Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oxygen and helium abundances in Galactic H ii regions — II. Abundance gradients

The absolute integrated fluxes that we obtained (Paper I) for 34 H ii regions, with Galactocentric distances RG in the 6.6–17.7 kpc range, in the emission lines [O ii] λλ3726 and 3729, [O iii] λλ4363 and 5007, He iλ5876, Hα and Hβ, are analysed to derive the extinctions, the electron densities and temperatures, the ionic abundances O+/H+, O++/H+ and He+/H+ and the O/H abundances. The electron temperature has been derived from the [O iii] λ4363/λ5007 ratio in six H ii regions with RG between 6.6 and 14.8 kpc. These new measurements of Te, which are in good agreement with those from radio recombination lines, widen the RG range for which reliable Te measurements exist. Combining our new Te([O iii]) results with the radio values, we obtain the following temperature relationship: TeK]=(372±38)RG+4260±350. The O+/H+ and O++/H+ abundances have been obtained assuming a two-temperature H ii region model. Our O/H relationship for 5 kpc<RG<15 kpc is 12+log O/H= (−3.95±0.49)×10−2RG+(8.82±0.05). The slope is lower, by a factor of 2, than that previously obtained by Shaver et al. No significant flattening of this relation is obtained out to 15 kpc. At the solar Galactocentric distance, 12+log(O/H)=8.48, in good agreement with the O/H abundance measured in the local interstellar medium by Meyer et al., and a factor of 2 lower than the solar abundance. Our helium observations show that even a region ionized by a star earlier than O6.5 may contain a significant amount of neutral helium. We confirm the high ΔY/Δ(O/H) value (≥180) measured in the Galaxy by Peimbert et al.
Occupational and environmental exposures and risk of systemic lupus erythematosus: silica, sunlight, solvents.

OBJECTIVES We examined occupational and non-occupational exposures in relation to risk of SLE in a case-control study conducted through the Canadian Network for Improved Outcomes in SLE (CaNIOS). METHODS SLE cases (n = 258) were recruited from 11 rheumatology centres across Canada. Controls (without SLE, n = 263) were randomly selected from phone number listings and matched to cases by age, sex and area of residence. Data were collected using a structured telephone interview. RESULTS An association was seen with outdoor work in the 12 months preceding diagnosis [odds ratio (OR) 2.0; 95% CI 1.1, 3.8]; effect modification by sun reaction was suggested, with the strongest effect among people who reported reacting to midday sun with a blistering sunburn or a rash (OR 7.9; 95% CI 0.97, 64.7). Relatively strong but imprecise associations were seen with work as an artist working with paints, dyes or developing film (OR 3.9; 95% CI 1.3, 12.3) and work that included applying nail polish or nail applications (OR 10.2; 95% CI 1.3, 81.5). Patients were more likely than controls to report participation in pottery or ceramics work as a leisure activity, with an increased risk among individuals with a total frequency of at least 26 days (OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.1, 3.9). Analyses of potential respirable silica exposures suggested an exposure-response gradient (OR 1.0, 1.4. and 2.1 for zero, one and two or more sources of exposure, respectively; trend test P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS This study supports the role of specific occupational and non-occupational exposures in the development of SLE.
The fulfillment of user needs and the course of time in field investigation

Business contexts represent a big challenge for software development, specifically in terms of finding a balance between business goals and users' goals. This context determines the utility of an application, but good user experience (UX) with business applications is only achieved if the software supports the fulfillment of users' goals and needs. This article presents the efforts realized in a call-center of a German telephone company aimed at enhancing UX and hence creating a positive influence on the emotional state of the users/employees. It describes a method applied for the elicitation of user needs as well as ideas for improving UX. Beyond that, the results indicate that software properties can influence the emotional state of the user if they support the fulfillment of human needs and thus positively affect the achievement of business goals.
A Quadrature Pickup for Inductive Power Transfer Systems

The development of a new quadrature pickup configuration is described that improves the lateral tolerance of power-pickups relative to the track in inductive power transfer (IPT) systems. This is achieved using coils mounted in quadrature on a standard pick-up to capture both the tangential and vertical flux components from the IPT track. The arrangement of the two pick-up coils ensures that they remain un-coupled with each other allowing independent control and operation. A suitable pickup controller for power regulation is presented and a prototype constructed and tested in the laboratory. Measurements verify the design and show a substantially improved power profile compared with standard pick-up regulators. A method of extending the power profile further using a meander track configuration is also presented.
The conditional effect of conspiracy thinking on attitudes toward climate change

