Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interacting with Big Interfaces on Small Screens: a Comparison of Fisheye, Zoom, and Panning Techniques

Mobile devices with small screens are becoming more common, and will soon be powerful enough to run desktop software. However, the large interfaces of desktop applications do not fit on the small screens. Although there are ways to redesign a UI to fit a smaller area, there are many cases where the only solution is to navigate the large UI with the small screen. The best way to do this, however, is not known. We compared three techniques for using large interfaces on small screens: a panning system similar to what is in current use, a two-level zoom system, and a fisheye view. We tested the techniques with three realistic tasks. We found that people were able to carry out a web navigation task significantly faster with the fisheye view, that the two-level zoom was significantly better for a monitoring task, and that people were slowest with the panning system.
Multiple time–scale dynamics of stage structured populations and derivative–free optimization

The parent-progeny (adult fish–juvenile) relationship is central to understanding the dynamics of fish populations. Management and harvest decisions are based on the assumption of a stock-recruitment function that relates the number of adults to their progeny. Multi-stage population dynamic models provide a modelling framework for understanding this relationship, since they describe the dynamics of fish in several life stages (such as adults, eggs, larvae, and juveniles). Biological processes at various life stages usually evolve at distinct time scales. This thesis contains three papers, which address challenges in modelling and parameter estimation for multiple time-scale dynamics of stage structured populations. A major question is, whether a multi-stage population dynamic model supports the assumption of a stock-recruitment function. In the first paper, we address the parent-progeny relationship admitted by slow-fast systems of differential equations that model the dynamics of a fish population with two stages. We introduce a slow-fast population dynamic model which replicates several well-known stock-recruitment functions. Traditionally, the dynamics of fish populations are described by difference equations. In the second paper, discrete time models for several life stages are formulated. We demonstrate that a multi-stage model may not admit a stock-recruitment function. Sufficient conditions for the validity of two hypotheses about the existence and structure of a parent-progeny function are established. Parameters in population dynamic models can be estimated by minimizing a function of the solution of the ordinary differential equations and available data. Efficient and accurate methods for the solution of differential equations usually evaluate conditional statements. In this case, the objective function may be noisy, instead of continuously differentiable. Furthermore, an algorithm which is used to evaluate the objective function may unexpectedly fail to return a (plausible) value. Then, the optimization problem includes constraints which are only implicitly stated and hidden from the problem formulation. We demonstrate that derivative-free optimization methods find sufficiently accurate solutions for the challenging optimization problems. In the third paper, we compare the performances of several derivative-free methods for a set of optimization problems. We find that a derivative-free trust-region method is most robust to the choice of the initial iterate, but is in general outperformed by direct search methods. Additional numerical simulations in the thesis reveal that direct search methods which approximate a gradient or Hessian find the most accurate solutions. We observe that the optimization problems considered in this thesis are more challenging than a set of noisy benchmark problems. The thesis includes scientific contributions in addition to the results from the three papers.
Eye-centered vs body-centered reaching control: A robotics insight into the neuroscience debate

Whether the central nervous system of primates uses a body-centered or an eye-centered frame for reaching is still a controversial debate in neurosciences. Does the proprioceptive information allow to represent the visual information with respect to the body or inversely, does it transform the hand position in retinal coordinates? In this paper, we implement and test two control schemes associated to each of these two hypotheses by using a computational approach from robotics. To this end, biological models of motor control are applied to a realistic dynamic model of upper body including a 4 DOF eye-neck kinematic chain and a 6DOF arm. Important characteristics, such as proprioceptive biases and sensory delay, are considered. Simulation results allow to compare the geometry of trajectories and illustrate the better robustness of the eye-centered control scheme with respect to biases and sensory delay. Applications to the control of the humanoid robot HRP2 are finally presented.
Tetanus surveillance--United States, 1998--2000.

