Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Brain stem magnetic resonance imaging and evoked potential studies of symptomatic multiple sclerosis patients.

In this study we evaluated the sensitivity of neuroradiological and neurophysiological tests for detecting brain stem (BS) lesions in multiple sclerosis patients, since the recent introduction of the gradient motion rephasing technique has markedly increased the image quality of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). From 50 MS patients (33 women and 17 men; mean age 35.9 +/- 8.3 years; mean duration of the disease 7.2 +/- 4.1 years) with clinical signs of BS involvement, brain MRI, BS auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs), and left and right median somatosensory evoked potentials (mSEPs) were obtained. BS MRI lesions were detected in 41 patients (82%); in 14 cases they were located in the medulla oblongata, in 55 in the pons, and in 24 in the midbrain. Single lesions were present in 20 patients, while two or more BS lesions were demonstrated in 21 patients; 30 patients had at least one lesion located close to the inner or the outer cerebrospinal fluid border. BAEPs were abnormal in 19 of the 50 patients (38%), and BS components of mSEPs were abnormal in 15 of 46 (33%). With combined use of these neurophysiological techniques, BS abnormalities were revealed in 24 patients (48%). Only 1 patient had neurophysiological BS abnormalities and normal MRI. Moreover, there was a good correlation (74%) between the clinical and MRI BS findings in the 23 patients with signs referable to focal neurological BS lesions. The concordances considering clinical and evoked potential reports were positive, but less marked. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A multilayer link quality estimator for reliable machine-to-machine communication

An ever-growing number of embedded devices supports different kinds of applications, such as healthcare, surveillance, gas monitoring, and others, that require an elevated level of communication reliability. However, the expected high density of those embedded devices increases the competition for frequency spectrum, making it difficult to achieve a reliable machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. To overcome these difficulties, the use of link quality estimators (LQE) is crucial to provide a solid communication. In order to provide robust and faster communication under harsh conditions, this paper proposes a new LQE, called PRR2, which uses two metrics and two levels of PRR (Packet Received Ratio). The use of two PRR sliding windows captures link quality variations in the short term and also considers the long-term. PRR2 is compared against the state of the art on a prototype using USRPs, and the results show that the proposal reduces the number of retransmissions and increases the delivery rate, which are two important metrics for link layer reliability.
Compressing DMA Engine: Leveraging Activation Sparsity for Training Deep Neural Networks

Popular deep learning frameworks require users to fine-tune their memory usage so that the training data of a deep neural network (DNN) fits within the GPU physical memory. Prior work tries to address this restriction by virtualizing the memory usage of DNNs, enabling both CPU and GPU memory to be utilized for memory allocations. Despite its merits, virtualizing memory can incur significant performance overheads when the time needed to copy data back and forth from CPU memory is higher than the latency to perform DNN computations. We introduce a high-performance virtualization strategy based on a "compressing DMA engine" (cDMA) that drastically reduces the size of the data structures that are targeted for CPU-side allocations. The cDMA engine offers an average 2.6x (maximum 13.8x) compression ratio by exploiting the sparsity inherent in offloaded data, improving the performance of virtualized DNNs by an average 53% (maximum 79%) when evaluated on an NVIDIA Titan Xp.
Phase Changes in Subtree Varieties in Random Recursive and Binary Search Trees

We study the variety of subtrees lying on the fringe of recursive trees and binary search trees by analyzing the distributional behavior of $X_{n,k}$, which counts the number of subtrees of size $k$ in a random tree of size $n$, with $k = k(n)$ dependent on $n$. Using analytic methods we can characterize for both tree families the phase change behavior of $X_{n,k}$ as follows. In the subcritical case, when $k(n)/\sqrt{n} \to 0$, we show that $X_{n,k}$ is (after normalization) asymptotically normally distributed, whereas in the supercritical case, when $k(n)/\sqrt n \to \infty$, $X_{n,k}$ converges to 0. In the critical case, when $k(n) = \Theta(\sqrt{n}\,)$, we show that if $k/\sqrt{n}$ approaches a limit, then $X_{n,k}$ converges in distribution to a Poisson random variable, whereas if $k/\sqrt{n}$ does not approach a finite nonzero limit, the size oscillates and does not converge in distribution to any random variable. In regard to recursive trees and binary search trees, this provides an understanding of the complete spectrum of phases of $X_{n,k}$ and the gradual change from the subcritical to the supercritical phase.
Visual and memory search in complex environments: determinants of eye movements and search performance

