Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maintaining Intersubjectivity When Communication Is Challenging: Hearing Impairment and Complex Needs

This article aims to describe intersubjective processes in communication between children who have unequal prerequisites for communication—in this case, between a hearing-impaired child with complex needs and an unimpaired classmate. The article shows how the interactants inhabit different social identities throughout the situation and how these identities influence the (a)symmetry of the different collaboratively constructed communicative activities. I argue that the concept of intersubjectivity needs to be broadened in order to understand, and describe, the participants’ interaction patterns. Data are in Norwegian and in English translation.
Python-based geometry preparation and simulation visualization toolkits for STEPS

STEPS is a stochastic reaction-diffusion simulation engine that implements a spatial extension of Gillespie's Stochastic Simulation Algorithm (SSA) in complex tetrahedral geometries. An extensive Python-based interface is provided to STEPS so that it can interact with the large number of scientific packages in Python. However, a gap existed between the interfaces of these packages and the STEPS user interface, where supporting toolkits could reduce the amount of scripting required for research projects. This paper introduces two new supporting toolkits that support geometry preparation and visualization for STEPS simulations.
The Implicit Function as Squashing Time Model: A Novel Parallel Nonlinear EEG Analysis Technique Distinguishing Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease Subjects with High Degree of Accuracy

Objective. This paper presents the results obtained using a protocol based on special types of artificial neural networks (ANNs) assembled in a novel methodology able to compress the temporal sequence of electroencephalographic (EEG) data into spatial invariants for the automatic classification of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) subjects. With reference to the procedure reported in our previous study (2007), this protocol includes a new type of artificial organism, named TWIST. The working hypothesis was that compared to the results presented by the workgroup (2007); the new artificial organism TWIST could produce a better classification between AD and MCI. Material and methods. Resting eyes-closed EEG data were recorded in 180 AD patients and in 115 MCI subjects. The data inputs for the classification, instead of being the EEG data, were the weights of the connections within a nonlinear autoassociative ANN trained to generate the recorded data. The most relevant features were selected and coincidently the datasets were split in the two halves for the final binary classification (training and testing) performed by a supervised ANN. Results. The best results distinguishing between AD and MCI were equal to 94.10% and they are considerable better than the ones reported in our previous study (∼92%) (2007). Conclusion. The results confirm the working hypothesis that a correct automatic classification of MCI and AD subjects can be obtained by extracting spatial information content of the resting EEG voltage by ANNs and represent the basis for research aimed at integrating spatial and temporal information content of the EEG.
A perceptual two-pass VBR MPEG-2 video encoder

This paper presents a perceptual two-pass VBR MPEG-2 video encoder suitable for digital storage applications. The proposed algorithm aims to achieve perceptually uniform distortion among adjacent macroblocks within a frame and smoothen the inter-frame visual quality fluctuation as soon as possible. In the first-pass coding, we analyze the video sequence and collect some useful coding parameters to accurately measure the frame coding complexity. In the second-pass coding, the target bits are allocated to all frames optimally according to the coding complexity, certainly with decoder buffer considered. The human visual system characteristics including both the spatial and temporal masking effects are employed to improve the proposed adaptive quantization algorithm. Furthermore, an improved iteration based Qp selection algorithm is proposed to search for the optimal frame-level reference Qp resulting in satisfactory iteration speed and iteration precision. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve superior visual quality both objectively and subjectively compared with the reference algorithms.
Resource-Constrained Software Pipelining

This paper presents a software pipelining algorithm for the automatic extraction of fine-grain parallelism in general loops. The algorithm accounts for machine resource constraints in a way that smoothly integrates the management of resource constraints with software pipelining. Furthermore, generality in the software pipelining algorithm is not sacrificed to handle resource constraints, and scheduling choices are made with truly global information. Proofs of correctness and the results of experiments with an implementation are also presented.
Conceptual Design of a Nano-Networking Device

Nanotechnology is an emerging scientific area whose advances, among many others, have a positive direct impact on the miniaturization of electronics. This unique technology enables the possibility to design and build electronic components as well as complete devices (called nanomachines or nanodevices) at the nano scale. A nanodevice is expected to be an essential element able to operate in a nanonetwork, where a huge number of them would coordinate to acquire data, process the information gathered, and wirelessly transmit those data to end-points providing innovative services in many key scenarios, such as the human body or the environment. This paper is aimed at studying the feasibility of this type of device by carefully examining their main component parts, namely the nanoprocessor, nanomemory, nanoantenna, and nanogenerator. To this end, a thorough state-of-the-art review is conveyed to discuss, substantiate, and select the most suitable current technology (commercial or pre-commercial) for each component. Then, we further contribute by developing a complete conceptual nanodevice layout taking into consideration its ultra-small size (similar to a blood cell) and its very restricted capabilities (e.g., processing, memory storage, telecommunication, and energy management). The required resources as well as the power consumption are realistically estimated.
The Eukaryotic Promoter Database EPD: the impact of in silico primer extension

