Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biometric personal authentication using images of forearm vein patterns

Forearm vein recognition is one of the methods used for identification. In this paper forearms vein features are used for recognition in biometric systems. Forearm vein can be considered more secured compared to other biometric traits because the veins are inside the human body. The forearm recognition has been developed using characteristic points based technique where forearm image is normalized, binarized and thinned, is then a crossing number is used to extract properties of the veins e.g. bifurcation.
Defining Rurality in Medicare Administrative Data

Rural beneficiaries make up nearly one quarter of the Medicare population, yet rural providers and patients face specific challenges with health and health care delivery that remain inadequately understood. Health disparities between rural and urban residents are widespread, barriers to health care in rural communities persist, and the rural health care workforce is limited. To better understand and track the relationship between rurality and performance under Medicare’s payment programs, researchers must be able to identify rural beneficiaries, providers, and hospitals. Although numerous definitions of rurality are applied across the Medicare program, empirical research is lacking comparing the different definitions of rurality and the impact of their application to quality, outcome, or costs. Definitions that recognize rurality as a graded concept, rather than a dichotomous one, hold promise. Understanding the strengths and limitations of different approaches to identifying rurality will help researchers choose the best method for their particular purpose, and help policymakers interpret studies using these approaches.
A Text Message–Based Intervention for Weight Loss: Randomized Controlled Trial

Background To our knowledge, no studies have evaluated whether weight loss can be promoted in overweight adults through the use of an intervention that is largely based on daily SMS (Short Message Service: text) and MMS (Multimedia Message Service: small picture) messages transmitted via mobile phones. Objective This paper describes the development and evaluation of a text message–based intervention designed to help individuals lose or maintain weight over 4 months. Methods The study was a randomized controlled trial, with participants being exposed to one of the following two conditions, lasting 16 weeks: (1) receipt of monthly printed materials about weight control; (2) an intervention that included personalized SMS and MMS messages sent two to five times daily, printed materials, and brief monthly phone calls from a health counselor. The primary outcome was weight at the end of the intervention. A mixed-model repeated-measures analysis compared the effect of the intervention group to the comparison group on weight status over the 4-month intervention period. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) models examined weight change between baseline and 4 months after adjusting for baseline weight, sex, and age. Results A total of 75 overweight men and women were randomized into one of the two groups, and 65 signed the consent form, completed the baseline questionnaire, and were included in the analysis. At the end of 4 months, the intervention group (n = 33) lost more weight than the comparison group (−1.97 kg difference, 95% CI −0.34 to −3.60 kg, P = .02) after adjusting for sex and age. Intervention participants’ adjusted average weight loss was 2.88 kg (3.16%). At the end of the study, 22 of 24 (92%) intervention participants stated that they would recommend the intervention for weight control to friends and family. Conclusions Text messages might prove to be a productive channel of communication to promote behaviors that support weight loss in overweight adults. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT00415870; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00415870 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5dnolbkFt)
Altruism – A Philosophical Analysis

Altruism is a malleable notion that is understood differently in various disciplines. The common denominator of most definitions of altruism is the idea of unidirectional helping behaviour. However, a closer examination reveals that the term altruism sometimes refers to the outcomes of a helping behaviour for the agent and its neighbours – that is, reproductive altruism – and sometimes to what motivates the agent to help others – that is, psychological altruism. Since these perspectives on altruism are crucially different, it is important to use a clear terminology to avoid confusion. In particular, we show that the notion of altruism used by biologists profoundly differs from the ones used by philosophers, psychologists and economists in cross-disciplinary debates about human altruism.
Deployment Strategies for Protected Long-Reach PON

