Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spectral mixture analysis of ASTER image to geobotanical investigation between ultramafic and mafic rocks from Niquelandia, Brazil

The present work aims to evaluate the advantages of the ASTER sensor to detect Brazilian Savanna vegetation types over ultramafic or mafic rocks from spectral mixture analysis. The study area, the Niquelandia Complex, lies in the central portion of the State of Goias in Brazil. The Niquelandia Complex is a well-exposed heavily layered intrusion in central Brazil that comprises an area of about 1,800 square km and is approximately 15 km thick. Geology and petrology studies show many similarities between the Niquelandia Complex and well-known Precambrian layered intrusions such as Bushveld and Stillwater. The distribution and physiognomy of vegetation in the Niquelandia Massif show strong geological control. In this site, extensive areas of ultramafic rocks are covered by herbaceous vegetation dominated by grasses. The fires that occur during the driest months (June-August), might influence the physiognomy of the vegetation. However, not only fires can explain the abrupt limit among the gabroic rocks (mafic) and the ultramafic substrate. Different types of forests can be found along the streams and valleys. Their existence demonstrates the ability of many species to tolerate soils originating from ultramafic rock if soil depth and humidity are appropriate and some fire protection exists. The methodology used can be divided into three stages: (a) pre-processing, (b) endmember identification and (c) spectral mixture analysis (SMA). The images were acquired with atmosphere correction relative to the AST07 product. The Level 2 surface reflectance data set (AST07) contains surface reflectance for each of the nine VNIR and SWIR bands at 15-m and 30-m resolutions, respectively. Duplicating the pixels size from the SWIR image the spatial dimensions between VNIR and SWIR images. Endmembers were detected in three steps: (1) spectral reduction by the minimum noise fraction (MNF) transformation, (2) spatial reduction by the Pixel Purity Index (PPI) and (3) manual identification of the endmembers using the N-dimensional visualizer. The spectral classification was made using the Spectral mixture analysis (SMA). The amount of nonphotosynthetic vegetation (NPV) and photosynthetic vegetation (PV) is preponderant in the distinction between the vegetation types. These procedures allowed the identification of the main scenarios in the study area. For the Niquelandia area it was possible to separate for the SMA components vegetation patterns in soils from ultramafic or mafic rocks
Markers of local immunity in cervico-vaginal secretions of HIV infected women: implications for HIV shedding

Objectives: To link local proinflammatory cytokines with HIV related nucleic acids in cervico-vaginal secretions and the factors associated with them. Methods: An observational study on 60 HIV positive women attending the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, University of Pavia, Italy. HIV-1 RNA in plasma, proviral HIV-1-DNA, cell associated and cell free HIV-1 RNA in cervico-vaginal secretions were evaluated by competitive polymerase chain reaction (c-PCR) and reverse transcriptase PCR (cRT-PCR). IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α were measured by ELISA in cervico-vaginal lavages. Multiple regression analysis on ordinal categorical variables was used to test for the simultaneous associations of clinical and microbiological variables on quartiles of cytokine concentrations in lavage samples. Results: Proviral HIV-1 DNA, cell associated and cell free HIV-1 RNA were detected in 76.7% (46/60), 70% (42/60), and 71.7% (43/60) of the patients, respectively. IL-1β concentration was directly correlated with proviral HIV-DNA (Spearman rho = 0.35, p = 0.01) and cell associated HIV-RNA levels (Spearman rho = 0.263, p = 0.05). IL-1β concentration (153.9 pg/ml) was higher (p<0.05) among women with cytological squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) than negative controls (73.4 pg/ml). In women with vaginal infection both IL-1β (41.7 pg/ml) and IL-6 (10.2 pg/ml) were lower (p<0.05) in comparison to negative controls (144.9 pg/ml and 23.7 pg/ml, respectively). Women receiving stable antiretroviral therapy had significantly lower TNF-α (34.4 pg/ml versus 44.4 pg/ml, p = 0.04) and higher IL-6 (24.0 pg/ml versus 1.4 pg/ml, p = 0.004) levels in lavage samples compared to untreated women. The associations between the presence of SIL, antiretroviral treatment, vaginal infection and cytokine concentrations in cervico-vaginal secretions were confirmed in multiple regression analysis. Conclusions: Local immune activation may modulate HIV-1 shedding in cervico-vaginal secretion with possible influence on vaginal physiology and host defence. Pharmacological agents lowering HIV-1 replication cause a shift to a pattern of cytokine production which seems less favourable to the transmission of the disease.
Heliox for treatment of exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

