Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Critical-path planning and scheduling

Among the major problems facing technical management today are those involving the coordination of many diverse activities toward a common goal. In a large engineering project, for example, almost all the engineering and craft skills are involved as well as the functions represented by research, development, design, procurement, construction, vendors, fabricators and the customer. Management must devise plans which will tell with as much accuracy as possible how the efforts of the people representing these functions should be directed toward the project's completion. In order to devise such plans and implement them, management must be able to collect pertinent information to accomplish the following tasks: (1) To form a basis for prediction and planning (2) To evaluate alternative plans for accomplishing the objective (3) To check progress against current plans and objectives, and (4) To form a basis for obtaining the facts so that decisions can be made and the job can be done.
Blind deconvolution of blurred image by iterative algorithm

We propose a blind deconvolution method based on the minimization of a cost function and the projection of an image onto the image space satisfying nonnegativity constraint and/or support constraint. These minimization and projection procedures are used iteratively in this method. The basic concept of this method and the constructed algorithm are shown in this paper. In computer simulation results, it is shown that the cost function decreased monotonically. This stable property was seen even when the support constraint was not used. However, this algorithm needs a lot of iterations for the convergence to the true image to be retrieved, and is sometimes suffered from the stagnation problem. A method to overcome this stagnation problem is also shown.
Sarcopenic Obesity and Cognitive Functioning: The Mediating Roles of Insulin Resistance and Inflammation?

This study examined the influence of insulin resistance and inflammation on the association between body composition and cognitive performance in older adults, aged 60–69 and aged 70 and older. Subjects included 1127 adults from NHANES 1999–2002. Body composition was categorized based on measurements of muscle mass and waist circumference as sarcopenic nonobese, nonsarcopenic obese, sarcopenic obese, and normal. Using OLS regression models, our findings suggest body composition is not associated with cognitive functioning in adults ages 60–69; however, for adults aged 70 and over, sarcopenia and obesity, either independently or concurrently, were associated with worse cognitive functioning relative to non-sarcopenic non-obese older adults. Furthermore, insulin resistance accounted for a significant proportion of the relationship between cognitive performance and obesity, with or without sarcopenia. Additionally, although high CRP was significantly associated with poorer cognitive functioning in adults ages 60–69, it did not influence the association between body composition and cognitive performance. This study provides evidence that age-related physiological maladaptations, such as metabolic deregulation, which are associated with abdominal fat, may simultaneously contribute to lower cognition and muscle mass, reflecting a degradation of multiple physiological systems.
Vertical phasing as a corporate real estate strategy and development option

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the potential value of significant vertical phasing – that is, the addition of five or more stories to an existing building – as a valuable real option in real estate development, in particular for corporate real estate strategy.Design/methodology/approach – The demonstration is done through in‐depth case studies of four major projects in North America: the 24 story, 880,000 square feet expansion of the Health Care Service Corporation building in Chicago; the Court Square Citicorp Campus in New York City; the Bentall Five project in Vancouver; and the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine building in Boston.Findings – Vertical expansion appears to have significant organizational and logistical advantages for corporate developers, such as the ability to keep staff in one building, and the elimination of the need to relocate with its resulting inconvenience and potential to lose employees. Further, the financial analysis indicates that the option to.
An Investigation of the Factors That Influence Preservice Teachers' Intentions and Actual Integration of Web 2.0 Technologies.

This mixed methods study investigated factors that influence pre-service teachers’ intentions to use Web 2.0 technologies in their future classrooms during teacher education course and their ability to carry out their intentions into actual behavior during student teaching experience. Findings revealed that pre-service teachers’ attitude and their perceived usefulness of Web 2.0 technologies are strong indicators of their intention to use Web 2.0 tools during teacher education course. One year later, participants indicated that they were able to transfer their intentions during student teaching experience. Use of Web 2.0 during student teaching was influenced by their perceived usefulness of Web 2.0 technologies, technology support, self-efficacy, and knowledge of various Web 2.0 tools. These results suggest that given the presence of facilitative factors, preservice teachers are able to transfer their intentions to use Web 2.0 technologies into actions to support student learning in their classrooms.
Burgomaster and Pedro - A Pervasive Multi-Player Game for Rural Tourism

