Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ant Colony Optimization for Requirement selection in Incremental Software development

Search-based software engineering allows the reformulation of the software engineering problems as search-based problems opening the possibility of applying metaheuristic algorithms [9]. Optimization techniques have been applied to a number of software engineering activities, a review of how to use them and the keys required for their application appears in [10]. Classical software engineering methodologies break down the work in several stages: requirements, design, coding and test. This approach originates some problems, especially during the initial stages; once of the major problems we face when developing large and complex software systems is that related with requirements [11]. Requirements problems have a large space of possible solutions, becaming natural candidates for application of search based tecniques [5]. As reaction against these "heavyweight" methodologies, agile software development has been evolved as new approach [3, 14]. Agile methods promote incremental development, teamwork, collaboration, and process adaptability, breaking tasks into small increments or sprints. Iterations are short time and are worked on by a team through a full software development cycle, finishing when a working product is presented to stakeholders or customer. The set of features to be included in the next iteration or increment comes from the negotiation between customers and development team. These features are selected from a prioritized set of high level requirements that cover all customer need. The problem of which requirements should included in the next iteration as a search problem, also known as next release problem (NRP) [1], has been addressed applying some metaheuristic optimization techniques. Other approaches propose variations and enhancement of this problem [7, 15, 16, 2, 8]. It is assumed that for a software development project, there is a set of customers, C = {c 1 , …, c m } and a set of possible software requirements, R = {r 1 ,…, r n }. It is assumed that all customers are not equally important for a given project. In order to satisfy each requirement, some resources need to be allocated and each one has a associated cost: Cost = {cost 1 , …, cost n }. The increments have a cost boundary (B) that cannot be overrun. A decision vector {x 1 ,…, x n }∈{0, 1} denotes a problem solution and determines the requirements that have to be included in the iteration. In this vector, x i is 1 if requirement i is selected and 0 otherwise. A wide range of different …
STUDIES ON HEAT-LABILE OPSONIN IN RABBIT SERUM.

A technique has been developed which allows reliable quantitative assessment of phagocytosis of bacteria by rabbit granulocytes in vitro, and which permits study of the role of heat-labile serum factors in the phagocytic process. Incubation of bacteria with fresh serum opsonized the organisms. After washing they were fully susceptible to ingestion in a serum-free system. Using this preincubation technique the influence of ionic composition of the medium was observed on the opsonization and on the ingestion processes separately. High concentration of salt blocked both processes. Divalent cations were required for ingestion but not for opsonization of the bacteria. The lack of requirement for calcium and magnesium speaks against identification of heat-labile serum opsonin with the complete hemolytic complement system. Features of heat-labile serum opsonin which distinguished it from antibody were the following: a) heat-lability, b) titer for various bacteria remarkably constant in various serum specimens, c) rapid reaction with bacteria at 38°C but not at 0°C, d) destruction by hydrazine or ammonia, e) not γ globulin, and f) lack of specificity as demonstrated in adsorption studies.
Hybrid Discrete Wavelet Transform and Gabor Filter Banks Processing for Features Extraction from Biomedical Images

A new methodology for automatic feature extraction from biomedical images and subsequent classification is presented. The approach exploits the spatial orientation of high-frequency textural features of the processed image as determined by a two-step process. First, the two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is applied to obtain the HH high-frequency subband image. Then, a Gabor filter bank is applied to the latter at different frequencies and spatial orientations to obtain new Gabor-filtered image whose entropy and uniformity are computed. Finally, the obtained statistics are fed to a support vector machine (SVM) binary classifier. The approach was validated on mammograms, retina, and brain magnetic resonance (MR) images. The obtained classification accuracies show better performance in comparison to common approaches that use only the DWT or Gabor filter banks for feature extraction.
Difference in the Formation of Attitude Toward Nuclear Power

Determinants of attitudes toward nuclear power in Japan were assessed in a March 1999 survey. The results suggested that persons with interest in and knowledge about nuclear power judged its acceptability on the basis of their perceptions of the sufficiency of electric power and the risks of nuclear power, whereas persons with no interest in and knowledge of nuclear power did not respond on this basis. Although both types of respondents based acceptability on their trust in nuclear power operation and their perception of efficiency, the influence of perception of efficiency on acceptability was stronger for the interested and knowledgeable respondents than for the others. These results partially support the elaboration likelihood model or dual process theory.
Worms: Education and Health Externalities in Kenya

