Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A STUDY OF RANGE EFFECTS FOR THE BORG CR100 (CENTIMAX) SCALE® AND MAGNITUDE ESTIMATION IN LOUDNESS

To compare range effects in loudness scaled with magnitude estimation (ME) and the Borg CR100 (centiMax) Scale®, a classroom experiment with a total of 53 subjects (27+26) was conducted. Two conditions with a wide and a narrow stimulus range were used (Group A: ME-narrow; ME-wide; CR-wide; CR-narrow; and Group B: ME-wide; ME-narrow; CR- narrow; CR-wide). Average exponents obtained were: nME-narrow = 0.69; nME-wide = 0.47; nCR- narrow = 0.48; nCR-wide = 0.43 for group A; and: nME-narrow = 0.70; nME-wide = 0.49; nCR-narrow = 0.66 ; nCR-wide = 0.46, for group B. For ME, the range effect was significant for both groups, but for CR100 a significant range effect was only obtained for group B. These results suggest that the CR100 is less sensitive than ME to context effects related to stimulus range.
T-box transcription factors and their roles in regulatory hierarchies in the developing heart

T-box transcription factors are important players in the molecular circuitry that generates lineage diversity and form in the developing embryo. At least seven family members are expressed in the developing mammalian heart, and the human T-box genes TBX1 and TBX5 are mutated in cardiac congenital anomaly syndromes. Here, we review T-box gene function during mammalian heart development in the light of new insights into heart morphogenesis. We see for the first time how hierarchies of transcriptional activation and repression involving multiple T-box factors play out in three-dimensional space to establish the cardiac progenitors fields, to define their subservient lineages, and to generate heart form and function.
Modeling object characteristics of dynamic Web content

Although requests for dynamic and personalized content have become a significant part of Internet traffic, there is an absence of (1) good models describing characteristics of dynamic web content, and (2) synthetic content generators, which can be used for simulation-based study of new techniques for serving such content. This paper addresses both of these shortcomings. Its primary contribution is a set of models that capture the characteristics of dynamic content at the sub-document level in terms of independent parameters such as the distributions of object sizes and their freshness times, and derived parameters such as content reusability across time and linked documents. A secondary contribution is a publicly available Java-based dynamic content emulator, DYCE, which uses these models to generate edge side include (ESI) based dynamic content in response to requests for both whole documents and separate objects.
Macrophagic enhancement in optical coherence tomography imaging by means of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles.

BACKGROUND The ability of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to visualise macrophages in vivo in coronary arteries is still controversial. We hypothesise that imaging of macrophages in OCT could be enhanced by means of superparamagnetic nanoparticles. METHODS We compared the optical backscattering and attenuation of cell pellets containing RAW 264.7 macrophages with those of macrophagic cell pellets labelled with very small superparamagnetic oxydised nanoparticles (VSOP) by means of light intensity analysis in OCT. The labelled macrophages were incubated with VSOP at a concentration of 1 mM Fe, corresponding to intracellular iron concentrations of 8.8 pg/cell. To study the effect of intracellular accumulation on the backscattering, VSOP dilutions without cells were also compared. OCT pullbacks of the PCR tubes containing the cell pellets were obtained and light intensity analysis was performed on raw OCT images in polar view, after normalisation by the backscattering of the PCR tube. The backscattering was estimated by the peak normalised intensity, whilst the attenuation was estimated by the number of pixels between the peak and the normalised intensity 1 (peak-to-one). RESULTS VSOP-loaded macrophages have higher backscattering than the corresponding unlabelled macrophages (peak normalised intensity 6.30 vs. 3.15) with also slightly higher attenuation (peak-toone 61 vs. 66 pixels). The backscattering of the nanoparticles in suspension was negligible in the light intensity analysis. CONCLUSIONS VSOP increase significantly the optical backscattering of macrophages in the nearinfrared region, with minimal increase in signal attenuation. This finding enables the enhancement of macrophages in conventional OCT imaging with an easily implementable methodology.
Black-box accountable authority identity-based encryption