Previous research on visual and memory search revealed various top down and bottom up factors influencing performance. However, utilising abstract stimuli (e.g. geometrical shapes or letters) and focussing on individual factors has often limited the applicability of research findings. Two experiments were designed to analyse which attributes of a product facilitate search in an applied environment. Participants scanned displays containing juice packages while their eye movements were recorded. The familiarity, saliency, and position of search targets were systematically varied. Experiment 1 involved a visual search task, whereas Experiment 2 focussed on memory search. The results showed that bottom up (target saliency) and top down (target familiarity) factors strongly interacted. Overt visual attention was influenced by cultural habits, purposes, and current task demands. The results provide a solid database for assessing the impact and interplay of fundamental top down and bottom up determinants of search processes in applied fields of psychology. Practitioner Summary: Our study demonstrates how a product (or a visual item in general) needs to be designed and placed to ensure that it can be found effectively and efficiently within complex environments. Corresponding product design should result in faster and more accurate visual and memory based search processes.
Robust Image Fingerprinting Based on Feature Point Relationship Mining

Local feature points have been widely employed in robust image fingerprinting. One of their intrinsic advantages is their invariance under geometric transforms. However, their robustness against certain attacks that modify the positions of points, such as additive noising and blurring, is limited. In addition, local-feature-point-based approaches ignore the distribution of the feature points. In this paper, we harness feature point relationships, including local structures and global relevance, to overcome these limitations. In the relationship mining strategy, Delaunay triangulation is first applied to the feature points to capture their geometric structures. Subsequently, local structures are represented by searching for an independent set in the mapping graph constructed via Delaunay triangulation, whereas the global relevance is represented by the Laplacian of the graph. Finally, the local structures and global relevance are used as input to the quantization process of the image fingerprinting system. In the process of quantization, we propose an unsupervised quantization strategy called between-cluster distance-based quantization to preserve the neighborhood structure between the binary fingerprint space and the original feature space. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves effective performance under common modifications.
Why is Pollution from U.S. Manufacturing Declining? The Roles of Environmental Regulation, Productivity, and Trade

Between 1990 and 2008, air pollution emissions from US manufacturing fell by 60 percent despite a substantial increase in manufacturing output. We show that these emissions reductions are primarily driven by within-product changes in emissions intensity rather than changes in output or in the composition of products produced. We then develop and estimate a quantitative model linking trade with the environment to better understand the economic forces driving these changes. Our estimates suggest that the implicit pollution tax that manufacturers face doubled between 1990 and 2008. These changes in environmental regulation, rather than changes in productivity and trade, account for most of the emissions reductions. (JEL F18, H23, L60, Q52, Q53, Q56, Q58)
Asymptotic integration of linear system with high-frequency coefficients and Stokes operator in the main part

A linear system of integro-differential equations with Stokes operator in the main part and with rapidly oscillating by time terms is considered. The corresponding stationary limiting (averaged) problem has zero eigenvalue, and corresponding eigenfunction has generalized associated first order function in the Vishik-Lyusternik sense. A complete asymptotic expansion of time-periodic solution is constructed and proved.
The association of physical illness and self-harm resulting in hospitalisation among older people in a population-based study

Objectives: With population ageing, self-harm injuries among older people are increasing. Further examination of the association of physical illness and self-harm among older people is warranted. This research aims to identify the association of physical illness with hospitalisations following self-harm compared to non-self-harm injury among older people. Method: A population-based cohort study of individuals aged 50+ years admitted to hospital either for a self-harm or a non-self-harm injury using linked hospital admission and mortality records during 2003–2012 in New South Wales, Australia was conducted. Logistic regression and survival plots were used to examine the association of 21 physical illnesses and mortality at 12 months by injury intent, respectively. Age-adjusted health outcomes, including length of stay, readmission and mortality were examined by injury intent. Results: There were 12,111 hospitalisations as a result of self-harm and 474,158 hospitalisations as a result of non-self-harm injury. Self-harm compared to non-self-harm hospitalised injury was associated with higher odds of mental health conditions (i.e. depression, schizophrenia, bipolar and anxiety disorders), neurological disorders (excluding dementia), other disorders of the nervous system, diabetes, chronic lower respiratory disease, liver disease, tinnitus and pain. Tinnitus, pain, malignancies and diabetes all had a higher likelihood of occurrence for self-harm compared to non-self-harm hospitalisations even after adjusting for mental health conditions, number of comorbidities and alcohol and drug dependency. Conclusion: Older people who are experiencing chronic health conditions, particularly tinnitus, malignancies, diabetes and chronic pain may be at risk of self-harm. Targeted screening may assist in identifying older people at risk of self-harm.
Low bend loss waveguides and photonic bandgaps enabled by high index contrast modifications

We present a novel process to fabricate high index contrast waveguides in boro- aluminosilicate glass based on differential thermal post-annealing. Firstly, large high index contrast multimode waveguides are inscribed and subsequently annealed to achieve single-mode operation. We applied this technique to significantly increase the throughput of 3D astrophotonic devices and to demonstrate anti-resonant (ARROW) guiding in a laser written structure for the first time.
Ab initio study of the magnetoelectric effect and critical thickness for ferroelectricity in Co2FeSi/BaTiO3 multiferroic tunnel junctions

