Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MA 575 Linear Models:

This is a computer-intensive resampling algorithm for estimating the empirical distribution function (EDF) of a random variable X from a set of observations x = {x1, . , xn}. This technique therefore permits to obtain empirical estimates, without making any assumptions about the distribution of X, when analytical ones are not available. The bootstrap was first introduced in 1979 as an algorithm to obtain sufficient estimates of standard errors (Efron and Tibshirani, 1993). According to the legend, Baron Munchausen saved himself from drowning in quicksand by pulling himself up using only his bootstraps. The statistical bootstrap, which uses re-sampling from a given set of data to mimic the variability that produced the data in the first place, has a rather more dependable theoretical basis, and can be a highly effective procedure for estimation of error quantities in statistical problems.
Amodified Cox maze IV procedure : a simpler technique for the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of a simplified surgical treatment method for atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS: Between September 2012 and October 2013, 120 patients (mean age, 52.3 ± 8.8 years) underwent valve surgery and concomitant bipolar radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of AF. Patients were randomized to a Cox maze IV procedure (CMP-IV) group (n = 60) or a modified CMP-IV (MCMP-IV) group (n = 60). Freedom from AF was defined as freedom from any left atrial arrhythmia lasting <30 s and no requirement of antiarrhythmic drugs after 6 months. Data were recorded at postoperative follow-up examinations, which were scheduled at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months, and annually thereafter. RESULTS: No ablation-related complications occurred in either group. The mean ablation time was longer in the CMP-IV group than in the MCMP-IV group (18.5 ± 1.7 vs 16.6 ± 1.6 min, P < 0.001). The mean follow-up time was 32.4 ± 3.6 months (range, 26–39 months). Freedom from AF tended to be higher, but not significantly so, among the MCMP-IV group than among the CMP-IV group over the entire follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: The MCMP-IV is an effective surgical procedure for the treatment of AF. In certain patients, such as those with anatomic variations of the pulmonary veins, the MCMP-IV is simpler than the CMP-IV. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION ID: ChiCTR-TRC-12002742.
A model for digital preservation repository risk relationships

The paper introduces the Preserved Object and Repository Risk Ontology (PORRO), a model that relates preservation functionality with associated risks and opportunities for their mitigation. Building on work undertaken in a range of EU and UK funded research projects (including the Digital Curation Centre , DigitalPreservationEurope and DELOS ), this ontology illustrates relationships between fundamental digital library goals and their parameters; associated rights and responsibilities; practical activities and resources involved in their accomplishment; and risks facing digital libraries and their collections. Its purpose is to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of risk causality and to illustrate opportunities for mitigation and avoidance. The ontology reflects evidence accumulated from a series of institutional audits and evaluations, including a specific subset of digital libraries in the DELOS project which led to the definition of a digital library preservation risk profile. Its applicability is intended to be widespread, and its coverage expected to evolve to reflect developments within the community. Attendees will gain an understanding of the model and learn how they can utilize this online resource to inform their own risk management activities.
New Achievements on Pottery Reconstruction

We are developing a documentation system for archaeological fragments based on their profile, which is the cross-section of the fragment in the direction of the rotational axis of symmetry. Hence the position of a fragment (orientation) on a vessel is important. To achieve the profile, a 3D representation of the object is necessary. The main technical goal of our project is to perform an automated classification and reconstruction of archaeological fragments by using the profile section of the oriented object and additional attributes (type of clay, dimensions, type of vessel and the site) associated with the fragment. The final aim is to provide a tool that helps archaeologists in their formation of their archive of records. This paper gives an overview about new achievements on our potter reconstruction system.
Shear thickening of suspensions of dimeric particles

In this article, I study the shear thickening of suspensions of frictional dimers by the mean of numerical simulations. I report the evolution of the main parameters of shear thickening, such as the jamming volume fractions in the unthickened and thickened branches of the flow curves, as a function of the aspect ratio of the dimers. The explored aspect ratios range from $1$ (spheres) to $2$ (dimers made of two kissing spheres). I find a rheology qualitatively similar than the one for suspensions of spheres, except for the first normal stress difference $N_1$, which I systematically find negative for small asphericities. I also investigate the orientational order of the particles under flow. Overall, I find that dense suspensions of dimeric particles share many features with dry granular systems of elongated particles under shear, especially for the frictional state at large applied stresses. For the frictionless state at small stresses, I find that suspensions jam at lower volume fraction than dry systems, and that this difference increases with increasing aspect ratio. Moreover, in this state I find a thus far unobserved alignment of the dimers along the vorticity direction, as opposed to the commonly observed alignment with a direction close to the flow direction.
Pre-training via Leveraging Assisting Languages and Data Selection for Neural Machine Translation

