Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Service-learning: A survey of experiences in Spain

Service-learning is a teaching methodology that promotes students’ learning through active participation in experiences of community service. This methodology allows students to engage directly with those to whom it offers a needs- and context-adapted service, very often outside the classroom. While there are numerous projects that follow the service-learning methodology, surveys of experiences carried out at higher education level remain scarce. We performed a survey study with 424 undergraduate students participating in service-learning projects in order to identify the type and level of student participation, the skills and competences acquired; the characteristics of services provided; and the levels of satisfaction of students taking part. We found that the students had a positive perception of the effects of their participation; that the skills and competences developed were primarily teamwork, ethical commitment, adapting to new situations and problem-solving; and that the usefulness of the service was mainly in moral development and commitment.
ONE-DIMENSIONAL , MASS CONSERVATIVE , SPATIALLY-DEPENDENT TRANSPORT EQUATION : NEW ANALYTICAL SOLUTION

The transport equation (ADE) is one of the pivotal equations in atmospheric sciences and surface/subsurface water quality models. Since analytical methods are at the heart of the verification process in geophysical and environmental fluid mechanics, several analytical solutions have been already derived for this equation. Those previous exact solutions mostly refer to the local mass conservation of a constituent (in an infinitesimal volume); however, there is a need of verifying models which use integrated versions of the ADE, and which at the same time satisfy the integrated mass conservation for water. This work derives a new analytical solution for the cross-sectional-integrated ADE. Starting from the analytical solution by Ogata and Banks, we use the Method of Undetermined Coefficients, and modify the ADE so that its coefficients are varying with space while the mass continuity of water is preserved. At the end, we solve a hypothetical problem numerically and we use the new analytical solution for numerical verification. The new analytical solution offers a better probing capability within existing benchmarks for verification of transport solvers.
I.C.E.: An Ultra-Cold Atom Source for Long-Baseline Interferometric Inertial Sensors in Reduced Gravity

The accuracy and precision of current atom-interferometric inertialsensors rival state-of-the-art conventional devices using artifact-based test masses . Atomic sensors are well suited for fundamental measurements of gravito-inertial fields. The sensitivity required to test gravitational theories can be achieved by extending the baseline of the interferometer. The I.C. E. (Interf\'erom\'etrie Coh\'erente pour l'Espace) interferometer aims to achieve long interrogation times in compact apparatus via reduced gravity. We have tested a cold-atom source during airplane parabolic flights. We show that this environment is compatible with free-fall interferometric measurements using up to 4 second interrogation time. We present the next-generation apparatus using degenerate gases for low release-velocity atomic sources in space-borne experiments.
A High-Security EEG-Based Login System with RSVP Stimuli and Dry Electrodes

Lately, electroencephalography (EEG)-based authentication has received considerable attention from the scientific community. However, the limited usability of wet EEG electrodes as well as low accuracy for large numbers of users have so far prevented this new technology to become commonplace. In this study a novel EEG-based authentication system is presented, which is based on the rapid serial visual presentation paradigm and uses a knowledge-based approach for authentication. Twenty-nine subjects' data were recorded and analyzed with wet EEG electrodes as well as dry ones. A true acceptance rate of 100% can be reached for all subjects with an average required login time of 13.5 s for wet and 27 s for dry electrodes. Average false acceptance rates for the dry electrode setup were estimated to be 3.33 \times 10-5.
ICCVG 2002

We propose an iterative method of 3D localization of 2D or 3D polygonal shapes by monocular vision from a sngle image. The method assumes that the size of the polygonal object is known and that the camera is calibrated. Essentially, the 3D localization is obtained by the resolution of a non-linear system using the parametric equations of the polygonal object (contour) projection in the image plan. Then we show that it is possible with this approach to implement a simple and robust 3D localization process in real time. One interesting application we are currently working on, is the 3D real-time localization of road signs from a mobile vehicle with a monocular vision system. keywords : 3D localization, Pose problem, CG method for nonlinear system.
Robust visual tracking via spatio-temporal cue integration

Appearance modeling is an important and yet challenging issue for online visual tracking due to the accumulation of errors which is prone to potential drifting during the self-updating with newly obtained results. In this paper, we propose a novel online tracking algorithm using spatio-temporal cue integration. Specifically, the object is represented as a set of local patches with respect to the spatial cue. In terms of the temporal cue, we keep the appearance models at different time and do appearance updating alternately. Taking full advantage of both historical and current information of the tracked object, the drift problem is alleviated. We also develop an effective cue quality measurement that combines similarity and motion information. Both qualitative and quantitative evaluations on challenging video sequences demonstrate that the proposed algorithm performs comparable against the state-of-the-art methods.
Design Patterns for Safe Re ective Middleware

