Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On a new type of Birnbaum-Saunders models and its inference and application to fatigue data

ABSTRACT The Birnbaum-Saunders distribution is a widely studied model with diverse applications. Its origins are in the modeling of lifetimes associated with material fatigue. By using a motivating example, we show that, even when lifetime data related to fatigue are modeled, the Birnbaum-Saunders distribution can be unsuitable to fit these data in the distribution tails. Based on the nice properties of the Birnbaum-Saunders model, in this work, we use a modified skew-normal distribution to construct such a model. This allows us to obtain flexibility in skewness and kurtosis, which is controlled by a shape parameter. We provide a mathematical characterization of this new type of Birnbaum-Saunders distribution and then its statistical characterization is derived by using the maximum-likelihood method, including the associated information matrices. In order to improve the inferential performance, we correct the bias of the corresponding estimators, which is supported by a simulation study. To conclude our investigation, we retake the motivating example based on fatigue life data to show the good agreement between the new type of Birnbaum-Saunders distribution proposed in this work and the data, reporting its potential applications.
A comparative investigation of structural and optical properties of annealing modified mullite bismuth ferrite

Abstract Single phase Bi2Fe4O9 (Mullite BFO) nanoparticles were prepared first time by combustion method without using any solvent. Metal nitrates as oxidants and citric acid as fuel was used to synthesize Bi2Fe4O9 which were subsequently annealed at temperatures 550 °C, 600 °C and 650 °C. The impact of annealing temperature on crystal structure and physical properties are investigated by using X -ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Electron Dispersion Spectroscopy (EDS), Ultra Violet Visible (UV–vis) spectroscopic studies and Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). X-ray diffraction confirmed orthorhombic phase of the Mullite BFO and peak profile analysis has been carried out to study the crystallite development in Mullite BFO nanoparticles. The Mullite BFO annealed at 600 °C showed minimum lattice strain. Further, the FTIR and UV-Vis spectra of the samples at room temperature confirm the formation of orthorhombic structure of the samples. Our results revealed that the band gap of Mullite BFO nanoparticles reduces with increase in strain and lowest band gap attained for strained mullite BFO annealed at 650 °C is 2.0 eV. The correlation of annealing temperature with calculated lattice and structural parameter of Mullite BFO nanoparticles was established. Magnetic measurements were carried out at room temperature up to a field of 30 kOe. All samples of Mullite BFO showed weak ferromagnetic behavior. Magnetic hysteresis loops showed a significant increase in magnetization for sample annealed at 600 °C.
A Commentary on the Chinese Coronary Secondary Prevention Study

Chinese coronary secondary prevention study (CCSPS) is a key project in the field of medicine of the Ninth Five-year Plan of China, and is also called the Study of Xuezhikang Capsule (血脂康胶囊, XZK) in regulating blood lipids for secondary prevention of coronary heart diseases (1). Since the results of the study was publicized in June 2004 at the news release and deliberation by experts took place in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, wide attention and high opinions have been gotten, and at the same time, thinking at the deeper layer raised in the medical circle. A simple commentary on the study is made and given in this paper for readers’ reference in their further exploration.
Simplicial volume of ℚ–rank one locally symmetric spaces covered by the product of ℝ–rank one symmetric spaces

First, the positivity of the simplicial volume was verified for closed negatively curved manifolds by Thurston [22], Gromov [12] and Inoue and Yano [13]. It was verified for closed locally symmetric spaces covered by SL3.R/=SO3.R/ by Savage [21] and Bucher-Karlsson [3]. Indeed, Savage gave a proof of the positivity of the simplicial volume of closed locally symmetric spaces covered by SLn.R/=SOn.R/ but it turned out to be incomplete. Bucher-Karlsson made a complete proof of the same result in the case of SL3.R/=SO3.R/. Then, Lafont and Schmidt [14] showed that the simplicial volume of all closed locally symmetric spaces of non-compact type is positive, which supports the conjecture raised by Gromov.
The Fleur-de-Lis Upper Gracilis Flap Versus Deep Inferior Epigastric Perforator (DIEP) Flap for Bilateral Breast Reconstruction in Thin Patients: A Prospective Comparison of Outcomes, Patient Satisfaction and Aesthetic Results

