Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Asymptotically Sufficient Partitions and Quantizations

We consider quantizations of observations represented by finite partitions of observation spaces. Partitions usually decrease the sensitivity of observations to their probability distributions. A sequence of quantizations is considered to be asymptotically sufficient for a statistical problem if the loss of sensitivity is asymptotically negligible. The sensitivity is measured by f-divergences of distributions or the closely related f-informations including the classical Shannon information. It is demonstrated that in some cases the maximization of f-divergences means the same as minimization of distortion of observations in the classical sense considered in mathematical statistics and information theory. The main result of the correspondence is a general sufficient condition for the asymptotic sufficiency of quantizations. Selected applications of this condition are studied leading to new simple criteria of asymptotic optimality for quantizations of vector-valued observations and observations on general Poisson processes
Novel Switching Sequences for a Space-Vector-Modulated Three-Level Inverter

A three-level inverter produces six active vectors, each of normalized magnitudes 1, 0.866, and 0.5, besides a zero vector. The vectors of relative length 0.5 are termed pivot vectors. The three nearest voltage vectors are usually used to synthesize the reference vector. In most continuous pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) schemes, the switching sequence begins from a pivot vector and ends with the same pivot vector. Thus, the pivot vector is applied twice in a subcycle or half-carrier cycle. This paper proposes and investigates alternative switching sequences, which use the pivot vector only once but employ one of the other two vectors twice within the subcycle. The total harmonic distortion (THD) in the fundamental line current pertaining to these novel sequences is studied theoretically as well as experimentally over the whole range of modulation. Compared with centered space vector PWM, two of the proposed sequences lead to reduced THD at high modulation indices at a given average switching frequency.
Quantitative evaluation methods of robust detecting and tracking with color camera under illumination changes

The detecting and tracking a specific person by using the image processing with the color camera is often influenced by illumination changes. The proposed robust detecting and tracking method to illumination changes is using the HSV color space and updating the histogram. However, the quantitative evaluating is not enough in the proposed method. In this paper, the robustness to illumination changes of the proposed method is evaluated quantitatively. Moreover, the accuracy of the tracking in the proposed method is also evaluated quantitatively. The extraction rate, the object detecting rate, and the tracking error are defined to evaluate quantitatively. The tracking error is also calculated by the MeanShift method based on the color information. The quantitatively experimental results show that the proposed method is the stable and robust tracking method.
Using Both Hands: Tangibles for Stroke Rehabilitation in the Home

Stroke is one of the most common cause of long-term disability in the world, significantly reducing quality of life through impairing motor functions and cognitive abilities. Whilst rehabilitation exercises can help in the recovery of motor function impairments, stroke survivors rarely exercise enough, leading to far from optimal recovery. In this paper, we investigate how upper limb stroke rehabilitation can be supported using interactive tangible bimanual devices in the home. We customise the rehabilitation activities based on individual rehabilitation requirements and motivation of stroke survivors. Through evaluation with five stroke survivors, we uncovered insight into how tangible stroke rehabilitation systems for the home should be designed. The evaluation revealed the special importance of tailorable form factor and supporting self-awareness and grip exercises in order to increase the independency of stroke survivors to carry out activities of daily living.
ROLE OF HYALURONIDASE AND THE HYALURONIC ACID CAPSULE IN THE SURVIVAL AND DISSEMINATION OF GROUP A STREPTOCOCCI IN THE HAMSTER CHEEK POUCH

The effect of hyaluronidase on host connective tissue and the protective action of the hyaluronic acid capsule against phagocytosis have been the basis for a number of studies on the relation of these products to the virulence of streptococci. Duran-Reynals (1933) demonstrated that the areas of dermal lesions produced by several strains of streptococci were largely a function of the amount of hyaluronidase produced by these strains. Sallman and Birkeland (1950) found that streptococcal strains isolated from patients produced higher hyaluronidase titers than strains isolated from normal people, and furthermore, the higher titers were associated with the more clinically severe infections. These workers also demonstrated a correlation between hyaluronidase production in vitro and virulence for the chick embryo. Other investigators, however, (Crowley, 1944; Russell and Sherwood, 1949; Sherwood et al., 1952) have indicated a lack of correlation between hyaluronidase production in vitro and virulence for mouse, chick, or man. Warren (1950) studied the influence of high concentrations of hyaluronidase on the course of experimental infections in the flanks of rabbits and reported no enhancement of the infections nor increase in the size of the lesions. The resistance of streptococci of groups A and C to phagocytosis has been shown to be related in part to the presence of the hyaluronic acid capsule (Seastone, 1934; Ward and Lyons, 1935; Kass and Seastone, 1944; Rothbard, 1948; Morris and Seastone, 1955). Hirst (1941) successfully protected mice infected with group C encapsu-
Comprehensive High‐Throughput Arrays for Relative Methylation (CHARM)

