Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ProxemicUI: object-oriented middleware and event model for proxemics-aware applications on large displays

Interpersonal spatial relationships ("proxemics") play an important role when people collaborate or work near one another. While state-of-art tracking systems and toolkits have been demonstrated that are able to provide proxemics data, application developers require the ability to define their own custom proxemics events (i.e., the meaning behind specific spatial configurations) rather than conduct manual tests in the UI layer. At the same time, proxemics-aware applications involving shared displays need mechanisms to tightly integrate UI events and proxemics events. This requires a middleware framework that allows developers to define proxemics events by composing low-level proxemics data and optionally UI events. In this paper, we present a proximity-based event model suited to collaboration around large displays, and a corresponding framework for building proxemics-aware applications. The design of this model is derived from a review of prior work, and direct experience implementing and evaluating a proxemics-aware interactive tabletop application (a museum information kiosk).
Sketch-based 3D Model Retrieval using Keyshapes for Global and Local Representation

Since 3D models are becoming more popular, the need for effective methods capable of retrieving 3D models is becoming crucial. Current methods require an example 3D model as query. However, in many cases, such a query is not easy to get. An alternative is using a hand-drawn sketch as query. In this work, we present a new keyshape based approach named HKO-KASD for retrieving 3D models using rough sketches as queries. Our approach comprises two general steps. First, a global descriptor is used to determine the appropriate viewpoint for each model. Second, we apply a local matching process to determine the final ranking for an input sketch. To this end, we present a local descriptor capable of working with sketch representations. The global descriptors as well as the local descriptors rely on a set of keyshapes precomputed from 2D representations of 3D models and from the query sketch as well. We evaluate our method using the first-tier precision and compare it with current approaches (HELO, STELA). Our results show a significant increase in precision for many classes of 3D models.
Socio-economic status is related to incidence of asthma and respiratory symptoms in adults

The aim of the present study was to assess the association between socio-economic status and impaired respiratory health in a 10-yr follow-up of a population-based postal survey in Northern Sweden. Multiple logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios in relation to socio-economic class, using age, sex, a family history of asthma, smoking habits, and occupational exposures to dust, gases and fumes as possible confounders. The study comprised 2,341 males and 2,413 females. Cumulative incidences were generally lowest in professionals, including executives and civil servants at intermediate and higher levels, who were chosen as reference group. Manual workers in industry showed a significantly increased risk of developing asthma, recurrent wheeze, attacks of shortness of breath or a combination of the two, and chronic productive cough. Manual workers in service showed a similar pattern for attacks of shortness of breath, recurrent wheeze, or a combination of the two, and chronic productive cough. The corresponding population attributable risks were ∼10%. Low socio-economic status was a risk factor for the development of asthma, symptoms common in asthma and chronic productive cough.
Therapeutic Potential of Everolimus on Core Autism Symptoms andIncreasing Serum Ceruloplasmin and Transferrin Levels in a PubescentBoy with Tuberous Sclerosis

Background: The neuropsychiatric clinical manifestations of tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) include social and behavioral impairment, similar to the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as subependymal giant cell astrocytomas (SEGAs) and renal angiomyolipomas (AMLs). Case report: The present study examined the clinical effects of 24 weeks of therapy with the mTOR inhibitor everolimus on the social and behavioral symptoms that are similar to the core ASD symptoms and neurobiological mechanisms underlying the effects of everolimus in an 11-year-old boy with TSC. After the initial physical and psychological screening and Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations, the patient received 4.4 mg/day everolimus for 24 weeks. To study neurobiological mechanism, we examined the relationship between the efficacy of everolimus and serum levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the copper- and iron-binding antioxidants ceruloplasmin (Cp) and transferrin (Tf). Results MRI results revealed a Subependymal giant cell astrocytoma (SEGA) located at the foramen of Monro and a renal angiomyolipoma (AML) on the patient’s kidney. Everolimus remarkably improved the patient’s social and behavioral impairments over the course of the 24-week treatment without apparent reduction in the size of the SEGA and AML. Serum Cp and Tf levels were gradually increased in response to the improvement in symptoms. Conclusion: As everolimus increased antioxidant capacity and elevated serum VEGF levels, this study firstly revealed that increased antioxidant activity related to copper and iron may contribute to the remarkable improvement in the core social and behavioral ASD symptoms caused by 24-week everolimus treatment.
Decentralized fault detection in a class of large-scale nonlinear uncertain systems

