Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Planar Disjoint Paths in Linear Time 1

The Disjoint Paths problem asks whether a fixed number of pairs of terminals in a graph G can be linked by pairwise disjoint paths. In the context of this problem, Robertson and Seymour introduced the celebrated irrelevant vertex technique that has since become standard in graph algorithms. The technique consists of detecting a vertex that is irrelevant in the sense that its removal creates an equivalent instance of the problem. That way, one may solve the problem in O(n2) steps, as the detection of an irrelevant vertex takes O(n) time and at most n vertices may need to be removed. In this paper we study the Planar Disjoint Paths problem where the input graph is planar. We introduce an extension of the irrelevant vertex technique where all the irrelevant vertices are removed simultaneously so that an instance of the Planar Disjoint Paths problem can be transformed in a linear number of steps to an equivalent one that has bounded treewidth. As a consequence, the Planar Disjoint Paths problem can be solved in linear time for every fixed number of terminals.
Bayesian Computational Methods in Biomedical Research

This article gives a survey of Bayesian techniques useful for biomedical applications. Given the extensive use of Bayesian methods, especially with the recent advent of MCMC, we can never do exhaustive justice. Nevertheless, we have made an attempt to present different Bayesian applications from different viewpoints and differing levels of complexity. We start with a brief introduction to the Bayesian paradigm in Section 2, and give some basic formulas. In Section 3, we review conjugate Bayesian analysis in both the static and dynamic inferential frameworks, and give references to some biomedical applications. The conjugate Bayesian approach is often insufficient for handling complex problems that arise in several applications. The advent of sampling based Bayesian methods has opened the door to carrying out inference in a variety of settings. They must of course be used with care, and with sufficient understanding of the underlying stochastics. In Section 4, we present details on the algorithms most commonly used in Bayesian computing and provide exhaustive references. Sections 5-8 show illustrations of Bayesian computing in biomedical applications that are of current interest.
DEM Working Paper Series Are Uncertainty Shocks Aggregate Demand Shocks ?

This note considers the Leduc and Liu (JME, 2016) model and studies the e¤ects of their uncertainty shock under di¤erent Taylor-types rules. It shows that both the responses of real and nominal variables highly depend on the Taylor rule considered. Remarkably, ination reacts positively so that uncertainty shocks look more like supply shocks, once an empirically plausible degree of interest rate smoothness is taken into account. This result is reinforced with less reactive monetary rules. Overall, these rules bring about a less severe recession.
A Study on Affect Model Validity: Nominal vs Ordinal Labels

The question of representing emotion computationally remains largely unanswered: popular approaches require annotators to assign a magnitude (or a class) of some emotional dimension, while an alternative is to focus on the relationship between two or more options. Recent evidence in aﬀective computing suggests that following a methodology of ordinal annotations and processing leads to better reliability and validity of the model. This paper compares the generality of classiﬁcation methods versus preference learning methods in predicting the levels of arousal in two widely used aﬀective datasets. Findings of this initial study further validate the hypothesis that approaching aﬀect labels as ordinal data and building models via preference learning yields models of better validity.
EMI : Exploration with Mutual Information Supplementary Material

In all of our experiments, we use Adam optimizer with the learning rate of 0.001 and a minibatch size of 512 for 3 epochs to optimize embedding networks. In each iteration, we train the embedding networks. The embedding dimensionality is set to d = 2 and the intrinsic reward coefficient is set as 0.001 in all environments. Table 1 and Table 2 give the detailed information of the remaining hyperparameters.
Exploring Ways of Identifying Outliers in Spatial Point Patterns

Exploring Ways of Identifying Outliers in Spatial Point Patterns by Jie Liu This work discusses alternative methods to detect outliers in spatial point patterns. Outliers are defined based on location only and also with respect to associated variables. Throughout the thesis we discuss five case studies, three of them come from experiments with spiders and bees, and the other two are data from earthquakes in a certain region. One of the main conclusions is that when detecting outliers from the point of view of location we need to take into consideration both the degree of clustering of the events and the context of the study. When detecting outliers from the point of view of an associated variable, outliers can be identified from a global or local perspective. For global outliers, one of the main questions addressed is whether the outliers tend to be clustered or randomly distributed in the region. All the work was done using the R programming language.
The Effects of Aging on Skeletal Muscle ATP Production

