Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficient Estimation of Population-Level Summaries in General Semiparametric Regression Models

This article considers a wide class of semiparametric regression models in which interest focuses on population-level quantities that combine both the parametric and the nonparametric parts of the model. Special cases in this approach include generalized partially linear models, generalized partially linear single-index models, structural measurement error models, and many others. For estimating the parametric part of the model efficiently, profile likelihood kernel estimation methods are well established in the literature. Here our focus is on estimating general population-level quantities that combine the parametric and nonparametric parts of the model (e.g., population mean, probabilities, etc.). We place this problem in a general context, provide a general kernel-based methodology, and derive the asymptotic distributions of estimates of these population-level quantities, showing that in many cases the estimates are semiparametric efficient. For estimating the population mean with no missing data, we show that the sample mean is semiparametric efficient for canonical exponential families, but not in general. We apply the methods to a problem in nutritional epidemiology, where estimating the distribution of usual intake is of primary interest and semiparametric methods are not available. Extensions to the case of missing response data are also discussed.
Force producibility improvement of redundant parallel mechanism for haptic applications

Haptic device has attracted attention over the years for the growing demand in industrial, research and consumer use. As mechanical performance of haptic device, wide range of working area, wide bandwidth of generating force, number of Degrees Of Freedom (DOF) and compact size are generally desirable. Parallel mechanism has been widely introduced to haptic device for advantageous benefits such as a high rigidity, a high output force, a high accuracy and a high backdrivability by its multi-legged structure and fixed actuators on the base. In parallel mechanism, the arm configuration can be asymmetric depending on the position, and thus it influences to the force producibility - an ability of force generation. Therefore, an evaluation on the force producibility is a critical issue for a further development of haptic device using parallel mechanism. In this paper, we propose a new approach for improvement of force producibility on a redundant parallel mechanism by using its redundant DOF. Our previously presented redundant parallel mechanism, DELTA-R, was used to show the feasibility of the concept. The forward kinematic model of DELTA-R was modified to decouple the output of X and Y axes to two arms, in taking into account the geometric conditions. In the proposed model, the output of X and Y axes are decoupled to two arms, and the effectiveness was tested in analytical and experimental manners. In addition, to adequately address the force producibility of parallel mechanism for haptic applications, we propose an evaluation technique, Extremal Force Diagram (EFD).
Effect of Maternal Age on Pregnancy Outcome and Cesarean Delivery Rate

Background The aims of this retrospective study were to evaluate the maternal and prenatal outcomes between 35 years and older pregnancies and younger pregnancies, and the effects of the age of pregnancy, mother and newborn. Methods Pregnant women who gave birth in Vakif Gureba Training and Research Hospital, Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2006 were retrospectively screened. Pregnant women aged 35 years and over were included in this study and the pregnant women between age range of 30 - 34 years were included in the control group. Results Pregnancy rate was found as 7.1% in 35 years and older women in all the deliveries, cesarean delivery rate was found as 46.1% in this group at 1 year period. However, cesarean delivery rate was 40.9% in the control group. Cesarean delivery rate was found as 31.6% in all the deliveries. The most common cause of cesarean section indication was fetal distress in advanced maternal age (AMA) (11.7%), whereas previous cesarean section was found as the most common cause in the control group (15.1%). Conclusion No significant difference was found between AMA group and normal pregnancies in terms of preterm labor, caesarian section, morbidity, mortality and chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus.
A Differential Network Approach to Exploring Differences between Biological States: An Application to Prediabetes

Background Variations in the pattern of molecular associations are observed during disease development. The comprehensive analysis of molecular association patterns and their changes in relation to different physiological conditions can yield insight into the biological basis of disease-specific phenotype variation. Methodology Here, we introduce a formal statistical method for the differential analysis of molecular associations via network representation. We illustrate our approach with extensive data on lipoprotein subclasses measured by NMR spectroscopy in 4,406 individuals with normal fasting glucose, and 531 subjects with impaired fasting glucose (prediabetes). We estimate the pair-wise association between measures using shrinkage estimates of partial correlations and build the differential network based on this measure of association. We explore the topological properties of the inferred network to gain insight into important metabolic differences between individuals with normal fasting glucose and prediabetes. Conclusions/Significance Differential networks provide new insights characterizing differences in biological states. Based on conventional statistical methods, few differences in concentration levels of lipoprotein subclasses were found between individuals with normal fasting glucose and individuals with prediabetes. By performing the differential analysis of networks, several characteristic changes in lipoprotein metabolism known to be related to diabetic dyslipidemias were identified. The results demonstrate the applicability of the new approach to identify key molecular changes inaccessible to standard approaches.
Employee Safety in the National Park Service