The mass deployment of fiber access networks is probably the most important network upgrade strategy for operators over the coming decade. Next-generation networks, and in particular the long-reach passive optical network (LR-PON) solution, aim to increase the long-term economic viability and sustainability of fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) deployment. The LR-PON solution achieves this by minimizing the number of nodes and the amount of electronic equipment required within the network. Since an LR-PON replaces the metro backhaul network, which is usually a protected part of the network, protecting the long-reach part of an LR-PON against failure becomes a critical issue that needs to be taken into account. In this paper, we introduce a novel protection mechanism which, by spreading the load generated by a node failure over the network, can significantly reduce the overall protection capacity required. We then present a practical FTTP deployment scenario based on our protected LR-PON architecture for a European country. The problem is modeled using integer linear programming, and the optimization results, obtained using a real dataset provided by a national operator, show that a small number of metro/core nodes can provide protected connection to FTTP users. By applying a detailed cost model to the outcome of the optimization, we are able to show that our LR-PON deployment strategy, which minimizes the overall protection capacity, rather than just minimizing fiber distances in the LR-PON, can significantly reduce costs.
Growth cones as soft and weak force generators

Many biochemical processes in the growth cone finally target its biomechanical properties, such as stiffness and force generation, and thus permit and control growth cone movement. Despite the immense progress in our understanding of biochemical processes regulating neuronal growth, growth cone biomechanics remains poorly understood. Here, we combine different experimental approaches to measure the structural and mechanical properties of a growth cone and to simultaneously determine its actin dynamics and traction force generation. Using fundamental physical relations, we exploited these measurements to determine the internal forces generated by the actin cytoskeleton in the lamellipodium. We found that, at timescales longer than the viscoelastic relaxation time of τ = 8.5 ± 0.5 sec, growth cones show liquid-like characteristics, whereas at shorter time scales they behaved elastically with a surprisingly low elastic modulus of E = 106 ± 21 Pa. Considering the growth cone’s mechanical properties and retrograde actin flow, we determined the internal stress to be on the order of 30 pN per μm2. Traction force measurements confirmed these values. Hence, our results indicate that growth cones are particularly soft and weak structures that may be very sensitive to the mechanical properties of their environment.
A cross-link breaker has sustained effects on arterial and ventricular properties in older rhesus monkeys.

Nonenzymatic glycosylation and cross-linking of proteins by glucose contributes to an age-associated increase in vascular and myocardial stiffness. Some recently sythesized thiazolium compounds selectively break these protein cross-links, reducing collagen stiffness. We investigated the effects of 3-phenacyl-4,5-dimethylthiazolium chloride (ALT-711) on arterial and left ventricular (LV) properties and their coupling in old, healthy, nondiabetic Macaca mulatta primates (age 21 +/- 3.6 years). Serial measurements of arterial stiffness indices [i.e., aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation (AGI) of carotid arterial pressure waveform] as well as echocardiographic determinations of LV structure and function were made before and for 39 weeks after 11 intramuscular injections of ALT-711 at 1.0 mg/kg body weight every other day. Heart rate, brachial blood pressure, and body weight were unchanged by the drug. PWV and AGI decreased to a nadir at 6 weeks [PWV to 74.2 +/- 4.4% of baseline (B), P = 0.007; AGI to 41 +/- 7.3% of B, P = 0.046], and thereafter gradually returned to baseline. Concomitant increases in LV end diastolic diameter to 116.7 +/- 2.7% of B, P = 0.02; stroke volume index (SV(index)) to 173.1 +/- 40.1% of B, P = 0.01; and systolic fractional shortening to 180 +/- 29.7% of B, P = 0.01 occurred after drug treatment. The LV end systolic pressure/SV(index), an estimate of total LV vascular load, decreased to 60 +/- 12.1% of B (P = 0.02). The LV end systolic diameter/SV(index), an estimate of arterio-ventricular coupling, was improved (decreased to 54.3 +/- 11% of B, P < 0.002). Thus, in healthy older primates without diabetes, ALT-711 improved both arterial and ventricular function and optimized ventriculo-vascular coupling. This previously unidentified cross-link breaker may be an effective pharmacological therapy to improve impaired cardiovascular function that occurs in the context of heart failure associated with aging, diabetes, or hypertension, conditions in which arterial and ventricular stiffness are increased.
SafeBTW: A Scalable Optimistic Yet Non-risky Synchronization Algorithm

