Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Screening of some semi-arid region plants for larvicidal activity against Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes pose a major threat to human health by transmitting serious diseases. Development of resistance, cross-resistance, rising cost and possible toxicity hazards associated with synthetic insecticides are some of the reasons for revival of interest in plantbased products in recent years 1–4 . Search for cost-effective, safe and highly potent plant-based insecticides for the control of mosquitoes requires the preliminary screening of plants to evaluate their effectiveness in mosquito control and selecting the plants with high potency for further study. In the present study, we have screened 11 plant species of local flora against the IV instar larvae of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae). These selected plants are Millingtonia hortensis, Annona squamosa, Bauhinia varigata, Plumeria alba, Psidium guajava, Syzygium cumini, Alstonia scholaris, Michelea champaca, Holoptelia integrifolia, Quisqualis indica and Nerium indicum. Taxonomic identification was performed by botanists from the Department of Botany, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India where voucher specimens were deposited. The leaves of the plants were dried in the shade, ground in a mixer and extracted with acetone (95%) at room temperature. The plant material (300 g) was soaked in acetone in an airtight wide mouthed bottle and kept for seven days. After that the cold extracts from the bottle along with acetone were filtered and kept in petri dishes for drying at room temperature. Dried extracts were used for larvicidal bioassay as per WHO standard method 5 . Stock solutions (10% w/v)
Specifying Security Aspects in UML Models

Expansion of computer systems and the increasing number of services provided by Internet has lead software engineers to worry about security issues of their software. The reason is the short amount of time dedicated to test these characteristics, which leads to release insecure software to final users. To ease this problem, the use of modelbased testing is becoming popular. Several works propose standards to model various elements, but a few related to security characteristics. This article presents a technique to specify UML security stereotypes, aiming to guide developers by annotating vulnerable model parts and to allow the automatic security test case generation.
First Results and Experience with PRRT in South Africa

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are a diverse group of tumors that often present late due to nonspecific symptoms. These tumors frequently express somatostatin receptors (SSRs), which allows for positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging with Ga-68-DOTATATE. In eligible patients, this may then be followed by peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT). Here, we report our initial results and experience with PRRT in a developing country, as one of the first groups to provide this therapy in South Africa. Eligible patients with confirmed inoperable NETs were recruited prospectively and treated with Lu-177-DOTATATE. Baseline imaging was performed with either single-photon emission CT- or PET-based SSR analogs, whereas follow-up was performed with 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT 6 months post treatment completion. Interim treatment response evaluation was based on post therapy imaging of Lu-177-DOTATATE. A total of 48 patients with a mean age of 58 years were treated with PRRT, of whom 22 (46%) demonstrated stable disease, 20 (42%) demonstrated a partial response, and 6 (12%) demonstrated progressive disease. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 20 months with an interquartile range (IQR)25%–75%of 4.5–30 months. The median freedom from progression duration was 32 months with an IQR25%–75%of 25–40 months, and the median overall survival was 10 months with an (IQR)25%–75%of 5–24 months. Our subgroup analysis demonstrated an inverse association between metabolic tumor volume with PFS, which requires further validation. In conclusion, PRRT with Lu-177-DOTATATE resulted in a median PFS of 20 months in patients with inoperable NETs in the absence of significant side effects.
Lemons and Leases in the Used Business Aircraft Market

Given adverse selection, durable goods that trade less frequently depreciate more quickly. Consistent with this prediction, I find an inverse relationship between depreciation and trading volume for less reliable brands of used business aircraft. Additionally, recent theoretical analyses suggest that leasing, by increasing the average quality of used goods offered for sale, may reduce adverse selection in durable goods markets. Indeed, I find an increase in the direct relationship between depreciation and trading volume for aircraft models with relatively high lease rates. Together these findings suggest that adverse selection is a prominent feature of the market for contemporary used business aircraft and that leasing mitigates the consequences of asymmetric information about the quality of used durable goods.
Challenging group dynamics in participatory design with children: lessons from social interdependence theory

In this paper we explore whether Social Interdependence Theory (SIT) is a useful theoretical framework to anticipate on challenging intragroup dynamics in co-design with children. According to SIT, there are five principles that mediate the effectiveness of cooperation: positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction patterns, social skills and group processing. First, we theoretically ground six challenging group dynamics encountered in a previous study. Next, we introduce SIT and describe how we applied each of the five mediating principles in a new case study in which 49 children aged 9 to 10 were involved in a series of co-design sessions. Afterwards, we present our findings and reflect upon the SIT inspired co-design procedure. Finally we touch upon topics for further research and we make a call for more research on SIT in the Child Computer Interaction (CCI) community.
Prediction of the translocon-mediated membrane insertion free energies of protein sequences