A well-known concern in the setting of identity based encryption is that the PKG is all powerful and has to be completely trusted. To mitigate this problem, the notion of Accountable Authority Identity-Based Encryption (A-IBE) was recently introduced by Goyal. Goyal provided constructions to realize the notion of A-IBE only in the white box and weak black box models. However, the security guarantees provided by these models fall short of those required in practice. In this paper, we resolve the main open question left in Goyal's work by providing a construction of a (fully) black box A-IBE system. Our construction is based on the Decisional Bilinear Diffie-Hellman assumption and uses techniques from key policy attribute based encryption.
Designing a vision-based mobile interface for in-store shopping

Due to the situated nature of mobile applications, designing them requires more emphasis on users' cognitive load and interaction style. Considering that users can only devote limited and fragmented attention to mobile interface when moving between locations, what interaction-styles and services are appropriate to a specific user scenario? To explore this issue for in-store shopping, we designed a vision-based mobile interface for supporting shopper's communicational and organizational requirements on-the-go. With this interface, the physical objects can be automatically recognized by the camera phone in real time, so that shoppers can easily access related internet services. In this paper, we present an ethnographic study from which the design rationale is generated, and a formative evaluation to understand how mobile visual interface can be used in the field. The issues uncovered and lessons learned are applicable to our design improvement. Moreover, we use this to motivate the discussion on vision-based mobile interfaces in general, including embodied interaction and alternate interfaces.
Motherwork Learning: An Art-informed Inquiry into Mothering as a Site of Adult Learning

This paper explores the learning and knowledge creation that takes place within the lived experience of motherwork. Women who provide primary care to children tell stories about significant moments of change and learning that result from motherwork. Using art-informed inquiry that includes storytelling and poetic narrative, I examine motherwork as a site of adult learning. An important part of adult education links learning to change and transformation for individuals as well as for society. Personal transformation often begins with a disorienting dilemma, which subsequently evolves. In order to effect change in society, many adult educators recognize that the goals of transformation are embodied in the day-to-day lives of people who challenge existing oppressive societal systems. Therefore, this study explores the links between personal agency in lived experience and public effectiveness. Resume Cet article s'attarde a l'apprentissage et a la construction du savoir a travers l'experience d'etre mere. Des femmes qui prodiguent des soins de base aux enfants racontent des moments forts de transformation et d'acquisition de connaissance attribuables a leur role de meres. Au moyen d'une enquete par analyse litteraire, incluant des recits et du discours poetique, j'examine le role de mere comme lieu d'apprentissage.
Test dell'Ansia e della Depressione nell'infanzia e nell'adolescenza (TAD): uno studio sulle differenze di genere

It Test dell’Ansia e della Depressione nell’infanzia e nell’adolescenza (TAD): uno studio sulle differenze di genere. Nel presente lavoro abbiamo analizzato le proprieta psicometriche di un questionario italiano sulla misura della depressione e dell’ansia nell’infanzia adolescenza (Test dell’Ansia e della Depressione nell’infanzia e nell’adolescenza; Newcomer, Barembaum, Bryana, 1995). Abbiamo somministrato il test a 864 studenti della zona di Arezzo. Facendo riferimento al metodo delle equazioni strutturali, abbiamo studiato la dimensionalita del questionario con un’analisi fattoriale confermativa e, successivamente, abbiamo studiato le dimensioni nella variabile genere maschi / femmine) usando un’analisi Multi-gruppo. I risultati mostrano una significativa differenza del genere rispetto alla dimensione depressione. Le femmine, rispetto ai maschi, esprimono valutazioni maggiori in questo fattore. En Adolescent and Childhood Anxiety and Depression Test (TAD): a study on the differences of gender. In the present paper we analyze the psychometric properties of an Italian questionnaire measuring anxiety and depression in developmental age (Adolescent and Childhood Anxiety and Depression Test: Newcomer, Barembaum, Bryana, 1995). We administered the questionnaire to 864 aretian students. According to structural equations modelling, we studied the dimensionality of the questionnaire by means of contirmatory factor analysis and, later on, we studied differences in gender using Multi-sample analysis. Results show significant differences in gender for depression dimension. Females, compared to males, express more negative evaluations in this factor.
Wrinkling Captured Garments Using Space‐Time Data‐Driven Deformation