Abstract The study of the aging process and its prevention is an incredibly popular field; the natural course of the human body is to age and theories abound on how to avoid it . Age affects every system and pathway of the body and alters many of the bodily functions . This paper, using articles from Touro’s library database examines the different areas in which aging negatively affects ATP production . The multifaceted process associated with the production of ATP in the human body was analyzed . Several features such as the mitochondria, physical activity, and hormones are linked to ATP production and the relationship was further explored . The findings reveal that a dysfunction or lack of these factors, a feature of aging, is the initiator of the decrease in ATP production that is attributed to the natural aging process . Together, a lack of mitochondrial function, physical inactivity, reduced growth hormone levels, and increased insulin sensitivity levels contribute to the decline in ATP production that is concomitant with the progression of age . The diminishing presence of ATP then stimulates further dysfunction or lack of these elements, which in turn drives the aging process even further . The Effects of Aging on Skeletal Muscle ATP Production Chaya Abboudi Chaya Abboudi will be attending Touro’s Bay Shore PA program in September 2019.
Hallux valgus surgery Surgical procedure , technique and avoidance of complications

Zusammenfassung: Die moderne Therapie des Hallux valgus basiert auf einer Einteilung der Schweregrade der Deformität anhand von dorsoplantaren und seitlichen Röntgenaufnahmen des betroffenen Fußes unter Belastung. Grundlage nahezu jedes Korrektureingriffs ist der distale Weichteileingriff, welcher die Reposition der Sesambeinchen ermöglicht. Dieser ist jedoch als alleiniger Eingriff meist unzureichend, weshalb die Kombination mit einer knöchernen Korrektur zu empfehlen ist. Proximale Osteotomien haben hierbei das größere Korrekturpotenzial. Bei milden Deformitäten mit einem Hallux valgus-Winkel (HVA) bis 19° und einem Intermetatarsalwinkel (IMA) bis 13° werden meist distale Osteotomien am Metatarsale (z.B. Chevron-Osteotomie) durchgeführt. Für moderate Deformitäten (HVA 20°–40°, IMA 14°–20°) stellen diaphysäre Osteotomien (z.B. Scarf, Ludloff-Osteotomie) die geeigneten Verfahren dar. Bei schweren Deformitäten (HVA > 40°, IMA > 20°) können von erfahrenen Chirurgen noch diaphysäre Osteotomien eingesetzt werden, ansonsten basisnahe Osteotomien oder ggf. eine Lapidus-Arthrodese. Besonderes Augenmerk ist auf den distalen Gelenkflächenwinkel (DMAA) zu legen, welcher beim juvenilen Hallux valgus signifikant größer ist als beim Hallux valgus des Erwachsenen. Pathologische DMAAs sind bei proximalen operativen Verfahren ggf. durch eine zweite, distal rotierende Osteotomie (Doppelosteotomie) oder bei Wahl einer diaphysären Osteotomie durch eine Rotation des distalen Fragments zu korrigieren. Die Akin-Osteotomie ist das geeignete Verfahren zur Korrektur eines Hallux valgus interphalangaeus. Bei ausgeprägten Deformitäten bzw. nach fehlgeschlagenen Korrektureingriffen kann durch eine Arthro dese noch ein zufriedenstellendes Ergebnis erzielt werden.
Digital Power for Battery Chargers - Comparison and Implementation

In this project the concept of digital power was examined. Though not a new phenomena, the concept was new to Micropower. The company develops a wide array of battery chargers and wanted to include this concept in future generations of their products. The reasoning behind the decision is the possibilities of smoother development, better error handling and more communication. As a first step different microcontrollers were examined to see which would fit the requirements of the company best. When an appropriate controller was chosen a development kit was ordered to confirm that the functionality was possible to implement. After that, an adapter card was manufactured to fit the digital power controller card in one of Micropowers chargers. This worked well and the digital power solution provided the same functionality as before but now with more possible future improvements. (Less)
The SJTU HDR Video Sequence Dataset

In this short paper, we present a novel set of High Dynamic Range (HDR) video sequences of ultra-high definition (UHD) to satisfy the growing need of HDR relevant researches and to remedy the shortage of lacking open source high quality HDR video dataset. The details of processing procedures and sequences characteristics are illustrated. Keywords—HDR,UHD, video dataset
BRIEF ENGAGING INFORMAL WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN EAST AFRICA : APPROACHES TO GREATER

1 This issue brief was prepared within the Irish Aid funded project “Women’s Entrepreneurship Development and Economic Empowerment”. The ILO WED programme commissioned Anne M. Golla to undertake research and develop the brief. Anne M. Golla is a labor economist and independent consultant on women and work, impact evaluation, and gender. The author wishes to thank Joni Simpson, Virginia Rose-Losada and Amélie Duval for their helpful guidance and comments as well as other anonymous peer reviewers for their inputs. Executive Summary
LIG 4 rs 1805388 polymorphism involved in the NHEJ pathway modify risk of glioma in Asians

