Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Personal Inquiry: linking the cultures of home and school with technology mediated science inquiry

The Personal Inquiry (PI) project is investigating ways to help young people aged 11-14 to understand themselves and their world through a process of active scientific inquiry across formal and informal settings. The children use new methods of Scripted Inquiry Learning, implemented on ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs) and classroom technologies, to gather and assess evidence, conduct empirical research and engage in informed debate. Their activities are based around topic themes e.g. ‘myself’, which are in line with key elements of the new 21st century science curriculum (Millar & Osborne, 1998). This paper refers to the experiences of working with an inner city school in Nottingham where pupils were given a UMPC and a camera to use at home, for a period of three weeks. The educational aim was to help students pursue an inquiry into how healthy their diet is, with the students describing and photographing what they ate for a few days. This was supported through an ‘inquiry guide’ implemented on the UMPC that followed the structure of their relevant science lessons. Nine science lessons were structured around the following inquiry activities: find a focus, decide on the inquiry questions, plan the investigation, collect data on daily eating, import it on a special software, convert it into nutrients, compare their nutrients to a recommended nutrient intake, draw inferences, prepare a presentation, present it and finally reflect on it.
Sports wizard: sports video browsing based on semantic concepts and game structure

A convenient video browsing system for popular sports such as baseball, tennis and billiards is proposed in this work. A sports video is automatically segmented into video clips and annotated with semantic concepts in terms of event type. For sports with specific game structure, e.g. baseball and tennis, we further analyze the entire video of the match with the aid of caption information, webcast information, and the domain knowledge of the corresponding sport. Each segmented video clip with semantic annotation is then mapped to a certain part of the game structure. Finally, the proposed system, name as Sports Wizard, provides a favorable way for the user to browse sports videos based on semantic concepts or game structure.
Constraint-Based Haptic Rendering of Multirate Compliant Mechanisms

The paper is dedicated to haptic rendering of complex physics-based environment in the context of surgical simulation. A new unified formalism for modeling the mechanical interactions between medical devices and anatomical structures and for computing accurately the haptic force feedback is presented. The approach deals with the mechanical interactions using appropriate force and/or motion transmission models named compliant mechanisms. These mechanisms are formulated as a constraint-based problem that is solved in two separate threads running at different frequencies. The first thread processes the whole simulation including the soft-tissue deformations, whereas the second one only deals with computer haptics. This method builds a bridge between the so-called virtual mechanisms (that were proposed for haptic rendering of rigid bodies) and intermediate representations (used for rendering of complex simulations). With this approach, it is possible to describe the specific behavior of various medical devices while relying on a unified method for solving the mechanical interactions between deformable objects and haptic rendering. The technique is demonstrated in interactive simulation of flexible needle insertion through soft anatomical structures with force feedback.
On Debugging Rule Sets When Reasoning Under Uncertainty

Heuristic inference rules with a measure of strength less than certainty have an unusual property: better individual rules do not necessarily lead to a better overall rule set. All less-than-certain rules contribute evidence towards erroneous conclusions for some problem instances, and the distribution of these erroneous conclusions over the instances is not necessarily related to individual rule quality. This has important consequences for automatic machine learning of rules, since rule selection is usually based on measures of quality of individual rules. In this paper, we explain why the most obvious and intuitively reasonable solution to this problem, incremental modification and deletion of rules responsible for wrong conclusions a la Teiresias, is not always appropriate. In our experience, it usually fails to converge to an optimal set of rules. Given a set of heuristic rules, we explain why the the best rule set should be considered to be the element of the power set of rules that yields a global minimum error with respect to generating erroneous positive and negative conclusions. This selection process is modeled as a bipartite graph minimization problem and shown to be NP-complete. A solution method is described, the Antidote Algorithm, that performs a model-directed search of the rule space. On an example from medical diagnosis, the Antidote Algorithm significantly reduced the number of misdiagnoses when applied to a rule set generated from 104 training instances.
Applied Economics Workshop Business 33610 Autumn Quarter 2010 "can Cheap Credit Explain the Housing Boom?" Can Cheap Credit Explain the Housing Boom?

