Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Personalizing Smart Environments: Face Recognition for Human Interaction

A smart environment is one that is able to identify people, interpret their actions, and react appropriately. Thus, one of the most important building blocks of smart environments is a person identi cation system. Face recognition devices are ideal for such systems, since they have recently become fast, cheap, unobtrusive, and, when combined with voice-recognition, are very robust against changes in the environment. Moreover, since humans primarily recognize each other by their faces and voices, they feel comfortable interacting with an environment that does the same. We present a brief summary of the history and mathematical framework of face recognition, the current state of the art, and present-day commercial systems. We then describe developments towards future applications: building interactive smart environments, augmenting human senses, skills and memory with wearable recognition technology, and ultimately making computers so usable, portable and intuitive that they become ubiquitous | the so-called \fourth generation" of computing.
Augmenting the Instant Messaging Experience Through the Use of Brain–Computer Interface and Gestural Technologies

Interpersonal communication benefits greatly from the emotional information encoded by facial expression, body language, and tone of voice. However, these cues are often lost when sending text-based instant messages. This article describes a novel approach utilizing gestural and brain–computer interface (BCI) input to replace the missing emotional cues, with the aim of augmenting the instant messaging process. A set of exploratory studies were conducted using a commercially available BCI headset. An initial study validated the emotional data automatically captured by the device. Subsequently, an instant messaging application was developed, which detected emotions and facial gestures that are presented to the user's chat partner via progress bars and an avatar. Findings from an evaluation revealed that the novel approach facilitates communication containing a greater percentage of affective terms compared with traditional, text-based instant messaging environments. Strong levels of confidence were expressed when using the system to both convey and infer affective states, contributing to a rich subjective user experience.
O C ] 6 D ec 2 00 6 Shape Optimization for Navier – Stokes Flow ∗

Abstract. This paper is concerned with the optimal shape design of the newtonian viscous incompressible fluids driven by the stationary nonhomogeneous Navier–Stokes equations. We use three approaches to derive the structures of shape gradients for some given cost functionals. The first one is to use the Piola transformation and derive the state derivative and its associated adjoint state; the second one is to use the differentiability of a minimax formulation involving a Lagrangian functional with a function space parametrization technique; the last one is to employ the differentiability of a minimax formulation with a function space embedding technique. Finally we apply a gradient type algorithm to our problem and numerical examples show that our theory is useful for practical purpose and the proposed algorithm is feasible.
Prevalence and factors related to malocclusion and orthodontic treatment need in children and adolescents in Italy.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine prevalence of malocclusions, normative and perceived orthodontic treatment need and related risk factors in schoolchildren in Italy. DESIGN A random sample of 1000 11-15 years old children was selected from randomly selected schools in Catanzaro (Italy). Parents completed a questionnaire on sociodemographic, orthodontic history and perception of their child orthodontic treatment need. Children were interviewed on utilization of dental services, perception of orthodontic treatment need and use of orthodontic devices. The Decayed, Missing, Filled Teeth (DMFT) index and the Dental Health Component (DHC) of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN) were assessed. The Aesthetic Component (AC) of IOTN was assessed by parents, children and dentist. RESULTS A total of 546 children participated in the study. Three hundred and twenty-five subjects (59.5%) were assigned a 4 or 5 IOTN score, thus requiring orthodontic treatment. Definite treatment need (AC score 8-10) was reported for 8.6% of subjects by the orthodontist, 5.4% by parents and 3.2% by children. Higher DMFT significantly predicted orthodontic treatment need according to IOTN. Perceived orthodontic treatment need was significantly predicted by orthodontic treatment need for crowding/spacing and overjet. CONCLUSION A high proportion of children needs normative orthodontic treatment and perceptions of orthodontic treatment do not overlap with normative need.
Energy and Performance Efficient Thread Mapping in NoC-Based CMPs under Process Variations

