Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards evidence-based trust brokering

In a global computing environment, trust management is important for entities to collaborate. Traditional access control methods cannot meet the needs of autonomous decision making with partial information. The SECURE project introduced a collaboration model using the combination of trust and risk models. This allows an entity to formulate trust according to its own observations and also by accepting recommendations from other entities. Evidence, which originates from other entities, must be gathered in a secure way to ensure that integrity is maintained. This paper introduces a trust broker model which describes how one entity can locate and retrieve evidence on another entity's historic behavior. This evidence-based trust brokering approach provides a basic model for secure evidence gathering and is appropriate for the global computing environment.
Hardware-Accelerated Visualization of Curvilinear Vector Fields

We present a novel method for hardwareaccelerated texture advection of 3D velocity fields defined on curvilinear grids. For uniform rectilinear grids, texture advection can be efficiently performed within the rasterization unit by existing approaches. In a pre-processing step, the vector field is transformed from the curvilinear grid (P-Space) to a uniform rectilinear grid (C-Space). Hardware accelerated texture advection is performed via per-pixel operations in C-Space. The resulting 3D volume data is displayed by direct volume rendering via 3D textures. The decomposition of the volume object into viewport-aligned slices is performed in P-Space and the resulting polygons are textured with the image information calculated in C-Space.
Inner oracles: input-specific assertions on internal states

Traditional test oracles are defined on the outputs of test executions, and cannot assert internal states of executions. Traditional assertions are common to all test execution, and are usually more difficult to construct than on oracle for one test input. In this paper we propose the concept of inner oracles, which are assertions on internal states that are specific to one test input. We first motivate the necessity of inner oracles, and then show that it can be implemented easily using the available programming mechanisms. Next, we report two initial empirical studies on inner oracles, showing that inner oracles have a significant impact on both the fault-detection capability of tests and the performance of test suite reduction. Finally, we highlight the implications of inner oracles on several research and practical problems.
Theranostic quantum dots for crossing blood–brain barrier in vitro and providing therapy of HIV-associated encephalopathy

