Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feature Importance Measure for Non-linear Learning Algorithms

Complex problems may require sophisticated, non-linear learning methods such as kernel machines or deep neural networks to achieve state of the art prediction accuracies. However, high prediction accuracies are not the only objective to consider when solving problems using machine learning. Instead, particular scientific applications require some explanation of the learned prediction function. Unfortunately, most methods do not come with out of the box straight forward interpretation. Even linear prediction functions are not straight forward to explain if features exhibit complex correlation structure. In this paper, we propose the Measure of Feature Importance (MFI). MFI is general and can be applied to any arbitrary learning machine (including kernel machines and deep learning). MFI is intrinsically non-linear and can detect features that by itself are inconspicuous and only impact the prediction function through their interaction with other features. Lastly, MFI can be used for both --- model-based feature importance and instance-based feature importance (i.e, measuring the importance of a feature for a particular data point).
Reduced Striatal Dopamine Transporter Density in Abstinent Methamphetamine and Methcathinone Users: Evidence from Positron Emission Tomography Studies with [11C]WIN-35,428

Methamphetamine and methcathinone are psychostimulant drugs with high potential for abuse. In animals, methamphetamine and related drugs are known to damage brain dopamine (DA) neurons, and this damage has recently been shown to be detectable in living nonhuman primates by means of positron emission tomography (PET) with [11C]WIN-35,428, a DA transporter (DAT) ligand. The present studies determined whether living humans with a history of methamphetamine or methcathinone abuse showed evidence of lasting decrements in brain DAT density. PET studies were performed in 10 control subjects, six abstinent methamphetamine users, four abstinent methcathinone users, and three patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). On average, subjects had abstained from amphetamine use for ∼3 years. Before PET studies, all subjects underwent urine and blood toxicology screens to rule out recent drug use. Compared with controls, abstinent methamphetamine and methcathinone users had significant decreases in DAT density in the caudate nucleus (−23 and −24%, respectively) and putamen (−25 and −16%, respectively). Larger decreases in DAT density were evident in patients with PD (47 and 68% in caudate and putamen, respectively). Neither methamphetamine nor methcathinone users showed clinical signs of parkinsonism. Persistent reductions of DAT density in methamphetamine and methcathinone users are suggestive of loss of DAT or loss of DA terminals and raise the possibility that as these individuals age, they may be at increased risk for the development of parkinsonism or neuropsychiatric conditions in which brain DA neurons have been implicated.
The impact of content popularity distribution on energy efficient caching

This paper evaluates the effect of content popularity distribution on the power consumption of cache-based services in an IP over WDM network. We consider the Zipf, Bimodal, Pareto and Equal Popularity distributions for content popularity. The results reveal that using our MILP model, reductions in power consumption under the Zipf, Pareto, Bimodal and Equal Popularity distributions are up to 47%, 71%, 72% and 71%, respectively. We also study the impact of the sizes of media files and the impact of the power efficiency of caches on the network power consumption. The results confirm that under the Zipf and Equal Popularity distributions the power consumption rises as the average size of media files and cache power consumption increases. Under the Bimodal and Pareto distributions, the average cache size in the network is not affected by the increase in media file sizes.
The Role of Narrow Band Imaging in the Detection of Recurrent Laryngeal and Hypopharyngeal Cancer after Curative Radiotherapy

Narrow band imaging is considered a significant improvement in the possibility of detecting early mucosal lesion of the upper aerodigestive tract. Early detection of mucosal neoplastic lesions is of utmost importance for patients survival. There is evidence that, especially in patients previously treated by means of curative radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy, the early detection rate of recurrent disease is quite low. The aim of this study was to prove whether the videoendoscopy coupled with NBI might help detect recurrent or secondary tumors of the upper aerodigestive tract. 66 patients previously treated by means of RT or CRT with curative intent were enrolled in the study. All patients underwent transnasal flexible videoendoscopy with NBI mode under local anesthesia. When a suspicious lesion was identified in an ambulatory setting, its nature was proved histologically. Many of these changes were not identifiable by means of conventional white light (WL) endoscopy. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value of the method are very high (88%, 92%, 76%, 96%, and 91%, resp.). Results demonstrate that outpatient transnasal endoscopy with NBI is an excellent method for the follow-up of patients with carcinomas of the larynx and the hypopharynx primarily treated with radiotherapy.
International Journal of Computer Science and Technology 365