Between 1996 and 2006, real housing prices rose by 53 percent according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency price index. One explanation of this boom is that it was caused by easy credit in the form of low real interest rates, high loan-to-value levels and permissive mortgage approvals. We revisit the standard user cost model of housing prices and conclude that the predicted impact of interest rates on prices is much lower once the model is generalized to include mean-reverting interest rates, mobility, prepayment, elastic housing supply, and credit-constrained home buyers. The modest predicted impact of interest rates on prices is in line with empirical estimates, and it suggests that lower real rates can explain only one-fifth of the rise in prices from 1996 to 2006. We also find no convincing evidence that changes in approval rates or loan-to-value levels can explain the bulk of the changes in house prices, but definitive judgments on those mechanisms cannot be made without better corrections for the endogeneity of borrowers' decisions to apply for mortgages.
Evaluating Crowd Sourced Navigation for the Visually Impaired in a Virtual Environment

Crowdsourcing has been shown to be a powerful method for solving a variety of problems. In this paper, we introduce an approach for allowing a crowd to help navigate a visually impaired user to their destination in real-time. Furthermore, we experiment with several approaches in aggregating and feeding back crowd data to determine the optimal method. Our approach streams live video from the visually impaired user's mobile device to a crowd of sighted volunteers. Each crowd member is able to provide their opinion on how the user should proceed and our algorithm aggregates this into a single opinion that is sent as feedback to the user. In this paper, we first present the design and implementation of our crowd sourced navigation system, including webapp design and two aggregation algorithms: averaging and league leader approaches. A virtualized user (avatar) is also developed for more controlled and repeatable testing of aggregation approaches with multiple crowd sourced volunteers. We also tested two navigation modes: a real-user controlled avatar, and a program controlled avatar. Experimental results are provided with the two aggregation methods and the two navigation modes. Our results show that we do not have significant difference between the aggregation methods and the program controlled avatar performed better than a real-user controlled avatar.
A SIP delayed based mechanism for detecting VOIP flooding attacks

SIP is amongst the most popular Voice over IP signaling protocols. Its deployment in live scenarios showed its vulnerability to flooding attacks. In this paper, we present a SIP flooding attack detection mechanism that dynamically detects SIP flooding attacks and correlates in real time the temporal characteristics of SIP reliable mechanism and the number of received INVITE requests. Experimental results show that the proposed mechanism is able to detect SIP flooding rapidly and does not suffer from false alarms. When compared to other similar approaches in literature, the proposed approach outperformed the other approaches in terms of detections speed and accuracy.
Overview of biased light transport and light source minimization techniques

Light transport simulations are the key to physical correct rendering which allows photorealism by use of non-artistic but mathematically provable techniques. Several different state-of-the-art biased light transport algorithms are available and methods to improve efficiency and scalability are researched. Efficient global illumination algorithms for offline rendering are available both on CPU and GPU and real time solutions are also actively researched topics in the scientific community. Those algorithms often include techniques for temporal and spatial coherence, subsurface scattering and participating media. This state of the art report offers an introduction about bias and consistency to help understand the difference between widely used biased and unbiased rendering algorithms. Different photon mapping algorithms were used to render comparison images to visualize the strengths and weaknesses of the technique using the common torus scene which includes many difficult specular-diffuse-specular light paths. Several recent extensions and improvements for both many-light rendering as well as recent accomplishments in the field of photon mapping are presented. A brief overview over various lightcut algorithms for efficient light clustering along with a recently published automatic light minimization technique is also provided. This report provides a survey over recent publications in these topics as well as ideas for possible further research directions. CR Categories: I.3. 7 [Computer graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism—Ray tracing;
Multiple cues used in model-based human motion capture

Human motion capture has lately been the object of much attention due to commercial interests. A "touch-free" computer vision solution to the problem is desirable to avoid the intrusiveness of standard capture devices. The object to be monitored is known a priori which suggests the inclusion of a human model in the capture process. We use a model-based approach known as the analysis-by-synthesis approach. This approach is powerful but has a problem with its potential huge search space. Using multiple cues we reduce the search space by introducing constraints through the 3D locations of salient points and a silhouette of the subject. Both data types are relatively easy to derive and only require limited computational effort so the approach remains suitable for real-time applications. The approach is tested on 3D movements of a human arm and the results show that we successfully can estimate the pose of the arm using the reduced search space.
Shortening the NIH Stroke Scale for Use in the Prehospital Setting

Background and Purpose— Prehospital stroke scales should identify stroke patients and measure stroke severity. The goal of this study was to identify a subset of the 15 items in the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS-15) that measures stroke severity and predicts outcomes. Methods— Using 2 distinct data sets from acute stroke clinical trials, we derived and validated shortened versions of the NIHSS (sNIHSS). Stepwise logistic regression and bootstrap techniques were used in selection of NIHSS-15 items. Areas under the receiver operator characteristic curve (C statistics) were used to compare predictive performance of logistic models incorporating differing versions of the NIHSS. Results— The derivation analyses suggested the 8 NIHSS-15 items that were most predictive of “good outcome” 3 months after stroke, in order of decreasing importance: right leg item, left leg, gaze, visual fields, language, level of consciousness, facial palsy, and dysarthria. The sNIHSS-8 comprises all 8 and the sNIHSS-5, the first 5. In the validation models, C statistics were NIHSS-15=0.80, sNIHSS-8=0.77, and sNIHSS-5=0.76. Statistical comparisons suggested that the NIHSS-15 had better predictive performance than the sNIHSS-8 or the sNIHSS-5; the absolute difference in C statistics was small. There was no significant difference between the sNIHSS-8 and the sNIHSS-5. Conclusions— Much of the predictive performance of the full NIHSS-15 was retained with a shortened scale, the sNIHSS-5. Shortening the NIHSS-15 will facilitate its use during prehospital evaluations. The sNIHSS severity information may be useful to triage acute stroke patients in communities and to provide a baseline stroke severity for prehospital acute stroke trials.
Paper-digital meeting support and review