The Eukaryotic Promoter Database (EPD) is an annotated non-redundant collection of eukaryotic POL II promoters, experimentally defined by a transcription start site (TSS). There may be multiple promoter entries for a single gene. The underlying experimental evidence comes from journal articles and, starting from release 73, from 5' ESTs of full-length cDNA clones used for so-called in silico primer extension. Access to promoter sequences is provided by pointers to TSS positions in nucleotide sequence entries. The annotation part of an EPD entry includes a description of the type and source of the initiation site mapping data, links to other biological databases and bibliographic references. EPD is structured in a way that facilitates dynamic extraction of biologically meaningful promoter subsets for comparative sequence analysis. Web-based interfaces have been developed that enable the user to view EPD entries in different formats, to select and extract promoter sequences according to a variety of criteria and to navigate to related databases exploiting different cross-references. Tools for analysing sequence motifs around TSSs defined in EPD are provided by the signal search analysis server. EPD can be accessed at http://www.epd. isb-sib.ch.
Developing techniques for using software documents: a series of empirical studies

This proposal presents an empirical method for developing “reading techniques” that give effective, procedural guidance to software practitioners. Each reading technique is tailored so that it can be used to accomplish a specific software-related task (e.g. defect detection) using a specific kind of software document (e.g. requirements). This empirical method can be followed to create and then continually improve reading techniques, since it explicitly builds and tests underlying models of how developers use a particular software document in a particular environment. That is, our approach for developing reading techniques checks the underlying assumptions about: • Specific tasks for which the document will be used • Aspects of the document that must be understood to support those tasks • Aspects of the environment affecting tasks using the document This empirical approach avoids the mistake of applying assumptions that are true in other environments to a context in which they have not been tested. We illustrate the development method by discussing how it was used to create two reading techniques (one for finding defects in requirements, and a second for reusing design and code from an Object-Oriented framework in a new system). We describe a series of studies by which we and other researchers have assessed the effectiveness of these techniques in practical situations. These studies show that these reading techniques are useful and effective guidelines for accomplishing real software engineering tasks, and thus demonstrate the effectiveness of the empirical development method. Finally, this proposal discusses how indications from these studies have been used to begin to formulate higher-level hypotheses about reading techniques. We discuss the results from these earlier studies as well as important questions that have not yet been addressed. We propose a further study that is designed to test potential improvements to one of our reading techniques and, in the process, shed some light on the unanswered questions from our earlier studies.
An Overview of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Effects in Comprehension: The CI Perspective

The construction-integration model describes the interplay between top-down and bottom-up processes in comprehension: how top-down processes guide comprehension and how bottom-up processes constrain it. At every level of analysis-from basic linguistic processing to knowledge integration-both top-down and bottom-up processes jointly determine the nature of the mental representations formed in comprehension.
CPNA-1, a copine domain protein, is located at integrin adhesion sites and is required for myofilament stability in Caenorhabditis elegans

A new integrin-associated protein, CPNA-1, which is essential for embryonic muscle development, is characterized. CPNA-1 contains a C-terminal copine domain. PAT-6 (actopaxin, parvin) recruits CPNA-1, and CPNA-1 recruits M-line proteins, including UNC-89 (obscurin).
Structural Basis for Specific Recognition of Substrates by Sapovirus Protease

Sapovirus (SaV) protease catalyzes cleavage of the peptide bonds at six sites of a viral polyprotein for the viral replication and maturation. However, the mechanisms by which the protease recognizes the distinct sequences of the six cleavage sites remain poorly understood. Here we examined this issue by computational and experimental approaches. A structural modeling and docking study disclosed two small clefts on the SaV protease cavity that allow the stable and functional binding of substrates to the catalytic cavity via aromatic stacking and electrostatic interactions. An information entropy study and a site-directed mutagenesis study consistently suggested variability of the two clefts under functional constraints. Using this information, we identified three chemical compounds that had structural and spatial features resembling those of the substrate amino acid residues bound to the two clefts and that exhibited an inhibitory effect on SaV protease in vitro. These results suggest that the two clefts provide structural base points to realize the functional binding of various substrates.
Exploring Grandparent/Grandchildren Contact over Distance

