Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Equivalence Scales for West Germany Based on Subjective Data on Life Satisfaction

The present study calculates variable, cross-sectional as well as longitudinal equivalence scales on the basis of the German 1984-2010 Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) database for West Germany. It follows the "individual variant" for calculating subjective equivalence scales using "life satisfaction" as a proxy variable for "utility". The cross-sectional scale estimates are characterized by relatively low scale values which is typical for the subjective scale approach. As a further main result, the estimated longitudinal equivalence scales reveal some but rather slight cohort-specific scale differences. Especially, the unsatisfactory fit of the paper's regressions points to the need for more research activities in this strand of social science research. The latter must be emphasized since equivalence scales are very important for social policy. Specifically, this holds true for longitudinal scales in order to capture cohort effects and, thus, to deal with intra- and intergenerational aspects of well-being (and corresponding differences).
A Comparative Study on SOI MOSFETs for Low Power Applications

Silicon on Insulator (SOI) technology has become one of the most promising technologies in semiconductor fabrication industry for its numerous advantages. This study presents merits and demerits of different SOIs presented in literatures and a comparative study is done based on several design and performance issues for low power applications. From the study it is found that Fully Depleted SOI MOSFET (FDSOI) technology is preferred due to its thin size, reduced leakage current and improved power consumption characteristics etc. compared to those of PDSOI and bulk silicon technology.
CoIN: a network analysis for document triage

In recent years, there was a rapid increase in the number of medical articles. The number of articles in PubMed has increased exponentially. Thus, the workload for biocurators has also increased exponentially. Under these circumstances, a system that can automatically determine in advance which article has a higher priority for curation can effectively reduce the workload of biocurators. Determining how to effectively find the articles required by biocurators has become an important task. In the triage task of BioCreative 2012, we proposed the Co-occurrence Interaction Nexus (CoIN) for learning and exploring relations in articles. We constructed a co-occurrence analysis system, which is applicable to PubMed articles and suitable for gene, chemical and disease queries. CoIN uses co-occurrence features and their network centralities to assess the influence of curatable articles from the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database. The experimental results show that our network-based approach combined with co-occurrence features can effectively classify curatable and non-curatable articles. CoIN also allows biocurators to survey the ranking lists for specific queries without reviewing meaningless information. At BioCreative 2012, CoIN achieved a 0.778 mean average precision in the triage task, thus finishing in second place out of all participants. Database URL: http://ikmbio.csie. ncku.edu. tw/coin/home.php
Blindness and Early Childhood Development

Interestingly, blindness and early childhood development that you really wait for now is coming. It's significant to wait for the representative and beneficial books to read. Every book that is provided in better way and utterance will be expected by many peoples. Even you are a good reader or not, feeling to read this book will always appear when you find it. But, when you feel hard to find it as yours, what to do? Borrow to your friends and don't know when to give back it to her or him.
Formation of radicals during heating lysine and glucose in solution with an intermediate water activity

Abstract Heating glucose with lysine under alkaline conditions (pH 7.0–10.0) was found to take place with consumption of oxygen together with formation of brown-colored compounds. Highly reactive intermediary radicals were detected when lysine and glucose were heated at intermediate water activity at pH 7.0 and 8.0. The detection was based on initial trapping of highly reactive radicals by ethanol followed by spin trapping of 1-hydroxyethylradicals with α-(4-pyridyl N-oxide)-N-tert-butylnitrone (POBN) and Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. The generation of reactive intermediary radicals from the Maillard reactions was favored by enhancing alkaline conditions (pH 8.0) and stimulated by presence of the transition metal ion Fe2+. The stability of the nitrone spin traps, N-tert-butyl-α-phenylnitrone and POBN was examined in buffered aqueous solutions within the pH range 1–12, and found to be less temperature dependent at acidic pH compared to alkaline conditions. A low rate (kobs) of hydrolysis of POBN was found at the used experimental conditions of 70°C and pH 7.0 and 8.0, which made this spin trap method suitable for the detection of radicals in the Maillard reaction system.
An Architecture for Distributed Dictionary Attacks to Cryptosystems

We describe a distributed computing platform to carry out large scale dictionary attacks against cryptosystems compliant to the OpenPGP standard. Moreover, we describe a simplified mechanism to quickly test passphrases that might protect a specified private key ring. Only passphrases that pass this test complete the (much more time consuming) full validation procedure. This approach greatly reduces the time required to test a set of possible passphrases.
Expression of messenger RNA for keratinocyte growth factor in human cholesteatoma.

