Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In search of Ainu voices for the future generations : "usa okay utar uaynukor wa, pirka horari, sasuysir pakno situri kuni"

The Japanese government recognized the Ainu as an indigenous people of Japan in 2008. Over a hundred years of discriminatory assimilation policies have impacted erosion of the Ainuʻs cultural values and traditional ways of living. Very few studies on the Ainuʻs awareness and perspectives on their status, current situations cause lack of the knowledge in Japanese society about Ainuʻs challenges. The overarching research questions are: 1) In light of the government recognition in 2008, how do the Ainu perceive their standing as a people (culturally, politically, and individually)? ; 2) What are the opportunities and challenges for the promotion of the rights of the Ainu as an indigenous people? ; and 3) What are the hopes for future generations? Utilizing qualitative methodology, fifteen Ainu people were interviewed to grasp the topic focus of Ainu individuals. Significant findings which emerged from the study are: Japanese government policies document more than one hundred years of disruption of Ainu ways of living, values, and cultural traditions the impact of which we are just beginning to understand. Second, as a result of this determined destabilization, Ainu represented in this study do not have a unified position. Third, Ainu values and ways emphasize living in harmony with nature and other beings, and therefore, have not developed a warrior tradition. This has left them open to Japan's past nationbuilding ambitions. Fourth, study participants realize there are numerous issues that need to be resolved in order to advance their aspirations for cultural restoration. Analysis of policies and participant interviews, suggest that honoring, teaching and applying the Ainu values and worldview to contemporary living may be inextricably tied to the Japan's future relevance and survival in a changing world. This transformation may be accomplished, for example, by strengthening the country's governance through inclusion of diverse worldviews, and recognizing the importance of indigenous peoples’ practices in sustaining well-being. Based on these findings, recommendations offered include: Reforms in national policy and education, the growth of leadership within the Ainu society, and access to guidance from other indigenous groups, and relevant consultants.
Automatic correction of SVM for drifted data classification

Concept drift is an important feature of real-world data streams that can make usual machine learning techniques rapidly become unsuitable. This paper addresses the problem of sudden concept drift in classification problems for which standard techniques may fail. To this end, support vector machines (SVMs) are automatically corrected to cope with a new suddenly drifted dataset. Results on real-world datasets with several types of sudden drift indicate that the method is able to correct the SVM in order to better classify the new data after the concept drift, using a correction based on the difference between the initial dataset and the new drifted dataset, even when the new dataset is small.
Chapter 2 Analysis of Glucose , Cholesterol and Uric Acid 2 . 1 Literature Review

Glucose is one of the most critical for life compounds found in nature, acting as the primary fuel for glycolysis and being present in pathways of aerobic and anaerobic respiration [1]. Clinically it is used to evaluate diabetes, a metabolic disorder considered to be a major world health problem. In diabetes pancreas does not produce sufficient amounts of insulin, or the insulin produced is not used effectively. World Health Organization estimates that 347 million people worldwide have diabetes with more than 80 % of those living in lowand middle-income countries. It was also estimated that 1.5 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes in 2012, and that it will be the 7th leading cause of death in 2030. Diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, foot ulcers that together with infection can lead to limb amputation, retinopathy resulting in blindness and kidney failure [2]. Glucose in blood is normally in the range of 3.5–5.3 mmol/Land in urine 0.1– 0.8 mmol/L [3]. Uric acid is the primary end product of purine metabolism, with daily production of about 350 mg and additional daily intake of around 300 mg. In most mammals uric acid reacts with uricase degrading to allantoin, which is then excreted from body with urine. A natural antioxidant, uric acid is responsible for up to 60 % of the free radical scavenging activity in human blood. High levels of uric acid are related with diseases such as gout, Lesch-Nyan disease, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and renal dysfunction. Acute causes of abnormally high levels of uric acid include large alcohol intake, chemotherapy and diet rich in proteins. Prolonged high levels of this compound result in creation of monosodium urate crystals in tissues and areas around the joints. Patients suffer from recurrent flares of severe joint inflammation and are more prone to cardiovascular dysfunctions. Crystals can be naturally dissolved by lowering the serum uric acid level below
A Decision Support System (DSS) for Colorectal Cancer Follow-Up Program via a Semantic Framework

