Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation and Improvement of an Organizational Resource Applying Strategy Patterns

For any software company that frequently performs quality assurance activities devoted to measurement, evaluation (ME) and change/improvement (MEC) projects, ME and MEC strategies can be valuable organizational assets. In this paper, we analyze the improvement of a ME strategy, which can be considered an organizational resource to be applied to quality assurance activities. This resource is called the GOCAME (Goal-Oriented Context-Aware Measurement and Evaluation) strategy. AME/MEC strategy embraces the next three integrated capabilities: 1) the ME/MEC domain conceptual base and framework; 2) the process perspective specifications; and, 3) the method specifications. The improvement of GOCAME was performed instantiating two strategy patterns. A strategy pattern is a reusable solution to recurrent problems in ME/MEC projects. For an improvement goal, the selected MEC strategy pattern allows instantiating in a project a set of tailored activities and methods for measurement, evaluation, analysis and change. Particularly, we instantiate the GoME_1QV (Goal-oriented Measurement and Evaluation for One Quality View) strategy pattern to understand the GOCAME current quality state and compare it with the so-called GQM+ Strategies. First, this evaluation and analysis allows us to know the GOCAME strengths and weaknesses with regard to the quality of the three capabilities. Second, we instantiate the GoMEC_1QV (Goal-oriented Measurement, Evaluation and Change for One Quality View) strategy pattern to improve the GOCAME current state, producing as result a new version of the GOCAME strategy.
BLOOD‐BRAIN BARRIER DYSFUNCTION IN ACUTE ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION AFTER PAPAVERINE‐INDUCED VASODILATATION

Vasodilatation induced by papaverine increased the vulnerability of cerebral vessels to acute hypertension as demonstrated by more extensive extravasation of Evans blue albumin and macroscopic or microscopical haemorrhages. As the tension in the vessel wall is the product of pressure and internal radius, divided by the thickness of the vessel wall, dilated precapillary resistance vessels would be exposed to higher tension than non‐dilated. Also the strain on capillaries and venules would increase because a higher pressure will be propagated to these small vessels. The results support our earlier proposal that the increased cerebrovascular permeability seen in severe acute hypertension is due to a vessel wall damage caused by rapid distension. Regional cerebral blood flow studied with 125I‐antipyrine indicates that the flow is higher in areas with blood‐brain barrier dysfunction, further contradicting the ischaemic theory on permeability changes in hypertension.
Bullying victimization in adolescence and psychotic symptomatology in adulthood: evidence from a 35-year study

Background There has been considerable recent interest in possible causal linkages between exposure to bullying victimization and later psychotic symptomatology. Prior research in this area has had several limitations which make it difficult to ascertain causality, and to determine the extent to which these effects extend beyond adolescence. Method Data were obtained from the Christchurch Health and Development Study, a 35-year study of a longitudinal birth cohort. This investigation used generalized estimating equation modelling to estimate the associations between bullying victimization (ages 13–16 years) and psychotic symptoms (ages 18–35 years), before and after controlling for possible confounding factors, including: gender; childhood socio-economic status; child intelligence quotient; exposure to sexual abuse in childhood; anxious/withdrawn behaviour and attention problems (ages 7–9 years); and adolescent psychotic symptoms and paranoid ideation (ages 15–16 years). Results There was a significant (p < 0.0001) bivariate association between bullying victimization in adolescence and psychotic symptomatology in adulthood. Successive models controlling for covariation reduced this association to statistical non-significance. After controlling for covariates, those with the highest level of bullying victimization had rates of psychotic symptoms that were 1.21 (95% confidence interval 0.73–1.99) times higher than those who were not victimized. Conclusions The association between bullying victimization in adolescence and psychotic symptomatology in adulthood could be largely explained by childhood behavioural problems, and exposure to sexual abuse in childhood. The results suggest that bullying victimization was unlikely to have been a cause of adult psychotic symptoms, but bullying victimization remained a risk marker for these symptoms.
Incentivizing time-shifting of data: a survey of time-dependent pricing for internet access

