Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biometric Identification in Virtual Worlds using Biometric Fusion Techniques

The use of virtual worlds is becoming popular in many fields such as education, economy, space, and games. With the widespread use of virtual worlds, establishing the security of these systems becomes more important. In this paper a behavioural biometric system is implemented to identify users of a virtual environment. This research suggests the use of a score level fusion technique to improve the identification performance of the system. The identification is achieved by analysing user interactions within the virtual environments and comparing these interactions with the previously recorded interactions in the database. The results showed that using score level biometric fusion in behavioural biometric systems similar to the one presented in this research is a promising tool to improve the performance of these systems. The use of biometric fusion technique enhanced the performance of the implemented biometric system up to 7.5%. An average equal error rate of up to 22.7% was achieved in this work.
Focus on lower risk of tardive dyskinesia with atypical antipsychotics.

BACKGROUND Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is one of the most serious iatrogenic neurological complications of the first-generation antipsychotics. Identifying the risk factors for TD is important to minimize the risk of this potentially irreversible movement disorder in susceptible populations. METHODS A Medline search was conducted for the literature on risk factors for TD with the first-generation antipsychotics, as well as the emerging literature of the lower risk of TD with the second-generation antipsychotics. RESULTS Several demographic, phenomenological, comorbidities and treatment variables have been reported to be associated with higher risk of TD. On the other hand, significantly lower rates of TD have been reported with the second-generation atypical antipsychotics, even in high risk groups such as the elderly. CONCLUSIONS The use of the second-generation antipsychotics as first-line treatment of psychosis appears to have lowered the overall prevalence of acute movement disorders as well as TD, and have led them to become the standard of care in part because of their safer extrapyramidal profiles.
Characterization of an Endo-p-l , 4-Glucanase Gene lnduced by Auxin in Elongating Pea Epicotyls '

A gene (EGLI) encoding an endo-p-l,4-~-glucanase (EGase, EC 3.2.1.4) of pea (Pisum sativum) has been cloned and characterized. EGL 1 encodes a 486-amino acid polypeptide, including a 24-mer putative signal peptide. The mature protein has a calculated molecular mas of 51.3 kD and an isoelectric point of 9.1. This pea ECase shares significant similarity with ECases from other plant species, but it appears to be distinct from the EGases associated with abscission and fruit ripening. Although EGL7 transcripts are detected in all parts of pea plants, they are relatively abundant in flowers and young pods undergoing rapid growth and most abundant in elongating epicotyls of etiolated seedlings. When epicotyl segments (6 mm long, 4 mm from the apical hook) are incubated in a 5 p~ solution of the synthetic auxin analog 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, the concentration of EGL7 mRNA increases about 1 O-fold when the segments elongate most rapidly.
Deterministic and Stochastic Study of Wind Farm Harmonic Currents

Wind farm harmonic emissions are a well-known power quality problem, but little data based on actual wind farm measurements are available in literature. In this paper, harmonic emissions of an 18 MW wind farm are investigated using extensive measurements, and the deterministic and stochastic characterization of wind farm harmonic currents is analyzed. Specific issues addressed in the paper include the harmonic variation with the wind farm operating point and the random characteristics of their magnitude and phase angle.
Compressed image deblurring

Abstract. We propose an algorithm to recover the latent image from the blurred and compressed input. In recent years, although many image deblurring algorithms have been proposed, most of the previous methods do not consider the compression effect in blurry images. Actually, it is unavoidable in practice that most of the real-world images are compressed. This compression will introduce a typical kind of noise, blocking artifacts, which do not meet the Gaussian distribution assumed in most existing algorithms. Without properly handling this non-Gaussian noise, the recovered image will suffer severe artifacts. Inspired by the statistic property of compression error, we model the non-Gaussian noise as hyper-Laplacian distribution. Based on this model, an efficient nonblind image deblurring algorithm based on variable splitting technique is proposed to solve the resulting nonconvex minimization problem. Finally, we also address an effective blind image deblurring algorithm which can deal with the compressed and blurred images efficiently. Extensive experiments compared with state-of-the-art nonblind and blind deblurring methods demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Is Advertisement a Valid Tool to Increase Sales: A Study of Indian Manufacturing Companies

