Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stepping Stones over the Refactoring Rubicon – Lightweight Language Extensions to Easily Realise Refactorings

Refactoring tools allow the programmer to pretend they are working with a richer language where the behaviour of a program is automatically preserved during restructuring. In this paper we show that this metaphor of an extended language yields a very general and useful implementation technique for refactorings: a refactoring is implemented by embedding the source program into an extended language on which the refactoring operations are easier to perform, and then translating the refactored program back into the original language. Using the well-known Extract Method refactoring as an example, we show that this approach allows a very fine-grained decomposition of the overall refactoring into a series of micro-refactorings that can be understood, implemented, and tested independently. We thus can easily write implementations of complex refactorings that rival and even outperform industrial strength refactoring tools in terms of correctness, but are much shorter and easier to understand.
Biomarcadores séricos e prognóstico no acidente vascular cerebral

Background and Purpose: Stroke is an important cause of death worldwide, and the majority of stroke survivors suffer from some form of residual disability. This study aimed to investigate the association of blood biomarkers with stroke scales and their predictive value after acute stroke at the time of admission until hospital discharge. Design and Methods: We investigated 60 patients with acute stroke who were admitted within 24 h of event onset at the intensive care unit or neurovascular emergency unit of Clínicas Hospital. All patients provided venous blood samples for the measurement of neuron-specific enolase (NSE), S100ß protein (S100ß), interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) within 24 h of the acute event, on the third day and on the fifth day after the stroke. Neurological stroke severity and global disability were determined with the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at the same three times of blood collection and at the time of hospital discharge. Results: The serum levels of the S100ß protein, IL-6 and CRP seem to constitute the best panel of biomarkers after acute stroke in this study. When patients were subdivided into two groups according to the NIHSS (NIHSS ≤ 6 and NIHSS > 6) and mRS (mRS ≤ 3 and mRS > 3) scores, which were used as neurological outcome measures, both neurologic scores for good outcome (NIHSS ≤ 6 and mRS ≤ 3) at hospital discharge were significantly related to the S100ß protein and IL-6 levels at all of the measured time points. Among the analyzed blood markers, S100ß, IL-6 and PCR levels significanttly correlated with the stroke scales and prognostic value. Conclusion: Blood biomarkers may be useful in acute stroke either by suggesting stroke severity or providing a prognostic value. The addition of the S100ß protein, IL-6 and CRP to previously validated stroke scales slightly improves the ability of these scales to predict outcome.
Extracellular matrix modifications at fertilization: regulation of dityrosine crosslinking by transamidation

Fertilization is accompanied by the construction of an extracellular matrix that protects the new zygote. In sea urchins, this structure is built from glycoproteins residing at the egg surface and in secretory vesicles at the egg cortex. Four enzymatic activities are required for the transformation of these proteins into the mechanically and chemically resilient fertilization envelope: proteolysis, transamidation, NADPH-dependent oxidation and peroxidation. Here, we identify the Strongylocentrotus purpuratus enzymes responsible for the formation of ϵ(γ-glutamyl)lysine crosslinks (transamidation). We find that these two transglutaminases are activated by local acidification and act on specific substrates within the fertilization envelope (including ovoperoxidase, rendezvin and SFE9). Surprisingly, these enzymes also regulate dityrosine crosslinking both by direct conjugation of ovoperoxidase and by modulating hydrogen peroxide production. Together, these results emphasize how transglutaminases can coordinate the activities of other enzymes during extracellular matrix transmogrifications.
Can the swimming thrust of BCF biomimetics fish be enhanced?

In this paper, a robotic fish employing a carangiform swimming mode have been developed. The tail fin mechanism with a spring and a movable pin enables a smooth adjustable motion. Experiments conducted in the laboratory aim to study the variation of robotic fish's thrust and velocity with respect to various parameters, which includes the frequency, amplitude of oscillation, joint link, aspect ratio, free stream velocity and the spring effect. The testing also enables us to find out the relationship between various parameters and how to adjust the parameters in order to generate the maximum thrust. On the other hand, field trials have also been conducted to demonstrate the swimming capability of the robotic fish in real life situation.
Duet: an accurate leakage estimation and optimization tool for dual-Vt circuits

Presents a new approach for the estimation and optimization of standby power dissipation in large MOS digital circuits. We introduce a new approach for accurate and efficient calculation of the average standby or leakage current in large digital circuits by introducing the concepts of "dominant leakage states" and the use of state probabilities. Combined with graph reduction techniques and simplified nonlinear simulation, the method achieves speedups of three to four orders of magnitude over exhaustive SPICE simulations while maintaining very good accuracy. The leakage current calculation is then utilized in a new leakage and performance optimization algorithm for circuits using dual V/sub t/ processes. The approach is the first to consider the assignment of both the V/sub t/ and the width of a transistor, simultaneously. The optimization approach uses incremental calculation of leakage and performance sensitivities and can take into account a partially defined circuit state constraint for the standby mode of the device.
Generic windowing support for extensible stream processing systems

