Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gradient algorithm for reference-based cubic contrast function in a deflation scenario

The paper deals with the problem of blind source separation of a MIMO convolutive mixture by a deflation procedure. A criterion based on high order statistics and showing a cubic dependence w.r. t. the unknown equalizer parameters has been recently proposed. In order to optimize efficiently this criterion in a classical deflation scenario, we propose a new algorithm based on a fixed step size gradient. Computer simulations illustrate the good behavior and the usefulness of our algorithm in comparison with other approaches.
Development of a Mars Rover with Mapping and Localization System

In order to provide the research foundation for future exploration of the unknown world, a mars rover prototype is developed for studying the related technologies. In this study the development of a mars rover prototype with mapping and localization system is presented. At first, the architecture of the mars rover is designed to meet the motion requirement on rough terrains. The sensory system with stereo vision is introduced, which is responsible for environmental modeling. The experiment shows that the developed prototype is able to explore in unknown environments and the mapping and localization system proved to be feasible.
5-Episinuleptolide Decreases the Expression of the Extracellular Matrix in Early Biofilm Formation of Multi-Drug Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii

Nosocomial infections and increasing multi-drug resistance caused by Acinetobacter baumannii have been recognized as emerging problems worldwide. Moreover, A. baumannii is able to colonize various abiotic materials and medical devices, making it difficult to eradicate and leading to ventilator-associated pneumonia, and bacteremia. Development of novel molecules that inhibit bacterial biofilm formation may be an alternative prophylactic option for the treatment of biofilm-associated A. baumannii infections. Marine environments, which are unlike their terrestrial counterparts, harbor an abundant biodiversity of marine organisms that produce novel bioactive natural products with pharmaceutical potential. In this study, we identified 5-episinuleptolide, which was isolated from Sinularia leptoclados, as an inhibitor of biofilm formation in ATCC 19606 and three multi-drug resistant A. baumannii strains. In addition, the anti-biofilm activities of 5-episinuleptolide were observed for Gram-negative bacteria but not for Gram-positive bacteria, indicating that the inhibition mechanism of 5-episinuleptolide is effective against only Gram-negative bacteria. The mechanism of biofilm inhibition was demonstrated to correlate to decreased gene expression from the pgaABCD locus, which encodes the extracellular polysaccharide poly-β-(1,6)-N-acetylglucosamine (PNAG). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that extracellular matrix of the biofilm was dramatically decreased by treatment with 5-episinuleptolide. Our study showed potentially synergistic activity of combination therapy with 5-episinuleptolide and levofloxacin against biofilm formation and biofilm cells. These data indicate that inhibition of biofilm formation via 5-episinuleptolide may represent another prophylactic option for solving the persistent problem of biofilm-associated A. baumannii infections.
Memory and Analogy in Game-Playing Agents

We present our views and ideas about a possible approach to general game playing by utilising memory and analogy. We initially discuss the importance of memory in game playing agents. The forms that memory can take are examined and examples of successful agents who utilise memory are presented. Following this we focus on experiencebased, lazy learners and justify why we believe they may be beneficial in a general game playing domain. Analogical reasoning is then introduced and its benefits considered. We conclude by formulating some example analogies and speculating how an experience-based, lazy learner could apply these to a general game playing environment.
Handicap and Its Determinants of Change in Stroke Survivors: One-Year Follow-Up Study

Background and Purpose— Stroke, a major health issue affecting the elderly, limits their participation in society. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in stroke survivors' handicap levels and to identify their determinants in the subacute phase from 3 months to 1 year. Methods— Data were collected from a prospective cohort of 303 Chinese stroke survivors with the use of questionnaires, including the Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living–Chinese Version (IADL-CV), Barthel Index, Chinese Mini-Mental State Examination, Chinese Geriatric Depression Scale, and the Chinese version of the London Handicap Scale. Results— A total of 297 and 268 patients were successfully followed up at 6 and 12 months, respectively. Whereas IADL remained unchanged throughout, we found an improvement in Barthel Index but a deterioration in the Chinese Geriatric Depression Scale score at 12 months. Multilevel modeling revealed improvements in the mobility and social integration handicap domains and a deterioration in the orientation domain at 12 months. Overall handicap remained unchanged. At 12 months, depression was most significantly and independently associated with poststroke handicap, and advanced old age alone (>80 years) was associated with clinically significant deterioration in handicap. Conclusions— Even though IADL remained static at 1 year, mobility and social integration handicap dimensions can be improved in the early community phase after stroke. Nonphysical factors such as depression were confirmed to be significantly associated with handicap. Rehabilitation should target the high-risk group of very elderly stroke survivors who were 4 times more likely to deteriorate in handicap.
International Evidence on Financial Derivatives Usage

