Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Context Expertise When Comparing Data

Our research addresses the role that context expertise plays when students compare data. We report findings from a study conducted in 3 countries: Australia, United States, and Thailand. In each country, six middle school students analyzed authentic data relating to selected students' areas of interest. We examined the data analysis processes and discussion among students as each country cohort worked in two groups of three, where only one group included a student with particular expertise with the data context. We found that students used context knowledge to (a) bring new insight or additional information to the task, (b) explain the data, (c) provide justification or qualification for claims, (d) identify useful data for the task at hand, and (e) state facts that may enhance the picture of the data but are irrelevant to the process of analyzing the data. Implications for practice are discussed.
Research on segmentation of dorsal diencephalon and ventral midbrain of zebrafish embryo based on active contour model

Zebrafish is a valuable vertebrate model in life science research. In the zebrafish research, segmentation of zebrafish embryo images is a prerequisite for subsequent processing and analysis. Specifically, shape analysis of zebrafish's two important organs, the dorsal diencephalon and the ventral midbrain, is significant for studying the mutants caused by gene expression. Nevertheless, due to non-uniform intensity distribution and weak boundaries in dorsal diencephalon and ventral midbrain microscopic images, classical segmentation methods are unable to determine the precise boundaries. In this paper, a novel segmentation technique for zebrafish embryo images is proposed based on active contour model, which includes region based active contour model and geodesic active contour. Finally, the effectiveness of this approach is confirmed by the experimental results that the agreement between the algorithm and manual segmentation is more than 90%.
Study of Non-axisymmetric Magnetic Components by means of 2D FEA Solvers

FEA solvers provide detailed information about the behavior of magnetic components. This information can be used either to generate models or just to explore the field distribution. Since most of the magnetic components exhibit a 3D field distribution, the most suitable FEA approach is the 3D one. However, 3D FEA solvers are not efficient in terms of "time to solve" the problem or even convergence problems may appear for most of actual designs. Therefore, it is very convenient to propose procedures to make possible the use of 2D FEA solver instead of 3D ones in order to analyze 3D field distributions. This paper presents several rules that can be applied in order to "emulate" the real 3D behavior using 2D FEA solvers
It’s Not What You Say, It’s The Way That You Say It

The quality of relationships between supervisors and their subordinates has been found to be predictive of subordinate performance. A number of explanatory mechanisms have been proposed, and the frequency and nature of dyadic communication have been posited as contributory. To further explore this potential mechanism, the authors tested the hypothesis that upward influencing communications mediate the relationship between relationship quality, as measured by leader-member exchange (LMX), and supervisor ratings of subordinate performance. In a study involving 107 supervisors, LMX was positively associated with reported frequencies of upward influences delivered as rational argument and negatively associated with ingratiatory and assertive communications. LMX was also positively associated with performance ratings, but this relationship was fully mediated by the frequency of upward influencing tactics, with rational argument being positively predictive of performance ratings and assertiveness being negatively associated with ratings of performance.
Object tracking using joint histogram of color and local rhombus pattern

Object tracking is a challenging real world problem for traffic, crime scenes, sports, etc. A feature extraction method, named as the local rhombus pattern (LRP) is proposed in this work, and it is different from the conventional local binary pattern as it extracts the local relationship of neighboring pixels itself instead of local relationship with the center pixel. The proposed method is combined with HSV (hue, saturation and value) quantized histogram, and is applied to object tracking using mean shift tracking algorithm. Experiments are carried out for road traffic and sports video, using joint histogram of LRP and HSV color space, and compared to two state-of-art approaches. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method over existing methods.
The influence of illumination on facial feature extraction

Basically, the computer-based face recognition area is very challenging, especially when it comes to recognizing objects and images under different illumination conditions. One effective way to solve this problem is to examine the extent to which features remain available for extraction in differing illumination conditions. This paper studies the effect of different illumination conditions on feature extraction in improving the recognition of images. The Discrete Wavelet Transformation technique is used for feature extraction under different types of illumination. Based on the results of our experiments on the collected data set, it is concluded that features remain the same i.e. they are not affected by illumination conditions. It is also concluded that when features are extracted, light only affects the smooth areas of the face.
Stimulation of single L‐type calcium channels in rat pituitary GH3 cells by thyrotropin‐releasing hormone.

