Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A NUMERICAL MODEL FOR MULTI-LEAF STONE MASONRY

ABSTRACT This paper presents a non-linear finite element mat erial model for the analysis of the mechanical beha vior of multi-leaf masonry, which is quite frequently used in ancient stone masonry buildings. A damage model, previously developed by some of the authors for bri ttle materials (namely, concrete) was adapted to fi t the experimental stress − train behavior of stone masonry. To this end, a da mage evolution law originally proposed for concrete was modified and a new materi al parameter was added. A distinguishing feature of this model is that damage is characterized by a second-o rder tensor, thus allowing oriented ‘cracks’ to be described; the orientation of the cracks is fixed o nce they are activated, whatever the subsequent str ss history is. Then, the modified model was implemented into a subroutine, linked to a commercial finite element code suitable for nonlinear analyses (FEAP). In order to validate the obtained material model, results avai l ble from tests on three-leaf stone masonry prisms were employed. The damage evolution law was calibrated according to results obtained from the single leave s, individually tested. The numerical nonlinear str uc ural response was obtained by assuming suitable displace ments boundary conditions and employing a tangent stiffness matrix procedure. In nearly all the appli cations, the finite element analyses predicted the experimentally measured peak load with good accurac y. However, the post-peak behavior was not always satisfactorily described: this is likely to be attr ibuted to some numerical instability, which will be overcome in a future version of the model.
Site of extrapulmonary tuberculosis is associated with HIV infection.

BACKGROUND In the United States, the proportion of patients with extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) has increased relative to cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. Patients with central nervous system (CNS)/meningeal and disseminated EPTB and those with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS have increased mortality. The purpose of our study was to determine risk factors associated with particular types of EPTB. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed 320 cases of EPTB from 1995-2007 at a single urban US public hospital. Medical records were reviewed to determine site of EPTB and patient demographic and clinical characteristics. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to determine independent associations between patient characteristics and site of disease. RESULTS Patients were predominantly male (67%), African American (82%), and US-born (76%). Mean age was 40 years (range 18-89). The most common sites of EPTB were lymphatic (28%), disseminated (23%), and CNS/meningeal (22%) disease. One hundred fifty-four (48.1%) were HIV-infected, 40% had concomitant pulmonary tuberculosis, and 14.7% died within 12 months of EPTB diagnosis. Multivariable analysis demonstrated that HIV-infected patients were less likely to have pleural (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.3; 95% confidence interval [CI] .2, .6) as site of EPTB disease than HIV-uninfected patients. Among patients with EPTB and HIV-infection, patients with CD4 lymphocyte cell count <100 were more likely to have severe forms of EPTB (CNS/meningeal and/or disseminated) (AOR 1.6; 95% CI, 1.0, 2.4). CONCLUSIONS Among patients hospitalized with EPTB, patients coinfected with HIV and low CD4 counts were more likely to have CNS/meningeal and disseminated disease. Care for similar patients should include consideration of these forms of EPTB since they carry a high risk of death.
Agnostic notes on regression adjustments to experimental data: Reexamining Freedman's critique

Freedman [Adv. in Appl. Math. 40 (2008) 180-193; Ann. Appl. Stat. 2 (2008) 176-196] critiqued ordinary least squares regression adjustment of estimated treatment effects in randomized experiments, using Neyman's model for randomization inference. Contrary to conventional wisdom, he argued that adjustment can lead to worsened asymptotic precision, invalid measures of precision, and small-sample bias. This paper shows that in sufficiently large samples, those problems are either minor or easily fixed. OLS adjustment cannot hurt asymptotic precision when a full set of treatment-covariate interactions is included. Asymptotically valid confidence intervals can be constructed with the Huber-White sandwich standard error estimator. Checks on the asymptotic approximations are illustrated with data from Angrist, Lang, and Oreopoulos's [Am. Econ. J.: Appl. Econ. 1:1 (2009) 136--163] evaluation of strategies to improve college students' achievement. The strongest reasons to support Freedman's preference for unadjusted estimates are transparency and the dangers of specification search.
The Impact of Value‐Relevant Accounting Rules on Innovative Activities