Within-die process variation causes cores, memories, and network resources in NoC-based CMPs to present different speeds and leakage power. In this context, thread mapping strategies that consider the effects of process variability on chip resources arise as a suitable choice to maximize performance while energy consumption constraints are satisfied. However, other factors, as the location of memory controllers and the concurrent execution of several applications in the chip, can bound the possible benefits of such mapping strategies. In this paper we propose a mapping strategy, named as uniform regions, that takes variability effects into account when assigning application threads to cores in the chip. More specifically, uniform regions, in terms of operating frequency, that additionally present the highest available frequency, are selected so that the benefits of such a variation-aware mapping strategy in a NoC-based CMP are maximized. We additionally present two different ways of configuring the frequency and voltage of the cores in the selected region. The first one is intended to provide the maximum performance while keeping energy as low as possible, while the second one is much more for energy-aware. The first one reduces the execution time up to a 23% while reducing the energy up to 24% whereas the second one provides smaller speed ups while reduces energy up to 33%.
Malus hupehensis miR168 Targets to ARGONAUTE1 and Contributes to the Resistance against Botryosphaeria dothidea Infection by Altering Defense Responses

MicroRNA (miRNA)-mediated post-transcriptional regulation plays a fundamental role in various plant physiological processes, including responses to pathogens. MicroRNA168 has been implicated as an essential factor of miRNA pathways by targeting ARGONAUTE1 (AGO1), the core component of the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). A fluctuation in AGO1 expression influences various plant-pathogen interactions, and the homeostasis of AGO1 and miR168 accumulation is maintained by a complicated feedback regulatory loop. In this study, the connection between miR168 and the resistance of Malus hupehensis to Botryosphaeria dothidea is revealed. The induction of both the mature miR168 and its precursor in plants subjected to B. dothidea infection indicate the transcriptional activation of MIR168a. MIR168a promoter analysis demonstrates that the promoter can be activated by B. dothidea and salicylic acid (SA). However, the direct target of miR168, M. hupehensis ARGONAUTE1 (MhAGO1), is shown to be induced under the infection. Expression and transcription activity analysis demonstrate the transcriptional activation and the post-transcriptional suppression of MhAGO1 in response to B. dothidea infection. By inhibiting reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and enhancing SA-mediated defense responses, miR168a delays the symptom development of leaves inoculated with B. dothidea and impedes the pathogen growth, while MhAGO1 is found to have the opposite effects. Collectively, these findings suggest that the expression of miR168 and MhAGO1 in M. hupehensis in response to B. dothidea infection is regulated by a complicated mechanism. Targeting to MhAGO1, a negative regulator, miR168 plays a positive role in the resistance by alterations in diverse defense responses.
Intrapartum fetal activity

Fetal activity throughout pregnancy has been thoroughly studied. Relatively little informations regarding intrapartum fetal activity is available. Richardson et al. [8] found no fetal respiratory movements. While Boylan et al. [2] and Whittman et al. [12] reported decreased fetal breathing movements in active labor. This study was undertaken to evaluate the normal pattern of fetal activity in labor. Fetal movements (FM) and fetal breathing movements (FBM) were monitored by realtime ultrasound during active labor at term. The incidence of FM and FBM were measured in 18 fetuses. Results were correlated with simultaneous fetal heart rate (FHR) changes, postpartum cord blood pH and Apgar score. Recordings were made for one hour on every patient. The mean percentage incidence (PI) of FM was 19.5 per cent (range: 10.1-28.6 percent) and FBM was 8.5 per cent (range: 0-27 percent). All FM were associated with FHR accelerations, stronger movements were associated with higher FHR accelerations. No FHR accelerations were observed with FBM alone, unless accompanied by fetal movement. The lowest PI of total fetal activity (TFA, i.e. FM plus FBM) was 12.1 per cent. Movements decreased as labor progressed, while FBM remained unaltered. All newborns had cord venous blood pH of greater than 7.25 and Apgar scores of greater than or equal to 7, at five minutes. Our data suggest that in the normal uncompromised fetus, FM and FBM continue during labor at term. However, while FM tends to decrease as labor progresses. FBM tends to be constant throughout labor. This finding might indicate the autonomous nature of FBM. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Using Points to Construct Browsing Links in ASK Systems