The interfacial magnetoelectric effect and the critical thickness for the ferroelectric in half-metallic ferromagnet/ferroelectric Co2FeSi/BaTiO3 multiferroic tunnel junctions are investigated using a first-principles density-functional theory. The magnetoelectric effect is derived from the difference of the magnetic moments on interfacial atoms, which are sensitive to the polarization of ferroelectric layers in multiferroic tunnel junctions. Besides this, the coupling is found to be dependent on the interfacial electronic hybridizations and to be affected by the choice of the atomic termination. In addition, the magnetoelectric coefficients calculated for the FeSi/TiO2 and Co2/TiO2 interfaces of the junctions are different from each other. Meanwhile, the critical thickness of ferroelectric state was found to be about 1.7 nm in the Co2/TiO2 interface but vanished in the FeSi/TiO2 interface. The half-metallic ferromagnetic/ferroelectric tunnel junctions may open a promising avenue for designing novel electronic and spintronic devices at nanoscale.
MIMO-assisted hard versus soft decoding-and-forwarding for network coding aided relaying systems

This paper proposes two types of new decoding algorithms for a network coding aided relaying (NCR) system, which adopts multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver. In the NCR system, the relay station (RS) decodes the data received from both the base station (BS) as well as from the mobile station (MS) and combines the decoded signals into a single data stream before forwarding it to both. In this paper, we consider the realistic scenario of encountering decoding errors at the RS, which results in erroneous forwarded data. Under this assumption, we derive decoding algorithms for both the BS and the MS in order to reduce the deleterious effects of imperfect decoding at the RS. We first propose a decoding algorithm for a hard decision based forwarding (HDF) system. Then, for the sake of achieving further performance improvements, we also employ soft decision forwarding (SDF) and propose a novel error model, which divides the error pattern into two components: hard and soft errors. Given this error model, we then modify the HDF decoder for employment in SDF systems. We also derive estimation algorithms for their parameters that are required for the efficient operation of the proposed decoders. Our simulation results show that the proposed algorithms provide substantial performance improvements in terms of the attainable packet error rate as a benefit of our more accurate error model.
Time-varying K factor of the mm-Wave vehicular channel: Velocity, vibrations and the road quality influence

This paper evaluates real-world intra-vehicle millimeter-wave (mmWave) channel measurements performed in a vehicular environment. Utilizing a correlative time-domain channel sounder, we demonstrate the dependency of the time-varying Rician K factor on the road quality and instantaneous velocity of the measured vehicle. Vibrations caused by the movement of the vehicle together with mechanical properties of the vehicle's chassis leads to a mutual movement of the transmitting (TX) and the receiving (RX) antennas mounted on the front windshield and on the rear quarter window respectively. The channel sounding is performed in a frequency bandwidth from 59.1GHz to 64 GHz with 50GS/s sampling frequency.
Characterization and validation of the thorax phantom Lungman for dose assessment in chest radiography optimization studies

Abstract. This work concerns the validation of the Kyoto-Kagaku thorax anthropomorphic phantom Lungman for use in chest radiography optimization. The equivalence in terms of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) was established for the lung and mediastinum regions of the phantom. Patient chest examination data acquired under automatic exposure control were collated over a 2-year period for a standard x-ray room. Parameters surveyed included exposure index, air kerma area product, and exposure time, which were compared with Lungman values. Finally, a voxel model was developed by segmenting computed tomography images of the phantom and implemented in PENELOPE/penEasy Monte Carlo code to compare phantom tissue-equivalent materials with materials from ICRP Publication 89 in terms of organ dose. PMMA equivalence varied depending on tube voltage, from 9.5 to 10.0 cm and from 13.5 to 13.7 cm, for the lungs and mediastinum regions, respectively. For the survey, close agreement was found between the phantom and the patients’ median values (deviations lay between 8% and 14%). Differences in lung doses, an important organ for optimization in chest radiography, were below 13% when comparing the use of phantom tissue-equivalent materials versus ICRP materials. The study confirms the value of the Lungman for chest optimization studies.
Simultaneous purifying of Hg 0 , SO 2 , and NO x from flue gas by Fe 3 + / H 2 O 2 : the performance and purifying mechanism