OBJECTIVE To understand the interaction between cholesteatoma epithelium and subepithelial connective tissue as a paracrine regulation by keratinocyte growth factor. DESIGN Preparation of a specific DNA probe from human fetal fibroblast and detection of localization of keratinocyte growth factor messenger RNA in subepithelial granulation tissue of middle-ear cholesteatoma by a nonradioactive in situ hybridization method. PARTICIPANTS The cholesteatoma specimens were excised from 12 patients during surgery. Normal skin specimens collected from the external ear canal of six patients were used as controls. RESULTS Signals specific for keratinocyte growth factor messenger RNA were not expressed in the normal skin of the external ear canal, but were observed in fibroblasts of subepithelial connective tissue of cholesteatoma specimens. Signals were observed only in specimens collected from patients whose subepithelial connective tissue was thick and proliferated and whose inflammation was strong. CONCLUSIONS A paracrine regulation mechanism involving keratinocyte growth factor may exist for proliferation of epithelium of cholesteatoma. The subepithelial connective tissue of cholesteatoma may play an important role in the proliferation and development of the cholesteatoma, especially under inflammatory conditions.
Optical Coherence Tomography as a Tool for Measuring Morphogenetic Deformation of the Looping Heart

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was used to investigate morphogenesis of the embryonic chick heart during the first phase of looping (c‐looping), as the heart bends and twists into a c‐shaped tube. The present study focuses on the morphomechanical effects of the splanchnopleure (SPL), a membrane that has been shown to play a major role in cardiac torsion by pressing against the ventral surface of the heart. Without the SPL, rightward torsion (rotation) is delayed. The images show that compressive forces exerted by the SPL alter the shapes of the heart tube and primitive atria, as well as their spatial relationships. The SPL normally holds the heart in the plane of the embryo and forces cardiac jelly (CJ) out of adjacent regions in the atria. When the SPL is removed, cross‐sections become more circular, CJ is more uniformly distributed, and the heart displaces ventrally. In addition, OCT‐based morphogenetic strain maps were measured during looping by tracking the three‐dimensional motions of microspheres placed on the myocardium. The spatial–temporal patterns of the strains correlated well with the observed behavior of the heart, including delayed torsion that occurs in SPL‐lacking embryos. These results illustrate the potential of OCT as a tool in studies of morphogenesis, as well as provide a better understanding of the mechanical forces that drive cardiac looping. Anat Rec, 290:1057–1068, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Digital pulse contour analysis: investigating age-dependent indices of arterial compliance

The resting peripheral volume pulse wave of 44 subjects within three age categories (30–39, 40–49, ⩾50) has been characterized using a novel algorithm for the automated determination of a mean pulse function. The contour of this resting mean pulse has been analyzed with regard to its systolic and diastolic characteristics. Previously described indices of arterial stiffness and viscoelasticity have been investigated for age-dependent variations associated with arterial mechanical properties. Measures of the minimum rise time (MRT) and the stiffness index (SI) demonstrated strong correlations with age and each other, although their derivations are unrelated. While significant correlations existed (|r| = 0.50–0.78, p ⩽ 0.002), pairwise comparisons between the right and left hands did not demonstrate significant differences for the minimum rise time parameter; however, the stiffness index was significantly lower in the left hand versus the right (p = 0.009). With regard to age, the youngest age group had significantly lower MRT and SI values than the two older groups. For these data, this was only demonstrated in parameters calculated for the right hand because of higher variability within age groups for the left hand. A normalized average mean pulse for each age group was determined which visually illustrated the contour changes associated with the MRT and SI parameters that occur in both the systolic and diastolic portions of the pulse. The finding that differences between the age groups were significantly more evident for the right hand suggests that the physical site for such testing may be an important consideration. This study provides further evidence regarding the merit of using contour analysis when assessing the peripheral volume pulse and the importance of establishing ageing indices for such analysis.
Evaluating Recommender Systems

Recommender systems are considered as an answer to the information overload in a Web environment. Such systems recommend items (movies, music, books, news, web pages, etc.) that the user should be interested in. Collaborative filtering recommender systems have a huge success in commercial applications. The sales in these applications follow a power law distribution. However, with the increase of the number of recommendation techniques and algorithms in the literature, there is no indication that the datasets used for the evaluation follow a real world distribution. This paper introduces the long tail theory and its impact on recommender systems. It also provides a comprehensive review of the different datasets used to evaluate collaborative filtering recommender systems techniques and algorithms (EachMovie, MovieLens, Jester, BookCrossing, and Netflix). Finally, it investigates which of these datasets present a distribution that follows this power law distribution and which distribution would be the most relevant.
Market-based self-optimization for autonomic service overlay networks