INTRODUCTION: In thin patients the inner thigh has been advocated as a favorable donor site for autologous breast reconstruction.1,2 We have offered the fl eur-de-lis upper gracilis fl ap (Figure 1), as an alternative to DIEP fl aps for bilateral reconstructions.3 The purpose of this study is to compare outcomes, patient satisfaction and aesthetic results in thin women undergoing bilateral breast reconstruction with fl eurde-lis gracilis versus DIEP fl aps.
Research Progress on the Diagnostic Criteria of Obesity and Its Clinical Application

Obesity is the most watched worldwide public health problem at present,which is not only one kind of chronic metabolic diseases caused by a variety of factors,but also is widely used as a risk factor for clinical screening and chronic disease prevention. Obesity has different typing methods,and the diagnostic criteria is no longer a single body mass index( BMI) method,new standards which can objectively reflect the content and distribution of fat including waist circumference( WC),the body fat percent( BF),visceral fat area( VFA) gradually seep into the clinical diagnosis and treatment evaluation. This article reviewed diagnostic criteria of obesity commonly used in clinical practice including its applications,advantages and disadvantages,which could afford reference for the diagnosis,prevention and treatment of obesity and fat-related diseases.
MULTIVARIATE CUSUM CONTROL CHART BASED ON THE RESIDUALS OF MULTIOUTPUT LEAST SQUARES SVR FOR MONITORING WATER QUALITY

Monitoring serially dependent processes using conventional control charts yields a high false alarm rate. Multioutput Least Squares Support Vector Regression (MLS-SVR) has the capability to encompass the cross-relatedness between output variables by learning multivariate output variables simultaneously. This research aims to develop a Multivariate Cumulative Sum (MCUSUM) control chart based on the residual obtained from the MLS-SVR model for monitoring autocorrelated data. The inputs of the MLS-SVR are selected using the significance lag of a partial autocorrelation function. The proposed control chart is applied to monitor water quality data and it can detect the assignable causes in those data caused by a broken pipeline.
Preventing Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia - The Role of the Endotracheal Tube

The endotracheal tube, rather than the ventilator, is responsible for the vast majority of cases of ventilator- associated pneumonia (VAP). Tracheal intubation should be avoided, or early extubation performed, if at all possible. With current high-volume low-pressure (HVLP) cuffs, pulmonary aspiration of microorganisms from the upper aerodigestive tract normally occurs and is frequently silent, until there is a clinical respiratory deterioration. Aspiration occurs by 3 mechanisms; channels within the HVLP cuff, in folding of the cuff upon movement and intermittent deflation of the cuff. This aspiration is the pivotal step in the development of VAP. The diagnosis of VAP is notoriously inaccurate and stifles the progress of research into prevention strategies. When treating bacteria present in the lung, the various paradigms of VAP diagnosis remain the only (and best) tools that we have to decide when the benefits of antibiotics outweigh the disadvantages. It is surprising, considering the accepted high mortality and cost of VAP, that until recently, there has been a massive under investment from industry in preventative technologies. New technologies should address the multiple factors implicated in the pathogenesis of VAP, including aspiration elimination by improved cuff designs. However, surrogate outcomes, such as pulmonary aspiration and tracheal colonisation (a more rigorous standard to aspire to), should be considered when evaluating preventative strategies. Pulmonary aspiration and/or tracheal colonisation by pathogenic organisms are undesirable and should be unacceptable. This review appraises the role of the endotracheal tube in both the development and prevention of VAP.
Differences in the Use of Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA) in Acute Care and Long-Term Care Settings

