Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of individual XP practices on software development effort

Traditional heavyweight software development methodologies are rigid, heavily documentation oriented and process oriented. In the present E-Business dominated environment, the above methodologies are hard to follow. In response to this, a new generation of lightweight methodologies such as Extreme Programming (XP) has evolved which has only a few simple rules to adopt, and insist on less documentation. XP proposes four values, a development process and twelve practices. One of the significant benefits among those claimed by the inventors of XP is the reduction of effort in the software development. However, the extent of fulfillment of this claim remains unanswered by empirical and quantitative evidences. Hence, the effects of XP on software development effort are to be investigated. In this study, we developed a process simulation model to analyze the effects of individual XP practices on development effort. System dynamics based simulation, an effective modeling technique for software development process was chosen. This model has accounted for all the twelve practices and processes of XP. We have also introduced a measurement scale for measuring the level of usage of individual XP practices. The factors that affect the cost are collected from literature and a few XP project managers. The process model was simulated for a case study of a typical XP project to investigate the effects of individual XP practices on development effort by varying their usage levels. The decrease in percentage of the development effort for each XP practice when its usage level is varied from minimum to maximum during which all the other practices were maintained at a constant usage level was found. The decrease in percentage of the development effort for each XP practice when its usage level is minimum and maximum was computed and is given below. (i) Planning game - 2.67% (ii) Small Release - 2.67% (iii) Metaphor - 2.01% (iv) Simple design - 2.5% (v) Continuous Testing - 2.88% (vi) Refactoring -0.677% (vii) On-site Customer - 5.48% (viii) Pair programming - 4.4% (ix) Collective Code Ownership -- 4.82% (x) Forty Hours Per Week - 2% (xi) Coding Standard - 4.82% (xii) Continuous Integration - 1.13%. The finding of the present study on the effects of individual XP practices depicts a reduction in software development effort by enhancing their usage levels.
Texture Based Image Segmentation of Chili Pepper X-Ray Images Using Gabor Filter

Texture segmentation is the process of partitioning an image into regions with different textures containing a similar group of pixels. Detecting the discontinuity of the filter's output and their statistical properties help in segmenting and classifying a given image with different texture regions. In this proposed paper, chili x-ray image texture segmentation is performed by using Gabor filter. The texture segmented result obtained from Gabor filter fed into three texture filters, namely Entropy, Standard Deviation and Range filter. After performing texture analysis, features can be extracted by using Statistical methods. In this paper Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrices and First order statistics are used as feature extraction methods. Features extracted from statistical methods are given to Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. Using this methodology, it is found that texture segmentation is followed by the Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix feature extraction method gives a higher accuracy rate of 84% when compared with First order feature extraction method. Key Words: Texture segmentation, Texture filter, Gabor filter, Feature extraction methods, SVM classifier.
Wnt-7a Induces Presynaptic Colocalization of α7-Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors and Adenomatous Polyposis Coli in Hippocampal Neurons

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) contribute significantly to hippocampal function. α7-nAChRs are present in presynaptic sites in hippocampal neurons and may influence transmitter release, but the factors that determine their presynaptic localization are unknown. We report here that Wnt-7a, a ligand active in the canonical Wnt signaling pathway, induces dissociation of the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) protein from the β-catenin cytoplasmic complex and the interaction of APC with α7-nAChRs in hippocampal neurons. Interestingly, Wnt-7a induces the relocalization of APC to membranes, clustering of APC in neurites, and coclustering of APC with different, presynaptic protein markers. Wnt-7a also increases the number and size of coclusters of α7-nAChRs and APC in presynaptic terminals. These short-term changes in α7-nAChRs occur in the few minutes after ligand exposure and involve translocation to the plasma membrane without affecting total receptor levels. Longer-term exposure to Wnt-7a increases nAChR α7 subunit levels in an APC-independent manner and increases clusters of α7-nAChRs in neurites via an APC-dependent process. Together, these results demonstrate that stimulation through the canonical Wnt pathway regulates the presynaptic localization of APC and α7-nAChRs with APC serving as an intermediary in the α7-nAChR relocalization process. Modulation by Wnt signaling may be essential for α7-nAChR expression and function in synapses.
Edge concentration: a method for clustering directed graphs

The display of a directed graph is a commonly used visual aid for representing relationships. However, some graphs contain so many edges that their display by traditional graph layout algorithms is virtually impossible because of the overwhelming number of crossings. Graphs representing large software systems and their configurations are particularly prone to this problem. Examples of such graphs include: graphs depicting a system's configuration, call graphs, graphs depicting import and export relationships between modules, and graphs depicting the “includes” relation among a system's source files. This paper proposes the elimination of some edges by replacing sets of edges that have the same set of source and target nodes by a special node called an edge concentration node. Reducing the number of edges often has the desirable side effect of reducing the number of crossings. An algorithm that determines a reasonable set of edge concentrations of a graph in &Ogr;(n4) operations for each level in the graph is presented where n is the number of nodes in that level. Several examples from the area of software configuration management are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of using edge concentrations.
Online pathological tremor characterization using extended Kalman filtering