Rather than managing their heterogeneity and dynamic behavior through centralized intervention, overlay nodes can be programmed to self-organize and self-manage the network. To achieve the highest performance within a service overlay, they are further expected to self-optimize the network, by cooperatively providing and allocating resources in an optimal manner. However, since nodes are inherently selfish about resources they contribute or consume, self-optimization could not be achieved if they are not given the correct incentives. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of a market-based incentive mechanism in directing nodes' behavior and enabling self-optimizations. We have designed an intelligent market model for a service overlay network, based on which individual nodes, being service producers and consumers, determine their own resource contributions, consumptions, or service prices based on their own utility maximization goals. We also propose optimal decision making solutions for nodes to achieve their self-interests; in particular, service providers are provided with a control-based pricing solution based on system identification techniques. With the multicast streaming application as an example, we show through simulations that, even when selfish nodes all seek their maximal utilities, the resulting network still achieves close-to-optimal performance in both steady and dynamic states. The results also indicate that, by encouraging nodes to behave selfishly and intelligently in a designed market, self-optimization in other autonomic systems may be facilitated in the presence of node selfishness.
Development of a Novel Magnetic Circuit Model for Design of Premium Efficiency Three-Phase Line Start Permanent Magnet Machines With Improved Starting Performance

This paper presents challenges in an ongoing project related to the design of a premium efficiency three-phase line start permanent magnet synchronous motor (LSPMSM) and proposes an exclusive solution through development of a novel magnetic circuit model. Since the LSPMSM is rapidly replacing the conventional induction motors in industrial applications such as pumps, fans and conveyors which require the machine to operate under both frequent start-stop and steady-state conditions for a wide range of time, a trade-off has to be reached between their starting performance and efficiency post-synchronization. Until now this has only been possible with time consuming FEA based design methodology. Hence, understanding the need and scanty availability of literature on simplistic and yet precise magnetic circuit based design of three-phase LSPMSM, this manuscript proposes exclusively a novel magnetic circuit model to design LSPMSM with improved starting performance. Firstly, the aforementioned design issues have been illustrated using different machine configurations developed. Further, a detailed procedure to deal with the design issues with the help of the developed magnetic circuit model is discussed and validated by developing a machine where the trade-off has been reached.
Scaling home automation to public buildings: A distributed multiuser setup for OpenHAB 2

Home automation systems can help to reduce energy costs and increase comfort of living by adjusting room temperatures according to schedules, rules, and sensor input. OpenHAB 2 is an open-source home automation framework supporting various home automation technologies and devices. While OpenHAB is well suited for single occupancy homes, large public buildings pose additional challenges. The limited range of wireless home automation technologies requires transceivers distributed across the building. Additionally, control permissions need to be restricted to authorized persons. This work presents OpenHAB-DM, a distributed OpenHAB 2 setup with extensions introducing user authentication, access control, and management tools for decentralized OpenHAB node deployment.
Fast Parallel Operations on Search Trees

Using (a, b)-trees as an example, we show how to perform a parallel split with logarithmic latency and parallel join, bulk updates, intersection, union (or merge), and (symmetric) set difference with logarithmic latency and with information theoretically optimal work. We present both asymptotically optimal solutions and simplified versions that perform well in practice – they are several times faster than previous implementations.
Efficient Maximum Margin Clustering via Cutting Plane Algorithm

Maximum margin clustering (MMC) is a recently proposed clustering method, which extends the theory of support vector machine to the unsupervised scenario and aims at finding the maximum margin hyperplane which separates the data from different classes. Traditionally, MMC is formulated as a non-convex integer programming problem and is thus difficult to solve. Several methods have been proposed in the literature to solve the MMC problem based on either semidefinite programming or alternative optimization. However, these methods are time demanding while handling large scale datasets and therefore unsuitable for real world applications. In this paper, we propose the cutting plane maximum margin clustering (CPMMC) algorithm, to solve the MMC problem. Specifically, we construct a nested sequence of successively tighter relaxations of the original MMC problem, and each optimization problem in this sequence could be efficiently solved using the constrained concave-convex procedure (CCCP). Moreover, we prove theoretically that the CPMMC algorithm takes time O(sn) to converge with guaranteed accuracy, where n is the total number of samples in the dataset and s is the average number of non-zero features, i.e. the sparsity. Experimental evaluations on several real world datasets show that CPMMC performs better than existing MMC methods, both in efficiency and accuracy.
Does multipolar stimulation enhance selectivity of the TIME electrode? A simulation study using a genetic algorithm

