Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Barriers and opportunities in the design and delivery of social housing Passivhaus for adaptive comfort

This research resides Passivhaus concept under the framework of adaptive comfort, reviews two case studies of social housing Passivhaus communities in Scotland, and explores the occupants’ lived experience and their perception of comfort in Passivhaus. The study focuses on the concept of comfort from a socio-technical point of view in order to explore more effective adaptive opportunities that can be integrated at the design stage. Through in-depth interviews with the occupants, site visits and architectural analysis, the research highlights comfort issues in those two social housing Passivhaus projects, and identifies barriers and opportunities for behavioural and psychological adaptations specifically for designing social housing Passivhaus. The findings suggest that the Passivhaus concept has potential opportunities for promoting behavioral and psychological adaptations and sustainable living. However, in order to ensure the energy performance, the design and delivery of Passivhaus system in some cases tends to limit the role of occupants and their adaptive opportunities. The research argues that through careful consideration of architectural and mechanical design, and through effective communication of technology and supportive role of community to establish sustainable social norms, the social housing Passivhaus can provide the opportunity for the occupants to ‘co-evolve’ with the house itself, and to achieve a transformation to sustainable living.
A Mid-Infrared Spectroscopic Study of Submillimeter Galaxies: Luminous Starbursts at High Redshift

We present rest-frame mid-infrared spectroscopy of a sample of 13 submillimeter galaxies, obtained using the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. The sample includes exclusively bright objects from blank fields and cluster lens-assisted surveys that have accurate interferometric positions. We find that the majority of spectra are well fitted by a starburst template or by the superposition of PAH emission features and a weak mid-infrared continuum, the latter a tracer of active galactic nuclei (AGNs; including Compton-thick ones). We obtain mid-infrared spectroscopic redshifts for all nine sources detected with IRS. For three of them the redshifts were previously unknown. The median value of the redshift distribution is z ~ 2.8 if we assume that the four IRS nondetections are at high redshift. The median for the IRS detections alone is z ~ 2.7. Placing the IRS nondetections at similar redshift would require rest-frame mid-IR obscuration larger than is seen in local ULIRGs. The rest-frame mid-infrared spectra and mid- to far-infrared spectral energy distributions are consistent with those of local ultraluminous infrared galaxies but scaled up further in luminosity. The mid-infrared spectra support the scenario that submillimeter galaxies are sites of extreme star formation, rather than X-ray-obscured AGNs, and represent a critical phase in the formation of massive galaxies.
Temporal integration of the contralateral acoustic reflex threshold for a 1000 hz tonal activator and its age-related changes.

BACKGROUND Previous research has noted an age effect on the temporal integration of the acoustic reflex for a noise activator. PURPOSE To determine whether the age effect earlier noted for a noise activator will be noted for a tonal activator. RESEARCH DESIGN Comparison of ARTs of younger and older groups at activating stimulus durations of 12, 25, 50, 100, 200, 300, 500, and 1000 msec. STUDY SAMPLE Two groups of adults with normal-hearing sensitivity: one group of 20 young adults (ten males and ten females, ages 18-29 years, with a mean age of 24 years) and one group of 20 older adults (ten males and ten females, ages 59-75 years, with a mean age of 67.5 years). RESULTS A significant main effect for duration was obtained. That is, as the duration increased, the acoustic reflex threshold for the 1000 Hz tonal activator decreased. The interactions of duration x age group and duration x hearing level were not significant. There was a nonsignificant main effect (p = .889) for the between-subjects factor of age. CONCLUSION Results contradict the findings for broadband noise.
A generalization of the weighted set covering problem

We study a generalization of the weighted set covering problem where every element needs to be covered multiple times. When no set contains more than two elements, we can solve the problem in polynomial time by solving a corresponding weighted perfect b‐matching problem. In general, we may use a polynomial‐time greedy heuristic similar to the one for the classical weighted set covering problem studied by D.S. Johnson [Approximation algorithms for combinatorial problems, J Comput Syst Sci 9 (1974), 256–278], L. Lovasz [On the ratio of optimal integral and fractional covers, Discrete Math 13 (1975), 383–390], and V. Chvatal [A greedy heuristic for the set‐covering problem, Math Oper Res 4(3) (1979), 233–235] to get an approximate solution for the problem. We find a worst‐case bound for the heuristic similar to that for the classical problem. In addition, we introduce a general type of probability distribution for the population of the problem instances and prove that the greedy heuristic is asymptotically optimal for instances drawn from such a distribution. We also conduct computational studies to compare solutions resulting from running the heuristic and from running the commercial integer programming solver CPLEX on problem instances drawn from a more specific type of distribution. The results clearly exemplify benefits of using the greedy heuristic when problem instances are large. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2005
The interpersonal circumplex as a structural model in clinical research: Examples from group psychotherapy, interpersonal problems, and personality disorders.

