Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Forensic Psychiatric Patients' Narratives of Their Offense

This study aims to describe forensic psychiatric patients’ experiences of their offense and its meaning for their lives, and to increase the understanding of the meaning of the offense in the eyes of the patient. The data analyzed was collected by interviews with forensic psychiatric patients and analyzed by narrative analysis. The findings suggest that forensic psychiatric patients have different types of stories describing the offense and its meaning in their lives. Illness narratives can be utilized therapeutically because they may construct patients’ identity, experiences, and their situation as people with an illness seek explanations and meanings for their plight.
A New 6 DOF Robotic Arm with Linkage Motion Mechanism and Actuators Placed in Base

We examined mechanism design and kinematic simulation of a new six degrees of freedom (DOF) robotic arm with rotational joints and a linkage motion mechanism. In the design, a parallel linkage mechanism, accompanied by an additional set of bevel gears, was used to create the desired motion for all six links along with transfer of all actuators to the robot’s base to reduce the mass of most of the arms. These changes resulted in reduction of the torque required for joints 1, 2, and 3. Using this parallel mechanism ensures dependence to motion links and creates a special case for the control of the robot and more rigidity against unwanted movement. Initially, we examined mechanism design methods for a parallel linkage mechanism and considered methods for application in an operational robot. In the next step, we determined the kinematic relationships that were established between the robot’s actuators and joints spaces due to the use of this mechanism. Then, we developed an example of the robot’s function in a performance simulation. The simulation results indicated that the mechanism and controller performance were acceptable.
Real-time rendering of woven clothes

Virtual environments containing humans moving and performing actions in real time are ubiquitous in computer graphics applications. Such characters are often clothed in woven fabrics. This paper presents a technique for visualizing woven clothes in real time, while optimizing the realistic appearance. The proposed approach supports rendering of complex weave patterns by adopting Weaving Information File (WIF), a standard from textile Computer Aided Design (CAD) for representing the grammar of weaving. We develop a realistic rendering scheme by combining the grammar representation obtained from the WIF with a procedural thread texture, a suitable cloth Bi-directional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and horizon maps. We employ the multi-texturing approach to meet the real time constraint. Thus our approach to visualizing woven clothes begins from weaving grammar specifications and converts them into textures that can be applied on clothes. We demonstrate the versatility of the proposed approach with examples.
Firmer Footing for a Policy of Early Intervention: Conflict Early Warning and Early Response Comes of Age

ABSTRACT Initial versions of conflict early warning and early response were designed primarily for use by foreign policy experts to support early responses to avert chaos in governance, factional bloodshed, and associated humanitarian crises. More recently, there has been a shift of emphasis to early warning and early response at a local level due, in part, to emerging technologies—especially cell phones and social media, involving the “net-roots. ” This use of Information and Communication Technologies for Violence Prevention (ICT4VP) is creating a fusion of outsider-top-level and insider-local-level approaches. Although these new systems can be risky, there is evidence that such combinations can be successful, highlighting the importance of policies designed to support local actors for early response in tandem with initiatives by leaders at mid and top levels.
Angiotensin II induces peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma in PC12W cells via angiotensin type 2 receptor activation

The angiotensin type 2 (AT2) receptor has been previously demonstrated to exert neuroprotective actions possibly by inducing neuronal cell differentiation involving neurite outgrowth. The nuclear hormone receptor peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is an important transcriptional regulator of cell differentiation. The aim of the present study was to clarify whether PPARγ is involved in AT2‐receptor‐mediated morphological neuronal cell differentiation. To investigate AT2‐receptor‐mediated morphological neuronal cell differentiation, rat pheochromocytoma cells (PC12W cells) expressing AT2 but not AT1 receptors, were stimulated with angiotensin II (Ang II, 100 nmol/L) ± the PPARγ antagonists GW9662 (3 µmol/L) and bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE, 1 µmol/L), and neurite outgrowth of these cells was assessed. Ang II induced neurite outgrowth by 19 ± 1.6‐fold (p < 0.01). Antagonizing PPARγ activity by GW9662 or BADGE potently blocked Ang II‐induced neurite outgrowth (Ang II + GW9662: 6.6 ± 1.5‐fold, p < 0.05; Ang II + BADGE: 1.3 ± 0.7‐fold, p < 0.01). AT2 receptor activation by Ang II markedly induced mRNA and protein expression of the PPARγ2 isoform and enhanced ligand‐induced PPARγ activity in transactivation assays. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that Ang II induces PPARγ expression and ligand‐mediated PPARγ activity via AT2 receptor activation, which appears to be a crucial process in AT2 receptor mediated neurite outgrowth. AT2 receptor/PPARγ‐dependent neurite outgrowth may play an important role during neuroprotective processes.
Generative models of rich clubs in Hebbian neuronal networks and large-scale human brain networks

