Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wireless Embedded Systems Powered by Energy Harvesting

Ambient intelligence requires that devices integrated to the environment are self-sustaining and maintenance free. To fulfill the vision of ambient intelligence, the design of small wireless embedded systems powered by energy harvesting is needed. Our work raises awareness that generic embedded system and wireless sensor nodes are different from wireless embedded systems powered by energy harvesting (WESPEH) therefore a different design approach is required. The work introduces a new design technique based on rapid prototyping and constraints analysis. From different groups of constraints the software problematic is developed in detail further with the focus on operating system design. Comprehensive analysis of thin resource operating systems leads to the conclusion that existing systems are not designated to run on a dedicated WESPEH hardware platform. We define the requirements, architecture and design aspects of energy autonomous operating systems. Based on these definitions a new operating system DolphinAPI is designed and implemented. The initial implementation is performed on the EO3000I hardware platform. Analysis of existing benchmark methods shows that common benchmark methods focus entirely on the computational performance, neglecting other important features of an operating system such as memory needs or influence on the energy consumption. Therefore a new operating system quantification methodology considering energy consumption, scheduler behavior and application utiliza∗Recommended by thesis supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Tibor Krajčovič. Defended at Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava on November 24, 2011. c ⃝ Copyright 2012. All rights reserved. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies show this notice on the first page or initial screen of a display along with the full citation. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, to redistribute to lists, or to use any component of this work in other works requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Permissions may be requested from STU Press, Vazovova 5, 811 07 Bratislava, Slovakia. Strba, A. Wireless Embedded Systems Powered by Energy Harvesting. Information Sciences and Technologies Bulletin of the ACM Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2012) 1-13 tion is introduced . The methodology is based on vector definition and trace-driven performance analysis. Using the methodology TinyOS and Dolphin API is evaluated and compared. For an objective evaluation TinyOS is migrated to the EO3000I hardware platform. As part of the migration the EnOcean protocol stack is implemented in NesC.
BindN: a web-based tool for efficient prediction of DNA and RNA binding sites in amino acid sequences

BindN () takes an amino acid sequence as input and predicts potential DNA or RNA-binding residues with support vector machines (SVMs). Protein datasets with known DNA or RNA-binding residues were selected from the Protein Data Bank (PDB), and SVM models were constructed using data instances encoded with three sequence features, including the side chain pKa value, hydrophobicity index and molecular mass of an amino acid. The results suggest that DNA-binding residues can be predicted at 69.40% sensitivity and 70.47% specificity, while prediction of RNA-binding residues achieves 66.28% sensitivity and 69.84% specificity. When compared with previous studies, the SVM models appear to be more accurate and more efficient for online predictions. BindN provides a useful tool for understanding the function of DNA and RNA-binding proteins based on primary sequence data.
An Ensemble Classification-Based Approach Applied to Retinal Blood Vessel Segmentation

This paper presents a new supervised method for segmentation of blood vessels in retinal photographs. This method uses an ensemble system of bagged and boosted decision trees and utilizes a feature vector based on the orientation analysis of gradient vector field, morphological transformation, line strength measures, and Gabor filter responses. The feature vector encodes information to handle the healthy as well as the pathological retinal image. The method is evaluated on the publicly available DRIVE and STARE databases, frequently used for this purpose and also on a new public retinal vessel reference dataset CHASE_DB1 which is a subset of retinal images of multiethnic children from the Child Heart and Health Study in England (CHASE) dataset. The performance of the ensemble system is evaluated in detail and the incurred accuracy, speed, robustness, and simplicity make the algorithm a suitable tool for automated retinal image analysis.
PELESent: Cross-Domain Polarity Classification Using Distant Supervision