Pervasive Games have the potential to add new qualities to otherwise possibly tedious or uninspiring areas and let users interact with their environment in novel and enjoyable ways. The spreading of wireless communication infrastructures and low cost programmable mobile devices equipped with positioning systems and cameras span a large and growing open playground for pervasive gaming applications. In this work we describe the game Burgomaster and Pedro, the result of an interdisciplinary project for the state Ministry of Environment to promote development and tourism of rural areas. It is a multiplayer game that requires its players to explore villages in order to find real and virtual objects, which have to be delivered to given destinations. It also allows to hide from or seek other players, since objects that are being delivered can be stolen by competitors. GPS positioning, wireless communication and visual marker recognition are the key technologies in this game that is designed for playful engagement with rural environments.
The Synaptic Architecture of AMPA Receptors at the Cone Pedicle of the Primate Retina

Cone pedicles, the output synapses of cone photoreceptors, transfer the light signal onto the dendrites of bipolar and horizontal cells. Cone pedicles contain between 20 and 45 ribbon synapses (triads) which are the release sites for glutamate, the cone transmitter. Several hundred postsynaptic dendrites contact individual cone pedicles, and we studied the glutamate receptors expressed and clustered at these contacts, particularly the AMPA receptor subunits. Using immunocytochemistry and confocal imaging we were able to resolve individual triads within the cone pedicles by light microscopy. We studied their differences in L/M- and S-cones, and we counted the number of triads per pedicle across the retina. The presynaptic matrix protein bassoon, the synapse-associated membrane protein P84, and peanut agglutinin were used to specifically label synaptic ribbons, invaginating dendrites of horizontal cells and invaginating dendrites of ON-cone bipolar cells, respectively. Pre- and post-embedding immunocytochemistry and electron microscopy were used to localize the AMPA receptor subunits at the cone pedicle base. They were aggregated at three different postsynaptic sites: at horizontal cell invaginating contacts, at bipolar cell flat contacts, and at desmosome-like junctions underneath the cone pedicles. We also performed double-labeling experiments with the triad-specific markers and the antibodies against the AMPA receptor subunits. AMPA receptors were preferentially expressed by horizontal cells, and to a lesser extent by OFF-cone bipolar cells. We did not observe any cone-selective expression of AMPA receptor subunits postsynaptic to L/M- or S-cones, suggesting AMPA receptors are not the key to understanding trichromatic signaling in the primate retina.
Distributed feature extraction

Time varying simulations are common in many scientific domains to study the evolution of phenomena or features. The data produced in these simulations is massive. Instead of just one dataset of 5123 or 10243 (for regular gridded simulations) there could now be hundreds to thousands of timesteps. For datasets with evolving features, feature analysis and visualization tools are crucial to help interpret all the information. For example, it is usually important to know how many regions are evolving, what are their lifetimes, do they merge with others, how does the volume/mass change, etc. Therefore, feature based approaches, such as feature tracking and feature quantification are needed to follow identified regions over time. In our previous work, we have developed a methodology for analyzing time-varying datasets which tracks 3D amorphous features as they evolve in time. However, the implementation is for single-processor non-adaptive grids and for massive multiresolution datasets this approach needs to be distributed and enhanced. In this paper, we describe extensions to our feature extraction and tracking methodology for distributed AMR simulations. Two different paradigms are described, a fully distributed and a partial- merge strategy. The benefits and implementations of both are discussed.
Noninvasive Detection of HER2 Amplification with Plasma DNA Digital PCR

Purpose: Digital PCR is a highly accurate method of determining DNA concentration. We adapted digital PCR to determine the presence of oncogenic amplification through noninvasive analysis of circulating free plasma DNA and exemplify this approach by developing a plasma DNA digital PCR assay for HER2 copy number. Experimental Design: The reference gene for copy number assessment was assessed experimentally and bioinformatically. Chromosome 17 pericentromeric probes were shown to be suboptimal, and EFTUD2 at chromosome position 17q21.31 was selected for analysis. Digital PCR assay parameters were determined on plasma samples from a development cohort of 65 patients and assessed in an independent validation cohort of plasma samples from 58 patients with metastatic breast cancer. The sequential probability ratio test was used to assign the plasma DNA digital PCR test as being HER2-positive or -negative in the validation cohort. Results: In the development cohort, the HER2:EFTUD2 plasma DNA copy number ratio had a receiver operator area under the curve (AUC) = 0.92 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.86–0.99, P = 0.0003]. In the independent validation cohort, 64% (7 of 11) of patients with HER2-amplified cancers were classified as plasma digital PCR HER2–positive and 94% (44 of 47) of patients with HER2-nonamplified cancers were classified as digital PCR HER2–negative, with a positive and negative predictive value of 70% and 92%, respectively. Conclusion: Analysis of plasma DNA with digital PCR has the potential to screen for the acquisition of HER2 amplification in metastatic breast cancer. This approach could potentially be adapted to the analysis of any locus amplified in cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 19(12); 3276–84. ©2013 AACR.
Risk Aversion and Determinants of Stock Market Behavior