Intestinal helminths - including hookworm, roundworm, schistosomiasis, and whipworm - infect more than one-quarter of the world's population. A randomized evaluation of a project in Kenya suggests that school-based mass treatment with deworming drugs reduced school absenteeism in treatment schools by one quarter; gains are especially large among the youngest children. Deworming is found to be cheaper than alternative ways of boosting school participation. By reducing disease transmission, deworming creates substantial externality health and school participation benefits among untreated children in the treatment schools and among children in neighboring schools. These externalities are large enough to justify fully subsidizing treatment. We do not find evidence that deworming improves academic test scores. Existing experimental studies, in which treatment is randomized among individuals in the same school, find small and insignificant deworming treatment effects on education; however, these studies underestimate true treatment effects if deworming creates positive externalities for the control group and reduces treatment group attrition.
Early postnatal development of rat brain: In vivo diffusion tensor imaging

Perinatal hypoxia is a major cause of neurodevelopmental deficits. Neuronal migration patterns are particularly sensitive to perinatal hypoxia/ischemia and are associated with the clinical deficits. The rat model of hypoxia/ischemia at P7 mimics that of perinatal injury in humans. Before assessing the effects of postnatal injury on brain development, it is essential to determine the normal developmental trajectories of various brain structures in individual animals. In vivo longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed from postnatal day 0 (P0) to P56 on Wistar rats. The DTI metrics, mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA), axial (λl) and radial (λt) diffusivities, were determined for four gray matter and eight white matter structures. The FA of the cortical plate and the body of corpus callosum decreased significantly during the first 3 weeks after birth. The decrease in the cortical plate's FA value was associated mainly with an increase in λt. The initial decrease in FA of corpus callosum was associated with a significant decrease in λl. The FA of corpus callosum increased during the rest of the observational period, which was mainly associated with a decrease in λt. The FA of gray matter structures, hippocampus, caudate putamen, and cortical mantle did not show significant changes between P0 and P56. In contrast, the majority of white matter structures showed significant changes between P0 and P56. These temporal changes in the DTI metrics were related to the neuronal and axonal pruning and myelination that are known to occur in the developing brain. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An Evaluation of Information Systems Course: A Reflection from Final Year Students

Due to the importance of Information Technology (IT), various IT courses have been introduced in the last few decades. However, there has been a steady decline in the student enrolment in various IT related coursed around the globe after the economy downturn in the early 2000. While some studies have been conducted to investigate the relevance of IT/IS courses for the current market situation, there is still a lack of studies that assess students’ perception regarding the ability of existing IT/IS courses in preparing students for their IT/IS career. This study evaluates the Bachelor of Information Systems (BIS) course offered at one of the leading Universities in Australia by gathering opinions and reflections from students at the final year through a combination of qualitative and quantitative studies. The findings highlights a number of critical skills expected of IS professionals and a number of opportunities for further improving the course.
Clinical application of kampo medicine (rikkunshito) for common and/or intractable symptoms of the gastrointestinal tract

Gastroenterological reflux disease and functional dyspepsia are usually treatable using Western medical practices. Nonetheless, some cases present with intractable symptoms that are not amenable to these therapies. Treatment with kampo, a traditional Japanese medicine, recently has been proposed as an alternative therapy for use in combination with the Western practices. In general, traditional Japanese medicines have been used empirically for intractable symptoms correctively designated as “general malaises. ” Accumulating lines of evidence, including basic and clinical researches, have demonstrate detailed mechanisms where traditional Japanese medicines exert pharmacological action to improve symptoms. Therefore, traditional Japanese medicines have been gaining use by various medical doctors as the specific modes of pharmacological action are recognized. This review covers both the pharmacological functions and the clinical efficacies of rikkunshito for use in treating disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.
The Fat-Induced Satiety Factor Oleoylethanolamide Suppresses Feeding through Central Release of Oxytocin

Oleoylethanolamide (OEA) is a biologically active lipid amide that is released by small-intestinal enterocytes during the absorption of dietary fat and inhibits feeding by engaging the nuclear receptor, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPAR-α). Previous studies have shown that the anorexic effects of systemically administered OEA require the activation of sensory afferents of the vagus nerve. The central circuits involved in mediating OEA-induced hypophagia remain unknown. In the present study, we report the results of in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry experiments in rats and mice, which show that systemic injections of OEA (5–10 mg kg−1, intraperitoneal) enhance expression of the neuropeptide oxytocin in magnocellular neurons of the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and supraoptic nucleus (SON) of the hypothalamus. No such effect is observed with other hypothalamic neuropeptides, including vasopressin, thyrotropin-releasing hormone and pro-opiomelanocortin. The increase in oxytocin expression elicited by OEA was absent in mutant PPAR-α-null mice. Pharmacological blockade of oxytocin receptors in the brain by intracerebroventricular infusion of the selective oxytocin antagonist, L-368,899, prevented the anorexic effects of OEA. The results suggest that OEA suppresses feeding by activating central oxytocin transmission.
A Comparison of a Discrete-Time PI and an Indirect MPC Current Controllers for a Single-Phase Grid-Connected Inverter Operating with Distorted Grid and Significant Computation Feedback Delay