The enormous amount of texts published daily by Internet users has fostered the development of methods to analyze this content in several natural language processing areas, such as sentiment analysis. The main goal of this task is to classify the polarity of a message. Even though many approaches have been proposed for sentiment analysis, some of the most successful ones rely on the availability of large annotated corpus, which is an expensive and time-consuming process. In recent years, distant supervision has been used to obtain larger datasets. So, inspired by these techniques, in this paper we extend such approaches to incorporate popular graphic symbols used in electronic messages, the emojis, in order to create a large sentiment corpus for Portuguese. Trained on almost one million tweets, several models were tested in both same domain and cross-domain corpora. Our methods obtained very competitive results in five annotated corpora from mixed domains (Twitter and product reviews), which proves the domain-independent property of such approach. In addition, our results suggest that the combination of emoticons and emojis is able to properly capture the sentiment of a message.
The Relationship Between Serum Bilirubin and Crohn’s Disease

Background:The oxidative stress is thought to play an important role in Crohn’s disease (CD). As serum bilirubin represents the major endogenous antioxidant, this article aimed to evaluate in a clinical study, whether serum bilirubin levels and genes affecting its systemic concentrations are associated with CD. Methods:This exploratory case-control study was based on pediatric (n = 119) and adult (n = 504) patients with CD and 370 appropriate healthy control subjects. The (GT)n and (TA)n dinucleotide variations in heme oxygenase 1 (HMOX1) and bilirubin UDP-glucuronosyl transferase (UGT1A1) gene promoters were determined by fragment analysis. Serum bilirubin levels were compared in a subset of 90 cases and 229 controls, for whom biochemical data were available. Results:Substantially lower serum bilirubin levels were detected in patients with CD compared with controls (7.4 versus 12.1 &mgr;mol/L, P < 10−6). Serum bilirubin levels were significantly lower in patients with CD within all UGT1A1*28 genotypes (P < 0.05). UGT1A1*28 homozygotes with wild-type NOD2 gene variant exhibited significant delay in CD manifestation (P = 0.004), while the protective effect of UGT1A1*28 homozygosity was lost in those patients with mutated NOD2 gene. No associations between CD risk and individual HMOX1 gene variants were observed. Conclusions:CD is associated with significantly low serum bilirubin levels, most likely as a result of increased oxidative stress accompanying this inflammatory disease. UGT1A1*28 allele homozygosity, responsible for higher bilirubin levels, seems to be an important modifier of CD manifestation.
Questioning Youths: Challenges to Working with Youths Forming Identities

Abstract Youths who question their affectional orientation are increasingly identified as a group of young people with needs for support. These questioning youths are often included in groups intended for sexual minority youths, but may be ill served by them if the groups' developers fail to conceptualize their status as developmental. Rigid social expectations about sexual identity development may further complicate the experiences of these youths in schools and communities. This article reviews definitions of sexual orientation, identity, and questioning youths and suggests implications these have for youths and programs. Recommendations are made for school programs that support the alliances among youths regardless of sexual orientation and that include both social activities and group support.
Geometrical considerations in the control and manipulation of conductive heat flux in multilayered thermal metamaterials

We indicate the fundamental rationale underlying the control of temperature and the manipulation of thermal flux, with reference to a multilayered composite material. We show that when the orientation of the layers in the composite is physically rotated with respect to a constant temperature gradient, there would then be a corresponding introduction of off-diagonal components in the thermal conductivity tensor and thermal anisotropy is induced. The consequent bending of the heat flux lines is found to depend on both the (i) composite rotation angle and the (ii) ratio of the thermal conductivities of the constituent materials.
Integrating Multiple Individual Differences in Web-Based Instruction

I DECLARATION . II DEDICATION . III ACKNOWLEDGMENT . IV PUBLICATIONS . V LIST OF TABLES . XI LIST OF FIGURES . XIII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . XV CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Overview . 2 1.2. Research Problem . 2 1.2. 1. Individual Differences . 3 1.2. 2. The Design of WBI Program and Learners’ Preferences . 4 1.2. 3. Data Analysis . 4 1.3. Thesis Aim and Objectives . 5 1.4. Research Methodology Outline . 6 1.5. Research Questions . 7 1.6. Thesis Contribution . 9 1.7. Thesis Outline . 10
WOX4 Imparts Auxin Responsiveness to Cambium Cells in Arabidopsis[C][W][OA]

