Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
[Psychometric properties and diagnostic usefulness of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised in a Chilean elderly sample].

BACKGROUND The Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination - Revised (ACE-R) is a good alternative to the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) for assessing cognitive capacities in dementia. AIM To estimate the psychometric properties and diagnostic utility of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R) in a Chilean elderly sample. MATERIAL AND METHODS ACE-R was adapted for the Chilean population (ACE-R-Ch) and then administered to 60 dementia patients, 22 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients and 45 control subjects in addition to the MMSE for assessing global cognitive efficiency. Caregivers of dementia patients and collateral sources of MCI patients and elderly subjects without dementia were interviewed with measures of dementia severity, functional status in activities of daily living and cognitive changes. Convergent validity, internal consistency reliability, cutoff points, sensitivity and specificity for ACE-R-Ch were estimated. RESULTS Regarding convergent validity, the ACE-R-Ch showed significant correlations (p < 0,001) with another cognitive measure (r = 0,952 with MMSE), a rating for dementia severity (Spearman rho=-0,822 with CDR), functional capacity assessments (r = -0,70 with ADLQ-Ch; r = -0,725 with PFAQ-Ch; and r = 0,650 with IADL Scale) and a measure of cognitive changes (r = -0,633 with AD8-Ch). In terms of reliability, the test had a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.918. The best cut-off point to distinguish cases of dementia from control subjects was a score of 76, which reached a sensitivity of 0.92 and a specificity of 0.93. CONCLUSIONS The ACE-R-Ch showed acceptable psychometric properties, becoming a valid and reliable instrument to assess global cognitive efficiency or cognitive impairment. Its diagnostic utility to detect dementia patients also worked very well in a Chilean elderly sample.
Arabic Sign Language Recognition

The objective of the research presented in this paper is to facilitate the communication between the deaf and non deaf people. To achieve this goal, computers should be able to visually recognize hand gestures from image input. An efficient and fast algorithm for gestures of manual Arabic letters for the sign language is proposed. The proposed system uses the concept of hand geometry for classifying letter shapes. Experiments revealed that satisfactory results are obtained via the proposed algorithm. The experiment results show that the gesture recognition rate of Arabic alphabet for different signs is 81.6 % General Terms Pattern Recognition, Human computer Interaction, Computer Vision.
Successful treatment of primary central nervous system lymphomas with chemotherapy after osmotic blood-brain barrier opening

Three patients with primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma have had major tumor regression with multiagent chemotherapy given in association with reversible blood-brain barrier opening used to enhance drug delivery to the tumor. In addition, in one patient barrier modification was carried out in the posterior fossa by mannitol infusion into the vertebral artery without untoward effects, an approach not heretofore accomplished. Computed tomographic (CT) studies documented that discontinuation of steroids rapidly effected an increase in the delivery of contrast agent to the tumor. CT monitoring of the degree of barrier modification showed tumor nodules and tumor size not apparent on the control scans, thereby providing additional evidence of the existence of a blood-brain barrier in CNS tumors. These studies further show that drug (contrast) delivery to the tumor, as well as to the surrounding barrier, is enhanced after reversible blood-brain barrier modification. Finally, chemotherapy administered by this approach resulted in defined, objective tumor responses in these three patients.
A fixed-point DSP implementation for a low bit rate vocoder

Fixed-point DSP implementation of the decoder and the synthesizer of a real time vocoder with 1.4 kbps bit rate has been accomplished instead of the usual realization of low bit rate vocoder in floating point DSP. Replacing floating point values with fixed-point ones and other approaches have been adopted to reach a real time solution. The implemented fixed-point decoder and synthesizer run at 11.3 MIPS on the average and occupy 1246 words of program memory, 1338 words of table ROM and 814 words of RAM in a 40 MHz TMS320C50 DSP chip. The results indicate the possibility to implement the whole vocoder with low cost fixed-point DSP.
Dégradation spécifique de l’ADN nucléaire responsable de la persistance du virus de l’hépatite B