A simple model of equity pricing is developed to address two related questions. First, to what extent can unanticipated changes in such"fundamental" variables as profitability, real interest rates, inflation, and the variance of returns account for the observed behavior of the stockmarket? Second, how risk averse are investors in the aggregate? We find that the pretax profit rate and the variance of returns are both significant explanators of the market, and interest rates somewhat less so. Estimates of the index of relative risk aversion are obtained that put that parameter in the range of 3 to 4.
A retroposon-based view on the temporal differentiation of sex chromosomes

Retroposon presence/absence patterns in orthologous genomic loci are known to be strong and almost homoplasy-free phylogenetic markers of common ancestry. This is evidenced by the comprehensive reconstruction of various species trees of vertebrate lineages in recent years, as well as the inference of the evolution of genes via retroposon-based gene trees of paralogous genes. Recently, it has been shown that retroposon markers are also suitable for the inference of differentiation events of gametologous genes, i.e., homologous genes on opposite sex chromosomes. This is because sex chromosomes evolved via stepwise cessation of recombination, making the presence or absence of a particular retroposon insertion among the two different gametologs in more or less closely related species a clear-cut indicator of the timing of differentiation events. Here, I examine the advantages and current limitations of this novel perspective for understanding avian sex chromosome evolution, compare the retroposon-based and sequence-based insights into gametolog differentiation and show that retroposons promise to be equally applicable to other sex chromosomal systems, such as the human X and Y chromosomes.
Review of Machine Learning Approaches for Biomass and Soil Moisture Retrievals from Remote Sensing Data

The enormous increase of remote sensing data from airborne and space-borne platforms, as well as ground measurements has directed the attention of scientists towards new and efficient retrieval methodologies. Of particular importance is the consideration of the large extent and the high dimensionality (spectral, temporal and spatial) of remote sensing data. Moreover, the launch of the Sentinel satellite family will increase the availability of data, especially in the temporal domain, at no cost to the users. To analyze these data and to extract relevant features, such as essential climate variables (ECV), specific methodologies need to be exploited. Among these, greater attention is devoted to machine learning methods due to their flexibility and the capability to process large number of inputs and to handle non-linear problems. The main objective of this paper is to provide a review of research that is being carried out to retrieve two critically important terrestrial biophysical quantities (vegetation biomass and soil moisture) from remote sensing data using machine learning methods.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL PROBE AND SURFACE RECONSTRUCTION FOR ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY USING A DECONVOLUTION ALGORITHM

Atomic force microscope (AFM) images often contain distortions caused by the convolution of the tip and sample surface. The offered numerical deconvolution, with the use of an inverted tip located at a constant height from the surface, noticeably differs from methods previously published and is essentially simple for a concrete practical realization. Nanometer-sized spheres were successfully used to extract the shape of the AFM square pyramidal tip by means of this algorithm. Once a deconvolution procedure was used with the reconstructed AFM tip shape, truer structures of the spherical 90 nm sized particles were obtained.
One Time Biometric Transform to secure biometric templates

Scalable Securing biometric information has become essential with growing biometric applications in different sectors of society. Vulnerability assessment plays a key role in improving the security of any security system by identifying the potential vulnerabilities and proposing countermeasures to mitigate the threats posed by them. In this work self-generated and dynamic helper data based system is proposed to encrypt the biometric templates. We name this methodology as ‘One Time Biometric Transform’ (OTBT). Biometric information is statistically learned and probabilistic matching is performed to discriminate genuine from imposters. The system was tested using CASIA iris database and by probabilistic matching an EER of 1.96% is achieved. Strength analysis of the system for three different challenging databases is also presented.
Kolmogorov Complexity and the Incompressibility Method