This paper presents a decentralized fault detection scheme for a class of distributed large-scale nonlinear uncertain systems. The fault detection architecture consists of interacting local detection filters, one for each subsystem. Under certain assumptions, several important properties of the decentralized fault diagnosis scheme are rigorously investigated. The fault detection threshold for each decentralized detection filter is derived. The detectability analysis characterizes the class of faults that can be detected by the presented scheme. The fault detection time analysis provides an upper bound on the time it takes to detect a fault after its occurrence. The stability and performance analysis deals with the bondededness of all system signals in the adaptive estimation model and characterizes the bounds on the estimation error signals. A simulation example is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Anxiety and Presence during VR Immersion: A Comparative Study of the Reactions of Phobic and Non-phobic Participants in Therapeutic Virtual Environments Derived from Computer Games

Virtual reality can be used to provide phobic clients with therapeutic exposure to phobogenic stimuli. However, purpose-built therapeutic VR hardware and software can be expensive and difficult to adapt to individual client needs. In this study, inexpensive and readily adaptable PC computer games were used to provide exposure therapy to 13 phobic participants and 13 non-phobic control participants. It was found that anxiety could be induced in phobic participants by exposing them to phobogenic stimuli in therapeutic virtual environments derived from computer games (TVEDG). Assessments were made of the impact of simulator sickness and of sense of presence on the phobogenic effectiveness of TVEDGs. Participants reported low levels of simulator sickness, and the results indicate that simulator sickness had no significant impact on either anxiety or sense of presence. Group differences, correlations, and regression analyses indicate a synergistic relationship between presence and anxiety. These results do not support Slater's contention that presence and emotion are orthogonal.
Response‐guided peginterferon therapy in hepatitis B e antigen‐positive chronic hepatitis B using serum hepatitis B surface antigen levels

On‐treatment levels of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) may predict response to peginterferon (PEG‐IFN) therapy in chronic hepatitis B (CHB), but previously proposed prediction rules have shown limited external validity. We analyzed 803 HBeAg‐positive patients treated with PEG‐IFN in three global studies with available HBsAg measurements. A stopping‐rule based on absence of a decline from baseline was compared to a prediction‐rule that uses HBsAg levels of <1,500 IU/mL and >20,000 IU/mL to identify patients with high and low probabilities of response. Patients with an HBsAg level <1,500 IU/mL at week 12 achieved response (HBeAg loss with HBV DNA <2,000 IU/mL at 6 months posttreatment) in 45%. At week 12, patients without a decline in HBsAg achieved a response in 14%, compared to only 6% of patients with HBsAg >20,000 IU/mL, but performance varied across HBV genotype. In patients treated with PEG‐IFN monotherapy (n = 465), response rates were low in patients with genotypes A or D if there was no decline of HBsAg by week 12 (negative predictive value [NPV]: 97%‐100%), and in patients with genotypes B or C if HBsAg at week 12 was >20,000 IU/mL (NPV: 92%‐98%). At week 24, nearly all patients with HBsAg >20,000 IU/mL failed to achieve a response, irrespective of HBV genotype (NPV for response and HBsAg loss 99% and 100%). Conclusion: HBsAg is a strong predictor of response to PEG‐IFN in HBeAg‐positive CHB. HBV genotype‐specific stopping‐rules may be considered at week 12, but treatment discontinuation is indicated in all patients with HBsAg >20,000 IU/mL at week 24, irrespective of HBV genotype. (Hepatology 2013;53:872–880)
Faster integer multiplication