The paper studies the inter-relationship between advertisement expenditure, sales and profit. Taking ten-year data (2005-06 to 2014-15) of twenty manufacturing companies indexed in NSEâ€™s NIFTY, the study applied various models including descriptive study, correlation and regression. The tools used (Regression and Correlation) clearly show that there is a significant relationship between advertisement expenditure, sales and profit. The study concludes that there is a one-sided relationship between advertisements, sales and profit wherein advertisement expenditure positively impacts the sales and profit of the business in case of Indian manufacturing companies.
The effect of routine aggregations in post merger integration performance: whether to ‘combine’ or ‘superimpose’ for synergy gains

Post-acquisition integration matters for overall M&A outcome. However within this phase researchers have struggled to identify clear links between integration activities and post-acquisition outcome. This may be due to using organisational levels of analysis, where sub-organisational issues serve to confound findings. In order to unpack the post-acquisition phase, and to delve more deeply into organisations, this paper adopts a more granular perspective on integration activities by focusing upon the building blocks of organisations. Specifically we investigate ordinary routine amalgamation and their impact upon meta-routine outcome during acquisition integration. Drawing upon two longitudinal integration cases and using ‘retroductive’ analysis, two types of amalgamation are identified, namely ‘combination’ and ‘superimposition’. We find that, while the basic nature of routines, such as multiplicity and nestedness, inhibit routine amalgamation, external interference in the form of context, structural change or introduction of additional routines is needed to stabilise amalgamated routines. From our findings we are able to suggest a number of testable propositions about the factors that influence the amalgamation of routines. This empirical study contributes to the M&A literature by opening up the ‘black box’ of post-acquisition integration by providing details at a granular level of what actually happens during integrations.
Long‐term activation of SAPK/JNK, p38 kinase and fas‐L expression by cisplatin is attenuated in human carcinoma cells that acquired drug resistance

Tumor cells chronically exposed to cisplatin (cDDP) acquire cDDP resistance that impacts tumor therapy. To elucidate the mechanism of acquired cDDP resistance (ACR), we compared HeLa cells that gained ACR upon chronic cDDP treatment with the parental strain. We show that ACR is due to a lower level of induced apoptosis. Further, upon cDDP treatment, the levels of Fas, Bax and Bid remained unchanged, whereas Bcl‐2 and p‐Bad were reduced at late times (120 hr) after treatment. At early times, Fas ligand (fas‐L) expression was significantly enhanced in sensitive compared to resistant cells and remained upregulated up to the onset of apoptosis. Thus, activation of the Fas system is critical, which is in line with the finding that in sensitive cells, caspase‐8 along with caspase‐9 and ‐3 were activated by cDDP. cDDP provoked the activation of stress‐activated protein kinase/c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (SAPK/JNK) and p38 kinase dose‐dependently, with significantly lower levels in ACR cells than in the sensitive parental line. cDDP induces c‐Jun and AP‐1 activity, as measured by a reporter gene assay, which was again attenuated in ACR cells. Time course analysis revealed that SAPK/JNK and p38 kinase activity was sustained upregulated (> 72 hr postexposure), which occurred at much higher level in sensitive than in ACR cells. Inhibition of either JNK or p38 kinase (by JNK inhibitor II and SB 203580, respectively) attenuated cDDP‐induced apoptosis, supporting the role of JNK and p38 kinase in the cDDP response. Since several independently derived cDDP‐resistant cell lines displayed attenuated MAPK signaling, sustained SAPK/JNK and p38 kinase activation may be a general mechanism of cDDP‐induced cell death. ACR cells displayed a reduced level of DNA damage, indicating long‐term stimulation of SAPK/JNK and p38 kinase is triggered by nonrepaired cDDP‐induced DNA lesions. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
"Theory of mind" in Asperger's syndrome.