In this paper, we explore how the use of a software package, Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA), differs in acute care and long-term care settings. Direct observation of BCMA use during medication administration was conducted on acute care (42 hours) and long-term care (37 hours) wards in a small, medium, and large hospital. The following differences were found for all three hospitals: 1) acute care ward nurses used more detailed printed reports to plan medication passes and detect errors in ordering and dispensing than on the long-term care wards, 2) barcoded wristbands were scanned more frequently to identify patients on acute care than long-term care wards (53% vs. 8%), and 3) nurses administered medications immediately after scanning and opening medication packets more frequently on acute care than long-term care wards (93% vs. 23%). The findings highlight the need to tailor the BCMA software for the long-term care setting in order to improve patient safety.
Rapidly progressive proliferativeverrucous leukoplakia - Case report & Diagnostic difficulties

Proliferative verrucous leukoplakia (PVL) is a form of oral leukoplakia, which was first described in 1985 by Hansen et al. PVL is reported by various authors as very aggressive form of Leukoplakia due to its high rate of recurrence and a high rate of malignant transformation. Aetiology of PVL remains unclear as well as its diagnosis and management. In this article a case report and the criteria for diagnosis of Proliferative verrucous leukoplakia are discussed.
Musculoskeletal Hand Symptoms and Functional Limitation in Community-Dwelling Adults Aged 50 Years and Over: Results from a Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction: Hand pain and problems are common in community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and over. As the population ages, the absolute number of people with these issues is likely to increase. Debilitating hand problems affect at least 12% of the older population in the United Kingdom, but fewer than 1 in 30 people with this degree of disability consult an occupational therapist. Method: This paper describes a new analysis of a population study using data from surveys and a nested clinical cohort. Demographic characteristics, and the nature, severity, and frequency of symptoms and functional limitation in 1,811 adults aged 50 years and over with disabling hand problems are described, and the potential need for healthcare estimated. Findings: Moderate or severe functional limitation within the previous week was commonly reported. Irrespective of age and gender, weakness was the most frequently reported severe symptom (n = 470, 27%). Most problems occurred in activities requiring strength (such as opening a jar: n = 945, 52%). More females reported difficulty with tasks requiring strength (such as opening a jar: f: 59%; m: 38%), and more males reported difficulty with dexterous activities (such as picking up coins: m: 24%; f: 17%). Conclusion: The results from this study have implications for current and future management of hand problems in the community, highlighting a potential role for occupational therapy.
Statistical Inference on a Black-Scholes Model with Jumps. Application in Hydrology

We consider a Stochastic Differential Equation (SDE) driven by a Wiener process and a Poisson measure. This latter measure is associated with a sequence of identically distributed jump amplitudes. Properties of the SDE solution are presented with respect to the associated Wiener and Poisson processes. An algorithm is provided allowing exact numerical simulations of such SDE and implementable within R environment. Statistical inference tools are presented and applied to hydrology data.
1.25 GHz – 3.3 GHz broadband solid state power amplifier for L and S bands applications

The research of a single stage broadband solid-state power amplifier based on ATF13876 transistor, which operates in the frequency ranging from 1.25 GHz ~3.3 GHz is presented in this paper. To achieve the broadband performance of the operating bandwidth, a multi-section quarter wave impedance transformer and an approximate transformation of previously synthesized lumped elements into transmission lines are adopted. With neatly design of broadband matching networks and biasing circuit, excellent matching performances and unconditionally stability are achieved over the whole operating bandwidth with a maximum gain of 17.2 dB. The large signal simulation shows that the proposed circuit reaches a saturated output power of 18.12 dBm with a maximum PAE of 27.55% and a 1-dB compression point at 5 dBm input power level. Considering the wide frequency coverage, the features of the proposed design compares favorably with the contemporary state-of-the-art.
Helicity-Changing Brillouin Light Scattering in a Ferromagnetic Crystal

Brillouin light scattering in ferromagnetic materials usually involves one magnon and two photons and their total angular momentum is conserved. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the presence of a helicity-changing two-magnon Brillouin light scattering in a ferromagetic crystal, which can be viewed as a four-wave mixing process involving two magnons and two photons. Moreover, we observe an unconventional helicity-changing one-magnon Brillouin light scattering, which apparently infringes the conservation law of the angular momentum. We show that the crystal angular momentum intervenes to compensate the missing angular momentum in the latter scattering process.
Investigation of influential factors for aspiration of organ donation