Many factors can contribute to safe and unsafe work practices in National Park Service (NPS) activities. Prior research is reviewed to highlight how factors influencing employee safety occur at multiple levels. Individual characteristics contributing to employee safety include stress and fatigue, and how they influence decision making, judgments, and behaviors. Group characteristics include how employees and team members share information and reach joint decisions. The potential for safety cultures and effective training programs are factors influencing employee safety at the organizational level. Special attention is placed on prior research which specifically addresses NPS employee safety. How lessons from prior research can be useful to NPS managers is emphasized throughout the report.
Learning Indirect Actions in Complex Domains: Action Suggestions for Air Traffic Control

Providing intelligent algorithms to manage the ever-increasing flow of air traffic is critical to the efficiency and economic viability of air transportation systems. Yet, current automated solutions leave existing human controllers "out of the loop" rendering the potential solutions both technically dangerous (e.g. inability to react to suddenly developing conditions) and politically charged (e.g. role of air traffic controllers in a fully automated system). Instead, this paper outlines a distributed agent-based solution where agents provide suggestions to human controllers. Though conceptually pleasing, this approach introduces two critical research issues. First, the agent actions are now filtered through interactions with other agents, human controllers and the environment before leading to a system state. This indirect action-to-effect process creates a complex learning problem. Second, even in the best case, not all air traffic controllers will be willing or able to follow the agents' suggestions. T.
Dielectric properties of CaCu3Ti4O12 thick films

CaCu3Ti4O12 is believed to have a variety of potential applications due to its unusual high dielectric constant and very high thermal stability. Ceramic films of CaCu3Ti4O12 differ from bulk specimens in dielectric and other physical properties. In this paper, the dielectric properties of CCTO thick films are investigated by SEM and dielectric spectra analysis. The difference thicknesses (0.1 mm, 0.2 mm, 0.3 mm) of thick films formed by the rolling-film method, and the permittivity of the thick film is almost the same value as the same-based CCTO bulk. It is found that the orientation of grain grown, the average particle size and thickness can significantly influence the dielectric properties of CCTO thick films.
Electronic Customer Relationship Management (eCRM) in a Business-to-Business Marketing Setting

This chapter focuses on the concept of Electronic Customer Relationship Management (eCRM) in the context of a business-to-business marketing environment. An overview of business-to-business marketing is offered; business-to-business marketing is compared to consumer-based marketing, specifically regarding buyer behavior. These comparisons include differences in revenues, the intended customer and the buying process. Market orientation is described, as is its emphasis on responding to customer needs in both consumer and industrial markets. The concepts of supply chain management, services marketing and channel management are introduced. Lastly, Electronic Customer Relationship Management (eCRM) is presented. The discussion centers on the integration of eCRM into business operations, analytical capabilities facilitated by eCRM and collaboration improvements provided by eCRM. The chapter concludes with a comparison of eCRM and relationship marketing.
Strathprints Institutional Repository Title: Functional Brain Connectivity Phenotypes for Schizophrenia Drug Discovery Authors and Affiliations

(2015) Functional brain connectivity phenotypes for schizophrenia drug discovery. Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Unless otherwise explicitly stated on the manuscript, Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Please check the manuscript for details of any other licences that may have been applied. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (http://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/) and the content of this paper for research or private study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Abstract While our knowledge of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia has increased dramatically this has not translated into the development of new and improved drugs to treat this disorder. Human brain imaging and electrophysiological studies have provided dramatic new insight into the mechanisms of brain dysfunction in the disease, with a swathe of recent studies highlighting the differences in functional brain network and neural system connectivity present in the disorder. Only recently has the value of applying these approaches in preclinical rodent models relevant to the disorder started to be recognised. Here we highlight recent findings of altered functional brain connectivity in preclinical rodent models and consider their relevance to those alterations seen in the brains of schizophrenia patients. Furthermore, we highlight the potential translational value of using the paradigm of functional brain connectivity phenotypes in the context of preclinical schizophrenia drug discovery, as a means both to understand the mechanisms of brain dysfunction in the disorder and to reduce the current high attrition rate in schizophrenia drug discovery.
Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Feline Tritrichomonas foetus and Giardia Infection

