Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wrist pulse recognition based on multi-fractal spectrum

Pulse diagnosis is an important part of the theoretical system of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In this paper we propose a new and an efficient framework to recognize pulse signal in nonlinear angle. Firstly the EEMD (ensemble empirical mode decomposition) method is used to filter out baseline drifting noise, and the result is proved to be effective. Then the MFDFA(multi-fractal detrended fluctuation analysis) method is used to get Hurst index, Renyi index and multi-fractal spectrum. Hurst index is related with the long-range correlations, Renyi index is related with the multi-fractal characteristics, and multi-fractal spectrum contains Δa and Δƒ characteristics. Finally, four kinds of pulse signals are recognized by PSO-SVM after extract multi-fractal spectrum feature. Experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.
Effects of Dosage, Comorbidities, and Food on Isoniazid Pharmacokinetics in Peruvian Tuberculosis Patients

ABSTRACT Poor response to tuberculosis (TB) therapy might be attributable to subtherapeutic levels in drug-compliant patients. Pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters can be affected by several factors, such as comorbidities or the interaction of TB drugs with food. This study aimed to determine the PK of isoniazid (INH) in a Peruvian TB population under observed daily and twice-weekly (i.e., biweekly) therapy. Isoniazid levels were analyzed at 2 and 6 h after drug intake using liquid chromatography mass spectrometric methods. A total of 107 recruited patients had available PK data; of these 107 patients, 42.1% received biweekly isoniazid. The mean biweekly dose (12.8 mg/kg of body weight/day) was significantly lower than the nominal dose of 15 mg/kg/day (P < 0.001), and this effect was particularly marked in patients with concurrent diabetes and in males. The median maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) and area under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 6 h (AUC0–6) were 2.77 mg/liter and 9.71 mg·h/liter, respectively, for daily administration and 8.74 mg/liter and 37.8 mg·h/liter, respectively, for biweekly administration. There were no differences in the Cmax with respect to gender, diabetes mellitus (DM) status, or HIV status. Food was weakly associated with lower levels of isoniazid during the continuation phase. Overall, 34% of patients during the intensive phase and 33.3% during the continuation phase did not reach the Cmax reference value. However, low levels of INH were not associated with poorer clinical outcomes. In our population, INH exposure was affected by weight-adjusted dose and by food, but comorbidities did not indicate any effect on PK. We were unable to demonstrate a clear relationship between the Cmax and treatment outcome in this data set. Twice-weekly weight-adjusted dosing of INH appears to be quite robust with respect to important potentially influential patient factors under program conditions.
Students’ perception on e-learning: a basis for the development of e-learning framework in higher education institutions

As learnings styles evolve along with modernizing society, educational technology also expands. A current trend in education brought about by technological advances is the e-learning system where teachers and students can discuss lessons online and exchange learning resources. This study explored on the areas of e-learning and provided a review on current e-learning frameworks from different studies. A recent study of Debattista presented a comprehensive rubric for e-learning and it is adopted by this paper as basis for gathering student expectations, feedback, and problems encountered in e-learning. These rubrics were rated by students according to importance. Statistical findings show a significant difference between ratings of students from public and private institutions. Similarly, there is a significant difference between the ratings of male and female students. The difference might spring from the level of interest of students towards learning as factored in by type of institution and gender. Students’ learning expectations in an e-learning environment were also gathered in this study as a basis for a proposed e-learning framework. All specific standards presented by Debattista were labelled very important by respondents and are therefore adopted into the proposed framework. Along with these rubrics are proposed additional standards that focus on the enrichment of student experience and enhancement of learning. It is still highly recommended that strict and proper implementation of such standards are supervised by concerned administrative departments.
Satellite‐based assessment of top of atmosphere anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing over cloud‐free oceans

Most assessments of the direct climate forcing (DCF) of anthropogenic aerosols are from numerical simulations. However, recent advances in remote sensing techniques allow the separation of fine mode aerosols (anthropogenic aerosol is mostly fine aerosol) from coarse mode aerosols (largely marine and dust, which are mostly natural) from satellite data such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MODIS). Here, by combining MODIS narrowband measurements with broadband radiative flux data sets from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), we provide a measurement‐based assessment of the global direct climate forcing (DCF) of anthropogenic aerosols at the top of atmosphere (TOA) only for cloud free oceans. The mean TOA DCF of anthropogenic aerosols over cloud‐freeoceans [60N–60S] is −1.4 ± 0.9 Wm−2, which is in excellent agreement (mean value of −1.4 Wm−2) with a recent observational study by Kaufman et al. [2005].
Defect prediction with neural networks