I entered psychology with a strong background in natural sciences and mathematics. I also have a skeptical personality. I, therefore, gradually noticed the lack of consensual agreement between therapists facing the same clinical material. Two experts facing the same patient at a case conference often disagreed radically about the nature of the patient’s difficulties. Such experiences, repeated many times, led me to feel that research was essential to clarify the nature of the therapeutic endeavor. As a newcomer to psychotherapy research with a psychoanalytic bent, personality change was at the core of my thinking about therapy. I was interested in the therapeutic change that occurs with longer-term psychotherapies; it seemed that a major claim of these therapies was that they could lead to changes in personality that were unlikely to occur without therapy. Three approaches to personality appealed to the mathematical side of my personality. Kelly’s (1955) personal construct psychology helped elucidate personality as an individual’s processes of the construction of reality while providing an axiomatic account of the structure of personality and an appealing account of the nature of personality change. Kelly thus transcended the idiographic-nomothetic split in psychology. From a very different perspective, both the interpersonal circumplex (Leary, 1957; Wiggins, 1982; Wiggins & Broughton, 1985) and the Five Factor Model (Digman, 1989; Goldberg, 1992; John, 1990; McCrae, 1992; McCrae & Costa,
Intrinsic signal imaging in macaque retina reveals different types of flash-induced light reflectance changes of different origins.

PURPOSE Intrinsic signal imaging is a newly developed technique that can map the neural activity of tissues noninvasively. It has been used to map the functional organization of the retina by recording flash-induced light reflectance changes in the cone and rod photoreceptors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the properties of the intrinsic signals in the monkey's retina. To accomplish this, the intrinsic signals and the electroretinograms (ERGs) evoked by the same stimuli were measured under different recording conditions. METHODS The fundus of macaque monkeys was observed with infrared light and recorded with a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. The intrinsic signals were measured as retinal light reflectance changes induced by diffuse or focal flash stimuli. ERGs were recorded under the same stimulating conditions. The reflectance changes induced by different flash intensities, flash intervals, and background luminance were compared. RESULTS The intrinsic signals were categorized into different groups based on the location in the fundus. Fast signals (peak: approximately 100 ms) were recorded from the posterior retina including the fovea, and slow signals (peak: 5.0-6.0 seconds) were recorded from the optic disc and nonfoveal posterior retina. The threshold of the slow signal changes was comparable to that of the ERG b-wave, and the thresholds of the fast signals were higher than that of the ERG a- and b-waves. CONCLUSIONS The retinal intrinsic signals are composed of several components with different response properties and different sources. This recording technique may be useful for mapping the retinal function in eyes with various disorders.
The Electronic Watch and Low-Power Circuits

Renowned as an expert in low-power CMOS circuit design and for groundbreaking work with miniature electronic devices, Dr. Eric A. Vittoz relates his life, work and times in this original retrospective for the SSCS News. According to Yannis Tsividis, also in this issue, Dr. Vittoz's influence continues to grow, as low voltage and low power become increasingly important in the engineering of mobile devices. Dr. Vittoz is a Research Fellow at the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology in Neuchatel, Switzerland, an IEEE Fellow, and a professor at EPFL, the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. He has published more than 130 papers and holds 26 patents.
The Same Face of the Two Smith

In 1998 Vernon Smith courageously introduced The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS)—the " other " book of Adam Smith—into the experimental literature. Vernon Smith used TMS to help explain some experimental results. He was followed in this by many more economists, and now TMS is relatively commonly seen in the experimental literature. This article is an attempt to develop the arguments that Vernon Smith originally proposed— and to use the old Smith and some of the literature of his time to integrate the explanations of some results of this new branch of our discipline. In particular, I propose to integrate Adam Smith's ideas of sympathy and imagination as well as the 18 th century idea of doux commerce with the current explanations deriving from experimental results regarding why and how humans cooperate, trust each other, and grow prosperous in industrialized societies.
Probabilistic point set matching with Gaussian mixture model

In this work, we propose a variational approximation approach in combination with isotropic Gaussian mixtures with regard to each individual transformed points for point set matching problems. A variational inference algorithm is formulated to update the posteriors of the random variables in sequence until a local optimum is reached. The probabilistic framework explicitly accounts for matching uncertainty and is thus less prone to local optima. Furthermore, the Gaussian mixtures with anisotropic covariance are also proposed for the modeling of spurious points instead of the one uniform distribution. The experimental results show that the combination of variational approximation with mixture model provides our algorithm with comparable performance of accuracy and robustness to other registration algorithms in the presence of outliers.
Novel energy efficient strategies for cooperative spectrum sensing in cognitive radio networks