Two studies are reported in which the ability of people with Asperger's syndrome to understand problems of the type "Peter thinks that Jane thinks that . " tested. The results showed that in contrast to younger or more handicapped autistic individuals, Asperger subjects were able to solve problems of the type just outlined, i.e. that they possessed a second-order theory of mind. When asked to explain their solutions however, they typically did not use mental state terms but did not differ in this respect either from non-handicapped or socially impaired, chronic schizophrenic controls. The implications of the results for current cognitive theories of autistic impairment are discussed.
Discretion in the Deferred Tax Valuation Allowance and Its Impact on Firms' Dividend Payouts

Prior studies document that firms manage earnings by exercising discretion in valuing deferred tax assets. Drawing from a hand-collected sample of more than 10,000 firm-year observations of Japanese listed firms, we extend the literature by focusing on dividend policy as a motive to manage earnings. If reported earnings are central to determining dividends, managers have incentives to manage earnings upward to avoid dividend cuts. Therefore, we test whether and how firms exercise discretion in valuation allowance account for deferred tax assets in order to manage earnings. We find that discretionary changes in the valuation allowance are related to dividends, particularly among firms that favor increased and stable dividends. We also find that firms likely establish lower valuation allowance when pre-managed earnings and distributable profits fall short of levels needed to maintain dividends. We provide new evidence of dividend-based earnings management and the economic consequences of using managerial estimates as measurement inputs.
A modified pulse sequence for in vivo diffusion imaging with reduced motion artifacts

A modified spin‐echo diffusion imaging pulse sequence incorporating bipolar gradients that is less sensitive to macroscopic motion‐induced artifacts is presented. Expressions for apparent diffusion coefficient in the presence of microcirculation and macroscopic motions and contrast‐to‐noise ratio in the diffusion map are derived. Diffusion coefficients of liquid phantoms have been measured using a 1.5‐T GE Signa system. Experiments performed to demonstrate the immunity to motion‐induced errors are reported. Brain images from human volunteer have also been included to show the potential clinical application of the proposed pulse sequence. © 1991 Academic Press. Inc.
Cognitive development in congenital hypothyroidism: is overtreatment a greater threat than undertreatment?

The ideal treatment of patients with congenital hypothyroidism (CHT) is currently debated, with some advocating optimization of FT4, and others focusing on TSH. It is known that cognitive development is negatively affected in untreated CHT, but the comparative impact of undertreatment and overtreatment has not been widely investigated. This prospective, longitudinal study investigated the cognitive development of children with early treated CHT in the Netherlands. Sixty-one patients were psychologically evaluated at 1.8 years (mental development index), 6 years (intelligence quotient (IQ)) and 11 years of age (IQ). Individualized optimal FT4 and TSH steady state concentrations (SSCs) were used as targets. These were determined using the mean of a series of measurements under euthyroid conditions for each patient; undertreatment or overtreatment was defined as> 2SDs of the SSC for each analyte. The rationale for use of SSCs was that the normal TFT reference ranges were too wide. The key finding was that overtreatment, as defined by FT4, caused a mean decline in IQ aged 11 of 16.0 points (P1⁄40.005) compared to no FT4 overtreatment. Interestingly, this effect was not apparent at lower ages. Furthermore, normal development at all ages was achieved if patients were undertreated, as long as overtreatment did not also occur. The authors concluded that overtreatment appears to be harmful to cognitive outcome in CHT, and also that FT4 is most useful for guiding therapy, as the lower limit of TSH (0.05 mU/L) may be too low to identify all episodes of overtreatment. They propose using individualized reference ranges for FT4, although a method of implementation in the clinical setting is not mentioned.
Serum PTHrP Predicts Weight Loss in Cancer Patients Independent of Hypercalcemia, Inflammation, and Tumor Burden.

