Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Repairing Vertex Labels under Neighborhood Constraints

A broad class of data, ranging from similarity networks, workflow networks to protein networks, can be modeled as graphs with data values as vertex labels. The vertex labels (data values) are often dirty for various reasons such as typos or erroneous reporting of results in scientific experiments. Neighborhood constraints, specifying label pairs that are allowed to appear on adjacent vertexes in the graph, are employed to detect and repair erroneous vertex labels. In this paper, we study the problem of repairing vertex labels to make graphs satisfy neighborhood constraints. Unfortunately, the relabeling problem is proved to be NP hard, which motivates us to devise approximation methods for repairing, and identify interesting special cases (star and clique constraints) that can be efficiently solved. We propose several approximate repairing algorithms including greedy heuristics, contraction method and a hybrid approach. The performances of algorithms are also analyzed for the special case. Our extensive experimental evaluation, on both synthetic and real data, demonstrates the effectiveness of eliminating frauds in several types of application networks. Remarkably, the hybrid method performs well in practice, i.e., guarantees termination, while achieving high effectiveness at the same time.
A 50-year follow-up of the incidence of multiple sclerosis in Hordaland County, Norway

Objective: To assess longitudinal follow-up of the incidence of multiple sclerosis (MS) through five decades and estimate the prevalence rate in Hordaland County, Norway, on January 1, 2003. Methods: All patients with MS diagnosed from 1953 to 2003 were identified in the patient records of the Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. The diagnostic criteria of Poser et al. were applied and only patients with definite and probable MS were included. The study comprises 912 patients, and 666 patients with MS were living in Hordaland on January 1, 2003. The annual incidence rates for the years 1953 to 2003 were calculated. Results: The total crude prevalence rate on January 1, 2003, was 150.8 per 100,000 population: 191.3 per 100,000 among women and 109.8 per 100,000 among men. The annual incidence of MS increased from 1.8 per 100,000 in 1953 to 1957 to 6.0 per 100,000 in 1993 to 1997. Conclusions: Hordaland County, Norway, has changed from a low-risk to a high-risk area for multiple sclerosis (MS) during the last 50 years. During the last 25 years, the incidence of MS has been stable rather than increasing. Systematic longitudinal follow-up studies are essential to calculate reliable prevalence and incidence rates in MS. The results suggest that both methodologic and environmental factors are essential in determining the distribution of MS.
Adaptive Control Design of Neural Fuzzy System for NARMA-L2 Model

An adaptive neural control method is presented for the nonlinear discrete-time systems with the NARMA-L2 model. The neural fuzzy system is integrated with the approximate model-based control method to handle the nonlinear complexity, where the multiple fuzzy CMAC (MFCMAC) network is used to compensate the approximate NARMA model of the nonaffine nonlinear system. The weights of neural networks are modified by a novel adaptive algorithm, which guarantee the stability of the neural system without the persistent excitation requirement. The stability of the closed-loop system is proved with the Lyapunov method. Simulation results show that the method is effective
OrientSTS: spatio-temporal sequence searching in flickr

Nowadays, due to the increasing user requirements of efficient and personalized services, a perfect travel plan is urgently needed. However, at present it is hard for people to make a personalized traveling plan. Most of them follow other people's general travel trajectory. So only after finishing their travel, do they know which scene is their favorite, which is not, and what is the perfect order of visits. In this research we propose a novel spatio-temporal sequence (STS) searching, which mainly includes two steps. Firstly, we propose a novel method to detect tourist features of every scene, and its difference in different seasons. Secondly, combined with personal profile and scene features, a set of interesting scenes will be chosen and each scene has a specific weight for each user. The goal of our research is to provide the traveler with the STS, which passes through as many chosen scenes as possible with the maximum weight and the minimum distance within his travel time. We propose a method based on topic model to detect scene features, and provide two approximate algorithms to mine STS: a local optimization algorithm and a global optimization algorithm. System evaluations have been conducted and the performance results show the efficiency.
Job characteristics model (JCM): utility and impact on working professionals in the UAE

Purpose This study aimed to see the impact of various dimensions of the job characteristic model (JCM) through the motivating potential scores (MPSs) on professionals residing in the UAE. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 60 professionals, aged from 20 to 45 years were randomly selected from different organizations in UAE. They were administered an online questionnaire to explore their perceptions on job characteristics as per the JCM. Analysis of results was done by factor analysis using SPSS. Findings Results reveal the impact of increasing age on high MPSs, higher MPSs of white-collared jobs than the blue-collared jobs, owing to high skill variety in white-collar jobs. It was also noticed that women scored higher on MPSs than men, and the men of Indian origin showed high motivation as compared to their counterparts from other countries. Research limitations/implications Based on the study conducted, it can be concluded that JCM used for calculating MPS gives an insight into the motivational levels of an employee and the cause for the same. Plotting the scores of JCM characteristics with respect to variables such as age, gender, type of job and country of residence gives a fair idea of motivation and its dependence on these variables. Originality/value The findings of this study have significant implications for developing and sustaining a motivated workforce in the organizations in the UAE. A critical analysis of the data gives many areas where the company can focus to increase the motivation level of its employees.
TAM - A Quarter Century of Research

