Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proposing an Extended iBeacon System for Indoor Route Guidance

This paper presents a concept of an extended iBeacon system for indoor navigation and guidance. iBeacon is a proximal wireless notification service proposed by Apple, Inc. This service uses beacon modules emitting radio waves based on Bluetooth Low Energy technology and provides automatic triggering of a single notification from a beacon module to multiple smartphones at proximity. In usual iBeacon systems, there is one-to-one correspondence between notification and beacon module. However, if we introduce a memory to remember the history of iBeacon detection, iBeacon systems can be extended to handle multiple notifications by multiple beacon modules with awareness of some contexts of pedestrians' moving directions, which enables a guide, for example, to the exit of buildings. We explain this idea for indoor route guidance using iBeacon and discuss its implementation with our simple experiment and performance evaluation.
Student and teacher oral language use in a two-way Spanish/English immersion school

This study examines the Spanish use of students and teachers at a US two-way immersion school. Students and teachers from Grades 1, 3, and 8 (5—6-year-olds, 7—8-years-olds, and 12—13-yearolds, respectively) were observed and interviewed, and students completed questionnaires to determine what factors influenced their language of choice and their divergence from Spanish when it was the language of instruction. Although students showed an overall preference for English, particularly in interactions with peers, findings indicate that students’ language background, culturally relevant teaching activities, teacher language use, and students’ sensitivity to others’ need for language accommodation influenced their use of Spanish with peers.
Flexible ID association-based tracking algorithm

For robust data association performance, tracking algorithms available in the literature utilize kinematic as well as non-kinematic information. These algorithms, however, do not provide a systematic way to utilize non-kinematic information to resolve severe and prolonged association ambiguities in the past. We propose a novel framework in which kinematic and non-kinematic information of potential targets are stored as different entities, respectively denoted as tracks and IDs. The dynamic association between tracks and IDs provides the mechanism for resolving past ambiguities and reporting any remaining ambiguity to the user. Simulation results are provided to show the effectiveness of the approach.
Structuring laser-scanned trees using 3D mathematical morphology

The task addressed in this paper is 3D modelling and reconstruction of (real world) trees on the basis of terrestrial laser scans. To identify the structure of a tree in terms of stem and branches, an algorithm has been designed in 3D voxel space, based on a selection of basic and advanced 2D raster (image) processing algorithms, transferred into the 3D domain. The selection includes filtering, mathematical morphology, skeletonization, connected component labeling and shortest route computation.
Rapid detection of toxigenic Clostridium difficile in fecal samples by magnetic immuno PCR assay

Rapid detection of toxigenic Clostridium difficile in fecal samples was accomplished with the magnetic immuno PCR assay (MIPA). Elaborate DNA extraction techniques were unnecessary. First, we generated a mouse monoclonal antibody (MAb) reactive with only C. difficile, Clostridium sordellii, and Clostridium bifermentans. Then, magnetic beads were coated with the MAb, incubated with fecal samples to allow binding with C. difficile, extracted from the stool with a magnet, and processed in the PCR with primers specific for the toxin B gene. After optimizing MIPA by raising the number of PCR cycles from 35 to 40 and adding Chelex 100 to the PCR mixture, we found a sensitivity of 96.7%, a specificity of 100%, a positive predictive value of 100%, and a negative predictive value of 94.1% when compared with the culture of cytotoxic C. difficile from fecal samples. MIPA is a rapid, easy, and sensitive PCR method for demonstrating the presence of toxigenic C. difficile in stool samples and avoids the disadvantage of elaborate extraction of DNA from fecal samples.
Testing with Functions as Specifications

In this paper we show that mathematical functions and logi- cal expressions can very well be used as, partial, specications. Reactive systems can be modelled by powerful extended state transition systems, that can be nondeterministic and can handle parameterized and in- nite types for the inputs, outputs and states. These specications can very concisely and directly be stated in a modern functional program- ming language. The test tool Gast is able to generate test data based on these specications, execute the associated tests, and make a verdict fully automatically. Test data can be generated fully automatically, but can also be tailored in various high level ways, if that is desired. Advantages of this approach are that one species properties instead of instances of these properties, test data are automatically derived instead of manually, the tests performed are always up to date with the current specication, and testing is automatic (and hence fast and accurate).
Ontogenetic changes in the comprehension and production of vervet monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops) vocalizations.