CONTEXT Recent animal studies showed that tumor-derived PTHrP induced cancer cachexia by fat browning with increased energy expenditure; however, clinical evidence from human data is insufficient. OBJECTIVE We investigated whether serum PTHrP levels independently predicts weight loss (WL) in cancer patients. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS From a longitudinal observational cohort, body mass index (BMI) of patients with measured serum PTHrP levels (n = 624) was assessed (median follow-up of 327 d). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Cox hazard models were used to examine the predictive value of PTHrP for WL defined by consensus definition (WL [consensus], percentage WL < -5% or percentage WL < -2% plus BMI < 20 kg/m(2)) and by BMI-adjusted grades (WL [BMI adjusted]). RESULTS The overall risk of WL (consensus) was 34.4%. Compared with PTHrP-negative subjects, patients with higher PTHrP levels (PTHrP ≥ median 5.7 pmol/L) had more WL (percentage WL, -6.9% vs -1.1%, P = .010) at follow-up. A higher PTHrP level was associated with an increased loss of body weight (β = -2.73), muscle (β = -1.85), and fat (β = -2.52) after controlling for age, sex, and BMI. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that subjects with higher PTHrP had increased WL risk compared with lower PTHrP or PTHrP-negative groups (52.0% vs 38.9% vs 29.7%, P < .001). Serum PTHrP was independently associated with an increased WL risk (hazard ratio [HR]1.23, P = .005) adjusted for potent predictors including serum levels of calcium, C-reactive protein, albumin, cancer stage, and performance status of patients. Consistent results were observed when BMI-adjusted WL was applied. CONCLUSIONS Serum PTHrP levels predicted cancer-associated WL independent of the presence of hypercalcemia, inflammation, tumor burden, and other comorbidities.
Expected equity fund investor returns and the level of management fees - a study of Swedish funds and the relationship between managment fees and excess return

The cost to investors of investing in mutual equity funds through management fees, could be substantial when compared to the return they generate. If the fees are fairly set, they should give investors a high excess return, termed alpha, when compared to a passive benchmark. Management fees have been shown to give negative excess return in the US market, and we regress the excess return of Swedish equity funds as estimated by CAPM on management fees. Our prediction is that higher management fees leads to lower alpha.
Data association techniques for advanced driver assistance systems using embedded soft-core processors

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) for automotive applications are used to reduce the number of road accidents. Multiple Target Tracking (MTT) is one of the most efficient techniques used in modern ADAS's. Data Association is a vital part of MTT which can be modeled as the classic Assignment Problem. We implement two algorithms namely, the Munkres (or Hungarian) algorithm and the Auction algorithm in Altera's StratixII FPGA using the NiosII soft-core processor. We analyze the resource requirements and the execution speed of the two algorithms. We describe the circumstances where the use of one or the other of these two algorithms is most suitable in the context of the data association problem.
Modulation of Cell Proliferation by Heterotrimeric G Protein in Arabidopsis

The α subunit of a prototypical heterotrimeric GTP-binding protein (G protein), which is encoded by a single gene (GPA1) in Arabidopsis, is a modulator of plant cell proliferation. gpa1 null mutants have reduced cell division in aerial tissues throughout development. Inducible overexpression of GPA1 in Arabidopsis confers inducible ectopic cell division. GPA1 overexpression in synchronized BY-2 cells causes premature advance of the nuclear cycle and the premature appearance of a division wall. Results from loss of function and ectopic expression and activation of GPA1indicate that this subunit is a positive modulator of cell division in plants.
Beverage Consumption Habits among the European Population: Association with Total Water and Energy Intakes