A new optimistic synchronization algorithm for Parallel Discrete Event Simulation (PDES) called Safe BTW is proposed in this paper. This new algorithm eliminates risky event processing in the Time Warp processing stage of the original BTW algorithm and is founded on a concept called "safe causal relation". In our new algorithm, the length of any chained rollback operations is limited to at most one and cascading rollback effects found in the original BTW algorithm can be completely avoided. Performance tests of Time Warp, Breathing Time Bucket, Breathing Time Warp and the new Safe BTW algorithms using PHOLD model show that the new algorithm obtains better speedups as the computation scales up. Its effective event processing time as a percentage of the total event processing time is higher than that of Time Warp and Breathing Time Warp, proving that excessive rollback operations are successfully controlled. And the extra synchronization overhead it introduces is still much lower than that of Breathing Time Bucket itself and is within tolerable and stable level as the computation scales up.
Correlations Between Hysteretic Categorical and Continuous Judgments of Perceptual Stimuli Supporting a Unified Dynamical Systems Approach to Perception

We report from two variants of a figure-ground experiment that is known in the literature to involve a bistable perceptual domain. The first variant was conducted as a two-alternative forced-choice experiment and in doing so tested participants on a categorical measurement scale. The second variant involved a Likert scale measure that was considered to represent a continuous measurement scale. The two variants were conducted as a single within-subjects experiment. Measures of bistability operationalized in terms of hysteresis size scores showed significant positive correlations across the two response conditions. The experimental findings are consistent with a dualistic interpretation of self-organizing perceptual systems when they are described on a macrolevel by means of so-called amplitude equations. This is explicitly demonstrated for a Lotka–Volterra–Haken amplitude equation model of task-related brain activity. As a by-product, the proposed dynamical systems perspective also sheds new light on the anchoring problem of producing numerical, continuous judgments.
Spectral Difference Between Microwave Radar and Microwave-Induced Thermoacoustic Signals

This letter presents a spectral content comparison of the signals generated in the microwave radar (MR) and microwave-induced thermoacoustic (MIT) imaging systems. Two physical processes occur when microwave interacts with a lossy dielectric object. First, due to the contrast in the complex permittivity between the embedded object and background medium, reflection of microwave energy occurs at the interface. Second, due to the contrast in the absorption coefficient between the object and background medium and the consequent thermal expansion, microwave induces an acoustic wave. As a method of comparison between the inputs and outputs of the MR and MIT processes, we define the MR and MIT channels. We use a two-dimensional (2-D) example to demonstrate that the MR channel over the ultrawideband (UWB) spectrum from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz manifests different fading from the MIT channel over the ultrasonic spectrum from 0.32 to 1.10 MHz. The two output signals are distinctive, but they are co-registered to the same object. Hence, using the information provided by both could enhance the imaging modality. We apply this dual-physics scheme in the context of breast tumor detection.
Primary Intracranial Melanoma with Early Leptomeningeal Spread: A Case Report and Treatment Options Available

Primary CNS melanomas are rare and they constitute about 1% of all cases of melanomas and 0.07% of all brain tumors. These tumors are aggressive in nature and may metastasise to other organs. Till date less than 25 cases have been reported in the literature. The primary treatment for local intraparenchymal tumours is complete resection and/or radiotherapy and it is associated with good survival. However once there is disease spread to leptomeninges the overall median survival is around 10 weeks. In this case report we describe a primary intracranial melanoma without any dural attachment in 16-year-old boy who had radical excision of the tumor followed by radiotherapy who eventually had rapidly developed leptomeningeal disease and review the literature with a focus on the clinic pathological, radiological, and treatment options.
A Novel Planar Left-Handed Transmission Line using Grounded Rectangular Patch with Meander Line

