Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Map, diagram, and web page navigation on mobile devices: the effectiveness of zoomable user interfaces with overviews

This paper presents a study comparing two Zoomable User Interfaces with Overviews (ZUIOs) against a classic Zoomable User Interface (ZUI) in the context of user navigation of large information spaces on mobile devices. The study aims at exploring (i) if an overview is worth the space it uses as an orientation tool during navigation of an information space and (ii) if part of the lost space can be recovered by switching to a wireframe visualization of the overview and dropping semantic information in it. The study takes into consideration search tasks on three types of information space, namely maps, diagrams, and web pages, that widely differ in structural complexity. Results suggest that overviews bring enough benefit to justify the used space if (i) they highlight relevant semantic information that users can exploit during search and (ii) the structure of the considered information space does not provide appropriate orientation cues.
On the blackman's association problem

Modern multitarget-multisensor tracking systems involve the development of reliable methods for the data association and the fusion of multiple sen- SOT infonnation, and more specifically the partioning of observations into tracks. This paper discusses and compares the application of Dempster-Shafer Theory (DST) and the Dezert-Smarandache Theory (DSmT) methods to the fusion of multiple sensor attributes for target identification purpose. We focus our attention on the paradozical Blackman's association problem and propose several approaches to outperfom Blackman's solution. We clarih some preconceived ideas about the use of degree of conflict between sources as potential criterion for partitioning evidences.
Pollination ecology and inbreeding depression control individual flowering phenologies and mixed mating

We analyze evolution of individual flowering phenologies by combining an ecological model of pollinator behavior with a genetic model of inbreeding depression for plant viability. The flowering phenology of a plant genotype determines its expected daily floral display which, together with pollinator behavior, governs the population rate of geitonogamous selfing (fertilization among flowers on the same plant). Pollinators select plant phenologies in two ways: they are more likely to visit plants displaying more flowers per day, and they influence geitonogamous selfing and consequent inbreeding depression via their abundance, foraging behavior, and pollen carry‐over among flowers on a plant. Our model predicts two types of equilibria at stable intermediate selfing rates for a wide range of pollinator behaviors and pollen transfer parameters. Edge equilibria occur at maximal or minimal selfing rates and are constrained by pollinators. Internal equilibria occur between edge equilibria and are determined by a trade‐off between pollinator attraction to large floral displays and avoidance of inbreeding depression due to selfing. We conclude that unavoidable geitonogamous selfing generated by pollinator behavior can contribute to the common occurrence of stable mixed mating in plants.
Dispersion of discontinuous periodic waves

The dynamic evolution of linearly dispersive waves on periodic domains with discontinuous initial profiles is shown to depend remarkedly upon the asymptotics of the dispersion relation at large wavenumbers. Asymptotically linear or sublinear dispersion relations produce slowly changing waves, while those with polynomial growth exhibit dispersive quantization, a.k. a. the Talbot effect, being (approximately) quantized at rational times, but a non-differentiable fractal at irrational times. Numerical experiments suggest that such effects persist into the nonlinear regime, for both integrable and non-integrable systems. Implications for the successful modelling of wave phenomena on bounded domains and numerical challenges are discussed.
A Real-Time Scene Understanding System for Airport Apron Monitoring

This paper presents a distributed multi-camera visual surveillance system for automatic scene interpretation of airport aprons. The system comprises two main modules Scene Tracking and Scene Understanding. The Scene Tracking module is responsible for detecting, tracking and classifying the objects on the apron. The Scene Understanding module performs high level interpretation of the apron activities by applying cognitive spatio-temporal reasoning. The performance of the complete system is demonstrated for a range of representative test scenarios.
Why are some representations (sometimes) more effective?

Graphical representations are used heavily in systems analysis and design without proper verification of their usability. However, different representations have varying impacts on the effectiveness of systems analysts. The objective of this study was to explore the effects of diagrammatic representations on task behavior and performance. A cognitive model of an analysis and design task using diagrams was proposed, from which hypotheses about the effects of diagrammatic representation on task behavior and performance were derived. A laboratory experiment was conducted to test the hypotheses. Results of the experiment show that the representational features of the diagrams induced subjects to adopt different problem solving strategies, which resulted in different task performances.
PARSESNP: a tool for the analysis of nucleotide polymorphisms

PARSESNP is a tool for the display and analysis of polymorphisms in genes. Using a reference DNA sequence, an exon/intron position model and a list of polymorphisms, it determines the effects of these polymorphisms on the expressed gene product, as well as the changes in restriction enzyme recognition sites. It shows the locations and effects of the polymorphisms in summary on a stylized graphic and in detail on a display of the protein sequence aligned with the DNA sequence. The addition of a homology model, in the form of an alignment of related protein sequences, allows for prediction of the severity of missense changes. PARSESNP is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.proweb. org/parsesnp/.
In Vivo Evaluation of Ethanolic Extract of Zingiber officinale Rhizomes for Its Protective Effect against Liver Cirrhosis

