Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accuracy measures for evaluating computer pointing devices

In view of the difficulties in evaluating computer pointing devices across different tasks within dynamic and complex systems, new performance measures are needed. This paper proposes seven new accuracy measures to elicit (sometimes subtle) differences among devices in precision pointing tasks. The measures are target re-entry, task axis crossing, movement direction change, orthogonal direction change, movement variability, movement error, and movement offset. Unlike movement time, error rate, and throughput, which are based on a single measurement per trial, the new measures capture aspects of movement behaviour during a trial. The theoretical basis and computational techniques for the measures are described, with examples given. An evaluation with four pointing devices was conducted to validate the measures. A causal relationship to pointing device efficiency (viz. throughput) was found, as was an ability to discriminate among devices in situations where differences did not otherwise appear. Implications for pointing device research are discussed.
Europeanization of the defence administration in spite of opting-out form military cooperation: Denmark and the ESDP

The paper looks into the administrative consequences of the Danish optout from the common European defence policy. It focuses on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence. It is shown that in spite of the opt-out, a considerable Europeanization has taken place of the internal organization of the Danish defence administration and of the decision-making processes related to the ESDP. The changes in the Foreign Ministry are linked to Denmark’s participation in the CFSP whereas the Europeanization of the Defence Department is tied to the changes in the ESDP. To a large extent, the Europeanization of the Danish defence administration is explained by decisions and actions taken by the civil servants involved.
Mixing Confidential Transactions: Comprehensive Transaction Privacy for Bitcoin

The public nature of the blockchain has been shown to be a severe threat for the privacy of Bitcoin users. Even worse, since funds can be tracked and tainted, no two coins are equal, and fungibility, a fundamental property required in every currency, is at risk. With these threats in mind, several privacy-enhancing technologies have been proposed to improve transaction privacy in Bitcoin. However, they either require a deep redesign of the currency, breaking many currently deployed features, or they address only specific privacy issues and consequently provide only very limited guarantees when deployed separately. The goal of this work is to overcome this trade-off. Building on CoinJoin, we design ValueShuffle, the first coin mixing protocol compatible with Confidential Transactions, a proposed enhancement to the Bitcoin protocol to hide payment values in the blockchain. ValueShuffle ensures the anonymity of mixing participants as well as the confidentiality of their payment values even against other possibly malicious mixing participants. By combining CoinJoin with Confidential Transactions and additionally Stealth Addresses, ValueShuffle provides comprehensive privacy (payer anonymity, payee anonymity, and payment value privacy) without breaking with fundamental design principles or features of the current Bitcoin system. Assuming that Confidential Transactions will be integrated in the Bitcoin protocol, ValueShuffle makes it possible to mix funds of different value as well as to mix and spend funds in the same transaction, which overcomes the two main limitations of previous coin mixing protocols.
Vintage Capital, Distortions and Development

This paper asks to what extent distortions to the adoption of new technology cause income inequality across nations. We work in the framework of embodied technological progress with an individual, C.E. S. production function. We estimate the parameters of this production function from international data and calibrate the model, using U.S. National Income statistics. Our analysis suggests that distortions account for a bigger portion of income inequality than hitherto has been assessed.
HIV Disclosure in South Africa : Enabling the Gateway to Effective Response