Objective To study the factors influencing the aspiration for organ donation after death in hospitalized patients. Methods One thousand patients in the First People's Hospital of Kunming from December 2009 to June 2010 were randomly-selected and were surveyed about general information (gender, age, education backgroud), perception of brain death, and aspiration for organ donation after death. The influential factors of aspiration for organ donation after death were analyzed by Logistic regression according to the questionnaire results. Results A total of 1 000 questionnaires were sent to the patients with 973 taken back. And 906 questionnaires were qualified. The qualified rate was 93.1%. Three hundred and eight patients (34.0%) accepted the brain death conception and 454 patients(50.1%) were willing to donate organs after death.54. 9% (231/421)of the male patients were willing to donate, which was significantly higher than the females (46.0%, 223/485). And 54.8%(182/332)of the patients with college and above education backgroud were willing to donate their organs after death, which was higher than the patients with lower education background(47.4%,272/574). And 66.6%(205/308) of the patients who accepted brain death conception were willing to donate their organs after death, which was higher than the patients who does not accept brain death conception (41.6%,249/598). There were significant differences(P0.01 or P0.05)in all these risk factors. According to the Logistic regression analysis, gender, education background and perception of brain death were the influential factors for patients’ aspiration for organ donation (odds ratio 0.667, 0.789, 2.654) with significant differences(P0.01, P 0.05 and P0.01). Conclusions Males, people with college and above education background, and people accepted brain death conception are more willing to donate organs after death.To enhance the education of brain death conception and organ donation is helpful in improving the organ donating rate.
Characterization of Starch from New Cassava Accessions at Different Maturity

Cassava (Manihot esculanta) is a root crop which serves as an important source of starch on a global scale. The objective of this work was to investigate the characteristics of starch from some new cassava accessions at different maturity. Six new cassava accessions (Abrabopa, Agra, Amansen, Ampong, Bankyehemma and Duadekpakpa) were harvested at four different months (from April – July 2017; i.e., 7-10th month) after planting. The starch was extracted using the conventional method of starch extraction and their yield calculated. The amylose was determined by means of spectrophotometry whereas pasting properties of the starches were analyzed using Rapid Visco Analyzer. Average starch yield ranged from 18-29% with the highest yield recorded in the 10th month for the various varieties studied. There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in the peak viscosity, final viscosity, peak time and pasting temperature but significant differences were recorded for setback, trough and breakdown of the starch samples. The amylose (14-25%) and amylopectin (76-85%) content of the varieties differed significantly (p < 0.05). The present work shows that maturity affects the starch yield, composition and pasting properties of the new cassava accessions and this should be considered in deciding the time to harvest each accession for specific food and non-food industrial applications.
Detection of oxygen and carbon in the upper atmosphere of the extrasolar planet HD209458b

Four transits of the planet orbiting the star HD209458 were observed with the STIS spectrograph on board HST. The wavelength domain (1180-1710A) includes HI as well as CI, CII, CIV, NV, OI, SI, SiII, SiIII, SiIV and FeII lines. During the transits, absorptions are detected in HI, OI and CII (5+/-2%, 10+/-3.5% and 6+/-3%, respectively). No absorptions are detected for other lines. The 5% mean absorption over the whole HI Lyman alpha line is consistent with the previous detection at higher resolution (Vidal-Madjar et al. 2003). The absorption depths in OI and CII show that oxygen and carbon are present in the extended upper atmosphere of HD209458b. These species must be carried out up to the Roche lobe and beyond, most likely in a state of hydrodynamic escape.
Synergy of spectral and spatial segregation cues in simulated cocktail party listening