The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a complex physiological checkpoint that restricts the free diffusion of circulating molecules from the blood into the central nervous system. Delivering of drugs and other active agents across the BBB is one of the major technical challenges faced by scientists and medical practitioners. Therefore, development of novel methodologies to address this challenge holds the key for both the diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases, such as HIV-associated encephalopathy. Bioconjugated quantum dots (QDs) are excellent fluorescent probes and nano-vectors, being designed to transverse across the BBB and visualize drug delivery inside the brain. This paper discusses the use of functionalized QDs for crossing the blood–brain barrier and treating brain disease. We highlight the guidelines for using in vitro BBB models for brain disease studies. The theranostic QDs offers a strategy to significantly improve the effective dosages of drugs to transverse across the BBB and orientate to the targets inside the brain.
The efficacy of transvaginal sonographic screening in asymptomatic women at risk for ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of annual transvaginal sonography (TVS) as a screening method for ovarian cancer. METHODS Annual TVS screening was performed on 14, 469 asymptomatic women from 1987 to 1999. Eligibility criteria included (1) all women >/= 50 years of age and (2) women >/= 25 years of age with a family history of ovarian cancer. Ovarian volume was calculated using the prolate ellipsoid (length x height x width x 0.523). An abnormal sonogram was defined by (1) an ovarian volume >10 cm(3) in postmenopausal women or >20 cm(3) in premenopausal women or (2) a papillary or complex tissue projection into a cystic ovarian tumor. All women with abnormal TVS had a repeat sonogram in 4-6 weeks. Patients with a persistently abnormal second screen had a serum CA-125 determination, tumor morphology indexing, and Doppler flow sonography, and were advised to have surgical tumor removal. RESULTS One hundred eighty patients with persisting TVS abnormalities underwent exploratory laparoscopy or laparotomy. Seventeen ovarian cancers were detected: 11 Stage I, 3 Stage II, and 3 Stage III. Only three patients with Stage I cancers had a palpable ovarian mass on clinical examination. All patients with Stage I and II ovarian cancer are alive without recurrence 1.8-9.8 years (median, 4.5 years) after diagnosis. Two of the three Stage III patients have died of disease: one at 4.3 years and one at 7.7 years after detection. Four patients developed ovarian cancer within 12 months of a negative scan (FN): 2 Stage II, 2 Stage III. Three of these patients are alive with no evidence of disease 0.4, 1.9, and 5.5 years after diagnosis, and 1 patient has died of disease 0.7 years after diagnosis. Four patients developed ovarian cancer more than 12 months following a normal screen. All 4 presented clinically with Stage III disease. Two of these patients have died of disease and two patients are alive 1.5 and 2.1 years after diagnosis. TVS screening was associated with the following statistical variables: sensitivity, 81%; specificity, 98.9%; positive predictive value (PPV), 9.4%; and negative predictive value (NPV), 99.97%. After 46, 113 screening years, there have been 3 ovarian cancer deaths in the annually screened population and 2 ovarian cancer deaths in women receiving less than annual screening. The survival of ovarian cancer patients in the annually screened population was 95.0 +/- 4.9% at 2 years and 88.2 +/- 8.0% at 5 years. Excluding all cases of nonepithelial or borderline epithelial malignancies, the survival of patients with ovarian cancer in the annually screened population was 92.9 +/- 6.9% at 2 years and 83.6 +/- 10.8% at 5 years. CONCLUSIONS (1) TVS screening, when performed annually, is associated with a decrease in stage at detection and a decrease in case-specific ovarian cancer mortality. (2) TVS screening does not appear to be effective in detecting ovarian cancer in which ovarian volume is normal.
Experimental Validation of 3-D Magnet Eddy Current Loss Prediction in Surface-Mounted Permanent Magnet Machines

This paper presents the experimental validation of three-dimensional (3-D) Fourier method employed for predicting magnet eddy current loss in surface-mounted permanent magnet (SPM) machines. The magnet loss is measured for a 12-slot 14-pole SPM machine from experimental tests when the machine is operated with inverter under locked rotor conditions by repeating tests with two rotors, one with magnets and one without. The eddy current loss associated with each significant harmonic in the captured armature currents is predicted separately employing the developed method and the total magnet loss is evaluated by applying the principle of superposition. The magnet loss at real operating conditions of the machine is predicted from the method using the phase current captured when the SPM is operating at its maximum speed conditions. The result is used as an example to devise an effective means of further reduction in the total magnet loss.
Belief in A Just World and Subjective Well-Being: Comparing Disaster Sites with Normal Areas

Justice and happiness are two goals of individuals as public person and private person separately, which are consistent logically and have been confirmed by some psychological researches, but can be inconsistent in low standard. The present study investigated the general belief in a just world(GBJW) and subjective well-being of people in disaster sites and normal areas, and their correlates in Chinese indigenous background. The authors found that: 1) Comparing to normal areas, participants in disaster sites endorsed more GBJW and less negative affection, and there was interaction of region and gender. 2) Affective well-being (mainly positive affection) could predicted slightly GBJW in disaster sites, while it did not do in back-normal period and in normal areas. However, cognitive well-being (life satisfaction) could predicted GBJW in both conditions. In conclusion, the dialectical correlation of affective well-being, cognitive well-being and belief in a just world, implies the special model of affective expression and rational pursuit of Chinese who lives in the private relationship and much suffering world.
The effects of fear appeal message repetition on perceived threat, perceived efficacy, and behavioral intention in the extended parallel process model

