Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Computer/Video Games as a Play Therapy Tool in Reducing Emotional Disturbances in Children

COMPUTER/VIDEO GAMES AS A PLAY THERAPY TOOL IN REDUCING EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCES IN CHILDREN Kevin Boyd Hull Center for Counseling and Family Studies Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia Doctor of Philosophy in Counseling The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of computer/video games as a play therapy tool for children suffering from an emotional disturbance of sadness (pervasive feelings of irritability, loss of enjoyment in activities previously enjoyed, withdrawal from friends or family, decline in school performance, and hopelessness). Children who suffer from emotional disturbances have problems functioning in school, in social and family settings, as well as transitioning into adulthood. Play therapy is an effective and creative way to work with children with emotional disturbances. Play becomes a way for the child to communicate and heal. Computer/video games are fun and inviting to children, and have been used in many different settings with children. To examine the effectiveness of computer/video games as a play therapy tool in treating emotional disturbances, a qualitative, collective case study design was used. Overall, the findings from the study supported the fact that children suffering from emotional
ARGONAUTE4 Control of Locus-Specific siRNA Accumulation and DNA and Histone Methylation

Proteins of the ARGONAUTE family are important in diverse posttranscriptional RNA-mediated gene-silencing systems as well as in transcriptional gene silencing in Drosophila and fission yeast and in programmed DNA elimination in Tetrahymena. We cloned ARGONAUTE4 (AGO4) from a screen for mutants that suppress silencing of the Arabidopsis SUPERMAN(SUP) gene. The ago4-1 mutant reactivated silentSUP alleles and decreased CpNpG and asymmetric DNA methylation as well as histone H3 lysine-9 methylation. In addition,ago4-1 blocked histone and DNA methylation and the accumulation of 25-nucleotide small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that correspond to the retroelement AtSN1. These results suggest that AGO4 and long siRNAs direct chromatin modifications, including histone methylation and non-CpG DNA methylation.
Transitions in histone acetylation reveal boundaries of three separately regulated neighboring loci

We have studied developmentally regulated patterns of histone acetylation at high resolution across ∼54 kb of DNA containing three independently regulated but neighboring genetic loci. These include a folate receptor gene, a 16 kb condensed chromatin region, the chicken β‐globin domain and an adjacent olfactory receptor gene. Within these regions the relative levels of acetylation appear to fall into three classes. The condensed chromatin region maintains the lowest acetylation at every developmental stage. Genes that are inactive show similarly low levels, but activation results in a dramatic increase in acetylation. The highest levels of acetylation are seen at regulatory sites upstream of the genes. These patterns imply the action of more than one class of acetylation. Notably, there is a very strong constitutive focus of hyperacetylation at the 5′ insulator element separating the globin locus from the folate receptor region, which suggests that this insulator element may harbor a high concentration of histone acetylases.
Distance Estimation for Radar Systems Using DS-UWB Signals

In this paper, we propose a distance estimation scheme for radar systems using direct sequence ultra wideband (DS-UWB) signals. The proposed distance estimation scheme averages out the noise by accumulating the correlator outputs of the radar, and thus, helps the radar to employ a short-length DS-UWB signal reducing the correlation processing time. Numerical results confirm that the proposed distance estimation scheme provides a better estimation performance and a reduced correlation processing time compared with those of the conventional DS-UWB radars. Keywords—Radar, DS-UWB, distance estimation, correlation accumulation.
Joint Hierarchical Nodes Based User Management (JoHNUM) Infrastructure for the Development of Scalable and Consistent Virtual Worlds

Virtual Environments (VEs) have recently gained a lot of attention from the Computing, Graphics, Business and Social communities due to a remarkable increase in their popularity. These communities are working together to make these environments more sociable and interesting while introducing novel applications. A number of technical infrastructures are currently hosting these environments, however, Client Multi Server (CMS) infrastructures are considered best for their flexibility. Scalability and consistency are basic issues in developing large scale Distributed Virtual Environments (DVEs) that require special attention. The existing mechanisms have major performance issues, and therefore, more sophisticated infrastructures are required to deal with dynamic requirements of the applications. In this paper, we propose a novel Joint Hierarchical Nodes based User Management (JoHNUM) infrastructure for the development of scalable and consistent virtual worlds. It is compared with the game middleware, Matrix, for evaluation purposes that has demonstrated better performance over the existing static mechanisms. Simulation results show that JoHNUM achieves lower levels Resource Management Tree (RMT) and increases user interactive experience. Moreover, it uses fewer resources and minimizes communication overhead, almost the same as Matrix.
Multi-focus image fusion by progressive pixel extraction