The tremendous growth in demand for broadband data is forcing ISPs to use pricing as a congestion management tool. This changing landscape of Internet access pricing is evidenced by the elimination of flat rate data plans in favor of usage-based pricing by major wired and wireless operators in the US and Europe. But simple usage-based fees suffer from the problem of imposing costs on all users, irrespective of the network congestion level at a given time. To effectively reduce network congestion, appropriate incentives must be provided to users who are willing to time-shift their data demand from peak to off-peak periods. These pricing incentives can either be static (e.g., two-period daytime/nighttime prices) or computed dynamically (e.g., dayahead pricing, real-time pricing). Data plans that offer such incentives to consumers fall under the category of time-dependent pricing (TDP). Many ISPs across the world are currently exploring various forms of TDP to manage their traffic growth. This article first outlines the sources of today¿s challenges, and then discusses current trends from regulatory and technological perspectives. Finally, we review representative pricing proposals for incentivizing the time-shifting of data.
Analysis of a stack algorithm for random multiple-access communication

An exact analysis is given of the main parameters that characterize the properties of the Capetanakis-Tsybakov-Mikhailov collision resolution algorithm with the free-access (continuous input) protocol. In particular, the distributions of the collision resolution interval, the delay experienced by a packet, and the state of the top level of the stack that is maintained by the algorithm are determined.
UAV path planning method based on ant colony optimization

A new UAV path planning method based on ant colony optimization (ACO) is presented. The target position is considered as the food source which the ants are going to find. The enemy defense region is considered as the searching area of the ants and is divided into equally spaced grids. The ants move to the destination node through several nodes on the grid region. The visibility function of ACO algorithm considers the enemy threats intensity on the paths and the distance to the destination node. The weighted sums of the flight path length, the threat cost and the maximum restriction of the yaw angle are considered as the evaluation function of ACO algorithm. The pheromone amounts on the paths are updated according to the evaluation function values. Therefore, the UAV optimal flight path is expressed by a group of node number, which is obtained by the ants finding the optimal route to the food source. The ACO algorithm based UAV path planning method is characterized as simple coding and good optimization guidance, and the simulation results also show its effectiveness.
Embedding Internal Model in Disturbance Observer With Robust Stability

The disturbance observer has been widely employed in applications due to its powerful ability for disturbance rejection and robustness under plant uncertainties. However, it rejects the disturbance approximately rather than exactly since it is usually designed without considering structural properties of disturbance. In order to improve the disturbance rejection performance, we propose a design method to embed the internal model of disturbance into the disturbance observer structure. Furthermore, a systematic design procedure is proposed so that one can always design the disturbance observer to guarantee robust stability of the closed-loop system even though uncertain parameters of the plant belong to an arbitrarily large (but bounded) set.
Cytotoxic Activity of Chalcones Isolated from Lonchocarpus Sericeus (Pocr.) Kunth

In the present study, it was demonstrated that the hexanic extract obtained from the roots of Lonchocarpus sericeus and one of its major components, derricin, but not lonchocarpin, show cytotoxic activity to fertilized sea urchin eggs. Both inhibited the first cleavage of sea urchin eggs in a dose‐dependent manner with an IC50 of 30.4 (26.2–35.3) μg/mL for the crude extract and 51.2 (42.1–62.3) μg/mL for derricin (n = 6, in both cases). Furthermore, the hexanic extract of L. sericeus, and the isolated compounds, derricin and lonchocarpin showed cytotoxicity against CEM leukaemic cell line (IC50 = 17.6 (13.7–22.6), 13.0 (12.0–14.0) and 10.4 (5.6–19.1) μg/ml (n = 6), respectively). When these substances (6.25 to 125 μg/25 μL) were examined for antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans, none of them were found to be active. Neither the hexanic extract, nor the isolated compounds derricin and lonchocarpin (0.5 to 250 μg/mL) presented hemolytic activity. These results indicated a possible antimitotic activity of L. sericeus crude extract and their major constituents. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evidence of semantic processing impairments in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia and Parkinson's disease