Flexible, scalable and customizable middleware can be used as enabling technology for next generation systems, where a wide range of services and activities must execute concurrently, non-disruptively and share resources. In order to avoid resource con icts, deadlocks, inconsistencies and incorrect execution semantics, the underlying resource management system (middleware) must ensure that the concurrent system activities execute and compose in the correct manner. However, characterizing the semantics of shared resources and specifying what correctness of the overall system means is a di cult task. Patterns have proven to be useful to build exible and modular frameworks by capturing the common structure and collaboration among their participants. Hence, they can be used to deal with semantical issues that guarantee correct composition of system resource activities in DRE systems, where issues of correctness and composition can be quite subtle, and complex.
Analisis Framing Pemberitaan “Reuni Akbar 212” (Analisis Framing Model Robert N Entman Media Online kompas.com dengan republika.co.id Edisi 26 November 2017 – 9 Desember 2017)

Isi berita merupakan hasil konstruksi wartawan atau reporter tentang suatu peristiwa. Adapun faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi konsruksi wartawan terhadap peristiwa adalah ideologi media serta ekonomi politik media. Penelitian ini menggunakan analisis framing model Robert N Entman. Model ini memiliki empat elemen sebagai perangkat framing Define Problem (Pendefinisian masalah), Diagnose causes (Memperkirakan masalah atau sumber masalah), Make moral judgement (Membuat keputusan moral), dan Treatment recommendation (Menekankan penyelesaian). Hasil penelitian ini bahwa framing peristiwa Reuni Akbar 212 yang dilakukan pada media online Kompas.com dengan Republika.co.id terpengaruh oleh perbedaan ideologi kedua media tersebut, masing-masing media online sama-sama menggunakan ideologi masing-masing dalam memberitakan peristiwa Reuni Akbar 212.Kata kunci: framing, media online, ideologi media
Data Mining Methods to Generate Severe Wind Gust Models

Gaining knowledge on weather patterns, trends and the influence of their extremes on various crop production yields and quality continues to be a quest by scientists, agriculturists, and managers. Precise and timely information aids decision-making, which is widely accepted as intrinsically necessary for increased production and improved quality. Studies in this research domain, especially those related to data mining and interpretation are being carried out by the authors and their colleagues. Some of this work that relates to data definition, description, analysis, and modelling is described in this paper. This includes studies that have evaluated extreme dry/wet weather events against reported yield at different scales in general. They indicate the effects of weather extremes such as prolonged high temperatures, heavy rainfall, and severe wind gusts. Occurrences of these events are among the main weather extremes that impact on many crops worldwide. Wind gusts are difficult to anticipate due to their rapid manifestation and yet can have catastrophic effects on crops and buildings. This paper examines the use of data mining methods to reveal patterns in the weather conditions, such as time of the day, month of the year, wind direction, speed, and severity using a data set from a single location. Case study data is used to provide examples of how the methods used can elicit meaningful information and depict it in a fashion usable for management decision making. Historical weather data acquired between 2008 and 2012 has been used for this study from telemetry devices installed in a vineyard in the north of New Zealand. The results show that using data mining techniques and the local weather conditions, such as relative pressure, temperature, wind direction and speed recorded at irregular intervals, can produce new knowledge relating to wind gust patterns for vineyard management decision making.
Dealing with Malfunction: Locus of Control in Web-Conferencing.

This paper considers how students deal with malfunctions that occur during the use of web conferencing systems in learning arrangements. In a survey among participants in online courses that make use of a web-conferencing system (N = 129), the relationship between a preference for internal or external locus of control and the perception of technical difficulties is examined. This study starts from the idea that the experience of malfunctions has an influence on the acceptance of information systems in education, while support services are availed mainly by users who act responsible in using technology anyway.
Diffusing-Wave Spectroscopy: The Technique and Some Applications

We discuss the entension of dynamic light scattering to very strongly scattering media, where the propagation of light is described by the diffusion approximation, allowing the distribution of the light paths to be determined. The temporal evolution of the length of each of these paths, due to the dynamics of the scattering medium, is calculated, and an expression for the temporal autocorrelation function of the intensity fluctuations of the scattered light is obtained. This relates the measured decay of the autocor-relation function to the dynamics of the medium. This technique is called diffusing wave spectroscopy (DWS). To extend its utility, we consider the consequences of interactions between the scattering particles on the light scattering. To illustrate its applications, we consider several examples of new physics that can be investigated using DWS. We study the transient nature of hydrodynamic interactions between a particle and the surrounding fluid. We are able to probe the decay of the velocity correlation function of the particles, and we demonstrate its algebraic decay, with a t−3/2 time dependence. We also show that the time-dependent self diffusion coefficient exhibits an unexpected scaling behavior, whereby all the data, from samples of different volume fractions, can be scaled onto a single curve. Finally, we discuss the applications of DWS to the study of the dynamics of foams, and show how it can be used to probe the rearrangement of the bubbles within the foam as they coarsen.
Immediacy Communication and Success in Crowdfunding Campaigns: A Multimodal Communication Approach