Abstract This study examined the effect of moderately repeated exposure (three times) to a fear appeal message on the Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM) variables of threat, efficacy, and behavioral intentions for the recommended behaviors in the message, as well as the proportions of systematic and message-related thoughts generated after each message exposure. The results showed that after repeated exposure to a fear appeal message about preventing melanoma, perceived threat in terms of susceptibility and perceived efficacy in terms of response efficacy significantly increased. The behavioral intentions of all recommended behaviors did not change after repeated exposure to the message. However, after the second exposure the proportions of both systematic and all message-related thoughts (relative to total thoughts) significantly decreased while the proportion of heuristic thoughts significantly increased, and this pattern held after the third exposure. The findings demonstrated that the predictions in the EPPM are likely to be operative after three exposures to a persuasive message.
Text comprehension in multilingual children : mental representation and narrative text structure.

Investigations of children‘s narrative text structure are necessary because narrative abilities are linked to literacy development and academic achievement (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001). Information contained in a narrative may reflect a child‘s use of decontextualised, literate language features (Curenton & Justice, 2004). Moreover, storytelling may lead to higher-order thinking including causal reasoning because children not only recall events from text or film but also generate inferences therefrom. Investigations that consider children‘s narrative text structure are vital in multicultural and multi-linguistic societies ―in order to not only preserve cultural and linguistic diversity, but also to support students who find themselves in educational environments in which their cultural and linguistic practices are misaligned with the language(s) of teaching and learning‖ (Tappe & Hara, 2013, p. 299). This study set out to examine the effects of language and medium of presentation on the narrative text structure in the [re]tellings of multilingual children through the use of the Narrative Scoring Scheme (NSS) (Heilmann et al., 2010a, 2010b). This study also aimed to investigate whether the [re]tellings by children with Chichewa as their primary language (L1) and English as their language of teaching and learning conform to the NSS, in other words, whether their [re]tellings conform to canonical scoring schemas that are widely used as diagnostic tools to measure the narrative competence of children – irrespective of the children‘s primary language(s). The participants in this study numbered 127 children (64 female, 63 male) whose age range was 10 to 12 years (44 10-year-olds, 40 11-year-olds and 43 12-year-olds). The results have revealed that the two languages themselves (Chichewa and English) that were used in story production and the medium of the stimulus presentation do not have a significant influence on the frequency of realisation of the canonical narrative text structure elements (Heilmann et al., 2010a, 2010b) in the children‘s [re]tellings. The children obtained low mean scores for certain elements (i.e. elements 1 and 3) and high mean scores for other elements (i.e. elements 2 and 7) irrespective of the language or medium of presentation or the school type. Importantly, the results have demonstrated that the [re]tellings by children with a Southern African primary language (Chichewa) do not conform to the Narrative Scoring Scheme (that is, the canonical scoring schemas). The results reveal that the children seem to possess a story
Performance-driven technology mapping with MSG partition and selective gate duplication

Traditionally, technology mapping is done by first partitioning a circuit into a forest of trees. Each individual tree is then mapped using dynamic programming. The links among the mappings of different trees are provided via propagating the essential mapping information along multiple fanout branches. While this approach may achieve optimality within each tree, the overall result is compromised from the very first treatment of fanouts. In this article, we propose a new scheme that greatly improves technology mapping. Instead of a forest of trees, we partition the circuit into a set of maximal super-gates (MSGs). These are used to transform the original circuit into trees. We then apply the dynamic programming technique to the trees and allow duplication of gates in the mapping of each individual MSG. Experimental results on ISCAS'85 benchmarks show that our approach delivers an average of 20.6% reduction in delay with only a 9.5% increase on area.
Whisker primary afferents encode temporal frequency of moving gratings

