Sampling Based Average Classifier Fusion

Classifier fusion is used to combine multiple classification decisions and improve classification performance. While various classifier fusion algorithms have been proposed in literature, average fusion is almost always selected as the baseline for comparison. Little is done on exploring the potential of average fusion and proposing a better baseline. In this paper we empirically investigate the behavior of soft labels and classifiers in average fusion. As a result, we find that; by proper sampling of soft labels and classifiers, the average fusion performance can be evidently improved. This result presents sampling based average fusion as a better baseline; that is, a newly proposed classifier fusion algorithm should at least perform better than this baseline in order to demonstrate its effectiveness

Impact of Manually Controlled Solar Shades on Indoor Visual Comfort

Daylight plays a significant role in sustainable building design. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the impact of manual solar shades on indoor visual comfort. A developed stochastic model for manual solar shades was modeled in Building Controls Virtual Test Bed, which was coupled with EnergyPlus for co-simulation. Movable solar shades were compared with two unshaded windows. Results show that movable solar shades have more than half of the working hours with a comfortable illuminance level, which is about twice higher than low-e windows, with a less significant daylight illuminance fluctuation. For glare protection, movable solar shades increase comfortable visual conditions by about 20% compared to low-e windows. Moreover, the intolerable glare perception could be reduced by more than 20% for movable solar shades

Association of obstructive sleep apnea with hypertension: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Results: Twenty-six studies with 51 623 participants (28 314 men, 23 309 women; mean age 51.8 years) met inclusion criteria and were included in this study. Among them, six studies showed a significant association between OSA and resistant hypertension (pooled OR = 2.842, 95% CI = 1.703-3.980, P \u3c 0.05). Meanwhile, the combination of 20 original studies on the association of OSA with essential hypertension also presented significant results with the pooled ORs of 1.184 (95% CI = 1.093-1.274, P \u3c 0.05) for mild OSA, 1.316 (95% CI = 1.197-1.433, P \u3c 0.05) for moderate OSA and 1.561 (95% CI = 1.287-1.835, P \u3c 0.05) for severe OSA. Conclusions: Our findings indicated that OSA is related to an increased risk of resistant hypertension. Mild, moderate and severe OSA are associated essential hypertension, as well a dose-response manner relationship is manifested. The associations are relatively stronger among Caucasians and male OSA patients. Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep disorder characterized as complete or partial upper airflow cessation during sleep. Although it has been widely accepted that OSA is a risk factor for the development of hypertension, the studies focusing on this topic revealed inconsistent results. We aimed to clarify the association between OSA and hypertension, including essential and medication-resistant hypertension. Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was followed. PubMed and Embase databases were used for searching the relevant studies published up to December 31, 2016. A quantitative approach of meta-analysis was performed to estimate the pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI)

On the Momentum Dependence of the Flavor Structure of the Nucleon Sea

Difference between the $\bar u$ and $\bar d$ sea quark distributions in the proton was first observed in the violation of the Gottfried sum rule in deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) experiments. The parton momentum fraction $x$ dependence of this difference has been measured over the region $0.02 < x < 0.35$ from Drell-Yan and semi-inclusive DIS experiments. The Drell-Yan data suggested a possible sign-change for $\bar d(x)-\bar u(x)$ near $x \sim 0.3$, which has not yet been explained by existing theoretical models. We present an independent evidence for the $\bar d(x)-\bar u(x)$ sign-change at $x \sim 0.3$ from an analysis of the DIS data. We further discuss the $x$-dependence of $\bar d(x)-\bar u(x)$ in the context of meson cloud model and the lattice QCD formulation.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, final versio

Pressure driven screening of Ni spin results in cuprate-like high-TcT_c superconductivity in La3_3Ni2_2O7_7

Beyond 14GPa of pressure, bi-layered La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ was recently found to develop strong superconductivity above the liquid nitrogen boiling temperature. An immediate essential question is the pressure-induced qualitative change of electronic structure that enables the exciting high-temperature superconductivity. We investigate this timely question via a numerical multi-scale derivation of effective many-body physics. At the atomic scale, we first clarify that the system has a strong charge transfer nature with itinerant carriers residing mainly in the in-plane oxygen between spin-1 Ni$^{2+}$ ions. We then elucidate in eV- and sub-eV-scale the key physical effect of the applied pressure: It induces a cuprate-like electronic structure through partially screening the Ni spin from 1 to 1/2. This suggests a high-temperature superconductivity in La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ with microscopic mechanism and ($d$-wave) symmetry similar to that in the cuprates

Increased serum myeloid-related protein 8/14 level is associated with atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetic patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Myeloid-related protein 8/14 (MRP8/14) is a stable heterodimer formed by two different calcium-binding proteins (MRP8 and MRP14). Studies have identified that MRP8/14 regulates vascular inflammation and serves as a novel marker of acute coronary syndrome. In this study, we evaluated the correlation between serum levels of MRP8/14, hsCRP, endogenous secretory receptor for advanced glycation end-products (esRAGE) and the occurrence of coronary artery disease (CAD), or carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) when CAD was not yet developed in diabetic patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Serum levels of MRP8/14, esRAGE and hsCRP were measured in 375 diabetic patients. Then the results of those who had CAD were compared against who had not. Also, we investigated the associations between above-mentioned indicators and IMT of subjects without CAD in both diabetic group and non-diabetic one.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Serum MRP8/14 was significantly higher in CAD than in non-CAD group (9.7 ± 3.6 ug/ml vs. 8.2 ± 3.0 ug/ml, <it>P </it>< 0.001). It was associated with severity of CAD (<it>r </it>= 0.16, <it>P </it>= 0.026). In non-CAD group, MRP8/14 was associated with IMT in patients with (<it>r </it>= 0.30, <it>P </it>< 0.001) or without diabetes (<it>r </it>= 0.26, <it>P </it>= 0.015). The areas under the curves of receiver operating characteristic for CAD were 0.63 (95% CI 0.57-0.68) for MRP8/14, 0.76 (95% CI 0.71-0.81) for hsCRP and 0.62 (95% CI 0.56 -0.67) for esRAGE.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In summary, we report that diabetic patients with CAD had elevated plasma MRP8/14 levels which were also positively correlated with the severity of CAD and carotid IMT in patients without clinically overt CAD.</p