Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Study and Refactoring of Android Asynchronous Programming (T)

To avoid unresponsiveness, a core part of mobile development is asynchronous programming. Android providesseveral async constructs that developers can use. However, developers can still use the inappropriate async constructs, which result in memory leaks, lost results, and wasted energy. Fortunately, refactoring tools can eliminate these problems by transforming async code to use the appropriate constructs. In this paper we conducted a formative study on a corpusof 611 widely-used Android apps to map the asynchronouslandscape of Android apps, understand how developers retrofit asynchrony, and learn about barriers encountered by developers. Based on this study, we designed, implemented, and evaluated ASYNCDROID, a refactoring tool which enables Android developers to transform existing improperly-used async constructs into correct constructs. Our empirical evaluation shows that ASYNCDROID is applicable, accurate, and saves developers effort. We submitted 45 refactoring patches, and developers consider that the refactorings are useful.
Mn tolerance in rice is mediated by MTP8.1, a member of the cation diffusion facilitator family

Manganese (Mn) is an essential micronutrient for plants, but is toxic when present in excess. The rice plant (Oryza sativa L.) accumulates high concentrations of Mn in the aerial parts; however, the molecular basis for Mn tolerance is poorly understood. In the present study, genes encoding Mn tolerance were screened for by expressing cDNAs of genes from rice shoots in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A gene encoding a cation diffusion facilitator (CDF) family member, OsMTP8.1, was isolated, and its expression was found to enhance Mn accumulation and tolerance in S. cerevisiae. In plants, OsMTP8.1 and its transcript were mainly detected in shoots. High or low supply of Mn moderately induced an increase or decrease in the accumulation of OsMTP8.1, respectively. OsMTP8.1 was detected in all cells of leaf blades through immunohistochemistry. OsMTP8.1 fused to green fluorescent protein was localized to the tonoplast. Disruption of OsMTP8.1 resulted in decreased chlorophyll levels, growth inhibition in the presence of high concentrations of Mn, and decreased accumulation of Mn in shoots and roots. However, there was no difference in the accumulation of other metals, including Zn, Cu, Fe, Mg, Ca, and K. These results suggest that OsMTP8.1 is an Mn-specific transporter that sequesters Mn into vacuoles in rice and is required for Mn tolerance in shoots.
Centrifuge modeling of one-step outflow tests for unsaturated parameter estimations

Abstract. Centrifuge modeling of one-step outflow tests were carried out using a 2-m radius geotechnical centrifuge, and the cumulative outflow and transient pore water pressure were measured during the tests at multiple gravity levels. Based on the scaling laws of centrifuge modeling, the measurements generally showed reasonable agreement with prototype data calculated from forward simulations with input parameters determined from standard laboratory tests. The parameter optimizations were examined for three different combinations of input data sets using the test measurements. Within the gravity level examined in this study up to 40 g , the optimized unsaturated parameters compared well when accurate pore water pressure measurements were included along with cumulative outflow as input data. With its capability to implement variety of instrumentations under well controlled initial and boundary conditions and to shorten testing time, the centrifuge modeling technique is attractive as an alternative experimental method that provides more freedom to set inverse problem conditions for the parameter estimation.
Mid-arm muscle circumference as a significant predictor of all-cause mortality in male individuals

Background Emerging evidences indicate that mid-arm muscle circumference (MAMC) is one of the anthropometric indicators that reflect health and nutritional status, but its correlative effectiveness in all-cause mortality prediction of United States individuals remains uncertain. Methods and findings design We investigated the joint association between MAMC and all-cause mortality in the US general population. A population-based longitudinal study of 6,769 participants aged 40 to 90 years in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All participants were divided into two groups based on the gender: male and female group; each group was then divided into three subgroups depending on their MAMC level. The tertiles were as follows: T1 (18<27.3), T2 (27.3<29.6), T3 (29.6≤40.0) cm in the male group and T1 (15<22.3), T2 (22.3<24.6), T3 (24.6≤44.0) cm in the female group. Multivariable Cox regression analyses and Kaplan–Meier survival probabilities were utilized to jointly relate all-cause mortality risk to different MAMC level. For all-cause mortality in male participants, multivariable adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were 0.83 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.69–0.98; p = 0.033) for MAMC of 27.3–29.6 cm compared with 18–27.3 cm, and 0.76 (95% CI: 0.61–0.95; p = 0.018) for MAMC of 29.6–40 cm compared with 18–27.3 cm. For all-cause mortality in female participants, multivariable adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were 0.84 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.69–1.02; p = 0.075) for MAMC of 22.3–24.6 cm compared with 15–22.3 cm, and 0.94 (95% CI: 0.75–1.17; p = 0.583) for MAMC of 24.6–44 cm compared with 15–22.3 cm. Conclusion Results support a lower MAMC is associated with a higher mortality risk in male individuals.
Developing Models for the Forage Ratios of Culiseta melanura and Culex erraticus using Species Characteristics for Avian Hosts