PROBLEM/CONDITION Tetanus is a severe and often fatal infection. The incidence of reported cases in the United States has declined steadily since introduction of tetanus toxoid vaccines in the 1940s. REPORTING PERIOD This report covers surveillance data for 1998--2000. DESCRIPTION OF SYSTEM Physician-diagnosed cases of tetanus were reported to CDC's National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System. Supplemental clinical and epidemiologic information were provided by states. RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION During 1998--2000, an average of 43 cases of tetanus was reported annually; the average annual incidence was 0.16 cases/million population. The highest average annual incidence of reported tetanus was among persons aged >60 years (0.35 cases/million population), persons of Hispanic ethnicity (0.37 cases/million population), and older adults known to have diabetes (0.70 cases/million population). Fifteen percent of the cases were among injection-drug users. The case-fatality ratio was 18% among 113 patients with known outcome; 75% of the deaths were among patients aged >60 years. No deaths occurred among those who were up-to-date with tetanus toxoid vaccination. Seventy-three percent of 129 cases with known injury information available reported an acute injury; of these, only 37% sought medical care for the acute injury, and only 63% of those eligible received tetanus toxoid for wound prophylaxis. INTERPRETATION The majority of tetanus cases occurred among persons inadequately vaccinated or with unknown vaccination history who sustained an acute injury. Adults aged >60 years were at highest risk for tetanus and tetanus-related death. PUBLIC HEALTH ACTIONS Tetanus is preventable through routine vaccination (i.e., primary series and decennial boosters) and appropriate management. A shortage of tetanus and diphtheria toxoids vaccine that began during 2000 ended in 2002. Efforts by health-care providers are warranted to vaccinate persons with delayed or incomplete vaccination, with emphasis on older persons and persons with high-risk conditions.
Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management on Growth and Yield of Baby Corn (Zea mays L.)

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of integrated nutrient management on growth, yield and quality of baby corn (Zea mays L.) on sandy loam soil during the kharif season of 2014. The experiment was laid down in randomized block design having seven treatments (Control, 100% recommended dose of nitrogen, 5 t of farm yard manure+100 kg inorganic nitrogen ha-1, 10 t of farm yard manure+75 kg inorganic nitrogen ha-1, 15 t of farm yard manure+50 kg inorganic nitrogen ha-1, 20 t of farm yard manure+25 Kg inorganic nitrogen ha-1, 25 t of farm yard manure ha-1 ) replicated four times. Significant increase in all growth characters, yield contributing characters, yield and fodder yield of baby corn was observed with integrated nutrient management over control. Moreover, among nutrient management treatments, the integration of 5 t of farm yard manure with 100 kg of inorganic nitrogen ha-1 came out to be best for all growth characters viz. plant height, leaf area index. The results obtained with application of 5 t of farm yard manure+100 kg inorganic nitrogen were comparable with recommended dose of nitrogen. Similarly, a significant increase in yield contributing characters, yield and fodder yield were observed with application of 5 t of farm yard manure+100 kg inorganic nitrogen ha-1, which is also found to be at par with the recommended dose of nitrogen (125 kg ha-1). Further, the above said treatment also gave maximum profit.
A Survey on Software Clone Detection Research

Code duplication or copying a code fragment and then reuse by pasting with or without any modiflcations is a well known code smell in software maintenance. Several studies show that about 5% to 20% of a software systems can contain duplicated code, which is basically the results of copying existing code fragments and using then by pasting with or without minor modiflcations. One of the major shortcomings of such duplicated fragments is that if a bug is detected in a code fragment, all the other fragments similar to it should be investigated to check the possible existence of the same bug in the similar fragments. Refactoring of the duplicated code is another prime issue in software maintenance although several studies claim that refactoring of certain clones are not desirable and there is a risk of removing them. However, it is also widely agreed that clones should at least be detected. In this paper, we survey the state of the art in clone detection research. First, we describe the clone terms commonly used in the literature along with their corresponding mappings to the commonly used clone types. Second, we provide a review of the existing clone taxonomies, detection approaches and experimental evaluations of clone detection tools. Applications of clone detection research to other domains of software engineering and in the same time how other domain can assist clone detection research have also been pointed out. Finally, this paper concludes by pointing out several open problems related to clone detection research.
A Framework for Probabilistic Analysis of Multiprocessor Scheduling Environments

This paper presents a novel probabilistic approach for the analysis of global performance issues of multiprocessor scheduling environments. It consists of an analytical framework to model scheduling situations where it is impossible, or inappropriate, to define task characteristics precisely. Central to the approach is the formation of a probabilistic picture of the tasks currently under execution on the basis of a probabilistic description of newly arriving tasks and assignment of processors for executing tasks. This enables the determination of performance measures such as successful completion rates of tasks, probability of successful execution of a given task and the number of processors required to guarantee a specified probability of success. These measures can be utilised for obtaining optimal schedules and in guiding run–time scheduling decisions of a scheduler. When dealing with individual tasks, the approach takes into account issues such as the combinatorial possibilities of different patterns of task execution and the effect of competition among tasks for a finite number of available processors.
Hypotonic Stress Induces Fast, Reversible Degradation of the Vimentin Cytoskeleton via Intracellular Calcium Release