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of value‐relevant accounting rules on corporate innovative activities. Using US data from 1972 to 2012, we find that value‐relevant accounting rules help innovative companies to reduce R&D funding gaps, which is conducive to companies' innovative activities and potential long‐term benefits. However, a higher risk premium is required by shareholders of innovative companies. Additionally, we find not only that R&D spending is more sensitive to future earnings variability as compared to that occurring commercial intellectual properties and physical assets, but we also find that managers contracted with long‐term compensation plans have greater incentives to engage in innovative activities when value‐relevant accounting rules set in. Overall, we provide evidence on alleviation of information asymmetry between innovative companies and their lenders when accounting information is more value relevant.
Structured Service Composition Execution for Mobile Web Applications

Service orchestration languages such as BPEL have been established as de facto standard for the composition of Web services within service oriented architectures (SOA). Nevertheless, Web applications following the same principle of combining already existing services are still created as Mashups by coding against open 3rd party APIs. Within this paper, we build on a formal model for the representation of Web Service workflows based on timed automata. Here, we introduce a runtime environment and management console for those Web Service compositions, highlighting its feasibility to support mobile devices by the additional consideration of realtime constraints.
Is generalized anxiety disorder an anxiety or mood disorder? Considering multiple factors as we ponder the fate of GAD

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) demonstrate a strong relationship to each other at both genotypic and phenotypic levels, and both demonstrate substantial loadings on a higher‐order negative affectivity factor [see Watson, 2005: J Abnorm Psychol 114:522–536]. On the basis of these findings, there have been a number of calls to reclassify GAD in the same category as MDD (the “distress disorders”). However, any consideration of the reclassification of GAD should also take into account a number of other factors not only related to GAD and MDD but also to the overlap of these disorders with other anxiety and mood disorders. First, GAD has established reliability and validity in its own right, and specific features (e.g., worry) may become obscured by attempts at reclassification. Second, examination of the nature of the overlap of GAD and MDD with each other and with other disorders suggests a more complex pattern of differences between these conditions than has been suggested (e.g., MDD has strong relationships with other anxiety disorders, and GAD may be more strongly related to fear than it may first appear). Third, although findings suggest that GAD and MDD may have overlapping heritable characteristics, other evidence suggests that the two disorders may be distinguished by both environmental factors and temporal presentations. Finally, although overlap between GAD and MDD is reflected in their relationships to negative affectivity, temporal relationships between these disorders may be demonstrated by functional changes in emotional responsivity. Depression and Anxiety 25:289–299, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Recovering 3 D Models of Manipulated Objects through 3 D Tracking of Hand-Object Interactions

We are interested in the vision-based 3D tracking of scenes where a human manipulates objects. Existing methods that track hand-object manipulations [3] require accurate 3D models of the manipulated objects. This is a limiting assumption because the acquisition of such 3D models can be a time-consuming process that often involves specialized equipment and accurate calibration. In this work we propose a method that solves the problem when the model of the manipulated object is unknown. A human observing the motions of two hands manipulating an unknown object acquires rich information about the object itself. Previous techniques on in-hand scanning and recostruction [11, 13] where discarding or ignoring this information. Our work, draws inspiration from [5] and uses the hands as tools that facilitate the reconstruction. It leverages on the observed hand configurations and the induced hand-object occlusions. This enables simultaneous tracking and reconstruction of a previously unseen object. The output is the full (26D) articulation and 3D position of the hands and object in each frame as well as a textured 3D model of the manipulated object. An overview of the proposed method is illustrated in Fig.1. Starting with the raw depth map (left) we perform a pre-processing step and compute the scene point cloud. We employ an appropriately modified model-based hand tracker [7] and temporal information to track the hand 3D positions and posture (middle bottom). In this process, a progressively built object model is also taken into account to cope with hand-object occlusions. We use the estimated fingertip positions of the hand to segment the manipulated object from the rest of the scene (middle top). The segmented object points are used to update the object position and orientation in the current frame and are integrated into the object 3D representation (right). The work flow of the proposed approach consists of five main components linked together as shown in Fig. 2.
Protein Adsorption on Various Plasma-Treated Polyethylene Terephthalate Substrates

Protein adhesion and cell response to plasma-treated polymer surfaces were studied. The polymer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was treated in either an oxygen plasma to make the surface hydrophilic, or a tetrafluoromethane CF4 plasma to make the surface hydrophobic. The plasma source was radiofrequency (RF) discharge. The adsorption of albumin and other proteins from a cell-culture medium onto these surfaces was studied using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The cellular response to plasma-treated surfaces was studied as well using an MTT assay and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The fastest adsorption rate was found on the hydrophilic oxygen plasma-treated sample, and the lowest was found on the pristine untreated sample. Additionally, the amount of adsorbed proteins was higher for the oxygen-plasma-treated surface, and the adsorbed layer was more viscoelastic. In addition, cell adhesion studies support this finding because the best cell adhesion was observed on oxygen-plasma-treated substrates.
Further results on LDPC decoding scheduling for faster convergence