Even though climate scientists are nearly unanimous that climate change is real and manmade, about 40% of Americans reject the scientific consensus. Why? The largest contributing factor is partisanship; however, recent studies argue that underlying conspiracy thinking exerts a positive, linear effect on climate change denial. In this article, we reexamine the effect of conspiracy thinking on climate change attitudes by accounting for the various pathways that conspiracy thinking could drive denialism in a politically polarized environment. We find the effects of conspiracy thinking on climate change denial are not only larger than previously suggested, but also non-monotonic and conditional on individuals’ party identification. Moreover, we find evidence suggesting conspiracy thinking affects independents’ positions, and even their partisan leanings. These findings further explain why people reject the scientific consensus on climate change, and suggest that climate change denial is not merely the product of partisan polarization.
Hand-to-Hand Model for Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis to Estimate Fat Free Mass in a Healthy Population

This study aimed to establish a hand-to-hand (HH) model for bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) fat free mass (FFM) estimation by comparing with a standing position hand-to-foot (HF) BIA model and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA); we also verified the reliability of the newly developed model. A total of 704 healthy Chinese individuals (403 men and 301 women) participated. FFM (FFMDXA) reference variables were measured using DXA and segmental BIA. Further, regression analysis, Bland–Altman plots, and cross-validation (2/3 participants as the modeling group, 1/3 as the validation group; three turns were repeated for validation grouping) were conducted to compare tests of agreement with FFMDXA reference variables. In male participants, the hand-to-hand BIA model estimation equation was calculated as follows: FFMmHH = 0.537 h2/ZHH − 0.126 year + 0.217 weight + 18.235 (r2 = 0.919, standard estimate of error (SEE) = 2.164 kg, n = 269). The mean validated correlation coefficients and limits of agreement (LOAs) of the Bland–Altman analysis of the calculated values for FFMmHH and FFMDXA were 0.958 and −4.369–4.343 kg, respectively, for hand-to-foot BIA model measurements for men; the FFM (FFMmHF) and FFMDXA were 0.958 and −4.356–4.375 kg, respectively. The hand-to-hand BIA model estimating equation for female participants was FFMFHH = 0.615 h2/ZHH − 0.144 year + 0.132 weight + 16.507 (r2 = 0.870, SEE = 1.884 kg, n = 201); the three mean validated correlation coefficient and LOA for the hand-to-foot BIA model measurements for female participants (FFMFHH and FFMDXA) were 0.929 and −3.880–3.886 kg, respectively. The FFMHF and FFMDXA were 0.942 and −3.511–3.489 kg, respectively. The results of both hand-to-hand and hand-to-foot BIA models demonstrated similar reliability, and the hand-to-hand BIA models are practical for assessing FFM.
Control of zinc oxide nanowire array properties with electron beam lithography templating for PV applications

Hydrothermally synthesized zinc oxide nanowire arrays have been used as nanostructured acceptors in emerging photovoltaic (PV) devices. The nanoscale dimensions of such arrays allow for enhanced charge extraction from PV active layers, but the device performance critically depends on the nanowire array pitch and alignment. In this study, we templated hydrothermally-grown ZnO nanowire arrays via high-resolution electron-beam-lithography defined masks, achieving the dual requirements of high-resolution patterning at a pitch of several hundred nanometers, while maintaining hole sizes small enough to control nanowire array morphology. We investigated several process conditions, including the effect of annealing sputtered and spincoated ZnO seed layers on nanowire growth, to optimize array property metrics – branching from individual template holes and off-normal alignment. We found that decreasing template hole size decreased branching prevalence but also reduced alignment. Annealing seed layers typically improved alignment, and sputtered seed layers yielded nanowire arrays superior to spincoated seed layers. We show that these effects arose from variation in the size of the template holes relative to the ZnO grain size in the seed layer. The quantitative control of branching and alignment of the nanowire array that is achieved in this study will open new paths toward engineering more efficient electrodes to increase photocurrent in nanostructured PVs. This control is also applicable to inorganic nanowire growth in general, nanomechanical generators, nanowire transistors, and surface-energy engineering.
Compact Full Duplex MIMO Radios in D2D Underlaid Cellular Networks: From System Design to Prototype Results

This paper considers the implementation and application possibilities of a compact full duplex multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) architecture, where direct communication exists between users, e.g., device-to-device (D2D) and cellular link coexisting on the same spectrum. For the architecture of the compact full duplex radio, we combine an analog self-interference canceler-based dual polarization with high cross-polarization discrimination and long-term evolution (LTE)-based per-subcarrier digital self-interference canceler. While we consider the compactness and power efficiency of an analog solution, we focus on the digital canceler design with robustness to a frequency-selective channel and high compatibility with a conventional LTE system. For an over-the-air wireless experiment of full duplex testbed with a two-user-pair, we implement a full duplex MIMO physical layer, supporting 20-MHz bandwidth, on an Field-Programmable Gate Array-based software-defined radio platform. Furthermore, we propose a novel timing synchronization method to construct a more viable full duplex MIMO link. By having the full duplex link prototype fully operating in real time, we present the first characterization of the proposed compact full duplex MIMO performance depending on the transmit power of the full duplex node. We also show the link quality between nodes. One of the crucial insights of this paper is that the full duplex operation of a user is capable of acquiring the throughput gain if the user has self-interference capability with guaranteed performance.
Relationships between user experience and intuitiveness of visual and physical interactions