Purpose of review Category-specific impairments caused by brain damage can provide important insights into how semantic concepts are organized in the brain. Recent research has demonstrated that disease to sensory and motor cortices can impair perceptual feature knowledge important to the representation of semantic concepts. This evidence supports the grounded cognition theory of semantics, the view that lexical knowledge is partially grounded in perceptual experience and that sensory and motor regions support semantic representations. Less well understood, however, is how heteromodal semantic hubs work to integrate and process semantic information. Recent findings Although the majority of semantic research to date has focused on how sensory cortical areas are important for the representation of semantic features, new research explores how semantic memory is affected by neurodegeneration in regions important for semantic processing. Here, we review studies that demonstrate impairments to abstract noun knowledge in behavioural variant frontotemporal degeneration (bvFTD) and to action verb knowledge in Parkinson's disease, and discuss how these deficits relate to disease of the semantic selection network. Summary Findings demonstrate that semantic selection processes are supported by the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and basal ganglia, and that disease to these regions in bvFTD and Parkinson's disease can lead to categorical impairments for abstract nouns and action verbs, respectively.
Prevalence of depressive symptoms in Turkish adolescents.

Aim: To determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms in adolescents and explore the association of socio-demographic factors with depression. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in the city center of Konya, Turkey, and included all of seventh grade children in primary schools with census method. The mean age of participants was 13.6±0.7 (range 12 to 16). The data were collected with selfadministered Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) which contains 27 items, and socio-demographic questionnaire in classrooms. Results: Of the 7602, 9.9% second part elementary school students reported depressive symptoms. There were relationships between adolescent depression and gender (OR= 2.35 for girls), age (OR= 1.67 for 15≤), low school performance (OR= 2.11), smoking of father (OR= 1.27), chronic disease of mother (OR= 1.71), chronic disease of father (OR= 1.49), family income (OR= 1.44 for poor), and father’s profession (OR= 0.69 for self-employed). Depression rate was 22.9% among the children who had lost their mother and 19.1% on the child whose parents were separated. Depression ratio was low in children whose fathers were self-employed professionals (8.4%). Conclusion: In adolescence period, especially girls and their parents should be educated about depression and the children’s school performance should be improved. The economic status of poor families and health services should be strengthened. With the help of school guiding services, the fathers who smoke should be warned.
AN ALMA CONTINUUM SURVEY OF CIRCUMSTELLAR DISKS IN THE UPPER SCORPIUS OB ASSOCIATION

We present ALMA 880 μm continuum observations of 20 K- and M-type stars in the Upper Scorpius OB association (Upper Sco) that are surrounded by protoplanetary disks. These data are used to measure the dust content in disks around low-mass stars (0.1–1.6 M☉) at a stellar age of 5–11 Myr. Thirteen sources were detected in the 880 μm dust continuum at ⩾3σ with inferred dust masses between 0.3 and 52 M⊕. The dust masses tend to be higher around the more massive stars, but the significance is marginal in that the probability of no correlation is p ≈ 0.03. The evolution in the dust content in disks was assessed by comparing the Upper Sco observations with published continuum measurements of disks around ∼1–2 Myr stars in the Class II stage in the Taurus molecular cloud. While the dust masses in the Upper Sco disks are on average lower than in Taurus, any difference in the dust mass distributions is significant at less than 3σ. For stellar masses between 0.49 M☉ and 1.6 M☉, the mean dust mass in disks is lower in Upper Sco relative to Taurus by Δlog Mdust = 0.44 ± 0.26.
COMPETENCIAS DEL PROFESOR-MENTOR PARA EL ACOMPAÑAMIENTO AL PROFESORADO PRINCIPIANTE