For more than 35 years, the fastest known method for integer multiplication has been the Schönhage-Strassen algorithm running in time O(n log n log log n). Under certain restrictive conditions there is a corresponding Ω(n log n) lower bound. The prevailing conjecture has always been that the complexity of an optimal algorithm is Θ(n log n). We present a major step towards closing the gap from above by presenting an algorithm running in time n log n, 2O(log* n). The main result is for boolean circuits as well as for multitape Turing machines, but it has consequences to other models of computation as well.
Duplicate detection in probabilistic data

Collected data often contains uncertainties. Probabilistic databases have been proposed to manage uncertain data. To combine data from multiple autonomous probabilistic databases, an integration of probabilistic data has to be performed. Until now, however, data integration approaches have focused on the integration of certain source data (relational or XML). There is no work on the integration of uncertain source data so far. In this paper, we present a first step towards a concise consolidation of probabilistic data. We focus on duplicate detection as a representative and essential step in an integration process. We present techniques for identifying multiple probabilistic representations of the same real-world entities.
Multiple Forensic Interviews During Investigations of Child Sexual Abuse: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

In suspected child sexual abuse some professionals recommend multiple child interviews to increase the likelihood of disclosure or more details to improve decision-making and increase convictions. We modeled the yield of a policy of routinely conducting multiple child interviews and increased convictions. Our decision tree reflected the path of a case through the health care, welfare, and legal systems and estimated the increased probability of conviction with additional interviews. We populated our decision analysis model using literature-based estimates. We simulated the experiences of 1,000 cases at 250 sets of plausible parameter values representing different hypothetical communities. Multiple interviews increase by 6.1% the likelihood that an offender will be convicted in the average community. We estimate that one additional conviction will follow if 17 additional children are multiple interviewed. Implications for the children, costs of care, protection of other children, and the risk of false prosecution are discussed.
Multi-relay network design using power-normalized SNR

In this paper, we adopt a novel efficiency measure, the power-normalized SNR (PN-SNR), in the design of multi-relay networks with an individual power constraint for each relay. We formulate the PN-SNR maximization problem with a received SNR constraint to maintain the quality of service (QoS) and propose a low complexity algorithm for a suboptimal solution. The average PN-SNR and average throughput of the proposed design are simulated and compared with existing designs. We also simulate the probability of no transmission with the proposed design for an arbitrary SNR level. We observe that the proposed design is more power efficient than existing ones with comparable performance in average throughput. When the transmitter power is moderate, with higher QoS constraint, the probability of no transmission gets higher; the average throughput decreases, but the PN-SNR of the network increases.
ON THE INTERACTION BETWEEN RESOURCE FLEXIBILITY AND FLEXIBILITY STRUCTURES

Most service systems consist of multi-departmental structures corresponding to multiple types of service requests, with possibly multi-skill agents that can deal with several types of service requests. The design of flexibility in terms of agents’ skill sets and assignments of requests is a critical issue for such systems. Managers also have a choice in determining the percentage of capacity that will have the designed flexibility structure. A similar problem exists in the manufacturing of multiple products in multiple plants. In this paper, we investigate two issues regarding flexibility design: what is the amount of resource flexibility needed in each department and how does this interact with the flexibility structure in place.
Ras/MAPK Signaling Modulates VEGFR-3 Expression through Ets-Mediated p300 Recruitment and Histone Acetylation on the Vegfr3 Gene in Lymphatic Endothelial Cells

