A survey of fingerprint classification Part II: experimental analysis and ensemble proposal

In the first part of this paper we reviewed the fingerprint classification literature from two different perspectives: the feature extraction and the classifier learning. Aiming at answering the question of which among the reviewed methods would perform better in a real implementation we end up in a discussion which showed the difficulty in answering this question. No previous comparison exists in the literature and comparisons among papers are done with different experimental frameworks. Moreover, the difficulty in implementing published methods was stated due to the lack of details in their description, parameters and the fact that no source code is shared. For this reason, in this paper we will go through a deep experimental study following the proposed double perspective. In order to do so, we have carefully implemented some of the most relevant feature extraction methods according to the explanations found in the corresponding papers and we have tested their performance with different classifiers, including those specific proposals made by the authors. Our aim is to develop an objective experimental study in a common framework, which has not been done before and which can serve as a baseline for future works on the topic. This way, we will not only test their quality, but their reusability by other researchers and will be able to indicate which proposals could be considered for future developments. Furthermore, we will show that combining different feature extraction models in an ensemble can lead to a superior performance, significantly increasing the results obtained by individual models.

Human papillomavirus detection in women with and without human immunodeficiency virus infection in Colombia

Background: HIV infection leads to a decreasing immune response, thereby facilitating the appearance of other infections, one of the most important ones being HPV. However, studies are needed for determining associations between immunodeficiency caused by HIV and/or the presence of HPV during the course of cervical lesions and their degree of malignancy. This study describes the cytological findings revealed by the Papanicolaou test, laboratory characteristics and HPV molecular profile in women with and without HIV infection. Methods: A total of 216 HIV-positive and 1,159 HIV-negative women were invited to participate in the study; PCR was used for the molecular detection of HPV in cervical samples. Statistical analysis (such as percentages, Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test when applicable) determined human papillomavirus (HPV) infection frequency (single and multiple) and the distribution of six types of high-risk-HPV in women with and without HIV infection. Likewise, a logistic regression model was run to evaluate the relationship between HIV-HPV infection and different risk factors. Results: An association was found between the frequency of HPV infection and infection involving 2 or more HPV types (also known as multiple HPV infection) in HIV-positive women (69.0% and 54.2%, respectively); such frequency was greater than that found in HIV-negative women (44.3% and 22.7%, respectively). Statistically significant differences were observed between both groups (p = 0.001) regarding HPV presence (both in infection and multiple HPV infection). HPV-16 was the most prevalent type in the population being studied (p = 0.001); other viral types had variable distribution in both groups (HIV-positive and HIV-negative). HPV detection was associated with <500 cell/mm(3) CD4-count (p = 0.004) and higher HIV-viral-load (p = 0.001). HPV-DNA detection, <200 cell/mm(3) CD4-count (p = 0.001), and higher HIV-viral-load (p = 0.001) were associated with abnormal cytological findings. Conclusions: The HIV-1 positive population in this study had high multiple HPV infection prevalence. The results for this population group also suggested a greater association between HPV-DNA presence and cytological findings. HPV detection, together with low CD4 count, could represent useful tools for identifying HIV-positive women at risk of developing cervical lesions.

Non-anonymous ballot aggregation: an axiomatic generalization of Approval Voting

We study axiomatically situations in which the society agrees to treat voters with different characteristics distinctly. In this setting, we propose a set of intuitive axioms and show that they jointly characterize a new class of voting procedures, called Type-weighted Approval Voting. According to this family, each voter has a strictly positive and finite weight (the weight is necessarily the same for all voters with the same characteristics) and the alternative with the highest number of weighted votes is elected. The implemented voting procedure reduces to Approval Voting in case all voters are identical or the procedure assigns the same weight to all types. Using this idea, we also obtain a new characterization of Approval Voting.

The impact of investor sentiment on stock returns in emerging markets. The case of Central European markets

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Eastern European Economics on July 2015, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00128775.2015.1079139

The role of investor type in the fee structures of pension plans

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10693-015-0230-1

Are family firms really more socially responsible?

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Cruz, C., Larraza-Kintana, M., Garcés-Galdeano, L. and Berrone, P. (2014), Are Family Firms Really More Socially Responsible? Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38: 1295–1316, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/etap.12125. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

Vibrato in singing voice: the link between source-filter and sinusoidal models

The application of inverse filtering techniques for high-quality singing voice analysis/synthesis is discussed. In the context of source-filter models, inverse filtering provides a noninvasive method to extract the voice source, and thus to study voice quality. Although this approach is widely used in speech synthesis, this is not the case in singing voice. Several studies have proved that inverse filtering techniques fail in the case of singing voice, the reasons being unclear. In order to shed light on this problem, we will consider here an additional feature of singing voice, not present in speech: the vibrato. Vibrato has been traditionally studied by sinusoidal modeling. As an alternative, we will introduce here a novel noninteractive source filter model that incorporates the mechanisms of vibrato generation. This model will also allow the comparison of the results produced by inverse filtering techniques and by sinusoidal modeling, as they apply to singing voice and not to speech. In this way, the limitations of these conventional techniques, described in previous literature, will be explained. Both synthetic signals and singer recordings are used to validate and compare the techniques presented in the paper.