The presence of characteristic fine folds is important for modeling realistic looking virtual garments. While recent garment capture techniques are quite successful at capturing the low‐frequency garment shape and motion over time, they often fail to capture the numerous high‐frequency folds, reducing the realism of the reconstructed space‐time models. In our work we propose a method for reintroducing fine folds into the captured models using data‐driven dynamic wrinkling. We first estimate the shape and position of folds based on the original video footage used for capture and then wrinkle the surface based on those estimates using space‐time deformation. Both steps utilize the unique geometric characteristics of garments in general, and garment folds specifically, to facilitate the modeling of believable folds. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our wrinkling method on a variety of garments that have been captured using several recent techniques.
Validation of a disease-specific measure of health-related quality of life for children with cystic fibrosis.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Cystic Fibrosis Questionnaire (CFQ)-Child version, a disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measure for children with cystic fibrosis (CF). METHOD The CFQ was administered to 84 children with CF, ranging in age from 7 to 13 years, and their parents. RESULTS Multitrait analyses indicated that a majority of items on the CFQ-Child correlated more highly with their hypothesized scale than a competing scale. Internal consistency coefficients were acceptable for all scales (Cronbach's alpha =.60-.76), with the exception of treatment burden (Cronbach's alpha =.44). Results also suggested strong convergence between child and parent-proxy reports on several scales of the CFQ. CONCLUSION Results demonstrated that the CFQ-Child is a reliable and valid measure of HRQOL for children with CF.
Are Hofstede’s Culture Dimensions Stable Over Time? A Generational Cohort Analysis

Quantitative culture research is dominated by Hofstede’s framework, which is based on survey data collected in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As countries develop economically, modernization theory predicts shifting societal values, which likely affect country’s scores on Hofstede’s culture dimensions. We examine how Hofstede’s dimensions have developed over time by replicating Hofstede’s dimensions for two generational cohorts using data from the World Values Survey. Results show that, on average, societies score higher on Individualism and Indulgence versus Restraint, and lower on Power Distance. Cultural change is absolute rather than relative, however, so that countries’ culture scores relative to each other are hardly affected. Country pair cultural differences (i.e., cultural distances) are relatively stable. We discuss the implications of our findings for culture research in business and management.
Comparison of scientific SCIAMACHY products with ground-based measurements

Measurements taken in the framework of the Ground-Based Measurements and Campaign Database Subgroup (GBMCD) of the Atmospheric Chemistry Validation Team (ACVT) are compared to selected preliminary results of scientific algorithms to determine atmospheric parameters from measurements of SCIAMACHY. Presented are comparisons with algorithms to determine NO2 total column, CH4 and CO total columns, ozone profiles from limb and detection of PMCs. NO2 total columns are compared with three ground-based DOAS stations. Three algorithms to determine CH4 and CO total columns are compared with FTIR measurements taken at Kiruna, Ny-Alesund and Jungfraujoch. First limb ozone profiles are compared with ozone sondes from Ny-Alesund, Hohenpeisenberg, and Neumayer station (Antarctica) and Lidar measurements from Lauder. A method for detecting polar mesospheric clouds from limb measurements is compared to the observation of noctilucent clouds with the UBonn Lidar at the Esrange near Kiruna. All results show the potential of SCIAMACHY to detect the anticipated and even further products.
The Stringed Haptic Workbench: a New Haptic Workbench Solution