La concepcion actual del desarrollo profesional docente incorpora la formacion inicial, el acompanamiento de los docentes noveles en su incorporacion a la escuela, y la formacion permanente. Este articulo se centra en el segundo eslabon de esa cadena, el acompanamiento a los profesores principiantes, mas concretamente en la modalidad de “mentoria”, en la que el acompanante es un docente experimentado, y no un asesor interno o externo con otro tipo de perfil profesional. Tras definir el concepto y proceso general de mentoria y su potencial para la adecuada insercion en la profesion docente y, en consecuencia, para la calidad de la ensenanza, nos centraremos en el analisis de las competencias basicas que ha de tener el profesor experimentado para ser mentor, desde la logica que desaconseja pensar que cualquier docente puede ser un buen mentor, y considerando los parametros comunes que afectan a cualquier actividad educativa, formativa u orientadora en la actualidad.
The fibrotic phenotype of systemic sclerosis fibroblasts varies with disease duration and severity of skin involvement: reconstitution of skin fibrosis development using a tissue engineering approach

We set out to examine the pathophysiological mechanisms of fibrosis in diffuse systemic sclerosis (SSc) using a tissue engineering approach. Skin fibroblasts were isolated from lesional skin of SSc patients with a disease duration of less than 1 year (early‐stage SSc) or more than 10 years (late‐stage SSc). Fibroblasts were also isolated from non‐lesional skin and compared with normal fibroblasts isolated from healthy adults. Cells were cultured using a tissue engineering method to reconstruct a human dermis, and histologically observed. Dermal thickness was measured, as it reflects the global and intrinsic capacity of cells to reconstitute matrix. Collagen I, MMP‐1, and MMP activity were evaluated. Cells were treated with TGFβ1 or CTGF during dermis formation to study their fibrogenic role. Clinical severity of skin involvement was measured by a modified Rodnan score. Thickness of the dermis generated with non‐lesional early‐stage SSc fibroblasts was similar to normal cells. In contrast, reconstructed dermis from lesional early‐stage SSc fibroblasts and non‐lesional late‐stage SSc cells was thinner, while lesional late‐stage SSc fibroblasts made a thicker dermis. Dermis was always thicker when produced with TGFβ1‐treated cells, except when lesional late‐stage SSc fibroblasts from patients with high Rodnan skin scores were used. CTGF did not affect dermal thickness. Measurements of collagen I and collagenases in the culture medium of the various reconstructed dermis could explain some of the changes observed. We conclude that the fibrotic phenotype of SSc fibroblasts varies with disease duration and with severity of skin involvement, and this is clearly visualized during in vitro dermis reconstruction. Copyright © 2008 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Seroprevalence Anti HCV Antibodies, HCV- RNA and its Genotypes among Patients of Hemophilia, at Hemophilia Treatment Centre Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad

Objective: To evaluate the frequency of Hepatitis C antibody, viral load and genotypes of HCV in Hemophiliacs at Hemophilia Centre Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad Study Design and Duration of Study: A prospective cross-sectional study, done at Hemophilia Centre (PIMS) during a year from January to December 2006. Material & Methods: Among a total of 215 cases registered for different bleeding disorders at Hemophilia centre PIMS, 161 were Hemophiliacs (both factor VIII and factor IX deficiencies). Out of these 103 were tested for Hepatitis C antibodies by ELIZA method. Viral load was detected using HCV Real Time Amplification Method. Serum was also submitted for genotyping by identifying the genospecific cDNA band. Results: Among 103 patients of hemophilia A and B tested for Hepatitis C antibody positivity, 36% were found positive. All of these cases were tested for viral load by PCR and 57% cases had detectable viral load. On genotyping most of the cases (38%) were 3a type and a few patients had mixed infection. ALT was elevated in most of the patients. Alterations in hematological parameters have also been described. Conclusion: We found 36% positivity for HCV antibodies. Detectable viral load was observed in 57% cases. On genotyping most of the cases (among the typable ones) were 3a type. Since the HCV endemicity in general population is already a major public health problem and this is even worse in Hemophiliacs we need to take strict measures to provide safe blood and its products to everyone. Keyword: Genotype, HCV, Heomophilia,
A simple analytic method for cone beam calibration

