Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A POLAR-COORDINATE BASED ACTIVATION FUNCTION FOR FREQUENCY DOMAIN BLIND SOURCE SEPARATION

This paper presents a new activation function for an ICA algorithm to process complex-valued signals, which is used in frequency domain blind source separation. The new activation function is based on the polar coordinates of a complex number, whereas the conventional one is based on the Cartesian coordinates of a complex number and calculates the real part and imaginary part separately. The new activation function eliminates an undesirable constraint occurred by the conventional function. In experiments for separating speech signals in a reverberant environment, we obtained improved SNRs by using the new activation function.
Importance des critères de choix de l’huile d’olive. La méthode Best Worst

The objective of this article consists in comparing consumer choice attributes by using the Best-Worst method. An application in the food sector (olive oil) in two different countries (France and Tunisia) shows that it allows easy product's attributes ranking. Finally, this article presents managerial issues, critics and relevant applications of the method.
The Efficacy of Percutaneous Long-Segmental Posterior Fixation of Unstable Thoracolumbar Fracture with Partial Neurologic Deficit

Study Design Retrospective analysis. Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical and radiological outcomes of patients with unstable thoracolumbar fracture (UTLF) who were treated by percutaneous long-segmental posterior fixation (PLSPF) by two vertebrae cranial to the fracture with two vertebrae caudal. Overview of Literature To the best of our knowledge, PLSPF for stabilization of UTLF has not been reported. Methods The study involved retrospective analysis and investigation from the results of 27 patients who had undergone PLSPF for stabilization of a UTLF with partial neurologic deficit, over a follow-up period of two years. Kyphotic angle (KA), anterior vertebral height percentage (AVHP) and cross-sectional ratio of the displaced fragment within the spinal canal were evaluated with simple radiographs and axial computed tomography scans preoperatively and two years postoperatively. The clinical outcome for pain was assessed by a visual analogue scale (VAS) and Denis' scale, and the degree of neurologic deficit was measured by modified Frankel classification. Results Five patients had minor complications. The KA, AVHP, and cross-sectional ratio of the displaced fragment improved significantly after surgery (p<0.001, p<0.001, p<0.003, respectively). Neurologic recovery of one or more for the Frankel grade was seen in 19 patients with an average improvement of 1.7. The VAS and Denis' score improved significantly at a two year follow-up (p=0.02, p=0.012, respectively). Conclusions The technique of PLSPF is useful for the treatment of UTLF with partial neurologic deficit, and produces decreased morbidity and fewer complications.
Development of new brain computer interface based on EEG and EMG

It is widely accepted in the BCI (brain computer interface) research community that neurological phenomena are the only source of control in BCI system. However, asynchronous control is an important issue for BCIs working in real-life settings, where it should determine from brain signals not only the desired commands but also when the user wants to input it or stop it. This paper proposes a new mouse control system using a combined classification method from EEG (electroencephalogram) and EMG signals to solve the problem. There should be defined at least four commands, up, down, left, and right, for the mouse control. However, stop command is added in our system for the asynchronous control, especially to off the commands. These commands are derived from a combined classification method from source of control by using the mono-polar of 6 channel EEG signals and EMG signal with masseter muscle. EEG signals are used for the distinctions from left and right or up and down depending on EMG signal where it is used as a toggle operation for which turns on or off the commands and reverses the commands. From the experimental simulation result, we get at least 88% accuracy.
Bandwidth and energy efficiency of video broadcasting services over LTE/LTE-A

Mobile video services are becoming a dominant traffic category in emerging fourth generation (4G) cellular networks such as the 3GPP Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A). In particular, mobile video broadcasting services such as 3GPP evolved Multimedia Multicast/Broadcast Service (eMBMS) will require considerable resources for highquality video service delivery with high coverage probability. Faced with the challenge of bandwidth and energy efficient eMBMS provisioning over LTE/LTE-A, in this paper, we develop simple analytical tools for evaluation of average service data rates, bandwidth and energy-consumption requirements in different eMBMS LTE/LTE-A service configurations. Moreover, we introduce and evaluate novel bandwidth and energy performance measures defined per unit of service with the goal of comparing the service delivery efficiency of different LTE/LTE-A configurations. The results in the paper focus on eMBMS provisioning over two macro-cellular LTE/LTE-A configurations in 3GPP: i) a single frequency network eMBMS, and ii) a single-cell eMBMS.
Gonococcal strains from homosexual men have outer membranes with reduced permeability to hydrophobic molecules