ABSTRACT Data were gathered for 117 cats from 89 catteries at an international cat show to examine prevalence and risk factors for feline Tritrichomonas foetus and Giardia infection. Prevalence of T. foetus was 31% among cats (36 out of 117) and catteries (28 out of 89) based on results of fecal smear examination (5 out of 36), fecal culture in modified Diamond's medium (9 out of 36), fecal culture in In Pouch TF medium (20 out of 36), or PCR amplification of the ribosomal RNA gene from feces with T. foetus-specific primers (34 out of 36). Catteries in which T. foetus was identified were more likely to have had a recent history of diarrhea, historical diagnosis of coccidia infection in adult cats, and a decreased number of square feet of facility per cat. Evidence did not exist for the ongoing transmission of T. foetus by water, food, or contact with other species.
Fluorescence-guided resection of gliomas.

INTRODUCTION Malignant gliomas remain associated with a poor prognosis despite both surgical treatment and radiochemotherapy.Previous studies have shown that complete resection of contrast-enhancing tumours is achieved in less than 20-30% of patients. 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) is a pro-drug that leads to accumulation of fluorescent protoporphyrins in malignant gliomas. The fluorescence can be visualized intraoperatively by use of a modified microscope. The Department of Neurosurgery at Aalborg Hospital has recently adopted this new technique as the first centre in Denmark. Our preliminary results are presented as a retrospective case series. MATERIAL AND METHODS All patients who had undergone 5-ALA fluorescence-guided surgery due to suspected malignant glioma were included. Patients received a standard preoperative dose of Gliolan. All patients had a postoperative cerebral magnetic resonance imaging scan done within 72 hours to determine their postoperative resection status. RESULTS To date, 13 patients have undergone fluorescence-guided surgery. Total resection was achieved in 54-70% of the patients depending on the inclusion criteria. Total or near total resection was achieved in 92% of patients. CONCLUSION The small numbers in our case series do not allow for direct comparison to be made, but show that our results on postoperative resection status fall within the range reported in other studies on the efficacy of 5-ALA. The literature offers mounting evidence in support of the role of aggressive cytoreductive surgery in patients with malignant gliomas. FUNDING not relevant. TRIAL REGISTRATION not relevant.
A SPIN GLASS MODEL OF DECISIONS IN ORGANIZATIONS

The paper is interdisciplinary, linking ideas from cooperative games and statistical mechanics, to decision making. Organizations and economies evolve in a process of realising potential payoffs by coalition formation in a changing landscape. Expressions are derived for the determinants of the landscape, together with a decision equation, containing potential payoffs and decision variables, that is akin to the Ising spin glass.
Pattern Dynamics in Adaxial-Abaxial Specific Gene Expression Are Modulated by a Plastid Retrograde Signal during Arabidopsis thaliana Leaf Development

The maintenance and reformation of gene expression domains are the basis for the morphogenic processes of multicellular systems. In a leaf primordium of Arabidopsis thaliana, the expression of FILAMENTOUS FLOWER (FIL) and the activity of the microRNA miR165/166 are specific to the abaxial side. This miR165/166 activity restricts the target gene expression to the adaxial side. The adaxial and abaxial specific gene expressions are crucial for the wide expansion of leaf lamina. The FIL-expression and the miR165/166-free domains are almost mutually exclusive, and they have been considered to be maintained during leaf development. However, we found here that the position of the boundary between the two domains gradually shifts from the adaxial side to the abaxial side. The cell lineage analysis revealed that this boundary shifting was associated with a sequential gene expression switch from the FIL-expressing (miR165/166 active) to the miR165/166-free (non-FIL-expressing) states. Our genetic analyses using the enlarged fil expression domain2 (enf2) mutant and chemical treatment experiments revealed that impairment in the plastid (chloroplast) gene expression machinery retards this boundary shifting and inhibits the lamina expansion. Furthermore, these developmental effects caused by the abnormal plastids were not observed in the genomes uncoupled1 (gun1) mutant background. This study characterizes the dynamic nature of the adaxial-abaxial specification process in leaf primordia and reveals that the dynamic process is affected by the GUN1-dependent retrograde signal in response to the failure of plastid gene expression. These findings advance our understanding on the molecular mechanism linking the plastid function to the leaf morphogenic processes.
An Analysis of Range Difference Based Target Localization in Uniformly Distributed Sensor Field