Cilj ovog rada bio je istražiti temelje, razvoj, prosirenja, preinake i primjene Modela prihvacanja tehnologije (TAM). Sveobuhvatni pregled literature pokazao je na razvoj TAM-a kroz veliki broj znanstvenih istraživanja s posebnim naglaskom na primjene u podrucju informacijske i racunalne tehnologije. Prikazane su teorije i modeli koji su prethodili te utjecali na nastanak TAM modela (poput Teorije razložne akcije i Teorije planiranog ponasanja). Rad također donosi pregled faza razvoja i prosirenja Modela prihvacanja tehnologije, pocevsi od konceptualnog modela do njegove prosirene verzije nazvane TAM 2. Ujedno se navode i osnovne kategorije preinaka modela, te veliki broj primjena u podrucju racunalne tehnologije. Analiza dosadasnjih rezultata istraživanja TAM modela ukazala je na podrucja i smjerove buducih istraživanja koja bi mogla pridonijeti njegovom daljnjem razvoju i primjeni. Pri tome je poseban naglasak dan na utjecaj novih, do sada nedovoljno istraženih individualnih varijabli korisnika te njihovim potencijalnim moderatorskim ulogama u modelu. Mogucnosti daljnjeg istraživanja Modela prihvacanja tehnologije podrazumijevaju njegovu primjenu na nove tehnologije, kao i prosirenje uzorka korisnika na jos uvijek nedovoljno zastupljene ljude starije dobi.
Robot Position Convergency in Simultaneous Localization and Mapping

The robot position estimation is very important to the consistency of the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem. This paper presents an analysis of the convergence properties of the robot position estimation in the linear-Guassian SLAM (LG-SLAM) problem based on some properties of positive semi-definite matrixes. It is found that as a whole, the error of the robot position estimation is increasing with time, although it has an upper limit when the robot can see all landmarks all the time. So it is hard to predict the error of the robot position estimation, when there is no any prior knowledge about the environment. This paper also finds that the robot position estimation is determined by the number of landmarks seen by the robot at a time, the times for which a landmark is seen, and the distribution of landmarks in the environment which explains why sometimes the hybrid, metric-topological, SLAM approaches will be better than metric-only SLAM approaches. Experiments have verified our analysis.
Lensing in the Hercules Supercluster

We report Keck LRIS observations of an arclike background galaxy near the center of Abell 2152 (z = 0.043), one of the three clusters comprising the Hercules supercluster. The background object has a redshift z = 0.1423 and is situated 25″ north of the primary component of the A2152 brightest cluster galaxy (BCG). The object is about 15″ in total length and has a reddening-corrected R-band magnitude of mR = 18.55 ± 0.03. Its spectrum shows numerous strong emission lines, as well as absorption features. The strength of the Hα emission would imply a star formation rate SFR ≈ 3 h-2 M⊙ yr-1 in the absence of any lensing. However, the curved shaped of this object and its tangential orientation along the major axis of the BCG suggest lensing. We model the A2152 core mass distribution including the two BCG components and the cluster potential. We present velocity and velocity dispersion profile measurements for the two BCG components and use these to help constrain the potential. The lens modeling indicates a likely magnification factor of ∼1.9 for the lensed galaxy, making A2152 the nearest cluster in which such significant lensing of a background source has been observed. Finally, we see evidence for a concentration of early-type galaxies at z = 0.13 near the centroid of the X-ray emission previously attributed to A2152. We suggest that emission from this background concentration is the cause of the offset of the X-ray center from the A2152 BCG. The background concentration and the dispersed mass of the Hercules supercluster could add further to the lensing strength of the A2152 cluster.
Viewpoint: HIV/AIDS and the health workforce crisis: What are the next steps?