1. Introduction. What makes one object more complex than another? Kolmogorov complexity, or program-size complexity, provides one of many possible answers to this fundamental question. In this theory, whose foundations have been developed independently by R. the complexity of an object is defined as the length of its shortest effective description, which is the minimum number of symbols that must be specified such that the object can be reproduced from the specification by some abstract computing machine or formal system. The minimal length for an effective description of an object obviously depends on the exact method used for reproducing the object from the description. Since we want to measure the complexity of objects independently of any particular model of computation, we therefore define Kolmogorov complexity relative to a fixed (but unspecified) universal computable function. Then, using any model of computation, objects can be described at most a constant number of symbols shorter than their Kolmogorov complexity, where 'constant' refers to a value that depends on the method for reproducing the objects but not on the described objects themselves. We can ignore these additive constants because we are typically interested in asymptotic complexities rather than in numeric complexity values. The notion of Kolmogorov complexity yields a simple yet powerful proof technique, called the incompressibility method. The purpose of this paper is to explain the concepts on which this technique is based and, along the way, to provide a concise introduction to Kolmogorov complexity theory. The only prerequisite is a basic understanding of computable functions; the employed notation is summarized in a short paragraph after the main text. The definitions and theorems in this paper are more or less standard; if not stated otherwise, they have been taken (with some modifications) from the book by Li and Vitányi [9], which is a comprehensive reference on Kolmogorov complexity theory and it applications.
SaaS Application Framework Using Information Gateway Enabling Cloud Service with Data Confidentiality

Along with the rapid evolution of cloud computing, outsourcing service has also changed significantly. One of the main concerns for cloud computing is security. In particular, it becomes more important to handle client data securely in such a consulting service. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of Software as a Service (SaaS) application framework using Information Gateway that enables cloud service while maintaining data confidentiality. By setting up Information Gateway in the client environment, the executing location is dynamically controlled according to whether the data contains confidential information or not, and only secured data is routed to the SaaS application in the cloud. Therefore, if the data policy is registered by the client administrator beforehand, the user is able to use the cloud service appropriately without being aware of it. Moreover, we also describe that existing applications can be easily ported into the SaaS application because our framework allows application developers to define complicated routing logic briefly.
An Overview of "Electrooculography"

This paper brings out a new technology of placing electrodes on user's forehead around the eyes to record eye movements which is called as Electrooculography (EOG. This technology is based on the principle of recording the polarization potential or corneal-retinal potential (CRP), which is the resting potential between the cornea and the retina. This potential is commonly known as electrooculogram. is a very small electrical potential that can be detected using electrodes which is linearly proportional to eye displacement. EOG serves as a means of control for allowing the handicapped, especially those with only eye-motor coordination, to live more independent lives. This is a low cost assistive system for disabled people. The total command control based on EOG permits users to guide it with a enough degree of comfort ability.
The biopsychosocial effects of restless legs syndrome (RLS)

The symptoms of restless legs syndrome (RLS) are associated with reductions in patients’ quality of life (QoL) and mental heath. Sleep disturbance, which is often the most troublesome symptom of RLS, may have a negative impact on patients’ daytime cognitive abilities. Research has established a relationship between the symptoms of RLS and mood symptoms, but causality is unclear. Some studies have indicated that the symptoms of RLS precede those of depression or anxiety, and others relate the severity of mood symptoms to the severity of RLS symptoms. Associations between the sleep disturbance produced by RLS and patients’ mood symptoms have also been demonstrated. The impact of RLS symptoms and their treatment on QoL, mental health, and cognition are reviewed herein.
How to move your own applications into the cloud by exploiting interfaces automation and accessibility features

Cloud computing is regarded to as an impressive technology, as software and hardware resources become invisible to the users (they “fade” in the cloud), and they replaced by services. In this sense, cloud computing can be considered as an evolution of former virtualization approaches, with service providers delivering on-demand access to various back-end frameworks and front-end applications. This approach requires to strongly trust these providers, as users are forced to give up control on programs and data that were previously hosted on their machines. A possible way to alleviate this drawback could be to enable users “participate” to the cloud with their own applications, thus creating “personal” clouds, which could be even shared with other users. In this paper, we present a prototype implementation of the above idea, which consists of a framework that allows today's applications to be put into the cloud by exploiting user interface automation and accessibility information embedded in modern window-based graphics toolkits.
Pace-the-Scene Movie : A Scene Representation Method for Walkthrough in Natural Scenery

In this paper, we propose a new scene representation method called Pace-the-Scene Movie which reproduces a natural, wide scenery angle in 3D software using video sequences. The fundamental functions of our method are as follows: (1) The software selects and shows source frames sequentially , which keeps the natural motions recorded in the source sequence. (2) The selected frames are transformed according to the user's viewpoint, in order to make them consistent with the actual views. (3) When the user's viewpoint moves away from that of the selected frame, the software searches for a new frame that has a nearby viewpoint and changes the source frames (skipping the source sequence), in order to reduce the effects of parallax. Our method can replay natural motions in a scene such as the swaying of branches and allow the user to walk randomly such as changing step or stepping to the side. We have examined the distortion of the generated view, and obtained the skip condition. An extension of our method is also described which uses multiple source video sequence streams. Our method is simple and useful for constructing virtual environments.