Neural interfaces are aimed at creating an intimate contact with neural cells, either to stimulate the nerves or to record neural signals. This would allow the development of effective neurocontrolled artificial devices. Multipolar intraneural electrodes are developed to selectively control different muscles. In particular, the new Transversal Intraneural Multichannel Electrode (TIME) is able to selectively stimulate different muscle groups with different active sites. In order to assess the potential improvements of multipolar stimulation with TIME electrodes, a simulation study has been carried out by combining a Finite Element/NEURON model of the rat sciatic nerve together with a genetic algorithm to find the best current configuration for a tripolar stimulation. The results show that a modest improvement of selectivity can be achieved by using multipolar stimulation.
Experimental evaluation of TCP performance over 10Gb/s passive optical networks (XG-PON)

XG-PON is the next-generation standard for passive optical networks operating at 10Gb/s and TCP is the dominant transport protocol of the Internet. In this paper, we present the first performance evaluation of TCP over XG-PON, considering efficiency, fairness, responsiveness, and convergence. The impact of XG-PON's large delay-bandwidth product and asymmetric bandwidth provision are assessed, together with the dynamic bandwidth allocation mechanism. Our state-of-the-art NS3 simulation uses real implementations of three TCP variants (Reno, CUBIC and H-TCP) from the Network Simulation Cradle. Our results highlight several issues that arise for TCP over XG-PON, and emphasise the need for improved awareness of medium access control and scheduling in the context of specific TCP congestion control behaviour.
Motion estimation performance of the TM3270 processor

Motion estimation constitutes a significant computational part of video standards such as MPEG2, MPEG4, and H264/AVC. This paper evaluates the performance of a motion estimation algorithm on the TM3270, a low-cost media-processor. In order to improve performance, the TM3270 processor provides architectural enhancements over previous TriMedia processors. We quantify the speedup of the proposed new operations to motion estimation performance. We show that the new operations incorporated in the TM3270 improve performance by a factor between 3 and 4. Furthermore, we quantify the speedup of data prefetching. We show that prefetching can improve performance up to 30%. By applying all TM3270 architectural enhancements, we show that standard resolution motion estimation can be performed in less than 5% of the available processor performance.
An exploration of the relationships between inpatients and clinical psychologists in forensic mental health services

Recent studies with offenders have identified a growing distrust in psychologists and that this may be due to the changing role of clinical psychologists working within these settings. In addition to the traditional role of alleviating psychological distress, psychologists in these settings also have the additional role of providing expert risk assessment. Clinical psychologists working in forensic mental health settings (FMHS) are also tasked with this ‘dual role’. To date, there is no research exploring the impact of this dual role in FMHS. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with eight inpatients in two medium secure units. A grounded theory analysis produced a model of how trust was built and relationships developed. Despite the ‘dual role’ held in these settings, with an approach that is transparent, open, collaborative, and patient-centred; service users are able to build trusting relationships. Furthermore, they report making positive therapeutic gains. Where ‘coercive’ experiences were described, this appeared to be a representation of more distant times, with recent experiences being described as more satisfactory. Clinical psychologists also seem to be placed in a position of ‘mediator’ amongst the wider care team. Further research is required to explore these findings and whether they apply in other secure settings.
Distributed Beamforming with Nodes Selection for Cognitive Radio Networks

In order to collaboratively forward the Cognitive Radio (CR) signal to the Distant CR (DCR) users, we have introduced the Distributed Beamforming (DB) technique CR networks. However we face a practical difficulty of the extreme narrow main beam in the pattern generated by the DB method, when applying it to CR networks. To solve this problem, we propose a novel Nodes Selection (NS) method based on studies of the differences in beam width of a broadside array and an end-fire array. The proposed NS method selects those CR nodes, which are able to form a full size end-fire array and a reduced size broadside array. It chooses CR nodes located in the “belt” area along the direction of the DCR user. Simulation results of the average beampattern of our NS method show that the main beams are successfully directed towards the DCR users and are enlarged for practical applications in CR networks. What is more, for a CR network with a large physical size, our NS method can widen the main beam while maintaining sufficiently low sidelobe levels for CR transmission.
Providing expressive gaze to virtual animated characters in interactive applications

Eyes play an important role in communication among people. Motions of the eye express emotions and regulate the flow of conversation. Hence we consider fundamental that virtual humans or other characters present convincing and expressive gaze in applications such as Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs), games and movies. However, we perceive that in many applications that require automatic generation of facial movements, such as ECA, character's eye motion does not carry meaning related to its expressiveness. This work proposes a model for the automatic generation of expressive gaze by examining eye behavior in different affective states. To collect data related to gaze and expressiveness, we looked at Computer Graphics movies. This data was used as a basis to describe gaze expressions in the proposed model. We also implemented a prototype and performed some tests with users in order to observe the impact of eye behavior during some expressions of emotion. The results show that the model is capable of generating eye motions that are coherent with the affective states of the virtual character.