Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How Age Affects Pointing With Mouse and Touchpad: A Comparison of Young, Adult, and Elderly Users

Effects of age on pointing performance have become increasingly important as computers have become extensively used by still larger parts of the population. This study empirically investigates young (12–14 years), adult (25–33 years), and elderly (61–69 years) participants' performance when pointing with mouse and touchpad. The goal is to provide an integrated analysis of (a) how these three age groups differ in pointing performance, (b) how these differences are affected by the two pointing devices, and (c) how the submovement structure of cursor trajectories may explain performance differences. Results show that adult participants perform better than both young and elderly participants in that adult participants make fewer errors than young participants and complete trials quicker than elderly participants. Moreover, young participants are quicker than elderly participants, who make neither more nor less errors than young and adult participants. All three age groups were slower and made more errors with the touchpad than the mouse, but the touchpad slowed down elderly participants more than young participants, who in turn were slowed down more than adult participants. Adult participants made more efficient submovements than elderly participants; young participants had an intermediate position in that they were similar to adult participants for some submovement measures and similar to elderly participants for others.
Metamaterial Based Antenna with Modified SRR Structure

In this paper we investigate the effect of integratin g a metamaterial structure with a patch antenna wit h random geometry. Metamaterial structure is obtained after modifying a conventional SRR structure as Qu ad Semisplitted Ring Resonator (QSRR). We perform a HFSS Si mulation of the QSRR structure. Further we present successfully extraction of parameter (permeability, permittivity and index) of structure on MATLAB using Direct Extraction approach to verify its Double negative gradient (DNG) property
Making Thinking Audible and Visible via Cooperative Learning.

Group activities are becoming increasingly common in education. However, groups of students can sit together and even produce a group product without cooperating at a high level. Cooperation can be enhanced when students share their thinking with each other by telling and showing each other what is going on in their minds as they go about a task. Cooperative learning principles and techniques can help teachers encourage such enhanced cooperation among students.
Optimization of UWB Array Antenna for Bio-Medical Applications Using Cuckoo Search Algorithm

A four-element microstrip antenna array is designed in which the array is made using Wilkinson power dividers and four identical patch antenna elements. The elements of the designed array are perfectly developed to get a constant gain and have a compact size against the frequency. Using the microstrip technology equipment a prototype can be build to enhance the directivity, return loss and also its return loss and radiation pattern. The antenna array that is put forth here comprises of two major parts which are the array of the antennas and also its power network. In many of the important applications like biomedical, communication and also radio frequency applications the power divider plays a crucial role. Power dividers also function as the power networks of the array of antennas. An equal division power divider is generally required to synthesize the radiation pattern. Here a very new design for a power splitter having the same square sector of four ports and also its application is also presented. Techniques like insertion and also insertion fitting techniques were employed to adjust or alter the phase and amplitude of the signals that are exiting each branch of the power divider. The impedances of the branches are adjusted according to the required power ratio by using the pairing techniques. Electromagnetic Solvers which are based on MOM used in the design process. The parameters using which the power divider is made up of is the dielectric constant Er=4.3,loss tangent of 0.02 and height of 1.6mm. Along with the design of the ultra wide band antenna is also designed. Finally some of the optimization techniques such as the fly flight algorithm, cuckoo search algorithm, spring cuckoo algorithm for reducing mutual coupling and improving antenna parameters such as return loss, gain pattern, directivity and radiation. The experimental measurements are made using the network vector analyzer. A good agreement was found between the measurements and the results of the simulation.
It ’ s All About the Process : Building Sensor-Driven Emotion Detectors with GIFT

Computational models of affect show considerable promise for enhancing the effectiveness of intelligent tutoring systems. Over the past decade, emotion detectors—which recognize learners’ emotional states at run-time using behavior logs and sensor data—have advanced substantially across a range of K-12 education settings. However, there are important open questions about how effectively these techniques generalize to different educational subjects and populations. In this paper, we describe ongoing work using GIFT to build generalized emotion detection models for a serious game on tactical combat casualty care. We describe a research study that was conducted with GIFT to collect a corpus of multi-channel affect and learning data, including affect sensor data (Microsoft Kinect, Q-Sensor), to machine learn run-time emotion detectors. We discuss the process of cleaning, filtering, integrating, distilling, analyzing, and modeling affect sensor data from GIFT, using Kinectderived posture data as an illustrative example. Afterward, we summarize lessons learned and recommendations for how GIFT can further support investigations of emotion detection models for intelligent tutoring systems.
Full model selection using Bat algorithm