This paper investigates the effects of experience on the intuitiveness of physical and visual interactions performed by airport security screeners. Using portable eye tracking glasses, 40 security screeners were observed in the field as they performed search, examination and interface interactions during airport security x-ray screening. Data from semi structured interviews was used to further explore the nature of visual and physical interactions. Results show there are positive relationships between experience and the intuitiveness of visual and physical interactions performed by security screeners. As experience is gained, security screeners are found to perform search, examination and interface interactions more intuitively. In addition to experience, results suggest that intuitiveness is affected by the nature and modality of activities performed. This inference was made based on the dominant processing styles associated with search and examination activities. The paper concludes by discussing the implications that this research has for the design of visual and physical interfaces. We recommend designing interfaces that build on users’ already established intuitive processes, and that reduce the cognitive load incurred during transitions between visual and physical interactions.
A hybrid movie recommender system based on neural networks

Recently, there has been a lot of speculation among the members of the artificial intelligence community concerning the way AI can help with the problem of successful information search in the reservoirs of knowledge of Internet. Recommender systems provide a solution to this problem by giving individualized recommendations. Content-based and collaborative filtering are usually applied to predict these recommendations. A combination of the results of these two techniques is used in this work in order to construct a system that provides more precise recommendations concerning movies. The MovieLens data set was used to test the proposed hybrid system.
ERAD 2006 Proceedings of Microphysical quantitative study of MAP-IOP 3 through comparisons between radar observations and numerical simulations

In this work, the microphysical processes involved in MAPIOP3 (25-26/09/1999) precipitation development are identified and quantified using hydrometeor mixing ratio r (g kg) and budget computations from the Meso-NH model. This one was already used to study various IOP (Lascaux et al. 2006) and succeeded in reproducing precipitation characteristics (localization, intensity). Using polarimetric radar data and a fuzzy logic algorithm, Pujol et al. (2005) deduced qualitative conclusions on the IOP3 precipitation microphysical characteristics, but, broadly speaking, radars do not permit to make calculations as numerical model can do. Herein, the conclusions of Pujol et al. (2005) are completed by receiving a quantitative numerical support from Meso-NH.
Robust Quantification of Polymerase Chain Reactions Using Global Fitting

Background Quantitative polymerase chain reactions (qPCR) are used to monitor relative changes in very small amounts of DNA. One drawback to qPCR is reproducibility: measuring the same sample multiple times can yield data that is so noisy that important differences can be dismissed. Numerous analytical methods have been employed that can extract the relative template abundance between samples. However, each method is sensitive to baseline assignment and to the unique shape profiles of individual reactions, which gives rise to increased variance stemming from the analytical procedure itself. Principal Findings We developed a simple mathematical model that accurately describes the entire PCR reaction profile using only two reaction variables that depict the maximum capacity of the reaction and feedback inhibition. This model allows quantification that is more accurate than existing methods and takes advantage of the brighter fluorescence signals from later cycles. Because the model describes the entire reaction, the influences of baseline adjustment errors, reaction efficiencies, template abundance, and signal loss per cycle could be formalized. We determined that the common cycle-threshold method of data analysis introduces unnecessary variance because of inappropriate baseline adjustments, a dynamic reaction efficiency, and also a reliance on data with a low signal-to-noise ratio. Significance Using our model, fits to raw data can be used to determine template abundance with high precision, even when the data contains baseline and signal loss defects. This improvement reduces the time and cost associated with qPCR and should be applicable in a variety of academic, clinical, and biotechnological settings.
Pengaruh Sosialisasi dan Komitmen Profesi Pegawai Pajak Terhadap Niat Whistleblowing

Whistleblowing system is created to overseeing the violation of the code of ethics that occured within the Directorate General of Taxation (DGT) by utilizing all its employees. These system is based on three principles that are prevention, early detection and effective handling. The aims of this study are to examine the effect of socialization on whistleblowing and professional commitment of tax office’s employees to whistleblowing intention. The population in this study is employees in DGT on Yogyakarta and Central Java. This research used survey to collect data from 92 employees. Multiple regression linear is used to data analyzed. The result showed significant effect of socialization to whistleblowing intention. Unexpected finding is professional commitment did not effecting whistleblowing intention.
IP-based ubiquitous healthcare system