MOTIVATION Helical membrane proteins (HMPs) play crucial roles in a variety of cellular processes. Unlike water-soluble proteins, HMPs need not only to fold but also get inserted into the membrane to be fully functional. This process of membrane insertion is mediated by the translocon complex. Thus, it is of great interest to develop computational methods for predicting the translocon-mediated membrane insertion free energies of protein sequences. RESULT We have developed Membrane Insertion (MINS), a novel sequence-based computational method for predicting the membrane insertion free energies of protein sequences. A benchmark test gives a correlation coefficient of 0.74 between predicted and observed free energies for 357 known cases, which corresponds to a mean unsigned error of 0.41 kcal/mol. These results are significantly better than those obtained by traditional hydropathy analysis. Moreover, the ability of MINS to reasonably predict membrane insertion free energies of protein sequences allows for effective identification of transmembrane (TM) segments. Subsequently, MINS was applied to predict the membrane insertion free energies of 316 TM segments found in known structures. An in-depth analysis of the predicted free energies reveals a number of interesting findings about the biogenesis and structural stability of HMPs. AVAILABILITY A web server for MINS is available at http://service.bioinformatik. uni-saarland.de/mins
OSM Data Import as an Outreach Tool to Trigger Community Growth? A Case Study in Miami

This paper presents the results of a study that explored if and how an OpenStreetMap (OSM) data import task can contribute to OSM community growth. Different outreach techniques were used to introduce a building import task to three targeted OSM user groups. First, existing OSM members were contacted and asked to join the data import project. Second, several local community events were organized with Maptime Miami to engage local mappers in OSM contribution activities. Third, the import task was introduced as an extra credit assignment in two GIS courses at the University of Florida. The paper analyzes spatio-temporal user contributions of these target groups to assess the effectiveness of the different outreach techniques for recruitment and retention of OSM contributors. Results suggest that the type of prospective users that were contacted through our outreach efforts, and their different motivations play a major role in their editing activity. Results also revealed differences in editing patterns between newly recruited users and already established mappers. More specifically, long-term engagement of newly registered OSM mappers did not succeed, whereas already established contributors continued to import and improve data. In general, we found that an OSM data import project can add valuable data to the map, but also that encouraging long-term engagement of new users, whether it be within the academic environment or outside, proved to be challenging.
High Resolution Radar-based Occupancy Grid Mapping and Free Space Detection

The high-resolution radar sensors have the ability to detect thousands of reflection points per cycle, which promotes the perception capability on a pixel level similar to video systems. In this paper, an occupancy grid map is created to model the static environment. The reflection amplitudes of all detection points are compensated, normalized, and then converted to the detection probability based on a radar sensor model. According to the movement of the ego vehicle, the a posteriori occupancy probability is computed to build the occupancy grid map. Thereafter the occupancy grid map is converted to the binary grid map, where the grids in the obstacle areas are defined as occupied. In order to eliminate the outliers, the connected occupied grids are clustered using the Connected-Component Labelling algorithm. Through the Moore-Neighbour Tracing algorithm the boundaries of the clustered occupied grids are recognized. Based on the boundaries, the interval-based free space detection is performed using the Bresenham's line algorithm. As mentioned, the occupancy grid map and the free space detection results obtained from radar road measurements match with the real scenarios.
Viral suppression after 12 months of antiretroviral therapy in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE To establish estimates of viral suppression in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in patients who received antiretroviral therapy (ART) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. METHODS Data on viral suppression after 12 months of ART in LMICs were collected from articles published in 2003 to 2011 and from abstracts of conferences held between 2009 and 2011. Pooled proportions for on-treatment and intention-to-treat populations were used as summary estimates. Random-effects models were used for heterogeneous groups of studies (I (2) > 75%). FINDINGS Overall, 49 studies covering 48 cohorts and 30 016 individuals met the inclusion criteria. With thresholds for suppression between 300 and 500 copies of viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) per ml of plasma, 84.3% (95% confidence interval, CI: 80.4-87.9) of the pooled on-treatment population and 70.5% (95% CI: 65.2-75.6) of the intention-to-treat population showed suppression. Use of different viral RNA thresholds changed the proportions showing suppression: to 84% and 76% of the on-treatment population with thresholds set above 300 and at or below 200 RNA copies per ml, respectively, and to 78%, 71% and 63% of the intention-to-treat population at thresholds set at 1000, 300 to 500, and 200 or fewer copies per ml, respectively. CONCLUSION The pooled estimates of viral suppression recorded after 12 months of ART in LMICs provide benchmarks that other ART programmes can use to set realistic goals and perform predictive modelling. Evidence from this review suggests that the current international target - i.e. viral suppression in > 70% of the intention-to-treat population, with a threshold of 1000 copies per ml - should be revised upwards.
IL-20 Receptor 2 Signaling Down-Regulates Antigen-Specific T Cell Responses1