Full Model Selection (FMS) selects the optimal amalgamation of pre-processing technique, feature subset and learning algorithm that obtains the least classification error for a given dataset. Meta-heuristic optimization algorithms are quite suitable for FMS, since it needs to explore and exploit a large solution space. This paper investigates the ability of an efficient meta-heuristic, named Bat algorithm for FMS. Traditional Bat algorithm has been modified and applied for FMS in gene expression analysis. Experiments are conducted on Gene Expression benchmark datasets that shows the suitability and effectiveness of the proposed approach in FMS.
Conservative water management in the widespread conifer genus Callitris

How plants manage their water use in seasonally dry environments is a major component of each individual species' ecology. We examined closely related species of a highly successful Australian conifer genus, Callitris, to determine whether species growing under contrasting climates showed adaptive specialization in the way they used water. Sampling 4 Callitris species growing across a large climatic range we found that each exhibited a similar strategy of linking growth very tightly with rainfall events, and surviving dry periods by resisting damage to their water transport system. This strategy is similar to the Junipers of the Northern Hemisphere, and requires a cavitation-resistant xylem.
Generic Cluster-Computing Algorithms and Applications

We define several generic cluster-computing algorithms, each of them encapsulating a general purpose control structure. By extending these generic algorithms with sequential code, we derive specific cluster-computing algorithms for diverse problems. We use a specification and prototyping language to test the validity of the derived parallel algorithms before finally converting them into efficient C code that runs in a cluster-computing environment, such as PVM. Our performance experiments demonstrate that highly generic cluster-computing algorithms can produce efficient cluster-computing applications.
Efficiency Evaluation of Postgraduate Education Resource Allocation Based on Overlapping Efficiency Model

The postgraduate education in China has been promoted by the increasing focus on the talent cultivation and education development. At this stage, however, the efficiency of postgraduate education resources allocation still lingers on a low level in China. In view of the problem, the traditional CCR model was improved and, together with data envelopment analysis (DEA) model and the Lingo software, used to perform regional and cluster analysis on the efficiency of postgraduate education resources allocation. The results show that: the eastern region is the leader in resource allocation efficiency, the overall situation in the central region is better than that in the western region, and the western region is narrowing the gap with the central and eastern regions. Moreover, all the provincial-level administrative regions (hereinafter referred to as provinces) in the Chinese mainland were allocated to five groups, and the province with the highest efficiency in each group was taken as the reference standard for the corresponding group, so that the other provinces in the group could learn from the relevant experience of the reference standard.
Traffic Light Cards: a Cross and Modification Between the Minute Paper and Muddiest Point

Abstract Muddiest point and minute paper have been popular techniques to obtain feedback from students. However, focusing on the muddiest point too often can be discouraging for both students and instructors; in minute paper, students may often have off-topic comments. Here a cross and modified technique, the ‘traffic light’ card is introduced, to overcome the drawbacks in muddiest point and minute paper. About 2 minutes before the end of lecture, students “traffic light” the given topics on a notecard, in which their understanding is high (green), partial (yellow), or low (red). The results are used by the instructors to give appropriate review in the next lecture and help students gain better understanding in the content.
Test Data Generation for C Programs with String-Handling Functions

There are many test generation methods, but few of them consider the character strings. This paper proposes a method to generate test data for C programs with character strings and character string function calls, which is based on path oriented testing. Each character variable is viewed as an integer variable with the restriction that the value should be between 0 and 255. A character string is viewed as an array of characters with a predefined fixed length. Many commonly used character library functions are modeled by formulae in predicate logic with assignment statements. The model is then used to replace the function call in the program path, which will be solved by a path analysis tool to generate the test data. A prototype tool called StrGen is developed to illustrate the feasibility of this method. The results of some examples also show that this method is feasible and very efficient.
Towards a flexible hybrid planner for machine coordination in arable farming

: In this paper we propose a new approach to coordinate multiple machines in the grain harvesting process, based on meta-constraint reasoning. This way we obtain more flexible plans that can be adapted at execution time. As an example scenario we focus on silage maize harvesting. We argue that more sophisticated flexible planning mechanisms are needed in order to obtain flexible plans that can be adapted at runtime to changing parameters such as yield per area.
Relational Adaptation in Buyer-Supplier Relationship Management: A Synthesis of Effects of Exchange Hazards, Relational Norms, and Legitimacy