Extensive lateral growth of shoot and root axes is mediated mostly by the cambium, a meristematic tissue whose activity depends on the plant hormone auxin. This study reveals that the presence of the transcription factor WOX4 in cambium cells is essential for translating the accumulation of long distance–derived auxin into cell proliferation. Multipotent stem cell populations, the meristems, are fundamental for the indeterminate growth of plant bodies. One of these meristems, the cambium, is responsible for extended root and stem thickening. Strikingly, although the pivotal role of the plant hormone auxin in promoting cambium activity has been known for decades, the molecular basis of auxin responsiveness on the level of cambium cells has so far been elusive. Here, we reveal that auxin-dependent cambium stimulation requires the homeobox transcription factor WOX4. In Arabidopsis thaliana inflorescence stems, 1-N-naphthylphthalamic acid–induced auxin accumulation stimulates cambium activity in the wild type but not in wox4 mutants, although basal cambium activity is not abolished. This conclusion is confirmed by the analysis of cellular markers and genome-wide transcriptional profiling, which revealed only a small overlap between WOX4-dependent and cambium-specific genes. Furthermore, the receptor-like kinase PXY is required for a stable auxin-dependent increase in WOX4 mRNA abundance and the stimulation of cambium activity, suggesting a concerted role of PXY and WOX4 in auxin-dependent cambium stimulation. Thus, in spite of large anatomical differences, our findings uncover parallels between the regulation of lateral and apical plant meristems by demonstrating the requirement for a WOX family member for auxin-dependent regulation of lateral plant growth.
Does pulse oximeter use impact health outcomes? A systematic review

Objective Do newborns, children and adolescents up to 19 years have lower mortality rates, lower morbidity and shorter length of stay in health facilities where pulse oximeters are used to inform diagnosis and treatment (excluding surgical care) compared with health facilities where pulse oximeters are not used? Design Studies were obtained for this systematic literature review by systematically searching the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Cochrane, Medion, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Global Health, CINAHL, WHO Global Health Library, international health organisation and NGO websites, and study references. Patients Children 0–19 years presenting for the first time to hospitals, emergency departments or primary care facilities. Interventions Included studies compared outcomes where pulse oximeters were used for diagnosis and/or management, with outcomes where pulse oximeters were not used. Main outcome measures: mortality, morbidity, length of stay, and treatment and management changes. Results The evidence is low quality and hypoxaemia definitions varied across studies, but the evidence suggests pulse oximeter use with children can reduce mortality rates (when combined with improved oxygen administration) and length of emergency department stay, increase admission of children with previously unrecognised hypoxaemia, and change physicians’ decisions on illness severity, diagnosis and treatment. Pulse oximeter use generally increased resource utilisation. Conclusions As international organisations are investing in programmes to increase pulse oximeter use in low-income settings, more research is needed on the optimal use of pulse oximeters (eg, appropriate oxygen saturation thresholds), and how pulse oximeter use affects referral and admission rates, length of stay, resource utilisation and health outcomes.
The Mind's Construction: The Ontology of Mind and Mental Action

Acknowledgements Introduction PART I. SENSORY CONSCIOUSNESS 1. The Manifest Image of Sensory Consciousness 2. Occurrence, State, Content, and Character 3. The Phenomenology and Ontology of Bodily Sensation 4. Temporal Transparency and Perceptual Acquaintance 5. Structural Features of Perceptual Acquaintance 6. Conscious Contact with Time and the Continuity of Consciousness 7. Perceptual Imagination and Perceptual Recollection 8. Introspection and Knowing What it's like PART II. CONSCIOUS THINKING 9. The Place of Mental Action in the Metaphysics of Mind 10. The Ontology of Conscious Thinking 11. 'The mind uses its own freedom': Suppositional Reasoning and Self-Critical Reflection 12. Mental Action, Autonomy, and the Perspective of Practical Reason 13. Intention-in-Action and the Epistemology of Mind 14. Reconsidering the Place of Mental action in the Metaphysics of Mind 15. Thinking and Belief References Index
Necrotizing Enterotyphlocolitis in Dogs Treated with a Potent Antimuscarinic