To investigate the encoding of behaviorally relevant stimuli in the rodent whisker–somatosensory system, we recorded responses to moving gratings from trigeminal ganglion neurons. This allowed us to quantify how spike patterns in these neurons encode behaviorally distinguishable tactile stimuli presented with the variability inherent in a freely moving whisker paradigm. Our stimulus set consisted of three grating plates with raised bars of the same thickness (275 µm) having different spatial periods (1.0, 1.1, and 1.5 mm) swept rostro-caudally past the whiskers at velocities ranging from 50 to 330 mm/s. This resulted in 20 presentations each of nine different temporal frequencies (ranging from 50 to 220 Hz) for every grating plate. We found that despite the additional degrees of freedom introduced in this freely moving whisker paradigm, firing patterns from the majority (83%) of trigeminal ganglion neurons were statistically distinguishable, and corresponded to the temporal frequency of stimulation. The range of velocities (100–160 mm/s) that resulted in the most accurate and least variable representation of stimulus temporal frequency by trigeminal firing patterns closely corresponds to the whisking velocities employed by trained rats performing similar discrimination tasks. This suggests that, during naturally occurring whisking, individual primary afferents faithfully encode temporal frequency evoked by whisker contacts.
Changes in Sleep Predict Changes in Affect in Older Caregivers of Individuals with Alzheimer's Dementia: A Multilevel Model Approach.

OBJECTIVES Understanding predictors of older dementia caregivers' mood could provide insight into potential treatments which may delay institutionalization of their care recipient. Research with older noncaregivers has shown that nights characterized by better subjective sleep were associated with days characterized by higher positive and lower negative affect, and vice versa. Examining daily relationships is important, as sleep and affect are state-like behaviors that fluctuate within individuals, across time. This study was a preliminary examination of whether a sample with a greater proportion of older dementia caregivers exhibits similar daily sleep/affect associations. METHODS Sleep diaries, actigraphy, and affect data were collected concurrently for 7 days in 55 community-dwelling, dementia caregivers (M = 62.80 years, SD = 12.21; 77.8% female). Sleep and affect were examined within- (day-to-day level) and between-persons (mean level). RESULTS Findings for older noncaregivers were replicated for negative affect only. Specifically, nights characterized by better subjective sleep were characterized by lower negative affect, and vice versa. DISCUSSION Examining older caregivers' daily sleep/affect association is important, because caregiving-related awakenings are unavoidable, often unpredictable, and can impact mood. Future research is needed to examine whether regularization in awakenings and/or negative affect represent important secondary, or even target, treatment outcomes for this vulnerable population.
Characterization of Four Type IV Pilin Homologues in Stigmatella aurantiaca DSM17044 by Heterologous Expression in Myxococcus xanthus

As prokaryotic models for multicellular development, Stigmatella aurantiaca and Myxococcus xanthus share many similarities in terms of social behaviors, such as gliding motility. Our current understanding of myxobacterial grouped-cell motilities comes mainly from the research on M. xanthus, which shows that filamentous type IV pili (TFP), composed of type IV pilin (also called PilA protein) subunits, are the key apparatus for social motility (S-motility). However, little is known about the pilin protein in S . aurantiaca . We cloned and sequenced four genes (pilA Sa1~4) from S . aurantiaca DSM17044 that are homologous to pilA Mx (pilA gene in M. xanthus DK1622). The homology and similarities among PilASa proteins and other myxobacterial homologues were systematically analyzed. To determine their potential biological functions, the four pilA Sa genes were expressed in M. xanthus DK10410 (ΔpilA Mx), which did not restore S-motility on soft agar or EPS production to host cells. After further analysis of the motile behaviors in a methylcellulose solution, the M. xanthus strains were categorized into three types. YL6101, carrying pilA Sa1, and YL6104, carrying pilA Sa4, produced stable but unretractable surface pili; YL6102, carrying pilA Sa2, produced stable surface pili and exhibited reduced TFP-dependent motility in methylcellulose; YL6103, carrying pilA Sa3, produced unstable surface pili. Based on these findings, we propose that pilA Sa2 might be responsible for the type IV pilin production involved in group motility in S . aurantiaca DSM17044. After examining the developmental processes, it was suggested that the expression of PilASa4 protein might have positive effects on the fruiting body formation of M. xanthus DK10410 cells. Moreover, the formation of fruiting body in M. xanthus cells with stable exogenous TFPSa were compensated by mixing them with S . aurantiaca DSM17044 cells. Our results shed some light on the features and functions of type IV pilin homologues in S . aurantiaca .
A Patch-Based Approach for Removing Impulse or Mixed Gaussian-Impulse Noise