This paper presents a new concept of MAC and LOAD protocols for IP based ubiquitous healthcare system. The system used IEEE 802.15. 4 standard lowpan with integrated IPv6. For healthcare system we added LOAD (6lowpan Ad-hoc on Demand Distance Vector) and MAC (Medium Access Control) protocols in Harvanpsilas 6lowpan stack. 6lowpan stack has ability to connect the physical environment in real-world applications such as healthcare, wireless sensor network, network technology etc. IP-enable motes set on the patient body for retrieving biomedical from body in PAN. PAN network connected PC via gateway or base station for further analysis or to the doctorpsilas PDA (personal digital assistant). The doctor can recognize or analysis patient data from anywhere on globe by internet service provider equipments (PDA). Result shows the performance biomedical data packets in multi-hope routing as well as represents the topology of the networks. TelosB motes were tested on octopus simulator in tinyOS2.02 for performance of biomedical data communication and network topology.
Learning to Ask the Right Questions

Asking questions is an integral part of learning. Asking questions can clarify concepts, test hypotheses, add missing information, or provide additional knowledge to facilitate learning. The last item motivates the work described in this paper. By asking questions, our system obtains information that serves as background knowledge for a base learner, enabling the base learner to make useful generalizations even with few training examples. In previous work, we developed static strategies for question asking. Here, we extend that work with a learning approach for acquiring question-asking strategies that better accommodates the interdependent nature of questions. We present experiments validating the approach and showing its usefulness for acquiring efficient, context-dependent question-asking strategies.
FINE STRUCTURE OF MYCOTA

Though the dictyosome of the Golgi apparatus appears to be generally distributed in plant and animal cells, it is here described for the first time in the fungi. The present report illustrates, in electron micrographs of thin sections, the characteristic structure of the Golgi dictyosome in a special cell type of a supporting pseudo-tissue (the inner ectal excipulum) of a highly evolved Ascomycete, Neobulgaria pura (Fr.) Petrak, a monotypic discomycete. This organelle may secrete the gelatinous matrix filling the cup formed by the inner ectal excipulum. All the other cells in this species appear more typical of fungal cells; i.e., they have no dictyosome and, unlike the cup-forming cells, they show characteristic continuities of the plasma membrane with the perinuclear cisternae. The dictyosome, in those cells in which it appears in this fungus, is formed by a series of vesiculations of the outer component of the nuclear envelope that align to form a stack of sacs. The sacs near the nucleus are flattened (by what appears to be an intermembrane cement) while those near the plasma membrane are more distended. These observations suggest three possibilities: first, fungi may be more closely related to other eukaryotic cells than previously suspected from electron microscopic studies; second, the outer nuclear membrane may have been the primitive precursor of the dictyosome; and third, the inverse relationship of the occurrence of the nuclear membrane plasma membrane continuities and the dictyosome suggests that the latter may have evolved as a means of removing from the cell the products of reactions occurring on a discontinuous membrane system.
Statistical properties of a near-optimal measurement-based CAC algorithm

Our algorithm, called Mosquito, allows sources to be ignorant of their statistics but offers near-optimal utilisation of the network. Our approach is based on large deviation theory: the large deviation rate-function (entropy) of bursty ATM traffic can be estimated from measurements of traffic activity. The entropy can be used to determine the bandwidth requirement of the traffic. In this paper, we explain the basic ideas behind the algorithm and describe its implementation. We present some results of a statistical investigation of the performance of the Mosquito CAC algorithm comparing it with that of various modifications of the algorithm.
Comparing the Performance of the PastSet Distributed Shared Memory System using TCP / IP and M-VIA

Using TCP/IP or M-VIA, the performance of the structured distributed shared memory system PastSet is measured and compared to a reference single-node implementation (excluding all intra-node communication). The latencies of PastSet-operations are measured using several micro-benchmarks. For the experiment setup used, M-VIA latencies are shown to be between 1.4 and 2.2 times lower than the comparable latencies using TCP/IP. For a data size of 31KB, this corresponds to a difference of more than one millisecond. Depending on the thread-allocation policy applied in the PastSet server, PastSet latencies using TCP/IP may exhibit increased variance compared to the corresponding latencies using M-VIA. The increased latency and variance may mask the performance characteristics of the PastSet system.
Fast and Effective Feature-Preserving Mesh Denoising

We present a simple and fast mesh denoising method, which can remove noise effectively while preserving mesh features such as sharp edges and corners. The method consists of two stages. First, noisy face normals are filtered iteratively by weighted averaging of neighboring face normals. Second, vertex positions are iteratively updated to agree with the denoised face normals. The weight function used during normal filtering is much simpler than that used in previous similar approaches, being simply a trimmed quadratic. This makes the algorithm both fast and simple to implement. Vertex position updating is based on the integration of surface normals using a least-squares error criterion. Like previous algorithms, we solve the least-squares problem by gradient descent; whereas previous methods needed user input to determine the iteration step size, we determine it automatically. In addition, we prove the convergence of the vertex position updating approach. Analysis and experiments show the advantages of our proposed method over various earlier surface denoising methods.