Target localization is one of several applications that capitalizes on the sensor network framework. There have been a number of investigations for target localization and tracking in sensor network context. These ideas, however, were mostly experimented only in centralized processing scenarios. The study of the parameters that affect both the localization accuracy and the energy expenditure is significant for the decentralized system design. In this paper, we focus on Range Difference (RD) based target localization due to the feasibility of realtime performance. Our study will emphasize the analysis of the localization performance associated with decentralized processing. Assuming a densely and uniformly distributed sensor placement, we derive the Mean Square Error when the cluster is activated. The influential parameters which are the number of participating sensors, the distance between reference sensor and the actual target location, and the size of the activated clusters are explicitly presented in the expression. The derived expression is verified by simulation results. We also discuss the benefit earned from the analysis and suggest a solution for an optimization problem that would aid the large scale system design.
A Platform for Real-Time Content Adaptive Video Transmission Over Heterogeneous Networks

In this paper, we present a real-time adaptive streaming video platform. This platform is fully compliant with the Internet Streaming Media Alliance Implementation Specification. It has been used for experiments of Real-time video streaming and transcoding via unicast and multicast over heterogeneous networks. One of the examples of streaming video over a lossy channel is given, and a simple and efficient scheme for the packet loss recovery is presented.
Kinematics and power requirements of ascending and descending flight in the pigeon (Columba livia)

SUMMARY Ascending or descending locomotion involves a change in potential energy (PE) and a corresponding change in power requirement. We sought to test whether the mechanical power required for steady ascending or descending flight is a simple sum of the power required for level flight and the power necessary for potential energy change. Pigeons (Columba livia) were trained to fly at varying angles of ascent and descent (60°, 30°, 0°, –30°, –60°), and were recorded using high-speed video. Detailed three-dimensional kinematics were obtained from the recordings, allowing analysis of wing movement. Aerodynamic forces and power requirements were then estimated from kinematic data. As expected, `PE flight power' increased significantly with angle of flight (0.234 W deg.–1), though there appeared to be a limit on the amount of PE that the birds could gain or dissipate per wingbeat. We found that the total power output for flight at various angles was not different from the sum of power required for level flight and the PE rate of change for a given angle, except for the steep –60° descent. The total power for steep descent was higher than this sum because of a higher induced power due to the bird's deceleration and slower flight velocity. Aerodynamic force estimates during mid-downstroke did not differ significantly in magnitude or orientation among flight angles. Pigeons flew fastest during– 30° flights (4.9±0.1 m s–1) and slowest at 60° (2.9±0.1 m s–1). Although wingbeat frequency ranged from 6.1 to 9.6 Hz across trials, the variation was not significant across flight angles. Stroke plane angle was more horizontal, and the wing more protracted, for both +60° and –60° flights, compared with other flight path angles.
Almanac 2014: cardiomyopathies

Cardiomyopathies are myocardial disorders that are not explained by abnormal loading conditions and coronary artery disease. They are classified into a number of morphological and functional phenotypes that can be caused by genetic and non-genetic mechanisms. The dominant themes in papers published in 2012–2013 are similar to those reported in Almanac 2011, namely, the use (and interpretation) of genetic testing, development and application of novel non-invasive imaging techniques and use of serum biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis. An important innovation since the last Almanac is the development of more sophisticated models for predicting adverse clinical events.
User Interaction Support for Incremental Refinement of Preference-Based Queries

Preference-based queries (or skylines) play an important role in cooperative query processing. However, their prohibitive result sizes pose a severe challenge to the paradigm’s practical applicability. Since skyline sizes can only be predicted under strong assumptions, we present a sophisticated user interface to interactively refine queries in case the respective skyline set proves to be too large. Our approach allows users to incrementally augment preferences given by their Hasse diagrams. Moreover, we prove the correctness of the incremented skyline and in our experiments show the approach’s superior efficiency. Index Terms — Information Systems, User Interfaces
Analysis of coding tools and improvement of text readability for screen content

Current video coding standards perform well for video sequences captured by a real camera. The aperture of the camera's optical system smooths the content and attenuates higher frequencies. New application scenarios, enabled by the growing number of high bit rate internet gateways, however, make it necessary to take a closer look at the efficiency of such standards in handling artificial content. Remote desktop applications for example often include text parts. As a consequence, these content types contain sharp edges or high frequencies, which are considered less important in natural video and are therefore treated less carefully. The frequent result is an increased occurrence of artefacts or the loss of information that is actually important to the user. This paper gives an analysis of such artificially created video sequences, evaluates the performance of current coding tools for this type of content and proposes a simple, yet effective way to maintain readability of text within video material using only well considered encoder control and without the need of large additional modules.