As automatic vehicle number plate detection has many applications in traffic systems, vehicles number plate detection has been intensively studied in many countries. In this paper, a simple and efficient method is presented which is mainly designed for Indian vehicles number plate detection. The presented method is based upon edge detection with sobel operator, dilation and template matching process. The proposed method has been tested over real images and from the results it shows good performance in number plate detection. I. Introduction In intelligent traffic systems, vehicle number plate detection is an essential stage. Vehicle number plate detection is a form of automatic vehicle identification [1]. As the use of the vehicles has been increasing, the control of the vehicle is becoming a big problem. For effective control an automatic vehicle identification system has been developed. The vehicle number plate detection has many application in traffic monitoring system including highway electronic toll collection, traffic volume, vehicle tracking, policing, border, custom security and so on. Since every vehicle carries a unique number plate, by image processing techniques vehicles can be identified by only their number plates. In Digital image processing, an image may be defined as two dimensional function f(x, y) where x and y are spatial (plane) coordinates and amplitude of f at any pair of coordinates (x, y) is called the intensity or gray level of image at that point. Digital image processing starts with one image and produces a modified version of that image. Digital image analysis is a process that transforms a digital image into something other than a digital image, such as a set of measurement data, alphabet text, or a decision. Image digitization is a process that converts a pictorial form to numerical data [2]. Image processing techniques have been developed tremendously during the past five decades.
IIRpanel - An Online Access Panel for Interactive Information Retrieval Research

We propose an online access panel to support the evaluation pro- cess of Interactive Information Retrieval (IIR) systems - called IIRpanel. By maintaining an online access panel with users of IIR systems we assume that the recurring effort to recruit participants for web-based as well as for lab stud- ies can be minimized. We target on using the online access panel not only for our own development processes but to open it for other interested researchers in the field of IIR. In this paper we present the concept of IIRpanel as well as first implementation details.
Workflow Signatures for Business Process

Workflow signatures are accustomed hold unity of information in which it supports the rational and the order of relationships like AND-join and AND-split, of advancement. Advancement signatures are Digital firm for verifying and proving of business development across some dominant needs. The signing keys are sensible to permit approvals to hold out tasks. Since the signature keys are issued on-the-fly, permission to hold out employment within a work flow will be composed and given energetic at runtime. This paper provides true advancement signature technique, rely on hierarchical unity-placed cryptography, to encounter safety measures by structure workflows. A multi-level validation of data is completed using multi signature binding on each and every message. This can produce an extremely secure and competitive strength to the system. In this paper, an option for the users to generate the key is provided and if the user loses his digital signature, it is providing annotation of recovering the digital signature. Digital signature generated based on identity based signature scheme using hierarchical information which is one of the challenging schemes. Hierarchical information and control flow is controlled by business process automations which is the key focus of this paper.
The Speaker Adaptation of an Acoustic Model

This paper deals with several adaptation techniques, which are of the importance in cases when the identity of a speaker is known and we want to recognize his speech. We are using three different methods, namely Maximum Apriori Probability adaptation, Maximum Likelihood Linear Regression and Constrained Maximum Likelihood Linear Regression. Each of the methods yields various benefits, therefore we examined their combination. This approach brought further error rate decreasing. All acoustic models are based on the Hiden Markov Model.
Soyasaponins Can Blunt Inflammation by Inhibiting the Reactive Oxygen Species-Mediated Activation of PI3K/Akt/NF-kB Pathway

We and others have recently shown that soyasaponins abundant in soybeans can decrease inflammation by suppressing the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB)-mediated inflammation. However, the exact molecular mechanisms by which soyasaponins inhibit the NF-kB pathway have not been established. In this study in macrophages, soyasaponins (A1, A2 and I) inhibited the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced release of inflammatory marker prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) to a similar extent as the NF-kB inhibitor (BAY117082). Soyasaponins (A1, A2 and I) also suppressed the LPS-induced expression of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), another inflammatory marker, in a dose-dependent manner by inhibiting NF-kB activation. In defining the associated mechanisms, we found that soyasaponins (A1, A2 and I) blunted the LPS-induced IKKα/β phosphorylation, IkB phosphorylation and degradation, and NF-kB p65 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation. In studying the upstream targets of soyasaponins on the NF-kB pathway, we found that soyasaponins (A1, A2 and I) suppressed the LPS-induced activation of PI3K/Akt similarly as the PI3K inhibitor LY294002, which alone blocked the LPS-induced activation of NF-kB. Additionally, soyasaponins (A1, A2 and I) reduced the LPS-induced production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to the same extent as the anti-oxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine, which alone inhibited the LPS-induced phosphorylation of Akt, IKKα/β, IkBα, and p65, transactivity of NF-kB, PGE2 production, and malondialdehyde production. Finally, our results show that soyasaponins (A1, A2 and I) elevated SOD activity and the GSH/GSSG ratio. Together, these results show that soyasaponins (A1, A2 and I) can blunt inflammation by inhibiting the ROS-mediated activation of the PI3K/Akt/NF-kB pathway.
Designing non constant resolution vision sensors via photosites rearrangement

Non conventional imaging sensors have been intensively investigate in recent works. Research is conducted to design devices capable to provide panoramic views with no need of mozaicing process. These devices combine optical lenses and/or non planar reflective surface with standard pinhole camera. We present in this paper an analysis of pixels rearranged sensor adapted to distortions induced by mirrors. Particularly, we aim to identify photosites distributions that compensate the non constant resolution for a given reflective surface. Our analysis is applied to a wide set of commonly used reflective surfaces in panoramic vision. Synthetic datas are produced in order to substantiate the geometric properties since such sensors do not exist yet.
Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Reading Performance: Does Font Style Make a Difference?

