Robust Classification of High-Dimensional Data using Data-Adaptive Energy Distance

Classification of high-dimensional low sample size (HDLSS) data poses a challenge in a variety of real-world situations, such as gene expression studies, cancer research, and medical imaging. This article presents the development and analysis of some classifiers that are specifically designed for HDLSS data. These classifiers are free of tuning parameters and are robust, in the sense that they are devoid of any moment conditions of the underlying data distributions. It is shown that they yield perfect classification in the HDLSS asymptotic regime, under some fairly general conditions. The comparative performance of the proposed classifiers is also investigated. Our theoretical results are supported by extensive simulation studies and real data analysis, which demonstrate promising advantages of the proposed classification techniques over several widely recognized methods.Comment: Accepted to be published at the European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (ECML PKDD), 202

CURATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE THROUGH LIBRARIES

Libraries, museums and archives hold valuable collections in a variety of media, presenting a vast body of knowledge rooted in the history of human civilisation. These form the repository of the wisdom of great works by thinkers of past and the present. The holdings of these institutions are priceless heritage of the mankind as they preserve documents, ideas, and the oral and written records. To value the cultural heritage and to care for it as a treasure bequeathed to us by our ancestors is the major responsibility of libraries. The past records constitute a natural resource and are indispensable to the present generation as well as to the generations to come. Libraries preserve the documentary heritage resources for which they are primarily responsible. Any loss of such materials is simply irreplaceable. Therefore, preserving this intellectual, cultural heritage becomes not only the academic commitment but also the moral responsibility of the librarians/information scientists, who are in charge of these repositories. The high quality of the papers and the discussion represent the thinking and experience of experts in their particular fields. The contributed papers also relate to the methodology used in libraries in Asia to provide access to manuscripts and cultural heritage. The volume discusses best practices in Knowledge preservation and how to collaborate and preserve the culture. The book also deals with manuscript and archives issues in the digital era. The approach of this book is concise, comprehensively, covering all major aspects of preservation and conservation through libraries. The readership of the book is not just limited to library and information science professionals, but also for those involved in conservation, preservation, restoration or other related disciplines. The book will be useful for librarians, archivists and conservators. We thank the Sunan Kalijaga University, Special Libraries Association- Asian Chapter for their trust and their constant support, all the contributors for their submissions, the members of the Local and International Committee for their reviewing effort for making this publication possible

Research Article

A viscosity type iteration by weak contraction for approximating solutions of generalized equilibrium proble

Assessing Coastal Land-Use and Land-Cover Change Dynamics Using Geospatial Techniques

Geospatial techniques can be used to assess the dynamic conditions of coastal land use and land cover in order to make informed decisions about future management strategies for sustainable development through a combination of remote sensing data with field observations of shoreline characteristics along coastlines worldwide. Geospatial techniques offer an invaluable method for analyzing complex coastal systems at multiple scales. The coastal land use and land cover from the Subarnarekha (Orissa) to the Rasulpur estuaries (West Bengal) along the Bay of Bengal are dynamically modified by a complex interaction between land and sea. This is due to various dominating factors of physical and anthropogenic activities, which cause changes in the landscape. The main objective of this study was to identify the periodical transformation and changes in land-use/land-cover (LULC) features by the USGS-LULC classification method using a maximum-likelihood classifier (MLC) algorithm and satellite images for the period 1975–2018. The entire study area was divided into three ‘littoral zones’ (LZs). This will help in understanding how LULC has changed over time, as well as providing insight into human activities impacting on coastal environments. This study focused on five features selected for LULC classification, namely, built-up, vegetation, soil, sand and shallow-water areas. The purpose of this study was to investigate human encroachment near shore areas as well as the transformation of soil and sand into built-up areas over a 43-year period from 1975 to 2018 using geospatial techniques. To estimate the changes in the areas, a geodatabase was prepared for each LULC feature. Finally, statistical analysis was performed on all available datasets, which allowed the researchers to identify trends in land-cover change from 1975–2018 within each category, such as increasing deforestation and urbanization rates due to increased population growth. The results of the study show the expansion of shallow-water areas, which is one of the major factors influencing coastal erosion. Maximum shallow-water-level enhancement was observed in LZ I and LZ II. In LZ I, shallow water increased from 1 km2 to 4.55 km2. In LZ II, the initial 1.7 km2 shallow-water area increased to 13.56 km2, meaning an increase of 11.86 km2 in shallow-water zones. A positive change was noticed in vegetation area, which increased from 2.82% (4.13 km2) to 15.46% (22.07 km2). Accuracy assessment was applied for all classified images, and more than 85% accuracy was considered for the overall accuracy assessment. Finally, Kappa coefficient statistics were adopted to complete the accuracy analysis, and 80% or more than 80% accuracy was obtained for all classified images. This information can also help inform policy makers about potential environmental impacts associated with certain activities, such as coastal development and agricultural expansion, so that appropriate steps can be taken towards mitigating these impacts before it is too late