Loci designated penA, penB, and mtr contribute additively to penicillin G resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae; the mtr locus also confers resistance to hydrophobic dyes, detergents, and antibiotics, env mutations suppress the phenotypic expression of mtr and penB and are responsible for increased sensitivity to various hydrophobic molecules. We postulated that the host environment is important in the selection of gonococcal strains with these particular outer membrane phenotypes. Thus, mtr strains should predominate in environments that are high in hydrophobic molecules. To test this hypothesis we determined the outer membrane phenotype of 152 strains of N. gonorrhoeae. Rectal and urethral isolates from 58 homosexual men, urethral isolates from 55 heterosexual men, and cervical and rectal isolates from 39 heterosexual women were used in this study. Strains from 43 of the homosexual men were matched with those from heterosexual men with respect to auxotype and year and season of isolation. Cell envelope phenotype was determined for each strain on the basis of its resistance to various hydrophobic compounds. The identity of mtr strains was confirmed by genetic transformation. Among the matched pairs, mtr strains were significantly more prevalent among isolates from homosexual men than among those from heterosexual men (P = 0.03). Serogrouping by coagglutination demonstrated that 17 of 19 mtr strains versus 76 of 131 non-mtr strains belonged to coagglutination group WII (P = 0.01). Coagglutination group WII strains were also associated with homosexuality (P = 0.02). Gonococci were also tested for resistance to fecal lipids, mtr strains were more resistant to growth inhibition by fecal lipids than were non-mtr strains.
Conceptual partitioning: an efficient method for continuous nearest neighbor monitoring

Given a set of objects P and a query point q, a k nearest neighbor (k-NN) query retrieves the k objects in P that lie closest to q. Even though the problem is well-studied for static datasets, the traditional methods do not extend to highly dynamic environments where multiple continuous queries require real-time results, and both objects and queries receive frequent location updates. In this paper we propose conceptual partitioning (CPM), a comprehensive technique for the efficient monitoring of continuous NN queries. CPM achieves low running time by handling location updates only from objects that fall in the vicinity of some query (and ignoring the rest). It can be used with multiple, static or moving queries, and it does not make any assumptions about the object moving patterns. We analyze the performance of CPM and show that it outperforms the current state-of-the-art algorithms for all problem settings. Finally, we extend our framework to aggregate NN (ANN) queries, which monitor the data objects that minimize the aggregate distance with respect to a set of query points (e.g., the objects with the minimum sum of distances to all query points).
A simple but exact and efficient algorithm for complex root isolation

We present a new exact subdivision algorithm CEVAL for isolating the complex roots of a square-free polynomial in any given box. It is a generalization of a previous real root isolation algorithm called EVAL. Under suitable conditions, our approach is applicable for general analytic functions. CEVAL is based on the simple Bolzano Principle and is easy to implement exactly. Preliminary experiments have shown its competitiveness. We further show that, for the "benchmark problem" of isolating all roots of a square-free polynomial with integer coefficients, the asymptotic complexity of both algorithms EVAL and CEVAL matches (up a logarithmic term) that of more sophisticated real root isolation methods which are based on Descartes' Rule of Signs, Continued Fraction or Sturm sequence. In particular, we show that the tree size of EVAL matches that of other algorithms. Our analysis is based on a novel technique called Δ-clusters from which we expect to see further applications.
A Unifying View of Explicit and Implicit Feature Maps for Structured Data: Systematic Studies of Graph Kernels

Non-linear kernel methods can be approximated by fast linear ones using suitable explicit feature maps allowing their application to large scale problems. To this end, explicit feature maps of kernels for vectorial data have been extensively studied. As many real-world data is structured, various kernels for complex data like graphs have been proposed. Indeed, many of them directly compute feature maps. However, the kernel trick is employed when the number of features is very large or the individual vertices of graphs are annotated by real-valued attributes. Can we still compute explicit feature maps efficiently under these circumstances? Triggered by this question, we investigate how general convolution kernels are composed from base kernels and construct corresponding feature maps. We apply our results to widely used graph kernels and analyze for which kernels and graph properties computation by explicit feature maps is feasible and actually more efficient. In particular, we derive feature maps for random walk and subgraph matching kernels and apply them to real-world graphs with discrete labels. Thereby, our theoretical results are confirmed experimentally by observing a phase transition when comparing running time with respect to label diversity, walk lengths and subgraph size, respectively. Moreover, we derive approximative, explicit feature maps for state-of-the-art kernels supporting real-valued attributes including the GraphHopper and Graph Invariant kernels. In extensive experiments we show that our approaches often achieve a classification accuracy close to the exact methods based on the kernel trick, but require only a fraction of their running time.
[Clinical investigation on the compliance and the validity of ventilator bundle].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the compliance of ventilator bundle implementation and its preventive effect on ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP). METHODS A before and after design was used in this single center study. Patients aged from 18 to 80 years, with mechanical ventilation (MV) duration over 48 hours were recruited during 1 year before (control group) and 2 years after bundle implementation (intervention group). Measurements included the rate of successful ventilator bundle implementation in intervention group, incidence of VAP, duration of MV and mortality within 28 days in both groups. RESULTS A total number of 237 patients, including 71 patients in control arm and 166 patients in intervention arm, were recruited in this study. There was no statistical significance in ratio of sex, mean age, category of diseases or mean acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) score between two groups (all P>0.05). Significant changes were not found in MV duration [(5.9+/-5.6) days vs. (5.2+/-6.1) days], incidence of VAP (21.1% vs. 20.5%) and mortality within 28 days (16.9% vs. 19.8%) between control and intervention group as well. In intervention group, 57 of 166 (34.3%) patients were successfully implemented all of four ventilator bundle items. The successful rate of ventilator bundle implementation were 62.5% (35/56), 22.1% (21/95) and 6.7% (1/15) in patients received MV duration < or =3 days, 4-7 days and >7 days respectively. Among the four items of the bundle, head of bed elevation > or =30 degree angle had the lowest successful rate [43.4% (72/166)]. But it was much better in the implementation of daily wake-up plus weaning, prevention of peptic ulcer and prevention of deep vein thrombosis formation [92.2% (153/166), 88.0% (146/166) and 83.1% (138/166) respectively]. CONCLUSION The poor compliance of ventilator bundle is an important factor in impacting the efficacy of ventilator bundle.
From Blood to Brain: Adult-Born Neurons in the Crayfish Brain Are the Progeny of Cells Generated by the Immune System