The workbench is an interesting semi‐immersive configuration for interactive tasks. However, haptic feedback, i.e.force and tactile feedback, is one important cue which is missing. To the authors' knowledge, the sole proposedsolution consists in installing an arm force feedback device on one‐screen workbenches. This solution, however,has several drawbacks. The arm can perturb the stereoscopic display, cross virtual objects or hide parts of thevisualization space. Furthermore, the interaction space is limited by the size of the arm, which may also damagethe screen or perturb the electromagnetic tracking system. Some of these difficulties may even be worth with a two‐screenworkbench. This paper discusses an alternative solution, which consists in integrating a stringed hapticdevice on a workbench. This approach is less invasive, more flexible and well‐suited to a two‐screen workbench.
Massively Parallel Mapping of Next Generation Sequence Reads Using GPUs

DNA sequence alignment problem can be broadly defined as the character-level comparison of DNA sequences obtained from one or more samples against a database of reference (i.e., consensus) genome sequence of the same or a similar species. High throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies were introduced in 2006 [6], and the latest iterations of HTS technologies are able to read the genome of a human individual in just three days for a cost of ∼ $1,000. However, they also present a computational problem since the analysis of the HTS data requires the comparison of >1 billion short (100 characters, or base pairs) “reads” against a very long (3 billion base pairs) reference genome. Since DNA molecules are composed of two opposing strands (i.e. two complementary strings), the number of required comparisons are doubled. Instead of local alignment of short vs long sequences, heuristics are applied to speed up the process. First, partial sequence matches, called “seeds”, are quickly found using either Burrows Wheeler Transform (BWT) [1] followed with Ferragina-Manzini Index (FM) [2], or a simple hash table [8]. Next, the candidate locations are verified using a dynamic programming alignment algorithm that calculates Levenshtein edit distance [3], which runs in quadratic time. Although these heuristics are substantially faster than local alignment, because of the repetitive nature of the human genome, they often require hundreds of verification runs per read, imposing a heavy computational burden. However, all of these billions of alignments are independent from each other, thus the read mapping problem presents itself as embarrassingly parallel. Our goal in this project is to develop and implement a GPGPUfriendly algorithm based on Levenshtein’s algorithm [3] that can compute millions of dynamic programming matrices concurrently. We implement our algorithms using the CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) platform, and test them using the NVIDIA Tesla K20 GPGPU processors. In this work, we propose a massively parallel, fast, memory-aware Levenshtein edit distance algorithm model for graphics processing units, together with Ukkonen’s approximation algorithm [7] to prevent redundant calculations in matrices. Considering the memory limitations and very high number of available threads, our algorithm ensures maximum occupancy on GPGPUs. 2. Background
Laser-active whispering-gallery resonators as versatile platform for optical three-wave mixing

While laser sources are limited in their emission spectra by their gain-medium, non-linear frequency conversions allow for generation of coherent light in almost any spectral region. Optical whispering-gallery resonators (WGRs), fabricated from non-linear crystals, were successfully applied as miniaturized, high-efficiency frequency converting devices [1]. Frequency conversion in WGRs is usually induced by pumping optical resonances of the WGR by means of an external narrow-linewidth and frequency tunable laser. Hence, the effective technological overhead of the overall system is rather high, hindering this technology from spreading into everyday life's applications. One approach to overcome this major drawback is to incorporate laser-active ions into the resonator's material. This turns passive WGRs into narrow-linewidth lasers themselves, capable of inducing non-linear processes directly within the same crystal. With this, requirements on pump sources are lowered considerably, as laser-active ions can be excited even with incoherent light. The non-linear optical processes of interest can be selected by tailoring the phase-matching properties of the crystal by periodic domain inversion. With these tools at hand, laser-active whispering-gallery resonators may emerge as a versatile platform for continuous-wave frequency conversion. In principle, coherent light of any frequency within the transparency range of the non-linear crystal can be generated.
Towards Model-Based Virtual Wet Lab Experiments