Purpose - This paper aims to advance buyer-supplier relationship management research by integrating transaction cost economics, social exchange theory, and institutional theory. The specific purpose is to identify the determinants of relational adaptation in the service relationship. Design/methodology/approach - This study used a field survey to collect data. It used structural equation modeling for data analyses. It collected data from the population of supplier organizations of a focal firm, which is an international container port terminal operator. Findings - We find that that transaction specific investment, business uncertainty, trust, and social respect are positively related to a supplier's relational adaptation. Research limitations/implications - this research provides a synthesis of effects of exchange hazards, relational norms, and legitimacy to explain a supplier's adaptation behaviors. Practical implications - Our study has several managerial implications that are helpful for firms to elicit adaptation from their partner firms. First, specific investment can be useful to serve as an interfirm governance mechanism to attain relational adaptation. Second, the development of trust and social respect in customer relationship is important for firms to attain relational adaptation. Originality/value - The novelty of this paper lies in an integrative synthesis of transaction cost economics, social exchange theory, and institutional theory. Based on three different mechanisms, we provide a holistic explanation for relational adaptation behaviors in buy-supplier relationship.
Validity of the Saint George's Respiratory Questionnaire in the evaluation of the health-related quality of life in patients with interstitial lung disease secondary to systemic sclerosis.

OBJECTIVES Interstitial lung disease (ILD) profoundly affects the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). We tested the validity of the Saint George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), a lung-specific HRQoL-evaluation tool, in a population of SSc patients with ILD. METHODS Twenty-eight consecutive SSc patients with a restrictive pulmonary involvement, defined as a forced vital capacity <80% of the predicted, with no pulmonary hypertension were considered. All the patients filled in the Medical Research Council (MRC) scale for perceived breathlessness, the SGRQ and the Disability Index of the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ DI), and underwent evaluation with complete pulmonary function testing (PFT), 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). RESULTS The SGRQ 'activity' scores inversely correlated with the 6MWD (r = -0.86, P < 0.001) and forced vital capacity percentage of predicted values (r = -0.47) and directly correlated with HRCT (r = 0.41, P < 0.05), MRC (rho = 0.64, P < 0.001) or HAQ DI scores (r = 0.62, P < 0.001), independently of disease duration or subset. On the contrary, HAQ DI scores were influenced by those variables and corrected correlations with 6MWD (r = 0.56, P < 0.001) or HRCT scores (r = 0.36, P = NS) were less strong than those observed with the SGRQ. CONCLUSIONS The SGRQ, although not specifically designed for scleroderma, is a valid respiratory-specific questionnaire for the evaluation of HRQoL in patients with SSc-related ILD. The SGRQ performs better in relation to exercise capacity and lung imaging than other non-respiratory-specific questionnaires widely used in scleroderma studies. Further studies are needed to address its ability to assess changes over time or in response to therapy.
Identifying the most deprived in rural Ethiopia and Uganda: a simple measure of socio-economic deprivation

ABSTRACT The Extreme Deprivation Index uses easily verifiable answers to ten questions about the ownership of the most basic non-food wage goods – things that poor people in a variety of rural contexts want to have because they make a real difference to the quality of their lives. Using this Index, we define rural Ethiopians and Ugandans who lack access to a few basic consumer goods as ‘most deprived’: they are at risk of failing to achieve adequate education and nutrition; becoming pregnant as a teenager; remaining dependent on manual agricultural wage labour and failing to find to a decent job. As in other African countries, they have derived relatively little benefit from donor and government policies claiming to reduce poverty. They may continue to be ignored if the impact of policy on the bottom 10% can be obscured by fashionably complex indices of poverty. We emphasise the practical and political relevance of the simple un-weighted Deprivation Index: if interventions currently promoted by political leaders and aid officials can easily be shown to offer few or no benefits to the poorest rural people, then pressures to introduce new policies may intensify, or at least become less easy to ignore.
Phenyl 1,2,3-Triazole-Thymidine Ligands Stabilize G-Quadruplex DNA, Inhibit DNA Synthesis and Potentially Reduce Tumor Cell Proliferation over 3′-Azido Deoxythymidine