Hormonal stimulation of voltage‐dependent Ca2+ channels in pituitary cells is thought to contribute to the sustained phase of Ca2+ entry and secretion induced by secretion stimulating hormones and has been suggested as a mechanism for refilling the Ca2+ stores. Using the cell‐attached patch‐clamp technique, we studied the stimulation of single Ca2+ channels by thyrotropin‐releasing hormone (TRH) in rat GH3 cells. We show that TRH applied from the bath switched the activity of single L‐type Ca2+ channels from a gating mode with very low open probability (po) to a gating mode with slightly smaller conductance but 10 times higher po. Interconversions between these two gating modes were also observed under basal conditions, where the equilibrium was shifted towards the low po mode. TRH applied from the pipette had no effect, indicating the involvement of a cytosolic compound in the stimulatory pathway. We show that TRH does not potentiate all the L‐type Ca2+ channels in a given membrane patch and report evidence for co‐expression of two functionally different L‐type Ca2+ channels. Our results uncover the biophysical mechanism of hormonal stimulation of voltage‐dependent Ca2+ channels in GH3 cells and are consistent with differential modulation of different subtypes of dihydropyridine‐sensitive Ca2+ channels.
Pas a Pas: a platform for enabling schools to teach educational content using stop motion animation

Pas a Pas is a tool to support education using stop motion animation. The platform aims to bridge the gap between abstract concepts from educational content to reality using the physicality and animated outcome of stop motion. This paper describes the research, prototype and conclusions of user testing, and provides design ideas for further iterations of the concept.
Development of a Dose‐Response Model for SARS Coronavirus

In order to develop a dose‐response model for SARS coronavirus (SARS‐CoV), the pooled data sets for infection of transgenic mice susceptible to SARS‐CoV and infection of mice with murine hepatitis virus strain 1, which may be a clinically relevant model of SARS, were fit to beta‐Poisson and exponential models with the maximum likelihood method. The exponential model (k= 4.1 × l02) could describe the dose‐response relationship of the pooled data sets. The beta‐Poisson model did not provide a statistically significant improvement in fit. With the exponential model, the infectivity of SARS‐CoV was calculated and compared with those of other coronaviruses. The does of SARS‐CoV corresponding to 10% and 50% responses (illness) were estimated at 43 and 280 PFU, respectively. Its estimated infectivity was comparable to that of HCoV‐229E, known as an agent of human common cold, and also similar to those of some animal coronaviruses belonging to the same genetic group. Moreover, the exponential model was applied to the analysis of the epidemiological data of SARS outbreak that occurred at an apartment complex in Hong Kong in 2003. The estimated dose of SARS‐CoV for apartment residents during the outbreak, which was back‐calculated from the reported number of cases, ranged from 16 to 160 PFU/person, depending on the floor. The exponential model developed here is the sole dose‐response model for SARS‐CoV at the present and would enable us to understand the possibility for reemergence of SARS.
Philosophy, thought experiments and large context problems in the secondary school physics course

In this paper it is argued that scientific thinking in physics involves the progressive clarification of the relationship between mathematics and physics, as well as the clarification of scientific induction and deduction. Furthermore, the framing of theories and the working out of their consequences involve the exercise of the imagination. One locus of scientific imagination is the thought experiment, primarily understood as a mental device that helps explicate concepts and principles, and unravel paradoxes. A sound curriculum in physics, however, must also be based on broad principles of education. These principles are first stated and then it is argued that in conjunction with what we have said about scientific thinking we should teach physics in terms of contexts of inquiry. These contexts relate to questions, method, problems, experiments, history, and the large context problem itself. Here we find the clarification of induction and deduction, as well as the proper placing of the thought experiment.
Evidence from two planorbid snails of a complex and dedicated response to digenean (echinostome) infection