Polymorphisms of LIG4 gene involved in the NHEJ pathway have been reported to influence DNA repair ability and alter an individual’s susceptibility to cancer. Several recent studies have identified that the LIG4 rs1805388 polymorphism is associated with cancer risk, but with inconsistent results. Thus, a meta-analysis was conducted to derive a more precise estimation of the effects of this enzyme. By a comprehensive literature search using PubMed and EMBASE databases, a total of 6 case-control studies were identified for inclusion in the metaanalysis. Overall, current evidence suggests that LIG4 rs1805388 polymorphism potentially predisposes their carriers to gliomas, specifically in Asians (OR = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.43-2.80). When stratified by the genotyping method, significant association of LIG4 rs1805388 polymorphism with cancer risk was found in using PCR-RFLP method studies (OR = 1.86, 95% CI: 1.08-3.19).
Measuring Exam Cheating and the Impact of a Reform to Curb Fraud 1

I introduce a measure of the prevalence of cheating during a written exam, defined as copying answers from students seated nearby. The measure is based on the idea that in the absence of cheating there should be no correlation between the scores of students seated next to each other. Unlike existing measures of cheating, which are designed for multiple-choice tests, the measure that I introduce can be used for open answer tests. I analyze how the measure performs in practice using data from nine years of a high-stakes exam in Romania. I find a high correlation between immediate neighbors, which decays quickly in the number of desks between students. I perform several robustness exercises to rule out spurious correlations, notably showing that the GPAs of neighboring students are completely uncorrelated. I also explore cheating heterogeneity in terms of student gender, high school origin, and ability. Finally, I show that the measure of cheating falls significantly one year after a reform intended to curb exam fraud.
Jacobi Elliptic Function Solutions For Fractional Partial Differential Equations

In this paper, we are concerned with seeking exact solutions expressed in the Jacobi elliptic functions for fractional partial differential equations, where the fractional derivative is defined in the sense of the modified Riemann-Liouville derivative. Based on a fractional complex transformation, certain fractional partial differential equation is converted into another ordinary differential equation of integer order, and the exact solutions of the latter are assumed to be expressed in a polynomial in the Jacobi elliptic functions including the Jacobi sine function, the Jacobi cosine function, and the Jacobi elliptic function of the third kind. The degree of the polynomial can be determined by the homogeneous balance principle. As for applications, we apply this method to seek Jacobi elliptic function solutions for the space-time fractional KPBBM equation and the (2+1)-dimensional space-time fractional Nizhnik-Novikov-Veselov System.
Rethink the Leading Function: an Analysis through Management Introductory Books

Mapear como a funcao dirigir vem sendo construida, principalmente a partir de livros introdutorios de Administracao, e o objetivo inicial deste ensaio teorico. Desta investigacao apontamos algumas tendencias de teorizacao, assim como realizamos uma analise questionadora e critica para cada uma delas. Para atingir tais objetivos retomamos as funcoes classicas do administrador, das quais destacamos a funcao direcao, revemos a historia que nos permite a compreensao de uma mutacao na denominacao desta funcao para a ideia de lideranca, assim como analisamos como os livros introdutorios vem trabalhando com as tematicas da direcao, da lideranca e da motivacao. Discutimos, entao, a validade dos conceitos apresentados, assim como questionamos as logicas inerentes a tais conceitos. As analises realizadas nos permitiram questionar tais livros em relacao: (a) a centralidade que atribuem ao lider-administrador no processo de gestao; (b) a “desatualizacao” com a qual conceituam a tematica da motivacao, questionando tambem as praticas de gestao decorrentes; (c) a construcao de uma marcada (e ficticia) diferenca entre as figuras do administrador e do lider. Desses questionamentos emerge a argumentacao final de que uma outra construcao naturalizada por tais textos necessita ser revista: a marcada e real separacao entre lider/liderado ou administrador/subordinado.
Workshop on Cognitive Architectures for Human-Robot Interaction

In typical human interactions emotional states are communicated via a variety of modalities such as auditory (through speech), visual (through facial expressions) and kinesthetic (through gestures). However, one ormoremodalities might be compromised in some situations, as in the case of facial masking in Parkinson’s disease (PD). In these cases, we need to focus the communication and detection of emotions on the reliable modalities, by inferring emotions from what is being said, and compensate for the modalities that are problematic, by having another agent (e.g., a robot) provide the missing facial expressions. We describe the initial development stage of a cognitive robotic architecture that can assist the communication and detection of emotions in interactions where some modalities are totally or partially compromised. We hypothesize that the distribution of topics extracted from each sentence, that is part of a collection of written text documents, using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) generative model can be associated with measures of emotional valence and arousal. We integrated our model into the cognitive robotic architecture, DIARC, and demonstrated how a robot can use speech transcriptions to detect positive or negative emotion valence and express it through its facial features. This work forms the basis for developing a more robust model with finer prediction resolution. In addition, the model can be further developed to form an auxiliary natural language understanding pipeline which can be used to supplement existing components in the architecture to utilize affect in human-robot interactions.
EasyChair Preprint No 821 Variance Laplacian : Quadratic Forms in Statistics