Zingiber officinale is a traditional medicine against various disorders including liver diseases.The aim of this study was to assess the hepatoprotective activity of the ethanolic extract of rhizomes of Z. officinale (ERZO) against thioacetamide-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Five groups of male Sprague Dawley have been used. In group 1 rats received intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of normal saline while groups 2–5 received thioacetamide (TAA, 200 mg/kg; i.p.) for induction of liver cirrhosis, thrice weekly for eight weeks. Group 3 received 50 mg/kg of silymarin. The rats in groups 4 and 5 received 250 and 500 mg/kg of ERZO (dissolved in 10% Tween), respectively. Hepatic damage was assessed grossly and microscopically for all of the groups. Results confirmed the induction of liver cirrhosis in group 2 whilst administration of silymarin or ERZO significantly reduced the impact of thioacetamide toxicity. These groups decreased fibrosis of the liver tissues. Immunohistochemistry assessment against proliferating cell nuclear antigen did not show remarkable proliferation in the ERZO-treated rats when compared with group 2. Moreover, factions of the ERZO extract were tested on Hep-G2 cells and showed antiproliferative activity (IC50 38–60 μg/mL). This study showed hepatoprotective effect of ERZO.
Factorized sparse learning models with interpretable high order feature interactions

Identifying interpretable discriminative high-order feature interactions given limited training data in high dimensions is challenging in both machine learning and data mining. In this paper, we propose a factorization based sparse learning framework termed FHIM for identifying high-order feature interactions in linear and logistic regression models, and study several optimization methods for solving them. Unlike previous sparse learning methods, our model FHIM recovers both the main effects and the interaction terms accurately without imposing tree-structured hierarchical constraints. Furthermore, we show that FHIM has oracle properties when extended to generalized linear regression models with pairwise interactions. Experiments on simulated data show that FHIM outperforms the state-of-the-art sparse lear-ning techniques. Further experiments on our experimentally generated data from patient blood samples using a novel SOMAmer (Slow Off-rate Modified Aptamer) technology show that, FHIM performs blood-based cancer diagnosis and bio-marker discovery for Renal Cell Carcinoma much better than other competing methods, and it identifies interpretable block-wise high-order gene interactions predictive of cancer stages of samples. A literature survey shows that the interactions identified by FHIM play important roles in cancer development.
The Arabidopsis Major Intrinsic Protein NIP5;1 Is Essential for Efficient Boron Uptake and Plant Development under Boron Limitation

Boron (B) is essential in plants but often present at low concentrations in the environment. To investigate how plants survive under conditions of B limitation, we conducted a transcriptome analysis and identified NIP5;1, a member of the major intrinsic protein family, as a gene upregulated in B-deficient roots of Arabidopsis thaliana. Promoter–β-glucuronidase fusions indicated that NIP5;1 is strongly upregulated in the root elongation zone and the root hair zone under B limitation, and green fluorescent protein–tagged NIP5;1 proteins localized to the plasma membrane. Expression in Xenopus laevis oocytes demonstrated that NIP5;1 facilitated the transport of boric acid in addition to water. Importantly, two T-DNA insertion lines of NIP5;1 displayed lower boric acid uptake into roots, lower biomass production, and increased sensitivity of root and shoot development to B deficiency. These results identify NIP5;1 as a major plasma membrane boric acid channel crucial for the B uptake required for plant growth and development under B limitation.
The Relationship Between Personality Traits (Extraversion And Neuroticism), Emotions and Customer Self-Satisfaction

In this study we enlarge in three ways the concept of customer satisfaction in the context of services which are characterized by a high extent of customer participation: first we consider that customer satisfaction in settings with high customer participation is strongly influenced by the customer’s satisfaction with the own performance (self-satisfaction); second we integrate affective antecedents that impact the formation of customer self-satisfaction. And third, the affective response to a consumption situation and the evaluation of the own performance are determinded by individual, personality-related predispositions of customers. The authors present the results of a study with participants of the Transalp Crossing, which is a mountain bike tour crossing the Alps on marked routes. This is a consumption situation where the co-production factor of participants is very high, i.e. customers use the facilities provided by the operator (maps, guides, etc.) but to a very high extent the performance of the service is determined by the customer himor herself (by biking).
Integration of VANET-WiMAX Networks