In this paper, a novel planar composite right- and left-handed transmission line (CRLH-TL) of grounded rectangular patch with meander line and its equivalent circuit are proposed. The dispersion relations are analytically derived using the equivalent circuit and Bloch-Floquet theory. The measured results have good agreements with those of simulation and theory. The fractional bandwidth for left-handed region is measured to be 74 percent from 0.65 GHz to 1.42 GHz
PROJECTIVES ARE FREE FOR NILPOTENT VARIETIES

Dedicated to the memory of Professor Tengiz Gegelia 0. Introduction. Projective objects in algebraic categories are retracts of free objects. We will show that nitely generated projective objects in the category of nilpotent groups of class n are free. The similar result is true for the category of nilpotent objects in other kind of algebraic categories, like Lie k-algebras, associative k-algebras etc. Here k is any commutative ring with property, that nitely generated projective k-modules are free. Moreover we will show that a retract of free nitely generated object is again free in complete case. We will derive such results from a very general statement on the lifting of idempotents in linear extensions of algebraic theories which generalize the well-known principle for modules (see for example Proposition III.2.10 of 1]). 1. Preliminaries on algebraic theories. We recall the notion of algebraic theory in the sense of Lawvere. Good reference for algebraic theories is 4]. The algebraic theory, or simply theory, formalizes the concept of an algebraic object as a set together with n-ary operations for various n 2 N and equational relations. 1.1. Deenition. A theory is a category T with the following properties: T has a set of objects equal to the set of natural numbers N = f0; 1; 2; : : :g. The object n is the n-fold product of the object 1: there are morphisms p n i 2 Hom T (n; 1) i = 1; : : : ; n, such that the induced map Hom T (k; n) ! Hom T (k; 1) n is an isomorphism of sets. A morphism of theories is a product preserving functor which is the identity on objects. A theory T is called pointed, if 0 is a zero object in T. One should think of the set Hom T (n; 1) as the space of n-ary operations in the theory T. 1.2. Deenition. If T is a theory, a T-algebra X is a product preserving functor X : T ! Sets to the category of sets. X(1) is called the underlying set of the T-algebra X. A morphism of T-algebras is a natural transformation of functors, it is called surjective, if it yields surjection on the underlying sets. For a T-algebra X, each morphism 2 Hom T (n; 1) gives rise to a map X(1) n = X(n) X() ? X(1). This justiies thinking of a T-algebra as
Node robust algorithm study based on graph theory

An enhancing algorithm for node robustness based on graph theory is proposed, which focus on the situation of poor network robust caused by the weak ability of anti-vulnerable attacks of nodes. The strategy for node and network robust based on graph coloring theory and diversity is introduced first, the graph derived from the algorithm with 35 nodes and 4 coloring plan is analyzed in detail; 4 kinds of benchmark network that usually using are also used for contrastive analyze to the algorithm and random algorithm. The examples show that the network constructed according to the algorithm can enhance the nodes ability of anti-vulnerable attacks, interdicting the exploit and propagation of various possible vulnerable attacks between nodes, such network has stronger robustness.
Asperger Syndrome and Difficult Moments: Practical Solutions for Tantrums, Rage, and Meltdowns

This expanded edition of the best selling AAPC classic offers both parents and professionals tried-and-true solutions to minimize and circumvent the often frightening circumstances that surround the rage cycle, not only for the child with Asperger Syndrome, but others in the environment as well. In addition to almost doubling the section on interventions, this highly practical and user-friendly resource also focuses on the reactions of the adults around the child. This detailed book takes the reader through the stages of the rage cycle and emphasizes the importance of utilizing the teachable moments before and after a rage episode.
A Computational Study for Feature Selection on Customer Credit Evaluation

Customer credit evaluation is an important decision process in many business areas. E-commerce and online banking bring new challenge to evaluate the customer credit with time constrains and risk. This paper will present a framework to build the decision tool on evaluating customer credit and compare different decision models used in the literature and commercial software. The results of this study shed the light of improving the existing evaluation systems with flexibility and robustness.
Accelerating HEVC Encoding Using Early-Split