In scaling up antiretroviral treatment (ART), financing is fast becoming less of a constraint than the human resources to ensure the implementation of the programmes. In the countries hardest affected by the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic, AIDS increases workloads, professional frustration and burn‐out. It affects health workers also directly, contributing to rising sick leave and attrition rates. This burden is shouldered by a health workforce weakened already by chronic deficiencies in training, distribution and retention. In these countries, health workforce issues can no longer be analysed from the traditional perspective of human resource development, but should start from the position that entire societies are in a process of social involution of a scale unprecedented in human history. Strategies that proved to be effective and correct in past conditions need be reviewed, particularly in the domains of human resource management and policy‐making, education and international aid. True paradigm shifts are thus required, without which the fundamental changes required to effectively strengthen the health workforce are unlikely to be initiated.
Texture Separation for Saliency Detection of Image with Cluttered Background

To identify important objects in an image is a prerequisite in many applications. Thus saliency detection has been investigated a lot for a long time. However, existing methods tend to be misled when texture-like small patterns spread over the image. In this paper, we present a novel strategy to firstly remove these texture-like small patterns before saliency detection. The experimental results show that our strategy is quite effective in improvement of the saliency detection results.
Joint Conference on Neural Networks , Orlando , Florida , USA , August 12-17 , 2007 Intuitive Clustering of Biological Data

K-means clustering combines a variety of striking properties because of which it is widely used in applications: training is intuitive and simple, the final classifier represents classes by geometrically meaningful prototypes, and the algorithm is quite powerful compared to more complex alternative clustering algorithms. In this contribution, we focus on extensions which incorporate additional information into the clustering algorithm to achieve a better accuracy: neighborhood cooperation from neural gas, (possibly fuzzy) label information of input data, and general problem-adapted distances instead of the standard Euclidean metric. These extensions can be formulated in a simple general framework by means of a cost function. We demonstrate the ability of these variants on several representative clustering problems from computational biology.
DETERMINING PLAUSIBLE MAPPING BETWEEN IMAGES WITHOUT A PRIORI KNOWLEDGE

This paper presents a method of automatically determining dense and smooth mapping between two images without a priori knowledge of either the camera pose or objects. In order to find plausible correspondences, images are first convolved with a set of linear filters similar to those that are used in early vision. The vector fields consisting of filter responses are then matched with each other by minimizing the cost function which expresses the similarity of transformed images and mapping smoothness in a multiresolutional hierarchy. Since a point in one image can correspond to its counterpart far away, globally optimized mapping may result in strong local distortion. Such distortions are prevented by guaranteeing the convexity of mapping in nonlinear optimization. In this paper, certain experimental results are discussed for various data sets, including images of slightly rotating objects, human faces, texture patterns and volume data sets, to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed method.
LNMF Learning for color face recognition

In this paper, a novel face recognition method named local NMF learning (LNMF Learning) is proposed. Color face is first decomposed into R, G and B components. Component data of the same color channel is aligned together and encoded through matrix mode respectively. Local nonnegative matrix factorization (LNMF) method is employed to compute facial features. Projective coefficients on base images are utilized as features for recognition task. Experimental results on CVL and CMU PIE face databases verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Cluster parameters for time-variant MIMO channel models

The next challenge for MIMO radio channel models is to simulate the time-variant nature of the channel correctly. Cluster-based MIMO channel models are well suited for this problem, however they currently lack an accurate parameterization of the time-variant cluster parameters. In this paper we identify and track clusters from three differentmeasurements conducted in an indoor, a sub-urban, and a rural environment. The time-variant cluster parameters of interest are: (i) cluster movement, (ii) change of cluster spreads, (iii) cluster lifetimes, and birth and death rates of cluster. We find that clusters show significant movement in parameter space depending on the environment. The spreads of individual clusters change rather randomly over their lifetime, with a standard deviation up to 150% of their mean spread. The cluster lifetime is approximately exponentially distributed, however additionally one has to account for long-living clusters coming from the line-of-sight path or from major reflectors. (Less)
Increased LV apical untwist during preload reduction in healthy humans: an echocardiographic speckle tracking study during lower body negative pressure

We sought to investigate the effect of reduced preload on left ventricle (LV) untwist and early diastolic filling in healthy individuals. Twelve healthy men, 22 (22, 23) years of age, were examined at rest and during applied lower body negative pressure (LBNP) of −20 mmHg and −40 mmHg, respectively. Regional untwist and untwist rate during IVRT were calculated at LV basal, papillary, subpapillary, and apical short axis levels by two dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography. Left ventricle early diastolic filling was assessed by transmitral E‐wave (E) peak velocity by pulsed Doppler and flow propagation velocity (Vp) by color M‐mode Doppler and early diastolic pulsed Doppler tissue velocities (E') from septal and lateral mitral annulus. From rest to LBNP −40 mmHg, the LV untwist and untwist rate at subpapillary level increased from 2.3 (1.4, 3.5) to 4.5 (3.1, 7.6) degrees and from −36 (−51, −25) to −69 (−127, −42) °/s (P < 0.001, P = 0.003), respectively, while apical untwist and untwist rate increased from 3.9 (2.3, 4.3) to 7.6 (6.4, 10.5) degrees and from −51 (−69, −40) to −118 (−170, −84) °/s (P < 0.001, P < 0.001), respectively. Since untwist and untwist rate at the basal level were unchanged, this created markedly larger base to apical untwist and untwist rate gradients from rest to LBNP −40 mmHg. E, Vp, and E' were reduced by 34, 32, and 39%, respectively. LV untwist and untwist rate during IVRT were increased at apical levels, which might be a physiological mechanism to minimize the impairment in LV early diastolic filling during preload reduction.
Alteration of cell cycle kinase complexes in human papillomavirus E6- and E7-expressing fibroblasts precedes neoplastic transformation