Degradation specifique de l’ADN nucleaire responsable de la persistance du virus de l’hepatite B Julie Lucifora1,2,3*, Yuchen Xia1*, Florian Reisinger1, Daniela Stadler1, Mathias Heikenwalder1*, Ulrike Protzer1,2* 1 Institute of Virology, Technische Universitat Munchen/Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, Munich, Allemagne ; 2 German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Allemagne ; 3 affiliation actuelle : Inserm U1052, CNRS UMR 5286, centre de recherche en cancerologie de Lyon (CRCL), Universite de Lyon (UCBL), Lyon, France. julie.lucifora@inserm.fr * les auteurs ont contribue de facon egale a la publication originale REFERENCES
Speech Timing as a Tool in Phonology

Abstract Phonological questions of the sort ‘Is segment or feature [x] a surface-phonetic event or a property of the underlying mental representation? ’ may be answered in some cases by considering the durations of the speech sounds in the word in which [x] appears. Here the status of the epenthetic stop [p] in words such as teamster [––thimpstÉš] was clarified by measurement of the duration of the preceding vowel + nasal (VN) sequence: a shortened VN implies the [p] is underlying; a long VN implies that it is a surface-phonetic event.
2004 IEEE International Workshop on Biomedical Circuits & Systems ATTENTIONAL MODULATION OF AUDITORY EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS IN A BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE

Motivated by the particular problems involved in communicating with ‘lacked-in” paralysed patients, we aim to develop a brain+omputer interface that uses auditory stimuli We describe a paradigm that allows a user to make a binary decision by focusing attention on one of two concurrent auditory stimulus sequences. Using Support Veetor Machine classification and Recursive Channel Elimination on the independent components of averaged event-related potentials, we show that an untrained user’s EEG data can be classlfied with an encouragingly high level of accurncy. This suggests that it is possible for users to modulate EEG signals in a single trial by the conscious direction of attention, well enough to be useful in BCl!
Direct simulation of price particles for option pricing using Monte-Carlo

Absence of closed form solutions for many financial models has given rise to numerical and simulation techniques in the recent past. In the current study direct simulation, which is one of the popular approaches in aerospace engineering is used for studying applications in finance, especially option pricing.Monte Carlo (MC) is one of the popular simulation approaches for approximating the value of the quantity under question. However, the slow convergence rate, O(N−1/2) for N number of samples of the MC method has motivated research in Quasi Monte-Carlo (QMC) techniques. QMC methods use low discrepancy (LD) sequences that provide faster, more accurate results than MC methods. In this paper, we focus on the parallelization of the QMC method on a heterogeneous network of workstations (HNOWs) for option pricing. HNOWs are machines with different processing capabilities and have distinct execution time for the same task. It is, therefore, vital to allocate and schedule the tasks depending on the performance a.
Motion-compensated compression of 3D animation models

A new algorithm is proposed to compress animated 3D mesh models. First, an input mesh model is partitioned into segments, and each segment is motion compensated from that of the previous time instance. Then, the motion residuals are effectively compressed by using a transform coding method. It is shown that the proposed algorithm yields a much higher compression ratio than the MPEG-4 codec.
Transmitter adaptation for CDMA systems via power control and code diversity

We consider a new transmitter adaptation scheme for direct sequence CDMA systems. In this new scheme, each user is given a number of codes (signature sequences). Each user transmits a data symbol via possibly more than one codes in each symbol interval. At the receiver, the contributions from different code channels are combined. Power control is applied to each code channel so that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the decision statistic satisfies the quality of service (QoS) requirement. Under our power control scheme, more power is supplied to the better code channels with less interference while less power is supplied to the poorer code channels. At the steady state, power is concentrated in the best code channels. Simulations show that systems with the new scheme often consume less power than standard CDMA systems with power control only. In many cases, the number of simultaneous users that can be supported is also increased.
Resource Allocation with improved Min­Min Algorithm