Along with the ongoing advances in dedicated shortrange communication and wireless technologies, inter vehicular communication and road–vehicle communication have become possible, giving birth to a new network-type called Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET). The key role that VANETs can play in the realization of Intelligent Transport Systems has attracted the attention of major car manufacturers. In wireless networking domain, diverse wireless technologies are utilized for sharing data and providing data services. Among the available technologies, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), are pre-dominantly used for wide-area wireless data and voice services. On the other hand, VANETs are used for short range, high-speed communication among nearby vehicles, and between vehicles and roadside infrastructure units. Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communication supports services such as car collision avoidance and road safety by exchanging warning messages across vehicles. Coupling the high data rates of IEEE 802.11p-based VANET and the wide coverage area of Wimax networks, envisions a VANET-WiMAX integrated network which is a better integration with QoS features. Simulations will be carried out using NCTUns to evaluate the performance metrics such as throughput and packet drop rates of the integrated network.
In Vivo Administration of a JAK3 Inhibitor to Chronically SIV Infected Rhesus Macaques Leads to NK Cell Depletion Associated with Transient Modest Increase in Viral Loads

Innate immune responses are reasoned to play an important role during both acute and chronic SIV infection and play a deterministic role during the acute stages on the rate of infection and disease progression. NK cells are an integral part of the innate immune system but their role in influencing the course of SIV infection has been a subject of debate. As a means to delineate the effect of NK cells on SIV infection, use was made of a Janus kinase 3 (JAK3) inhibitor that has previously been shown to be effective in the depletion of NK cells in vivo in nonhuman primates (NHP). Extensive safety and in vitro/in vivo PK studies were conducted and an optimal dose that depletes NK cells and NK cell function in vivo identified. Six chronically SIV infected rhesus macaques, 3 with undetectable/low plasma viral loads and 3 with high plasma viral loads were administered a daily oral dose of 10 mg/kg for 35 days. Data obtained showed that, at the dose tested, the major cell lineage affected both in the blood and the GI tissues were the NK cells. Such depletion appeared to be associated with a transient increase in plasma and GI tissue viral loads. Whereas the number of NK cells returned to baseline values in the blood, the GI tissues remained depleted of NK cells for a prolonged period of time. Recent findings show that the JAK3 inhibitor utilized in the studies reported herein has a broader activity than previously reported with dose dependent effects on both JAK2 and JAK1 suggests that it is likely that multiple pathways are affected with the administration of this drug that needs to be taken into account. The findings reported herein are the first studies on the use of a JAK3 inhibitor in lentivirus infected NHP.
Multiple description coding with edge-adaptive reconstruction

In this paper we present a framework for estimating corrupted coefficients in multiple description coding (MDC) of images. Descriptions are generated by partitioning the domain of wavelet coefficients into sets whose elements are maximally separated from each other. Consequently an edge-adaptive estimation algorithm is proposed to explore the local texture statistical characteristics for estimating the lost coefficients. The edge adaptation property of our algorithm significantly increases the intra-subband dependencies employed in reconstruction. Extensive experimental results show that impressive improvements on both objective and subjective measures can be achieved. Key-Words: Multiple description coding, error concealment, covariance method, domain partitioning based MDC, edge-adaptive algorithm, mutual information.
Moving-object Detection Based on Shadow Removal and Prospect Reconstruction

In the process of moving target detection, moving objects and their shadows are often extracted both. It leads to the failure of moving target positioning, segmentation, tracking and classification in the moving-object detection. Thus the shadow removal is an important task in the intelligent monitoring system. In the process of shadow removal, using color features to detect shadow is easy to cause that some parts of the prospect with the same color as the shadow may be mistakenly removed, so that have an impact on the connection and integrity of the prospect. In this paper, in order to obtain a complete prospect as well as remove shadow, we propose a moving target detection algorithm based on shadow removal and prospect reconstruction. Our algorithm can effectively restore the prospect which is mistakenly removed as shadow, and the experimental results confirm our algorithm.
Access point centric scheduling for dash streaming in multirate 802.11 wireless network

It is of great importance in a WiFi network to achieve a good user experience and fair allocation of the limited bandwidth resource. In this paper we propose the design of a cross-layer AP (Access Point) centric streaming scheduler for DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) in multirate 802.11 wireless networks. Residing at the AP, the scheduler achieves proportional fairness at the packet level by implementing weighted fair queuing. At the request level, the scheduler uses URL redirection to modify the client's request when necessary to reduce playback freezes and fluctuations. Extensive simulations in ns2 show that our scheduler improves the clients' playback experiences and achieves a fairer bandwidth allocation while fully utilizing the available bandwidth resource.
Design of high-speed serial links in CMOS