Modulation of VEGFR-3 expression is important for altering lymphatic endothelial cell (LEC) characteristics during the lymphangiogenic processes that occur under developmental, physiological, and pathological conditions. However, the mechanisms underlying the modulation of Vegfr3 gene expression remain largely unknown. Using genetically engineered mice and LECs, we demonstrated previously that Ras signaling is involved not only in VEGFR-3-induced signal transduction but also in Vegfr3 gene expression. Here, we investigated the roles of the transcription factor Ets and the histone acetyltransferase p300 in LECs in Ras-mediated transcriptional regulation of Vegfr3. Ras activates Ets proteins via MAPK-induced phosphorylation. Ets knockdown, similar to Ras knockdown, resulted in a decrease in both Vegfr3 transcript levels and acetylated histone H3 on the Vegfr3 gene. Vegfr3 knockdown results in altered LEC phenotypes, such as aberrant cell proliferation and network formation, and Ets knockdown led to milder but similar phenotypic changes. We identified evolutionarily conserved, non-coding regulatory elements within the Vegfr3 gene that harbor Ets-binding motifs and have enhancer activities in LECs. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays revealed that acetylated histone H3 on the regulatory elements of the Vegfr3 gene was decreased following Ras and Ets knockdown, and that activated Ets proteins, together with p300, were associated with these regulatory elements, consistent with a reduction in Vegfr3 gene expression in p300-knockdown LECs. Our findings demonstrate a link between Ras signaling and Ets- and p300-mediated transcriptional regulation of Vegfr3, and provide a potential mechanism by which VEGFR-3 expression levels may be modulated during lymphangiogenesis.
Starting treatment with children and adolescents: A process‐oriented guide for therapists

The novelist Colum McCann once reflected that: ‘‘Stories are the best democracy we have. We are allowed to become the other we never dreamed we could be’’ (2009, p. A21). One reason for this rests with their benefit of buttressing identity with a certain coherence and stability. However we create our pasts will have a direct bearing upon the way we sculpt our future. As therapists and analysts, we try to rupture the old narrative to make a new future possible. The investigation of the story in a person’s therapy is a watershed moment, for it is here where the patient may open up to his other, less conscious selves. Steven Tuber and Jane Caflisch’s new book, Starting Treatment with Children and Adolescents: A Process-Oriented Guide for Therapists, is a refreshing primer for the beginning child therapist who, by virtue of her trade, must become an aficionado of the story as it expresses itself through a child’s play or the adolescent’s more sophisticated stories. Such fresh advances can come with their own excitement at putting ideas and feelings together on a deeper level as well as discomfort in feeling the stretch of a new reach. Dr. Steven Tuber, the senior author, is a professor of psychology at The City University of New York’s clinical doctoral program. Ms. Caflisch is a doctoral student in this program and a therapist in training at the Psychological Center at CUNY. Their book was generated by a doctoral-level practicum course that focused on the process of child psychotherapy that Dr. Tuber has taught at CUNY for the past 25 years. From over 200 audiotaped transcripts of therapy sessions conducted by student therapists that were presented in Dr. Tuber’s course over the years, 12 session transcripts were selected and used to form the foundation for each chapter. These sessions were culled ‘‘. from a beginning therapist’s first ten sessions with a child patient’’ (p. ix). The volume’s primary purpose is to serve as a guidebook of sorts to the beginning professional’s experience in the consulting room. One of its merits is its provision of ‘‘a ‘hands-on’’’ experience of reading actual sessions between a second-year doctoral student clinical psychology as the therapist and his or her first child patient in one of their first 10 sessions at work together’’ (p. x). The book’s secondary purpose is a demonstration of Tuber’s threepronged conceptual framework that anchors his thinking and technical strategies as he engages with a child in the treatment setting. Firstly, he references Freud’s tripartite structural model as his over-arching theoretical position; in tandem with this stance he attends to the role of affect and the defenses against it as these elements unfold in the child’s play. Secondly, he highlights Winnicott’s theoretical stance on the development of the self and the child’s capacity to play. In line with this perspective, play is about the child’s experimenting with taking on different positions and vantage points.
Modeling Spatial Establishment Patterns of Exotic Forest Insects in Urban Areas in Relation to Tree Cover and Propagule Pressure