Triazoles are known for their non-toxicity, higher stability and therapeutic activity. Few nucleoside (L1, L2 and L3) and non-nucleoside 1,2,3-triazoles (L4–L14) were synthesised using click chemistry and they were screened for tumor cell cytotoxicity and proliferation. Among these triazole ligands studied, nucleoside ligands exhibited higher potential than non-nucleoside ligands. The nucleoside triazole analogues, 3′-Phenyl-1,2,3- triazole-thymidine (L2) and 3′-4-Chlorophenyl-1,2,3-triazole-thymidine (L3), demonstrated higher cytotoxicity in tumor cells than in normal cells. The IC50 value for L3 was lowest (50 µM) among the ligands studied. L3 terminated cell cycle at S, G2/M phases and enhanced sub-G1 populations, manifesting induction of apoptosis in tumor cells. Confocal studies indicated that nucleoside triazole ligands (L2/L3) cause higher DNA fragmentation than other ligands. Preclinical experiments with tumor-induced mice showed greater reduction in tumor size with L3. In vitro DNA synthesis reaction with L3 exhibited higher DNA synthesis inhibition with quadruplex forming DNA (QF DNA) than non quadruplex forming DNA (NQF DNA). Tm of quadruplex DNA increased in the presence of L3, indicating its ability to enhance stability of quadruplex DNA at elevated temperature and the results indicate that it had higher affinity towards quadruplex DNA than the other forms of DNA (like dsDNA and ssDNA). From western blot experiment, it was noticed that telomerase expression levels in the tissues of tumor-induced mice were found to be reduced on L3 treatment. Microcalorimetry results emphasise that two nucleoside triazole ligands (L2/L3) interact with quadruplex DNA with significantly higher affinity (Kd≈10−7 M). Interestingly the addition of an electronegative moiety to the phenyl group of L2 enhanced its anti-proliferative activity. Though IC50 values are not significantly low with L3, the studies on series of synthetic 1,2,3-triazole ligands are useful for improving and building potential pro-apoptotic ligands.
Extension of the multi-channel Wiener filter with ITD cues for noise reduction in binaural hearing aids

This paper presents a novel extension of the multi-channel Wiener filter (MWF) for noise reduction in binaural hearing aids, taking into account binaural localisation cues. By adding a term related to the interaural time difference (ITD) cue of the noise component to the cost function of the MWF, both the ITD cues of the speech and the noise component can be preserved, in addition to significantly improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the microphone signals
Towards a personal robot with language interface

The development of robots capable of accepting instructions in terms of familiar concepts to the user is still a challenge. For these robots to emerge it’s essential the development of natural language interfaces, since this is regarded as the only interface acceptable for a machine which expected to have a high level of interactivity with Man. Our group has been involved for several years in the development of a mobile intelligent robot, named Carl, designed having in mind such tasks as serving food in a reception or acting as a host in an organization. The approach that has been followed in the design of Carl is based on an explicit concern with the integration of the major dimensions of intelligence, namely Communication, Action, Reasoning and Learning. This paper focuses on the multi-modal human-robot language communication capabilities of Carl, since these have been significantly improved during the last year.
Genetically Identified Suppressed-by-Contrast Retinal Ganglion Cells Reliably Signal Self-Generated Visual Stimuli

Spike trains of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the sole source of visual information to the brain; and understanding how the ∼20 RGC types in mammalian retinae respond to diverse visual features and events is fundamental to understanding vision. Suppressed-by-contrast (SbC) RGCs stand apart from all other RGC types in that they reduce rather than increase firing rates in response to light increments (ON) and decrements (OFF). Here, we genetically identify and morphologically characterize SbC-RGCs in mice, and target them for patch-clamp recordings under two-photon guidance. We find that strong ON inhibition (glycine > GABA) outweighs weak ON excitation, and that inhibition (glycine > GABA) coincides with decreases in excitation at light OFF. These input patterns explain the suppressive spike responses of SbC-RGCs, which are observed in dim and bright light conditions. Inhibition to SbC-RGC is driven by rectified receptive field subunits, leading us to hypothesize that SbC-RGCs could signal pattern-independent changes in the retinal image. Indeed, we find that shifts of random textures matching saccade-like eye movements in mice elicit robust inhibitory inputs and suppress spiking of SbC-RGCs over a wide range of texture contrasts and spatial frequencies. Similarly, stimuli based on kinematic analyses of mouse blinking consistently suppress SbC-RGC spiking. Receiver operating characteristics show that SbC-RGCs are reliable indicators of self-generated visual stimuli that may contribute to central processing of blinks and saccades. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This study genetically identifies and morphologically characterizes suppressed-by-contrast retinal ganglion cells (SbC-RGCs) in mice. Targeted patch-clamp recordings from SbC-RGCs under two-photon guidance elucidate the synaptic mechanisms mediating spike suppression to contrast steps, and reveal that SbC-RGCs respond reliably to stimuli mimicking saccade-like eye movements and blinks. The similarity of responses to saccade-like eye movements and blinks suggests that SbC-RGCs may provide a unified signal for self-generated visual stimuli.
Consensus Based Fault Detection and Isolation for Systems of Systems

In this paper a new algorithm is proposed for distributed fault detection and isolation (FDI), applicable to systems of systems. The algorithm is composed of two stages. The first stage is proposed in the form of a consensus based network of interconnected optimal stochastic FDI observers connected to the constituent systems. At this stage residuals are generated, which provide high efficiency, scalability and robustness under general conditions concerning locally available models and the topology of the overall system. The second stage is aimed at fault detection based on the generated residuals. A new distributed detection algorithm based on consensus is proposed, enabling overall decision at the constituent system level, without fusion center. Simulation results illustrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.