Our research concerns the construction of knowledge-rich memories, in hypermedia form, for use as aids to problem-solving. One of the most difficult steps in building such memories is constructing a rich set of links between the content elements they contain (i.e., text segments, graphics, and video clips). This paper describes point linking, a method we have developed for automated linking. Point linking is currently being incorporated into the ASKTool, a hypermedia editor in ongoing use at the Institute for the Learning Sciences.
Finite comb-like silver nanostrip grating in the optical range: Interplay of resonances

We analyze the interplay of several types of resonances in the scattering and absorption of light by optical nanoantennas shaped as finite comb-like nanostrip gratings illuminated with an H-polarized plane wave. Our numerical model is based on the combined use of the two-side generalized boundary conditions (GBC) imposed on the strip median lines, the coupled integral equations (IEs), and the rapidly convergent Nystrom-type algorithm of their discretization. We observe the expected excitation of the surface plasmons and the periodicity-induced grating resonances. Besides of that, we investigate specific cavity modes caused by the optical interaction between the adjacent strips.
Tris(diisopropyl dithiophosphato-κ2 S,S′)ruthenium(III)

In the title complex, [Ru(C6H14O2PS2)3], the coordination environment of the RuIII atom is distorted octahedral, defined by six S atoms from three S,S′-bidentate diisopropyl dithiophosphate ligands. The average Ru—S bond length is 2.41 (1) Å and the average S—Ru—S bite angle is 81.13 (19)°.
Drosophila Plexin B is a Sema-2a receptor required for axon guidance

Plexin receptors play a crucial role in the transduction of axonal guidance events elicited by semaphorin proteins. In Drosophila, Plexin A (PlexA) is a receptor for the transmembrane semaphorin semaphorin-1a (Sema-1a) and is required for motor and central nervous system (CNS) axon guidance in the developing embryonic nervous system. However, it remains unknown how PlexB functions during neural development and which ligands serve to activate this receptor. Here, we show that plexB, like plexA, is robustly expressed in the developing CNS and is required for motor and CNS axon pathfinding. PlexB and PlexA serve both distinct and shared neuronal guidance functions. We observe a physical association between these two plexin receptors in vivo and find that they can utilize common downstream signaling mechanisms. PlexB does not directly bind to the cytosolic semaphorin signaling component MICAL (molecule that interacts with CasL), but requires MICAL for certain axonal guidance functions. Ligand binding and genetic analyses demonstrate that PlexB is a receptor for the secreted semaphorin Sema-2a, suggesting that secreted and transmembrane semaphorins in Drosophila use PlexB and PlexA, respectively, for axon pathfinding during neural development. These results establish roles for PlexB in central and peripheral axon pathfinding, define a functional ligand for PlexB, and implicate common signaling events in plexin-mediated axonal guidance.
The Islamic Traditions of Agroecology: Crosscultural Experience, Ideas and Innovations