Theory predicts that nonfinancial corporations might use derivatives to lower financial distress costs, coordinate cash flows with investment, or resolve agency conflicts between managers and owners. Using a new database, we find that traditional tests of these theories have little power to explain the determinants of corporate derivatives usage. Instead, we show that derivative usage is determined endogenously with other financial and operating decisions in ways that are intuitive but not related to specific theories for why firms hedge. For example, derivative usage helps determine the level and maturity of debt, dividend policy, holdings of liquid assets, and international operating hedging.
Book Recommendation System through content based and collaborative filtering method

The online recommendation system has become a trend. Now a days rather than going out and buying items for themselves, reason being, online recommendation provides an easier and quicker way to buy items and transactions are also quick when it is done online. Recommended systems are powerful new technology and it helps users to find items which they want to buy. A recommendation system is broadly used to recommend products to the end users that are most appropriate. Online book selling Web sites now-a-days is competing with each other by considering many attributes. A recommendation system is one of the strongest tools to increase profits and retaining buyer. The existing systems lead to extraction of irrelevant information and lead to lack of user satisfaction. This paper presents Book Recommendation System (BRS) based on combined features of content based filtering (CBF), collaborative filtering (CF) and association rule mining to produce efficient and effective recommendation. For this we are proposing a hybrid algorithm in which we combine two or more algorithms, so it helps the recommendation system to recommend the book based on the buyer's interest.
Comparing manual- and auto-generated textual descriptions of business process models

Textual description of business process models can be generated either manually or automatically. Both ways of generating descriptions have their strengths and weaknesses. However, it is not clear, how similar or different are the two descriptions (manually generated and automatic generated). Once the answer to this question is known, it may lead to several conclusions, such as, the two descriptions can be used as an alternative to each other or not. To answer that question, in this study we have generated textual descriptions of 552 process models using two approaches (1) manual textual description approach and (2) automatic textual description approach. Subsequently, we apply three similarity estimation models including η-gram overlap, Longest Common Subsequence, and Vector Space Model to compute the degree of similarity between manual-automatic textual description pairs. Results show that the two types of textual descriptions are significantly different from each other and thus there is a space for improving the automatic technique in order to generate a textual description comparable with manually generated description.
Biomedicalización de los tiempos: terapéuticas, biosocialidades y cuidados cotidianos en familias de niños y niñas con diagnóstico de TEA en Buenos Aires

Resumen Se analiza la incidencia del diagnóstico de Trastorno del Espectro Autista (TEA) sobre la percepción y organización del tiempo en la vida cotidiana, de parte de las familias, y en especial las madres de niños y niñas diagnosticados por TEA (NNDxTEA). Los resultados surgen de dos investigaciones de posgrado. La metodología es cualitativa, reconstruye las historias de vida de cuatro madres que durante 2015 acompañaron a sus NNDxTEA a un Centro Terapéutico en la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Se consideran dos líneas. Primera, la medicalización y biomedicalización como procesos de anillados concéntricos en tres niveles: macro, meso y micro, profundizando el análisis en este último. Segunda, la vinculación entre los procesos de diagnóstico y tratamiento en salud mental, y las biosocialidades. Adicionalmente se incorporan consideraciones desde la sociología del tiempo. Los resultados exponen la incidencia del diagnóstico de TEA sobre el tiempo en cuatro ejes: la transformación de las actividades cotidianas, por la asistencia a espacios terapéuticos; las expectativas respecto del tiempo libre y esparcimiento; los cambios que, de haber podido, hubieran hecho en el tiempo que los NNDxTEA llevan realizando las terapias; y las creencias y pensamientos acerca del futuro del NNDxTEA de parte de sus familiares.
Loss of CDC4/FBXW7 in Gastric Carinoma

Background: CDC4/FBXW7, encoding a ubiquitin ligase, maps to 4q32 and has been implicated as a tumor suppressor gene and therapeutic target in many tumor types. Mutations in colonic adenomas, and the frequent losses on 4q described in gastric cancer prompt speculation about the role of CDC4/FBXW7 in gastric carcinogenesis. Methods: We assessed the role of CDC4/FBXW7 in gastric cancer, through loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) on 47 flow-sorted gastric carcinomas including early-onset gastric cancers (EOGC) and xenografted conventional gastric carcinomas. Ploidy analysis was carried out on 39 EOGCs and immunohistochemistry of CDC4/FBXW7 and its substrates c-myc, c-jun, Notch and cyclin E was performed on 204 gastric carcinomas using tissue microarrays (TMAs). Sequence analysis of CDC4/FBXW7 was carried out on gastric carcinoma cell lines and xenografts. Results: Loss of heterozygosity of CDC4/FBXW7 occurred in 32% of EOGCs, and correlated with loss of expression in 26%. Loss of expression was frequent in both EOGC and conventional gastric cancers. No CDC4/FBXW7 mutations were found and loss of CDC4/FBXW7 did not correlate with ploidy status. There was a significant correlation between loss of CDC4/FBXW7 expression and upregulation of c-myc. Conclusions: Loss of CDC4/FBXW7 appears to play a role in both EOGC and conventional gastric carcinogenesis, and c-myc overexpression is likely to be an important oncogenic consequence of CDC4/FBXW7 loss.
Phosphorylation via PKC Regulates the Function of the Drosophila Odorant Co-Receptor