The recently described cytokines IL-19, IL-20, and IL-24 share structural homology with IL-10 and are therefore classified as members of the IL-10 family of cytokines. Although it has long been speculated that signaling by their heterodimeric receptor complexes (IL-20R1/IL-20R2 and IL-22R/IL-20R2) influences immunological processes, the target cells for this group of cytokines are still unclear. By generating a knockout mouse strain deficient for the common IL-20R β-chain (IL-20R2), we show that IFN-γ and IL-2 secretion is significantly elevated after stimulation of IL-20R2−/−-deficient CD8 and CD4 T cells with Con A or anti-CD3/CD28 in vitro. IL-10 secretion by activated IL-20R2−/− CD4 cells was diminished. Consistent with our in vitro results, significantly more Ag-specific CD8 IFN-γ+ and CD4 IFN-γ+ T cells developed to locally applied DNA vaccines in IL-20R2-deficient mice. In a T cell-dependent model of contact hypersensitivity, IL-20R2 knockout mice were more sensitive to the contact allergen trinitro-chloro-benzene. Thus, IL-20R2 signaling directly regulates CD8 and CD4 T cell answers in vitro and in vivo. For the first time, we provide evidence that IL-19, IL-20, and IL-24 are part of a signaling network that normally down-modulates T cell responses in mice.
Keeping It Local: Evidence for Positive Selection in Swedish Arabidopsis thaliana

Detecting positive selection in species with heterogeneous habitats and complex demography is notoriously difficult and prone to statistical biases. The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana exemplifies this problem: In spite of the large amounts of data, little evidence for classic selective sweeps has been found. Moreover, many aspects of the demography are unclear, which makes it hard to judge whether the few signals are indeed signs of selection, or false positives caused by demographic events. Here, we focus on Swedish A. thaliana and we find that the demography can be approximated as a two-population model. Careful analysis of the data shows that such a two island model is characterized by a very old split time that significantly predates the last glacial maximum followed by secondary contact with strong migration. We evaluate selection based on this demography and find that this secondary contact model strongly affects the power to detect sweeps. Moreover, it affects the power differently for northern Sweden (more false positives) as compared with southern Sweden (more false negatives). However, even when the demographic history is accounted for, sweep signals in northern Sweden are stronger than in southern Sweden, with little or no positional overlap. Further simulations including the complex demography and selection confirm that this is not compatible with global selection acting on both populations, and thus can be taken as evidence for local selection within subpopulations of Swedish A. thaliana. This study demonstrates the necessity of combining demographic analyses and sweep scans for the detection of selection, particularly when selection acts predominantly local.
Estimation of the stands’ arithmetic mean diameter using manual method of digital photogrammetry

Background and Purpose: T he development of digital photogrammetry during the last twenty years has reopened the question of the possibility of its application in forest inventory. The focus of this paper is to research the potential of the manual method of digital photogrammetry for the estimation of diameter at breast height (DBH) at stand level. Material and Methods: The results (stands' arithmetic mean diameter) obtained by classical terrestrial measurement and photogrammetric measurement were compared for the selected part of the 'Donja Kup~ina – Pisarovina' management unit. Photogrammetric measurements of tree variables (height, crown diameter), necessary for DBH estimation, were carried out in the stereomodels of colour infrared digital images of 30 cm and 10 cm spatial resolution, i.e. ground sample distance (GSD) using digital photogrammetric workstation. Results: The repeated measures ANOVA testing determined statistically significant differences between the results obtained by terrestrial and photogrammetric measurements (GSD 10 cm and GSD 30 cm) of the arithmetic mean DBH of subcompartments. Furthermore, the testing determined no statistically significant differences between the 'trends' of estimating DBH by different methods. In other words, a 'pattern of constant overestimation' of DBH, taken by the photogrammetric measurement in relation to terrestrial measurement, was noted for all subcompartments. The value of overestimation was lesser in case of aerial images of GSD 10 cm (1.45–3.90 cm) and greater in case of images of GSD 30 cm (2.55–5.29 cm). Conclusions: Considering the obtained results, it can be concluded that the method used in this research may find its practical application primarily in forests of less intensive management (protective forests, forests with special purposes, privately-owned forests), where a compromise between the data collection costs and utilization value is necessary.
Investigating work-related neoplasia associated with solar radiation.