Stream processing applications process high volume, continuous feeds from live data sources, employ data‐in‐motion analytics to analyze these feeds, and produce near real‐time insights with low latency. One of the fundamental characteristics of such applications is the on‐the‐fly nature of the computation, which does not require access to disk resident data. Stream processing applications store the most recent history of streams in memory and use it to perform the necessary modeling and analysis tasks. This recent history is often managed using windows. All data stream management systems provide some form of windowing functionality. Windowing makes it possible to implement streaming versions of the traditionally blocking relational operators, such as streaming aggregations, joins, and sorts, as well as any other analytic operator that requires keeping the most recent tuples as state, such as time series analysis operators and signal processing operators.
LANE DETECTION AND TRACKING BASED ON LIDAR DATA

The contribution presents a novel approach to the dete ction and tracking of lanes based on lidar data. Therefore, we use the distance and reflectivity data coming from a one-dimensional sensor. After having detected the lane through a temporal fusion algorithm, we register the l idar data in a world-fixed coordinate system. To this end, we also incorporate the data coming from an inertial measurement unit and a differential global positioning system. After that stage, an original image of the roa d can be inferred. Based on this data view, we are able to track the lane either with a Kalman filter or by using a polynomial approximation for the underlying lane model.
6. Estonian emotional speech corpus

The Estonian Emotional Speech Corpus was created as an acoustic basis for synthesis of emotional speech. The present state of the Corpus enables an assessment of the choices made for its underlying theoretical model: whether it was justified to use non-acted speech and whether a difference has been established between the sentences where emotion is carried by voice only and those where sentence content may have influenced emotion identification.
Different Roles for Contracture and Calpain in Calcium Paradox-Induced Heart Injury

The Ca2+ paradox represents a good model to study Ca2+ overload injury in ischemic heart diseases. We and others have demonstrated that contracture and calpain are involved in the Ca2+ paradox-induced injury. This study aimed to elucidate their roles in this model. The Ca2+ paradox was elicited by perfusing isolated rat hearts with Ca2+-free KH media for 3 min or 5 min followed by 30 min of Ca2+ repletion. The LVDP was measured to reflect contractile function, and the LVEDP was measured to indicate contracture. TTC staining and the quantification of LDH release were used to define cell death. Calpain activity and troponin I release were measured after Ca2+ repletion. Ca2+ repletion of the once 3-min Ca2+ depleted hearts resulted in almost no viable tissues and the disappearance of contractile function. Compared to the effects of the calpain inhibitor MDL28170, KB-R7943, an inhibitor of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger, reduced the LVEDP level to a greater extent, which was well correlated with improved contractile function recovery and tissue survival. The depletion of Ca2+ for 5 min had the same effects on injury as the 3-min Ca2+ depletion, except that the LVEDP in the 5-min Ca2+ depletion group was lower than the level in the 3-min Ca2+ depletion group. KB-R7943 failed to reduce the level of LVEDP, with no improvement in the LVDP recovery in the hearts subjected to the 5-min Ca2+ depletion treatment; however, KB-R7943 preserved its protective effects in surviving tissue. Both KB-R7943 and MDL28170 attenuated the Ca2+ repletion-induced increase in calpain activity in 3 min or 5 min Ca2+ depleted hearts. However, only KB-R7943 reduced the release of troponin I from the Ca2+ paradoxic heart. These results provide evidence suggesting that contracture is the main cause for contractile dysfunction, while activation of calpain mediates cell death in the Ca2+ paradox.
Local recurrence involving the sternum and ribs following mastectomy and titanium mesh implants for chest wall reconstruction: A case report

Approximately 30% of breast carcinoma patients experience local recurrence, which is commonly considered the first sign of treatment failure. Local recurrence involving the deep chest wall may result in thoracic defects and influence normal cardiopulmonary function. Many studies have reported various techniques using different materials for chest wall reconstruction, and titanium mesh has recently received attention as a novel bone substitute. In the present case report, a 46-year-old female who had not yet entered menopause presented for routine follow-up. Her past history was significant for having had a left modified radical mastectomy followed by chemotherapy and tamoxifen treatment for an invasive ductal breast carcinoma. Examination results revealed an invasive ductal carcinoma invading the chest wall. The patient underwent surgical excision and received a titanium mesh implant for chest wall reconstruction. The patient chose to undergo local radiation therapy and endocrine treatment following surgery. Local recurrence of breast cancer involving the deep chest wall is relatively rare. According to the guidelines, surgical excision followed by radiotherapy is the standard treatment and chemotherapy is not recommended. In our case, a titanium mesh was successfully applied for chest wall reconstruction.
A Cube Based Model for RFID Coverage Problem in Three-Dimensional Space