s from a S&ucirc;diy&ucirc;n. 63 Ibid., I, p. 153. 64 Sezgin, Geschichte IV, pp. 336-39; Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 119-21. Whether Ibn Wahshiya might have also drawn directly or indirectly from much older, Sumerian or Babylonian sources, as he implies (e.g., a reference to the agricultural calendar of the J&ucirc;h&acirc; district of central Mesopotamia, see Fahd, ’Conduite’, pp. 127-28), is a moot point. Sumerian sources include general precepts of management and an agricultural calendar that emphasizes a similar micromanagement, see B. Landsberger, ’Jahreszeiten im Sumerisch-Akkadischen’, Journalof Near Eastern Studies 8 (1949), pp. 248-97; A Salonen, Agricultura Mesopotamica (Helsinki, Annales Academiae Scientarum Fennicae B149, 1968), pp. 202-12. 65 On Ibn Sina, see Ullmann, Natur, pp. 78-79, also in his Medizin , pp. 152-56; on al-B&icirc;r&ucirc;n&icirc;: E. Wiedemann, ’&Uuml;ber Gesetzm&auml;ssigkeiten bei Pflanzen nach al-B&icirc;r&ucirc;n&icirc;’, Biologisches Zentralblatt 40 (1920), pp. 113-16; G. Saliba, ’Al-Biruni and the sciences of his time’, in The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature III, pp. 405-23; M. Meyerhof, Un glossaire de mati&egrave;re m&eacute;dicale compos&eacute; par Maimonide (Cairo, M&eacute;moire, Institut d’Egypte 41, 1940), p. i. 66 C. S. Colin, I. Habib, H. Inalcik, A. K. S. Lambton, M. al-Shihabi, ’Fil&acirc;ha (Agriculture)’, in The Encyclopedia of Islam II (Leiden, Brill, 2nd edn, 1965), pp. 899-910. 67 But this should not imply that Near Eastern agronomy was entirely dormant in the interim, see C. Cahen, ’Notes pour une histoire de l’agriculture dans les pays musulmans medi&eacute;vaux’, Journal Economics and Social History of the Orient 14 (1971), pp. 63-68; Ullmann, Natur, pp.
Theory research at Google

Through the history of Computer Science, new technologies have emerged and generated fundamental problems of interest to theoretical computer scientists. From the era of telecommunications to computing and now, the Internet and the web, there are many such examples. This article is derived from the emergence of web search and associated technologies, and focuses on the problems of research interest to theoretical computer scientists that arise, in particular at Google.
An optimal distributed call admission control for adaptive multimedia in wireless/mobile networks

There is a great demand on multimedia applications with quality of service (QoS) in wireless/mobile networks. In this paper, we propose an optimal call admission control (CAC) framework with a bandwidth re-allocation (BRA) algorithm for adaptive multimedia services in wireless/mobile networks, where the bandwidth of an ongoing call is time-varying during its lifetime. The optimization is in the sense of optimizing the revenue and satisfying QoS requirements. We adopt a semi-Markov decision process (SMDP) approach to model both the CAC and the BRA at the same time. The proposed approach allows us to make decisions on CAC as well as on BRA. The simplex method in linear programming is used to solve the optimal decision problem. Numerical results reveal that the proposed CAC-BRA scheme adapts itself well to time-varying multimedia traffic, achieves optimal revenue and satisfies QoS up to the upper-bound handoff blocking probability.
Diabetes Risk Score in a Young Student Population in Jordan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background. The Middle East is the home to the most obese population in the world, and type 2 diabetes mellitus is endemic in the region. However, little is known about risk factors for diabetes in the younger age groups. Methods. The Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) is a simple, validated tool to identify persons at risk of diabetes. We investigated students at Hashemite University in Jordan with FINDRISC and measured fasting plasma glucose in those who were categorized in the high-risk group. Results. Overall, 1821 students (881 [48.4%] female) were included in the study. Risk factors for diabetes were common: 422 (23.2%) were overweight or obese and 497 (27.3%) had central obesity. Using the FINDRISC score, 94 (5.2%) students were at moderate risk and 32 (1.8%) at high risk of diabetes. The mean FINDRISC score was significantly higher in men than women (5.9 versus 5.4; p = 0.002). Twenty-eight students in the high-risk group had a subsequent plasma glucose measurement, and 8 (29%) of them fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for diabetes. Conclusions. Risk factors for diabetes were common in a young student population in Jordan, suggesting that preventive measures should be initiated early in adulthood to turn the diabetes epidemic in the region.
Reasoning about intervals in two dimensions