Crowdfunding (CF) is an increasingly popular form of Internet-based fundraising that attracts considerable research interest; however, investigations on the relationship between success in CF campaigns and the multimodal communication approach are absent in the literature. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of reward-based CF video campaigns and identified various measures of success for financing and for backer involvement. Our findings highlight the predictive power of a wide range of verbal and nonverbal communication behaviors. This study contributes a multimodal communication approach for explaining success in CF campaigns and expands immediacy communication theory by developing a novel combination of verbal and nonverbal immediacy and nonimmediacy communication behaviors. We also reveal the effect of verbal and nonverbal interrelations on the success of CF campaigns. Finally, we extend the reliance theory of verbal versus nonverbal primacy for success in CF campaigns.
Experimenting with a policy-based HIDS based on an information flow control model

In 2002 we proposed a model for policy-based intrusion detection, based on information flow control. In the present paper, we show its applicability and effectiveness on a standard OS. We present results of two set of experiments, one carried out in a completely controlled environment, the other on an operational server with real network traffic. Our results show that the model fulfills its goals and serves as a successful runtime policy-based intrusion detector.
Exchange Rate Regimes and Trade: Is Africa Different?

This paper revisits the link between exchange rate regimes and trade in the context of Africa’s exchange rate arrangements. Applying an augmented gravity model that includes measures of currency unions and pegged regimes, the paper compares Africa’s experience with that of the world. Our results suggest that both currency unions and direct pegs promote bilateral trade in Africa vis-a-vis more flexible exchange rate regimes,and that their effect is almost double for the region than that for an average country in the world sample. Further, we find evidence that the effect of conventional pegs is at least as large as that of currency unions in Africa, and that the benefits of fixed exchange rate regimes stem through channels in addition to reduced exchange rate volatility.
Controlled evaluation of the STARBRIGHT CD-ROM program for children and adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of the STARBRIGHT Fitting Cystic Fibrosis Into Your Life Everyday CD-ROM. Data were analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of the program as an educational tool for children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis (CF). METHODS Forty-seven children and adolescents with CF between the ages of 7 and 17 years were enrolled in the study. Participants completed an initial evaluation of CF-related knowledge and coping skills and were then randomly assigned to one of two groups: the treatment group or the wait-list control group. Participants then viewed the CD-ROM, and researchers completed posttest measures. RESULTS Analyses indicated that both disease-related knowledge and coping strategies generated by children and adolescents with CF improved as a result of the intervention and that this effect was replicated in the wait-list group. CONCLUSIONS In sum, the results of the current study indicate that the STARBRIGHT CD-ROM program is a promising intervention for increasing CF-related knowledge and the competence of children's and adolescents' coping strategies. These positive results are enhanced by the brief, inexpensive, and portable nature of this educational program.
Contextual Determinants of Learning Behaviour Differentials amongst Host-farmers of University-Student Outreach in Uganda

In Sub-Saharan Africa, a knowledge void still exists on two contextual questions of university-community outreach: 1) how social demographics differences are related to farmer learning behaviour towards student outreach, and 2) how student outreach models compare with public and non-public extension services. A cross-section survey was used to obtain data from a sample of 283 respondents purposively selected from previous hosts of student outreach of Gulu University in Uganda. Results from Kruskal-Wallis method revealed that there were significant differences among host-farmers with respect to farmstead distance to the university for knowledge sharing (? 2 (2) = 8.5; P < 0.05) and giving feedback (? 2 (2) = 7.6; P < 0.05). Regarding the experience of participating in outreach program, significant differences among host-farmers were found in seeking information (? 2 (2) = 12.3; P < 0.01); knowledge sharing (? 2 (2) = 10.4; P < 0.01); seeking feedback (? 2 (2) = 16.4; P < 0.01) and giving feedback (? 2 (2) = 8.1; P < 0.05). Further, Friedman test results showed that host-farmers perceived the university-student outreach to be superior and significantly different from public and non-public agricultural extension. We conclude that university outreach is a useful service to farmer. However, its success in facilitating farmer learning is dependent on farmstead distance to the university and farmers’ level of experience of participating in university activities. We recommend more logistical support from governments to university outreach programs so that outreach services can efficiently complement public and non-public interventions in delivering community-based training and learning approaches.
Molecular Modeling of Local Anesthetic Drug Binding by Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels

Voltage-gated sodium (Na+) channels are targets for local anesthetic (LA) drugs that bind in the inner pore of the channel with affinities related to the channel gating states. Our core model of the sodium channel (P loops and S5 and S6 segments from each of the four domains) was closed because it was developed using coordinates from the KcsA channel crystallographic structure. We developed a model of the activated, open channel based on the structure of the open MthK channel, which was characterized by bends at the S6 glycine or serine residues. This created a conformation that allowed energetically appropriate docking of the LA drugs. The alkylamino head of ionizable LA molecules was docked closer to the selectivity filter and in association with Phe-1579 of IVS6 and Leu-1280 of IIIS6 (Nav1.4), and the aromatic ring interacted with Tyr-1586 of IVS6 and Asn-434 of IS6. Comparison of multiple LA drugs showed relative binding affinities in the model consistent with experimental studies. The ionizable LA alkylamino heads interact primarily by van der Waals forces that position the charge so as to create a positive electrostatic barrier for cation permeation. Permanently uncharged benzocaine could be docked in the closed conformation as well, stabilizing the closed conformation. The structurally different anticonvulsant lamotrigine and one of its derivatives have a binding site that fully overlaps with that of the LA drugs. The open, activated channel creates the high-affinity binding site for these sodium channel blocker drugs, and block may be mainly electrostatic.
Separation of Concerns in Reinforcement Learning

In this paper, we propose a framework for solving a single-agent task by using multiple agents, each focusing on different aspects of the task. This approach has two main advantages: 1) it allows for training specialized agents on different parts of the task, and 2) it provides a new way to transfer knowledge, by transferring trained agents. Our framework generalizes the traditional hierarchical decomposition, in which, at any moment in time, a single agent has control until it has solved its particular subtask. We illustrate our framework with empirical experiments on two domains.
Vehicle exhaust outside the home and onset of asthma among adults

Few studies have investigated the relationship between vehicle exhaust and the new onset of asthma among adults. The aim of the present prospective cohort study was to investigate the relationship between the cumulative incidence of asthma and onset of asthma among adults and vehicle exhaust concentrations at home. Participants from three Swedish cities included in the Respiratory Health in Northern Europe cohort constituted the study population. Exposure at each participant’s home was calculated using dispersion models. We also used <50 m distance to nearest major road as a more simple indicator of exposure. The adjusted model included 3,609 participants, of which 107 were classified as onset cases and 55 as true incident cases of asthma. There was a positive association between asthma onset (odds ratio (OR) per 10 μg·m−3 1.46, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07–1.99) and incident asthma (OR per 10 μg·m−3 1.54, 95% CI 1.00–2.36) and the levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which remained statistically significant after adjusting for potential confounders. The relationship between asthma and NO2 was not significantly modified by sex, hay fever or wheeze. The risk of developing asthma was also significantly related to living close to a major road. The current study suggests that elevated levels of vehicle exhaust outside the home increase the risk of onset and incident asthma among adults.
Remembering Jerry Fodor and his work

Correspondence Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. Email: georey2@gmail.com This is a reminiscence and short biographical sketch of the late philosopher and cognitive scientist Jerry Fodor. It includes a summary of his main proposals about the mind: his “Language of Thought” hypothesis; his rejection of analyticity and conceptual role semantics; his “mad dog nativism”; his proposal of mental modules and—by contrast—his skepticism about a computational theory of central cognition; his anti-reductionist, but still physicalist, views about psychology; and, lastly, his attacks on selectionism. I conclude with some discussion of his idiosyncratic style and of his aesthetic and other interests. An appendix provides some memorable quotes.
Emma in Action: Declarative Dataflows for Scalable Data Analysis

Parallel dataflow APIs based on second-order functions were originally seen as a flexible alternative to SQL. Over time, however, their complexity increased due to the number of physical aspects that had to be exposed by the underlying engines in order to facilitate efficient execution. To retain a sufficient level of abstraction and lower the barrier of entry for data scientists, projects like Spark and Flink currently offer domain-specific APIs on top of their parallel collection abstractions. This demonstration highlights the benefits of an alternative design based on deep language embedding. We showcase Emma - a programming language embedded in Scala. Emma promotes parallel collection processing through native constructs like Scala's for-comprehensions - a declarative syntax akin to SQL. In addition, Emma also advocates quasi-quoting the entire data analysis algorithm rather than its individual dataflow expressions. This allows for decomposing the quoted code into (sequential) control flow and (parallel) dataflow fragments, optimizing the dataflows in context, and transparently offloading them to an engine like Spark or Flink. The proposed design promises increased programmer productivity due to avoiding an impedance mismatch, thereby reducing the lag times and cost of data analysis.