This paper presents a listed maximum mutual information increase (LM2I2)-based algorithm, which is used to arrange low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoding schedules for faster convergence. The increments in the predicted mutual information for the messages to be updated is used to guide the arrangement of the fixed decoding schedule. Consequently, by looking ahead for several decoding stages, a high-order prediction can be realized. For each decoding stages, the searching branches can be trimmed to fit a predetermined size of list, and the efficiency in the selection of update candidates is thus increased. Comparing to previous algorithms, the proposed LM2I2-based algorithm can be used to arrange the decoding schedules converged in the same speed with lower complexity, or accelerate the convergence with the same computation cost.
Reporting quality of stepped wedge design randomized trials: a systematic review protocol

Background Stepped wedge design (SWD) is a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) design that sequentially rolls out intervention to all clusters at varying time points. Being a relatively new design method, reporting quality has yet to be explored, and this review will seek to fill this gap in knowledge. Objectives The objectives of this review are: 1) to assess the quality of SWD trial reports based on the CONSORT guidelines or CONSORT extension to cluster RCTs; 2) to assess the completeness of reporting of SWD trial abstracts using the CONSORT extension for abstracts; 3) to assess the reporting of sample size details in SWD trial reports or protocols; 4) to assess the completeness of reporting of SWD trial protocols according to SPIRIT guidelines; 5) to assess the consistency between the trial registration information and final SWD trial reports; and 6) to assess the consistency of what is reported in the abstracts and main text of the SWD trial reports. We will also explore factors that are associated with the completeness of reporting. Methods We will search MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL, and PsycINFO for all randomized controlled trials utilizing SWD. Details from eligible papers will be extracted in duplicate. Demographic statistics obtained from the data extraction will be analyzed to answer the primary objectives pertaining to the reporting quality of several aspects of a published paper, as well as to explore possible temporal trends and consistency between abstracts, trial registration information, and final published articles. Discussion Findings from this review will establish the reporting quality of SWD trials and inform academics and clinicians on their completeness and consistency. Results of this review will influence future trials and improve the overall quality and reporting of SWD trials.
3D-3D registration of free-formed objects using shape and texture

Automatic generation of textured object models from a sequence of range and color images requires two major tasks: measurement registration and measurement integration. Measurement registration is the estimation of the current position and orientation of the object in 3D space with respect to an arbitrary fixed reference, given the current measurement and the 3D object model under construction. Measurement integration is the updating of the 3D object model using the current registered measurement. In this paper we present an iterative 3D-3D registration technique that uses both texture and shape information available in the 3D object models and the 3D measurements. The proposed technique handles probabilistic models that are potentially incomplete before the measurement integration step. Measurements are acquired via a sensor characterized by a probabilistic sensor model. The object models are constructed automatically without user interaction. Each model is a compact uniform tessellation of 3D space, where each cell of the tessellation represents shape and texture in a probabilistic fashion. Free formed objects are supported and no prior knowledge about the object shape, texture or pose is assumed. Traditional registration methods consider only shape and geometric information. We consider texture information as an additional evidence by defining a generalized intercell distance measure that considers both the relative positioning of cells in space and the texture discrepancy between cells. Experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the proposed method. The usefulness of texture in registration is highlighted in a comparison with results obtained considering only geometric information.
Factors Affecting Welfare Attitudes in Different Types of Welfare States: Personal Interests and Values

This study examines the effect of personal interests and basic human values on the degree of support for a welfare state. Data from the European Social Survey, round 4 (2008) for 29 European countries (total n = 56,752) was used for the study. Results show that values such as collectivism and altruism promote demand for state intervention in welfare, while values like individualism and egoism negatively affect it. Income has the strongest negative effect on support for a welfare state among all the factors tested, even more so than gender and employment status in all types of welfare states. Compared to other countries (familialistic, social-democratic, conservative, and liberal), former USSR and ex-communist countries seem to be more influenced by collectivistic and individualistic values, and education. In addition, in ex-communist countries, altruistic and egoistic values have a crucial impact on the demand for a welfare state. In liberal, conservative, and social-democratic countries, values and education do not have much impact.
Social Mobilization, Political Institutionalization, and Conflict in Black Africa