The planorbid snail Biomphalaria glabrata responded to exposure to either the compatible digenetic trematode Echinostoma paraensei or the incompatible species Echinostoma trivolvis by producing increased amounts of several distinctive plasma polypeptides. These polypeptides characteristically precipitated from plasma when mixed with secreted–excreted products (SEP) of sporocysts or rediae from either digenean species. In contrast, control snails, or snails that had been wounded or infected with bacteria (Serratia marcesens or Staphylococcus epidermidis) showed no obvious plasma alterations and no precipitates formed when their plasma was mixed with SEP. Another planorbid species, Helisoma trivolvis, which displays reverse compatibility for the echinostome species used, also responded to exposure to both echinostomes by increased production of plasma polypeptides that precipitated in the presence of SEP. With some individual variation, these 2 snail species synthesized SEP-reactive plasma polypeptides forming diffuse bands centred at 53, 65, 80–120 and 200 kDa (the latter absent in Helisoma trivolvis). The 53 kDa polypeptides had not been observed before, whereas the others have been noted from B. glabrata. The diffuse 65 kDa band was strongly bound by anti-fibrinogen antibodies, supportive of earlier studies indicating it contains fibrinogen-related domains. The other specified polypeptides were also bound by these antibodies raising the possibility that they too contain fibrinogen domains. The results are suggestive of a general ability of these 2 planorbid snails to detect the presence of echinostomes even if the latter are subsequently incapable of development. The complex response they then mount, one not evoked by other challenges such as wounding or bacterial infection, may represent a dedicated response to a frequently encountered group of pathogenic parasites, the digeneans (echinostomes).
A Major Light-Harvesting Polypeptide of Photosystem II Functions in Thermal Dissipation Online version contains Web-only data. Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.002154.

Under high-light conditions, photoprotective mechanisms minimize the damaging effects of excess light. A primary photoprotective mechanism is thermal dissipation of excess excitation energy within the light-harvesting complex of photosystem II (LHCII). Although roles for both carotenoids and specific polypeptides in thermal dissipation have been reported, neither the site nor the mechanism of this process has been defined precisely. Here, we describe the physiological and molecular characteristics of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii npq5 mutant, a strain that exhibits little thermal dissipation. This strain is normal for state transition, high light–induced violaxanthin deepoxidation, and low light growth, but it is more sensitive to photoinhibition than the wild type. Furthermore, both pigment data and measurements of photosynthesis suggest that the photosystem II antenna in the npq5 mutant has one-third fewer light-harvesting trimers than do wild-type cells. The npq5 mutant is null for a gene designated Lhcbm1, which encodes a light-harvesting polypeptide present in the trimers of the photosystem II antennae. Based on sequence data, the Lhcbm1 gene is 1 of 10 genes that encode the major LHCII polypeptides in Chlamydomonas. Amino acid alignments demonstrate that these predicted polypeptides display a high degree of sequence identity but maintain specific differences in their N-terminal regions. Both physiological and molecular characterization of the npq5 mutant suggest that most thermal dissipation within LHCII of Chlamydomonas is dependent on the peripherally associated trimeric LHC polypeptides.
Integrated charge-pump phase-locked loop with SC-loop filter for capacitive microsensor readout

In this paper, simulated and measured phase noise characteristics for a charge-pump phase-locked loop (PLL) with a switched capacitor loop filter are presented. The PLL is fabricated using a 0.35 µm high-voltage CMOS technology. The PLL is designed for a reference frequency range from 3 kHz to 10 kHz, for divider value of 32, and to operate in temperature range from 40 °C to +85 °C and with 2.5 to 3.6 V supply. Measured results indicate that the SC-filter can be used to replace the conventional RC-filter in order to reduce area.
A survey on multichannel assignment protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks

Micaz motes can communicate on multiple frequencies as specified in the 802.15. 4 standard. This reality has given birth to multichannel communication paradigm in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Obviously, multichannel communication mitigates interferences, jamming and congestion, whereas it brings also challenging issues. Thus, in this paper, we are motivated to draw a picture of multichannel assignment protocols in WSNs. After having identified the reasons of resorting to multichannel communication paradigm in WSNs and the specific issues that should be tackled, we propose a classification of multichannel assignment protocols, pointing out different channel selection policies, channel assignment methods and channel coordination techniques. We conclude by a recapitulative table including many examples of existing multichannel protocols designed for WSNs.
Undirected single source shortest paths in linear time

The single source shortest paths problem (SSSP) is one of the classic problems in algorithmic graph theory: given a weighted graph G with a source vertex s, find the shortest path from s to all other vertices in the graph. Since 1959 all theoretical developments in SSSP have been based on Dijkstra's algorithm, visiting the vertices in order of increasing distance from s. Thus, any implementation of Dijkstra's algorithm sorts the vertices according to their distances from s. However, we do not know how to sort in linear time. Here, a deterministic linear time and linear space algorithm is presented for the undirected single source shortest paths problem with integer weights. The algorithm avoids the sorting bottle-neck by building a hierarchical bucketing structure, identifying vertex pairs that may be visited in any order.
DeScipher: A Text Simpliﬁcation Tool for Science Journalism

Complex jargon often makes scientiﬁc work less accessible to the general public. By employing a set of speciﬁc reporting strategies, journalists bridge these groups by delivering information about scientiﬁc advances in a readable, engaging way. One such strategy is using simpler terms in place of complex jargon. To assist in this process, we introduce DeScipher, a text editor application that suggests and ranks possible simpliﬁcations of complex terminology to a journal-ist while she is authoring an article. DeScipher applies sim-pliﬁcation rules derived from a large collection of scientiﬁc abstracts and associated author summaries, and accounts for textual context in making suggestions to the journalist. In evaluating our system, we show that DeScipher is a viable application for producing useful simpliﬁcations of scientiﬁc and other terms by comparing to prior techniques used on other corpora. We also propose concrete opportunities for future development of “journalist-in-the-loop” tools for aiding journalists in enacting science reporting strategies.
Does excessive occlusal load affect osseointegration? An experimental study in the dog.

AIM The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of excessive occlusal load following placement of titanium implants in the presence of healthy peri-implant mucosal tissues. MATERIALS AND METHODS Mandibular bilateral recipient sites in six Labrador dogs were established by extracting premolars and molars. After 3 months, two TPS (titanium plasma sprayed) implants and two SLA (sandblasted, large grit, acid etched) implants were placed on each side of the mandible in each dog. Three implants were lost in the initial healing phase, leaving 45 implants for evaluation. Following 6 months of healing, gold crowns were placed on implants on the test side of the mandible. The crowns were in supra-occlusal contact with the opposing teeth in order to create excessive occlusal load. Implants on the control side were not loaded. Plaque control was performed throughout the experimental period. Clinical measurements and standardised radiographs were obtained at baseline and 1, 3 and 8 months after loading. At 8 months, the dogs were killed and histologic analyses were performed. RESULTS At 8 months, all implants were osseointegrated. The mean probing depth was 2.5+/-0.3 and 2.6+/-0.3 mm at unloaded and loaded implants, respectively. Radiographically, the mean distance from the implant shoulder to the marginal bone level was 3.6+/-0.4 mm in the control group and 3.7+/-0.2 mm in the test group. Control and test groups were compared using paired non-parametric analyses. There were no statistically significant changes for any of the parameters from baseline to 8 months in the loaded and unloaded implants. Histologic evaluation showed a mean mineralised bone-to-implant contact of 73% in the control implants and 74% in the test implants, with no statistically significant difference between test and control implants. CONCLUSION In the presence of peri-implant mucosal health, a period of 8 months of excessive occlusal load on titanium implants did not result in loss of osseointegration or marginal bone loss when compared with non-loaded implants.
Early response of heat shock proteins to functional overload of the soleus and plantaris in rats and mice