DNA methylation (DNAm) is a term used to describe the heritable covalent addition of a methyl group to cytosines at CpG dinucleotides in mammals. While methods for examining DNAm status at specific loci have existed for several years, recent technological advances have begun to enable the examination of DNAm across the genome. In this unit, we describe comprehensive high‐throughput arrays for relative methylation (CHARM), a highly sensitive and specific approach to measure DNA methylation across the genome. This method makes no assumptions about where functionally important DNAm occurs, i.e., CpG island or promoter regions, and includes lower‐CpG‐density regions of the genome. In addition, it uses a novel genome‐weighted smoothing algorithm to correct for CpG density and fragment biases present in methyl‐enrichment or methyl‐depletion DNA‐fractionation methods. It can be applied to studying epigenomic changes in DNAm for normal and diseased samples. Curr. Protoc. Hum. Genet. 65:20.0. 1‐20.0. 19. © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Wind turbines allocation in smart grids

The existing passive distribution networks, characterized by unidirectional power flows and a partial and centralized control, limit optimal management of Renewable Energy Sources (RES), therefore restraining their exploitation. A deep revision of the planning and management methodologies for distribution electrical networks is therefore required due to the increasing penetration of RES in distribution electrical networks In order to overcome the integration problems of Distributed Generation (DG) and RES, existing electrical distribution networks will, therefore, evolve from passive to active networks and smart grids, managed through systems based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT). In this paper a hybrid optimization method able to maximize the Net Present Value related to the investment made by Wind Turbines developers in an active distribution network and smart grids is proposed. The method, that combines Genetic Algorithms with a multi-period optimal power flow, is validated on a 69-bus 11 kV radial distribution network.
Aggressive Traffic Smoothing for Online Delivery

Traffic smoothing is an efficient means to reduce the bandwidth requirement for transmitting a VBR video. Several traffic smoothing algorithms have been presented to offline compute the transmission schedule for a prerecorded video [1]-[9]. For live video applications, Sen et al. [11] present an online algorithm referred to as SLWIN(k) to compute the transmission schedule on the fly. SLWIN(k) looks ahead W frames to compute the transmission schedule for the next k frametimes, where k W. Note that W is upper bounded by the initial delay of the transmission schedule. The time complexity of SLWIN(k) is O(W*N/k) for an N frame live video. In this paper, we present an O(N) online traffic smoothing algorithm denoted as ATS (Aggressive Traffic Smoothing). ATS aggressively works ahead to transmit more data as early as possible for reducing the peak rate of the bandwidth requirement. We compare the performance of our algorithm with SLWIN(k) based on several benchmark video clips. Experiments show that ATS further reduces the bandwidth requirement, especially for interactive applications in which the initial delays are small.
Skeleton-Aided Articulated Motion Generation

This work makes the first attempt to generate articulated human motion sequence from a single image. On one hand, we utilize paired inputs including human skeleton information as motion embedding and a single human image as appearance reference, to generate novel motion frames based on the conditional GAN infrastructure. On the other hand, a triplet loss is employed to pursue appearance smoothness between consecutive frames. As the proposed framework is capable of jointly exploiting the image appearance space and articulated/kinematic motion space, it generates realistic articulated motion sequence, in contrast to most previous video generation methods which yield blurred motion effects. We test our model on two human action datasets including KTH and Human3.6M, and the proposed framework generates very promising results on both datasets.
An 8×8 RLS based MIMO detection ASIC for broadband MIMO-OFDM wireless transmissions

This paper presents the architecture and VLSI implementation of a highly flexible MIMO detection engine which supports a wide array of configurations ranging from 1 × 1 to 8 × 8 square, as well as all possible non-symmetric MIMO configurations. The chip is specifically designed to work with an underlying OFDM modulation scheme, and covers the range of 64 to 1024 subchannels. It implements an RLS based MIMO solution which provides a good balance between hardware complexity and overall system performance. To further reduce the complexity frequency domain linear interpolation is also used. The actual implementation is based upon the highly scalable inverse QR decomposition based systolic array architecture. A single systolic array is time-multiplexed for all OFDM subchannels. This naturally overcomes the pipelining difficulty inherent in traditional single channel systolic arrays without doubling the array size. In conjunction with the array design, a unique input tagging scheme is incorporated to allow dynamic reconfiguration of the ASIC on a per packet basis, and also to reduce power consumption when only a sub-array is needed for the operation. The final implementation of the MIMO detection engine can support configurations as large as 8 × 8 in 12.5 MHz of bandwidth, or a 4 × 4 or any smaller array at up to 25 MHz of bandwidth. The chip was fabricated using a 3.3V/1.8V 0.18. um CMOS technology. The resulting core layout measures 29.2mm2 and clocks at a maximum frequency of 58MHz. In 2 × 2, 25 MHz configuration, it consumes 360mW, whereas in 12.5 MHz, 8 × 8 mode it consumes 830m W.
Limited English Proficient Patients and Time Spent in Therapeutic Range in a Warfarin Anticoagulation Clinic