The industrial and scientific world abound with problems that are poorly un&rstood or for which apparent anomalous conditions exist. Artificial Neural Networks are utilized with conventional techniques to extract salient features and relationships which are non-linear in nature. Defect causality in a large continuous flow chemical process is investigated. Significant gains in the prediction of defects over traditional statistical methods are achieved.
Differential Strain Sensing with Fibre Bragg Gratings

A precision force sensor based upon a single fibre Bragg grating is demonstrated. By reducing the fibre diameter over part of the grating, the grating experiences different levels of strain within the grating, which is used here to give temperature-independent force readings over a temperature range from 29C to 329C.
Coping with the Variability of Medical Terms

OBJECTIVES To cope with medical terms, which present a high variability of expression through a single natural language, in the sense that any term may be reformulated in hundred of different ways. METHODS A typology of term variants is presented as a systematic approach in order to favour the implementation of an exhaustive solution. Then, an algorithm able to handle all variants is designed. RESULTS Using MetaMap, single terms are analyzed with a success rate varying between 68 and 88 %; the algorithm presented in this paper improves this situation. CONCLUSIONS This experience shows that a semantic driven method, based on a thesaurus, provides a satisfactory solution to the problem of variability of a single term. The presented typology is representative of most variants in a language.
Transposon Tn21, Flagship of the Floating Genome

SUMMARY The transposon Tn21 and a group of closely related transposons (the Tn21 family) are involved in the global dissemination of antibiotic resistance determinants in gram-negative facultative bacteria. The molecular basis for their involvement is carriage by the Tn21 family of a mobile DNA element (the integron) encoding a site-specific system for the acquisition of multiple antibiotic resistance genes. The paradigm example, Tn21, also carries genes for its own transposition and a mercury resistance (mer) operon. We have compiled the entire 19,671-bp sequence of Tn21 and assessed the possible origins and functions of the genes it contains. Our assessment adds molecular detail to previous models of the evolution of Tn21 and is consistent with the insertion of the integron In2 into an ancestral Tn501-like mer transposon. Codon usage analysis indicates distinct host origins for the ancestral mer operon, the integron, and the gene cassette and two insertion sequences which lie within the integron. The sole gene of unknown function in the integron, orf5, resembles a puromycin-modifying enzyme from an antibiotic producing bacterium. A possible seventh gene in the mer operon (merE), perhaps with a role in Hg(II) transport, lies in the junction between the integron and the mer operon. Analysis of the region interrupted by insertion of the integron suggests that the putative transposition regulator, tnpM, is the C-terminal vestige of a tyrosine kinase sensor present in the ancestral mer transposon. The extensive dissemination of the Tn21 family may have resulted from the fortuitous association of a genetic element for accumulating multiple antibiotic resistances (the integron) with one conferring resistance to a toxic metal at a time when clinical, agricultural, and industrial practices were rapidly increasing the exposure to both types of selective agents. The compendium offered here will provide a reference point for ongoing observations of related elements in multiply resistant strains emerging worldwide.
Radio pulsars in Terzan 5

We report on searches of the globular cluster Terzan 5 for low-luminosity and accelerated radio pulsars using the 64-m Parkes radio telescope. One new millisecond pulsar, designated PSR J1748−2446C, was discovered, having a period of 8.44 ms. Timing measurements using the 76-m Lovell radio telescope at Jodrell Bank show that it is a solitary pulsar and lies close to the core of the cluster. We also present the results of timing measurements which show that the longer period pulsar PSR J1748−2444 (formerly known as PSR B1744−24B) lies 10 arcmin from the core of the cluster and is unlikely to be associated with the cluster. We conclude that there are further pulsars to be detected in the cluster.
AAA and Network Security for Mobile Access: Radius, Diameter, EAP, PKI and IP Mobility

AAA (Authentication, Authorization, Accounting) describes a framework for intelligently controlling access to network resources, enforcing policies, and providing the information necessary to bill for services. AAA and Network Security for Mobile Access is an invaluable guide to the AAA concepts and framework, including its protocols Diameter and Radius. The authors give an overview of established and emerging standards for the provision of secure network access for mobile users while providing the basic design concepts and motivations.
Visual saliency estimation for video

The most eye catching regions within an image or video can be captured by exploiting characteristics within the human visual system. In this paper we propose a novel method for modeling the visual saliency information in a video sequence. The proposed method incorporates wavelet decomposition and the modeling of the human visual system to capture spatiotemporal saliency information. A unique approach to capture and combine salient motion data with spatial intensity and orientation contrasts in the sequence, is presented. The proposed method shows a superior performance compared to the state-of-the-art existing methods. The fast algorithm can be simply implemented and is useful for many wavelet based applications such as watermarking, compression and fusion.
On the Sequencing of Projects, Reputation Building, and Relationship Finance

