Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Energy-Efficient Transmission Strategy by Using Optimal Stopping Approach for Mobile Networks

In mobile networks, transmission energy consumption dominates the major part of network energy consumption. To reduce energy consumption for data transmission is an important topic for constructing green mobile networks. According to Shannon formula, when the transmission power is constant, the better the channel quality is, the greater the transmission rate is. Then, more data will be delivered in a given period. And energy consumption per bit data transmitted will be reduced. Because channel quality varies with time randomly, it is a good opportunity for decreasing energy consumption to deliver data in the best channel quality. However, data has delay demand. The sending terminal cannot wait for the best channel quality unlimitedly. Actually, sending terminal has to select an optimal time to deliver data before data exceeds delay. For this, this paper obtains the optimal transmission rate threshold at each detection slot time by using optimal stopping approach. Then, sending terminal determines whether current time is the optimal time through comparing current transmission rate with the corresponding rate threshold, thus realizing energy-efficient transmission strategy, so as to decrease average energy consumption per bit data transmitted.
Improved re-ranking approach for multimedia search engines

In this paper, a new re-ranking approach based on the multimedia contents and some user specific actions is presented for improving the performance of multimedia search engines. The proposed approach has the ability of working with all multimedia types: video, image, and audio. In addition, a group of descriptors with weight assigned dynamically have been used to describe the multimedia files accurately. Furthermore, the weight of each descriptor, which affects the file rank, is assigned based on the percentage of differences that found by the descriptor. Several experiments have been conducted and it has been observed that the proposed re-ranking approach shows the most relevant files to the top of the query results, and increases the percentage of the retrieved relevant files.
Conceptualizing the Knowledge Structure of Tourism Destinations

The present study focuses on knowledge as an important strategic resource and examines the knowledge processing structure of tourism destinations. To achieve this goal, existing typologies of knowledge found in the knowledge management literature are synthesized. A threedimensional model is proposed. Dimensions include the business unit (organization-based, region-based), the type of knowledge (tacit knowledge, codified knowledge), and processing of knowledge (creating, sharing, and accumulating). The proposed model not only shows how knowledge can be classified, but it also helps to track the transformation of tacit and codified knowledge from its creation to its accumulation stages at the organizational and regional levels.
Accelerating AdaBoost algorithm using GPU for multi-object recognition

Traditionally, an adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) algorithm is used for object recognition because of its prevalent usage and well-trained results. However, because the computation of AdaBoost is extremely time-consuming, it is difficult to guarantee that the computations reflect the latest information in real time. To speed-up the operation, the original AdaBoost algorithm was accelerated with a graphics processing unit (GPU). In this study, Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) was used to accelerate two parts of the AdaBoost algorithm, including feature extraction and training, by applying various strategies to system components such as how the data is put in the memory, amount of CUDA streams, trunk size, and block size. In Feature Extraction of the car datasets, the most time-consuming step feature-value computation is 47.18 times faster than the CPU version. For AdaBoost Training, the total execution is accelerated by 34.23 times.
A Federal Deficit Reduction Simulation: Learning Politics and Policy in a Budgetary Context

I must first confess that I was long a skeptic about the use of simulations in the classroom. I had, after all, gotten along quite fine without them. My courses were full, my teaching evaluations good.Bruce A. Wallin is associate professor, department of political science, Northeastern University. He is author of From Revenue Sharing to Deficit Sharing: General Revenue Sharing and Cities (Georgetown University Press, 1998), winner of the 1999 APSA award for Best Book on Urban Politics. Most recently, he edited a symposium on “Tax and Expenditure Limitations: A Quarter Century after Proposition 13,” published in Public Budgeting and Finance (vol. 24, no. 4, winter 2004). For more information on this simulation, including the class syllabus and detailed examples, visit PSOnline at www.apsanet. org/ps/wallinonline.pdf.
Support for democracy in the Fiji Islands: does schooling matter?

Purpose - Education is highly regarded as having a central influence on individuals' understanding and backing of democracy, but whether this occurs in young and small democratic states remain unknown. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether schooling and education have a positive impact on an individual's democratic values in Fiji, whose democratic system has been subject to three coups since independence in 1970. Design/methodology/approach - To achieve the goal of this paper, the ordered probit probability model is used. The ordered probit model serves as a better framework for statistical analysis whenever field survey responses are ordinal as distinct from numerical. Findings - The results from an ordered probit model reveal that the education level does not affect an individual's democratic values. However, it is found that gender, age, and ethnicity do have an influence on individuals' endorsement of democracy. Practical implications - Democracy has more than once proved to be an elusive dream in Fiji. This paper aims to provide the answer whether education can be the facilitating factor in transition towards a more democratic state. Originality/value - This is the first study which comprehensively explores whether schooling and education has a positive impact on an individual's democratic values in Fiji.
Assessing the impact of financial liberalisation on stock market volatility in selected developing countries

This article argues for the importance of measuring stock market volatility following financial liberalisation in developing countries. Three alternative indices for measuring volatility are developed; these are used to examine the view that financial liberalisation induces increased asset price volatility. Based on the limited data available, this view is corroborated in the majority of countries investigated.
Multinuclear magnetic resonance studies of the 2Fe.cntdot.2S* ferredoxin from Anabaena species strain PCC 7120. 3. Detection and characterization of hyperfine-shifted nitrogen-15 and hydrogen-1 resonances of the oxidized form

All the nitrogen signals from the amino acid side chains and 80 of the total of 98 backbone nitrogen signals of the oxidized form of the 2Fe{center dot}2S* ferredoxin from Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 were assigned by means of a series of heteronuclear two-dimensional experiments. Two additional nitrogen signals were observed in the one-dimensional {sup 15}N NMR spectrum and classified as backbone amide resonances from residues whose proton resonances experience paramagnetic broadening. The one-dimensional {sup 15}N NMR spectrum shows nine resonances that are hyperfine shifted and broadened. From this inventory of diamagnetic nitrogen signals and the available X-ray coordinates of the related ferredoxin, the resolved hyperfine-shifted {sup 15}N peaks were attributed to backbone amide nitrogens of two other amino acids that share electrons with the 2Fe{center dot}2S* center to backbone amide nitrogens of two other amino acids that are close to the 2Fe{center dot}2S* center. The seven {sup 15}N signals that are missing and unaccounted for probably are buried under the envelope of amide signals. {sup 1}H NMR signals from all the amide protons directly bonded to the seven missing and nine hyperfine-shifted nitrogens were too broad to be resolved in conventional 2D NMR spectra. From their dependence onmore » the magnetogyric ratio, a {sup 1}H resonance should be up to 100 times broader than a {sup 15}N resonance that experiences a similar hyperfine interaction. This appears to be the reason why more well-resolved hyperfine-shifted {sup 15}N resonances were observed than corresponding {sup 1}H resonances. The result suggest that hyperfine-shifted {sup 15}N peaks can provide a unique window on the electronic structure and environment of this and other paramagnetic centers. « less
Involvement of autophagic degradation in ACTH-induced skeletal muscle atrophy.

Intracellular autophagic breakdown was investigated in skeletal myocytes undergoing atrophy under the influence of ACTH. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats received s.c. injections of ACTH (12.5 U/kg body wt) or physiological saline as control twice daily. 5 experimental and 5 control animals were sacrificed by perfusion fixation after 6, 9, and 12 days of treatment. While the weight of the left pectoralis minor muscle decreased significantly in the ACTH-treated animals compared with controls, the volume fraction of autophagic vacuoles, as determined by quantitative electron microscopy, increased significantly after 9 days (2.6-fold) and 12 days (2.9-fold) in the atrophying skeletal myocytes of experimental animals compared with controls. Only non-myofibrillar components were detected as contents of autophagic vacuoles. Since, however, the ratio of myofibrils to other cytoplasmic components remained constant, the degradation of myofibrils seems to occur via a non-lysosomal pathway. The data suggest that the breakdown of cytoplasmic components by cellular autophagy is important for the development of skeletal muscle atrophy as observed following long-term ACTH treatment or in Cushing's syndrome.
Fairness in Decision-Making - The Causal Explanation Formula

AI plays an increasingly prominent role in society since decisions that were once made by humans are now delegated to automated systems. These systems are currently in charge of deciding bank loans, criminals' incarceration, and the hiring of new employees, and it's not difficult to envision that they will in the future underpin most of the decisions in society. Despite the high complexity entailed by this task, there is still not much understanding of basic properties of such systems. For instance, we currently cannot detect (neither explain nor correct) whether an AI system can be deemed fair (i.e., is abiding by the decision-constraints agreed by society) or it is reinforcing biases and perpetuating a preceding prejudicial practice. Issues of discrimination have been discussed extensively in political and legal circles, but there exists still not much understanding of the formal conditions that a system must meet to be deemed fair. In this paper, we use the language of structural causality (Pearl, 2000) to fill in this gap. We start by introducing three new fine-grained measures of transmission of change from stimulus to effect, which we called counterfactual direct (Ctf-DE), indirect (Ctf-IE), and spurious (Ctf-SE) effects. We then derive what we call the causal explanation formula, which allows the AI designer to quantitatively evaluate fairness and explain the total observed disparity of decisions through different discriminatory mechanisms. We apply these measures to various discrimination analysis tasks and run extensive simulations, including detection, evaluation, and optimization of decision-making under fairness constraints. We conclude studying the trade-off between different types of fairness criteria (outcome and procedural), and provide a quantitative approach to policy implementation and the design of fair AI systems.
Efficacy and tolerability of rizatriptan in pediatric migraineurs: Results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial using a novel adaptive enrichment design

Background Treatment options for children and adolescents with migraine are limited. This study evaluated rizatriptan for the acute treatment of migraine in children and adolescents. Methods Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial in migraineurs 6–17 years old with unsatisfactory response to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or acetaminophen/paracetamol. The trial included a double-blind run-in with weight-based rizatriptan dosing (5 mg for <40 kg, 10 mg for ≥40 kg). In the Stage 1 run-in, patients were randomized in a ratio of 20:1 placebo:rizatriptan and were instructed to treat within 30 minutes of a moderate/severe migraine. Patients with mild/no pain after 15 minutes of treatment (responders) took no further study medication, whereas patients with moderate/severe pain (non-responders) proceeded to take study medication in Stage 2. Non-responders who received placebo in Stage 1 were randomized 1:1 to rizatriptan:placebo, whereas non-responders who received rizatriptan in Stage 1 were allocated to placebo in Stage 2. The primary efficacy endpoint was pain freedom at 2 hours after Stage 2 dose in 12–17-year-olds. Results A higher proportion of 12–17-year-olds on rizatriptan had pain freedom at 2 hours compared with those on placebo: 87/284 (30.6%) versus 63/286 (22.0%), odds ratio = 1.55 [95% CI: 1.06 to 2.26], p = 0.025. Adverse events within 14 days of dose in 12–17-year-olds were similar for rizatriptan and placebo. The pattern of findings was similar in 6–17-year-olds. Conclusion Rizatriptan demonstrated a statistically significant improvement over placebo in eliminating pain and was generally well tolerated in migraineurs aged 12–17 and 6–17 years. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01001234
Playing Games in the Forest: State-Local Conflicts of Land Appropriation

This paper explores possible strategic interactions between the state and local community in games of tropical forestland appropriation. Three typical cases are discussed, corresponding to a development over time of increased resource competition and market integration. The local response to more state deforestation depends on the costs, market, and behavioral assumptions, and less on the structure of the game (Cournot or Stackelberg). The state fuels local deforestation by providing infrastructure (roads) which reduces the net costs of agricultural expansion, or when markets are imperfect and local behavior determined by survival needs. The game structure is, however, important for total deforestation. (JEL O13, Q15, Q23)
International Financial Reporting Standards: what are the benefits?

When countries have announced plans to adopt IFRS in lieu of the standards that had applied previously, they have referred to a number of benefits, mostly to do with equity markets. So it is not surprising that academics have looked to equity markets to assess the extent to which benefits may have materialised. The evidence they have gathered can fairly be characterised as mixed, partly because of differences in samples and the use of a wide range of proxies for the same underlying but unobservable idea. Nonetheless, it seems relatively clear that the shift to IFRS has had many consequences both for the valuation of equities and for equity markets more generally. Although there will always be winners and losers from changes in accounting standards, if only because of their distributive effects, undoubtedly some consequences are regarded by companies and investors as, on balance, beneficial. However, the story is far from complete. Ample scope remains to expand the range of possible benefits that are investigated and to improve, substantially, the methods used to seek them out.
Diel Interactions of Oxygenic Photosynthesis and N2 Fixation (Acetylene Reduction) in a Marine Microbial Mat Community

Diel variations in N2 fixation (acetylene reduction), CO2 fixation, and oxygen concentrations were measured, on three separate occasions, in a marine microbial mat located on Shackleford Banks, North Carolina. Nitrogenase activity (NA) was found to be inversely correlated with CO2 fixation and, in two of the three diel periods studied, was higher at night than during the day. Oxygen concentrations within the top 3 mm of the mat ranged from 0 to 400 μM on a diel cycle; anaerobic conditions generally persisted below 4 mm. NA in the mat was profoundly affected by naturally occurring oxygen concentrations. Experimentally elevated oxygen concentrations resulted in a significant depression of NA, whereas the addition of the Photosystem II inhibitor 3(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea decreased oxygen concentrations within the mat and resulted in a significant short-term enhancement of NA. Mat N2-fixing microorganisms include cyanobacteria and heterotrophic, photoautotrophic, and chemolithotrophic eubacteria. Measured (whole-mat) NA is probably due to a combination of the NA of each of these groups of organisms. The relative contributions of each group to whole-mat NA probably varied during diel and seasonal (successional) cycles. Reduced compounds derived from photosynthetic CO2 fixation appeared to be an important source of energy for NA during the day, whereas heterotrophic or chemolithotrophic utilization of reduced compounds appeared to be an important source of energy for NA at night, under reduced ambient oxygen concentrations. Previous estimates of N2 fixation calculated on the basis of daytime measurements may have seriously underestimated diel and seasonal nitrogen inputs in mat systems.
Income inequality and poverty in Malaysia

The debate surrounding the relationship between economic growth and income distribution continues to attract important discussion in the development literature. While the literature suggests that rapid growth causes income to be more unequally distributed, empirical evidence is mixed. It seems that the relationship between growth and inequality varies considerably depending on individual country characteristics and the determinants of growth. Malaysia is a pronounced pluralistic society and is often considered to have a dualistic economic structure. Ethnicity and regional imbalances play important roles in determining the pattern of poverty and inequality. Areas of greater than average dependence on agriculture appear to have lower income levels, and tend to be populated by Malaysia's indigenous races. Since the riots of May 1969, which were assumed to have some connection with economic development and economic imbalances, Malaysia has been pursuing redistribution through growth with the implementation of the New Economic Policy (NEP). Thus the purpose of this thesis is to examine the nature and extent of poverty and income inequality in Malaysia, with particular emphasis on the 1980s. This study first seeks to verify the presence of any systematic relationship between inequality and economic development. The trends in income distribution will then be examined by looking at overall, urban-rural and ethnic inequality for Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. Given the fact that certain areas are predominantly inhabited by certain ethnic groups, which form "pockets of poverty", the regional aspect of inequality will also be addressed. The discussion on poverty begins with an explanation of the calculation of the official Malaysian poverty line, followed by a demonstration of how it has been updated over the years and ends by sketching a profile of the poor. As the NEP was launched to re-unite and rebuild the country after the traumatic 1969 experience, this thesis concludes with an assessment of the impact of its policy prescriptions on poverty and income inequality.
Operative hysteroscopy.

An operative hysteroscopy is a way of seeing the inside of your uterus and other reproductive organs and performing surgery, such as: Endometrial ablation – type of treatment if you have very heavy or prolonged bleeding during your period. Myomectomy – surgery to remove fibroids from inside your uterus. Adhesiolysis – surgery to remove or cut scar tissue. Septoplasty – surgery to repair a structure inside the uterus. During an operative hysteroscopy a narrow tube is put into your vagina. The tube is then inserted through the cervix and into your uterus. A camera is on the tube which allows the inside of your uterus to be seen on a TV screen. You will have a local or general anesthetic. You may feel some discomfort, like mild cramps. It is done in the procedure room or the operating room.
Update on the Burkholderia cepacia complex

Purpose of review The Burkholderia cepacia complex is comprised of a group of related bacterial species that are capable of causing life-threatening respiratory tract infection in persons with cystic fibrosis. This article reviews advances in our understanding of Burkholderia cepacia complex infection in cystic fibrosis, focusing on the taxonomy, clinical microbiology, and epidemiology, as well as the natural history and clinical outcomes associated with Burkholderia cepacia complex infection. Recent findings Each of the nine species of the Burkholderia cepacia complex has now received a formal species name. These names are the preferred nomenclature, replacing the former ‘genomovar’ designations. Studies from several countries reiterate that two species, Burkholderia cenocepacia and Burkholderia multivorans, account for most Burkholderia cepacia complex infection in cystic fibrosis. Bacterial genotyping studies indicate that specific Burkholderia cepacia complex strains infect multiple cystic fibrosis patients, implying that they may have an enhanced capacity for interpatient spread. Emerging clinical outcomes data suggest that at least some of these so-called transmissible or epidemic strains are also more virulent in the cystic fibrosis host. Ongoing research is aimed at gaining a better understanding of Burkholderia cepacia complex ecology, defining Burkholderia cepacia complex virulence factors and pathogenic mechanisms, and determining the relative virulence of distinct strains. Summary Significant advances in our understanding of the Burkholderia cepacia complex serve as a critical foundation for further efforts that ultimately will enable better infection control and the development of novel therapeutics to treat Burkholderia cepacia complex infection in persons with cystic fibrosis.
Sensitivity, Specificity, and Positive Predictive Value of Technetium 99-HMPAO SPECT in Discriminating Alzheimer's Disease from other Dementias

Investigators have reported high sensitivity and specificity values for single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) when distinguishing Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients from normal elderly controls or from selected patient groups. The role of SPECT in identifying AD among unselected patients with memory complaints requires investigation. We examined 139 consecutive patients with 99Tc-HMPAO SPECT. NINCDS-ADRDA diagnoses were determined blind to SPECT results, and scans were read and classified by visual inspection blind to clinical diagnoses. Bilateral temporoparietal hypoperfusion (TP) occurred in 75% of probable, 65% of possible, and 45% of unlikely AD patients, yielding a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 52% when comparing probable AD versus unlikely AD groups. A positive predictive value of 78% was obtained based on a 69% prevalence of AD in our total clinic population. Patients with false-positive results included a variety of dementing illnesses; all patients with bilateral hypoperfusion had dementia. A pattern of TP on SPECT scans is seen in most patients with AD, but could be found in other dementias as well and cannot be regarded as specific to AD. Reduced TP perfusion discriminated between demented and nondemented individuals. Further strategies for SPECT interpretation that improve diagnostic specificity should be sought.