BACKGROUND Due to its low density properties, helium-oxygen mixtures have the potential to decrease the work of breathing and possibly avoid the need for intubation and mechanical ventilation in patients with respiratory failure. OBJECTIVES To determine the effect of the addition of helium/oxygen mixtures (heliox) to standard medical care during ventilated and nonventilated acute exacerbations of COPD. SEARCH STRATEGY Randomized controlled trials were identified from the Cochrane Airways Review Group asthma Register. Primary authors and experts were contacted. References from included and excluded studies, known reviews and texts were also searched. SELECTION CRITERIA Studies were selected for inclusion if they compared treatment with heliox to placebo (oxygen or air) in randomized controlled trials in adults with an exacerbation of COPD. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Data from all trials were combined using the Review Manager (version 4.1). We planned to perform: 1) random effects weighted mean difference (WMD), with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), 2) Homogeneity of effect sizes with the Dersimonian and Laird method with p<0.1 as the cut point for significance, and 3) sensitivity analysis on different helium-oxygen mixtures (80/20 vs 70/30), and 4) methodological quality (Jadad score >2 vs. <3). MAIN RESULTS Four studies, all published between 1997 and 2000 met the inclusion criteria. Two studies compared heliox-oxygen vs. air-oxygen in decompensated COPD patients who were not ventilated. One study was performed in mechanical ventilated patients and one in patients undergoing noninvasive pressure support (NIPSV) ventilated patients. Data could be obtained for only two of the studies. One was a randomized crossover study of 70:30 helium-oxygen vs air-oxygen that involved nineteen patients with acute severe COPD, hospitalized in an intensive care unit for NIPSV. In the patients receiving heliox, arterial PCO2 fell more; WMD 0.8 kPa (95% CI 0.26, -1.34). The second was a randomized trial involved 47 patients with acute COPD, who presented to an Emergency Department randomized to receive updraft nebulization of albuterol and ipratropium bromide using 80% helium and 20% oxygen or compressed air as the driving gas. Treatments were administered at 0, 20, 40, and 120 minutes after randomization. There were no significant differences in the change of FEV1 and FVC between the two groups by either the 1 or 2 hours point. although a small improvement in FEF 25-75 was significantly greater in the heliox group than in the air group. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS There is currently insufficient evidence to support the use of helium-oxygen mixtures to treat acute exacerbations of COPD in either ventilated or nonventilated patients. Suitably designed randomised controlled trials with the endpoint being the avoidance of mechanical ventilation may be justified.
Exploring Communication Behaviors of Users to Target Potential Users in Mobile Social Networks

In mobile communication services, users can communicate with each other over different telecommunication carriers. For telecom operators, how to acquire and retain users is a significant and practical task. Note that telecom operators only have their own customer profiles. For the users from other telecom operators, their information is sparse. Thus, given a set of communication logs, the main theme of our work is to identify the potential users who will possibly join the target services in the near future. Since only a limited amount of information is available, one challenging issue is how to extract features from the communication logs. In this article, we propose a Communication-Based Feature Generation (CBFG) framework that extracts features and builds models to infer the potential users. Explicitly, we construct a heterogeneous information network from the communication logs of users. Then, we extract the explicit features, which refer to those calling features of users, from the potential users’ interaction behaviors in the heterogeneous information network. Moreover, from the calling behaviors of users, one could extract the possible community structures of users. Based on the community structures, we further extract the implicit features of users. In light of both explicit and implicit features, we propose an information-gain-based method to select the effective features. According to the features selected, we utilize three popular classifiers (i.e., AdaBoost, Random Forest, and SVM) to build models to target the potential users. In addition, we have designed a sampling approach to extract training data for classifiers. To evaluate our methods, we have conducted experiments on a real dataset. The results of our experiments show that the features extracted by our proposed method can be effective for targeting the potential users.
A monolithic double-balanced direct conversion mixer with an integrated wideband passive balun

This paper presents the design and performance characteristics of a 20-40 GHz monolithic double-balanced direct conversion mixer implemented using InGaP/GaAs HBT process. The compact MMIC mixer makes use of a Gilbert-cell multiplier and utilizes a broadband monolithic passive balun that has been developed for MMIC applications. The new balun makes use of multidielectric layer structure to achieve a broadband performance in a simple coplanar configuration. A measured return loss better than 15 dB, with a maximum insertion loss of 4.5 dB including the 3-dB power splitting loss has been achieved over the band from 15 to 45 GHz. Operated as a downconverter mixer, the newly developed direct conversion mixer achieves a measured conversion gain of 16 dB given an RF signal at 30 GHz, LO drive of 5 dBm and a downconverted baseband signal at 10 MHz. The mixer IP3 occurs at an output power of 4 dBm while the IP2 occurs at an output power of 11 dBm.
IMF-Supported Adjustment Programs: Welfare Implications and the Catalytic Effect