Base pairing interaction between 5′- and 3′-UTRs controls icaR mRNA translation in Staphylococcus aureus

UPNa. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología. Laboratorio de Biofilms Microbianos.

Estimation of long-run parameters in unbalanced cointegration

This paper analyses the asymptotic properties of nonlinear least squares estimators of the long run parameters in a bivariate unbalanced cointegration framework. Unbalanced cointegration refers to the situation where the integration orders of the observables are different, but their corresponding balanced versions (with equal integration orders after filtering) are cointegrated in the usual sense. Within this setting, the long run linkage between the observables is driven by both the cointegrating parameter and the difference between the integration orders of the observables, which we consider to be unknown. Our results reveal three noticeable features. First, superconsistent (faster than √ n-consistent) estimators of the difference between memory parameters are achievable. Next, the joint limiting distribution of the estimators of both parameters is singular, and, finally, a modified version of the ‘‘Type II’’ fractional Brownian motion arises in the limiting theory. A Monte Carlo experiment and the discussion of an economic example are included.

Indium tin oxide refractometer in the visible and near infrared via lossy mode and surface plasmon resonances with Kretschmann configuration

The following article appeared in Torres, V., Beruete, M., Del Villar, I., & Sánchez, P. (2016). Indium tin oxide refractometer in the visible and near infrared via lossy mode and surface plasmon resonances with Kretschmann configuration. Applied Physics Letters, 108(4), doi:10.1063/1.4941077, and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4941077.

From privatisation to governed nature. Old and new approaches to rural commons in Spain

Recent decades have witnessed a shift in the studies on Spanish rural commons, in line with the changes in the international literature as a whole. The focus in the 1970s was on the land privatization process referred to as disentailment (Desamortización), being considered one of the essential dimensions of the transition to capitalism. The recent revival of interest in rural commons has focused less on privatization than on the real functioning of the commons and the social relations articulated around them. A further focus of interest is the interaction between rural society and the State, mainly through the study of forestry policy and its effects on different regions. A third field of interest is the emergence of conflicts around rural commons; not only those of a distributive nature but also environmental and political ones. Accordingly, these new approaches go beyond the old image of a fatal destiny in order to profoundly analyze the environmental and social interactions of rural commons dynamics.

Efectos de cambios impositivos en un modelo de equilibrio general aplicado: un análisis de la reforma de 1995

En este trabajo se analizan los efectos de una disminución de los tipos de las cotizaciones sociales, compensada con un incremento en los tipos del impuesto sobre el valor añadido, como la que tuvo lugar en España en 1995. Para ello se utiliza un modelo de equilibrio general aplicado a la economía española, que se presenta en dos versiones: una donde los sectores productivos se modelizan en competencia perfecta, y otra donde los mismos sectores se modelizan como oligopolistas a la Cournot, lo cual nos permite analizar la influencia del supuesto de competencia imperfecta sobre los resultados. Se ha realizado asimismo una simulación adicional aplicando un supuesto de equal yield por el que el déficit público y el nivel de bienestar del sector público se mantienen constantes tras la aplicación de la nueva política, con objeto de aislar los efectos secundarios que se podrían derivar de un cambio en el comportamiento del sector público.

A betting market: Description and a theoretical explanation of bets in pelota matches

In pelota matches, bets are made between viewers through a middleman who receives 16% of the finally paid amount. In this paper a description of the way bets are made and an explanation of the existence of those markets is presented. Taking betting markets as a simplified analogy for financial markets we have searched for the explanation in a world where both sides of the market are not different in believes and preferences. Taking observations from actually made bets a preliminary analysis about the biases of those markets is presented.

Self perceived health status of schizophrenic patients in Spain: an analysis of geog raphical differences using bayesian approach

Objectives. This paper explores the use of regression models for estimating health status of schizophrenic patients, from a Bayesian perspective. Our aims are: 1- To obtain a set of values of health states of the EQ-5D based on self-assessed health from a sample of schizophrenic patients. 2- To analyse the differences in the health status and in patients’ perceptions of their health status between four mental-health districts in Spain. Methods. We develop two linear models with dummy variables. The first model seeks to obtain an index of the health status of the patients using a VAS as a dependent variable and the different dimensions of EQ-5D as regressors. The second model allows to analyse the differences between the self-assessed health status in the different geographic areas and also the differences between the patients’ self-assessed health states, irrespective of their actual health state, in the different geographic areas. The analysis is done using Bayesian approach with Gibbs sampling (computer program WinBUGS 1.4). Data concerning self-assessed EQ-5D with VAS from four geographic areas of schizophrenic patients were obtained for the purposes of this analysis. Results. We obtained the health status index for this sample and analysed the differences for this index between the four geographic areas. Our study reveals variables that explain the differences in patients’ health status and differences in their health states assessment. We consider four possible scenarios.