Demand for bandwidth in serial links has been increasing as the communications industry demand higher quantity and quality of information. Whereas traditional gigabit per second links has been in bipolar or GaAs, this research aims to push the use of CMOS process technology in such links. Intrinsic gate speed limitations are overcome by parallelizing the data. The on-chip frequency is maintained at a fraction (1/16) of the offchip data rate. Clocks with carefully controlled phases tapped from a local ring oscillator are driven to a bank of input samplers to convert the serial bit stream into parallel data. Similarly, the overlap of multiple-phased clocks are used to synchronize the multiplexing of the parallel data onto the transmission line. To perform clock/data recovery, data is further oversampled with finer phase separation and passed to digital logic. The digital logic operates upon the samples to detect transitions in the bit stream to track the bit boundaries. This tracking can operate at the cycle rate of the digital logic allowing robustness to systematic phase noise. The challenge lies in the capturing of the high frequency data stream and generating low jitter, accurately spaced clock edges. A test chip is built demonstrating the transmission and recovery of a 4.0-Gb/s bit streams with < 10-14 bit-error rate using a 3x oversampled system in a 0.5-μm MOSIS CMOS process.
Design and Implementation of the Earthquake Precursor Network Running Monitoring Software Based on C/S Structure

first, we introduce the design principles of the function of Tianjin earthquake precursor network running monitoring software; second, we have developed the software by using the precursor instrument communication technology, the distributed database read-write technology and data quality monitoring methods. The software regularly and automatically monitor network equipment status, data report situation, and abnormal data. It achieves the automatic detection and alarm function for the precursor instruments and observation data. The application of the software improves data quality and work efficiency.
Design of Fixed-Point Processing Based Turbo Codes Using Extrinsic Information Transfer Charts

The operand-width specifications in fixed-point hardware implementations of turbo code decoders is an important design issue, since this governs the trade-off between the decoder's performance and its complexity, cost, area and energy consumption. The investigation of this issue would be extremely time- consuming in the conventional approach, which relies upon Monte-Carlo simulation based Bit Error Ratio (BER) analysis. In this paper, we propose a generic design method, which uses EXtrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) chart analysis to simplify this design process. Our method is not only an order of magnitude faster than the conventional Monte-Carlo simulation based approach, but also offers deeper insights into why performance degradations are imposed by insufficient operandwidth specifications. The benefits of our generic method are demonstrated in the context of a turbo decoder, allowing accurate specifications to be obtained and compared to those suggested by previous works.
Marriage and childbirth as factors in dropping out from school: An analysis of DHS data from sub-Saharan Africa

Leaving school prematurely is often claimed to be among the most negative consequences of early marriage and pregnancy for girls in less developed countries. However, an analysis of the relative frequency with which these events actually occur or are named as reasons for leaving school reveals that, at least in the case of francophone Africa, they explain no more than 20 per cent of dropouts. To the extent that demographic events trump school or family factors as determinants of school-leaving, our data indicate that it is union formation—defined by the DHS as first marriage or cohabitation—rather than childbirth that is more likely to have this effect. ‘Schoolgirl pregnancy’ typically accounts for only between 5 and 10 per cent of girls’ departures from school. Furthermore, the risks of leaving school because of pregnancy or marriage have declined over time with the decline in rates of early marriage and childbearing.
Surface and photocatalytic properties of nanostructured ZnO thin films doped with iron

In this work, we investigate nanosized Fe-ZnO thin films, deposited on glass substrates by sol-gel method and dip-coating technique. The precursor sol is prepared by dissolving of Zn(CH 3 COO) 2 . 2H 2 O and Fe(NO 3 ) 3 . 9H 2 O in 2-methoxyethanol with addition of monoethanolamine as surfactant. The Fe content in the ZnO thin films is selected to be 0.25, 0.5 and 1 wt. %. Thin nanostructured films with two different coatings structures are prepared for the photocatalytic tests. The first one is formed by deposition of Fe-doped layer by 5 dip-coating cycles on standard microscopic glass slides. The second type of hierarchically structured films is deposited onto glass substrates by two – step procedure. The photocatalytic efficiency of the prepared films is tested using a textile dye, Reactive Black 5 (RB5) in aqueous solutions at different initial dye concentration, under UV or visible light irradiation. The dependence of photocatalytic activity on the (i) Fe content, (ii) presence or absence of ZnO sublayer under Fe doped layer, (iii) frequency of irradiation and (iv) initial concentration of dye are investigated. For explanation of the observed results a compre-hensive AFM investigation including fractal analysis of surface topography is performed. The relationship between the observed photocatalytic behavior of the film samples and the obtained by AFM surface features is discussed.
Draft Genome Sequence of Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobium Mesorhizobium amorphae, Isolated from Zinc-Lead Mine Tailings

ABSTRACT Here, we describe the draft genome sequence of Mesorhizobium amorphae strain CCNWGS0123, isolated from nodules of Robinia pseudoacacia growing on zinc-lead mine tailings. A large number of metal(loid) resistance genes, as well as genes reported to promote plant growth, were identified, presenting a great future potential for aiding phytoremediation in metal(loid)-contaminated soil.