In recent years, there has been great progress in the field of multi-focus image fusion. However, existing methods still have their respective defects, and the quality of fused image needs to be improved further. In this paper, a novel fusion method by progressive pixel extraction is proposed. In accordance with the sums of all high-frequency coefficients in a series of windows, the method aims at extracting sharp pixels instead of merging transformed coefficients or extracting sub-blocks as used in other methods, and its extraction process is conducted with progressive strategy at continuously increased window size. As a result, artifacts and block effects are largely reduced in the fused image, and the contradiction between precisely extracting clear edges and extracting larger area is resolved. Practical experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is far superior to the comparable methods in terms of visual effect and objective evaluation.
The Advantages of 3D-Trees in Modeling Human Sentence Processing

A 3D-Tree is an efficient representation of a set of regular syntactic trees (2D-trees) that have the same tree skeleton but which may have different labels for the nodes. A node of a 3D-tree may have one or more sets of children as well as one or more parent nodes as long as the 2Dtrees represented have the same tree skeleton. A 3D-tree is therefore able to efficiently represent the type of ambiguous structures which never seem to cause the Human Sentence Processor (HSP) to garden path. The advantages of 3D-trees over other parallel structures and the computational properties of building, manipulating, and maintaining, 3D-trees are presented in this paper. In addition, when the number and accessibility of 3D-trees are limited by the memory architecture of a parser in order to model certain psycholinguistic phenomena, the parser has the desirable computational properties of linear space requirements for parsing any sentence, and linear time requirements for parsing non-garden path sentences.
Music perception in cochlear implant users and its relationship with psychophysical capabilities.

This article describes issues concerning music perception with cochlear implants, discusses why music perception is usually poor in cochlear implant users, reviews relevant data, and describes approaches for improving music perception with cochlear implants. Pitch discrimination ability ranges from the ability to hear a one-semitone difference to a two-octave difference. The ability to hear rhythm and tone duration is near normal in implantees. Timbre perception is usually poor, but about two-thirds of listeners can identify instruments in a closed set better than chance. Cochlear implant recipients typically have poor melody perception but are aided with rhythm and lyrics. Without rhythm or lyrics, only about one-third of implantees can identify common melodies in a closed set better than chance. Correlations have been found between music perception ability and speech understanding in noisy environments. Thus, improving music perception might also provide broader clinical benefit. A number of approaches have been proposed to improve music perception with implant users, including encoding fundamental frequency with modulation, "current-steering," MP3-like processing, and nerve "conditioning. " If successful, these approaches could improve the quality of life for implantees by improving communication and musical and environmental awareness.
Structure Detection from a 3D Set of Points with Anisotropic alpha-Shapes

We present a method to extract polyhedral structures from a three-dimensional set of points, even if these structures are embedded in a perturbed background. The method is based on a family of affine diagrams which is an extension of the Voronoi diagram. These diagrams, namely anisotropic diagrams, are defined by using a parameterized distance whose unit ball is an ellipsoidal one. The parameters, upon which this distance depends, control the elongation and the orientation of the associated ellipsoidal ball. The triangulations, dual to the anisotropic diagrams, have the property to connect points that are not neighbors in the Voronoi diagram. Based on these triangulations, we define a family of three-dimensional anisotropic α-shapes. Unlike Euclidean α-shapes, anisotropic ones allow us to detect linear and planar structures in a given direction. The detection of more general polyhedral structures is obtained by merging several anisotropic α-shapes computed for different orientations.
The business of research in art and design: Parallels between research centres and small businesses

This article provides a cross-case analysis of four art and design research centres operating within UK universities. Findings from autobiographical and semi-structured interviews with researchers, research managers, and research leaders indicate that they encounter similar issues in trying to establish internal legitimacy within the university alongside the need to gain external support and recognition. In dealing with these challenges, art and design research centres tend to pass through four broadly identifiable phases: (i) Origination (utilising credentials and leadership capacity), (ii) Establishment (securing resources and embedding dedicated systems and processes), (iii) Development (furthering profile, diversifying, and retaining autonomy), and (iv) Sustainability (enhancing research culture, networks, and influence). Many interesting parallels are evident with the way small businesses strive to establish themselves within competitive market environments. Lessons for research managers and directors are explored to consider such similarities in key areas of responsibility that cover leadership, managing people and processes, developing organisational capacity, and building external networks. The research suggests research centre directors must demonstrate many intrapreneurial qualities to overcome obstacles in the development of a successful research team and that university departments can make substantial organisational interventions to help them succeed.
A biomimetic compliance control of robot hand by considering structures of human finger