A distributed system is a software system in which components located on networked computers communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages. Most of the existing solutions on task scheduling and resource management in distributed computing environment are based on the traditional client/ server model, enforcing a homogeneous policy on making decisions and limiting the flexibility, unpredictable reliability and scalability of the system. Thus, we need well organized system architecture to provide high system availability with task scheduling scheme for distributed system especially on Grid and Cloud. In this paper, we propose an efficient rescheduling based task scheduling algorithm named improved Min-Min Algorithm (I Min-Min) which performs scheduling in order to enhance system performance in any distributing system. The proposed method has two-phases. In the first phase the traditional Min-Min algorithm is executed and in the second phase the tasks are rescheduled to use the unutilized resources effectively.
Fast Transient DC-DC Converter with On-Chip Compensated Error Amplifier

A novel fast transient DC-DC converter with on-chip compensated error amplifier is presented in this paper. The error amplifier uses on-chip current-mode Miller capacitor to replace a large off-chip capacitor. Only three transistors and one voltage follower are used to implement this novel architecture. Not only on-chip compensated error amplifier is implemented without off-chip components and I/O pins, but also it can have fast transient response. Furthermore, we accurately decrease the transient response time without suffering from the oscillation issue. Experimental results demonstrate the stability and the fast transient response of the DC-DC converters.
Animal social network inference and permutations for ecologists in R using asnipe

The sampling of animals for the purpose of measuring associations and interactions between individuals has led to the development of several statistical methods to deal with biases inherent in these data. However, these methods are typically computationally intensive and complex to implement. Here, I provide a software package that supports a range of these analyses in the R statistical computing environment. This package includes a novel approach to estimating re‐association rates of time between frequently sampled individuals. I include extended demonstration of the syntax and examples of the ability for this software to interface with existing network analysis packages in R. This bridges a gap in the tools that are available to biologists wishing to analyse animal social networks in R.
Statistical semantic processing using Markov logic

Markov Logic (ML) is a novel approach to Natural Language Processing tasks [Richardson and Domingos, 2006; Riedel, 2008]. It is a Statistical Relational Learning language based on First Order Logic (FOL) and Markov Networks (MN). It allows one to treat a task as structured classification. In this work, we investigate ML for the semantic processing tasks of Spoken Language Understanding (SLU) and Semantic Role Labelling (SRL). Both tasks consist of identifying a semantic representation for the meaning of a given utterance/sentence. However, they differ in nature: SLU is in the field of dialogue systems where the domain is closed and language is spoken [He and Young, 2005], while SRL is for open domains and traditionally for written text [Marquez et al., 2008]. Robust SLU is a key component of spoken dialogue systems. This component consists of identifying the meaning of the user utterances addressed to the system. Recent statistical approaches to SLU depend on additional resources (e.g., gazetteers, grammars, syntactic treebanks) which are expensive and time-consuming to produce and maintain. On the other hand, simple datasets annotated only with slot-values are commonly used in dialogue system development, and are easy to collect, automatically annotate, and update. However, slot-values leave out some of the fine-grained long distance dependencies present in other semantic representations. In this work we investigate the development of SLU modules with minimum resources with slot-values as their semantic representation. We propose to use the ML to capture long distance dependencies which are not explicitly available in the slot-value semantic representation. We test the adequacy of the ML framework by comparing against a set of baselines using state of the art approaches to semantic processing. The results of this research have been published in Meza-Ruiz et al. [2008a,b]. Furthermore, we address the question of scalability of the ML approach for other NLP tasks involving the identification of semantic representations. In particular, we focus on SRL: the task of identifying predicates and arguments within sentences, together with their semantic roles. The semantic representation built during SRL is more complex than the slot-values used in dialogue systems, in the sense that they include the notion of predicate/argument scope. SRL is defined in the context of open domains under the premises that there are several levels of extra resources (lemmas, POS tags, constituent or dependency parses). In this work, we propose a ML model of SRL and experiment with the different architectures we can describe for the model which gives
Präoperative Betreuung des nierenkranken Patienten