Paper notes are still widely used during meetings for the capture and review of information created in meetings. However, personal notes are limited in terms of providing an overview of collaborative work practices and reflecting the evolution of data along successive meeting phases, especially taking into account actions performed on paper and digital media. We propose a solution for the review of meeting data captured along three dimensions of collaboration: paper-digital interaction, private and shared documents as well as pre- and in- meeting information. Based on a general data model, our system enhances the transition between succeeding meeting phases and improves the review of personal and collaborative cross-media meeting material.
Evaluation of cardiac beta-adrenoreceptors in the isolated perfused rat heart using (S)-11C-CGP12388.

UNLABELLED (S)-(11)C-CGP12388 ((11)C-CGP12388) was recently developed as an in vivo PET tracer for the evaluation of cardiac beta-adrenergic receptors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the myocardial kinetics of (11)C-CGP12388 using the perfused rat heart model. METHODS Normal rat hearts were cannulated for retrograde perfusion according to the Langendorff method. Studies were performed using constant coronary flow rates of 12 mL/min (high flow: n = 6) and 6 mL/min (low flow: n = 6). Beta-adrenergic-blocking studies were also done using propranolol (blocking: n = 6). Two bolus injections of (11)C-CGP12388 were administered at a 25-min interval, and time-activity curves were measured using bismuth germanate detectors. The beta-adrenergic receptor density (B(max)) and total distribution volume (DV(tot)) were estimated using compartmental modeling. After the experiment, B(max) in vitro was measured for all hearts using (3)H-CGP12177, and the values were compared with the B(max) estimated in isolated hearts. RESULTS DV(tot) was significantly lower in the blocking group than in the high-flow group (P < 0.01), and there was no significant difference in DV(tot) between the high- and the low-flow groups. B(max) values estimated from (11)C-CGP12388 kinetics were 5.05 +/- 0.90 pmol/g under the high-flow model and 5.20 +/- 0.63 pmol/g under the low-flow model. The B(max) results in isolated hearts correlated significantly with the measured in vitro B(max) values (r(2) = 0.69; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION Beta-adrenoreceptor density in the isolated rat heart can be quantified using (11)C-CGP12388 and a 2-injection protocol. The binding of the tracer was flow independent, with low nonspecific binding. These results suggest that (11)C-CGP12388 is a promising PET tracer that may be applicable to human studies.
A PORTABLE SHORT VECTOR VERSION OF FFTW

This paper presents a portable short vector extension for the popular FFT library Fftw. Fftw is a freely available portable FFT software-library that achieves top performance across a large number of platforms. The newly developed extension enables the utilization of short vector extensions like Intel’s SSE and SSE 2 as well as Motorola’s AltiVec for any problem sizes. The method is independent of the machine’s vector length. Experimental results show good speed-up for arbitrary problem sizes and excellent speedup for problem sizes of powers of two and multiples of 16. The newly developed short vector version of Fftw compares favorably with the hand-tuned vendor library Intel MKL on IA-32 compatible machines (Intel Pentium III and 4, and AMD AthlonXP).
Adapting AIDA for Tweets

This paper presents our system for the “Making Sense of Microposts 2014 (#Microposts2014)” challenge. Our system is based on AIDA, an existing system that links entity mentions in natural language text to their corresponding canonical entities in a knowledge base (KB). AIDA collectively exploits the prominence of entities, contextual similarities, and coherence to effectively disambiguate entity mentions. The system was originally developed for clean and well-structured text (e. g. news articles). We adapt it for microposts, specifically tweets, with special focus on the named entity recognition and the entity candidate lookup.
The origin of the diffuse non-thermal X-ray and radio emission in the Ophiuchus cluster of galaxies