Background While anticoagulation clinics have been shown to deliver tailored, high‐quality care to patients receiving warfarin therapy, communication barriers with limited English proficient (LEP) patients may lead to disparities in anticoagulation outcomes. Methods and Results We analyzed data on 3770 patients receiving care from the Massachusetts General Hospital Anticoagulation Management Service (AMS) from 2009 to 2010. This included data on international normalized ratio (INR) tests and patient characteristics, including language and whether AMS used a surrogate for primary communication. We calculated percent time in therapeutic range (TTR for INR between 2.0 and 3.0) and time in danger range (TDR for INR <1.8 or >3.5) using the standard Rosendaal interpolation method. There were 241 LEP patients; LEP patients, compared with non‐LEP patients, had a higher number of comorbidities (3.2 versus 2.9 comorbidities, P=0.004), were more frequently uninsured (17.0% versus 4.3%, P<0.001), and less educated (47.7% versus 6.0% ≤high school education, P<0.001). LEP patients compared with non‐LEP patients spent less TTR (71.6% versus 74.0%, P=0.007) and more TDR (12.9% versus 11.3%, P=0.018). In adjusted analyses, LEP patients had lower TTR as compared with non‐LEP patients (OR 1.5, 95% CI [1.1, 2.2]). LEP patients who used a communication surrogate spent less TTR and more TDR. Conclusion Even within a large anticoagulation clinic with a high average TTR, a small but significant decrease in TTR was observed for LEP patients compared with English speakers. Future studies are warranted to explore how the use of professional interpreters impact TTR for LEP patients.
Cooperative Behavior in Coupled Simulated Annealing Processes with Variance Control

In this paper we describe the use of coupling to interconnect di fferent Simulated Annealing (SA) processes. The objective is to allow cooperative behavior among the processes in order to improve performance. Coupled Simulated Annealing (CSA) permits a high degree of parallelization while delivering much better resul t than a typical Parallel SA (PSA) algorithm. This is possible due to the introduction of coupling in the acceptance probability functions. Moreover, the coupling also allows controling the variance of the acceptance probabilities. This is especially important because it reduces the sensitivity to initial parameters, while guiding optimization to quasi optimal runs. It was observed that the solutions generated by CSA are more concentrated around the global optimum, while PSA has concentrations of solutions often in unfavorable regions of the cost function. Also, the number of iterations per process necessary to reach a given minimum energy tolerance decreases exponentially when the number of optimizers is increased.
CABA: Continuous Authentication Based on BioAura

Most computer systems authenticate users only once at the time of initial login, which can lead to security concerns. Continuous authentication has been explored as an approach for alleviating such concerns. Previous methods for continuous authentication primarily use biometrics, e.g., fingerprint and face recognition, or behaviometrics, e.g., key stroke patterns. We describe CABA, a novel continuous authentication system that is inspired by and leverages the emergence of sensors for pervasive and continuous health monitoring. CABA authenticates users based on their BioAura, an ensemble of biomedical signal streams that can be collected continuously and non-invasively using wearable medical devices. While each such signal may not be highly discriminative by itself, we demonstrate that a collection of such signals, along with robust machine learning, can provide high accuracy levels. We demonstrate the feasibility of CABA through analysis of traces from the MIMIC-II dataset. We propose various applications of CABA, and describe how it can be extended to user identification and adaptive access control authorization. Finally, we discuss possible attacks on the proposed scheme and suggest corresponding countermeasures.
Health, Income and Economic Development