BACKGROUND Both solar and non-solar exposures associated with occupation and work tasks have been reported as skin carcinogens. In the UK, there are well-established surveillance schemes providing relevant information, including when exposures took place, occupation, location of work and dates of symptom onset and diagnosis. AIMS To add to the evidence on work-related skin neoplasia, including causal agents, geographical exposure and time lag between exposure and diagnosis. METHODS This study investigated incident case reports of occupational skin disease originating from clinical specialists in dermatology reporting to a UK-wide surveillance scheme (EPIDERM) by analysing case reports of skin neoplasia from 1996 to 2012 in terms of diagnosis, employment, suspected causal agent and symptom onset. RESULTS The suspected causal agent was 'sun/sunlight/ultraviolet light' in 99% of the reported work-related skin neoplasia cases. Most cases reported (91%) were in males, and the majority (62%) were aged over 65 at the time of reporting. More detailed information on exposure was available for 42% of the cases, with the median time from exposure to symptom onset ranging from 44 (melanoma) to 57 (squamous cell carcinoma) years. Irrespective of diagnostic category, the median duration of exposure to 'sun/sunlight/ultraviolet light' appeared longer where exposures occurred in the UK (range 39-51 years) rather than outside the UK (range 2.5-6.5 years). CONCLUSIONS It is important to provide effective information about skin protection to workers exposed to solar radiation, especially to outdoor workers based outside the UK.
Validation of the Parenting and Family Adjustment Scales to Measure Parenting Skills and Family Adjustment in Chinese Parents

ABSTRACT This study validated a parent-report measure of the Parenting and Family Adjustment Scales in a Chinese cultural context through investigating 650 Chinese parents. The results provided evidence for satisfactory reliability and validity of Parenting and Family Adjustment Scales in a Chinese context, which is thus promising to be used for Chinese parents.
Expressive Bayesian Voters , their Turnout Decisions , and Double Probit : Empirical Implications of a Theoretical Model

Voting is an expressive act. Since people are not born wanting to express themselves politically, the desire to vote must be acquired, either by learning about the candidates, by using party identi cation as a cognitive shortcut, or by contact from a trusted source. Modeled as Bayesian updating, this simple explanatory framework has dramatic implications for the understanding of voter turnout. It mathematically implies the main empirical generalizations familiar from the literature, it predicts hitherto unnoticed patterns that appear in turnout data, it provides a better tting statistical model (double probit) for sample surveys of turnout, and it allows researchers to forecast turnout patterns in new elections when circumstances change. Thus the case is strengthened for the Bayesian voter model as a central organizing principle for public opinion and voting behavior. In political life, noneconomic and/or nonegoistic motives seem to be even more important. Selfinterest cannot explain even the very basic fact that most people choose to vote.In order to do justice to these empirical facts, in my opinion we need to replace the onemotive theory of purely egoistic economic motivation with less restrictive motivational assumptions.  Harsanyi (1969, 519)
Recognition of motor imagery left and right hand movement using EEG

Brain computer interface (BCI) is one of the recent trends for the development of electroencephalogram (EEG) signal based, a human controlling device for a motor disable person. This paper aims to detect the left and right hand movement of motor disable person using EEG signals with the usage of Independent component analysis (ICA) technique and support vector machine (SVM) classifier. For signal classification, the amalgamations of the frequency domain and time domain features are used. The proposed system obtains an accuracy of 83% to 90% by using the standard publicly available EEG database, where some existing methods are implemented on the same datasets to detect same, there are obtaining less than 80% accuracy.
Analysis of Nuclear Norm Regularization for Full-rank Matrix Completion

In this paper, we provide a theoretical analysis of the nuclear-norm regularized least squares for full-rank matrix completion. Although similar formulations have been examined by previous studies, their results are unsatisfactory because only additive upper bounds are provided. Under the assumption that the top eigenspaces of the target matrix are incoherent, we derive a relative upper bound for recovering the best low-rank approximation of the unknown matrix. Our relative upper bound is tighter than previous additive bounds of other methods if the mass of the target matrix is concentrated on its top eigenspaces, and also implies perfect recovery if it is low-rank. The analysis is built upon the optimality condition of the regularized formulation and existing guarantees for low-rank matrix completion. To the best of our knowledge, this is first time such a relative bound is proved for the regularized formulation of matrix completion.
Arabic POS Tagging: Don’t Abandon Feature Engineering Just Yet

This paper focuses on comparing between using Support Vector Machine based ranking (SVM-Rank) and Bidirectional Long-Short-Term-Memory (bi-LSTM) neural-network based sequence labeling in building a state-of-the-art Arabic part-of-speech tagging system. Using SVM-Rank leads to state-of-the-art results, but with a fair amount of feature engineering. Using bi-LSTM, particularly when combined with word embeddings, may lead to competitive POS-tagging results by automatically deducing latent linguistic features. However, we show that augmenting bi-LSTM sequence labeling with some of the features that we used for the SVM-Rank based tagger yields to further improvements. We also show that gains that realized by using embeddings may not be additive with the gains achieved by the features. We are open-sourcing both the SVM-Rank and the bi-LSTM based systems for free.