We present high resolution 240 and 607 MHz GMRT radio observations, complemented with 74 MHz archival VLA radio observations of the Ophiuchus cluster of galaxies, whose radio mini-halo has been recently detected at 1400 MHz. We also present archival Chandra and XMM-Newton data of the Ophiuchus cluster. Our observations do not show significant radio emission from the mini-halo, hence we present upper limits to the integrated, diffuse non-thermal radio emission of the core of the Ophiuchus cluster. The XMM-Newton observations can be well explained by a twotemperature thermal model with temperatures of ≃1.8 keV and ≃9.0 keV, respectively, which confirms previous results that suggest that the innermost central region of the Ophiuchus cluster is a cooling core. This result is consistent with the occurrence of a mini-halo, as expected to be found in hot clusters with cool cores. We also used the XMM-Newton data to set up an upper limit to the (non-thermal) X-ray emission from the cluster. We also emphasize that the non-thermal X-ray emission obtained with XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL cannot be produced by the putative AGN of the galaxy at the cluster center. The combination of available radio and X-ray data has strong implications for the currently proposed models of the spectral energy distribution (SED) from the Ophiuchus cluster. In particular, a synchrotron+IC model is in agreement with the currently available data, if the average magnetic field is in the range (0.02−0.3)� G. A pure WIMP annihilation scenario can in principle reproduce both radio and Xray emission, but at the expense of postulating very large boost factors from dark matter substructures, jointly with extremely low values of the average magnetic field. Finally, a scenario where synchrotron and inverse Compton emission arise from PeV electron-positron pairs (via interactions with the CMB), can be ruled out, as it predicts a non-thermal soft X-ray emission that largely exceeds the thermal Bremsstrahlung measured by INTEGRAL.
Oreopithecus was a bipedal ape after all: evidence from the iliac cancellous architecture.

Textural properties and functional morphology of the hip bone cancellous network of Oreopithecus bambolii, a 9- to 7-million-year-old Late Miocene hominoid from Italy, provide insights into the postural and locomotor behavior of this fossil ape. Digital image processing of calibrated hip bone radiographs reveals the occurrence of trabecular features, which, in humans and fossil hominids, are related to vertical support of the body weight, i.e., to bipedality.
Robust bipedal locomotion control based on model predictive control and divergent component of motion

In this paper, previous works on the Model Predictive Control (MPC) and the Divergent Component of Motion (DCM) for bipedal walking control are extended. To this end, we employ a single MPC which uses a combination of Center of Pressure (CoP) manipulation, step adjustment, and Centroidal Moment Pivot (CMP) modulation to design a robust walking controller. Furthermore, we exploit the concept of time-varying DCM to generalize our walking controller for walking in uneven surfaces. Using our scheme, a general and robust walking controller is designed which can be implemented on robots with different control authorities, for walking on various environments, e.g. uneven terrains or surfaces with a very limited feasible area for stepping. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is verified through simulations on different scenarios and comparison to the state of the art.
IC: Intelligent Clustering, a new time efficient datapartitioning methodology

A new, time efficient data partitioning methodology is presented. First, the input data set is mapped into a set of radius vectors, which is further sorted, then partitioned into initial clusters. However, that is not a guarantee that all objects have been partitioned in the appropriate clusters. Therefore, objects being inappropriately partitioned are moved from one cluster into another neighbouring cluster. Finally, clusters of radius vectors are formed. Applying reverse mapping, clusters of radius vectors are back-mapped into clusters of original objects, being appropriately partitioned.
Voie antérieure transversale dans l'ostéosynthèse d'une fracture type III du processus coronoïde chez un adolescent: à propos d'un cas et revue de literature

Les auteurs rapportent une observation rare d'un jeune adolescent de 17 ans qui a présenté une fracture du processus coronoïde du coude survenue suite à un accident de sport. Il s'agit d'une observation décrivant un abord particulier par voie antérieure transversale permettant un contrôle direct et vissage en compression du fragment déplacé; l’évolution radio clinique était satisfaisante. Nous discuterons à la lumière de la littérature, notre attitude thérapeutique, et l’évolution de ce cadre nosologique à travers l'analyse de cette observation.
RNA trafficking in parasitic plant systems

RNA trafficking in plants contributes to local and long-distance coordination of plant development and response to the environment. However, investigations of mobile RNA identity and function are hindered by the inherent difficulty of tracing a given molecule of RNA from its cell of origin to its destination. Several methods have been used to address this problem, but all are limited to some extent by constraints associated with accurately sampling phloem sap or detecting trafficked RNA. Certain parasitic plant species form symplastic connections to their hosts and thereby provide an additional system for studying RNA trafficking. The haustorial connections of Cuscuta and Phelipanche species are similar to graft junctions in that they are able to transmit mRNAs, viral RNAs, siRNAs, and proteins from the host plants to the parasite. In contrast to other graft systems, these parasites form connections with host species that span a wide phylogenetic range, such that a high degree of nucleotide sequence divergence may exist between host and parasites and allow confident identification of most host RNAs in the parasite system. The ability to identify host RNAs in parasites, and vice versa, will facilitate genomics approaches to understanding RNA trafficking. This review discusses the nature of host–parasite connections and the potential significance of host RNAs for the parasite. Additional research on host–parasite interactions is needed to interpret results of RNA trafficking studies, but parasitic plants may provide a fascinating new perspective on RNA trafficking.