Often virtual wet lab experiments are not exactly experimental. They simply require a series of mouse clicks to be performed in the exact order intended by the programmer. While this does not sound like fun for the students, too open activities are not helpful either. Instead students should be allowed to vary their learning path wherever possible, mimicking a 'real' experiment. This paper outlines a model-based approach which can provide this flexibility while reducing programming efforts for new virtual wet lab experiments. Lab equipment, chemicals, and lab activities are to be modeled beforehand in order to be made available in an 'experiment construction kit' for teachers and students.
Vibration Signal Synthesis for Representing Cutaneous Tactile

A surface meso-structure measurement and tactile device input vibration signal synthesis techniques are proposed. To measure the surface meso-structure, some photos are taken using a fixed camera with changing lighting incidence direction. A surface normal image is obtained from these photos. Then vibration signal as tactile device input signal is synthesized. Adding friction sound, the tactile is enhanced well even using simple vibration tactile device. The system is consisted of 3D visual display, force feedback device and vibration tactile device.
The logic of science.

The author discusses the logic of science and its relation to clinical research. She states that scientists used induction to prove their theories by repeating experiments to get similar results. She explains that a drug can be considered effective if it has been the subject of successful repeated clinical trials. She relates her experience in finding a solution to treating pressure areas as an example of how wrong something can be if it is not based on the logic of science. [Summary from Ebsco]
ROSY: recovering processor and memory systems from hard errors

In the nanometer era, there has been a steady decline in the semiconductor chip manufacturing yield due to various contributing factors, such as wearout and defects due to complex processes. One of the strategies to alleviate this issue is to recover and use faulty hardware at gracefully degraded performance. A common, though naive, recovery strategy followed in the context of general purpose multicore systems is to disable the cores with faults and use only the fully functional cores. Such a coarse-granular solution is suboptimal, as the disabled cores would have many working modules which go un-utilized. The Resurrecting Operating SYstem (ROSY) presented in this paper is a step towards the development of an operating system that can work on faulty cores by adapting itself to hardware faults using software workarounds, and and utilize their working components. We consider many realistic fault models and present software workarounds for them. We have developed a framework which can be trivially plugged into a fullyfeatured x86 based OS kernel to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed ideas. Performance evaluation using SPEC benchmarks and real-world applications show that the performance degradation of the depleted cores executing ROSY is on an average between 1.6x to 4x, depending on the fault type.
Robustly Extracting Captions in Videos Based on Stroke-Like Edges and Spatio-Temporal Analysis

This paper presents an effective and efficient approach to extracting captions from videos. The robustness of our system comes from two aspects of contributions. First, we propose a novel stroke-like edge detection method based on contours, which can effectively remove the interference of non-stroke edges in complex background so as to make the detection and localization of captions much more accurate. Second, our approach highlights the importance of temporal feature, i.e., inter-frame feature, in the task of caption extraction (detection, localization, segmentation). Instead of regarding each video frame as an independent image, through fully utilizing the temporal feature of video together with spatial analysis in the computation of caption localization, segmentation and post-processing, we demonstrate that the use of inter-frame information can effectively improve the accuracy of caption localization and caption segmentation. In the comprehensive our evaluation experiments, the experimental results on two representative datasets have shown the robustness and efficiency of our approach.
Superiority of Spaced Seeds for Homology Search

In homology search, good spaced seeds have higher sensitivity for the same cost (weight). However, elucidating the mechanism that confers power to spaced seeds and characterizing optimal spaced seeds still remain unsolved. This paper investigates these two important open questions by formally analyzing the average number of nonoverlapping hits and the hit probability of a spaced seed in the Bernoulli sequence model. We prove that, when the length of a nonuniformly spaced seed is bounded above by an exponential function of the seed weight, the seed strictly outperforms the traditional consecutive seed of the same weight in both 1) the average number of nonoverlapping hits and 2) the asymptotic hit probability. This clearly answers the first problem mentioned above in the Bernoulli sequence model. The theoretical study in this paper also gives a new solution to finding long optimal seeds.