Factors underlying the development of the East African vervet monkeys' intergroup wrr vocalization were examined. Infants produced the intergroup wrr in appropriate social contexts between 10-18 months, but the acoustic morphology of this call differed significantly from those produced by adults. Auditory and social experience affected the age at which infants produced adult-like exemplars of the call, as well as the age at which they comprehended the call's meaning. Although the developmental time course for the production of intergroup wrrs is gradual, young infants (birth to 3 months) produce a wrr-like call in the context of distress which appears to be articulated in a more adult-like manner than older infants. It is hypothesized that maturational changes in vocal morphology, increasing motoric control and experience are important factors in the ontogeny of nonhuman primate vocal communication. A common view of nonhuman primate vocal development has been that calls appear fully formed at birth and that experience contributes little to the modification of call structure (e.g., Immelman, 1984). In contrast, research on avian vocal development has shown that the acquisition of speciesspecific songs is contingent on auditory exposure, social experience, and changes in vocal morphology (Kroodsma, 1982; Marler, 1984). Thus, avian vocalizations undergo a series of transformations from one form to another until the acoustic morphology of the signal stabilizes in adulthood. Such ontogenetic changes provide striking parallels with observations of child language acquisition (Gleitman, 1984; Wanner & Gleitman, 1982).
Revisiting the Epistemology of Fact-Checking

ABSTRACT Joseph E. Uscinski and Ryden W. Butler (2013) argue that fact-checking should be condemned to the dustbin of history because the methods fact-checkers use to select statements, consider evidence, and render judgment fail to stand up to the rigors of scientific inquiry and threaten to stifle political debate. However, the premises upon which they build their arguments are flawed. By sampling from multiple “fact-checking agencies” that do not practice fact-checking on a regular basis in a consistent manner, they perpetuate the selection effects they criticize and thus undermine their own position. Furthermore, not only do their arguments suffer from overgeneralization, they fail to offer empirical quantification to support some of their anecdotal criticisms. This rejoinder offers a study demonstrating a high level of consistency in fact-checking and argues that as long as unambiguous practices of deception continue, fact-checking has an important role to play in the United States and around the world.
Accumulation of Fermentable Sugars and Metabolic Acids in Food Particles that Become Entrapped on the Dentition

Earlier studies (Kashket et al., 1991) showed that particles of high-starch snack foods remained longer on the teeth than those of high-sucrose, low-starch foods. The question arose whether the prolonged presence of food particles enhances cariogenicity. A study was undertaken to measure sugars, starches, and metabolic acids in retained food particles. Subjects consumed portions of different foods, and particles were removed from all bicuspids and first molars at defined times after swallowing. Dry weights, sugars, and short-chain carboxylic acids were determined. High-sucrose foods were cleared rapidly from the teeth, while high-starch foods were retained for up to 20 min. Sucrose, glucose, and fructose persisted in the retained particles. Particles of high-starch foods accumulated maltose and maltotriose, presumably from the breakdown of starch by salivary amylase. At maximum, maltose plus maltotriose constituted 94% of total sugars in particles of potato chips; corresponding values in doughnuts, peanut butter cookies, and salted crackers were 43, 51, and 61%, respectively. Total fermentable sugars in the particles of high-starch foods were similar to those for the high-sucrose confectionery products. Carboxylic acids accumulated within the particles, presumably due to the fermentation of the sugars by entrapped salivary micro-organisms. At maximum (5 to 7 min), acetic, formic, lactic, and propionic acids rose 17-, 30-, 15-, and 1.3-fold, respectively, in dough-nuts, and to smaller degrees in potato chips, salted crackers, and chocolate-caramel-peanut bars. In summary, the study demonstrated the persistence of sugars, the progressive accumulation of starch breakdown products, and the fermentation of the accumulated sugars in retained food particles. The findings support the view that high-starch foods contribute to the development of caries lesions.
Optimal control solution for Pennes' equation using strongly continuous semigroup

A distributed optimal control problem on and inside a homogeneous skin tissue is solved subject to Pennes' equation with Dirichlet boundary condition at one end and Rubin condition at the other end. The point heating power induced by conducting heating probe inserted at the tumour site as an unknown control function at specific depth inside biological body is preassigned. Corresponding pseudo-port Hamiltonian system is proposed. Moreover, it is proved that bioheat transfer equation forms a contraction and dissipative system. Mild solution for bioheat transfer equation and its adjoint problem are proposed. Controllability and exponentially stability for the related system is proved. The optimal control problem is solved using strongly continuous semigroup solution and time discretization. Mathematical simulations for a thermal therapy in the presence of point heating power are presented to investigate efficiency of the proposed technique.
The contribution of homology arms to nuclease-assisted genome engineering