Background: Fluid and water intake have received limited attention in epidemiological studies. The aim of this study was to compare the average daily consumption of foods and beverages in adults of selective samples of the European Union (EU) population in order to understand the contribution of these to the total water intake (TWI), evaluate if the EU adult population consumes adequate amounts of total water (TW) according to the current guidelines, and to illustrate the real water intake in Europe. Methods: Three national European dietary surveys have been selected: Spain used the Anthropometry, Intake, and Energy Balance Study (ANIBES) population database, Italy analyzed data from the Italian National Food Consumption Survey (INRAN-SCAI 2005-06), and French data came from the NutriNet-Santé database. Mean daily consumption was used to compare between individuals. TWI was compared with European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reference values for adult men and women. Results: On average, in Spain, TWI was 1.7 L (SE 22.9) for men and 1.6 L (SE 19.4) for women; Italy recorded 1.7 L (SE 16.9) for men and 1.7 L (SE 14.1) for women; and France recorded 2.3 L (SE 4.7) for men and 2.1 L (SE 2.4) for women. With the exception of women in France, neither men nor women consumed sufficient amounts of water according to EFSA reference values. Conclusions: This study highlights the need to formulate appropriate health and nutrition policies to increase TWI in the EU population. The future of beverage intake assessment requires the use of new instruments, techniques, and the application of the new available technologies.
Calibration for Circular Cone-Beam CT Based on Consistency Conditions

In cone-beam computed tomography (CT), imprecise knowledge of the acquisition geometry can severely impact the quality of the reconstructed image. This paper investigates geometric calibration using data consistency conditions (DCCs). Unlike the usual marker-based off-line methods, the proposed method does not require the extra-scan of a calibration phantom. It is based on the minimization of a cost function, which measures the inconsistency between pairs of projections. The method has been applied to both simulated and real data. The latter were acquired from a micro-CT system with circular trajectory, for which the problem reduces to identifying global misalignments of the system. When compared to uncorrected reconstruction, the method significantly improved the image quality. When compared to marker-based calibration method, the image quality was similar but no calibration scan was required. Finally, the method can handle axially truncated data. Axial truncation is very common in the medical context but often considered intractable for DCC-based methods. We also demonstrate DCC calibration from real data with axial truncation.
Relationship between clinical parameters and cytokine profiles in inflamed gingival tissue and serum samples from patients with chronic periodontitis.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the present study was to assess the relation between clinical parameters and concentrations of the key (IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, IL-2, IFN-gamma, IL-4, IL-10) cytokines, important in the initiation and progression of periodontal diseases, within inflamed gingival tissues and serum samples from patients with severe chronic periodontitis. MATERIAL AND METHODS Twenty-five patients with severe chronic periodontitis, who had sites with probing depths (PD) > 5 mm, and 25 periodontally healthy persons were included in the study. Clinical examinations including PD, clinical attachment loss, plaque index, and bleeding index were performed before periodontal treatment. Gingival tissue biopsies were collected from one active site of each patient and from healthy individuals, and blood samples were withdrawn on the day of tissue biopsy. The concentrations of cytokines were determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the relationship between their profiles in situ and in circulation with clinical parameters was analysed. RESULTS The concentrations of IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, IL-2, IFN-gamma were, on average, significantly higher in serum samples and gingival tissue biopsies from periodontitis patients than in healthy controls. However, serum samples from both groups showed high individual variability of cytokine profiles, and no association between cytokine concentrations and clinical parameters of periodontitis was found. On the contrary, the levels of IL-4 and IL-10 in both kinds of samples obtained from patients and controls were generally low or even undetectable, and remained, on average, on the same level. However, the frequency of IL-4 (88% positive samples) and IL-10 (72%) was much higher in healthy gingival tissues. High concentrations of TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma and IL-2 and, especially, a high ratio of IL-1beta/IL-10 and TNF-alpha/IL-4 found in tissue biopsies from periodontitis patients, strongly correlated with the severity of periodontitis. CONCLUSION These results indicate that high variability of cytokine concentrations and low frequency of their detection in serum samples from periodontitis patients make these determinations useless for the detection of disease presence and/or its severity. In contrast, high absolute levels of IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, IL-2 and IFN-gamma and, especially their high ratios to IL-4 and IL-10 found in inflamed tissue biopsies, were closely associated with periodontal disease severity.