For an object grasped by a robot hand to work in the compliance control domain, we first analyze a necessary condition for successful stiffness modulation in the operational space. Next, we propose a compliance control method for robot hands which consist of two steps: the RIFDS (resolved inter-finger decoupling solver) decomposes the desired compliance characteristic specified in the operational space into the compliance characteristic in the fingertip space without inter-finger coupling; and the RIJDS (resolved inter-joint decoupling solver) decomposes the compliance characteristic in the fingertip space into the compliance characteristic in the joint space without inter-joint coupling. According to the analysis results, the finger structure should be biomimetic in the sense that either kinematic redundancy or force redundancy are required to implement the proposed compliance control scheme. Five-bar fingered robot hands are treated as illustrative examples to implement the proposed compliance control method. To show the effectiveness of the proposed compliance control method, simulations are performed for two-fingered and three-fingered robot hands.
Escaping the Academic Sandbox: Realizing VPR Circuits on Xilinx Devices

This paper presents a new, open-source method for FPGA CAD researchers to realize their techniques on real Xilinx devices. Specifically, we extend the Verilog-To-Routing (VTR) suite, which includes the VPR place-and-route CAD tool on which many FPGA innovations have been based, to generate working Xilinx bitstreams via the Xilinx Design Language (XDL). Currently, we can faithfully translate VPR's heterogeneous packing and placement results into an exact Xilinx `map' netlist, which is then routed by its `par' tool. We showcase the utility of this new method with two compelling applications targeting a 40nm Virtex-6 device: a fair comparison of the area, delay, and CAD runtime of academia's state-of-the-art VTR How with a commercial, closed-source equivalent, along with a CAD experiment evaluated using physical measurements of on-chip power consumption and die temperature, over time. This extended How - VTR-to-Bitstream - is released to the community with the hope that it can enhance existing research projects as well as unlock new ones.
Detectable Warning Surfaces at Curb Ramps

Tests of blind pedestrians’ need for detectable warning surfaces at curb ramps found that curb ramps were involved in half the cases in which there were barriers to successful crossings. In the absence of cues, some experienced travelers entered intersections at perpendicular curb ramps or were misdirected by diagonal curb ramps into parallel streets. Detectable warning surfaces provide a cue that alleviates the first problem but can exacerbate the second. Equally effective surfaces may be found that provide sufficient cues but are less expensive and easier to maintain.
Prior Vancomycin Use Is a Risk Factor for Reduced Vancomycin Susceptibility in Methicillin-Susceptible but Not Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia

Objective. Staphylococcus aureus is a cause of community- and healthcare-acquired infections and is associated with substantial morbidity, mortality, and costs. Vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) among S. aureus have increased, and reduced vancomycin susceptibility (RVS) may be associated with treatment failure. We aimed to identify clinical risk factors for RVS in S. aureus bacteremia. Design. Case-control. Setting. Academic tertiary care medical center and affiliated urban community hospital. Patients. Cases were patients with RVS S. aureus isolates (defined as vancomycin E-test MIC >1.0 μg/mL). Controls were patients with non-RVS S. aureus isolates. Results. Of 392 subjects, 134 (34.2%) had RVS. Fifty-eight of 202 patients (28.7%) with methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) isolates had RVS, and 76 of 190 patients (40.0%) with methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates had RVS (P = .02). In unadjusted analyses, prior vancomycin use was associated with RVS (odds ratio [OR], 2.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.00–4.32; P = .046). In stratified analyses, there was significant effect modification by methicillin susceptibility on the association between vancomycin use and RVS (P = .04). In multivariate analyses, after hospital of admission and prior levofloxacin use were controlled for, the association between vancomycin use and RVS was significant for patients with MSSA infection (adjusted OR, 4.02; 95% CI, 1.11–14.50) but not MRSA infection (adjusted OR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.36–2.13). Conclusions. A substantial proportion of patients with S. aureus bacteremia had RVS. The association between prior vancomycin use and RVS was significant for patients with MSSA infection but not MRSA infection, suggesting a complex relationship between the clinical and molecular epidemiology of RVS in S. aureus. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2012;33(2):160-166
Providing Government Information on the Internet: Experiences with THOMAS

The THOMAS system is designed to make legislative information available to the general public over the Internet, and can be regarded as a prototype of a government digital library. As a joint project between the Library of Congress and the University of Massachusetts, THOMAS provides significant opportunities for studying the retrieval and interface techniques that are needed to support effective access to complex information in an Internet-based environment. Preliminary experience with THOMAS indicates that there is significant interest in this type of information, and that queries tend to be shorter than those studied in retrieval evaluations such as TREC. Techniques such as query processing, query expansion, and morphological processing all need to be incorporated and improved.
Reflections on Phonological Bootstrapping: Its Role for Lexical and Syntactic Acquisition