Abstract Designer nucleases like CRISPR/Cas9 enable fluent site-directed damage or small mutations in many genomes. Strategies for their use to achieve more complex tasks like regional exchanges for gene humanization or the establishment of conditional alleles are still emerging. To optimize Cas9-assisted targeting, we measured the relationship between targeting frequency and homology length in targeting constructs using a hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl-transferase assay in mouse embryonic stem cells. Targeting frequency with supercoiled plasmids improved steeply up to 2 kb total homology and continued to increase with even longer homology arms, thereby implying that Cas9-assisted targeting efficiencies can be improved using homology arms of 1 kb or greater. To humanize the Kmt2d gene, we built a hybrid mouse/human targeting construct in a bacterial artificial chromosome by recombineering. To simplify the possible outcomes, we employed a single Cas9 cleavage strategy and best achieved the intended 42 kb regional exchange with a targeting construct including a very long homology arm to recombine ∼42 kb away from the cleavage site. We recommend the use of long homology arm targeting constructs for accurate and efficient complex genome engineering, particularly when combined with the simplifying advantages of using just one Cas9 cleavage at the genome target site.
Cultural factors in young heterosexual men’s perception of HIV risk

This paper analyses why HIV risk perceptions vary in a sample of 19-year-old Glaswegian men. The main approaches to explain risk behaviour can be characterised as: individual cognition theories, cultural theories and phenomenology. To date there have been few empirical applications of cultural theory. This paper explores how far a cultural approach can explain the variability in HIV risk perceptions and behaviour, focusing on two key socio-cultural factors: current occupation and stage in partnership career. The analysis shows that young men’s perceptions of HIV risk are shaped in part by the cultural meanings associated with their lifestyles and friendship groups, which largely arise from their occupational paths, and in part by the meanings that come with a particular stage of their partnership career. Recognising the role of cultural factors in lay people’s response to a new health threat has broader implications for health promotion.
Multi-spectral Imaging of a van Gogh's Self-portrait at the National Gallery of Art Washington DC

Abstract Efforts to apply an end-to-end color reproduction system using multi-channel visible-spectrum imaging to a van Gogh self-portrait at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., have been under way at the Munsell Color Science Laboratory. The goal was to perform preliminary experiments by imaging a target consisting of pigments based on direct spectral measurements of the painting. These experiments are useful in preparing for future imaging that will result in hardcopy that will yield the least metameric matches to the original colors. The approach evaluated consisted of capturing scenes through a trichromatic digital camera combined with multiple filterings and six-color printing. The system was designed to estimate the original scene spectra on a pixel-by-pixel basis. The spectral-based printing used in this research was able to produce the least metameric reproduction to the original. Results show a system accuracy of mean ∆E* 94 of 5.0 and spectral reflectance rms error of 3.1%.
The Effect of Supplementing Textual Materials with Virtual World Experiences on Learning and Engagement

This study investigated whether participating in an educational experience in the virtual world called Second Life enhances college student learning of introductory topics in the physical and behavioral sciences. Our research hypotheses were that students who complete a learning module which includes a virtual world experience and a text-based presentation will learn more than students who complete the text-based presentation alone and that they will also find this learning experience more engaging. Ten undergraduate students participated in the study. Five learned about tsunamis, first through a Second Life experience and then through a handout. They learned about schizophrenia through a handout alone. The other five learned about schizophrenia, first through a Second-Life experience and then through the handout. These students learned about tsunamis through the handout alone. Upon completion of each tutorial, participants completed an exam and two surveys. When students completed both a Second Life experience and a handout on a topic, they achieved higher exam scores (p<0.005) and rated the learning experience more engaging (p<0.005) than when they completed the handout alone. Participant ratings of the ease-of-use of the learning modules that included a Second Life experience were slightly lower than those for the modules that involved only a handout, but this difference was not significant. These results suggest that experiences in virtual worlds are a useful instructional supplement to academic readings.
Aortic Remodeling After Transverse Aortic Constriction in Mice Is Attenuated With AT1 Receptor Blockade

Objective—Although hypertension is the most common risk factor for thoracic aortic diseases, it is not understood how increased pressures on the ascending aorta lead to aortic aneurysms. We investigated the role of angiotensin II type 1 receptor activation in ascending aortic remodeling in response to increased biomechanical forces using a transverse aortic constriction (TAC) mouse model. Approach and Results—Two weeks after TAC, the increased biomechanical pressures led to ascending aortic dilatation and thickening of the medial and adventitial layers of the aorta. There was significant adventitial hyperplasia and inflammatory responses in TAC ascending aortas were accompanied by increased adventitial collagen, elevated inflammatory and proliferative markers, and increased cell density attributable to accumulation of myofibroblasts and macrophages. Treatment with losartan significantly blocked TAC-induced vascular inflammation and macrophage accumulation. However, losartan only partially prevented TAC-induced adventitial hyperplasia, collagen accumulation, and ascending aortic dilatation. Increased Tgfb2 expression and phosphorylated-Smad2 staining in the medial layer of TAC ascending aortas were effectively blocked with losartan. In contrast, the increased Tgfb1 expression and adventitial phospho-Smad2 staining were only partially attenuated by losartan. In addition, losartan significantly blocked extracellular signal–regulated kinase activation and reactive oxygen species production in the TAC ascending aorta. Conclusions—Inhibition of the angiotensin II type 1 receptor using losartan significantly attenuated the vascular remodeling associated with TAC but did not completely block the increased transforming growth factor-&bgr;1 expression, adventitial Smad2 signaling, and collagen accumulation. These results help to delineate the aortic transforming growth factor-&bgr; signaling that is dependent and independent of the angiotensin II type 1 receptor after TAC.
Machine Learning for Text-Independent Speaker Verification