Farnesoid X receptor agonist tropifexor attenuates cholestasis in a randomised trial in patients with primary biliary cholangitis

The safety, tolerability, and efficacy of the non-bile acid farnesoid X receptor agonist tropifexor were evaluated in a phase II, double-blind, placebo-controlled study as potential second-line therapy for patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) with an inadequate ursodeoxycholic acid response. Patients were randomised (2:1) to receive tropifexor (30, 60, 90, or 150 μg) or matched placebo orally once daily for 28 days, with follow-up on Days 56 and 84. Primary endpoints were safety and tolerability of tropifexor and reduction in levels of γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and other liver biomarkers. Other objectives included patient-reported outcome measures using the PBC-40 quality-of-life (QoL) and visual analogue scale scores and tropifexor pharmacokinetics. Of 61 enrolled patients, 11, 9, 12, and 8 received 30-, 60-, 90-, and 150-μg tropifexor, respectively, and 21 received placebo; 3 patients discontinued treatment because of adverse events (AEs) in the 150-μg tropifexor group. Pruritus was the most frequent AE in the study (52.5% [tropifexor] vs. 28.6% [placebo]), with most events of mild to moderate severity. Decreases seen in LDL-, HDL-, and total-cholesterol levels at 60-, 90-, and 150 μg doses stabilised after treatment discontinuation. By Day 28, tropifexor caused 26–72% reduction in GGT from baseline at 30- to 150-μg doses (p <0.001 at 60-, 90-, and 150-μg tropifexor vs. placebo). Day 28 QoL scores were comparable between the placebo and tropifexor groups. A dose-dependent increase in plasma tropifexor concentration was observed, with 5- to 5.55-fold increases in AUC0-8h and Cmax between 30- and 150-μg doses. Tropifexor showed improvement in cholestatic markers relative to placebo, predictable pharmacokinetics, and an acceptable safety–tolerability profile, thereby supporting its potential further clinical development for PBC. The bile acid ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is the standard-of-care therapy for primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), but approximately 40% of patients have an inadequate response to this therapy. Tropifexor is a highly potent non-bile acid agonist of the farnesoid X receptor that is under clinical development for various chronic liver diseases. In the current study, in patients with an inadequate response to UDCA, tropifexor was found to be safe and well tolerated, with improved levels of markers of bile duct injury at very low (microgram) doses. Itch of mild to moderate severity was observed in all groups including placebo but was more frequent at the highest tropifexor dose. This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02516605). [Display omitted] •Phase II study on the farnesoid X receptor agonist, tropifexor, in patients with primary biliary cholangitis.•Itch of mild to moderate severity was the most frequent adverse event.•Markers of bile duct injury were reduced with tropifexor after 4 weeks of therapy.•Higher tropifexor exposure was observed in patients with PBC than that in healthy volunteers

Abstracts of International Conference on Scholarly Communication, Open-Access Publishing and Ethics

Academic education, research, and development intensify the nation socially and fiscally competitive. Institutions have a greater role to enhance their intellectual infrastructure facilitations to help in the process of building an institutional academic and research culture through means of scholarly communication and publication. This book covers Abstracts of various peer-reviewed papers presented in the International Conference on Scholarly Communication, Open-access Publishing and Ethics (SCOPE-2018) held at SPA Vijayawada during 25 -26 October 2018. Indeed, these papers are divided into four important subject areas viz. academic research and development; scholarly communication; open access publishing, copyright and ethics; and academic library, preservation facilitations