Sequence-to-sequence (S2S) pre-training using large monolingual data is known to improve performance for various S2S NLP tasks in low-resource settings. However, large monolingual corpora might not always be available for the languages of interest (LOI). To this end, we propose to exploit monolingual corpora of other languages to complement the scarcity of monolingual corpora for the LOI. A case study of low-resource Japanese-English neural machine translation (NMT) reveals that leveraging large Chinese and French monolingual corpora can help overcome the shortage of Japanese and English monolingual corpora, respectively, for S2S pre-training. We further show how to utilize script mapping (Chinese to Japanese) to increase the similarity between the two monolingual corpora leading to further improvements in translation quality. Additionally, we propose simple data-selection techniques to be used prior to pre-training that significantly impact the quality of S2S pre-training. An empirical comparison of our proposed methods reveals that leveraging assisting language monolingual corpora, data selection and script mapping are extremely important for NMT pre-training in low-resource scenarios.
Spatial Effects of Public Service Facilities Accessibility on Housing Prices: A Case Study of Xi’an, China

The premium effect of public service facilities on the housing market is a critical determinant of housing prices, leading to the competition of different social groups in the housing market and fueling spatial inequality. Taking Xi’an, China as a case in point, this study uses Geographic Information System (GIS) to describe the spatial distribution pattern of housing prices and urban public service facilities. Using the mixed geographically weighted regression model (MGWR) and the geographical detector model (GD), this study reveals the spatial effects of these facilities’ accessibility on housing prices. The results show that commercial and leisure facilities are spatially stationary, whereas a non-stationary effect is observed among those providing educational, medical, cultural, sport, and financial services. From the urban spatial resource allocation perspective, facilities meeting people’s basic needs, such as medical care and education, constitute the basic elements of housing price differentiation. When any two of these interact, a bivariate-enhanced effect emerges. The decisive interactive elements of housing price differentiation involve the facilities meeting people’s higher-level needs, such as leisure, culture, sports, and finance. When these interactive elements interact with other facilities, a non-linear enhancement effect is induced. This research is of practical value for improving people’s living quality, optimizing the spatial distribution of public service facilities, and eliminating urban spatial inequality.
Lab-on-chip with microalgal based biosensor for water assessment

The integration of optical source with microfluidics leads to promising low-cost, rapid and sensitive lab-on-a-chip analytical systems. This work deals with the optimization of the electrochemical sensors and the dedicated organic light-emitting diode (OLED) for the monitoring of herbicides though algal photo synthetic activities disturbances. Various blue OLED are considered in order to achieve highest sensitivity in O 2 electrochemical detection during micro-algae photosynthesis.
Business Analytics for Sales Pipeline Management in the Software Industry: A Machine Learning Perspective

This study proposes a model designed to help sales representatives in the software industry to manage the complex sales pipeline. By integrating business analytics in the form of machine learning into lead and opportunity management, data-driven qualification support reduces the high degree of arbitrariness caused by professional expertise and experiences. Through the case study of a software provider, we developed an artifact consisting of three models to map the end-to-end sales pipeline process using real business data from the company’s CRM system. The results show a superiority of the CatBoost and Random Forest algorithm over other supervised classifiers such as Support Vector Machine, XGBoost, and Decision Tree as the baseline. The study also reveals that the probability of either winning or losing a sales deal in the early lead stage is more difficult to predict than analyzing the lead and opportunity phases separately. Furthermore, an explanation functionality for individual predictions is provided.
Defective bodyweight regulation , motor control and abnormal social interactions in Mecp 2 hypomorphic mice

MeCP2 is an abundant protein that binds to methylated cytosine residues in DNA and regulates transcription. Mutations in MECP2 cause Rett syndrome, a severe neurological disorder that affects approximately 1:10 000 females. Mice lacking MeCP2 have been generated and constitute important models of Rett syndrome. However, it is yet unclear whether certain physiological events are sensitive to a decrease, rather than a complete lack of MeCP2. Here we report that a Mecp2 floxed allele (Mecp2) that was generated to allow conditional mutagenesis behaves as a hypomorph and the corresponding mutant mice exhibit phenotypical alterations including body weight gain, motor abnormalities and altered social behavior. Our data reinforce the view that the central nervous system is extremely sensitive to MeCP2 expression levels and suggest that the 30-UTR of Mecp2 might contain important elements that contribute to the regulation of its stability or processing.
Assessment of the Validity of Sentiment Analysis as a Tool to Analyze the Emotional Content of Text