To assess the safety of a potent muscarinic receptor antagonist (antimuscarinic) for human clinical testing, repeat-dose oral toxicity studies were conducted in the Beagle dog. Treatment resulted in unexpected gastrointestinal system effects that were likely mediated by the exaggerated pharmacologic effects of the anti-muscarinic on intestinal motility. Dogs developed profound anorexia followed by severe bloody diarrhea, and at necropsy, the intestinal tract was distended, filled with red-tinged fluid, and the mucosa was reddened. Histologically, intestinal lesions consisted of severe epithelial necrosis and mucosal atrophy localized predominantly to the ileum and large intestine. Feces from dogs with diarrhea were culture-positive for Clostridium perfringens (CP), suggesting that CP might be the etiologic agent; however, the intestinal lesions were not consistent with histologic findings reported in dogs with hemorrhagic canine enteritis.
The synthesis of the cosmic X-ray background in the Chandra and XMM-Newton era

We present a detailed and self-consistent modeling of the cosmic X-ray background (XRB) based on the most up-to-date X-ray luminosity functions (XLF) and evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). The large body of observational results collected by soft (0.5–2 keV) and hard (2–10 keV) X-ray surveys are used to constrain at best the properties of the Compton-thin AGN population and its contribution to the XRB emission. The number ratio R between moderately obscured (Compton-thin) AGN and unobscured AGN is fixed by the comparison between the soft and hard XLFs, which suggests that R decreases from 4 at low luminosities to 1 at high luminosities. From the same comparison there is no clear evidence of an evolution of the obscured AGN fraction with redshift. The distribution of the absorbing column densities in obscured AGN is determined by matching the soft and hard source counts. A distribution rising towards larger column densities is able to reproduce the soft and hard AGN counts over about 6 dex in flux. The model also reproduces with excellent accuracy the fraction of obscured objects in AGN samples selected at different X-ray fluxes. The integrated emission of the Compton-thin AGN population is found to underestimate the XRB flux at about 30 keV, calling for an additional population of extremely obscured (Compton-thick) AGN. Since the number of Compton-thick sources required to fit the 30 keV XRB emission strongly depends on the spectral templates assumed for unobscured and moderately obscured AGN, we explored the effects of varying the spectral templates. In particular, in addition to the column density distribution, we also considered a distribution in the intrinsic powerlaw spectral indices of variable width. In our baseline model a Gaussian distribution of photon indices with mean $\langle \Gamma \rangle=1.9$ and dispersion $\sigma_{\Gamma}=0.2$ is assumed. This increases the contribution of the Compton-thin AGN population to the 30 keV XRB intensity by ~$30\%$ with respect to the case of null dispersion (i.e. a single primary AGN powerlaw with $\Gamma=1.9$) but is not sufficient to match the 30 keV XRB emission. Therefore a population of heavily obscured -Compton-thick- AGN, as large as that of moderately obscured AGN, is required to fit the residual background emission. Remarkably, the fractions of Compton-thick AGN observed in the Chandra Deep Field South and in the first INTEGRAL and Swift catalogs of AGN selected above 10 keV are in excellent agreement with the model predictions.
Traditional herbal remedies used in the management of sexual impotence and erectile dysfunction in western Uganda.