In this research paper, it is proved [RRN] that the variance of a discrete random variable, Z can be expressed as a quadratic form associated with a Laplacian matrix i.e. Variance [Z] = X G X, where X is the vector of values assumed by the discrte random variable and G is the Laplacian matrix whose elements are expressed in terms of probabilities. We formally state and prove the properties of Variance Laplacian matrix, G. Some implications of the properties of such matrix to statistics are discussed. It is reasoned that several interesting quadratic forms can be naturally associated with statistical measures such as the covariance of two random variables. It is hoped that VARIANCE LAPLACIAN MATRIX G will be of significant interest in statistical applications. The results are generalized to continuous random variables also. It is reasoned that cross-fertilization of results from the theory of quadratic forms and probability theory/statistics will lead to new research directions.
Reconfigurable Patch Antenna For Software Defined Radio Application

We present in this paper, an innovative miniaturized Reconfigurable micro strip patch antenna (RMPA) with frequency agility. This antenna can be controlled by varying the switching state of two PIN diodes from the ON state to OFF state to switch it over two different mobile communication technologies. This antenna can be used as a RF front end in Software Defined Radio (SDR) applications. This antenna has been designed on a low cost FR4 518 Sharanagouda N Patil, Prof. P.V. Hunagund, Prof. R.M. Vani & Ravi M Hatti substrate with the size of 45*38*1.6mm The prototype of this antenna has been simulated and tested. The simulated results validate the simulation predictions in terms of frequency agility performances.
Cooking Preparation Knowledge using the Functional Object-Oriented Network

We developed the functional object-oriented network (FOON) as a graphical knowledge representation for manipulations that can be performed by domestic robots. This bipartite representation focuses on household manipulation activities; for now, our focus is on the domain of cooking preparation activities. A robot can use FOON for solving manipulation problems through a knowledge retrieval procedure. This retrieval procedure aims to determine the necessary steps (as a task tree) to solve a given problem, i.e. to prepare a specific dish or food item within a specific state, given a list of ingredients or utensils that are available for the robot to use. In our most recent work, we modified FOON to account for weights that reflect the difficulty or likelihood of a robot successfully performing the action(s) in a universal FOON. However, certain manipulations may be too difficult for it to perform on its own based on its own physical limitations. To make it easier for the robot, a human can assist to the minimal extent needed to perform the activity to completion by identifying those actions with low success rates for the human to do. In our experiments, it is shown that tasks can be executed successfully with the aid of the assistant.
2011 ACCF/AHA Guideline for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: Executive Summary A Report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines

2011;58;2703-2738; originally published online Nov 8, 2011; J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. W. Yancy Rakowski, Christine E. Seidman, Jeffrey A. Towbin, James E. Udelson, and Clyde Fifer, Mark S. Link, Srihari S. Naidu, Rick A. Nishimura, Steve R. Ommen, Harry Bernard J. Gersh, Barry J. Maron, Robert O. Bonow, Joseph A. Dearani, Michael A. Thoracic Surgeons Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, and Society of Nuclear Cardiology, Heart Failure Society of America, Heart Rhythm Society, of Thoracic Surgery, American Society of Echocardiography, American Society Developed in Collaboration With the American Association for Guidelines Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Cardiomyopathy: Executive Summary: A Report of the American College of 2011 ACCF/AHA Guideline for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Hypertrophic This information is current as of May 14, 2012 http://content.onlinejacc. org/cgi/content/full/58/25/2703 located on the World Wide Web at: The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is
Using Private Information Retrieval

Existing anonymous communication systems like Tor do not scale well as they require all users to maintain a global view of the system. Current proposals for scaling anonymous communication advocate a peer-to-peer (P2P) approach. While the P2P paradigm scales to millions of nodes, it provides new opportunities to compromise anonymity. In this paper, we step away from the P2P paradigm and advocate a client-server approach to scalable anonymity. We propose PIR-Tor, an architecture for the Tor network in which users obtain information about only a few onion routers using private information retrieval techniques. Obtaining information about only a few onion routers is the key to the scalability of our approach, while the use of private retrieval information techniques helps preserve client anonymity. The security of our architecture depends on the security of PIR schemes which are well understood and relatively easy to analyze, as opposed to peer-to-peer designs that require analyzing extremely complex and dynamic systems. In particular, we demonstrate that reasonable parameters of our architecture provide equivalent security to that of the Tor network. Moreover, our experimental results show that the overhead of PIR-Tor is manageable even when the Tor network scales by two orders of magnitude.