Abstract—Sentiment analysis is a recent field of study that computationally assesses the emotional nature of a body of text. To assess its test-validity, sentiment analysis was carried out on the emotional corpus of text from a personal 15-day mood diary. Selfreported mood scores varied more or less accurately with daily mood evaluation score given by the software. On further assessment, it was found that while sentiment analysis was good at assessing ‘global’ mood, it was not able to ‘locally’ identify and differentially score synonyms of various emotional words. It is further critiqued for treating the intensity of an emotion as universal across cultures. Finally, the software is shown not to account for emotional complexity in sentences by treating emotions as strictly positive or negative. Hence, it is posited that a better output could be two (positive and negative) affect scores for the same body of text.
Satisfaction in everyday life for frail 85-year-old adults: a Danish population study

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether social relations, continuity, self-determination, and use of own resources are associated with everyday life satisfaction among 85-year-old adults with physical disabilities. The population includes 187 frail men and women from the longitudinal study of the 1914 population in Glostrup, Copenhagen. Participants were all interviewed in their homes by an occupational therapist. Findings provide evidence that frail older adults more frequently express satisfaction with their daily lives when they (1) are occupied as usual; (2) have friends; (3) feel able to manage their own lives; (4) do not live alone; and (5) have not lately lost close friends. Lack of everyday life satisfaction is associated with (1) using home-care services and (2) living in an institution. The findings stress the importance of helping old persons stay active and independent of help, and able to continue living in their own homes.
Transient Membrane-Linked FtsZ Assemblies Precede Z-Ring Formation in Escherichia coli

During the early stages of cytokinesis, FtsZ protofilaments form a ring-like structure, the Z-ring, in most bacterial species. This cytoskeletal scaffold recruits downstream proteins essential for septal cell wall synthesis. Despite progress in understanding the dynamic nature of the Z-ring and its role in coordinating septal cell wall synthesis, the early stages of protofilament formation and subsequent assembly into the Z-ring are still not understood. Here we investigate a sequence of assembly steps that lead to the formation of the Z-ring in Escherichia coli using high temporal and spatial resolution imaging. Our data show that formation of the Z-ring is preceded by transient membrane-linked FtsZ assemblies. These assemblies form after attachment of short cytosolic protofilaments, which we estimate to be less than 20 monomers long, to the membrane. The attachments occur at random locations along the length of the cell. The filaments treadmill and show periods of rapid growth and shrinkage. Their dynamic properties imply that protofilaments are bundled in these assemblies. Furthermore, we establish that the size of assemblies is sensitively controlled by the availability of FtsZ molecules and by the presence of ZapA proteins. The latter has been implicated in cross-linking the protofilaments. The likely function of these dynamic FtsZ assemblies is to sample the cell surface for the proper location for the Z-ring.
STATISTICAL SELECTION OF DETERIORATION FACTORS IN RC SLAB OF URBAN EXPRESSWAY

Precedents for statistical selection of deteriorati n factors in RC slabs of urban expressway have not been accumulated very much. In this study, the auth ors focus on the deterioration of RC slab in urban expressway and clarify its deterioration proc ess using statistical methods. In this study, the detailed visual inspection data of RC slabs inspect ed each panel which compose a single RC slab are adopted. The authors employ the Markov deterior ation hazard model as a concrete method to select deterioration factors and to estimate the ex pected lifespan of each panel. Regarding to deterioration factors, 15 kinds of characteristic v ariables are considered as candidates of the factor s, and by comparison of t-value and AIC, the factors having the significant interpretability can be selected. In addition, by estimating the Markov det erioration hazard model, Markov transition probability can be estimated. Then, using the Marko v transition probability and Monte Carlo simulation, the expected lifespan of each RC slab c an be calculated. By using the result of this study , when we determine the number of panels per a RC sla b, the number of construction joint panels and the characteristic variables, expected deterioratio n path of the RC slab can be obtained.
Hybridization patterns and the evolution of reproductive isolation in ducks