BACKGROUND The utilisation of ethnobotanical indigenous knowledge is vital in male sexual reproductive health care delivery in western Uganda. Reproductive health care is the second most prevalent health care problem in Africa. However, this concept of reproductive health care has been focusing mainly on women disregarding men. Thus, some diseases such as sexual impotence and erectile dysfunction that deserve mention are regarded as petty though important in economic productivity, family stability and sexually transmitted diseases control including HIV/AIDS. OBJECTIVE This study was carried out mainly to document medicinal plants used in the treatment of sexual impotence and erectile dysfunction disorders in western Uganda. METHODS The medical ethnobotanical indigenous knowledge were collected by visiting traditional healers and documenting the medicinal plants used and other socio-cultural aspects allied with sexual impotence and erectile dysfunction. The methods used to collect the relevant information regarding the medicinal plants used included informal and formal discussions, field visits and focused semi-structured interviews. RESULTS Thirty-three medicinal plants used in the management of sexual impotence and erectile dysfunction were documented and Citropsis articulata and Cola acuminata were among the highly utilized medicinal plants. CONCLUSION From the researchers' point of view, the usage of herbal remedies in managing male sexual disorders is useful because of long cultural history of utilisation and the current renewed interest in natural products to sustain health globally. As a way recognising the values and roles of traditional medical knowledge in health care provision, further research into the efficacy and safety of herbal remedies in male sexual disorders is precious in Uganda and beyond. More so, the establishment of rapport between relevant government department in Ministry of Health, modern health workers through collaborative and networking ventures with traditional healers under close supervision and monitoring of herbal treatments is noble.
Impact of the Aqua MODIS Band 6 Restoration on Cloud/Snow Discrimination

AbstractDistinguishing between clouds and snow is an intrinsically challenging problem because both have similar high albedo across many bands. The 1.6-μm channel (band 6) on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument provides an essential tool for distinguishing clouds from snow, since snow typically has a much lower albedo in this band. Unfortunately, this band is severely damaged on the MODIS/Aqua platform and is typically not used in either snow or cloud products. An algorithm was previously introduced for quantitative image restoration (QIR) that can restore missing pixels of band 6 using multilinear regression with input from a spatial-spectral window in other bands. Also previously demonstrated was the effectiveness of this restoration for snow products over cloud-free pixels only. The focus of the authors’ previous work was to evaluate the impact of this restoration on the snow product, and they had relied on the current cloud mask, which does not use any information from.
Time for individualized colonoscopy bowel-prep regimens? A randomized controlled trial comparing sodium picosulphate and magnesium citrate versus 4-liter split-dose polyethylene glycol.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Good bowel cleansing is essential to achieving optimal endoscopic evaluation of the colon. There are many different regimens available, but none have shown consistently superior results in achieving a clean colon. We compared the efficiency of two regimens with regard to bowel cleansing and patient satisfaction. The study also aimed to identify patient-related factors that influenced the quality of the bowel cleansing. METHODS We conducted a single-blind, multicenter, randomized controlled trial comparing sodium picosulphate and magnesium citrate versus 4-liter split-dose polyethylene glycol (PEG). Consecutive patients presenting for colonoscopy at two tertiary referral centers were invited to participate. The main outcomes were colon cleanliness and patient satisfaction with the preparation regimen. The quality of bowel cleansing was assessed by the endoscopist with the use of a 4-grade scale. Patients completed questionnaires evaluating their experience during the preparation process. Multivariate analysis was conducted in order to compare the two regimens and identify patient-related factors that influenced the main outcomes. RESULTS One hundred eighty-one patients were randomized and 165 completed the trial (91.1%). PEG was slightly superior to sodium picosulphate with regard to bowel cleansing (p=0.01), while patient satisfaction was higher with sodium picosulphate (p=0.008). Patients with higher education and patients reporting high adherence to instructions achieved better colon cleansing using PEG. CONCLUSIONS There seems to be no clear advantage for one bowel preparation solution over the other. However, by taking into account individual patient characteristics, opting for a particular regimen could increase the likelihood of achieving a cleaner colon.
Semantic based service discovery

Some of the most dynamic systems being built today consist of physically mobile hosts and logically mobile agents. Such systems exhibit frequent configuration changes and a great deal of resource variability. In this article we present a semantic service discovery and the semantic algorithm it relies on. Finally we present results obtained in the implementation of this algorithm and our conclusions.