ABSTRACT Studies of mosquito preferences for avian hosts have found that some bird species are at greater risk than others of being fed upon by mosquitoes. The ecological factors that determine this interspecific variation in avian host use by mosquitoes have been little studied, despite the possibility that such variation may influence spatial and temporal patterns of the occurrence of mosquito-borne pathogens. Our objective was to identify ecological variables associated with the avian host forage ratios estimated from a previous study of mosquito feeding patterns in Tuskegee National Forest, AL. We used species' characteristics derived from the literature to develop multiple linear regression models for the forage ratios of Culiseta melanura (Coquillett) and Culex erraticus (Dyar & Knab) for avian hosts. We found that habitat-edge association and body mass of avian host species were the best predictors of forage ratios of Cx. erraticus for avian hosts. Although no avian host traits were inferred to be strong predictors of forage ratios of Cs. melanura, body mass had the greatest importance weight among those considered. Our results suggest that characteristics of avian hosts may predict their levels of use by some mosquito species.
Knowledge Modelling and Comparison of Cyanide-free Gold Leaching Processes - Research Summary

There is increasing pressure from authorities in many countries to find cyanide-free methods for gold processing due to environmental and safety risks. Therefore, it is now under investigation whether the knowledge extraction and formalization procedure can be applied for comparing cyanide-free leaching methods for a certain type of raw material. Research is needed to determine and code the similarity models related to cyanide-free processes. The task is chal-lenging, since most of the processes are still in the development phase and there is not much information available on the new-coming processes.
Tandem Smart Cards: Enforcing Trust for TLS-Based Network Services

This paper presents a new concept, called tandem, dedicated to smart cards that control TLS-based applications. The originality of this approach is to introduce a collaborative process between a smart card and its docking host. This technology enables the secure downloading of a huge amount of data, in untrustworthy computers. We present software paradigms and APIs that facilitate the practical deployment of such cards. We analyze experimental results, obtained with four commercial SIM cards and general purpose java cards.
Perceived value of internship experience: a try before you leap

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how internship value is manifested in the context of a business school. The authors have examined the internship experience in terms of experiential learning and employability. Specifically, the authors investigate the factors that determine internship at four phases: design, conduct, evaluation and feedback. Design/methodology/approach The authors have applied a mixed method approach. In all, 110 students of a busines school were first surveyed on their expectation, motivation and level of preparation through a self-administered questionnaire before internship. Based on the survey result, eight of these students were interviewed in details about internship expectations from industry, the selection process for internship, communications or exchanges between intern and companies prior to internship and perceived industry expectation from interns. At the next phase, authors used a qualitative research approach by conducting semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 14 interns and their mentors after internship period. They were interviewed on design, conduct, evaluation and feedback process of the internship. Interviews tried capture what kind of leader-member exchange led to satisfactory internship experience and outcome from view of both inter and mentor. Findings The authors find that at various stages of internship program quality of mentor – intern exchanges (as defined by leadership exchange theory), and task characteristics as indicated by autonomy, task variety, task significance and performance feedback determine intern’s performance. An intern’s performance is antecedent to an intern’s and a mentor’s satisfaction and overall internship value. The authors also found that intrinsic capability of intern such as critical thinking ability and learning orientation result in enhanced value of internship experience. The proposed models, postulate that at designing stage, lower the level of communication from employers, higher the feeling of ambiguity and lower the perceived internship value in terms of experiential learning and perceived employability. Feeling of ambiguity is moderated by existence of prior work experience of interns. At conduction stage, mentor-intern exchange is directly related to flexibility in structure of the program and inversely related to dependency on peer learning. Mentor-intern exchange also related to mentor and intern’s learning value. However, the learning value is moderated by learning orientation of the intern. Originality/value The authors have tried the summer internship experience from the perspective of interns and mentors. This is the uniqueness of the research.
Neurocysticercosis in Houston, Texas: An Update