There is a strong positive relationship between income and health throughout the world. If part of this association represents a causal effect from income to health, then the maintenance and support of incomes becomes a potential policy instrument for promoting population or group health. Policies for income support, such as transfers to the poor, or pensions for the elderly, are instruments that should be assessed, along with the provision of health services, for their ability to improve health. Whether there is a causal link from income to health, and its size, are important research issues for those interested in health in developing countries. This paper uses data from an integrated survey of health and economic well being in South Africa to examine the impact of the South African old age pension on the health of pensioners, and of the prime aged adults and children who live with pensioners. We find evidence of a large and causal effect of income on health status? one that works at least in part through sanitation and living standards, in part through nutritional status, and in part through the reduction of psychosocial stress. The pension is used to upgrade household facilities, and some of the improvements made have health consequences. We find that the household? s water source being on-site and the presence of a flush toilet are both significantly more likely, the greater the number of years of pension receipt in the household. In addition, the presence of a pensioner in the household on average reduces the probability of an adult skipping a meal by 20 percent, and the presence of two pensioners reduces the probability by 40 percent. All adults in the survey were asked a battery of questions of depression, which is inextricably linked to stress and health status. We find that, for households pooling income, the presence of pensioners has a significant effect on reported depression, and that the effect is larger, the greater the number of pensioners. We conclude that governments interested in improving health status may find the provision of cash benefits to be one of the most effective policy tools available to them. Cash provides a yardstick against which other health interventions should be measured.
A prospective study of computer users: I. Study design and incidence of musculoskeletal symptoms and disorders.

BACKGROUND A prospective study of computer users was performed to determine the occurrence of and evaluate risk factors for neck or shoulder (N/S) and hand or arm (H/A) musculoskeletal symptoms (MSS) and disorders (MSD). METHODS Individuals (n = 632) newly hired into jobs requiring > or = 15 hr/week of computer use were followed for up to 3 years. At study entry, workstation dimensions and worker postures were measured and medical and psychosocial risk factors were assessed. Daily diaries were used to document work practices and incident MSS. Those reporting MSS were examined for specific MSD. Incidence rates of MSS and MSD were estimated with survival analysis. Cox regression models were used to evaluate associations between participant characteristics at entry and MSS and MSD. RESULTS The annual incidence of N/S MSS was 58 cases/100 person-years and of N/S MSD was 35 cases/100 person-years. The most common N/S MSD was somatic pain syndrome. The annual incidence of H/A MSS was 39 cases/100 person-years and of H/A MSD was 21 cases/100 person-years. The most common H/A disorder was deQuervain's tendonitis. Forty-six percent of N/S and 32% of H/A MSS occurred during the first month of follow-up. Gender, age, ethnicity, and prior history of N/S pain were associated with N/S MSS and MSD. Gender, prior history of H/A pain, prior computer use, and children at home were associated with either H/A MSS or MSD. CONCLUSIONS H/A and N/S MSS and MSD were common among computer users. More than 50% of computer users reported MSS during the first year after starting a new job.
Recent advancements in cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) cloning is the sole reproductive engineering technology that endows the somatic cell genome with totipotency. Since the first report on the birth of a cloned sheep from adult somatic cells in 1997, many technical improvements in SCNT have been made by using different epigenetic approaches, including enhancement of the levels of histone acetylation in the chromatin of the reconstructed embryos. Although it will take a considerable time before we fully understand the nature of genomic programming and totipotency, we may expect that somatic cell cloning technology will soon become broadly applicable to practical purposes, including medicine, pharmaceutical manufacturing and agriculture. Here we review recent progress in somatic cell cloning, with a special emphasis on epigenetic studies using the laboratory mouse as a model.
Purification and Characterization of the Acetone Carboxylase of Cupriavidus metallidurans Strain CH34

ABSTRACT Acetone carboxylase (Acx) is a key enzyme involved in the biodegradation of acetone by bacteria. Except for the Helicobacteraceae family, genome analyses revealed that bacteria that possess an Acx, such as Cupriavidus metallidurans strain CH34, are associated with soil. The Acx of CH34 forms the heterohexameric complex α2β2γ2 and can carboxylate only acetone and 2-butanone in an ATP-dependent reaction to acetoacetate and 3-keto-2-methylbutyrate, respectively.
Improved survival in COPD: reasons for hope

Not long ago treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was viewed with a sense of nihilism.1 Patients were chronically and irreversibly debilitated. Treatments brought only brief palliative relief, and most had serious side effects. Worst of all, many patients were hopelessly addicted to nicotine, and the frustration of watching patient after patient continue to destroy their lungs in spite of their warnings caused many doctors to give up on even diagnosing the disease. Sceptics could point to the relative lack of efficacy of inhaled steroids in COPD. Cynics could question the motives of those who want to help persons who have destroyed their own health. The last decade has seen the introduction of new treatments for COPD, which in turn have brought a new perspective and sense of energy.1 It is not uncommon in medicine that the discovery of new treatments results in a surge of new interest in a disease. Many examples of this phenomenon are notable in recent history: sleep apnoea, pulmonary hypertension and erectile dysfunction are but a few. The release of the long-acting anticholinergic drug tiotropium, the approval of combined long-acting β2 agonist/corticosteroid inhalers for COPD, development of new nebulised agents and release of innovative medications for nicotine addiction have provided us with new effective tools for COPD. Advocacy groups for COPD have multiplied and grown worldwide. In countries where it is allowed, …