Trade-off between performance and overhead of cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) in cognitive radio Networks (CRNs) still attracts researchers' attention. In this paper, novel energy efficient strategies are proposed for the centralized CSS systems using hard decision fusion rules. The strategies considerably minimize the number of collaborating cognitive radios (CRs) required for the CSS system, increase the energy efficiency and satisfy the detection requirements. The simulation results shows the optimality of k out of N-Rule over both OR and AND-Rules in terms of energy efficiency and spectrum utilization.
Automatic Speech Recognition Errors as a Predictor of L2 Listening Difficulties

This paper investigates the use of automatic speech recognition (ASR) errors as indicators of the second language (L2) learners’ listening difficulties and in doing so strives to overcome the shortcomings of Partial and Synchronized Caption (PSC) system. PSC is a system that generates a partial caption including difficult words detected based on high speech rate, low frequency, and specificity. To improve the choice of words in this system, and explore a better method to detect speech challenges, ASR errors were investigated as a model of the L2 listener, hypothesizing that some of these errors are similar to those of language learners’ when transcribing the videos. To investigate this hypothesis, ASR errors in transcription of several TED talks were analyzed and compared with PSC’s selected words. Both the overlapping and mismatching cases were analyzed to investigate possible improvement for the PSC system. Those ASR errors that were not detected by PSC as cases of learners’ difficulties were further analyzed and classified into four categories: homophones, minimal pairs, breached boundaries and negatives. These errors were embedded into the baseline PSC to make the enhanced version and were evaluated in an experiment with L2 learners. The results indicated that the enhanced version, which encompasses the ASR errors addresses most of the L2 learners’ difficulties and better assists them in comprehending challenging video segments as compared with the baseline.
Simple Algorithm for Improving EBS Based key Assignment in Sensor Networks

Exclusion Basis Systems (EBS) is a combinatorial formulation of the group key management problem in wireless sensor networks. A simple method for optimizing key assignment based on EBS is presented, which significantly reduce the time overhead by avoiding the back tracing process. The proposed method requires O(n) time complexity to find an optimal key assignment while the earlier schemes of different approaches require O(n^{2}) when there exist $n$ keys to compare. Moreover, the proposed method is more secure than the earlier schemes in the key refresh process. Thus, the proposed scheme displays a significant improvement in the performance and security of the sensor nodes.
B Lymphocyte Commitment Program Is Driven by the Proto-Oncogene c-myc

c-Myc, a member of the Myc family of transcription factors, is involved in numerous biological functions including the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis in various cell types. Of all of its functions, the role of c-Myc in cell differentiation is one of the least understood. We addressed the role of c-Myc in B lymphocyte differentiation. We found that c-Myc is essential from early stages of B lymphocyte differentiation in vivo and regulates this process by providing B cell identity via direct transcriptional regulation of the ebf-1 gene. Our data show that c-Myc influences early B lymphocyte differentiation by promoting activation of B cell identity genes, thus linking this transcription factor to the EBF-1/Pax-5 pathway.
SugarJ: library-based syntactic language extensibility

Existing approaches to extend a programming language with syntactic sugar often leave a bitter taste, because they cannot be used with the same ease as the main extension mechanism of the programming language - libraries. Sugar libraries are a novel approach for syntactically extending a programming language within the language. A sugar library is like an ordinary library, but can, in addition, export syntactic sugar for using the library. Sugar libraries maintain the composability and scoping properties of ordinary libraries and are hence particularly well-suited for embedding a multitude of domain-specific languages into a host language. They also inherit self-applicability from libraries, which means that sugar libraries can provide syntactic extensions for the definition of other sugar libraries. To demonstrate the expressiveness and applicability of sugar libraries, we have developed SugarJ, a language on top of Java, SDF and Stratego, which supports syntactic extensibility. SugarJ employs a novel incremental parsing technique, which allows changing the syntax within a source file. We demonstrate SugarJ by five language extensions, including embeddings of XML and closures in Java, all available as sugar libraries. We illustrate the utility of self-applicability by embedding XML Schema, a metalanguage to define XML languages.
Aboriginal colonial history and the (un)happy object of reconciliation

ABSTRACT Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Australia is defined officially as consisting of ‘two-way relationships built on trust and respect’, recognition and acceptance of rights, histories and cultures, and institutional and community support for ‘all dimensions’ of reconciliation. We suggest, after Alexandre Da Costa (2016. The (un)happy objects of affective community. Cultural studies, 30, 24–46), that the burden of supporting reconciliation is borne differentially by Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples; it is seen by the latter as an apparently ‘happy object’ in Sara Ahmed’s sense, but as an ‘unhappy object’ for many Aboriginal Australians, who have argued that it requires first a process of makarrata, or peace-making. Traditionally this has included some reciprocal pain for perpetrators, and we suggest here that the desire of many Aboriginal people to develop a public heritage of massacre sites and former ‘fringe camps’ offers an opportunity for non-Indigenous people to take hold of, and hold onto, a prickly and difficult past as part of a process of makarrata.
Hip fractures and heart failure: findings from the Cardiovascular Health Study.