In this paper, we consider the RFID reader coverage problem in three-dimensional space. We propose a cube-based model to describe both the reading region of readers and the area covered by reading regions. In our cube-based model, we place a reader into a large cube, which is equally cut into n small cubes. Then, we can use a mathematical three-dimensional matrix to model the reading region and covered area. Finally, we modify the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to maximize the coverage rate and minimize the overlap rate. Our simulation results show that the proposed model and algorithm are efficient for solving the RFID coverage problem in three-dimensional space.
Goodness-ofFit Tests with Right-Censored Discrete Data

A class of goodness-of-fit tests for right-censored discrete data is described. Finite and asymptotic properties of the test statistics are presented. Specific members of this class of tests are illustrated, and in particular, a class of tests for the null hypothesis that the discrete failure times are geometrically distributed is described. Under the geometric failure time setting, simulation studies indicate that an adaptive procedure based on a modified Schwarz Bayesian information criterion for choosing the smoothing order have excellent powers against a wide variety of alternatives, and thus could serve as an omnibus test.
Approximation Schemes for Independent Set and Sparse Subsets of Polygons

We present a (1+ε)-approximation algorithm with quasi-polynomial running time for computing a maximum weight independent set of polygons from a given set of polygons in the plane. Contrasting this, the best-known polynomial time algorithm for the problem has an approximation ratio of nε. Surprisingly, we can extend the algorithm to the problem of computing the maximum cardinality subset of the given set of polygons whose intersection graph fulfills some sparsity condition. For example, we show that one can approximate the maximum subset of polygons such that the intersection graph of the subset is planar or does not contain a cycle of length 4 (i.e., K2,2). Our algorithm relies on a recursive partitioning scheme, whose backbone is the existence of balanced cuts with small complexity that intersect polygons from the optimal solution of a small total weight. For the case of large axis-parallel rectangles, we provide a polynomial time (1 + ε)-approximation for the maximum weight independent set. Specifically, we consider the problem where each rectangle has one edge whose length is at least a constant fraction of the length of the corresponding edge of the bounding box of all the input elements. This is now the most general case for which a PTAS is known, and it requires a new and involved partitioning scheme, which should be of independent interest.
Tracking through singularities and discontinuities by random sampling

Some issues in markerless tracking of human body motion are addressed. Extended Kalman filters have commonly been applied to kinematic variables, to combine predictions consistent with plausible motion, with the incoming stream of visual measurements. Kalman filtering is applicable only when the underlying distribution is approximately Gaussian. Often this assumption proves remarkably robust. There are two pervasive circumstances under which the Gaussianity assumption can break down. The first is kinematic singularity and the second is at joint endstops. Failure of Kalman filtering under these circumstances is illustrated. The non-Gaussian nature of the distributions is demonstrated experimentally by means of Monte Carlo simulation. Random simulation (particle filtering or Condensation) proves to provide a robust alternative algorithm for tracking that can also deal with these difficult conditions.
The Impact of Student Support Services on Students Enrolled for National Certificate Vocational in Motheo District, Free State, South Africa

The Department of Higher Education and Training introduced the national certificate vocational (NCV) in Further Education and Training colleges in January 2007. The entry requirement for this qualification is Grade 9. However, this qualification has attracted students with grades between Grades 9 and 12. Students enrolling for the NCV qualification have the different educational background and different needs. Appropriate student support system to accommodate these diverse students is imperative for them to enhance opportunities afforded by the college. Once students are conscious of what the college does for them, it will operate effectively and at its maximum. The focus of the study is to explore the impact of student support services have on students enrolled for national certificate vocational in Motheo District, Free State Province, South Africa and their contribution to the academic success of students. Data was collected from a random sample of 120 students (85 females and 35 males). A mixed-method approach was used to collect data. Students who signed the agreement form to participate in the study were requested to respond to thirteen questions relating to the student support services. The Microsoft Excel 2010 was used in the analysis of data. The results lead to the conclusion that student support services, if coordinated effectively, could contribute immensely to students' academic achievement and bigger opportunities.
Tasks, cognitive agents, and KB-DSS in workflow and process management