“Phonological bootstrapping” is the hypothesis that a purely phonological analysis of the speech signal may allow infants to start acquiring the lexicon and syntax of their native language (Morgan & Demuth, 1996a). To assess this hypothesis, a first step is to estimate how much information is provided by a phonological analysis of the speech input conducted in the absence of any prior (language-specific) knowledge in other domains such as syntax or semantics. We first review existing work on how babies may start acquiring a lexicon by relying on distributional regularities, phonotactics, typical word shape and prosodic boundary cues. Taken together, these sources of information may enable babies to learn the sound pattern of a reasonable number of the words in their native language. We then focus on syntax acquisition and discuss how babies may set one of the major structural syntactic parameters, the head direction parameter, by listening to prominence within phonological phrases and before they possess .
Technological substitution processes-an evolutionary model

In the first part of this article, a short description of the most popular models of two competing technologies (the Fisher-Pry model and its modifications proposed by Blackman, Floyd, Sharif and Kabir) and the multi technological substitution models of Peterka and Marchetti-Naki üenoviü are presented. In the second section, we describe an evolutionary model of diffusion processes based on biological anal ogy, together with the met hod of its parameters’ identification using real data on technologies development. In the final sections the application of that model to describe the real diffusion process (namely, primary energy sources in the world energy consumption) is presented. The feasibility of using the model to predict future shares of given technologies and to build alternative scenarios of future evolution of structure of the market is suggested .
Sentiment analysis and opinion mining: on optimal parameters and performances

Sentiment analysis is the task of identifying the polarity and subjectivity of documents using a combination of machine learning, information retrieval, and natural language processing techniques. The problem is studied within the scope of statistical machine learning. Different feature selection methods, dimensionality reduction algorithms and classification techniques are investigated and compared. The main focus of this work is on finding the factors that affect the accuracy of learnt models. Extensive statistical analysis is performed to identify the best algorithmic configurations. Moreover, a novel approach is introduced based on long short‐term memory recurrent neural network language models that do not require any special preprocessing or feature selection. Finally, benchmark results are presented on seven well‐known datasets from different domains. WIREs Data Mining Knowl Discov 2015, 5:255–263. doi: 10.1002/widm.1159
Left atrial function examination of healthy individuals with 2D speckle-tracking imaging

The aim of the present study was to determine the left atrial (LA) function of healthy individuals of various ages by examining their LA strain and time-to-peak (TP) using 2D speckle-tracking imaging (2DSTI). In addition, the study investigated the potential value of STI in clinical applications. The 142 volunteers were divided into three age groups, namely, young adult, middle-aged and elderly. Images were obtained from examining the volunteers via echocardiography, 2D apical four-chamber, apical two-chamber and apical left ventricular longitudinal views. Following the examinations, an STI technique was applied to acquire the strain curves of the LA wall, which determined the strains and TPs. LA strains of the three age groups showed that the strain of the inferior segment was higher compared with that of the central segment, whereas the central segment was higher than that of the superior segment. The inferior segment of the strain of the elderly group decreased as age increased compared with the young adult and middle-aged groups. The central segment of the elderly group was lower than the young adult and middle-aged groups. As age increased, the TP of the inferior segment showed longer duration in the elderly group compared with the other two groups. The elderly and the middle-aged groups showed a longer central TP compared with the young adult group. No statistical significance was observed between the elderly and middle-aged groups. STI demonstrated objective and accurate examination results of the LA function, which provide a novel approach for the early monitoring of potential subclinical diseases in LA function.
THE BEHAVIOR OF THE TWISTED p-ADIC (h, q)-L-FUNCTIONS AT s = 0

Abstract. By using q-Volkenborn integral on Zp, we ([29], [30]) constructed new generating functions of the (h, q)-Bernoulli polynomials and numbers. By applying the Mellin transformation to the generating functions, we constructed integral representation of the twisted (h, q)-Hurwitz function and twisted (h, q)two-variable L-function. By using these functions, we construct twisted new (h, q)-partial zeta function which interpolates the twisted (h, q)-Bernoulli polynomials and generalized twisted (h, q)-Bernoulli numbers at negative integers. We give relation between twisted (h, q)-partial zeta functions and twisted (h, q)-twovariable L-function. We find the value of this function at s = 0. We also find residue of this function at s = 1. We construct p-adic twisted (h, q)-L-function, which interpolates the twisted (h, q)-Bernoulli polynomials: