Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) and prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors: the value of FMD assessment in high risk patients is limited.

BACKGROUND Since flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) is influenced by different factors, its clinical usefulness and validation is widely discussed. AIM To assess the major factors that determine FMD values in a wide range of subjects with and without cardiovascular (CV) risk factors/diseases (CVRF/CVD). METHODS AND RESULTS 617 consecutive patients (mean age: 50.1 ± 14.9 years, males: 349/56.5%) hospitalised between 2005 and 2011 were enrolled into the study. Demographic data and CVRF/CVD with a significant impact on FMD values were analysed: hyperlipidaemia, active smoking, arterial hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus and heart valve disease. The population was divided depending on the number of coexisting CVRF/CVD (0-, 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-CVRF/CVD groups). The median FMD value in the entire group of patients was 10% (5-17). An analysis of the FMD percentage in particular groups showed significantly higher FMD values in patients without any CVRF/CVD (group 0), as well as in patients with one coexisting CVRF/CVD (group 1) compared to the other groups. The presence of two or more CVRF/CVD was not associated with a significantly higher FMD reduction. The analysis of patients with only one CVRF/CVD revealed the lowest FMD values in patients with coronary artery disease. CONCLUSIONS FMD is related to the number of traditional CVRF/CVDs; however, coronary artery disease has the most significant influence on FMD decrease among analysed factors. The value of FMD assessment in high risk patients is limited.
An Empirical Assessment of a Consumption CAPM with a Reference Level under Incomplete Consumption Insurance

We study asset pricing implications of the preference specification in which an agent derives utility from both the ratio of his consumption to some reference level and this level itself under incomplete consumption insurance and limited asset market participation. Assuming that the reference level responds gradually to changes in aggregate consumption per capita, we show that when asymmetry in individual consumption is taken into account, the obtained estimate of the elasticity of intertemporal substitution is in the conventional range and significantly different from the inverse of the relative risk aversion (RRA) coefficient as the definition of assetholders is tightened. Both the power utility model and the ratio preference specification are rejected statistically.
Does CEO Turnover Matter in China? Evidence from the Stock Market

We study the consequences of CEO turnover announcements on the stock prices of firms in China, where most listed firms remain majority-owned by the state. Our proposition is that state ownership may affect stock market reaction to CEO replacement because state-owned firms often pursue multiple, potentially contradictory, objectives, i.e. economic performance and social objectives. Applying standard event study methodology to a sample of 1,094 announcements from 2002 to 2010, we find that CEO turnover typically produces a positive stock market reaction. The reaction is significantly positive, however, only for enterprises owned by the central government, and not significant for enterprises owned by local governments or privately owned enterprises. These results suggest that a CEO turnover in a central state-owned enterprise signals a renewed commitment to the economic performance objective by state officials. The small size of CEO labor market suggests that other shareholders have a relatively small pool of CEO talent to proceed to managerial improvement when a CEO turnover takes place.
Applications of Utility-Scale Power to Gas Energy Storage Systems in Smart Grids

II ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . IV TABLE OF CONTENTS . VI LIST OF TABLES . VII LIST OF FIGURES . VIII ACRONYM . X CHAPTER1: THESIS OVERVIEW . 1 1.1 Motivations . 1 1.2 Thesis layout . 4 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF ENERGY STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES . 7 2.
GRADUATES OF 2-YEAR ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN PROGRAMMES IN THE U.S. AND THE U.K.

In the U.S. and the U.K., the demand for a skilled and educated workforce of engineers and engineering technicians is greater than the supply. Postsecondary institutions in the U.S. awarding associate’s degrees in engineering and engineering technologies will fail to keep pace with job growth projections if trends of low and slow graduation rates continue. The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of attendees and graduates of associate’s degree programmes in engineering and engineering technologies and determine whether and to what extent graduation is a function of student-related and institutional variables. Researchers used an ex post facto design using the 2004/2009 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09) dataset from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Descriptive statistics indicated graduates were mostly White, married, middle income, employed part-time, enrolled full-time, completed Trigonometry/Algebra II, had a father who’s highest education level was an associate’s degree, did not know their mother’s highest level of education, completed remedial coursework, and started college with the goal of an associate’s degree. Logistic regression results indicated that gender and enrollment size during the 2003-2004 academic year significantly predicted associate’s degree completion in engineering and engineering technologies. This study provided a current description of students pursuing sub-baccalaureate engineering and engineering technologies programmes in the U.S. However, given the small weighted sample size, the regression was inconclusive in terms of the model’s predictive ability. Therefore, future caution should be taken when analysing national, educational datasets to address national workforce shortages.
Towards Structural Determination of the ComX Pheromone: Synthetic Studies on Peptides Containing Geranyltryptophan

Bacteria produce and respond to signal molecules depending on their cell density. This process is called “quorum sensing”. The ComX pheromone, controlled by quorum sensing, activates natural genetic competence in Bacillus subtilis. ComX is an oligopeptide with a posttranslational modification. It has been suggested that ComX pheromone is modified with an isoprenoid at its tryptophan residue, but the complete chemical structure is unknown. We first determined the molecular formula of ComXRO-E-2, a competence factor for B. subtilis strain RO-E-2. Then we synthesized putative pheromones with 1-, 2-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-geranyl substituted tryptophan residues. The regio- and stereo-selective synthesis of the geranyl tryptophans was successful, and we prepared the six peptides with modified tryptophan residues. These peptides had the same molecular formula and showed similar hydrophobicity to the natural ComXRO-E-2 in LC–MS analysis. But, none of them showed the same retention time as the natural pheromone and none exhibited its biological activity. These results suggest that the isoprenoid modification pattern of the tryptophan residue is more complex than postulated.
Active Learning for Multi-relational Data Construction

Knowledge on the Web relies heavily on multi-relational representations, such as RDF and Schema.org. Automatically extracting knowledge from documents and linking existing databases are common approaches to construct multi-relational data. Complementary to such approaches, there is still a strong demand for manually encoding human expert knowledge. For example, human annotation is necessary for constructing a common-sense knowledge base, which stores facts implicitly shared in a community, because such knowledge rarely appears in documents. As human annotation is both tedious and costly, an important research challenge is how to best use limited human resources, whiles maximizing the quality of the resulting dataset. In this paper, we formalize the problem of dataset construction as active learning problems and present the Active Multi-relational Data Construction (AMDC) method. AMDC repeatedly interleaves multi-relational learning and expert input acquisition, allowing us to acquire helpful labels for data construction. Experiments on real datasets demonstrate that our solution increases the number of positive triples by a factor of 2.28 to 17.0, and that the predictive performance of the multi-relational model in AMDC achieves the highest or comparable to the best performance throughout the data construction process.
Extensive simple sequence repeat genotyping of potato landraces supports a major reevaluation of their gene pool structure and classification

Contrasting taxonomic treatments of potato landraces have continued over the last century, with the recognition of anywhere from 1 to 21 distinct Linnean species, or of Cultivar Groups within the single species Solanum tuberosum. We provide one of the largest molecular marker studies of any crop landraces to date, to include an extensive study of 742 landraces of all cultivated species (or Cultivar Groups) and 8 closely related wild species progenitors, with 50 nuclear simple sequence repeat (SSR) (also known as microsatellite) primer pairs and a plastid DNA deletion marker that distinguishes most lowland Chilean from upland Andean landraces. Neighbor-joining results highlight a tendency to separate three groups: (i) putative diploids, (ii) putative tetraploids, and (iii) the hybrid cultivated species S. ajanhuiri (diploid), S. juzepczukii (triploid), and S. curtilobum (pentaploid). However, there are many exceptions to grouping by ploidy. Strong statistical support occurs only for S. ajanhuiri, S. juzepczukii, and S. curtilobum. In combination with recent morphological analyses and an examination of the identification history of these collections, we support the reclassification of the cultivated potatoes into four species: (i) S. tuberosum, with two Cultivar Groups (Andigenum Group of upland Andean genotypes containing diploids, triploids, and tetraploids, and the Chilotanum Group of lowland tetraploid Chilean landraces); (ii) S. ajanhuiri (diploid); (iii) S. juzepczukii (triploid); and (iv) S. curtilobum (pentaploid). For other classifications, consistent and stable identifications are impossible, and their classification as species is artificial and only maintains the confusion of users of the gene banks and literature.
Image inpainting algorithm based on contour features and improved MVSC

Image inpainting is an important content in the image recovery research area, and also is a research hot spot in the computer graphics and computer vision in the current. Two major categories image inpainting techniques are introduced. After Pre-processing, we get gray image and using contour extraction algorithm to extract the contour features of damaged area, which determine the contour feature location. Area-based matching algorithm is used to search alternative matching area. Contour-based Similarity Distance function (CSD) is used to determine the most similar matching area. According to the damaged area and the matching area, the source cloning domains and target cloning domains of MVSC algorithm is improved. Using mean value coordinates to achieve regional pixel cloning from the source cloning domain to the target cloning domain. Finally, the improved MVSC algorithm is used to repair the image. Experimental results verified that the method can not only repair small-scale scratches, but also repair a large area damaged areas.
DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION OF CONCATENATED TURBO / LDPC CODES FOR DEEP SPACE COMMUNICATIONS

Requirement for efficient decoding techniques for Turbo & LDPC codes are in demand, many applications incorporates either LDPC or Turbo codes nowadays, due to their excellent performance which practically approaches Shannon’s limit. Although the theoretical performance of both codes is impressive, their practical implementation leads to problems like numerical inaccuracy, limited memory resources. Better Error performance is a very big requirement in Deep Space communications. This is a significant topic of research in communication systems, deep space missions do not require high throughput, while at the same time they demand very strict BER and frame-error-rate (FER) performance. Design of other codes may leads to higher implementation complexities and poor performance. The proposed work defines the Turbo & LDPC decoder using BCJR algorithm to obtain high performance with lower bit-error rates. Keywords—Turbo; LDPC; Concatenation; Deep Space.
Partition based Hough Transformation for Real Time Road Lane Detection

An integral component of Autonomous Driver Assistance system is the robust detection and tracking of lane markings. It is a rigid problem due to large appearance variations in lane markings caused by factors such as improper illumination (transition from day to night), occlusion (traffic on the road), shadows from objects, etc. In this paper, we present a robust partition based lane detection and tracking technique that deals with lane curvature, improper lane marking, lane changes, ending, splitting and merging of road lanes. We investigate the effectiveness of our algorithm on challenging different scenario in different daylight and night-time road video sequences. The proposed algorithm partition the camera captured image into several slots and tries to detect the lane separately. After detection the lanes in different splits it merges the partitions to find the final probable lane boundaries.
R^4 Corrections to D1D5p Black Hole Entropy from Entropy Function Formalism

We show that in IIB string theory and for D1D5p black holes in ten dimensions the method of entropy function works. Despite the more complicated form of the Wald formula for D1D5p black holes in ten dimensions, the entropy is given by the entropy function at its extremum point. We use this method for computing the entropy of D1D5p system both at the level of supergravity and for its higher order {alpha}{sup '3}R{sup 4} corrections.
Transgenic Models of Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus

Creswell, and O. Blair. 1992. Poly I:C induces development of diabetes mellitus in BB rat. Diabetes 41:515-520. Sternthal, E. , A. A. Like, K. Sarantis, and L. E. Braverman. 1981. Lymphocytic thyroiditis and diabetes in the BB/W rat. A new model of autoimmune endocrinopathy. Diabetes 30:1058-1061. Thomas, V.A. , B. A. Woda, E. S. Handler, D. L. Greiner, J. P. Mordes, and A. A. Rossini. 1991. Altered expression of diabetes in BB/Worrats by exposure to viral pathogens. Diabetes 40:255-258. Watson, W.C. , J. P. Thompson, K. Terato, M. A. Cremer, and A. H. Kang. 1990. Human HLA-DRb gene hypervariable region homology in the biobreeding BB rat: Selection of the diabetic-resistant subline as a rheumatoid arthritis research tool to characterize the immunopathologic response to human type II collagen. J. Exp. Med. 172:1331-1339. Yagihashi, S. , and A. A. Sima. 1985a. Diabetic autonomic neuropathy: The distribution of structural changes in sympathetic nerves of the BB rat. Am. J.Pathol. 121:138-147. Yagihashi, S. , and A. A. Sima. 1985b. Diabetic autonomic neuropathy in the BB rat. Ultrastructural and morphometric changes in sympathetic nerves. Diabetes 34:558-564. Yagihashi, S. , and A. A. Sima. 1986. Neuroaxonal and dendritic dystrophy in diabetic autonomic neuropathy: Classification and topographic distribution in the BB rat. J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol. 45:545-565.
Diode-assisted buck-boost voltage source inverters

This paper proposes buck-boost voltage source inverters with a unique X-shape diode-capacitor network inserted between inverter circuitry and dc source for producing a large voltage boost gain. Comparing with other voltage buck-boost techniques, the presented topologies with only a little more passive components can significantly enhance voltage boost capability for dc-ac inversion. With different front-end circuitries, the diode-assisted buck-boost inverters can show different operational principle and voltage boost ratio. Carefully analyzing the operational principle for the inherent energy charging and discharging processes of passive components reveals that the dc-link voltage can alternate between two levels, which therefore demonstrate the phenomena that the specified modulation schemes should note. A modulation scheme that can achieve optimized harmonic switching is first designed with symmetrical state placement in each switching sequence to avoid unnecessary voltage stress across both passive and active components. To reduce the total commutation count, the designed modulation scheme is then modified without increasing voltage stress. All theoretical findings were verified experimentally using a number of scale-down laboratory prototypes.
Multi-view learning for multivariate performance measures optimization

In this paper, we propose the problem of optimizing multivariate performance measures from multi-view data, and an effective method to solve it. This problem has two features: the data points are presented by multiple views, and the target of learning is to optimize complex multivariate performance measures. We propose to learn a linear discriminant functions for each view, and combine them to construct a overall multivariate mapping function for mult-view data. To learn the parameters of the linear dis- criminant functions of different views to optimize multivariate performance measures, we formulate a optimization problem. In this problem, we propose to minimize the complexity of the linear discriminant functions of each view, encourage the consistences of the responses of different views over the same data points, and minimize the upper boundary of a given multivariate performance measure. To optimize this problem, we employ the cutting-plane method in an iterative algorithm. In each iteration, we update a set of constrains, and optimize the mapping function parameter of each view one by one.
What's deficient in reward deficiency?

It has been proposed that people with substance use disorders suffer from a reward deficiency syndrome. Sometimes this is framed as a pre-existing trait; sometimes it is framed as an acquired condition. Although the reward deficiency idea is often used as an explanation for excessive substance use, there is little consensus about the deficiency’s basis or how it might increase drug and alcohol use.
On the Jet Activity in 3C 273

In this paper we comment on the possibility of intermittent jet activity in quasar 3C 273 on different timescales. We propose that the striking morphology of the large-scale radio jet in this source, as well as the apparent lack of its counterpart on the opposite side of the active center, may be explained in the framework of a restarting jet model. In particular, we propose that 3C 273 radio source is intrinsically two-sided and represents an analog of double-double radio galaxies, but that it is inclined at only a small angle to the line of sight. In this case, the apparent one-sidedness of the kiloparsec-scale radio structure may be due to combined Doppler and time-travel effects alone if the 3C 273 large-scale jet itself is relativistic and matter-dominated. We also propose that the knotty morphology of the discussed jet, which in addition is now observed at optical and X-ray frequencies, indicates modulation in the jet kinetic power. This, together with the variability of the jet at small (parsec) scales, indicates that the jet activity in 3C 273, and possibly in other similar sources, is variable/modulated/intermittent over many different timescales.
GeoTextTagger: High-Precision Location Tagging of Textual Documents using a Natural Language Processing Approach

Location tagging, also known as geotagging or geolocation, is the process of assigning geographical coordinates to input data. In this paper we present an algorithm for location tagging of textual documents. Our approach makes use of previous work in natural language processing by using a state-of-the-art part-of-speech tagger and named entity recognizer to find blocks of text which may refer to locations. A knowledge base (OpenStreatMap) is then used to find a list of possible locations for each block. Finally, one location is chosen for each block by assigning distance-based scores to each location and repeatedly selecting the location and block with the best score. We tested our geolocation algorithm with Wikipedia articles about topics with a well-defined geographical location that are geotagged by the articles' authors, where classification approaches have achieved median errors as low as 11 km, with attainable accuracy limited by the class size. Our approach achieved a 10th percentile error of 490 metres and median error of 54 kilometres on the Wikipedia dataset we used. When considering the five location tags with the greatest scores, 50% of articles were assigned at least one tag within 8.5 kilometres of the article's author-assigned true location. We also tested our approach on Twitter messages that are tagged with the location from which the message was sent. Twitter texts are challenging because they are short and unstructured and often do not contain words referring to the location they were sent from, but we obtain potentially useful results. We explain how we use the Spark framework for data analytics to collect and process our test data. In general, classification-based approaches for location tagging may be reaching their upper accuracy limit, but our precision-focused approach has high accuracy for some texts and shows significant potential for improvement overall.
Design limitations of 6-slot 2-pole high-speed permanent Magnet Synchronous machines with Tooth-Coil windings

Mechanical and electro-magnetic limitations of high-speed tooth-coil electrical machines having 6 slots and 2 poles are investigated. The paper analyses the performance of a designed high-speed Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator with Tooth-Coil windings (TC-PMSM) with the topology mentioned. The generator nominal power is designed for 11 kW and nominal rotation speed is set to 31 200 rpm.
A MixIST image restoration algorithm based on IST

Iterative Shrinkage Thresholding (IST) algorithm has been becoming popular in image restoration as well as signal processing communities. Analysis and experiments expose the low efficiency and poor robustness of IST. In the paper, we devised a Mixed Iterative Shrinkage Thresholding (MixIST) algorithm which bears more robustness, higher efficiency and better efficacy. By the power of two step iteration, advanced pre-filtering, better shrinkage methods, unbiased thresholding and the increased detail information of the original image by redundant wavelets, MixIST achieve a further improvement of the quality of restored image. In order to show the actual performance of MixIST, results from experiments on image restoration as well as comparisons with other algorithms are demonstrated.