We study the decision an entrepreneur faces in financing multiple projects and show that relationship financing will arise endogenously in an environment where strategic defaults are likely, even when firms have access to arm's-length financing. Relationship financing allows an entrepreneur to build a private reputation for repayment that reduces the cost of financing. However, in an environment where the risk of strategic default is low, the benefits from reputation building are outweighed by holdup rents extractable by the incumbent lender. Entrepreneurs then choose to finance projects from single or multiple arm's-length lenders.
Modeling the acoustic correlates of expressive elements in text genres for expressive text-to-speech synthesis

This paper proposes a novel approach for describing the expressive elements in text genres and modeling their acoustic correlates for expressive text-to-speech synthesis (TTS). We apply the three-dimensional PAD (pleasure-displeasure, arousal-nonarousal and dominance-submissiveness) model in describing expressivity. In particular, we define a set of principles for annotating the P and A values of prosodic words found in texts from the tourist information domain. These text passages may be categorized into the descriptive genre (e.g. describing a beautiful scenic spot), the informative genre (e.g. presenting the opening hours of a museum) and the procedural genre (e.g. offering bus routes to a landmark). We choose the prosodic word as the basic unit for analysis since it bridges textual input with (synthetic) speech output. Analysis of contrastive (neutral versus expressive) recordings uncovers the acoustic correlates of annotated P and A values. This enables us to develop a non-linear model that can transform neutral speech to resemble expressive speech, according to the P and A values of the input text. Perceptual evaluation of the speech outputs shows that over 70% of the prosodic words carry appropriate expressivity.
Revisiting the role of nutrient availability on global forest carbon balance

Global forests dominate the capacity of carbon (C) sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems and have strong feedbacks to changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations and climate factors. The role of nutrient availability is becoming crucial with growing evidence that it can regulate the response of ecosystem C sequestration to increased CO2 concentrations, elevated temperature and changed water availability (Oren et al., 2001; Wamelink et al., 2009). Fernandez-Martinez et al. (2014) recently concluded that nutrient availability was the chief determinant of net ecosystem production (NEP) and ecosystem carbon-use efficiency (CUEe, the ratio of NEP to gross primary production, (GPP)) in global forests.However, De Vries (2014) seriously concerned that their analysis of global observational datasets can be subject to bias due to the inclusion of outliers (three very young nutrient-rich forests with extremely high NEPs) and assumed linearity in relationships. Using the same datasets retrieved by digitalizing figures from Fernandez-Martinez et al. (2014), here I have performed statistical analysis regarding the concerns of De Vries (2014) and found that nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor forests have no difference in their allocation of GPP to NEP and ecosystems respiration (Re).
Internet banking adoption among mature customers: early majority or laggards?

Finland is a world leader in electronic banking, and over 39.8 percent of all retail banking transactions were made over the Internet in August 2000. Using the data of a large survey, we analyzed mature customers’ Internet banking behavior. Internet banking was the third popular mode of payment among mature customers. Household income and education were found to have a significant effect on the adoption of the Internet as a banking channel, so that over 30 percent of wealthy and well‐educated mature males make e‐banking their primary mode of making payments. Perceived difficulty in using computers combined with the lack of personal service in e‐banking were found to be the main barriers of Internet banking adoption among mature customers. Internet banking was also found to be more unsecured among mature customers than bank customers in general.
A simple physical model for binding energy hot spots in protein–protein complexes

Protein–protein recognition plays a central role in most biological processes. Although the structures of many protein–protein complexes have been solved in molecular detail, general rules describing affinity and selectivity of protein–protein interactions do not accurately account for the extremely diverse nature of the interfaces. We investigate the extent to which a simple physical model can account for the wide range of experimentally measured free energy changes brought about by alanine mutation at protein–protein interfaces. The model successfully predicts the results of alanine scanning experiments on globular proteins (743 mutations) and 19 protein–protein interfaces (233 mutations) with average unsigned errors of 0.81 kcal/mol and 1.06 kcal/mol, respectively. The results test our understanding of the dominant contributions to the free energy of protein–protein interactions, can guide experiments aimed at the design of protein interaction inhibitors, and provide a stepping-stone to important applications such as interface redesign.
Impact of Earnings Smoothness on Stock Prices, Stock Returns and Future Earnings Changes - The Polish Experience