The increase in coding efficiency and complexity of high efficiency video coding (HEVC) over H.264 is due to, among other factors, the time needed to find the optimal partition structure among the more flexible encoding modes for the coding units (CUs) and prediction units (PUs). Although many classification-based algorithms have been proposed to expedite the partition decision, the features that can be acquired from current HEVC encoding order are not sufficient to minimize the loss in coding efficiency. In this letter, we proposed an early-split (ES) order for HEVC CU-level encoding, where the encoder checks the split mode before the nonsquare PU partition modes and utilizes the encoding output of the subCUs to expedite subsequent encoding. Experiments show that the proposed algorithm can save 48% of encoding time on average with only about 0.8% loss in coding performance.
Cost and Utility

In a recent review of &dquo;The Theory of Dynamic Economics, &dquo;* Professor Clark has called attention to what seemed to him the peculiar use made of the terms cost and utility. If the reader has in mind merely the recent development of economic theory I admit that he will probably find that his conception of cost and utility differs from mine. When, however, the whole economic literature is considered, the nomenclature I use has as much if not more authority on its side than has that to which the reader is now more accus-
Weekdays or Weekends: Exploring the Relationships between Microblog Posting Patterns and Addiction

Addiction is deemed as one of the major negative outcomes that result from intensive use of information technology. Previous research suggests that social networking applications, such as microblogs, are possibly more addictive due to their particular features. Taking an inductive approach, we attempt to explore the relationships between usage patterns and addiction dimensions on microblog platforms. Based on the literature in the use and gratification theory, we focus on the different usage patterns between weekdays and weekends. Using multiple data collection methods, a data set was obtained consisting of 158 microblog users. Our analysis shows that the use of microblog is usually more intensive on weekdays than on weekends. Furthermore, it is shown that heavy weekend users tend to feel more gratified and are most likely to be addicted. Contrarily, balanced users that do not display significant difference between weekdays and weekends are usually not addicted, regardless their usage amounts.
Le conseil d'administration dans les théories de la gouvernance

L'objectif de cet article est de faire une synthese des theories explicatives du conseil d'administration au sein du paradigme de l'efficience. Il oppose en particulier les theories contractuelles (financiere et partenariale) du conseil d'administration pour lesquelles l'objectif du conseil d'administration est de discipliner les dirigeants aux theories strategiques pour lesquelles le conseil constitue un instrument cognitif aidant a la creation de competences.
Eosinophil contamination of thioglycollate‐elicited peritoneal macrophage cultures skews the functional readouts of in vitro assays

Thioglycollate‐elicited peritoneal cells are a common source of macrophages for various in vitro assays, including stimulation with TLR ligands, cell signaling assays, phagocytosis, toxicology studies, and cytokine/chemokine production. The most common method for enrichment of cultured thioglycollate‐elicited peritoneal cells is adherence. However, the presence of other cell types in freshly isolated and cultured thioglycollate‐elicited peritoneal cells has not been examined. Here, we demonstrate that thioglycollate‐elicited peritoneal cavity contains 55–60% nonmacrophage cells, and even after adherence, there are still 12–20% nonmacrophage cells remaining. Excluding macrophages, eosinophils are the major cell type in the freshly elicited cavity (30–40%). Eosinophils are also the major cell type contaminating in vitro cultures of thioglycollate‐elicited peritoneal macrophages. Moreover, the contamination of macrophage cultures by eosinophils significantly diminishes activation of p38 MAPK and the serine threonine kinase Akt and production of proinflammatory cytokines in response to LPS stimulation. Taken together, these data suggest that thioglycollate‐elicited peritoneal cells are far more heterogeneous than reported previously. Further, a failure to remove contaminating eosinophils may greatly affect the interpretation of results obtained with cultured thioglycollate‐elicited macrophages. Thus, our data indicate that future studies intent on accurately assessing cultured macrophage phenotype and activation require depletion of all cocontaminating cells, especially eosinophils.