In this paper, we address the problem of the restoration of images which have been affected by impulse noise or by a mixture of Gaussian and impulse noise. We rely on a patch-based approach, which requires careful choices for both the distance between patches and for the statistical estimator of the original patch. Experiments are run in the case of pure impulse noise and in the case of a mixture. The method proves to be particularly powerful, especially for the restoration of textured regions, and compares favorably to recent restoration methods.
Comparison of Intravenous Buprenorphine and Methadone Self-Administration by Recently Detoxified Heroin-Dependent Individuals

Although buprenorphine is used worldwide as a safe and effective maintenance medication for opioid dependence, some countries have reported a growing incidence of abuse of this medication. Buprenorphine is considered to have lower abuse potential because of its partial agonist profile, but no studies have directly compared the reinforcing effects of buprenorphine with those of full μ opioid agonists in humans. The present double-blind, placebo-controlled inpatient study compared the reinforcing and subjective effects of intravenously administered buprenorphine (0.5, 2, and 8 mg) and methadone (5, 10, and 20 mg). Participants (n = 6) were detoxified from heroin during the first 1 to 2 weeks after admission. During subsequent weeks, participants received a sample drug dose and $20 on Monday, and they could self-administer either the sampled dose or $20 during one choice session per day on Thursday and Friday. Participants responded under a modified progressive ratio schedule during each choice session. All active doses maintained higher progressive ratio break points (largest completed ratio) than placebo. There were no significant differences in break point values between buprenorphine and methadone or among the different doses of drug. However, several subjective ratings, including “good drug effect”, “high”, and “liking” dose-dependently increased after administration of buprenorphine and methadone. The peak ratings for these effects did not significantly differ for the two drugs. These results demonstrate that under these experimental conditions, buprenorphine and methadone were equally effective in producing reinforcing and subjective effects.
Short-term international internship experiences for future teachers and other child development professionals

This paper examines outcomes associated with participation in short-term, international internship experiences. Results suggest short-term international internship experiences contribute to rich personal and professional development outcomes. Findings highlight participant challenges associated with initial internship experiences, professional growth in teaching skills and strategies, and personal growth in confidence, flexibility, and coping skills. Multicultural competencies and program-level learning goals were also supported through the international internship experience.
Fast S-domain modeling of rectangular waveguides with radially symmetric metal insets

This paper describes the application of the boundary integral-resonant-mode expansion (BI-RME) method to the modeling of rectangular waveguides with metal insets. It extends to more complicated radially symmetric insets, a method recently introduced by the authors, for the simple case of a cylindric post. In this extension, a self-consistent new theory is presented, which fully exploits the peculiarities of the considered class of structures, thus straightforwardly leading to the system equations. The efficiency of the BI-RME method, already demonstrated in the wide-band modeling of arbitrarily shaped waveguide components, is further enhanced in the particular application considered in this paper because the currents on the waveguide walls are not involved in the calculation. For this reason, the method-of-moments discretization of the field equations leads to a mathematical model of order much smaller than in the general BI-RME approach and in other boundary integral methods. Due to the state-space formulation of this model, a wide-band representation of the generalized admittance matrix of the structure is easily found in the form of a pole expansion in the S-domain by the calculation of a reasonably small number of eigensolutions of a matrix eigenvalue problem. The method is very fast and reliable, and permits the realization of a very efficient software, well suited for inclusion in computer-aided design tools for microwave circuit design. Some examples show the efficiency of the method, including the application to multiple and slanting insets and to the modeling of an evanescent-mode filter.