Capital markets appreciate stability. It means that companies reporting smooth earnings patterns tend to be priced relatively high. However, the empirical issue is whether such valuation premiums for earnings smoothness are justified. We examine the relationships between past five-year earnings smoothness and relative stock prices of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The empirical investigation confirmed that on the Polish market the smooth historical earnings are rewarded with valuation premiums and the erratic earnings are penalized with valuation discounts. However, stocks with smooth past earnings tend to bring sub-par future stock returns while stocks with relatively erratic earnings seem to generate above-average returns. Furthermore, the scope of past earnings smoothness does not show any discernible relationships to realized investment risk measures. Finally, companies with smooth earnings tend to report “negative earnings surprises” and relatively slow earnings growth rates in the following year. All in all, our research suggests that there is not any empirically observable justification for the valuation premiums observed in the case of stocks with smooth past earnings because such smoothness translate neither into relatively low future investment risks nor relatively fast future earnings growth.
A model-free approach for the segmentation of unknown objects

We address the problem of object segmentation from depth images of highly complex indoor scenes. We propose a model-free segmentation approach, which robustly separates unknown stacked objects in real-world scenes. Our approach constructs geometrically constrained 3D clusters known as salient-regions, which are subsequently merged into high-level object hypotheses by analyzing the local geometrical characteristics (such as local shape and homogeneity) of the area of their shared boundaries. We tested our approach using depth images from live Kinect video streams and publicly available RGB-D datasets. Our approach is highly efficient and achieves superior performance compared to state-of-the-art techniques.
Discussion of “ Co-authorship and citation networks for statisticians ” by Pengsheng Ji and Jiashun Jin

I congratulate the authors on this valuable contribution to the statistics profession, and for their diligent work collecting the co-authorship and citation datasets upon which their analysis is based. The paper provides a valuable perspective on an important aspect of relationships between papers and between individual statisticians in a few of the most prominent journals in the field. The authors’ analyses of these relationships yields new insights, paves the way for future data collection efforts, and provides a valuable dataset for further analytical exploration. In this brief discussion, I will give a few general comments, questions, and give suggestions for future work. I focus on three areas: author, paper, and journal attributes, selection of authors and journals, and the role of time in the process of research collaboration and citation.
Interaction of MRE11 and Clinicopathologic Characteristics in Recurrence of Breast Cancer: Individual and Cumulated Receiver Operating Characteristic Analyses

The interaction between the meiotic recombination 11 homolog A (MRE11) oncoprotein and breast cancer recurrence status remains unclear. The aim of this study was to assess the interaction between MRE11 and clinicopathologic variables in breast cancer. A dataset for 254 subjects with breast cancer (220 nonrecurrent and 34 recurrent) was used in individual and cumulated receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses of MRE11 and 12 clinicopathologic variables for predicting breast cancer recurrence. In individual ROC analysis, the area under curve (AUC) for each predictor of breast cancer recurrence was smaller than 0.7. In cumulated ROC analysis, however, the AUC value for each predictor improved. Ten relevant variables in breast cancer recurrence were used to find the optimal prognostic indicators. The presence of any six of the following ten variables had a high (79%) sensitivity and a high (70%) specificity for predicting breast cancer recurrence: tumor size ≥ 2.4 cm, tumor stage II/III, therapy other than hormone therapy, age ≥ 52 years, MRE11 positive cells > 50%, body mass index ≥ 24, lymph node metastasis, positivity for progesterone receptor, positivity for epidermal growth factor receptor, and negativity for estrogen receptor. In conclusion, this study revealed that these 10 clinicopathologic variables are the minimum discriminators needed for optimal discriminant effectiveness in predicting breast cancer recurrence.
Gauge Symmetries And Noether Currents In Optimal Control

We extend the second Noether theorem to optimal control problems which are invariant under symmetries depending upon k arbitrary functions of the indepen- dent variable and their derivatives up to some order m. As far as we consider a semi-invariance notion, and the trans formation group may also depend on the control variables, the result is new even in the classical context of the calculus of variations.
IPRs and the industrial structure of the North American seed industry

Economic theory highlights the critical importance of excludability in encouraging private research and development in the agri-food sector. Without it, private research will languish and social welfare could suffer. Since 1970 governments around the world have recognized this and strengthened the legal protections for biotechnology processes and products (e.g. patents, plant breeders’ rights and trademarks). These new rights have been integrated into a complex system of public and private protections for intellectual property in this sector. Consequently, this new policy spurred significant private investment in biotechnologies and related agri-food products, but a number of policy concerns have arisen. There are now concerns that the structure and level of intellectual property protection may be changing the structure of the industry, reducing competition, stifling socially desirable diffusion and use, impeding followon innovations and ultimately redistributing economic returns towards agrochemical and seed companies and way from farmers and consumers.
Finding all hypergeometric solutions of linear differential equations

Hypergeometric sequences are such that the quotient of two successive terms is a fixed rational function of the index. We give a generalization of M. Petkovsek's algorithm to find all hypergeometric sequence solutions of linear recurrences and we describe a program to find all hypergeometric functions that solve a linear differential equation.