This paper describes different algorithms that perform online pathological tremor characterization in terms of acceleration. Two distinct parametricmodels are used, an Auto-Regressive (AR) model and an harmonic model. Both models are recursively estimated with Extended Kalman Filters (EKFs). Experimental data was obtained with low cost sensors and the results are compared in terms of spectrogram estimation and prediction performance.
The AMI meeting corpus

To support multi-disciplinary research in the AMI (Augmented Multi-party Interaction) project, a 100 hour corpus of meetings is being collected. This corpus is being recorded in several instrumented rooms equipped with a variety of microphones, video cameras, electronic pens, presentation slide capture and white-board capture devices. As well as real meetings, the corpus contains a significant proportion of scenario-driven meetings, which have been designed to elicit a rich range of realistic behaviors. To facilitate research, the raw data are being annotated at a number of levels including speech transcriptions, dialogue acts and summaries. The corpus is being distributed using a web server designed to allow convenient browsing and download of multimedia content and associated annotations. This article first overviews AMI research themes, then discusses corpus design, as well as data collection, annotation and distribution.
Functional Analysis of H2B-Lys-123 Ubiquitination in Regulation of H3-Lys-4 Methylation and Recruitment of RNA Polymerase II at the Coding Sequences of Several Active Genes in Vivo*

Previous biochemical studies have demonstrated that Lys-123 ubiquitination of histone H2B is globally required for up-regulation of mono-, di, and trimethylation of Lys-4 of histone H3. However, recent studies have implicated H2B-Lys-123 ubiquitination in the regulation of di- and trimethylation, but not monomethylation, of H3-Lys-4 in vivo. Using a formaldehyde-based cross-linking and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, we show that H3-Lys-4 trimethylation, but not dimethylation, is up-regulated by H2B-Lys-123 ubiquitination in vivo at the coding sequences of a set of transcriptionally active genes such as ADH1, PHO84, and PYK1. Both the ubiquitination of H2B-Lys-123 and the methylation of H3-Lys-4 are dispensable for recruitment of RNA polymerase II to the coding sequences of these genes, and hence, their transcription is not altered in the absence of these covalent modifications. However, recruitment of RNA polymerase II to the coding sequence of a galactose-inducible gene, GAL1, is significantly reduced in the absence of H2B-Lys-123 ubiquitination but not H3-Lys-4 methylation. Consistently, transcription of GAL1 is altered in the H2B-K123R point mutant strain. Finally, we show that H3-Lys-4 methylation does not regulate H3-Lys-9/14 acetylation. Collectively, our data reveal a “trans-tail” regulation of H3-Lys-4 tri- but not dimethylation by H2B-Lys-123 ubiquitination, and these modifications are dispensable for transcription of a certain set of genes in vivo.
The role of online discussion in the context of the Master of Teaching (MTeach)

This research concerns the professional development of teachers in their first year of teaching. It seeks to find out more about how online discussions (ODs) undertaken by teachers, as part of the MTeach, contributed to this development process. During the MTeach teachers in this study worked in online tutor groups. These were made up from teachers from different schools, phases (primary and secondary) and subjects. Their accounts of participation in the ODs, written towards the end of the first year of teaching together with interviews conducted with a selection of these teachers at a later stage in their career, formed the data gathered for the research. The research was guided by the main question: how have the ODs facilitated new teacher development within the context of the MTeach? It appeared that the ODs enabled new teachers to participate by writing for an audience of peers, and by providing a sense of community, which through an underlying practitioner focus developed their criticality. These new teachers developed a collegiality, reflexivity and an engagement with wider and longer term perspectives about their professional practice. The research concluded that the gains from the online discussions were the result of careful 'pedagogic design' at several levels. The overarching finding is that by foregrounding the situated experiences and interests of the teachers, a 'way in' is provided for them to understand more fully the complexities, dilemmas and strategies encountered in their own and others' professional practice.
Basic Study for New Assistive Technology Based on Brain Activity During Car Driving