Neurocysticercosis, one of the most common parasitic infections of the human nervous system, has emerged as an important infection in the United States. Neurocysticercosis causes significant morbidity associated with acute seizures, chronic epilepsy, and hydrocephalus. We retrospectively identified patients with definitive or probable neurocysticercosis seen at Ben Taub General Hospital, the largest public teaching hospital in Houston, Texas, from September 1997 through December 2005. We collected demographic, clinical, therapeutic, and outcome variables. Neurocysticercosis was classified according to the location of cysts in imaging studies. We compared cases with parenchymal and extraparenchymal disease. We included 111 patients (48 had definitive and 63 probable neurocysticercosis). The mean age was 28.6 years (standard deviation, 13.6 yr), and the male to female ratio was 2:1. Most patients (93%) were Hispanic immigrants. Sixty (54%) patients had parenchymal disease, 22 (20%) intraventricular, 13 (12%) subarachnoid disease, and 13 (12%) had calcifications only. Additionally, 2 patients had hydrocephalus only, and 1 had ocular cysticercosis. Thirteen (40%) of 32 patients with parenchymal disease and 3 (30%) of 10 patients with calcifications had relapsed seizures at follow-up. Extraparenchymal disease was associated with longer duration of hospitalization compared with parenchymal disease. No deaths were identified in our series during a median follow-up of 1 year. Neurocysticercosis has emerged as an important parasitic infection in developed countries as a result of increased migration. With current management, mortality is limited, but there continues to be significant morbidity. Further studies of the epidemiology and pathophysiology of the infection are urgently needed to develop better preventive and therapeutic strategies. Abbreviations BTGH = Ben Taub General Hospital, CSF = cerebrospinal fluid, CT = computed tomography, EITB = enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot, HCHD = Harris County Hospital District, ICD9 = International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, MRI = magnetic resonance imaging, NCC = neurocysticercosis, US = United States, VPS = ventriculoperitoneal shunt.
Comparison of ground‐based 3‐dimensional lightning mapping observations with satellite‐based LIS observations in Oklahoma

3‐dimensional lightning mapping observations obtained in central Oklahoma by the New Mexico Tech Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) have been compared with optical observations of the discharges from space obtained by NASA's Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS). Excellent spatial and temporal correlations were obtained between the two sets of observations. All lightning discharges seen by LIS were mapped by the LMA. Most of the detected optical events were associated with lightning channels that extended into the upper part of the storm. Cloud‐to‐ground discharges that were confined to mid‐ and lower‐altitudes were less well detected than intracloud discharges, and tended to be detected late in the discharge. Intracloud discharges were readily detected by LIS as soon as they extended into the upper part of the storm, and often extensively illuminated the cloud at the end or part way through the discharge. The extensive illumination was impulsive in nature and was also seen at the end of some cloud‐to‐ground discharges.
Review of the Literature on Stress and Wellbeing of International Students in English-Speaking Countries

This review aims to address the major sources of stress experienced by international students, the role of individual differences, the chronology of their stress levels and wellbeing over time, and gaps in the existing literature. Two electronic databases (PubMed and Psych Info) were searched for English peer-reviewed articles using eight search terms. Thirty-eight studies were included in this paper and divided into themes and sub-themes including sources of stress, individual differences and mental health including stress, depression and wellbeing. The findings highlight major stressors and show mixed results in some areas due to the lack of homogenous samples based on country of origin or ethnicity and sometimes context differences concerning the country or university social dynamics. Limitations were identified in the methodology, and several recommendations for future research are included.
Congestion Control for Scalable VBR Video with Packet Pair Assistance

The SVC (scalable video coding) extension to the recent video compression standard H.264/MPEG-4 AVC paves the way for video congestion control, by allowing flexible on-the-fly adjustments of the sending rate. We study the interaction between TFRC (TCP-friendly rate control) and application level rate control, and observe that TFRC requires relatively large router buffers to keep packet loss on acceptable levels. In turn, this leads to increased jitter which excludes delay sensitive applications. As a response, the packet pair assisted congestion control is presented and compared with TFRC. The two transport protocols are simulated in a DiffServ environment, and we find that proper congestion control may replace complex admission control mechanisms without sacrificing utilization or QoS guarantees. In fact, the results indicate that semi-elastic video can be sent in an AF (assured forwarding) class with small buffers, leaving the EF (expedited forwarding) class to traffic with more extreme delay requirements.
Expressing model constraints visually with VMQL

OCL is the de facto standard language for expressing constraints and queries on UML models. However, OCL expressions are very difficult to create, understand, and maintain, even with the sophisticated tool support now available. In this paper, we propose to use the Visual Model Query Language (VMQL) for specifying constraints on UML models. We examine VMQL's usability by controlled experiments and its expressiveness by a representative sample. We conclude that VMQL is less expressive than OCL, although expressive enough for most of the constraints in the sample. In terms of usability, however, VMQL is superior to OCL, although the experimental evidence we present here is not as compelling as the one we presented when comparing VMQL and OCL on model querying.
The journey to antiretroviral therapy in Karnataka, India: who was lost on the road?