Much of our knowledge of the evolution of reproductive isolation comes from studies of Drosophila . This body of work has revealed the following patterns: (1) reproductive isolation increases with phylogenetic distance between hybridizing species; (2) reproductive isolation is greater between sympatric than allopatric species with the same level of divergence; and (3) hybrid crosses conform to Haldane’s rule. We tested for the existence of these patterns in ducks (subfamily Anatinae, sensu Livezey, 1997b) based on 1037 hybrids of known parentage. Our analyses of the number of interspecific crosses in relation to phylogenetic distance found a significant deviation between the observed and expected distribution of crosses controlling for the topology of the Anatinae phylogeny. In particular, we found both an excess of hybrid crosses among closely related species and a scarcity among distantly related species. The number of hybrid males also decreased with increasing phylogenetic distance between parental species, although the number of hybrid females remained low and constant. Sympatric species produced higher numbers of hybrid males than allopatric ones, despite no difference in phylogenetic distance among parental species in compared groups. The number of hybrid males exceeded the number of hybrid females, consistent with Haldane’s rule. This was evident even though the analysis was restricted to a reduced set of phylogenetically independent crosses. However, the pattern was no longer significant after correction for the number of hybrid males by the male-biased sex ratio of adult ducks. © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2002, 77 , 193 − 200.
Climatology of aerosol radiative properties over East Asia in spring

The knowledge of aerosol properties on a regional scale is important in understanding of the global climate change and radiation forcing. In order to understand aerosol radiative properties in East Asia, 8-year measurements were conducted during 2001-2008. In this study, the aerosol radiative properties over East Asia in spring have been presented from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) measurements. The average single scattering albedo (ω) showed a wild increasing trend with wavelengths for Dunhuang sites and a low sensitivity to wavelengths for others sites. The ω varied in the range of 0.9250. 975 at Dunhuang, 0.885-0.916 at Beijing and Seoul, and 0.9120. 944 at Gosan, Osaka and Noto at 440, 675, 870 and 1020 nm. The averages of asymmetry factor (ɡ) were found to be larger at Dunhuang compared to other five sites. The increase of asymmetry factor was possibly attributed to the higher contribution of large particle, and indicated the particles over dust source regions were predominant in forward scattering. The averages of ɡ at the four wavelengths were 0.72 in Dunhuang, 0.67 in Gosan and Noto, and 0.66 in three urban sites (Beijing, Seoul and Osaka). Keywords—aerosol; dust; radiative propertiy; East Asia
Active LFM Mixer Adaptive ( ALMA ) Beamforming

Approvedd forr publicc release;; distributionn iss unlimited. OBJECTIVE The Active LFM Mixer Adaptive (ALMA) beamformer concept, a novel technique that enables optimum beamforming of broadband active sonar signals within each independent range-resolution annulus, is described. RESULTS Results of simulations have demonstrated that theALMA algorithms can adapt to each range-resolution annulus and suppress sidelobe interference while preserving signals in the intended look direction. Methods of implementing spatial-smoothing for both element-and beam-based adaptive algorithms have been covered, as well as methods of applying ALMA to long arrays. CONCLUSIONS ALMA beamforming reduces the signal from each range-resolution cell at each array element to a single phase and amplitude (accomplished by the mixer) and applies minimum-energy adaptive methods to these quantities to adapt (without time-or range-averaging) to the scatterer distribution in each range-resolution annulus. This approach is, to the author's knowledge, a unique contribution to the field of adaptive beamforming for active signals. The effectiveness of the algorithm in improving the detectability of echoes through the suppression of sidelobe interference has been demonstrated by simulation.Based on results seen to date, ALMA beamforming offers the promise of increasing the effective array gain of modest-sized active receiving arrays to produce an effect equivalent to making the array several times longer. iv FIGURES 1. Conventional mixer beamformer response (right) to " ALMA " scattering field (left). 2. 2. ALMA beamformer response (right) to " ALMA " scattering field (left). 3. (a) Conventional mixer beamformer response to a single-range cell from scenario 1. (b) Scatterer distribution in the range cell. 4. (a) Conventional mixer beamformer response to a single-range cell from scenario 2. (b) Scatterer distribution in the range cell. 6. Sparse-array response for one-range cell from scenario 1 with entire scenario defined.
G M ] 4 J un 2 01 8 Fuzzy α-cut and related structures

This paper deals with a new notion called fuzzy α-cut and its properties. A notion called localic frame is also introduced. Algebraic structures arising out of the family of fuzzy α-cuts have been investigated. It will be seen that this family forms a localic frame. Some significance and usefulness of fuzzy α-cuts are discussed.
Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Characterization of Pristine and Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene are at the center of a significant research effort due to their unique physical and chemical properties, which promise high technological impact. For the future development of all the foreseen applications, it is of particular interest the study of binding interactions between carbon nanostructures and functional groups. An appropriate method is the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), which provides a large amplification of Raman signals when the probed molecule is adsorbed on a nanosized metallic surface. In this chapter, we present a review of principal results obtained applying SERS for the characterization of pristine and functionalized CNTs and graphene. The obtained results encourage us to consider SERS as a powerful method to obtain a rapid monitor of the procedures used to interface graphene and nanotubes.