Recently, it is necessary to develop a new system which assists driving car and wheelchair as aged society. The final our purpose in this research is to contribute to developing of assistive robot and related-apparatus. In terms of developing a new system, we thought that it is important to examine behaviors as well as spatial recognition. Therefore, experiments have been performed for an examination of human spatial perceptions, especially right and left recognition, during car driving by using NIRS. In previous research, it has been documented that there were significant differences at dorsolateral prefrontal cortex at left hemisphere during virtual driving task and actual driving. In this paper, we performed measuring the brain activity during car driving by using NIRS. And we performed statistical analysis of the brain activity. The purpose of this paper is discovering the brain region which was involved in decision making when human drive a car and considering between human movement and brain activity during car driving.
Decadal trends in abundance, size and condition of Antarctic toothfish in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, 1972–2011

We report the analyses of a dataset spanning 39 years of near-annual fishing for Dissostichus mawsoni in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, 1972–2011. Data on total length, condition and catch per unit effort (CPUE) were derived from the > 5500 fish caught, the large majority of which were measured, tagged and released. Contrary to expectation, the length frequency of the McMurdo Sound catch was dominated by fish in the upper two-thirds of the overall distribution exhibited in the industrial catch for the Ross Sea shelf. Fish length and condition increased from the early 1970s to the early 1990s and then decreased. Fish length positively correlated with Ross Sea ice extent in early spring, a relationship possibly caused by more ice encouraging larger fish to move farther south over the shelf and into the study area. Fish condition positively correlated with the amount of open water in the Ross Sea during the previous summer (Feb), perhaps reflecting greater availability of prey with the higher productivity that more open water brings. Decreasing fish size corresponds to the onset of the fishery, which targets the large individuals. CPUE was constant through 2001 and then decreased dramatically. We hypothesize that this decrease is related to the industrial fishery, which began in the 1996–97 austral summer, and concentrates effort over the ice-free Ross Sea continental slope. As a result of limited prey choices and close coupling among mesopredators of the region, Antarctic toothfish included, the fishery appears to be dramatically altering the trophic structure of the Ross Sea.
El papel de los foros de discusión en un programa universitario de aprendizaje mixto

Discussion boards as tools in blended English language learning programs have unique characteris tics when compared to other synchronous and asynchronous communication tools that are different. Therefore, it is important to investigate the way they operate, their role within a given program and the students’, teachers’ and tutors’ attitudes towards them. This paper contains the report of a study that took place in an English virtual program of a public university in Colombia. Students’ surveys and reflections, the tutor’s and teachers’ interviews and reflections were used to collect data. The results showed the main advantages and disadvantages of the use of the tool as well as ideas for new proposals to improve their use and, therefore, increase the students’ performance in the program. Los foros de discusion, como herramientas en programas de aprendizaje mixto de ingles, tienen caracteristicas unicas en comparacion con otras herramientas sincronicas y asincronicas de comunicacion. En consecuencia, es importante indagar sobre la forma como funcionan, el papel dentro del programa y las percepciones que tienen los estudiantes, tutores y profesores acerca de ellos. En este articulo se reporta el estudio que se realizo en un programa virtual de ingles de una universidad publica en Colombia, en el primer semestre de 2010. Se recolecto informacion mediante encuestas y reflexiones de los estudiantes y entrevistas y reflexiones de los profesores. Los resultados muestran las principales ventajas y desventajas en el uso de esta herramienta e ideas para generar nuevas propuestas que mejoren su uso, para asi incrementar el desempeno de los estudiantes en el programa.
Medical management of metastatic medullary thyroid cancer

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is an aggressive form of thyroid cancer that occurs in both heritable and sporadic forms. Discovery that mutations in the rearranged during transfection (RET) proto‐oncogene predispose to familial cases of this disease has allowed for presymptomatic identification of gene carriers and prophylactic surgery to improve the prognosis of these patients. A significant number of patients with the sporadic type of MTC and even those with familial disease still present with lymph node or distant metastases, making surgical cure difficult. Over the past several decades, many different types of therapy for metastatic disease have been attempted with limited success. Improved understanding of the molecular defects and pathways involved in both familial and sporadic MTC has resulted in new hope for these patients with the development of drugs targeting the specific alterations responsible. This new era of targeted therapy with kinase inhibitors represents a significant step forward from previous trials of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy. Although much progress has been made, additional agents and strategies are needed to achieve durable, long‐term responses in patients with metastatic MTC. This article reviews the history and results of medical management for metastatic MTC from the early 1970s up until the present day. Cancer 2014;120:3287–3301. © 2014 American Cancer Society.
Efficient Point-to-Subspace Query in $\ell^1$: Theory and Applications in Computer Vision

Motivated by vision tasks such as robust face and object recognition, we consider the following general problem: given a collection of low-dimensional linear subspaces in a high-dimensional ambient (image) space and a query point (image), efficiently determine the nearest subspace to the query in $\ell^1$ distance. We show in theory that Cauchy random embedding of the objects into significantly-lower-dimensional spaces helps preserve the identity of the nearest subspace with constant probability. This offers the possibility of efficiently selecting several candidates for accurate search. We sketch preliminary experiments on robust face and digit recognition to corroborate our theory.
Metaphor and cognition