The dynamic response of the cell to osmotic changes is critical to its physiology and has been widely exploited for cell manipulation. Using 3D-STORM super-resolution microscopy, here we examine the hypotonic stress-induced ultrastructural changes of the cytoskeleton of a common fibroblast cell type. Unexpectedly, we observe a fast, yet reversible dissolution of the vimentin intermediate filament system that precedes ultrastructural changes of the supposedly more dynamic actin and tubulin cytoskeletal systems, as well as changes in cell morphology. In combination with calcium imaging and biochemical analysis, we next show that the vimentin-specific fast cytoskeletal degradation under hypotonic stress is due to proteolysis by the calcium-dependent protease calpain. We find the process to be activated by the hypotonic stress-induced calcium release from intracellular stores, and so is efficiently suppressed by inhibiting any part of the IP3-Ca2+-calpain pathway we establish. Together, our findings highlight an unexpected, fast degradation mechanism for the vimentin cytoskeleton in response to the external stimuli, and point to the significant, yet previously overlooked physiological impacts of hypotonic stress-induced intracellular calcium release on cell ultrastructure and function.
Hypertree Decompositions and Tractable Queries 1

1 A preliminary version of this paper appeared in the ‘‘Proceedings of the Eighteenth ACM Symposium on Principles of Database Systems (PODS’99),’’ pp. 21–32, Philadelphia, May 1999. Research supported by FWF (Austrian Science Funds) under the Project Z29-INF. Part of the work of Francesco Scarcello has been carried out while visiting the Technische Universität Wien. Part of the work of Nicola Leone has been carried out while he was with the Technische Universität Wien. Georg Gottlob
Influence of Graft–Host Interface on the Quality of Vision After Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty in Patients With Keratoconus

Purpose: To investigate the influence of graft-host interface on the quality of vision after deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK). Methods: Retrospective, nonrandomized, comparative case series. Sixty patients (60 eyes) with advanced keratoconus underwent DALK using the big-bubble technique. Twenty-eight patients had complete stromal excision with Descemet membrane (DM) exposure [DALK with DM baring (DM-DALK)], whereas in 32 cases, a layer of stroma was left adherent to the recipient DM [DALK without DM baring (pre-DM-DALK)]. Twenty-two patients with keratoconus (22 eyes) who underwent penetrating keratoplasty (PK) were chosen for comparison. Main outcome measures were uncorrected visual acuity, best spectacle-corrected visual acuity, low-contrast visual acuity (LCVA), and Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity. Results: Uncorrected visual acuity was equal in the 3 groups. Median best spectacle-corrected visual acuity was 0.1 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) in the PK group, compared with 0.06 logMAR in the DM-DALK group (P = 0.66) and 0.12 logMAR in the pre-DM-DALK group (P = 0.016). Pre-DM-DALK patients exhibited worse LCVA than PK (P = 0.029) and DM-DALK patients (P = 0.022), whereas PK and DM-DALK patients showed comparable LCVA (P = 0.974). Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity was equivalent in PK and DM-DALK groups (P = 0.408) and greater in DM-DALK group than in pre-DM-DALK group (P = 0.038). Conclusions: In selected patients, quality of vision after DALK was comparable to that after PK when stromal excision was extended to the DM and inferior to vision after PK when layers of stroma were left adherent to the DM. Advances in DALK technique are required to allow easier and repeatable baring of the DM.
Fertilization effects on CH4, N2O and CO2 fluxes from a subtropical double rice cropping system

A 2-year field study was conducted in a double rice cropping system in southern China to examine the effect of fertilization on CH4, N2O and CO2 fluxes using static opaque chambers and gas chromatographs. Two treatments were set up including conventional fertilization with a rate of 358 kg N/ha per year in forms of compound fertilizer and urea, and a control with no fertilizer application. The results indicated that fertilization did not have a significant effect on CH4 fluxes and led to a significantly higher cumulative N2O emission in the two years of observation period. Fertilization promoted CO2 fluxes by increasing the autotrophic respiration instead of heterotrophic respiration. By combining the global warming impact of CH4, N2O and CO2, it was found that fertilization increased the area-scaled but not the yield-scaled global warming impact. These results indicated that, according to the current amount of nitrogen applied, fertilization may increase the global warming effect of paddy fields in this region. However, the appropriate dose of nitrogen fertilizer application is still a reasonable agricultural management due to the comprehensive consideration of production and environmental impacts.
The Effects of Website Quality on Adoption of E-Government Service: AnEmpirical Study Applying UTAUT Model Using SEM