Insect odorant receptors (ORs) have a unique design of heterodimers formed by an olfactory receptor protein and the ion channel Orco. Heterologously expressed insect ORs are activated via an ionotropic and a metabotropic pathway that leads to cAMP production and activates the Orco channel. The contribution of metabotropic signaling to the insect odor response remains to be elucidated. Disruption of the Gq protein signaling cascade reduces the odor response (Kain et al., 2008). We investigated this phenomenon in HEK293 cells expressing Drosophila Orco and found that phospholipase C (PLC) inhibition reduced the sensitivity of Orco to cAMP. A similar effect was seen upon inhibition of protein kinase C (PKC), whereas PKC stimulation activated Orco even in the absence of cAMP. Mutation of the five PKC phosphorylation sites in Orco almost completely eliminated sensitivity to cAMP. To test the impact of PKC activity in vivo we combined single sensillum electrophysiological recordings with microinjection of agents affecting PLC and PKC function and observed an altered response of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) to odorant stimulation. Injection of the PLC inhibitor U73122 or the PKC inhibitor Gö6976 into sensilla reduced the OSN response to odor pulses. Conversely, injection of the PKC activators OAG, a diacylglycerol analog, or phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) enhanced the odor response. We conclude that metabotropic pathways affecting the phosphorylation state of Orco regulate OR function and thereby shape the OSN odor response.
Automatic Segmentation of Overlapped Images

Chromosomes are essential genomic information carriers. The identification of chromosome abnormalities is an essential part of diagnosis and treatment of genetic disorders such as chromosomal syndromes and many types of cancer. There are different types of chromosome aberration like mapping of the common duplications, deletions, and translocations. One of the most considerations in the field of chromosome analysis is the segmentation. Currently available cytogenetic imaging software is designed to classify only normal chromosomes (9). The automation of chromosome analysis is involving segmentation of chromosomes and classification into 24 groups (8). The segmentation and overlap of chromosomes are a major step toward the realization of homolog classification. Resolving chromosome overlaps is an unsolved problem in automated chromosome analysis and the analysis is complicated by the occurrence of clusters of overlapped chromosomes. Current systems for automatic chromosome classification are mostly interactive and require human intervention for correct separation between touching and overlapping chromosomes, and so are unable to segregate overlapping chromosomes. In this paper, propose an automatic procedure to obtain the separated chromosomes. The overlapped chromosomes are segmented by found the interesting (concave and convex) points with the help of chain code algorithm and the interesting points (1) are located on contour of the image and then the curvature function is found to find out concave points and the possible separation lines are plotted by using all concave points and finally construct hypotheses for possible separation lines between concave points. The segmentation is carried out by means of a curvature function scheme, which proved to be successful.
Social Connections in User-Generated Content Video Systems: Analysis and Recommendation

User-generated content (UGC) video systems by definition heavily depend on the input of their community of users and their social interactions for video diffusion and opinion sharing. Nevertheless, we show in this paper, through measurement and analysis of YouKu, the most popular UGC video system in China, that the social connectivity of its users is very low. These observations are consistent with what was reported about YouTube in previous works. As a UGC system can achieve a larger audience through improved connectivity, our findings motivate us to propose a mean to enhance the users' connectivity by taking benefit of friend recommendation. To this end, we assess two similarity metrics based on users' interests that are derived from their uploads and favorites tagging of videos, to evaluate the interest similarity between friends. The results consistently show that friends share to a great extent common interests. Two friend recommendation algorithms are then proposed. The algorithms use public information provided by users to suggest potential friends with similar interests as measured by the similarity metrics. Experiments on our gathered YouKu dataset demonstrate that the social connectivity can be greatly enhanced by our friend proposition set and that users can access a larger set of interesting videos through the recommendations.
Computational Soundness of Formal Encryption in Coq