The sheer scale of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa has finally led to an expanded global response. South Africa, a nation where more than 5 million people are estimated to be HIV infected, has established large scale prevention and treatment programmes. Disclosure of one's HIV status is an essential part of behaviour modification, access to HIV treatment and management programmes and for decreasing levels of community stigma. We examined the possible causes for widely differing rates of disclosure in two South African communities of similar ethnic and cultural mix. Qualitative interviews were carried out in 18 households with 25 individuals, and thematic analsyses was undertaken. Findings included the negotiation of HIV disclosure, the 'unburdening' of a positive status, and the ability to become involved in community activism and leadership. In both communities, disclosure was the catalyst for access to a variety of important, and often essential resources required to respond effectively to the impact of HIV/AIDS-related shocks. HIV positive people in the community with higher rates of disclosure had greater access formal institutional support through local NGOs and government social services and greater opportunities to take a positive leadership role as HIV positive individuals in the community. The creation of an enabling, resource-rich environment for HIV disclosure holds the potential to form a virtuous cycle whereby individuals are more likely to disclose, thus offering personal and community benefits, and further perpetuating disclosure at all levels within society. iii Acknowledgements
Laboratory Indicators of Aggrecan Turnover in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Objectives. Evaluation of chondroitin sulfate (CS), as an early marker of aggrecan degradation, and chondroitin sulfate 846 epitope (CS846), as a biomarker of CS synthesis, is an attempt at answering the question whether the therapy used in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients contributes to the normalization of biochemical changes in aggrecan. Methods and Results. Serum levels of CS and CS846 as well as catalase (CT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities in erythrocyte were assessed in patients before and after treatment. In the course of JIA, aggrecan metabolism is disturbed, which is reflected by a decrease (p < 0.001) in CS serum level and an increase (p < 0.05) in CS846 concentration. Furthermore, increased (p < 0.001) activities of CT, SOD, and GPx in untreated JIA patients were recorded. The anti-inflammatory treatment resulted in the normalization of CS846 level and SOD and GPx activities. In untreated patients, we have revealed a significant correlation between serum CS and CS846, CT, CRP, ESR, MMP-3, and ADAMTS-4, respectively, as well as between CS846 and CT, GPx, CRP, ESR, and TGF-β1, respectively. Conclusion. The observed changes of CS and CS846 in JIA patients indicate a further need of the therapy continuation aimed at protecting a patient from a possible disability.
Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio as a predictive factor for tumor staging in colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM In the preoperative period, simple methods to identify the tumor stage of colorectal cancer patients are needed. In recent years, the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been used as a predictive parameter for systemic inflammatory response in many different clinical entities. This study aims to determine if the NLR predicts the tumor stage in colorectal cancer patients in the preoperative period. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 206 patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer and admitted for surgical treatment over a 6-year period were identified from a retrospectively maintained database. NLR was calculated from preoperative full blood counts. NLRs were compared with the tumor stages as determined in histopathological reports and scanning tests to determine the extent of metastasis. RESULTS We found NLRs to be statistically higher in patients with T3 and T4 tumors than in patients with T1 and T2 tumors (mean: 5.261 vs. 4.499, respectively, P = 0.010). Similarly, we found statistically higher NLR values in the N1 and N2 groups than in the NO group (mean: 6.597 vs. 4.501, respectively, P < 0.001). Additionally, NLRs were statistically higher in M1 patients than in MO patients (mean: 8.261 vs. 5.158, respectively, P = 0.004). CONCLUSION In the preoperative period, NLR was found to be a valuable predictive parameter for tumor staging in patients with colorectal cancer, thus informing us as to the kind of tumor we will meet when we open the abdomen.
LOCATION-AWARE COMMUNICATIONS FOR 5 G NETWORKS

5G networks will be the first generation to benefit from location information that is sufficiently precise to be leveraged in wireless network design and optimization. We argue that location information can aid in addressing several of the key challenges in 5G, complementary to existing and planned technological developments. These challenges include an increase in traffic and number of devices, robustness for mission-critical services, and a reduction in total energy consumption and latency. This paper gives a broad overview of the growing research area of location-aware communications across different layers of the protocol stack. We highlight several promising trends, tradeoffs, and pitfalls.
Co-Authorship Networks of Scientific Collaboration

This study analyzes collaborative and networked academic authorship in higher education. The literature review shows evidence that single authorship has made a gradual paradigm shift to joint authorship. The empirical evidence from the Turku University of Applied Sciences indicates that collaborative authorship has notably increased in the last few years. Co-authorship has extended outside the institution to other domestic and international academic organizations. Co-authorship not only increase the merits of academic scholars but builds and maintains networks of research and development. The results of this study help the authors, editors and partners of research and development projects to have a more concrete understanding of how co-authorship has developed and spread beyond higher education institutions.
The Distance to NGC 5128 (Centaurus A)

Abstract In this paper we review the various high precision methods that are now available to determine the distance to NGC 5128. These methods include: Cepheids, TRGB (tip of the red giant branch), PNLF (planetary nebula luminosity function), SBF (surface brightness fluctuations), and Long Period Variable (LPV) Mira stars. From an evaluation of these methods and their uncertainties, we derive a best-estimate distance of 3.8±0.1 Mpc to NGC 5128 and find that this mean is now well supported by the current data. We also discuss the role of NGC 5128 more generally for the extragalactic distance scale as a testbed for the most direct possible comparison among these key methods.
Comparison of empirical correlations for the estimation of conjugate heat transfer in a thrust chamber