In today global age, e-government services have become the main channel for online communication between the government and its citizens. They aim to provide citizens with more accessible, accurate, real-time and high quality services. Therefore, the quality of government websites which provide e-services is an essential factor in the successful adoption of e-government services by the public. This paper discusses an investigation of the effect of the Website Quality (WQ) factor on the acceptance of using e-government services (G2C) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) by adopting the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) Model. Survey Data collected from 400 respondents were examined using the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique and utilising AMOS tools. This study found that the factors that significantly influenced the Use Behaviour of e-government services in KSA (USE) include Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort expectancy (EE), Facilitating Conditions (FC) and Website Quality (WQ), while the construct known Social Influence (SI) did not. Moreover, the results confirm the importance of quality government websites and support systems as one of the main significant and influential factors of e-government services adoption. The results of this study can be helpful to Saudi governmental sectors to adjust their corporate strategies and plans to advance successful adoption and diffusion of e-government services (G2C) in KSA.
Delivery of >1 Gb/s (digital video, data, and audio) downstream in passband above the 155-Mb/s baseband services on a FTTx full service access network

For low-cost passive optical access networks (PON), we have studied the downstream delivery of an additional >1 Gb/s in the passband above the 155-Mb/s baseband signal. Both signals are transmitted on the same fiber using a single transmitter and a single receiver within the power budgets of ITU-T G983. The passband approach offers a graceful upgrade of a 155-Mb/s baseband system, and is compatible with baseband only optical network unit (ONU). We multiplexed a 155.52-Mb/s baseband signal with QPSK modulated passband>1.2 Gb/s of broadcast DSS digital video channels in the 270-1450-MHz range through a diplexer with minimal degradation. For a passband test-signal, we used an additional 8-Mb/s QPSK modulated 860-MHz carrier. An optical to electrical (O/E) receiver using a p-i-n diode satisfies the need for class B operation as defined in ITU-T G983 (-30 dBm receiver sensitivity) for a 10/sup -10/ bit-error rate. However, an APD based receiver satisfies the power budget needs of ITU-T G983 with /spl sim/5.5 dBo margin for class C operation (-33-dBm receiver sensitivity) for both baseband and passband signals.
MTHFR Gene variants C677T, A1298C and association with Down syndrome: A Case-control study from South India

BACKGROUND: The 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) polymorphisms and low folate levels are associated with inhibition of DNA methyltransferase and consequently DNA hypomethylation. The expanding spectrum of common conditions linked with MTHFR polymorphisms includes certain adverse birth outcome, pregnancy complications, cancers, adult cardiovascular diseases and psychiatric disorders, with several of these associations remaining still controversial. Trisomy 21 or Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic cause of mental retardation. It stems predominantly from the failure of chromosome 21 to segregate normally during meiosis. Despite substantial research, the molecular mechanisms underlying non-disjunction leading to trisomy 21 are poorly understood. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two common variants C677T and A1298C of the MTHFR gene were screened in 36 parents with DS children and 60 healthy couples from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The MTHFR genotypes were studied by RFLP analysis of PCR-amplified products and confirmed by sequencing. RESULTS: The CT genotype was seen in three each (8.3%) of case mothers and fathers. One case father showed TT genotype. All the control individuals exhibited the wild type CC genotype. A similar frequency for the uncommon allele C of the second polymorphism was recorded in case mothers (0.35) and fathers (0.37) in comparison with the control mothers (0.39) and fathers (0.37). CONCLUSION: This first report on MTHFR C677T and A1298C polymorphisms in trisomy 21 parents from south Indian population revealed that MTHFR 677CT polymorphism was associated with a risk for Down syndrome.
The Morphological Type Dependence of K-band Luminosity Functions

Differential 2. 2µm (K-band) luminosity functions are presented for a complete sample of 1570 nearby (Vgsr � 3000 km/s, where Vgsr is the velocity measured with respect to the Galactic standard of rest), bright (K � 10 mag), galaxies segregated by visible morphology. The K-band luminosity function for late-type spirals follows a power law that rises towards low luminosities whereas the K-band luminosity functions for ellipticals, lenticulars and bulge-dominated spirals are peaked with a fall off at both high and low luminosities. However, each morphological type (E, S0, S0/a-Sab, Sb-Sbc, Sc-Scd) contributes approximately equally to the overall K-band luminosity density in the local universe, and by inference, the stellar mass density as well.
Electrochemical Model-Based State of Charge Estimation for Li-Ion Cells

Lithium ion (Li-ion) is the current leading battery technology. Because of their complex behavior, Li-ion batteries require advanced battery management systems (BMSs). One of the most critical tasks of a BMS is state of charge (SoC) estimation. In this paper, an efficient electrochemical model-based SoC estimation algorithm is presented. The use of electrochemical models enables an accurate estimation of the SoC as well during high current events. However, this often due to the cost of a high computational complexity. In this paper, it is shown that by writing the model as a linearly spatially interconnected system and by exploiting the resulting semi-separable structure an efficient extended Kalman filter (EKF) can be implemented. The proposed EKF is compared with another electrochemical-based estimation and shown to deliver an estimation error of less than 5% also during high current peak.