In this paper, one technical gap related to the indirect model predictive control (MPC) is discussed. This technical gap corresponds to the performance of such a controller to deal with distorted grid voltages and a significant computation delay through the feedback regulation loop. A basic case study involving a traditional 3-level h-bridge and a first-order output filter was considered in order to magnify the effect of time horizon prediction and voltage over the regulated grid current waveform. A comparison related to the covered MPC controller (in two different forms) and a classical discrete-time proportional-integral (PI) controller is performed by means of the achieved total harmonic distortion (THD) values. Simulation results from a model built on PSIM/Powersim are presented and discussed. It can be concluded that the MPC controller offers a wider operating range with stable conditions and lower measured values of THD from regulated grid current. And such kind of special feature becomes even more evident if a significant computation delay at the feedback control loop must be overtaken.
An efficient optimization technique for digital watermarking in image processing

In this paper, mathematical modeling of digital watermarking is proposed to approximate the image based on the generalized Gaussian distribution. Using maximum a posteriori probability based image segmentation and fuzzy c means image segmentation, the cover image is segmented into several homogeneous areas. In EM segmentation, every region in the image is represented by a generalized Gaussian distribution. The rotation invariant features are extracted from the segmented areas and are selected as reference points by DoG filter and principal component analysis. Rotation and scaling invariance is obtained through the process of image normalization. The watermark embedding and extraction schemes are analyzed mathematically based on the established mathematical model. The mathematical relationship between fidelity and robustness is established. A hybrid watermarking technique is proposed to improve the similarity of extracted watermarks. Furthermore, genetic algorithm (GA) is simultaneously performed to find the optimal values such as fitness value, best points and CPU time. This method has been proved its robustness to geometric attacks through experiments. The experimental results show the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed scheme
Representation of Phonemes in Primary Auditory Cortex: How the Brain Analyzes Speech

Many transformations inspired by the auditory system have improved the performance of automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems. However, humans perform substantially better than today's ASR systems, suggesting that ASR systems can further benefit from understanding how the brain represents speech. To learn about the cortical representation of speech, we measured the neural responses in the primary auditory cortex to sentences from the TIMIT database. Here we examine how individual phonemes activate different subsets of auditory neurons, reflecting the diversity of neural tuning properties. We find that neurons with different spectro-temporal tuning provide an explicit multidimensional representation of articulatory features independent of speaker and context. This representation that matches the human perception could provide a framework for ASR in adverse conditions.
Proprioception based behavioral advances in a hexapod robot

We report on our progress in extending the behavioral repertoire of RHex, a compliant leg hexapod robot. We introduce two new controllers, one for climbing constant slope inclinations and one for achieving higher speeds via pronking, a gait that incorporates a, substantial aerial phase. In both cases, we make use of an underlying open-loop control strategy, combined with low bandwidth feedback to modulate its parameters. The inclination behavior arises from our initial alternating tripod walking controller and adjusts the angle offsets of individual leg motion profiles based on inertial sensing of the average surface slope. Similarly, the pronking controller makes use of a "virtual" leg touchdown sensing mechanism to adjust the frequency of the open-loop pronking, effectively synchronizing the controller with the natural oscillations of the mechanical system. Experimental results demonstrate good performance on slopes inclined up to /spl sim/250 and pronking up to speeds approaching 2 body lengths per second (/spl sim/1.0 m/s).
Tyrosine-sulfated glycopeptide involved in cellular proliferation and expansion in Arabidopsis

Posttranslational modification can confer special functions to peptides. Based on exhaustive liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analysis targeting tyrosine-sulfated peptides, we identified an 18-aa tyrosine-sulfated glycopeptide in Arabidopsis cell suspension culture medium. This peptide, which we named PSY1, significantly promotes cellular proliferation and expansion at nanomolar concentrations. PSY1 is widely expressed in various Arabidopsis tissues, including shoot apical meristem, and is highly up-regulated by wounding. Perception of PSY1 depends on At1g72300, which is a leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase (LRR-RK) whose two paralogs are involved in the perception of phytosulfokine (PSK), which is a 5-aa tyrosine-sulfated peptide that primarily promotes cellular proliferation. Multiple loss-of-function mutations in these three paralogous LRR-RKs significantly enhanced phenotypes, compared with single disruptants, suggesting that these LRR-RKs have overlapping functions. Triple mutations in these LRR-RKs resulted in dwarfism because of decreases in cell number and cell size and caused insufficiency in tissue repair after wounding. The present results suggest that this paralogous LRR-RK family integrates growth-promoting signals mediated by two structurally distinct sulfated peptides: PSY1 and PSK.
4-Methylmethcathinone (Mephedrone): Neuropharmacological Effects of a Designer Stimulant of Abuse