New neurons continue to be born and integrated into the brains of adult decapod crustaceans. Evidence in crayfish indicates that the 1st-generation neural precursors that generate these adult-born neurons originate in the immune system and travel to the neurogenic niche via the circulatory system. These precursors are attracted to the niche, become integrated amongst niche cells, and undergo mitosis within a few days; both daughters of this division migrate away from the niche toward the brain clusters where they will divide again and differentiate into neurons. In the crustacean brain, the rate of neuronal production is highly sensitive to serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) levels. These effects are lineage-dependent, as serotonin's influence is limited to late 2nd-generation neural precursors and their progeny. Experiments indicate that serotonin regulates adult neurogenesis in the crustacean brain by multiple mechanisms: via direct effects of serotonin released from brain neurons into the hemolymph or by local release onto target cells, or by indirect influences via a serotonin-mediated release of agents from other regions, such as hormones from the sinus gland and cytokines from hematopoietic tissues. Evidence in crayfish also indicates that serotonin mediates the attraction of neural precursors generated by the immune system to the neurogenic niche. Thus, studies in the crustacean brain have revealed multiple roles for this monoamine in adult neurogenesis, and identified several pathways by which serotonin influences the generation of new neurons.
A Novel Transition Based Encoding Scheme for Planning as Satisfiability

Planning as satisfiability is a principal approach to planning with many eminent advantages. The existing planning as satisfiability techniques usually use encodings compiled from the STRIPS formalism. We introduce a novel SAT encoding scheme based on the SAS+ formalism. It exploits the structural information in the SAS+ formalism, resulting in more compact SAT instances and reducing the number of clauses by up to 50 fold. Our results show that this encoding scheme improves upon the STRIPS-based encoding, in terms of both time and memory efficiency.
The effect of ex vivo flexion and extension on intervertebral foramina dimensions in the equine cervical spine.

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY In dressage, the head and neck position has become an issue of concern as certain extreme positions may imply a welfare risk for the horse. In man, extension and flexion of the cervical spine cause a decrease and increase in intervertebral foramina dimensions, respectively. However, in horses, the influence of flexion and extension on foramina dimensions and its possible interference with peripheral nerve functioning remains unknown. OBJECTIVES To determine the effect of ex vivo flexion and extension on intervertebral foramina dimensions in the equine cervical spine. METHODS Computed tomography was performed on 6 cadaver cervical spines from adult Warmblood horses subjected to euthanasia for reasons unrelated to cervical spine abnormalities, in a neutral position, in 20 and 40° extension, and in 20 and 40° flexion. Multiplanar reconstructions were made to obtain transverse images perpendicular to the long axis of each pair of intervertebral foramina from C2-T1. Intervertebral foramina dimensions were measured in the 5 positions. RESULTS Compared to the neutral position, 40° extension caused a decrease in foramina dimensions at segments C4-C5, C5-C6, C6-C7 (P < 0.001) and C7-T1 (P < 0.002); 20° extension caused a decrease in foramina dimensions at segments C5-C6 (P < 0.02), C6-C7 (P < 0.001) and C7-T1 (P < 0.01); 20° flexion caused an increase in foramen length at segment C6-C7 (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Ex vivo extension of the cervical spine causes a decrease in intervertebral foramina dimensions at segments C4-T1, similar to that found in man. POTENTIAL RELEVANCE In vivo extension of the cervical spine could possibly interfere with peripheral nerve functioning at segments C4-T1. This effect may be even more profound in patients with a reduced intervertebral foramina space, for example in the presence of facet joint arthrosis.
Optimally decoding the input rate from an observation of the interspike intervals