The purpose of this paper is to propose a nonparametric interest rate term structure model and investigate its implications on term structure dynamics and prices of interest rate derivative securities. The nonparametric spot interest rate process is estimated from the observed short-term interest rates following a robust estimation procedure and the market price of interest rate risk is estimated as implied from the historical term structure data. That is, instead of imposing a priori restrictions on the model, data are allowed to speak for themselves, and at the same time the model retains a parsimonious structure and the computational tractability. The model is implemented using historical Canadian interest rate term structure data. The parametric models with closed form solutions for bond and bond option prices, namely the Vasicek (1977) and CIR (1985) models, are also estimated for comparison purpose. The empirical results not only provide strong evidence that the traditional spot interest rate models and market prices of interest rate risk are severely misspecified but also suggest that different model specifications have significant impact on term structure dynamics and prices of interest rate derivative securities.
Evaluating web-sources: Internet literacy and L2 academic writing

Using the World Wide Web (hereinafter the ‘Web’) has become an increasingly viable way to source information in academic writing. However, the Web is a fundamentally different type of resource from conventional sources such as books and journals. This paper argues that there is a need among learners for a heightened critical awareness of web-source nuances. Specifically, although the Web contains a much greater amount of information than conventional research sources, a great proportion of its sites harbour ideological agendas. It is suggested that L2 learners, in particular, may require both consciousness raising and practice in recognizing the biases that exist in websites. The paper concludes by describing a pilot study which produced some practical steps that teachers can take to introduce and enhance Internet literacy.
A ug 2 00 8 Loop series expansion with propagation diagrams

Abstract. The Bethe approximation is a successful method for approximating partition functions of probabilistic models associated with a graph. Recently, Chertkov and Chernyak derived an interesting formula called “Loop Series Expansion”, which is an expansion of the partition function. The main term of the series is the Bethe approximation while other terms are labelled by subgraphs called generalized loops. In this paper, we derive a loop series expansion of binary pairwise Markov random fields with “propagation diagrams”, which describe rules how “first messages” and “secondary messages” propagate. The advantage of our approach is that the loop series expansion formula is given in the form of a polynomial with coefficients positive integers. Using the propagation diagrams, we establish a new formula that shows a relation between the exact marginal probabilities and their Bethe approximations.
A reinforcement learning approach to lift generation in flapping MAVs: simulation results

Flapping micro aerial vehicles are interesting in applications where maneuverability is needed in confined spaces. Yet aerodynamics of insect flapping flight is not completely known and the research in this area lacks a suitable aerodynamic model that can be used for control purposes. Reinforcement learning approach is proposed which is inspired from "how" the learning is achieved in real insects in nature. The reinforcement learning controller has been simulated using a quasi-steady aerodynamic model and shown to converge to a flapping motion. The learning capacity and advantages of this approach are also discussed
High-Level Programming for Industrial Robotics: using Gestures, Speech and Force Control

—Today, most industrial robots are programmed using the typical teaching process. This paper presents a robotic system where the user can instruct and program a robot just showing what it should do, and with a high-level of abstraction from the robot language. This is done using the two most natural human interfaces (gestures and speech), a force control system and several code generation techniques. The performance of this system is compared with a similar system that instead of gestures uses a manual guidance system based on a force control strategy. Two different demonstrations with two different robots (MOTOMAN and ABB) are presented, showing that the developed systems can be customised for different users and robots.
Does Executive Portfolio Structure Affect Risk Management? CEO Risk-Taking Incentives and Corporate Derivatives Usage

This paper extends the investigation of the effect of managerial motives on hedging policy. I utilize a proxy variable that incorporates CEO incentives to increase risk relative to incentives to increase stock price. The variable is directly measured using observed characteristics of CEO portfolios of stock and option holdings. Furthermore, CEO risk-taking incentives are modeled as a choice variable to eliminate the simultaneity bias of modeling risk-taking incentives as an exogenous variable. If modeled as a simultaneous system of equations, a strong negative link between CEO risk-taking incentives and the amount of derivative holdings exists. This result is consistent with the notion that derivatives are used for hedging purposes. Both the characteristics of stock and option holdings are important in determining cross-sectional differences in corporate derivative holdings.
Automatic extraction of ingredient's substitutes

Expert advice on how ingredients can be replaced in recipes is widely available on-line. However, these are general substitution rules, which do not take into account contextual factors such as culture, sensory perception, season, etc. We aim at tuning general rules to particular recipes. From an on-line food encyclopedia we extract explicit substitution rules. We also consider implicit substitution rules, derived by the categorisations in the same source. By applying Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) onto a crawled dataset, we rank ingredients based on their likelihood of being interchangeable, given a recipe. The results show that our statistical approach can approximate manual judgments.