Expression of viral oncoproteins results in the loss of cell cycle checkpoint control and the accumulation of chromosomal abnormalities. Expression of both human papillomavirus type 16 oncoproteins, E6 and E7, in normal human fibroblasts completely dissociates p21 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen from the quarternary cyclin-cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) complexes present in normal cells, causes disruption of the cyclin D-CDK4 complex and replacement with a CDK4-p16 complex, and leaves binary complexes of cyclin B1-CDC2 and cyclin A-CDK2 intact. These results are identical to those observed in fully transformed cells. The expression of the individual oncoproteins dramatically affects the association of proliferating cell nuclear antigen into the complexes while leaving the total cellular levels unaltered. Expression of low-risk human papillomavirus has no effect on cyclin complexes. These findings provide evidence for the gross alteration of cyclin-CDK complexes in preneoplastic cells and links this alteration to the loss of genomic stability.
21 Where Are the Switches on This Thing ?

Controlled responses differ from reflexes because they can be turned off and on. This is a critical part of what distinguishes animals from automatons. How does the nervous system gate the flow of information so that a sensory stimulus that elicits a strong response on some occasions, evokes no response on others? A related question concerns how the flow of sensory information is altered when we pay close attention to something as opposed to when we ignore it. Most research in neuroscience focuses on circuits that directly respond to stimuli or generate motor output. But what of the circuits and mechanisms that control these direct responses, that modulate them and turn them off and on? Self-regulated switching is vital to the operation of complex machines such as computers. The essential building block of a computer is a voltage-gated switch, the transistor, that is turned off and on by the same sorts of currents that it controls. By analogy, the question of my title refers to neural pathways that not only carry the action potentials that arise from neural activity, but are switched off and on by neural activity as well. By what biophysical mechanisms could this occur? In the spirit of this volume, the point of this contribution is to raise a question, not to answer it. I will discuss three possible mechanisms— neuromodulation, inhibition, and gain modulation—and assess the merits and short-comings of each of them. I have my prejudices, which will become obvious, but I do not want to rule out any of these as candidates, nor do I want to leave the impression that the list is complete or that the problem is in any sense solved.
Leadership Behavior Predictor of Employees' Job Satisfaction and Psychological Health

Research about relationship between the leadership behavior and the psychological health is still limited. The effect of job dissatisfaction on health is important not only from medical but also from the economic perspective. The association between leadership behavior, job satisfaction and psychological health in nursing was tested. 640 hospital nurses from surgery and internal medicine departments in Slovenian hospitals participated. Data analysis was carried out by using SPSS, 20.0. The transformational leadership style, leaders’ characteristics, job satisfaction predicted better psychological health. More frequent exposure to stress and the lack of stress management was associated with poor psychological health. Job satisfaction is at a medium level. The results indicated that 85% of employees in nursing had good psychological health. The psychological health of employees does not affect only on individual, but also on the quality and effectiveness. It is important to monitor employees’ job satisfaction and take care for health by providing a healthy work environment. Leadership Behavior Predictor of Employees’ Job Satisfaction and Psychological Health
C-Reactive Protein as a Screening Test for Cardiovascular Risk in a Multiethnic Population

Background—Small increases in the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) are predictive of vascular events among asymptomatic individuals. There are few data supporting the use of CRP as a risk marker among nonwhite individuals. Methods and Results—1250 adults of South Asian, Chinese, European, and Aboriginal ancestry were randomly sampled from 4 communities in Canada. Participants provided fasting blood samples for CRP, glucose, lipids, and coagulation factors, and they had undergone a carotid B-mode ultrasound. Cardiovascular disease was determined by history and electrocardiogram. The age- and sex-adjusted mean CRP was 3.74 mg/L (standard error, 0.14) among Aboriginals, 2.59 mg/L (0.12) among South Asians, and 1.18 mg/L (0.13) among Chinese compared with 2.06 mg/L (0.12) among Europeans (overall P <0.0001). Differences in the CRP concentration between ethnic groups were substantially diminished, but not abolished, after adjustment for metabolic factors. CRP was independently associated with CVD after adjusting for the Framingham risk factors, atherosclerosis, anthropometric measurements, and ethnicity (OR=1.03 for a 0.1-increase in CRP; P =0.02). Conclusions—CRP varies substantially between people of different ethnic origin and is influenced by their differences in metabolic factors. Prospective validation of CRP as a risk predictor for cardiovascular disease among nonwhite ethnic groups is required.