Rich clubs arise when nodes that are ‘rich’ in connections also form an elite, densely connected ‘club’. In brain networks, rich clubs incur high physical connection costs but also appear to be especially valuable to brain function. However, little is known about the selection pressures that drive their formation. Here, we take two complementary approaches to this question: firstly we show, using generative modelling, that the emergence of rich clubs in large-scale human brain networks can be driven by an economic trade-off between connection costs and a second, competing topological term. Secondly we show, using simulated neural networks, that Hebbian learning rules also drive the emergence of rich clubs at the microscopic level, and that the prominence of these features increases with learning time. These results suggest that Hebbian learning may provide a neuronal mechanism for the selection of complex features such as rich clubs. The neural networks that we investigate are explicitly Hebbian, and we argue that the topological term in our model of large-scale brain connectivity may represent an analogous connection rule. This putative link between learning and rich clubs is also consistent with predictions that integrative aspects of brain network organization are especially important for adaptive behaviour.
Drivers and Performance Outcomes of Trust in International Strategic Alliances: The Role of Organizational Complexity

Trust between partners has become a key construct in interfirm relationship management. However, elucidating the precise nature of the trust-performance link in international strategic alliances remains an important theoretical and empirical challenge for management scholars. Discordant findings evident in existing alliance research raise concerns that interpartner trust does not always enhance venture performance. To investigate this issue, we build and test a theoretical framework that integrates different perspectives of alliance functioning by focusing on the social and bureaucratic forces critical to cooperative processes. The model (1) identifies organizational complexity mechanisms underlying the development of trust in international strategic alliances, (2) points to alliance size as an important factor that conditions the trust-performance relationship, (3) incorporates a new, third-order conceptualization of interpartner trust in alliances, and (4) suggests a theory-based multidimensional assessment of alliance performance. Based on data collected through personal interviews in 177 international strategic alliances, the results suggest that, while interpartner trust is positively associated with alliance performance, this relationship becomes stronger when alliance size declines. We find that both distributive fairness and partner similarity are central to the achievement of a trusting alliance partnership. Managerial insights into developing successful trust-based international alliance exchanges are offered, and fruitful avenues of research are discussed.
Undergraduate Biotechnology Students’ Views of Science Communication

Despite rapid growth of the biotechnology industry worldwide, a number of public concerns about the application of biotechnology and its regulation remain. In response to these concerns, greater emphasis has been placed on promoting biotechnologists’ public engagement. As tertiary science degree programmes form the foundation of the biotechnology sector by providing a pipeline of university graduates entering into the profession, it has been proposed that formal science communication training be introduced at this early stage of career development. The aim of the present study was to examine the views of biotechnology students towards science communication and science communication training. Using an Australian biotechnology degree programme as a case study, 69 undergraduates from all three years of the programme were administered a questionnaire that asked them to rank the importance of 12 components of a biotechnology curriculum, including two science communication items. The results were compared to the responses of 274 students enrolled in other science programmes. Additional questions were provided to the second year biotechnology undergraduates and semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with 13 of these students to further examine their views of this area. The results of this study suggest that the biotechnology students surveyed do not value communication with non‐scientists nor science communication training. The implications of these findings for the reform of undergraduate biotechnology courses yet to integrate science communication training into their science curriculum are discussed.
Planar F-Deletion: Approximation, Kernelization and Optimal FPT Algorithms

Let F be a finite set of graphs. In the F-DELETION problem, we are given an n-vertex graph G and an integer k as input, and asked whether at most k vertices can be deleted from G such that the resulting graph does not contain a graph from F as a minor. F-DELETION is a generic problem and by selecting different sets of forbidden minors F, one can obtain various fundamental problems such as VERTEX COVER, FEEDBACK VERTEX SET or TREEWIDTH η-DELETION. In this paper we obtain a number of generic algorithmic results about F-DELETION, when F contains at least one planar graph. The highlights of our work are · A constant factor approximation algorithm for the optimization version of F-DELETION; · A linear time and single exponential parameterized algorithm, that is, an algorithm running in time O(2O(k)n), for the parameterized version of F-DELETION where all graphs in F are connected; · A polynomial kernel for parameterized F-DELETION. These algorithms unify, generalize, and improve a multitude of results in the literature. Our main results have several direct applications, but also the methods we develop on the way have applicability beyond the scope of this paper. Our results - constant factor approximation, polynomial kernelization and FPT algorithms - are stringed together by a common theme of polynomial time preprocessing.
Studying sign processes in the emergence of communication