The aim of speaker recognition and verification is to identify people’s identity from the characteristics of their voices (voice biometrics). Traditionally this technology has been employed mostly for security or authentication purposes, identification of employees/customers and criminal investigations. During the last decade the increasing popularity of hands-free and voice-controlled systems and the massive growth of media content generated on the internet has increased the need for techniques to automatically and accurately analyse speech signals. Speaker recognition is thus becoming a fundamental block for the smart analysis of speech in video and audio content, along with other technologies like speech recognition and diarization. Examples of useful applications of these technologies are query-by-voice, automatic subtitling and automatic metadata generation for movies and television. In this thesis we evaluate different state-of-the-art techniques for text-independent speaker verification on a large database of read English speech (LibriSpeech ASR corpus). The different techniques are compared in terms of classification accuracy, scalability and robustness to noise. A classification approach based on discriminatively trained Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) is presented, showing superior classification performance to traditional generative models like Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs) and Ivectors. The core contribution of the thesis is a novel hybrid generative/discriminative method, using ANNs and a GMM-Universal Background Model (UBM) to obtain state-of-the-art speaker recognition results. The advantage of the new system is the possibility of using ANNs while maintaining complete scalability: an arbitrary number of new speakers can be added to the system without the need of retraining the speaker models. At the same time the system achieves very good performance, with only 0.23% Equal Error Rate (EER) in verification mode and 99.6% classification accuracy on a dataset of 2483 speakers, both male and female.
Pathological missense mutations of neural cell adhesion molecule L1 affect homophilic and heterophilic binding activities

Mutations in the gene for neural cell adhesion molecule L1 (L1CAM) result in a debilitating X‐linked congenital disorder of brain development. At the neuronal cell surface L1 may interact with a variety of different molecules including itself and two other CAMs of the immunoglobulin superfamily, axonin‐1 and F11. However, whether all of these interactions are relevant to normal or abnormal development has not been determined. Over one‐third of patient mutations are single amino acid changes distributed across 10 extracellular L1 domains. We have studied the effects of 12 missense mutations on binding to L1, axonin‐1 and F11 and shown for the first time that whereas many mutations affect all three interactions, others affect homophilic or heterophilic binding alone. Patient pathology is therefore due to different types of L1 malfunction. The nature and functional consequence of mutation is also reflected in the severity of the resultant phenotype with structural mutations likely to affect more than one binding activity and result in early mortality. Moreover, the data indicate that several extracellular domains of L1 are required for homophilic and heterophilic interactions.
Burst transmission and frame aggregation for inter-vehicle communications

In vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), due to highly mobile and frequently changing topology, available resources and transmission opportunities are restricted. Transmitting frames efficiently within transmission opportunities is very important for system performance. Generally, there are many transmissions between many senders and receivers in a congested environment, which leads to network congestion and reduces transmission efficiency. To address this, we propose a burst transmission and frame aggregation (FAB) scheme to enhance transmission opportunity (TXOP) efficiency of IEEE 802.11p. The proposed scheme considers aggregation and TXOP techniques. Such techniques are useful for improving transmission performance. FAB aggregates frames in the relay node and utilizes the TXOP to transmit these frames to the next hop with a burst transmission. FAB also select multiple relay nodes to improve the efficiency of data forwarding if data is large and can not be forwarded by the node with the largest weight value. This FAB scheme increases transmission efficiency within one TXOP while decreasing transmission overheads. FAB can also support traffics with multiple classes. The proposed strategy is evaluated using various metrics such as end-to-end delays, collision rates, and transmission overheads. Simulation results show that the proposed FAB scheme can significantly improve the performance of inter-vehicle communications.
An optimized soft shadow volume algorithm with real-time performance

In this paper, we present several optimizations to our previously presented soft shadow volume algorithm. Our optimizations include tighter wedges, heavily optimized pixel shader code for both rectangular and spherical light sources, a frame buffer blending technique to overcome the limitation of 8-bit frame buffers, and a simple culling algorithm. These together give real-time performance, and for simple models we get frame rates of over 150 fps. For more complex models 50 fps is normal. In addition to optimizations, two simple techniques for improving the visual quality are also presented.