) and a focus on population health. Today, prevention and population health are CMS’s second-highest strategic priority (the first is better care and lower costs). To this end, the agency is engaged in numerous activities to promote effective prevention of chronic diseases, not just treatment.
Topographical heterogeneity of KIR currents in pericyte‐containing microvessels of the rat retina: effect of diabetes

Although inwardly rectifying potassium (KIR) channels are known to have important functional roles in arteries and arterioles, knowledge of these channels in pericyte‐containing microvessels is limited. A working hypothesis is that KIR channel activity affects the membrane potential and thereby the contractile tone of abluminal pericytes whose contractions and relaxations may regulate capillary perfusion. Because pericyte function is thought to be particularly important in the retina, we used the perforated‐patch technique to monitor the ionic currents of pericytes located on microvessels freshly isolated from the rat retina. In addition, because changes in ion channel function may contribute to microvascular dysfunction in the diabetic retina, we also recorded from pericyte‐containing microvessels of streptozotocin‐injected rats. Using barium to identify KIR currents, we found that there is a topographical heterogeneity of these currents in the pericyte‐containing microvasculature of the normal retina. Specifically, the KIR current detected at distal locations is strongly rectifying, but the proximal KIR current is weakly rectifying and has a smaller inward conductance. However, soon after the onset of diabetes, these differences diminish as the rectification and inward conductance of the proximal KIR current increase. These diabetes‐induced changes were reversed by an inhibitor of polyamine synthesis and could be mimicked by spermine, whose concentration is elevated in the diabetic eye. Hence, spermine is a candidate for mediating the effect of diabetes on the function of microvascular KIR channels. In addition, our findings raise the possibility that functional changes in KIR channels contribute to blood flow dysregulation in the diabetic retina.
The Rho-associated protein kinase p160ROCK is required for centrosome positioning

The p160–Rho-associated coiled-coil–containing protein kinase (ROCK) is identified as a new centrosomal component. Using immunofluorescence with a variety of p160ROCK antibodies, immuno EM, and depletion with RNA interference, p160ROCK is principally bound to the mother centriole (MC) and an intercentriolar linker. Inhibition of p160ROCK provoked centrosome splitting in G1 with the MC, which is normally positioned at the cell center and shows little motion during G1, displaying wide excursions around the cell periphery, similar to its migration toward the midbody during cytokinesis. p160ROCK inhibition late after anaphase in mitosis triggered MC migration to the midbody followed by completion of cell division. Thus, p160ROCK is required for centrosome positioning and centrosome-dependent exit from mitosis.
Consociationalism for Weaklings, Autocracy for Muscle Men? Determinants of Constitutional Reform in Divided Societies

Why have some countries adopted consociational constitutions after civil wars, while others have not? This contribution analyses the advent of constitutional provisions and their rationale in the five deeply divided societies that adopted the most ‘radical’ constitutional reforms in 2001–10 (Burundi, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nepal and Sudan). In places where norm-diffusing external actors played a major role in ending an intra-state war, constitutional change was particularly profound. It appears that strong outside mediators have followed a blueprint approach to constitutional engineering in post-war societies with power sharing as a guiding principle, more often than not of the consociational type. There is reason to believe that the strong outside involvement in turn depends on a relative weak bargaining position of sitting governments.
A New Generalized Orthogonal Matching Pursuit Method

To improve the reconstruction performance of the generalized orthogonal matching pursuit, an improved method is proposed. Columns are selected from the sensing matrix by generalized orthogonal matching pursuit, and indices of the columns are added to the estimated support set to reconstruct a sparse signal. Those columns contain error columns that can reduce the reconstruction performance. Therefore, the proposed algorithm adds a backtracking process to remove the low-reliability columns from the selected column set. For any -sparse signal, the proposed method firstly computes the correlation between the columns of the sensing matrix and the residual vector and then selects columns that correspond to the largest correlation in magnitude and adds their indices to the estimated support set in each iteration. Secondly, the proposed algorithm projects the measurements onto the space that consists of those selected columns and calculates the projection coefficient vector. When the size of the support set is larger than , the proposed method will select high-reliability indices using a search strategy from the support set. Finally, the proposed method updates the estimated support set using the selected high-reliability indices. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has a better recovery performance.
The Regulatory Role of Signaling Crosstalk in Hypertrophy of MSCs and Human Articular Chondrocytes

Hypertrophic differentiation of chondrocytes is a main barrier in application of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for cartilage repair. In addition, hypertrophy occurs occasionally in osteoarthritis (OA). Here we provide a comprehensive review on recent literature describing signal pathways in the hypertrophy of MSCs-derived in vitro differentiated chondrocytes and chondrocytes, with an emphasis on the crosstalk between these pathways. Insight into the exact regulation of hypertrophy by the signaling network is necessary for the efficient application of MSCs for articular cartilage repair and for developing novel strategies for curing OA. We focus on articles describing the role of the main signaling pathways in regulating chondrocyte hypertrophy-like changes. Most studies report hypertrophic differentiation in chondrogenesis of MSCs, in both human OA and experimental OA. Chondrocyte hypertrophy is not under the strict control of a single pathway but appears to be regulated by an intricately regulated network of multiple signaling pathways, such as WNT, Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)/Transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ), Parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP), Indian hedgehog (IHH), Fibroblast growth factor (FGF), Insulin like growth factor (IGF) and Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF). This comprehensive review describes how this intricate signaling network influences tissue-engineering applications of MSCs in articular cartilage (AC) repair, and improves understanding of the disease stages and cellular responses within an OA articular joint.