A neuron extensively receives both inhibitory and excitatory inputs. What is the ratio r between these two types of input so that the neuron can most accurately read out input information (rate)? We explore the issue in this paper provided that the neuron is an ideal observer—decoding the input information with the attainment of the Cramer–Rao inequality bound. It is found that, in general, adding certain amounts of inhibitory inputs to a neuron improves its capability of accurately decoding the input information. By calculating the Fisher information of an integrate-and-fire neuron, we determine the optimal ratio r for decoding the input information from an observation of the efferent interspike intervals. Surprisingly, the Fisher information can be zero for certain values of the ratio, seemingly implying that it is impossible to read out the encoded information at these values. By analysing the maximum likelihood estimate of the input information, it is concluded that the input information is in fact most easily estimated at the points where the Fisher information vanishes.
A New Image Quality Metric using System Visual Human Characteristics

Several human visual system (HVS) based quality metrics have been developed in recent years to measure the quality distortions caused by digital image coding techniques. Because of the complicated nature of the HVS characteristics, these metrics do not provide acceptable correlation with perceptual evaluations of the distortion. Recent studies by the Visual Quality Experts Group (VQEG) also show that the current HVS-based techniques do not provide a clear advantage over a mathematically defined technique such as mean square error (MSE). Therefore, this paper proposes a new quality metric based on the dynamic characteristics and on the just-noticeable-difference threshold characteristics introduced by Weber's law: the relative weighted Peak to Signal Noise Ratio. Our experiments on various image distortion types indicate that our metric performs significantly better than the widely used distortion metric Mean Squared Error. We should that the rwPSNR correlates with human perception of image quality.
The TOR Complex 1 Is Distributed in Endosomes and in Retrograde Vesicles That Form from the Vacuole Membrane and Plays an Important Role in the Vacuole Import and Degradation Pathway*

The key gluconeogenic enzyme fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) is induced when Saccharomyces cerevisiae are starved of glucose. However, when glucose is added to cells that have been starved for 3 days, FBPase is degraded in the vacuole. FBPase is first imported to Vid (vacuole import and degradation) vesicles, and these vesicles then merge with the endocytic pathway. In this report we show that two additional gluconeogenic enzymes, isocitrate lyase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, were also degraded in the vacuole via the Vid pathway. These new cargo proteins and FBPase interacted with the TORC1 complex during glucose starvation. However, Tor1p was dissociated from FBPase after the addition of glucose. FBPase degradation was inhibited in cells overexpressing TOR1, suggesting that excessive Tor1p is inhibitory. Both Tco89p and Tor1p were found in endosomes coming from the plasma membrane as well as in retrograde vesicles forming from the vacuole membrane. When TORC1 was inactivated by rapamycin, FBPase degradation was inhibited. We suggest that TORC1 interacts with multiple cargo proteins destined for the Vid pathway and plays an important role in the degradation of FBPase in the vacuole.
Variations in risk exposure: a longitudinal analysis of enterprise software projects

Effective allocation of resources to risk mitigation still is a pivotal challenge to project managers. Thus, researchers and practitioners compile commonly important risks and present them as checklists, risk rankings, and other methods to help project managers in justifying allocating resources for mitigation. In this paper, we challenge the static nature of such compilations by exploring longitudinal variations in project managers’ risk exposure estimations. Our analysis of risk reports from 111 enterprise software projects shows that (1) risk exposure estimations vary along project phases and that (2) the estimations’ volatility differs across risks. This highlights the necessity of a dynamic lens for advancing the understanding of project risks. From a practical perspective, our findings substantiate the need for continuous risk assessments throughout projects.
Seeing is believing: information content and behavioural response to visual and chemical cues

Predator avoidance and foraging often pose conflicting demands. Animals can decrease mortality risk searching for predators, but searching decreases foraging time and hence intake. We used this principle to investigate how prey should use information to detect, assess and respond to predation risk from an optimal foraging perspective. A mathematical model showed that solitary bees should increase flower examination time in response to predator cues and that the rate of false alarms should be negatively correlated with the relative value of the flower explored. The predatory ant, Oecophylla smaragdina, and the harmless ant, Polyrhachis dives, differ in the profile of volatiles they emit and in their visual appearance. As predicted, the solitary bee Nomia strigata spent more time examining virgin flowers in presence of predator cues than in their absence. Furthermore, the proportion of flowers rejected decreased from morning to noon, as the relative value of virgin flowers increased. In addition, bees responded differently to visual and chemical cues. While chemical cues induced bees to search around flowers, bees detecting visual cues hovered in front of them. These strategies may allow prey to identify the nature of visual cues and to locate the source of chemical cues.