The author studies the welfare implications of adjustment programs supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He uses a model where an endogenous borrowing constraint, set up by international lenders who will never lend more than a debt ceiling, forces the borrowing economy to always choose repayment over default. The immediate potential welfare cost of joining a program is driven by IMF conditionality: to be able to borrow from the IMF, the country has to submit to limits on the consumption of public goods. The benefits derive from the additional borrowing from the IMF (at a lower interest rate) and/or through a "catalytic effect" on private loans, which facilitates consumption smoothing over time. Simulations of the dynamic model in two institutional environments -- with and without the IMF -- are compared. Results indicate that when conditionality forces the country to save more, at a cost that does not prevent it from joining an IMF program, the resulting lower probability of default can induce private lenders to relax their borrowing constraints. Based on a calibration of the model for the Brazilian economy, the overall welfare gains associated with IMF programs are relatively small.
Psychophysical study of face identity discrimination in schizophrenia: association with facial morphology

ABSTRACT Introduction: Identifying individual identities from faces is crucial for social functioning. In schizophrenia, previous studies showed mixed results as to whether face identity discrimination is compromised. How a social category factor (such as gender and race) affects schizophrenia patients’ facial identity discrimination is unclear. Methods: Using psychophysics, we examined perceptual performance on within- and between- category face identity discrimination tasks in patients (n = 51) and controls (n = 31). Face images from each of six pairs of individuals (two White females, two White males, two Black males, two Asian females, one Black male and one White male, and one White female and one White male) were morphed to create additional images along a continuum of dissimilarity in facial morphology. Results: Patients underperformed for five out of the six face pairs (the Black/White male pair was the exception). Perceptual performance was correlated with morphological changes in face images being discriminated, to a greater extent in patients than in controls. Conclusions: Face identity discrimination in schizophrenia was most impaired for those faces that presumably have extensive social exposures (such as White males). Patients’ perceptual performance appears to depend more on physical feature changes of faces.
Instructional leadership practices in Singapore

This paper presents a review of the literature on principal instructional leadership in Singapore. The authors investigated the dimensions of instructional leadership in the practices of Singapore principals and highlighted the strategies these leaders adopt to enact their instructional roles. Singapore principals were found to play an active role in defining the school vision and promoting the school climate. However, in the areas of curriculum implementation and classroom instruction, the middle management team in the school played more active roles as compared to principals. Five broad conclusions were discussed to provide perspectives on instructional leadership practices in Singapore. This paper also highlighted limitations on current instructional leadership research in Singapore and pointed to areas of future research.
Toward Efficient Search for a Fragment Network in a Large Semantic Database

In this paper, we present a novel indexing scheme for semantic graphs, which is based on the notion of the i-degree of a node. We apply this scheme to identify in a large semantic graph, the database, a fragment network, which may represent incomplete information that an analyst collected on an adversary network of interest.
Debugging with Probabilistic Event Structures

Debugging is a search process to find, understand and fix the root cause of software defects. Can debugging benefit from probabilistic information? We hypothesize that debugging activities can benefit from probabilistic information that capturethe statistical dependence of program features and the minorvariations of program behavior. This probabilistic informationhelps to guide the search for the root cause of the bug andprovides detailed diagnostic information (such as failure-inducinginputs and method calls leading to the fault). To realize ourhypothesis, we propose to improve debugging activities by guiding bug diagnosis using both probabilistic reasoning and program analysis. The main idea is to mine probabilistic information from program executions, then apply these information to construct probabilistic event structures (e.g. probabilistic call graphs) that guides debugging activities such as fault localization and comprehension. The resulting probabilistic model will guide bug diagnosis towards the most likely paths to the root cause of bugs and provide contextual diagnostic information.
Byzantine-Tolerant Machine Learning

The growth of data, the need for scalability and the complexity of models used in modern machine learning calls for distributed implementations. Yet, as of today, distributed machine learning frameworks have largely ignored the possibility of arbitrary (i.e., Byzantine) failures. In this paper, we study the robustness to Byzantine failures at the fundamental level of stochastic gradient descent (SGD), the heart of most machine learning algorithms. Assuming a set of $n$ workers, up to $f$ of them being Byzantine, we ask how robust can SGD be, without limiting the dimension, nor the size of the parameter space. We first show that no gradient descent update rule based on a linear combination of the vectors proposed by the workers (i.e, current approaches) tolerates a single Byzantine failure. We then formulate a resilience property of the update rule capturing the basic requirements to guarantee convergence despite $f$ Byzantine workers. We finally propose Krum, an update rule that satisfies the resilience property aforementioned. For a $d$-dimensional learning problem, the time complexity of Krum is $O(n^2 \cdot (d + \log n))$.
Views: object-inspired concurrency control