Ein Grosteil der Patienten mit chronischen Nierenerkrankungen unterzieht sich im Laufe seines Lebens einem operativen Eingriff. Eine optimale praoperative Vorbereitung, beginnend in der Hausarztpraxis, tragt zu einer Senkung der perioperativen Morbiditat und Mortalitat bei. Die Kenntnis der physiologischen und pathophysiologischen Zusammenhange ist eine wichtige Voraussetzung zum Verstandnis der perioperativen Risiken dieser Patientengruppe. Insbesondere das Nierenmark mit seiner schon unter normalen Bedingungen ausgeschopften Sauerstoffversorgung, ist fur anasthesiologische und operative Einflusse besonders anfallig. Das Hauptaugenmerk der Anasthesiefuhrung gilt der Vermeidung einer Hypoperfusion der Nieren und der damit verbundenen Gefahr einer postoperativen Nierendysfunktion. Ein leicht zu bestimmender und aussagekraftiger Parameter zu Beurteilung der Nierenfunktion ist die Glomerulare Filtrationsrate (GFR). Mit Hilfe einfacher Formeln (Cockroft-Gault, MDRD „Modification of Diet in Renal Disease“) las.
Extracorporeal Depuration Technique as Treatment of Acute Kydney Injury Related to Multiple Myeloma

Dear Editor, Multiple myeloma (MM) is one of the most common hematologic neoplasms (1), with an important association with renal failure, and can affect up to 10% of patients requiring renal replacement therapy, which is a worse prognosis (2,3). Early reduction in concentration of plasma light chains (LC) with extracorporeal techniques is associated with a greater recovery of renal function (3), along with the use of effective chemotherapeutic agents. We describe a case treated with hemodiafiltration with Supra HFR technique, a method combining the processes of diffusion, convection and absorbance used to decrease the light chain levels.
Two heads are better than one [dual-core processors]

This article examines manufacturers who are turning to dual-core designs, combining two independent processors and their respective caches and controllers onto a single silicon chip; thereby neatly increasing performance without changing architectures or increasing clock speed. Intel and AMD both offer dual-core processors. The benefits of dual-core processors are outlined with specific applications in multithreading and pipeline processing. In conclusion, the requirements of software development tools for these processors is considered.
Direct observation and completion of treatment of tuberculosis in rural areas of China

Aims: To analyse the current status of directly observed therapy (DOT) and completion of treatment of tuberculosis (TB) in two rural areas of China. Methods: Two rural counties with low DOT rates were deliberately selected as study sites. Face-to-face interviews were conducted by trained investigators with a structured questionnaire to investigate the characteristics of patients and the TB service that they had received. The associations between treatment completion and potential factors were estimated by computing odds ratios (ORs), as well as their 95% confidence intervals (CIs), from an unconditional logistic regression model. Results: Among 601 patients, 2.2% were treated with direct observation by health workers, 6.2% were supervised by family members, and 91.7% were treated with self-administered therapy. The treatment completion rate was found to be significantly associated with sputum smear test and adverse reaction to anti-tuberculosis drugs, but not with direct observation by health workers (OR 1.81, 95% CI 0.23—14.38) or by family members (OR 1.14, 95% CI 0.38—3.41). Frequent home visiting by health workers (! 1 visit/month) could help to increase the completion rate (OR 3.15, 95% CI 1.30—7.63). Conclusions: No significant difference was found in the rate of completion of TB treatment between direct observation and self-supervision groups in two rural areas with lower DOT coverage. How to build a feasible DOT strategy that is accepted by both patients and healthcare providers needs to be considered by policy-makers. Other elements apart from DOT are necessary to ensure a successful TB programme.
Recent advances in phosphorescent OLEDs for small‐ and large‐area‐display sizes