This paper offers insights into evolving a decision support system (DSS) to aid primary care physicians and/or nurses in the post-surgical care of patients with Colorectal Cancer in a clinical setting. Presently, the oncologists in the cancer center, who are familiar with the Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs), are primarily responsible for the provision of follow-up care to their patients on the basis of the CPGs; in contrast, the attending primary care physician and/or nurse assisting the oncologist may be unfamiliar with these guidelines. These caregivers would, therefore, either require hardcopies of the CPGs or can be aided via a DSS for them to be able to provide the appropriate follow-up care for the respective cancer patients. Clearly, the Colorectal Cancer follow-up CPGs have to be analyzed and the ontology representing the knowledge embedded in the guidelines designed prior to realizing such a DSS. The designed ontology is often coded into Web Ontology Language (OWL) as a standard ontology that can be accessed through the Web. The authors' research team designed and presented the semantic framework of the web application, using the designed ontology that combines the current Web technology with database storage to achieve a unified development of the DSS. The authors also designed a user-friendly interface of the Web application to provide medical practitioners the functionality of the CPGs and the flexibility to customize the desired follow-up care schedule. The resulting DSS provides the physicians with follow-up program for the Colorectal Cancer patients based on the CPGs. The system was built using the semantic framework for the follow-up program and queries on the system are executed through SPARQL query engine.
Decreased binding of polymyxin by polymyxin-resistant mutants of Salmonella typhimurium

Polymyxin-resistant pmrA strains were shown to absorb only about 25% of the amount of polymyxin absorbed by the corresponding polymyxin-sensitive parent strains. The lipopolysaccharide from the pmrA strains bound less polymyxin than the lipopolysaccharide from the parent strains.
Dependent personality, separation anxiety disorder and other anxiety disorders in OCD.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to investigate whether dependent personality and/or general personality dimensions might explain the strong relationships between separation anxiety disorder (Sep-AD) and three other anxiety disorders (agoraphobia, panic disorder and social anxiety disorder) in individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). METHODS Using data from 509 adult participants collected during the OCD Collaborative Genetic Study, we used logistic regression models to evaluate the relationships between Sep-AD, dependent personality score, general personality dimensions and three additional anxiety disorders. RESULTS The dependent personality score was strongly associated with Sep-AD and the other anxiety disorders in models adjusted for age at interview, age at onset of OC symptoms and worst ever OCD severity score. Several general personality dimensions, especially neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness, were also related to Sep-AD and the other anxiety disorders. Sep-AD was not independently related to these anxiety disorders, in multivariate models including general personality and dependent personality disorder scores. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that Sep-AD in childhood and these other anxiety disorders in adulthood are consequences of dependent personality disorder (for agoraphobia and panic disorder) or introversion (for social phobia). It is unknown whether these results would be similar in a non-OCD sample.
Role of Capsular Repair on Dislocation in Revision Total Hip Arthroplasty

Dislocation remains one of the most common complications after revision total hip arthroplasty (THA). In contrast to primary THA the posterior capsule has been routinely excised to provide better visualization, but its role in preventing dislocation has been overlooked. We reviewed 69 patients (79 hips) patients who had revision THA with a posterolateral approach to determine if closing the posterior capsule resulted in a fewer dislocations. We followed the patients for a minimum of 24 months (mean 57 months, range, 24-120 months). Two (2.5%) hips dislocated. Both dislocated anteriorly in the immediate postoperative period. One dislocation was from implant malposition and the other occurred in a high risk patient. There were no posterior dislocations and no patients reported any hip subluxation. The historically high dislocation rates with the posterolateral approach can be reduced by carefully balancing soft tissues, ensuring correct implant alignment, meticulously closing the posterior capsule, and reattaching the external rotators.Level of Evidence: Level IV, therapeutic study. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Baseline Thymic Volume is a Predictor for CD4 T Cell Repopulation in Adult HIV-Infected Patients under Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy

The objective of the present study was to assess the impact of baseline thymic volume on the CD4 cell repopulation induced by highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in HIV-infected adults. Therefore, 37 previously untreated HIV-1-infected adults were prospectively followed from August 1998 to September 2001. All patients underwent a thorax CT scan at starting HAART to measure thymic volume. The median follow-up time was 189 [87.5–498.5] days. CD4 cell repopulation was considered as an increase ≥200 cells/mm3 above baseline count. Twenty-one (57%) patients achieved this CD4 repopulation. Baseline thymic volume was the main independent factor associated with CD4 repopulation (P=0.016); this factor was a positive predictor (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.25 [95% confidence interval 1.1–1.4]). Although, CD4 cell count and non-AIDS diagnosis at baseline were associated with CD4 cell repopulation on the univariate analysis (P=0.03 and P=0.02, respectively), no statistical signification was found on the multivariate test. In summary, baseline thymic volume is a predictor of early CD4 cell repopulation in adult HIV-1-infected patients taking HAART.
User-sentiment based Evaluation for Market Fitness Trackers - Evaluation of Fitbit One, Jawbone Up and Nike+ Fuelband based on Amazon.com Customer Reviews

Wearable fitness and health trackers have been in an accelerated growth since their recent introduction to consumer markets. Given the growth potential of this market sector, much more devices, with unbounded set of features, are being introduced to the consumer at a fast pace. This makes the task of evaluating fitness trackers extremely challenging knowing that the results of an evaluation will quickly become obsolete. In this paper, a user-sentiment based evaluation of fitness trackers is demonstrated on market leading fitness trackers. The used approach relies on the crowd, expressed by Amazon.com product reviews, to present an aspect-based evaluation of any market fitness tracker. Utilizing the crowd knowledge acquired, a personalized recommender system for fitness trackers is also presented.
Use of Chlorophyll Fluorescence Induction Kinetics to Study Translocation and Detoxication of DCMU-Type Herbicides in Plant Leaves

Transient levels of the fluorescence induction rise were used to quantify partial photosynthesis inhibition by DCMU -type herbicides in whole leaves. Assays in different crop or weed species showed a good accuracy in measurements (generally, variation was lower than 5%). This technique was applied to the problem of varietal selectivity of wheat towards chlortoluron.
Core American Values and the Structure of Antigay Prejudice

This work presents a new scale to measure conflicting attitudes toward sexual minorities. This scale parallels existing measures of conflicting racial attitudes (anti-Black and pro-Black attitudes; Katz & Hass, 1988). After constructing and validating measures of antigay and progay attitudes, we tested relationships among core American values with racial and sexual minority attitudes. We examined relations among the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE), Traditional Family Ideology (TFI), and egalitarian values with attitudes toward racial outgroups and sexual minorities. The results revealed that both PWE values and egalitarian values predicted anti-Black attitudes. By contrast, endorsement of egalitarian values, but not PWE values, predicted pro-Black attitudes. Results also revealed a similar but distinct pattern among values and heterosexuals' attitudes toward sexual minorities. TFI, but not egalitarian value endorsement, predicted antigay attitudes, whereas both TFI and egalitarian value endorsement predicted progay attitudes. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Applying a high-throughput fluorescence polarization assay for the discovery of chemical probes blocking La:RNA interactions in vitro and in cells