In cone-beam tomography, for accurate image reconstruction to be achieved, the system first has to be calibrated. Few methods exist for direct cone-beam scanner calibration. The advantages of direct methods is that they do not need human intervention and can be very general with respect to the source/detector trajectory. With the assumption of a vertical scanner, Noo et al. obtained analytic equations for the calibration parameters with respect to the projected images of a calibration object. Without assumptions on the scanner geometry, a simple and direct method is described here, using a calibration object made of three orthogonal line segments with a common center. First, the projected center is identified. Then, three intermediate vectors are calculated from the data. Then, intrinsic (focal length and principal point) and extrinsic (rotation angles and translation vector from the calibration object to the scanner) parameters are obtained analytically from the three vectors
Psychological Assessment of Visual Impaired Children in Integrated and Special Schools

Although the educational services for children with visual impairment in Kenya have expanded to include provision in the integrated school setting, not much research has been done to document the benefits of the integrated pro- gramme to the children involved. The researcher used the ex - post - facto design to compare the self - concept of 20 blind children in classes 5 to 7 who had been placed in integrated (N = 10) and special (N = 10) schools. Self - concept was measured with a self - concept scale developed by the researchers based on existing self - concept scales especially, the Piers - Harris Children's Self - Concept Scale and the Tennessee Self - concept Scale. Other variables examined were pu- pil to pupil and teacher to pupil interaction. The data were analyzed using the two - tailed t - test. The blind pupils in inte- grated schools had a significantly higher (t = 2.08, p<, 0.5) self - concept than their counterparts in special schools. The level of pupil to pupil interaction for the blind pupils in integrated schools was significantly higher (t = 2.97, p<.01) than that of pupils in special schools. From this finding, it was concluded that the integrated school offers a social environment favourable for the development of a positive self - concept. However, more research involving a larger number of blind children should be carried out to come up with more definitive findings. Integration of more blind children and children with other disabilities, which should be preceded by provision of supportive services and facilities, was recommended.
A comprehensive study of communication in distributed-memory multiprocessors

This dissertation studies the problem of channel contention in distributed-memory multiprocessors. Our main contributions are on adaptive routing. In this dissertation, we pose and answer several fundamental questions related to the optimality and deadlock freedom of routing algorithms. We also address contention through mapping, a complementary software approach. First, we present a fully adaptive routing algorithm for n-dimensional meshes, which allows a message to use any shortest path from the source to the destination. We prove that this routing algorithm is optimal both in its hardware resource requirements and its flexibility in using these resources. Furthermore, we prove that the only routing algorithms that can satisfy both optimality conditions are symmetric cases of our routing algorithm. Building on the ideas underlying these proofs of optimality, we present a necessary and sufficient condition for deadlock-free routing. The resulting proof methodology applies to a much richer class of routing algorithms than previous proof techniques. Furthermore, our methodology is applicable to any switching technique. To prove our results, we introduce two new concepts: the channel waiting graph and False Resource Cycles. These two concepts yield a simple and powerful methodology, which we demonstrate by proposing a partially adaptive routing algorithm for wormhole-routed meshes that does not require any additional virtual channels, and fully adaptive routing algorithms for wormhole-routed hypercubes and packet-switched meshes that are more adaptive than any previous routing algorithm for these topologies and switching techniques. We then present a heuristic for compile-time mapping of clustered task graphs that measures the channel contention in each mapping. This yields two advantages: a more accurate execution time estimate of each mapping and better information for improving the mapping. Simulation results show the advantage of considering contention when mapping. The mapping heuristic is then integrated with a simulator that models the execution and performance of many routing algorithms, including those that we have proposed. Using task graphs derived from the Cholesky factorization of sparse matrices, we investigate the relationship between mapping and routing. The simulation results demonstrate the advantages of our comprehensive approach to reducing contention.