ABSTRACT As international trade increases so does the prominence of urban areas as gateways for exotic forest insects (EFI). Delimiting hot spots for invasions (i.e., areas where establishment is likely) within urban areas would facilitate monitoring efforts. We used a propagule-pressure framework to delimit establishment hot spots of a hypothetical generalist EFI in six U.S. urban areas: Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, New York-Newark, and Seattle. We assessed how urban tree cover and propagule pressure interact to delimit establishment hot spots and compared the location of these hot spots with actual recent U.S. detections of two EFI: the Asian strain of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.) (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae), and Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Using a lattice of 5-km-diameter cells for each urban area, we used the input data (urban tree cover and propagule pressure) to model establishment and Moran's I to delimit hot spots. We used urban population size and the area of commercial-industrial land use as indicators of propagule pressure in the model. Relative establishment of EFI was influenced more by the two propagule pressure indicators than by tree cover. The delimited land use-based hot spots for Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana and New York-Newark encompassed more of the actual detections of L. dispar and A. glabripennis, respectively, than the population-based hot spots. No significant difference occurred between hot spot types for A. glabripennis detections in the Chicago urban area. Implications of these findings for management and design of monitoring programs in urban areas are discussed.
Preliminary Data from an Advanced Dementia Consult Service: Integrating Research, Education, and Clinical Expertise

Hospitalized individuals with advanced dementia often receive care that is of limited clinical benefit and inconsistent with preferences. An advanced dementia consultation service was designed, and a pre and post pilot study was conducted in a Boston hospital to evaluate it. Geriatricians and a palliative care nurse practitioner conducted consultations, which consisted of structured consultation, counseling and provision of an information booklet to the family, and postdischarge follow‐up with the family and primary care providers. Individuals aged 65 and older with advanced dementia who were admitted were identified, and consultations were solicited using pop‐ups programmed into the computerized provider order entry (POE) system. In the initial 3‐month period, 24 subjects received usual care. In the subsequent 3‐month period, consultations were provided to five subjects for whom they were requested. Data were obtained from the electronic medical record and proxy interviews (admission, 1 month after discharge). Mean age of the combined sample (N = 29) was 85.4, 58.6% were from nursing homes, and 86.2% of their proxies stated that comfort was the goal of care. Nonetheless, their hospitalizations were characterized by high rates of intravenous antibiotics (86.2%), more than five venipunctures (44.8%), and radiological examinations (96.6%). Acknowledging the small sample size, there were trends toward better outcomes in the intervention group, including greater proxy knowledge of the disease, better communication between proxies and providers, more advance care planning, lower rehospitalization rates, and fewer feeding tube insertions after discharge. Targeted consultation for advanced dementia is feasible and may promote greater engagement of proxies and goal‐directed care after discharge.
Exploring MPEG HEVC decoder parallelism for the efficient porting onto many-core platforms

MPEG High Efficient Video Coding (HEVC) is likely to emerge as the video coding standard for HD and Ultra-HD TV resolutions. The two elements that push HEVC beyond the previous standards are a higher compression efficiency of about a factor of two, and the introduction of new coding tools, tiles and wavefront that are intended to ease the largely increased encoding complexity particularly for Ultra HD resolutions such as 4K and 8K. However, for HEVC decoder implementations, the achievement of the desired performance on massive parallel platforms cannot rely on the use of such optional (not enforced by MPEG profiles) tools. This paper reports results about the intrinsic parallelism of compliant HEVC decoding algorithms obtained by analyzing a dataflow implementation written using the standard language specified in ISO/IEC 23001-4 and structured attempting to maximize the algorithmic potential parallelism. The experimental results show what is the parallelism achieved by different dataflow architectures and how it can be further combined with the parallelism achieved by relying on tiles and wavefront, whenever they would be available, for porting a compliant HEVC decoder on massive parallel many-core platforms.