We present views, a new approach to controlling concurrency. Fine-grained locking is often necessary to increase concurrency. Correctly implementing fine-grained locking with today's concurrency primitives can be challenging---race conditions often plague programs with sophisticated locking schemes. Views ease the task of implementing sophisticated locking schemes and provide static checks to automatically detect many data races. Views consist of view declarations that describe which views of an object may be simultaneously held by different threads, which object fields may be accessed through a given view, and which methods can be called through a given view. A set of view annotations specify which code regions hold a view of an object. Our view compiler performs simple static checks which eliminate many data races. We have ported three benchmark applications to use views: portions of Vuze, a BitTorrent client; Mailpuccino, a graphical e-mail client; and TupleSoup, a database. Our experience indicates that views are easy to use, make implementing sophisticated locking schemes simple, and can help eliminate concurrency bugs.
Practical considerations of optimal three-dimensional indoor localization

The problem of locating objects and people in indoor environments is lately gaining high interest in research and industry. In this context, the geometrical constellation of source and sensors plays an important role and heavily influences the accuracy for the position estimate. This paper uses existing optimal solutions of the problem of three-dimensional TDOA localization, and relates them to practical application. The extension is necessary, since the optimal solution is only valid for one single position and not for a complete area, where a localization capability is desired. Therefore, it is shown by simulations that the optimum is very useful for localization purposes in typical indoor scenarios. In addition, real-world measurements using an ultra-wideband (UWB) localization system have been carried out in two geometrical scenarios. It can be shown that the simulations, which are based on theoretical derivations, are a good approximation of the reality. Finally, it can be demonstrated that the optimal solution can be adapted to typical indoor environments and still yield accurate three-dimensional positioning
Randomised crossover trial of transdermal fentanyl and sustained release oral morphine for treating chronic non-cancer pain

Abstract Objectives: To compare patients' preference for transdermal fentanyl or sustained release oral morphine, their level of pain control, and their quality of life after treatment. Design: Randomised, multicentre, international, open label, crossover trial. Setting: 35 centres in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and South Africa. Participants: 256 patients (aged 26-82 years) with chronic non-cancer pain who had been treated with opioids. Main outcome measures: Patients' preference for transdermal fentanyl or sustained release oral morphine, pain control, quality of life, and safety assessments. Results: Of 212 patients, 138 (65%) preferred transdermal fentanyl, whereas 59 (28%) preferred sustained release oral morphine and 15 (7%) expressed no preference. Better pain relief was the main reason for preference for fentanyl given by 35% of patients. More patients considered pain control as being “good” or “very good” with fentanyl than with morphine (35% v 23%, P=0.002). These results were reflected in both patients' and investigators' opinions on the global efficacy of transdermal fentanyl. Patients receiving fentanyl had on average higher quality of life scores than those receiving morphine. The incidence of adverse events was similar in both treatment groups; however, more patients experienced constipation with morphine than with fentanyl (48% v 29%, P<0.001). Overall, 41% of patients experienced mild or moderate cutaneous problems associated with wearing the transdermal fentanyl patch, and more patients withdrew because of adverse events during treatment with fentanyl than with morphine (10% v 5%). However, within the subgroup of patients naive to both fentanyl and morphine, similar numbers of patients withdrew owing to adverse effects (11% v 10%, respectively). Conclusion: Transdermal fentanyl was preferred to sustained release oral morphine by patients with chronic non-cancer pain previously treated with opioids. The main reason for preference was better pain relief, achieved with less constipation and an enhanced quality of life. What is already known on this topic The clinical use of potent opioids in the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain is supported by retrospective, survey data and small randomised controlled trials showing efficacy and safety Studies with transdermal fentanyl have shown efficacy and preference over sustained release oral morphine in the treatment of cancer pain What this study adds This is the first study to provide comparative data supporting treatment options with potent opioids for chronic non-cancer pain Both transdermal fentanyl and sustained release oral morphine provided effective and well tolerated pain relief During fentanyl treatment patients experienced superior pain relief, higher quality of life, and less constipation; fentanyl was preferred to morphine by 65% of patients