Abstract— State‐of‐the‐art phosphorescent organic light‐emitting diode (PHOLED™) lifetime and efficiency performances for a range of emission colors are reported. Lifetimes in excess of 100,000 hours were demonstrated at display luminance levels for yellow‐green and NTSC deep‐red emission. In addition, external quantum efficiencies close to the theoretical maximum are demonstrated for long‐lived PHOLEDs.
FAILURE MECHANISMS AND LIFE MODELS

This paper discusses stochastic models for the lifelength of non-repairable items under the influence of dominant failure mechanisms like fatigue, corrosion and wear. The Weibull, the lognormal, the inverse Gaussian, and the Birnbaum-Saunders distributions are discussed and compared. Model selection problems based on both field performance data and laboratory data are focused. The consequences of choosing a wrong life model are highlighted. It is concluded that model selection must be based on a thorough knowledge of actual failure mechanisms, and the associated time dependent deterioration. Current knowledge on the relation between some dominant failure mechanisms and the associated life distributions is presented.
The Open University of the Netherlands

Many countries have established national autonomous distance teaching universities, one of the more recent being the Dutch Open University which started about three years ago. In this article, Ger van Enckevort, Head of the Bureau of Research and Evaluation at the University and Gottfried Leibbrandt, its founding President, outline its characteristics and give an interim evaluation of its achievements.
Code acquisition for the DS-CDMA RAKE receiver in a multipath fading channel

This paper presents acquisition algorithm and an improved detection technique for the DS/CDMA (direct sequence code division multiple access) RAKE receiver in a multipath fading channel. DS/CDMA systems use the RAKE receiver to overcome signal fading due to multipath propagation. To maximize the performance improvement of the RAKE receiver, an accurate code acquisition is required for the RAKE branches. The algorithm is able to find the pseudonoise (PN) code delay estimates for the RAKE branches in a multipath fading channel. In this paper a numerical method and computer simulation have been developed to simulate the acquisition. The mean acquisition time is investigated as a performance measure of the system using the Monte Carlo method. And also in order to analyze the effect of the acquisition on the RAKE receiver this paper brings out the effect of integration time, Doppler frequency, processing gain and the number of users on the acquired code phase.
A framework for automatic information quality ranking of diabetes websites

Objective: When searching for particular medical information on the internet the challenge lies in distinguishing the websites that are relevant to the topic, and contain accurate information. In this article, we propose a framework that automatically identifies and ranks diabetes websites according to their relevance and information quality based on the website content. Design: The proposed framework ranks diabetes websites according to their content quality, relevance and evidence based medicine. The framework combines information retrieval techniques with a lexical resource based on Sentiwordnet making it possible to work with biased and untrusted websites while, at the same time, ensuring the content relevance. Measurement: The evaluation measurements used were Pearson-correlation, true positives, false positives and accuracy. We tested the framework with a benchmark data set consisting of 55 websites with varying degrees of information quality problems. Results: The proposed framework gives good results that are comparable with the non-automated information quality measuring approaches in the literature. The correlation between the results of the proposed automated framework and ground-truth is 0.68 on an average with p < 0.001 which is greater than the other proposed automated methods in the literature (r score in average is 0.33).
A 12 bit 5 &mu;sec CMOS recursive ADC with 25 mW power consumption

A 12-bit 5-μs CMOS analog-to-digital converter (ADC) has been realized in a 4-mm2 area with power consumption of only 25 mW ADC with 25 mW at a supply voltage of 5 V. Trimming and software calibration were not used. A four-step recursive subranging architecture has been adopted
Learning Algorithm for Multiple Distribution Data using Haar-like Feature and Decision Tree

Adaboost is widely used for Haar-like feature boosting algorithm in Face Detection. It shows very effective performance on single distribution model. But when detecting front and side face images at same time, Adaboost shows it`s limitation on multiple distribution data because it uses linear combination of basic classifier. This paper suggest the HDCT, modified decision tree algorithm for Haar-like features. We still tested the performance of HDCT compared with Adaboost on multiple distributed image recognition.