AIMS The aim of the study was to find the epidemiology of hip fractures in heart failure. The increasing survival rate for patients with heart failure places them at risk for other diseases of ageing, including osteoporosis. METHODS AND RESULTS We included 5613 persons from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) with an average of 11.5 year follow-up. We determined incidence rates and hazard ratios (HRs) in persons with heart failure compared with persons without heart failure and mortality hazards following these fractures. Annualized incidence rates for hip fractures were 14 per 1000 person-years in heart failure and 6.8 per 1000 person-years without heart failure. Unadjusted and multivariable adjusted HRs for hip fracture associated with heart failure in men were 1.87 (95% CI 1.2-2.93) and 1.59 (95% CI 0.93-2.72), respectively. Respective HRs for women were 1.75 (95% CI 1.27-2.4) and 1.41 (95% CI 0.98-2.03). Mortality hazard was approximately 2-fold greater in patients with heart failure and hip fracture compared with those having heart failure alone. CONCLUSION Persons with heart failure are at high risk for hip fractures. However, much of the association between hip fractures and heart failure is explained by shared risk factors. Hip fractures are a substantial contributor to mortality in men and women with heart failure.
Between Legitimacy and Violence

Between Legitimacy and Violence is an authoritative, sweeping history of Colombia’s “long twentieth century,” from the tumultuous civil wars of the late nineteenth century to the drug wars of the late twentieth. Marco Palacios, a leading Latin American historian, skillfully blends political, economic, social, and cultural history. In an expansive chronological narrative full of vivid detail, he explains Colombia’s political history, discussing key leaders, laws, parties, and ideologies; corruption and inefficiency; and the paradoxical nature of government institutions, which, while stable and enduring, are unable to prevent frequent and extreme outbursts of violence. Palacios traces the trajectory of the economy, addressing agriculture (particularly the economic significance of coffee), the development of a communication and transportation infrastructure, industrialization, and labor struggles. Palacios also gives extensive attention to persistent social inequalities, the role of the Catholic Church, demographic shifts such as urbanization and emigration, and Colombia’s relationship with the United States. Offering a comparative perspective, he frequently contrasts Colombia with other Latin American nations. Throughout, Palacios offers a helpful interpretive framework, connecting developments with their causes and consequences. By thoroughly illuminating Colombia’s past, Between Legitimacy and Violence sheds much-needed light on the country’s violent present.
European Conference on Information Systems ( ECIS ) 5-15-2012 SOCIAL INFLUENCE IN RECOMMENDATION AGENTS : CREATING SYNERGIES BETWEEN MULTIPLE RECOMMENDATION SOURCES FOR ONLINE PURCHASES

With the increased popularity of online social networks, friends become an available recommendation source for decisions that are made on the Internet, such as online purchases. There is substantial benefit in integrating different recommendation sources into one recommendation system so that more information and indeed more relevant information can be provided to the user. However, there is also the burden on the user of having to cope with the broader scope of and sometimes differing advice provided. This paper focuses on the issue of potential cognitive dissonance between the user’s own preferences, social influencer’s (e.g., friend’s) recommendations, and advice from a recommendation agent (RA). It provides a model of how different recommendation system designs can lead to different magnitudes of dissonance and when. It also discusses the role of the user’s product knowledge on influencing the extent of and reaction with dissonance. This paper contributes to the designing of recommendation systems which can create synergies between different recommendation sources to best assist the user.
Application of Control Theory Markov Systems to Minimize the Number of Transmissions in a Multi-hop Network

The classical Robust Control Theory applied to network environments does not consider usual network effects like packet losses in the communication between sensors and actuators. In order to design optimal controllers that consider such conditions, one must rely on the class of models dubbed Markovian Jump Linear System (MJLS). In this paper, we study the H-infinity norm degradation in the presence of a limitation on the allowed number of retransmissions in a multi-hop semi-reliable network. Specifically on this study, we implemented the Hop by Hop transport model and also limited the maximum number of retransmissions per packet. For a particular case, it was possible to design a filter with a global number of transmitted packets of only 17.93% of the packets that would be necessary in full reliable communication, yet guaranteeing the estimated error stability.