A simple model involving five concepts-social mobilization, party system institutionalization, turmoil, internal war, and elite conflict-is specified and its structural parameters are estimated for 28 black African nations. The model is fully reciprocal, involving each concept as a function of each of the others, and the concepts are measured for two time periods, 1960-1964 and 1965-1969. Two-stage least-squares regression is utilized to generate parameter estimates. The resulting model structure is evaluated according to (1) its correspondence with extant scholarly theorizing, (2) its ability to account for variance in the concepts, (3) the systematic character of the residual, or error, terms, and (4) its predictions for the future. The major conclusions are that: forms of conflict interrelate in complex ways and are not simply different aspects of a single phenomenon; conflict affects the mobilization of society and the development of political institutions; social mobilization has little, if any, effect on conflict; and, the institutionalization of party systems as linkages between publics and governments has a real impact on the mobilization of society and on the level of conflict in society.
High-throughput and memory efficient LDPC decoder architecture

Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) code is one kind of prominent error correcting codes (ECC) being considered in next generation industry standards. The decoder implementation complexity has been the bottleneck of its application. This paper presents a new kind of high-throughput and memory efficient LDPC decoder architecture. In general, more than fifty percent of memory can be saved over conventional partially parallel decoder architectures. It is shown that this presented hardware structure will be highly competent in high throughput and low decoding latency applications.
Concentration of measure and spectra of random matrices: Applications to correlation matrices, elliptical distributions and beyond

We place ourselves in the setting of high-dimensional statistical inference, where the number of variables $p$ in a data set of interest is of the same order of magnitude as the number of observations $n$. More formally, we study the asymptotic properties of correlation and covariance matrices, in the setting where $p/n\to\rho\in(0,\infty),$ for general population covariance. We show that, for a large class of models studied in random matrix theory, spectral properties of large-dimensional correlation matrices are similar to those of large-dimensional covarance matrices. We also derive a Mar\u{c}enko--Pastur-type system of equations for the limiting spectral distribution of covariance matrices computed from data with elliptical distributions and generalizations of this family. The motivation for this study comes partly from the possible relevance of such distributional assumptions to problems in econometrics and portfolio optimization, as well as robustness questions for certain classical random matrix results. A mathematical theme of the paper is the important use we make of concentration inequalities.
Clinical determinants of exacerbations in severe, early-onset COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations impair health. The present authors analysed participants in the Boston Early-Onset COPD Study for familial aggregation and propensity for COPD exacerbations. In the present study, two exacerbation outcomes, episodes of cough and phlegm, and frequent exacerbations were analysed with multivariable modelling and generalised estimating equations. In early-onset COPD probands, passive tobacco smoke exposure within the home was strongly associated with episodes of cough and phlegm. Chronic phlegm production was associated with both exacerbation phenotypes in probands. In first-degree relatives of early-onset COPD probands, chronic bronchitis, episodic wheezing, pneumonia and active smoking were associated with the episodes of cough and phlegm phenotype. In relatives, identical characteristics plus exertional dyspnoea were associated with frequent exacerbations. Exacerbation risk increased with declining lung function. Familial aggregation for episodes of cough and phlegm was observed in relatives with severe obstruction. In conclusion, passive smoke exposure increases morbidity in severe early-onset chronic obstructive pulmonary disease probands, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations correlate with chronic sputum production in probands and relatives. The familial aggregation of exacerbations suggests a genetic basis for susceptibility to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations.
A hybrid algorithm for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows ?

The Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows is a particular case of the classical Vehicle Routing Problem in which the demands of each customer should be met within an established time window. Due to the combinatorial complexity of the problem its resolution by pure exact methods is, in many cases, computationally impractical. This fact motivates the development of heuristic algorithms, which are usually faster but do not guarantee the best solution for the problem. This work proposes a hybrid algorithm that combines the metaheuristic Iterated Local Search, the Variable Neighborhood Descent procedure and an exact Set Partitioning model. The latter mathematical procedure is periodically activated in order to find the best combination of the routes generated along the execution of the algorithm. The computational results demonstrate that the proposed hybrid approach is quite competitive, since out of the 56 test problems considered, the algorithm was found capable to improve the best known heuristic/hybrid solution in 12 cases and to equal the result of another 27.