Due to high temperatures and pressures in the thrust chamber, regenerative cooling along with film cooling is one of the basic requirements for safe operation. This is ensured by controlling the rate of heat transfer from the walls of chamber through the coolant flow rate. For optimum performance of thrust chamber using efficient combustion, specific heat transfer rates through the nozzle section are required to guarantee the structure integrity of the chamber. Analytical procedures for the thermal design of thrust chambers are fairly limited and designers have to rely on empirical relationships and/or computational methods to calculate the heat transfer rates. Experimental correlations are usually used to predict heat transfer through the internal wall however the exact mechanism of heat transfer is not fully understood. Here a comparison of analytical and empirical approaches has been made for a simplified geometry consisting of two concentric shells. The simplified geometry allows direct application of analytical approach and provides a test ground for the empirical approaches. Results for heat flux and hot side wall temperatures are also compared with a coupled numerical simulation using commercial software Fluent. While estimations for cooling fluid outlet temperature and temperature of outer wall of coolant shell are also compared with the experimental data. The comparison indicates that the analytical method for the heat transfer calculation matches the numerical simulations and experimental data reasonably well. [Iqbal M.J, Sheikh N.A. , Ali H.M. , Khushnood S. , Arif M. Comparison of empirical correlations for the estimation of conjugate heat transfer in a thrust chamber. Life Sci J 2012;9(4):708-716] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 111
Participation in Vocational Education and Training to Age 24. LSAY Briefing Number 17.

Participation in education and training after leaving secondary school has long been recognised as an important pathway for young people in Australia. Recent changes to secondary education have seen many schools offering vocational education, including arrangements for young people to combine school study with apprenticeships and traineeships.Post-school study offers opportunities to concentrate in specific fields, extending interests that may have developed while at school and developing skills in new fields of interest. This includes university study (or ‘higher education’) and programs of vocational education and training (VET). VET comprises apprenticeships and traineeships (amalgamated under the title ‘Australian Apprenticeships’) and non-apprenticeship courses offered at publicly funded TAFE institutions and private VET providers.University study holds a distinct place in Australian society, as it provides a pathway into professional occupations. University graduates are consistently shown to have superior outcomes, in terms of employment and earnings. Does VET study provide an equivalent pathway for young people interested in non-academic careers? Are there similar benefits for those who participate in VET programs? The data for this
Neural Morphological Tagging from Characters for Morphologically Rich Languages

This paper investigates neural character-based morphological tagging for languages with complex morphology and large tag sets. We systematically explore a variety of neural architectures (DNN, CNN, CNNHighway, LSTM, BLSTM) to obtain character-based word vectors combined with bidirectional LSTMs to model across-word context in an end-to-end setting. We explore supplementary use of word-based vectors trained on large amounts of unlabeled data. Our experiments for morphological tagging suggest that for "simple" model configurations, the choice of the network architecture (CNN vs. CNNHighway vs. LSTM vs. BLSTM) or the augmentation with pre-trained word embeddings can be important and clearly impact the accuracy. Increasing the model capacity by adding depth, for example, and carefully optimizing the neural networks can lead to substantial improvements, and the differences in accuracy (but not training time) become much smaller or even negligible. Overall, our best morphological taggers for German and Czech outperform the best results reported in the literature by a large margin.
Entropy, majorization and thermodynamics in general probabilistic theories

In this note we lay some groundwork for the resource theory of thermodynamics in general probabilistic theories (GPTs). We consider theories satisfying a purely convex abstraction of the spectral decomposition of density matrices: that every state has a decomposition, with unique probabilities, into perfectly distinguishable pure states. The spectral entropy, and analogues using other Schur-concave functions, can be defined as the entropy of these probabilities. We describe additional conditions under which the outcome probabilities of a fine-grained measurement are majorized by those for a spectral measurement, and therefore the "spectral entropy" is the measurement entropy (and therefore concave). These conditions are (1) projectivity, which abstracts aspects of the Lueders-von Neumann projection postulate in quantum theory, in particular that every face of the state space is the positive part of the image of a certain kind of projection operator called a filter; and (2) symmetry of transition probabilities. The conjunction of these, as shown earlier by Araki, is equivalent to a strong geometric property of the unnormalized state cone known as perfection: that there is an inner product according to which every face of the cone, including the cone itself, is self-dual. Using some assumptions about the thermodynamic cost of certain processes that are partially motivated by our postulates, especially projectivity, we extend von Neumann's argument that the thermodynamic entropy of a quantum system is its spectral entropy to generalized probabilistic systems satisfying spectrality.
A full and thankful heart: writings about gratitude by Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder, Bill Wilson

Abstract Background: A robust literature on gratitude has accumulated in recent years as a result of the positive psychology movement. Gratitude is a prominent theme in the 12 step program Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), and yet there is little empirical research on the role of gratitude in addiction recovery, and less still on the role of gratitude in AA. Method: Thematic analysis and grounded theory methodology were employed to produce a framework of AA co-founder Wilson’s conceptualization of gratitude in AA. In the AA text, As Bill Sees It, 17 pages are indexed to the topic “gratitude. ” The content of these pages served as data for the current study. Results: The resulting conceptual framework depicts three themes which describe a circular process: (1) benefactors exist in the form of God and other people, the benefactors (2) provide “gifts,” most notably the AA program and recovery from alcoholism, and (3) these gifts are reciprocated. Conclusions: The findings closely map to psychological and philosophical depictions of gratitude as something that involves the aid of a benefactor in the provision of gifts that are unearned and cannot be repaid but which motivate reciprocation. The conceptual framework reveals constructs related to gratitude such as humility, arrogance, relationship to God, and interpersonal social support. These constructs can be examined as phenomena that co-occur with gratitude or as mechanisms of the effect of gratitude on recovery in future research.
Altered membrane trafficking in activated bone marrow‐derived macrophages