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are important factors in the response of skeletal muscles to chronic increases or decreases in activation and loading. The purpose of this study was to compare species‐, time‐ and muscle‐dependent changes in protein expression of Hsp20, Hsp25, αB‐crystallin, Hsp72 and Hsp90 in response to functional overload (FO) in rats and mice. We compared protein levels of Hsp20, Hsp25, αB‐crystallin, Hsp72 and Hsp90 in soleus and plantaris in baseline conditions and following 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 7 days (rats) or 3 and 7 days (mice) of FO. Baseline levels of all HSPs were higher in rat soleus than plantaris, whereas only baseline expression of Hsp20 was higher in mouse soleus than plantaris. Levels of Hsp72 and Hsp90 were higher in plantaris and soleus of FO than control mice and rats after 3 and 7 days of FO. Protein levels and phosphorylation of Hsp25 in mouse plantaris and soleus were higher than control levels after 3 and 7 days of FO, except for soleus at 3 days. αB‐crystallin levels were higher in plantaris of FO than control mice after 3 and 7 days of FO and in FO than control rats after 7 days of FO. Heat shock protein 20 was the least responsive, increasing only in 7 day FO rat plantaris compared with control rats. Overall, the results demonstrate that levels of both large and small HSPs increase with FO, suggesting a contributory role during the compensatory hypertrophy response.
Online adaptive compensation of the ARMin Rehabilitation Robot

Robot-assisted arm therapy is increasingly applied in neurorehabilitation. The reason for this development over the last decades was that robots relieve the therapist from hard physical work while the training intensity can be increased. Importantly, an increase in training intensity is closely linked to functional improvements of the patient. However, usability of the robot for therapists was hardly considered an important factor in rehabilitation robot development so far. We believe that usability of the robot is a key factor for acceptance of the device by therapists. In this paper, an online adaptive compensation for the ARMin rehabilitation robot is presented, which aims at improving usability of the robot. Therefore, we expect ARMin therapy to become even more effective than conventional therapy at a level that is also relevant for the patient. Additionally, improved usability relieves the therapist from unnecessary/time-consuming tasks linked to robot handling. For the ARMin, the new online adaptive compensation takes over automatic updates of changed upper and lower arm lengths as well as adaptation of shoulder angle settings to fit the patient's anthropometry. Simultaneously, the model-based compensation in ARMin is directly updated to account for hardware changes. Importantly, the online adaptive compensation provides improved performance of ARMin even at the borders of the workspace. In experiments, we could show that the adaptive online compensation relieves the force and position controller from additional burdens and increases the robot performance drastically especially at the workspace border.
The Social Milieu of the Church and Religious Coping Responses: A Longitudinal Investigation of Older Whites and Older Blacks

The purpose of this study is to see if the social environment of the church influences the use of religious coping responses over time. The following theoretical relationships were embedded in the conceptual model that was developed to evaluate this issue: (a) People who go to church more often are more likely to feel their congregation is highly cohesive (e.g., share the same values and beliefs); (b) individuals who worship in highly cohesive congregations are more likely to receive spiritual support (i.e., encouragement to adopt religious teachings and principles) from their fellow church members; and (c) people who receive more spiritual support will be more likely to adopt religious coping responses. In the process of evaluating this model, tests were performed to examine the influence of racial culture. Data from a nationwide longitudinal survey of older adults provide support for each link in the conceptual model. Pervasive racial cultural differences were also found: Older Blacks were more likely to be deeply involved in each facet of religion than older Whites.