The RNA-binding protein La is overexpressed in a number of tumor tissues and is thought to support tumorigenesis by binding to and facilitating the expression of mRNAs encoding tumor-promoting and anti-apoptotic factors. Hence, small molecules able to block the binding of La to specific RNAs could have a therapeutic impact by reducing the expression of tumor-promoting and anti-apoptotic factors. Toward this novel therapeutic strategy, we aimed to develop a high-throughput fluorescence polarization assay to screen small compound libraries for molecules blocking the binding of La to an RNA element derived from cyclin D1 mRNA. Herein, we make use of a robust fluorescence polarization assay and the validation of primary hits by electrophoretic mobility shift assays. We showed recently that La protects cells against cisplatin treatment by stimulating the protein synthesis of the anti-apoptotic factor Bcl2. Here, we show by RNA immunoprecipitation experiments that one small compound specifically impairs the association of La with Bcl2 mRNA in cells and sensitizes cells for cipslatin-induced cell death. In summary, we report the application of a high-throughput fluorescence polarization assay to identify small compounds that impair the binding of La to target RNAs in vitro and in cells.
A Methodology for Trees' Detection Using LiDAR Data in Urban Areas

In this paper, we present an approach to detecting and locating trees using LiDAR point data. The motivation for this issue comes from urban planning and management, in which LiDAR data is used to obtain information of the cities. As for the echo characteristic of the LiDAR data is sensitive for the trees , we propose a three-step method for tree detection consisting of data- preprocessing, tree-points extraction and connectivity detection and merging, which make full use of the echo information for the LiDAR points to get the location of the trees in the urban areas.
First query term extraction from current webpage for mobile applications

Inputting query terms on a mobile terminal is frustrating because of device limitations though mobile web search is becoming popular. Query prediction is a promising approach for mobile search. In the literature, however, little attention has been paid to the first query term, though there are many reports on query expansion or second query recommendation. In this paper, we propose a first query prediction method that enables users to search related information for the current browsed webpage with an easier interface such as touch operation without any background search processes. The proposed method consists of body-text extraction, candidate query term extraction, and a scoring process. We also implemented a one-touch search application that works for Japanese webpages at a practical speed on a smartphone. According to our closed evaluation with 299 webpages and open evaluation with 14 users, our method achieved practical quality.
Integration of a heterogeneous compute resource in the ATLAS workflow

With the ever-growing amount of data collected with the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the need for computing resources that can handle the analysis of this data is also rapidly increasing. This increase will even be amplified after upgrading to the High Luminosity LHC [1]. High-Performance Computing (HPC) and other cluster computing resources provided by universities can be useful supplements to the resources dedicated to the experiment as part of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) for data analysis and production of simulated event samples. Freiburg is operating a combined Tier2/Tier3, the ATLAS-BFG [2]. The shared HPC cluster "NEMO" at the University of Freiburg has been made available to local ATLAS [3] users through the provisioning of virtual machines incorporating the ATLAS software environment analogously to the bare metal system of the local ATLAS Tier2/Tier3 centre. In addition to the provisioning of the virtual environment, the on-demand integration of these resources into the Tier3 scheduler in a dynamic way is described. In order to provide the external NEMO resources to the user in a transparent way, an intermediate layer connecting the two batch systems is put into place. This resource scheduler monitors requirements on the user-facing system and requests resources on the backend-system.
A new method for drug transport studies on pig nasal mucosa using a horizontal Ussing chamber.