This thesis explores contact between grandparents and grandchildren over distance. This was done by designing, implementing and deploying a technology probe to two families in Australia. deployment, I elicit and discuss themes communication between grandparents Subsequently the technology probe was deployed grandchildren in Denmark. Based on this deployment, the time zone differences. This was done discuss how technology can be designed for communication between grandparents and grandchildren living in different time zones. _______________________________________ important to consider when designing technology for and grandchildren living apart. to families having grandparents in Australia and I analysed how their communication based on existing theoretical terms on time and events René Godsk Vutborg Based on this
Aorta Remodeling Responses to Distinct Atherogenic Stimuli: Hyperten-sion, Hypercholesterolemia and Turbulent Flow/Low Wall Shear Stress

This review is based on recently published data from our laboratory. We investigated the role of hypertension and laminar flow, hypercholesterolemia and laminar flow and turbulent blood flow/low wall shear stress, and turbulent blood flow/low wall shear stress associated with hypercholesterolemia on aorta remodeling of rats feeding normal diet or hypercholesterolemic diet. Our findings suggest that increased circumferential wall tension due to hypertension plays a key role in the remodeling through biomechanical effects on oxidative stress and increased TGF-β expression; the remodeling observed in the presence of hypercholesterolemia could be initiated by oxidative stress that is involved in several processes of atherogenesis and this remodeling is more pronounced in the presence of turbulent blood flow/low wall shear stress.
Genetic alterations of RDINK4/ARF enhancer in human cancer cells

Recent identification of an enhancer element, RDINK4/ARF (RD), in the prominent INK4/ARF locus provides a novel mechanism to simultaneously regulate the transcription of p15INK4B (p15), p14ARF, and p16INK4A (p16) tumor suppressor genes. While genetic inactivation of p15, p14ARF, and p16 in human tumors has been extensively studied, little is known about genetic alterations of RD and its impact on p15, p14ARF, and p16 in human cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential existence of genetic alterations of RD in human cancer cells. DNAs extracted from 17 different cancer cell lines and 31 primary pheochromocytoma tumors were analyzed for deletion and mutation of RD using real‐time PCR and direct DNA sequencing. We found that RD was deleted in human cancer cell lines and pheochromocytoma tumors at frequencies of 41.2% (7/17) and 13.0% (4/31), respectively. While some of these RD deletion events occurred along with deletions of the entire INK4/ARF locus, other RD deletion events were independent of genetic alterations in p15, p14ARF, and p16. Furthermore, the status of RD was poorly associated with the expression of p15, p14ARF, and p16 in tested cancer cell lines and tumors. This study demonstrates for the first time that deletion of the RD enhancer is a prevalent event in human cancer cells. Its implication in carcinogenesis remains to be further explored. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A System Dynamics Model of the Chicken Meat Supply Chain faced with Bird Flu

System dynamics methodology is widely applied in modelling and analyzing supply chain behaviour under uncertain environment. However, there are only few applications in food supply chain in a context of sanitary crises. In this paper, we are accordingly interested in studying the behaviour of the entire chicken meat supply chain coping with sanitary crises effects. A model is proposed to study the SC behaviour dealing with the shortages in upstream supply capacity and downstream unpredictable consumer behaviour disturbed by the crisis as well. This model will be simulated and analyzed to investigate the behaviour of the chicken meat SC under bird flu crisis during the period from October 2005 to March 2006 in France. We then use a sensitivity analysis to study the supply chain stability under different environment uncertainties. Our model should be helpful to decision-makers for other fresh food supply chains when they are facing such crises.
Dimensioning and control of a thermally constrained double buffer plug-in HEV powertrain

This paper describes modeling steps to enable fast evaluation of performance and cost effectiveness of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The paper also shows how convex optimization can be used to dimension the vehicle powertrain while simultaneously controlling the energy buffer power. The method allows for optimal control of powertrain components that are subject to thermal constraints. The studied vehicle is a city bus driven along a perfectly known bus line. The bus is equipped with an engine-generator unit and an energy buffer consisting of an ultracapacitor and a battery. The engine generator unit and the energy buffer are modeled with quadratic power losses and are sized for two different charging scenarios. In the first scenario the bus can charge for a couple of seconds while standing still at bus stops, and in the second scenario the bus can charge for a couple of minutes before starting the route. In both scenarios, the ultracapacitor temperature is kept below a certain limit.
The association of GSTT1 deletion polymorphism with lung cancer risk among Chinese population: evidence based on a cumulative meta-analysis