We formalize Abadi and Rogaway's computational soundness result in the Coq interactive theorem prover. This requires to model notions of provable cryptography like indistinguishability between ensembles of probability distributions, PPT reductions, and security notions for encryption schemes. Our formalization is the first computational soundness result to be mechanized, and it shows the feasibility of rigorous reasoning of computational cryptography inside a generic interactive theorem prover.
A Lie Algebraic Approach to Design of Stable Feedback Control Systems with Varying Sampling Rate

This paper addresses the design of a controller family that, given a continuous-time linear plant sampled at a varying rate, asymptotically stabilizes the closed loop. Under the assumption of having a finite and known set of allowable sampling intervals, the problem is formulated as that of stabilizing a discrete-time switched system (DTSS). The solution approach consists in choosing the controller parameters in order for the Lie algebra generated by the closed-loop DTSS-matrices to be solvable, as this property guarantees the existence of a common Lyapunov function for the control system. The results can be applied to design digital controllers sharing resources, as it is the case of networked control systems, where the need of adapting the rate of task scheduling may originate significant sampling time variations.
Decentralization of Access to Antiretroviral Therapy in Cameroon: Correlates of HIV Physicians’ Knowledge in HIV Care

Background Good knowledge in HIV care among physicians is a necessary prerequisite to effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) scaling-up in Sub-Saharan Africa. Methods Between September 2006 and March 2007, a 27-item knowledge questionnaire was proposed to all HIV physicians working in 27 hospitals throughout six provinces of Cameroon. Physicians’ responses were compared between the three levels of decentralization of the Cameroonian healthcare delivery system (χ2 and Fisher tests). Correct responses were summed to build a knowledge score. Factors significantly associated with a higher score were identified using linear regression. Results In total, 93 physicians filled in the questionnaire. Level of knowledge was globally good (median score 23), with no significant difference between the three levels of decentralization. Gaps in knowledge were observed regarding the use of cotrimoxazole and the follow-up of ART-treated patients. Main factors independently associated with a higher knowledge score included training, involvement in therapeutic committees, satisfactory collaboration with other practitioners and establishment of strong relationships between patients and patients’ associations. Conclusions Overall knowledge in HIV care is good among HIV physicians working at all three levels of decentralization of healthcare in Cameroon. However, a national training policy should be set up to improve knowledge and practices in both ART follow-up and specific situations such as paediatric HIV. Collaboration between caregivers and external resources involved in HIV care should also be encouraged.
Interobserver Reliability of Baseline Noncontrast CT Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score for Intra-Arterial Stroke Treatment Selection

The ASPECTS has been shown to predict outcomes of early ischemic patients after intra-arterial therapy by providing semiquantitative data regarding infarction core. In this article the authors assessed the interobserver reliability of this scale in patients with proximal occlusions. CT studies in 155 patients were retrospectively analyzed by 2 independent observers. Among patients with anterior circulation proximal artery occlusions who were eligible for intra-arterial therapy, interrater reliability for ASPECTS grading was substantial across the entire scale. When using the dichotomized ASPECTS (≤ 7 versus >7) for treatment selection, agreement was only moderate, limiting its utility. In the patient cohort, approximately 25% of treatment decisions would have been affected by interrater reliability. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Early ischemic changes on pretreatment NCCT quantified using ASPECTS have been demonstrated to predict outcomes after IAT. We sought to determine the interobserver reliability of ASPECTS for patients with AIS with PAO and to determine whether pretreatment ASPECTS dichotomized at 7 would demonstrate at least substantial κ agreement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From our prospective IAT data base, we identified consecutive patients with anterior circulation PAO who underwent IAT over a 6-year period. Only those with an evaluable pretreatment NCCT were included. ASPECTS was graded independently by 2 experienced readers. Interrater agreement was assessed for total ASPECTS, dichotomized ASPECTS (≤7 versus >7), and each ASPECTS region. Statistical analysis included determination of Cohen κ coefficients and concordance correlation coefficients. PABAK coefficients were also calculated. RESULTS: One hundred fifty-five patients met our study criteria. Median pretreatment ASPECTS was 8 (interquartile range 7–9). Interrater agreement for total ASPECTS was substantial (concordance correlation coefficient = 0.77). The mean ASPECTS difference between readers was 0.2 (95% confidence interval, −2.8 to 2.4). For dichotomized ASPECTS, there was a 76.8% (119/155) observed rate of agreement, with a moderate κ = 0.53 (PABAK = 0.54). By region, agreement was worst in the internal capsule and the cortical areas, ranging from fair to moderate. After adjusting for prevalence and bias, agreement improved to substantial or near perfect in most regions. CONCLUSIONS: Interobserver reliability is substantial for total ASPECTS but is only moderate for ASPECTS dichotomized at 7. This may limit the utility of dichotomized ASPECTS for IAT selection.