One important operational challenge facing antiretroviral treatment (ART) programmes in low‐ and middle‐income countries is the loss to follow‐up between diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and initiation of ART. This is a major obstacle to achieving universal access to ART. This study from Karnataka, India, tried to measure such losses by determining the number of HIV‐positive individuals diagnosed, the number of them reaching ART centres, the number initiated on ART and the reasons for non‐initiation of ART.
Examination of the PC-PTSD in previously deployed Air Force Medical Service personnel

ABSTRACT This study assessed the performance of the PC-PTSD in diagnosing postdeployment posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a cohort of Air Force Medical Services personnel (N = 18,530). The prevalence of PTSD in the cohort was 5.18% based on medical record data. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.69, indicating poor classification accuracy. Sensitivity was 47.55%, specificity was 90.68%, positive predictive value was 21.79%, and negative predictive value was 96.94%. The positive and negative likelihood ratios were 5.10 and 0.58, respectively. Several risk factors were found to be associated with a diagnosis of postdeployment PTSD: being a nurse, being enlisted in the medical service career field, being enlisted in the mental health service career field, those over age 30, being a member of the Active Duty service component, and having one’s first deployment be to Iraq. Being an officer was found to be a protective characteristic. These factors could potentially improve screening for PTSD among Air Force healthcare personnel.
Effectiveness of 1% versus 0.2% chlorhexidine gels in reducing alveolar osteitis from mandibular third molar surgery: A randomized, double-blind clinical trial

Purpose: Alveolar osteitis (AO) is the most common postoperative complication of dental extractions. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of 1% versus 0.2% chlorhexidine (CHX) gel in reducing postoperative AO after surgical extraction of mandibular third molars, and assess the impact of treatment on the Oral HealthRelated Quality of Life (OHRQoL). Material and Methods: This clinical study was a randomized, double-blind clinical trial. Eighty eight patients underwent surgical extraction of one retained mandibular third molar with the intra-alveolar application of 0.2% CHX gel. Afterwards, they were assigned to one of two groups: 1% CHX gel (n=42) or 0.2% CHX gel (n=46). The patients applied the gel twice a day to the wound for one week. All patients were evaluated for AO. Results: In the 0.2% CHX gel group, 13% of AO incidence was found, while in the 1% CHX gel group, AO incidence was 7%, a difference that was not statistically significant. Variables such as sensation of pain and inflammation at baseline and during one week, as well as OHRQoL of the patients at 24 hours and 7 days post-extraction, gave no statistically significant differences. Conclusions: There are no significant differences in AO after surgical extraction of mandibular third molars, when comparing applying 1% CHX gel twice a day for 7 days with 0.2% CHX gel. Key words:Alveolar osteitis, chlorhexidine gel, third molar.
Optimal control of a voice-coil-motor with Coulombic friction

The voice-coil-motor is a widely used mechatronic device, which represents a typical electrodynamic actuator for machine tool axes, bonding machines and hydraulic/pneumatic valve drives. One principal task consists in steering the system precisely to a prescribed target in minimal time or with minimal energy. To achieve this goal, we formulate an optimal control problem using a dynamical system derived in Zirn [19]. Since Coulombic friction is modelled by a jump function depending on the sign of the velocity, the optimal control problem belongs the class of nonsmooth optimization problems. We show that time-optimal controls are bang-bang for all physically reasonable control bounds. Switching times are directly optimized by nonlinear programming methods, which also allow to compute parametric sensitivity derivatives. Energy-optimal solutions are presented for several fixed final times.
Heart rate recovery and heart rate variability: use and relevance in European professional soccer

Abstract The study objectives are (1) to draw up an inventory of the use of heart rate recovery (HRR) and heart rate variability (HRV) by European professional football clubs, and (2) to analyse these practices in relation with the scientific literature. A survey was filled by 137 clubs playing in the top European divisions. The survey had the aim of identifying the procedures for the use of HRR and HRV. Within respondents, 50% used HRR and 36% HRV; the 47% that do not use HRR deemed it to be of no interest and the 54% that do not use HRV deemed it too restrictive. A total of 28 and 24 procedures for the use of HRR and HRV were, respectively, identified. Resting HRV in the morning and after standardised submaximal exercise were the most represented, with the parasympathetic indices of HRV the most used. The use of HRR and HRV is not widespread or consensual. The lack of consensus noted here stresses the need to identify the procedures to better determine HRR and HRV, and to make them more practical for their use by the clubs for identifying facets of players’ recovery, readiness and adaptation during different phases of the season.
Ext3cow: The Design, Implementation, and Analysis of Metadata for a Time-Shifting File System

The ext3cow file system, built on Linux’s popular ext3 file system, brings snapshot functionality and file versioning to the open-source community. Our implementation of ext3cow has several desirable properties: ext3cow is implemented entirely in the file system and, therefore, does not modify kernel interfaces or change the operation of other file systems; ext3cow provides a time-shifting interface that permits access to data in the past without polluting the file system namespace; and, ext3cow creates versions of files on disk without copying data in memory. Experimental results show that the time-shifting functions of ext3cow do not degrade file system performance. Ext3cow performs comparably to ext3 on many file system benchmarks and trace driven experiments.