Activation of macrophages with interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) leads to increased intracellular resistance to microbes and increased major histocompatibility complex class II‐restricted antigen presentation, processes that both use the vacuolar compartment. Despite the requirement of the macrophage vacuolar compartment for microbicidal activities and antigen processing, the rates of endocytosis and membrane trafficking in activated macrophages are not clearly defined. In this study, vacuolar compartment dynamics were analyzed in murine bone marrow‐derived macrophages activated with LPS and/or IFN‐γ, conditions that increased macrophage nitric oxide production and resistance to infection by Listeria monocytogenes. Relative to nonactivated cells, activated macrophages showed diminished rates of fluid‐phase pinocytosis and phagocytosis and delayed progression of macropinosomes and phagosomes to late endosomes and lysosomes. In contrast to the slowing of membrane trafficking, rates of macropinosome acidification were similar between activated and nonactivated cells. One consequence of this slowed membrane trafficking in activated macrophages was a prolonged exposure of incoming molecules to an acidic nonlysosomal compartment, a condition which may facilitate microbicidal chemistries or antigen processing.
The use and effect of social capital in new venture creation: Solo entrepreneurs vs. new venture teams

This paper examines the use of social capital in the venture creation process. We compare solo entrepreneurs (n=182) and new venture teams (n=274) from a random sample of start-ups in innovative industries and test social capital use and its effects on firm performance. Our results reveal that solo entrepreneurs and new venture teams do not differ in their degree of use of social capital. However, there are differences in the determinants of social capital use in both groups. We find that weak ties assist solo entrepreneurs and have positive significant effects on new venture performance. For team start-ups, we find no direct effect of social capital. However, further tests indicate for teams that human capital variety positively moderates the effect of social capital on performance.
The Microeconomics of Vessel Behavior: A Detailed Short-Run Analysis of the Effects of Regulation

A model is introduced which demonstrates how vessel owners choose the optimal combination of trip length, gear used per day, and trips per season under open access and under various types of regulation. The nature of the model allows for an explicit analysis of current management tools (i.e., days at sea and trip limits), which is not possible using a traditional composite effort variable. The analysis describes the different margins along which inefficiencies can be introduced by traditional regulations and demonstrates how vessel operation and output will change in the short run. One new conclusion is that while binding regulations will always reduce profitability, in some cases they can actually increase annual output. In addition, the paper presents new insights concerning vessel operation under IQs and ITQs.
HDAC6 Inhibitor Blocks Amyloid Beta-Induced Impairment of Mitochondrial Transport in Hippocampal Neurons

Even though the disruption of axonal transport is an important pathophysiological factor in neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease (AD), the relationship between disruption of axonal transport and pathogenesis of AD is poorly understood. Considering that α-tubulin acetylation is an important factor in axonal transport and that Aβ impairs mitochondrial axonal transport, we manipulated the level of α-tubulin acetylation in hippocampal neurons with Aβ cultured in a microfluidic system and examined its effect on mitochondrial axonal transport. We found that inhibiting histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6), which deacetylates α-tubulin, significantly restored the velocity and motility of the mitochondria in both anterograde and retrograde axonal transports, which would be otherwise compromised by Aβ. The inhibition of HDAC6 also recovered the length of the mitochondria that had been shortened by Aβ to a normal level. These results suggest that the inhibition of HDAC6 significantly rescues hippocampal neurons from Aβ-induced impairment of mitochondrial axonal transport as well as mitochondrial length. The results presented in this paper identify HDAC6 as an important regulator of mitochondrial transport as well as elongation and, thus, a potential target whose pharmacological inhibition contributes to improving mitochondrial dynamics in Aβ treated neurons.
High levels of pre-treatment HIV drug resistance and treatment failure in Nigerian children

Pre‐treatment HIV drug resistance (PDR) is an increasing problem in sub‐Saharan Africa. Children are an especially vulnerable population to develop PDR given that paediatric second‐line treatment options are limited. Although monitoring of PDR is important, data on the paediatric prevalence in sub‐Saharan Africa and its consequences for treatment outcomes are scarce. We designed a prospective paediatric cohort study to document the prevalence of PDR and its effect on subsequent treatment failure in Nigeria, the country with the second highest number of HIV‐infected children in the world.