Objective Previous studies investigating the relationship between glutathione S-transferase T1 (GSTT1) gene deletion polymorphism and lung cancer risk among Chinese population produced inconsistent results. To obtain a precise conclusion, we performed this meta-analysis to evaluate the association between GSTT1 deletion polymorphism and lung cancer risk among Chinese population. Methods The databases of Medline/PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Wanfang Med Online, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure were searched. The strength of the association was assessed by odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results Overall, we found an increased lung cancer risk among subjects carrying GSTT1 null genotype compared with those carrying present genotype (OR =1.31, 95% CI: 1.12–1.52) on the basis of 20 studies with 3,351 cases and 4,683 controls. We also observed an increased risk of lung cancer among subjects carrying GSTT1 null genotype compared with those carrying present genotype in stratified analyses (OR =1.31, 95% CI: 1.11–1.55 for healthy subjects-based control; OR =2.29, 95% CI: 1.84–2.85 for squamous cell carcinoma and OR =1.47, 95% CI: 1.22–1.77 for adenocarcinoma, respectively). Conclusion This meta-analysis suggested that GSTT1 deletion polymorphism might contribute to lung cancer risk among Chinese population.
The SMC X‐ray transient XTE J0111.2–7317: a Be/X‐ray binary in a supernova remnant?

ABSTRACT We report observations which conﬁrm the identity of the optical/IR counterpartto the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer transient source XTE J0111.2–7317. The coun-terpart is suggested to be a B0-B2 star (luminosity class III–V) showing an IR excessand strong Balmer emission lines. The distance derived from reddening and systemicvelocity measurements puts the source in the SMC. Unusually, the source exhibits anextended asymetric Hα structure.Key words: stars: emission-line, Be - star: binaries - infrared: stars - X-rays: stars -stars: pulsars 1 INTRODUCTIONThe Be/X-ray and supergiant binary systems represent theclass of massive X-ray binaries. A survey of the literaturereveals that of the 96 proposed massive X-ray binary pul-sar systems, 67% of the identiﬁed systems fall within theBe/X-ray group of binaries. The orbit of the Be star andthe compact object, presumably a neutron star, is generallywide and eccentric. The optical star exhibits Hα line emis-sion and continuum free-free emission (revealed as excessﬂux in the IR) from a disk of circumstellar gas. Most of theBe/X-ray sources are also very transient in the emission ofX-rays.Progress towards a better understanding of the physicsof these systems depends on a multi-wavelength programmeof observations. From observations of the Be star in the opti-cal and IR, the physical conditions under which the neutronstar is accreting matter can be determined. In combinationwith hard X-ray timing and ﬂux observations, this yields anear complete picture of the accretion process. It is thusvitalto identify the optical counterparts to these X-ray systemsin order to further our understanding.The X-ray transient XTE J0111.2–7371 was discov-ered by the RXTE X-ray observatory in November 1998(Chakrabarty et al. 1998a,b) as a 31s X-ray pulsar. Thisdetection was conﬁrmed by observations from the BATSEtelescope on the CGRO spacecraft which detected the sourcein the 20–50 keV band. The quick-look results provided by
Advancement in stimuli triggered in situ gelling delivery for local and systemic route

Introduction: Current research efforts focused on the design and evaluation of drug delivery systems that are easy to administer require decreased administration frequency, and provide sustained drug release in order to increase clinical efficacy and compliance of the patients. The gel forming smart polymeric formulations offer numerous applications resemble sustained and prolonged action in contrast to conventional drug delivery systems. Areas covered: Article summarizes type of bioactive, sol–gel triggering factors, dose, rationales, and polymers involved in gelation with respect to their route of administration. A lot of work has been done with smart polymeric gelling system taking the advantage of stimuli (temperature and pH) triggered sol–gel phase-transition in the administered area that have great prospective in biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, particularly in target-specific controlled drug delivery systems. Expert opinion: Although the principle of gelation is so attractive, key issues remain to be solved which include (i) variability of the drug release, (ii) avoidance of burst release in case of depot formulation, and (iii) issues related to toxicity. Unfortunately, till now area concerning the detailed processes of the gelling formation is still not much explored. Despite this proclamation, many efforts are made in industry and institutions to improve concerned approaches. New materials and approaches enter the preclinical and clinical phases and one can be sure that this strategy will gain further clinical importance within the next years. Thus, this review article will assuredly serve as an informative tool for the innovators working in the concern area.