Hg, SO2, and NOx result in heavily global environmental pollution and serious health hazards. Up to now, how to efficiently remove mercury with SO2 and NOx from flue gas is still a tough task. In this study, series of high oxidizing Fenton systems were employed to purify the pollutants. The experimental results showed that Fe/H2O2 was more suitable to purify Hg 0 than Fe/ H2O2 and Cu /H2O2. The optimal condition includes Fe 3+ concentration of 0.008 mol/L, Hg inlet concentration of 40 μg/m, solution temperature of 50 °C, pH of 3, H2O2 concentration of 0.7 mol/L, and O2 percentage of 6%. When SO2 and NOx were taken into account under the optimal condition, Hg removal efficiency could be enhanced to 91.11% while the removal efficiency of both NOx and SO2 was slightly declined, which was consistent to the analysis of purifying mechanism. The removal efficiency of Hg was stimulated by accelerating the conversion of Fe to Fe, which resulted from the existence of SO2 and NOx. The results of this study suggested that simultaneously purifying Hg , SO2, and NOx from flue gas is feasible.
Ultrasonic Fabrication of Metallic Nanomaterial and Nanoalloys

This review demonstrates the potential of sonochemistry to become a valuable tool for nanotechnology through composite fabrication if the underlying complex processes are understood and controlled. We show that control of cavitation requires control of interfaces at the microsecond timescale, and a diversity of phenomena is observed at the cavitation interface using different surfactants. Concrete examples show that it is possible to prepare nonequilibrium mono- and multicomponent metallic nanostructures that possess properties considerably different from those of nanostructures prepared by conventional methods.
Voice-Related Patient-Reported Outcome Measures: A Systematic Review of Instrument Development and Validation.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to perform a comprehensive systematic review of the literature on voice-related patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures in adults and to evaluate each instrument for the presence of important measurement properties. Method MEDLINE, the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and the Health and Psychosocial Instrument databases were searched using relevant vocabulary terms and key terms related to PRO measures and voice. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed in consultation with an expert panel. Three independent investigators assessed study methodology using criteria developed a priori. Measurement properties were examined and entered into evidence tables. Results A total of 3,744 studies assessing voice-related constructs were identified. This list was narrowed to 32 PRO measures on the basis of predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Questionnaire measurement properties varied widely. Important thematic deficiencies were apparent: (a) lack of patient involvement in the item development process, (b) lack of robust construct validity, and (c) lack of clear interpretability and scaling. Conclusions PRO measures are a principal means of evaluating treatment effectiveness in voice-related conditions. Despite their prominence, available PRO measures have disparate methodological rigor. Care must be taken to understand the psychometric and measurement properties and the applicability of PRO measures before advocating for their use in clinical or research applications.
Daily rhythms of melatonin binding sites in the rat pars tuberalis and suprachiasmatic nuclei; evidence for a regulation of melatonin receptors by melatonin itself.

Using quantitative autoradiography, the density of melatonin binding sites has been measured in the rat pars tuberalis (PT) and suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) every 4 h throughout a 24-hour period in animals kept in a light regime of 12L/12D (with lights on at 07.00 h). Slices of PT and SCN were incubated in the presence of 180 and 172 pM, respectively, of 2-125I-melatonin. In both structures investigated, specific 2-125I-melatonin binding sites showed similar rhythms throughout the 24-hour period with a maximum at 16.00 h (PT: 46.9 +/- 2.8 fmol/mg protein, n = 5 and SCN: 5.12 +/- 0.30 fmol/mg protein, n = 5) and a minimum at 4.00 h (PT: 28.5 +/- 4.5 fmol/mg protein, n = 5 and SCN: 3.07 +/- 0.39 fmol/mg protein, n = 5). Similar experiments performed on PT of animals kept in constant light (LL) for 3 days revealed a lack of variations of melatonin binding site density, all the values being significantly higher than those of the respective 12L/12D group (concentration of 2-125I-melatonin used: 180 pM). All these preliminary results were confirmed by saturation studies performed at 16.00 and 4.00 h using quantitative autoradiography and in 12L/12D animals, using radioreceptor binding assays on isolated PT membranes. In 12L/12D animals, the maximum number of melatonin binding sites (Bmax) of both SCN and PT was significantly higher at 16.00 h than at 4.00 h. In all these cases, however, the dissociation constant (Kd) failed to show any significant daily variation. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Alternative Information Sources and Information Asymmetry Reduction: Evidence from Small Business Debt

We examine whether more sophisticated accounting methods (in the form of accrual accounting) interact with other information sources to reduce information asymmetries between small business borrowers and lenders, thereby lowering borrowers׳ probability of loan denial and cost of debt. We find that higher third party credit scores, but not the use of accrual accounting, decrease the likelihood of loan denial. However, firms using accrual accounting exhibit statistically lower interest rates after controlling for many factors associated with the cost of debt. Further, the interest rate benefits from accrual accounting are greatest when the borrower׳s credit score is low and/or the length of its banking relationship with the lender is short. This evidence indicates that accrual accounting can benefit small business borrowers, but that the information contained in third-party credit scores and obtained through ongoing banking relationships can substitute for the incremental information provided by accrual accounting.