Contents: Aleksander Szwedek: Ontological sources of structural and orientational metaphors - Boguslaw Bierwiaczonek: On metaphors that lead astray - Roman Kalisz: Metaphors, blends and predicate-argument structure - Olga Sokolowska: Metaphor and the schematicity of concepts - Iwona Nowakowska-Kempna: Towards an action-oriented theory of metaphor - Waldemar Skrzypczak: Metaphor as a dynamic asymmetry (a poster presentation) - Danuta Stanulewicz: On some metalinguistic metaphors from a cognitive perspective - Elzbieta Wasik: On the use and cognitive value of metaphors in the sociology of language - Zdzislaw Wasik: Metaphors of form and substance in the academic discourse on language - Anna Cieslicka: Are conceptual metaphors activated on-line during the processing of figurative expressions? - Ariadna Strugielska/Teresa Siek-Piskozub: Conceptual metaphors as a reflection of personal experience in education - Camelia Cmeciu/Zdzislaw Wasik: Metaphors as a semiotic means in the molding of political identities - Malgorzata Fabiszak: Corpus frequency as a guide to metaphor labeling.
Chemical characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus molecules that have CD14-dependent cell-stimulating activity.

We have previously shown that Staphylococcus aureus contains molecules that bind CD14 and induce cellular responses. We have partially purified this activity and named the product active fraction (AF). Here, we further explore the chemical characteristics of AF. We show that 1) the activity is sensitive to base and hydrofluoric acid hydrolysis; 2) AF binds to Mono Q, indicating that it is negatively charged; 3) most activity in AF runs as a large species in aqueous buffer, but a small proportion runs with a size of <15 kDa by gel chromatography; and 4) native PAGE of AF yields a band of high apparent m.w. , and SDS-PAGE yields a ladder of bands of lower apparent m.w. These data suggest that AF is a mixture of heterogeneous amphiphilic molecules that form tight micelles. These characteristics are shared by LPS, suggesting that AF has both functional and structural similarity to LPS. S. aureus cell wall has been shown to stimulate cells in a CD14-dependent fashion, and peptidoglycan (PGN) has thus been described as a ligand for membrane CD14. However, we found that the ability of S. aureus cell wall to stimulate CD14-bearing monocytes was enhanced by preincubation with soluble CD14 (sCD14). Upon treatment with sCD14, the cell-stimulating activity appeared predominantly in the supernatant, not in the insoluble PGN pellet. These findings are not consistent with a direct interaction of membrane CD14 with insoluble PGN. They suggest, rather, that the activity of cell wall may be caused by a sCD14-binding molecule that associates noncovalently with PGN.
Clinical Characteristics, Comorbidities, and Response to Treatment of Veterans With Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Cincinnati Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 2005-2007

Introduction Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disorder that is associated with significant morbidity. Veterans may be at an elevated risk for OSA because of increased prevalence of factors associated with the development and progression of OSA. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical characteristics, comorbidities, polysomnographic findings, and response to treatment of veterans with OSA. Methods We performed a retrospective chart review of 596 patients undergoing polysomnography at the Cincinnati Veterans Affairs Medical Center from February 2005 through December 2007. We assessed potential correlations of clinical data with polysomnography findings and response to treatment. Results Polysomnography demonstrated OSA in 76% of patients; 30% had mild OSA, 23% moderate OSA, and 47% severe OSA. Increasing body mass index, neck circumference, Epworth Sleepiness Scale score, hypertension, congestive heart failure, and type 2 diabetes correlated with increasing OSA severity. Positive airway pressure treatment was initiated in 81% of veterans with OSA, but only 59% reported good adherence to this treatment method. Of the patients reporting good adherence, a greater proportion of those with severe OSA (27%) than with mild or moderate disease (0%-12%) reported an excellent response to treatment. Conclusion The prevalence of metabolic and cardiovascular comorbidities increased with increasing OSA severity. Only 59% of treated patients reported good adherence to treatment with positive airway pressure, and response to treatment correlated with OSA severity.
Time for Teachers in School Restructuring

This article asserts that time for teachers is not an easily defined commodity. It cannot readily be constructed and scheduled for them by reformers or administrators. There are many kinds of time for teachers, each constructed by teachers themselves, shaped to serve different needs, and tightly interrelated with other types of time. Drawing on theoretical writings about time and reports from schools that are trying to restructure, this article delineates these different kinds of time for teachers, and explores their interrelationship. It argues that a multitude of school reforms are bound to wither if they ignore the multiple constructs, boundaries, rhythm, and patterns of time for teachers.