Christina Hedlich, Elizabeth Barstow, and Laura K. Vogtle The National Eye Institute (2015) reports that by the year 2050, the number of individ­ uals with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) will rise from 2.07 million to 5.44 million. AMD causes central vision loss, which can affect independence in activities such as medication management, meal prep­ aration, and personal finances (Smallfield, Clem & Myers, 2013). Most of these activi­ ties require reading, making an inability to read a concern for those with AMD (Hassell, Lamoureaux, & Keeffe, 2006). Font size and style of text may improve reading performance for individuals with low vision. Most recommendations addressing font styles are not evidence based. One font characteristic with conflicting outcomes is the use of serifs, decorative extensions placed on ends of characters. Many persons with low vision report reading serif fonts as easiest, a text style frequently used in reading materials (Strizver, 2015). A sans-serif font is void of any serifs and is commonly used in charts and captions (Strizver, 2015). Studies have investigated attributes of fonts for typical vision readers and low vision read­ ers, but few have focused on individuals with AMD. Mansfield, Legge, and Bane (1996) compared font styles on reading performance in those with and without low vision. Results indicated that participants with central visual field loss were more sensitive to differences in font style, and the Courier font produced the fastest reading speed. Tarita-Nistor, Lam, Brent, Steinbach, and González (2013) fo­ cused on the reading performance of those with AMD using four different font styles. Reading performance was best with the Cou­ rier font, while the Arial font produced the poorest performance. In contrast, a systematic review of 18 studies found no conclusive ev­ idence to support a relationship between print legibility and serif choice for reading with low vision (Russell-Minda et al., 2007). The studies included in that review focused on the different typeface characteristics, which lim­ ited the investigators’ ability to provide de­ finitive recommendations. Advocacy groups such as the American Foundation for the Blind (n.d.), the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (n.d.), and the Council of Citizens with Low Vision Interna­ tional (n.d.) that publish guidelines of text composition for readers with vision loss rec­ ommend the use of mono-spaced, san-serif font styles. These guidelines are not evidence based but represent the preferences of readers with low vision (Tarita-Nistor et al., 2013). The aim of this mixed-methods study was to determine the preferred font style of indi­ viduals with AMD, and whether a sans-serif, proportionally-spaced font (Arial) or a serif, mono-spaced font (Courier New) improved reading performance for individuals with AMD. Reading performance was defined as reading acuity, critical print size, and maxi­ mum reading speed.
Application of a Novel Brain Arteriovenous Malformation Endovascular Grading Scale for Transarterial Embolization

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The advent of modern neuroendovascular techniques has highlighted the need for a simple, effective, and reliable brain arteriovenous malformation endovascular grading scale. A novel scale of this type has recently been described. It incorporates the number of feeding arteries, eloquence, and the presence of an arteriovenous fistula component. Our aim is to assess the validity of this grading scale. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all suspected brain arteriovenous malformations at Massachusetts General Hospital from 2005 to 2013, identifying 126 patients who met the inclusion criteria. Spearman correlations between endovascular and Spetzler-Martin grading scales and long-term outcomes were performed. Median endovascular grades were compared between treatment modalities and endovascular outcomes. Binary regression analysis was performed with major endovascular complications as a dichotomized dependent variable. Intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated for interobserver reliability of the endovascular grading scale. RESULTS: A significant Spearman correlation between the endovascular grade and the Spetzler-Martin grade was demonstrated (ρ = 0.5, P < .01). Differences in the median endovascular grades between the endovascular cure (median = 2) and endovascular complication groups (median = 4) (P < .05) and between the endovascular cure and successful multimodal treatment groups (median = 3) (P < .05) were demonstrated. The endovascular grade was the only independent predictor of complications (OR = 0.5, P < .01). The intraclass correlation coefficient of the endovascular grade was 0.71 (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Validation of a brain arteriovenous malformation endovascular grading scale demonstrated that endovascular grades of ≤II were associated with endovascular cure, while endovascular grades of ≤III were associated with multimodal cure or significant lesion reduction and favorable outcome. The endovascular grade provides useful information to refine risk stratification for endovascular and multimodal treatment.
Theta Burst Stimulation of the Cerebellum Modifies the TMS-Evoked N100 Potential, a Marker of GABA Inhibition

Theta burst stimulation (TBS) of the cerebellum, a potential therapy for neurological disease, can modulate corticospinal excitability via the dentato-thalamo-cortical pathway, but it is uncertain whether its effects are mediated via inhibitory or facilitatory networks. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 30Hz cerebellar TBS on the N100 waveform of the TMS-evoked potential (TEP), a marker of intracortical GABAB-mediated inhibition. 16 healthy participants (aged 18–30 years; 13 right handed and 3 left handed) received 30Hz intermittent TBS (iTBS), continuous TBS (cTBS) or sham stimulation over the right cerebellum, in three separate sessions. The first 8 participants received TBS at a stimulus intensity of 80% of active motor threshold (AMT), while the remainder received 90% of AMT. Motor evoked potentials (MEP) and TEP were recorded before and after each treatment, by stimulating the first dorsal interosseus area of the left motor cortex. Analysis of the 13 right handed participants showed that iTBS at 90% of AMT increased the N100 amplitude compared to sham and cTBS, without significantly altering MEP amplitude. cTBS at 80% of active motor threshold decreased the N100 amplitude and cTBS overall reduced resting MEP amplitude. The study demonstrates effects of 30Hz cerebellar TBS on inhibitory cortical networks that may be useful for treatment of neurological conditions associated with dysfunctional intracortical inhibition.
Nutrition interventions in women in low-income groups in the UK

In the UK the mental and physical health and well-being of millions of women are influenced by living in poverty. Low educational attainment, unemployment, low pay and poor areas of residence exacerbate the challenges of obtaining optimal food choices, dietary intake and healthy eating patterns. Poorer women are more likely to eat low amounts of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and fish, and higher amounts of sugar and sweetened drinks compared with more affluent women. Diet contributes to the health inequalities evident in high rates of diet-related morbidity (including obesity) and mortality (including IHD and stroke) and in maternal and child health considerations (including breast-feeding and family diet practices). There is a dearth of research on effective interventions undertaken with low-income women, reflecting some of the challenges of engaging and evaluating programmes with this ‘hard to reach’ subpopulation. Intervention programmes from the USA, including WISEWOMAN, the Women's Health Initiative, the American Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program provide models for changing behaviour amongst women in the UK, although overall effects of such programmes are fairly modest. Lack of evidence does not mean that that policy work should be not be undertaken, but it is essential that policy work should be evaluated for its ability to engage with target groups as well as for the behavioural change and health outcomes.
Is There a Cost to Poor Institutions ?

This paper uses a data set of industry-level equity returns from both developed and emerging markets to investigate whether the quality of the institutional environment recently shown to affect capital markets’ size also affects the expected return on equity. The paper documents that the required rate of return on equity is negatively associated with the enforceability of contracts and the impartiality and observance of the law, while it is positively associated with corruption and risk of expropriation. The paper also shows that institutions affect the expected return on equity independently of their impact on equity’s financial risk, as measured by its covariance with the world market portfolio. The results are robust to important sources of model misspecification, like unexplained country-specific as well as industryspecific risk factors. JEL Classification: G12, G15, K40.
Social features discovery from cellphone contextual data by semantic location classification

How much can the places we visit in our daily life reveal about us? Is it possible to successfully assert a subject’s location and affiliation via the data obtained from cell phones? In the present research we present a cascade binary classifier framework to infer a subject’s location and affiliation. In the first stage, the user location is obtained by combining clustering and a location classifier. In the second stage, the contextual spatio-temporal data is used to discriminate the user affiliation. This framework is tested using a dataset of actual cellphone usage and bluetooth encounters. Three binary classifiers are used in each stage to validate the proposed method. Encouraging results are obtained showing a high classification success rate across the whole user base.
A Multidisciplinary Approach in Management of Breast Cancer: Case Study and Literature Reviews

The diagnosis of breast cancer can cause a significant anxiety in someone’s life. The care of the breast cancer patient requires in many centres. The care of breast cancer patient is undertaken as a joint venture between the surgeon, medical oncologist, radiotherapist, pathologist and allied health professionals such as the clinical nurse specialist as well as counsellors. This is a case of a 39-years-old Malay woman presented to HUSM with a history of ulcerating breast lump with bloody pus discharge on the right breast. An initial mammogram study showed lesion suspicious of malignancy, and histopathological examination was consistent with invasive ductal carcinoma. She received neoadjuvant chemotherapy before proceeding to right modified radical mastectomy with axillary clearance and immediate chest wall reconstruction. Detailed discussion on the diagnosis, treatment, surgical intervention and progress of the patient with reference to available literature reviews are presented.