An approach is borrowed from Measurement Theory [Krantz et al. (1971). Foundations of Measurement, Vol.1] to evaluate the interaction of spectral and spatial cues in the segregation of talkers in simulated cocktail-party listening. The goal is to determine whether mathematical transformations exist whereby the combined effect of cues can be additively related to their individual effects. On each trial, the listener judged whether an interleaved sequence of 4 vowel triplets (heard over headphones) were spoken by the same BBB BBB. or different ABA ABA. talkers. The talkers had nominally different fundamental frequencies and spoke from nominally different locations (simulated using Kemar HRTFs). Natural variation in these cues was simulated by adding a small, random perturbation to nominal values independently for each vowel on each trial. Psychometric functions (PFs) relating d’ performance to the difference in nominal values were obtained for the cues presented individually and in combination. The results revealed a synergistic interaction of cues wherein the PFs for cues presented in combination exceeded the simple vector sum of the PFs for the cues presented individually. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for possible emergent properties of cues affecting performance in simulated cocktail-party listening.
A biconvex analysis for Lasso l1 reweighting.

l1 reweighting algorithms are very popular in sparse signal recovery and compressed sensing, since in the practice they have been observed to outperform classical l1 methods. Nevertheless, the theoretical analysis of their convergence is a critical point, and generally is limited to the convergence of the functional to a local minimum or to subsequence convergence. In this letter, we propose a new convergence analysis of a Lasso l1 reweighting method, based on the observation that the algorithm is an alternated convex search for a biconvex problem. Based on that, we are able to prove the numerical convergence of the sequence of the iterates generated by the algorithm. This is not yet the convergence of the sequence, but it is close enough for practical and numerical purposes. Furthermore, we propose an alternative iterative soft thresholding procedure, which is faster than the main algorithm.
A Computerized Three-Dimensional Atlas of the Human Skull and Brain

In this issue, Tiede et al (1) describe in text and still photographs their computer software, which must be experienced in person to be fully appreciated. Attendees of the lnfoRAD section of RSNA '91 who permanently ringed the authors' exhibit had the opportunity to do just that. They weren 't just looking at a real-time interactive atlas of neuroanatomy and neuroradiology, capable of displaying structural and functional information on each of millions of voxels, with a full-blown three-dimensional ray-tracing module thrown in for good measure. They weren't just peering through the looking-glass monitor screen as a solid-modeled human head rotated in space, shedding layer after layer of color-coded anatomy at the user's whim. They were looking into the future . Most of the work of software engineers goes unnoticed and unappreciated. The artisans of the information age shape data with tools of logic. Few give much thought to their progeny: gizmos that control our automobile fuel injectors, navigate our airliners, tally our grocery store purchases, and reconstruct our magnetic resonance images. Hackers occasionally bestow upon a wellwritten software program the status of "neat hack" or "elegant code. " Only rarely does a program so transfix the user that he or she stops trying to discover how they did that and falls under the spell of the illusion. That's magic. What does magic have to do with neuroanatomy and neuroradiology education? Readers of this journal understand the three-dimensional relationships between neuroanatomic structures after having viewed thousands of clinical neuroimaging studies. Our younger colleagues in medical schools, residencies, and fellowships have no such fund of experience. They plod
On Asymptotic Normality of Entropy Measures

Since distributions of qualitative variables can be represented by multinomial distributions, the role of multinomial distribution in entropy considerations is essential in statistics. Moreover for larger sample sizes multinomial distributions can be approximated well by multivariate normal distributions. The measures of qualitative variations depend on either class frequencies or some functional forms of class frequencies. Therefore the connection between qualitative variation statistics and normality seems straightforward for larger sample sizes. Asymptotic distributions of Shannon, Rényi and Tsallis entropies make some hypothesis testing and inferential techniques applicable to qualitative variations because some entropy measures are also frequently used in qualitative variation calculations. In this study, first we will give few examples of such applications by three entropy measures. Then we make a comparison between the performances of these three entropy measures. Finally, the degree of uncertainty, which is a significant factor that affects the speed of convergence to normality, is emphasized.