Qualitative reasoning approaches take on the challenge of dealing with commonsense knowledge in machines. This is important both to provide a means of efficient automatic reasoning and to overcome the differences between man and machine. This paper proposes a new qualitative representation of spatial knowledge based on interval relations. The representation complements existing approaches by providing a new set of spatial relations. This allows qualitative reasoning about rigid objects, for example, in spatial configuration problems or in the context of spatio-temporal interactions between objects. The qualitative nature of this representation assists the engineering process and makes the behaviour of systems more easily comprehensible.
A Process Model for Life Cycles

Life cycles (discussed elsewhere regarding the informal and pragmatic aspects) can be formally defined as a process model with some un-conventional features, namely: multiplicity of events, a restricted visibility of parameters, and ‘negative prefixes’ to block an event set from happening. We show how to translate these aspects in terms of conventional process constructs. Several times we manage to present the proofs of an implication and its converse that use different induction hypotheses as one series of equivalences. This presentation technique seems more generally applicable to and useful for process models.
Prospective Elementary Teacher Understandings of Pest-Related Science and Agricultural Education Benchmarks.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the understandings of pest -related concepts by prospective elementary teachers. Guided by theoretical frameworks for science education and studies on agricultural literacy, a research protocol that included grounded theory and cognitive anthropology was used to surface respondents’ understandings of three educational benchmarks for the concept of human management of crop growth. Data analysis included validating benchmarks and language that guided discourse, generating conceptual proposition maps, coding responses for comparison with expert propositions, and interpreting confirming or disconfirming patterns among informants. Out-of-school experiences were the strongest determinant of prospective teacher ability to engage in discourse that was compatible with experts. Informants held incomplete understanding of pest-related benchmarks as often indicated in their lack of ability to make connections between scientific, societal, and technological concepts. Informants lacked language to accurately articulate an understanding of the pest-related benchmarks. Most informants lacked understanding of the positive and negative impacts of pesticide use. The identification of agriculture as one of the eight basic technology areas for study by the American Association for the Advancement of Science underscores the need for cooperation between agricultural and science educators.
The landscape of fear as an emergent property of heterogeneity: Contrasting patterns of predation risk in grassland ecosystems

Abstract The likelihood of encountering a predator influences prey behavior and spatial distribution such that non‐consumptive effects can outweigh the influence of direct predation. Prey species are thought to filter information on perceived predator encounter rates in physical landscapes into a landscape of fear defined by spatially explicit heterogeneity in predation risk. The presence of multiple predators using different hunting strategies further complicates navigation through a landscape of fear and potentially exposes prey to greater risk of predation. The juxtaposition of land cover types likely influences overlap in occurrence of different predators, suggesting that attributes of a landscape of fear result from complexity in the physical landscape. Woody encroachment in grasslands furnishes an example of increasing complexity with the potential to influence predator distributions. We examined the role of vegetation structure on the distribution of two avian predators, Red‐tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus), and the vulnerability of a frequent prey species of those predators, Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus). We mapped occurrences of the raptors and kill locations of Northern Bobwhite to examine spatial vulnerability patterns in relation to landscape complexity. We use an offset model to examine spatially explicit habitat use patterns of these predators in the Southern Great Plains of the United States, and monitored vulnerability patterns of their prey species based on kill locations collected during radio telemetry monitoring. Both predator density and predation‐specific mortality of Northern Bobwhite increased with vegetation complexity generated by fine‐scale interspersion of grassland and woodland. Predation pressure was lower in more homogeneous landscapes where overlap of the two predators was less frequent. Predator overlap created areas of high risk for Northern Bobwhite amounting to 32% of the land area where landscape complexity was high and 7% where complexity was lower. Our study emphasizes the need to evaluate the role of landscape structure on predation dynamics and reveals another threat from woody encroachment in grasslands.