Communication depends on the production and interpretation of representations, but the study of representational processes underlying communication finds little discussion in computational experiments. Here we present an experiment on the emergence of both interpretation and production of multiple representations, with multiple referents, where referential processes can be tracked. Results show the dynamics of semiotic processes during the evolution of artificial creatures and the emergence of a variety of semiotic processes, such as sign production, sign interpretation, and sign-object-interpretant relations.
MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF AREAS OF LANGERHANS IN SOME VERTEBRATES

Probably no organ or tissue of the body has been the subject of more thought or investigation than have the areas of Langer-hans, especially during the last few years, and yet there are m a n y questions that still remain unanswered. Since a complete review of the extensive literature on this subject would extend this paper beyond the limits that seem desirable, and since relatively exhaustive reviews of the literature have recently been given by Schulze, Ssobolew, Sauerbeek, and many others, it seems unnecessary to do more than call attention briefly to articles which deal with those phases of the subject with which m y own work has been especially concerned. As is well known, the islands were first described in i869 by Langerhans and later by Laguesse, Opie, Diamare, v. Ebner, Gutmann, and m a n y others. As to their development, Hanse-m a n n believes that they are mesenehymal in origin, having no connection at any time with the pancreatic tubules, but arising from the interstitial tissue. Kflster and Pearee, investigating human embryos, and Laguesse from the study of sheep embryos arrived at the conclusion that the islands develop from the same anlage as the pancreatic glandular structures. These authors differ, however, somewhat in the details of their conclusions, since KOster states that the islands arise from the ducts, the an-lagen, when first differentiated, showing central nuclei, homogeneous protoplasm with a tendency to a band-like arrangement of the cells and having capillaries between the bands of cells.
Material selection and device design guidelines for two-dimensional materials based TFETs

In this paper, we study the impact of different device architectures and material properties on the performance of two-dimensional tunnel FETs (2D TFETs). We show that single-gate (SG) device architecture in case of monolayer and few layers two-dimensional materials perform better than doublegate (DG) architecture. Due to sharper band bending at the tunneling junction, SG device offers shorter tunneling lengths resulting in larger ON currents. With physical insight into the device structure, we show that the gate-to-source outer fringing fields play a significant role in 2D TFETs performance. In order to reduce the effect of outer fringing fields, we propose a device structure with an interfacial layer (IL) between High-k and 2D material, resulting a 3–4x increase in ON current. Further, we show that ON currents can be further boosted by increasing the channel thickness. In the end, it is shown that a bi/tri-layer anisotropic 2D material based SG/DG TFET using IL can provide up to 400% higher ON current in comparison to monolayer 2D material based SG FET for equivalent effective mass and bandgap.
Near 13% Efficiency Shunt Free Solar Cells on RGS Wafers

Direct casting of silicon into wafers allows to produce wafers much more cheaply than in traditional block casting methods. RGS (ribbon growth on substrate) is such a method. In order for RGS to be cost effective sufficient cell efficiencies must be realized. In this paper we present a 12.9% efficient screen printed RGS cell. This is an increase of 0.6% absolute compared to the best previous result reported in January 2005. The increase was achieved by reducing shunting in cells made on RGS material
Exploring Preschool Teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Educational Games

Current technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) studies are inclined to treat technology in a general manner, an approach which may not be able to provide adequate guidelines to improve teacher preparation and professional development when teaching with games. This study developed two new questionnaires, namely the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge—Games (TPACK-G) survey to investigate 352 preschool teachers' confidence in their TPACK-G, and the Acceptance of Digital Game-Based Learning (ADGBL) survey to assess their acceptance of game-based learning. The results show that both instruments exhibit satisfactory validity and reliability. Through a path analysis, the framework of the TPACK-G proposed in this study was supported. In addition, preschool teachers' experience with games and their attitudes toward game-based learning contributed positively to their reported game knowledge. Perceived learning opportunities and attitudes toward game-based learning had direct relations with game pedagogical knowledge. Lastly, experience with games contributed to game pedagogical content knowledge.
Accelerating Computation of DCM for ERP in MATLAB by External Function Calls to the GPU