The designer stimulant 4-methylmethcathinone (mephedrone) is among the most popular of the derivatives of the naturally occurring psychostimulant cathinone. Mephedrone has been readily available for legal purchase both online and in some stores and has been promoted by aggressive Web-based marketing. Its abuse in many countries, including the United States, is a serious public health concern. Owing largely to its recent emergence, there are no formal pharmacodynamic or pharmacokinetic studies of mephedrone. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of this agent in a rat model. Results revealed that, similar to methylenedioxymethamphetamine, methamphetamine, and methcathinone, repeated mephedrone injections (4× 10 or 25 mg/kg s.c. per injection, 2-h intervals, administered in a pattern used frequently to mimic psychostimulant “binge” treatment) cause a rapid decrease in striatal dopamine (DA) and hippocampal serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5HT) transporter function. Mephedrone also inhibited both synaptosomal DA and 5HT uptake. Like methylenedioxymethamphetamine, but unlike methamphetamine or methcathinone, repeated mephedrone administrations also caused persistent serotonergic, but not dopaminergic, deficits. However, mephedrone caused DA release from a striatal suspension approaching that of methamphetamine and was self-administered by rodents. A method was developed to assess mephedrone concentrations in rat brain and plasma, and mephedrone levels were determined 1 h after a binge treatment. These data demonstrate that mephedrone has a unique pharmacological profile with both abuse liability and neurotoxic potential.
Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque Characteristics Are Associated With Microembolization During Carotid Endarterectomy and Procedural Outcome

Background and Purpose— During carotid endarterectomy (CEA), microemboli may occur, resulting in perioperative adverse cerebral events. The objective of the present study was to investigate the relation between atherosclerotic plaque characteristics and the occurrence of microemboli or adverse events during CEA. Methods— Patients (n=200, 205 procedures) eligible for CEA were monitored by perioperative transcranial Doppler. The following phases were discriminated during CEA: dissection, shunting, release of the clamp, and wound closure. Each carotid plaque was stained for collagen, macrophages, smooth muscle cells, hematoxylin, and elastin. Semiquantitative analyses were performed on all stainings. Plaques were categorized into 3 groups based on overall appearance (fibrous, fibroatheromatous, or atheromatous). Results— Fibrous plaques were associated with the occurrence of more microemboli during clamp release and wound closure compared with atheromatous plaques (P=0.04 and P=0.02, respectively). Transient ischemic attacks and minor stroke occurred in 5 of 205 (2.4%) and 6 of 205 (2.9%) patients, respectively. Adverse cerebral outcome was significantly related to the number of microembolic events during dissection (P=0.003) but not during shunting, clamp release, or wound closure. More cerebrovascular adverse events occurred in patients with atheromatous plaques (7/69) compared with patients with fibrous or fibroatheromatous plaques (4/138) (P=0.04). Conclusions— Intraoperatively, a higher number of microemboli were associated with the presence of a fibrous but not an atheromatous plaque. However, atheromatous plaques were more prevalent in patients with subsequent immediate adverse events. In addition, specifically the number of microemboli detected during the dissection phase were related to immediate adverse events.
A Second Chicago School: The Development of a Postwar American Sociology. Gary Alan Fine (Ed.).

From 1945 to about 1960, the University of Chicago was home to a group of faculty and graduate students whose work has come to define what many call a second "Chicago School" of sociology. Like its predecessor earlier in the century, the postwar department was again the center for qualitative social research - on everything from mapping the nuances of human behaviour in small groups to seeking solutions to problems of race, crime and poverty. Howard Becker, Joseph Gusfield, Herbert Blumer, David Riesman, Erving Goffman and others created a large, enduring body of work. In this book, sociologists critically confront this legacy. The eight original chapters survey the issues that defined the department's agenda: they focus on deviance, race and ethnic relations, urban life and collective behaviour; the renewal of participant observation as a method and the refinement of symbolic interaction as a guiding theory; and the professional and institutional factors that shaped this generation, including the leadership of Louis Wirth and Everett C. Hughes; the role of women; and the competition for national influence Chicago sociology faced from survey research at Columbia and grand theory at Harvard. The contributors also discuss the internal conflicts that call into question the very idea of a unified "school".