The horizontal Ussing chamber method described here allows performance of transport studies on pig nasal respiratory mucosa under conditions simulating reality in that it mimics the air-mucosa interface. The transport of testosterone and mannitol through pig nasal mucosa in the horizontal Ussing chamber was investigated using both liquid and air mucosal interfaces. There were no significant differences in either the bioelectrical parameters (transmucosal electrical resistance, R, potential difference, PD, and short circuit current, I(sc)) or the apparent permeability (P(app)) of the mucosa to testosterone or mannitol between the liquid and air interface experiments. The histological study showed that the epithelial cell layer tolerates exposure to the air interface well. The P(app) equation was developed to correct for substance binding to the wall of the receiver chamber. The mean values +/- SD of R, PD, and I(sc) for the mucosae in the study were 75.0 +/- 28.0 Omegacm(2), (-4.53) +/- 3.46 mV and 58.6 +/- 28.8 microA/cm(2), respectively. The corrected P(app) for testosterone with and without the mucosal air interface were 9.82. 10(-6) +/- 11.41. 10(-6) cm/s and 32.24. 10(-6) +/- 31.12. 10(-6) cm/s, respectively. The P(app) values for mannitol with and without the air interface were 2.26. 10(-6) +/- 1.42. 10(-6) cm/s and 3.12. 10(-6) +/- 1.72. 10(-6) cm/s, respectively.
Multi-core parallelism for ns-3 simulator Internship at INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, PLANETE team

The ability to quickly evaluate network protocols or infrastructure shapes on real-life scale simulations is a key factor for network researchers work. Since multi-core systems are now widely available and installed, doing multithreading parallelism is a simple but potentially efficient optimization for simulators performance, which may also be implemented so that the parallelism is completely transparent to the user. Consequently, we designed and implemented a seamless multithreaded simulator implementation for ns3, a next-generation network simulator for Internet systems intended as a replacement of the popular ns-2. We explain here the details of this implementation and describe its development process, which includes stating on the design choices, making the simulator thread-safe and optimizing the implementation.
Study on Field Information Fast Collection System

A palm-sized personal computer (PPC) based field information fast collection system was designed for the purpose of acquiring and analyzing field information effectively. Compared with desktop PC, the operation system of this system (Windows CE) is greatly different in many aspects. So some key technologies was analyzed and debated. They are geographic information system (GIS), spatial accessing methods, database technology on Windows CE, sampling control plan, a special buffer analysis method and etc. Considering the particularity of farms, an object-oriented farm model was put forward. As a real-time system, the system can be used with Global Positioning System (GPS) and kinds of sensors to acquire and analyze field information instantly. The research and development of the system provided key technology for the development of precision farming field information fast collection and real-time processing equipment
Study of glucose tolerance in consecutive patients harbouring incidental adrenal tumours

Clinically silent cortisol hypersecretion has been frequently observed in recent series of adrenal ‘incidentalomas’. A significant body of data indicates that a spectrum of cortisol excess exists. Up to 90% of patients with cortisol hypersecretion are glucose intolerant. The aim of this study was (1) to assess glucose tolerance in consecutive patients with ‘nonfunctioning’ adrenal adenomas, and (2) to study the influence of the status of the hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPAA) on carbohydrate tolerance.
Screening for body‐weight disorders in Nigerian children using contrasting definitions

Several indices for body‐weight disorders exist in scientific literature, but it is inconclusive whether or not they can yield comparable results when applied to Nigerian children. The prevalence of weight disorders in Nigerian children was examined using the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) body mass index (BMI) for age charts and the International Obesity Task Force's (IOTF) age‐ and sex‐specific BMI cut‐off points. Participants were 2015 pupils (979 boys and 1036 girls) aged 9–12 years, attending 19 public primary schools in Makurdi, Nigeria. Stature and body mass were measured using standard techniques. Results were analysed using student t‐test and Chi‐squared statistics, with the probability level set at ≤0.05. CDC's BMI charts categorized 2.1%, 1.6% (boys) and 3.2%, 2.8% (girls) as overweight and obese respectively. Corresponding data for the IOTF's BMI charts were 1.7%, 0.9% (boys) and 2.6%, 2.0% (girls). CDC cut‐off points indicated higher prevalence of overweight and obesity, thus suggesting the need for a single definition for evaluating measurements of body mass‐for‐stature in the children. However, more disconcerting is the fact that CDC charts showed a high prevalence of underweight for the boys (87.1%) and girls (79.7%). Prevalent underweight conditions in our sample need urgent intervention. The IOTF method is limited in its utility to identify children who are underweight and may be at risk of growth faltering.