This study aims to improve the performance of Dynamic Causal Modelling for Event Related Potentials (DCM for ERP) in MATLAB by using external function calls to a graphics processing unit (GPU). DCM for ERP is an advanced method for studying neuronal effective connectivity. DCM utilizes an iterative procedure, the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm, to find the optimal parameters given a set of observations and the underlying probability model. As the EM algorithm is computationally demanding and the analysis faces possible combinatorial explosion of models to be tested, we propose a parallel computing scheme using the GPU to achieve a fast estimation of DCM for ERP. The computation of DCM for ERP is dynamically partitioned and distributed to threads for parallel processing, according to the DCM model complexity and the hardware constraints. The performance efficiency of this hardware-dependent thread arrangement strategy was evaluated using the synthetic data. The experimental data were used to validate the accuracy of the proposed computing scheme and quantify the time saving in practice. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme can accelerate the computation by a factor of 155 for the parallel part. For experimental data, the speedup factor is about 7 per model on average, depending on the model complexity and the data. This GPU-based implementation of DCM for ERP gives qualitatively the same results as the original MATLAB implementation does at the group level analysis. In conclusion, we believe that the proposed GPU-based implementation is very useful for users as a fast screen tool to select the most likely model and may provide implementation guidance for possible future clinical applications such as online diagnosis.
Enhanced omnidirectional image unwrapping for face detection

This paper introduces a new framework to improve the performance of Viola and Jones face detector on omnidirectional unwrapped images. First, an optimization scheme is used to improve the unwrapped image specifically for rectangular Haar-like features. Then, we compare our unwrapping approach to the performance obtained with spherical unwrapping. The impact of the decision boundary and candidate window density are also investigated. Our work suggests that our new unwrapping technique improves significantly the performance of Viola and Jones detector on omnidirectional unwrapped images.
The management of dermatomyositis: current treatment options

Dermatomyositis is traditionally classified as one of the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. The traditional approach to the management of patients with dermatomyositis focuses predominantly on end points related to the systemic manifestations of this disorder, especially proximal muscle weakness resulting from myositis. However, the primary and secondary skin changes that are characteristic of dermatomyositis can, in themselves, produce significant morbidity and disability. This article presents a dermatological perspective on the management of dermatomyositis. As dermatological management approaches can vary between countries, an effort has been made to present a consensus dermatological view concerning this subject. A US dermatologist is most likely to see patients having dermatomyositis skin lesions in the following four clinical settings: soon after the onset of dermatomyositis skin disease activity before the appearance of clinically-evident muscle disease (i.e., ‘pre-myopathic’ dermatomyositis); during the course of clinically-amyopathic dermatomyositis; during co-management of classical dermatomyositis with other physicians; and for recrudescent skin disease activity in classical dermatomyositis patients after their symptomatic muscle inflammation has been fully suppressed by systematic immunosuppressive/immunomodulatory treatment (i.e., ‘postmyopathic’ dermatomyositis). Both topical and systemic therapies for dermatomyositis skin lesions encountered in these various settings will be discussed. In addition to specific approaches to the treatment of dermatomyositis skin lesions, broader management issues that dermatologists must be aware of when caring for dermatomyositis patients are included in this discussion (e.g., patient education, risk of associated systemic disease, such as myositis and interstitial lung disease, risk for occult malignancy, and prognosis counselling).
A Sub-1V, 1.6mW, 2.06GHz clock generator for mobile SoC applications in 32nm CMOS

A fully integrated Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) as a clock generator is described in an advanced 32nm CMOS technology. Features include adaptive bandwidth architecture, automatic frequency calibrator (AFC), a sub-1V V/I converter operation, feedback control to minimize charge-pump current mismatch, and a fully integrated loop filter. The whole PLL measures power consumption of 1.6mW when VCO oscillates at 2.06GHz under the supply voltage of 0.8V. The total die size is 300μm by 300μm, including global power/ground routing, input ESD cells and on-chip power decoupling capacitors. The PLL has a glitch-free post divider to prevent any glitches during the output frequency switching. The circuit has been proven to operate from a 0.8V supply and consumes 1.6mW with the less than 4ps rms jitter over production test.
A novel fingerprinting positioning approach in urban cellular networks

In recent years, location-based services have become a fundamental application in smartphones. This kind of service can be applied in many fields, e.g., navigation, security, advertising, social networks, etc. The aim of this paper is to study the received signal strength-based fingerprinting positioning system in urban cellular networks. We investigate several classification algorithms through simulations. Furthermore, a new positioning method based on k-nearest neighbors has been proposed. This method was developed as a good solution for the design of hardware location systems, and to ensure a real time application.