Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human Spatial Behavior

Over a decade ago, sociologists with an interest in the dynamics of inter per­ sonal relations turned their attention toward the spatial setting of human behavior. This was an exciting movement away from the "figure" of individ­ uals and groups to the "ground" of the space in which social activities occur. As Goffman (1963, 1971) began to study the spaces separating groups and actors, new insights into various kinds of social situations were gained. Careful observers of activities in everyday life, such as Garfinkel (1964), found regularities in the ways people used space when interacting and reported that the disturbance of these regularities created difficulties for individuals. In general, new knowledge indicated a relationship between spatial be­ havior and the social order. Hence, those sociologists studying interactions could potentially collect data on the location and movements of individuals to complement the picture of social life that evolved largely from informa­ tion of a verbal nature. It was, however, psychologists such as Sommer (1969), and not sociologists, who took these observations seriously. The general sociological ambivalence toward the spatial dimension of social life has been unfortunate both for the study of spatial behavior and for sociology itself. This is a point that I refer to repeatedly in the text that follows. 'Thanks are rendered to Claude Fischer, Harold Garfinkel, Carol Silvennan, Daniel Stokols, and Ralph Turner for comments on an earlier draft. The preparation of this chapter was supported by a National Institute of Mental Health Postdoctoral Fellowship (USPHS-MH
Limits to science or limits to epistemology?

, Vol. 2, No. 3 CCC 1076-2787/97/03031-07 INTRODUCTION A recent spate of writings has argued that in a fundamental sense, science is reaching limits. The basic claims of this work are twofold. First, it is argued that for many areas of inquiry, notably physics, chemistry, and biology, science has provided an essentially accurate view of nature. The theories of evolution, relativity, and quantum mechanics are taken as primary examples of scientific success. Further advances in understanding physical, chemical, and biological phenomena will be derivative of these existing broad theories. Second, it is argued that in those areas where scientific inquiry cannot claim great empirical successes, fundamental advances are impossible, either because their theories do not admit verifiable empirical predictions or because experiments that discriminate between theories cannot be carried out. Cognitive and social sciences are often cited as examples of disciplines doomed to permanent failure. This article argues that the claims about limits to science are essentially unpersuasive. First, I claim that there is no basis for concluding that a successful science is at the end of fundamental breakthroughs. Second, I argue that the claim that social science, as an example of a supposedly unsuccessful science, is incapable of producing successful models, is unsupported. Here, I focus on economics given my professional training, but the arguments apply more broadly. In short, it appears more plausible that there are fundamental barriers to our ability to identify bounds on science than that we have reached such barriers. Further, as the arguments of this article support the position that it is impossible to ever identify such limits to science, in this sense I would argue that there exist limits to some aspects of scientific epistemology itself.
A single cytochrome P-450 system is involved in degradation of the herbicides EPTC (S-ethyl dipropylthiocarbamate) and atrazine by Rhodococcus sp. strain NI86/21

During atrazine degradation by Rhodococcus sp. strain N186/21, N-dealkylated metabolites and an hydroxyisopropyl derivative are produced. The cytochrome P-450 system that is involved in degradation of thiocarbamate herbicides by strain N186/21 (I. Nagy, G. Schoofs, F. Compernolle, P. Proost, J. Vanderleyden, and R. De Mot, J. Bacteriol. 177:676-687, 1995) is also required for atrazine degradation. Atrazine-degrading activity was conferred on the atrazine-negative strains, mutant FAJ2027 of Rhodococcus sp. strain N186/21 and Rhodococcus erythropolis SQ1, upon transformation with the genes encoding the cytochrome P-450 system.
The Meaning and Use of "Europe" in Swedish History Textbooks, 1910-2008

This article explores the different meanings of “Europe” in Swedish history textbooks over the course of the 20th century. Utilising the concept of myth, this textbook analysis looks at how the older history of Europe, and Sweden in relation to Europe, had changed by the end of the century. In particular, it examines the way in which Europe as a historically coherent entity is becoming attached to the idea of European economic, cultural and political co-operation in the wake of the Second World War. By using both quantitative and qualitative methods the study reveals that Europe as a concept has altered its meaning over time. Further, the study shows that the amount of text on Europe as an entity altogether increased in Swedish history textbooks in the latter part of the 20th century.
Sunlamp use and the risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma: a population-based case-control study in Connecticut, USA.

BACKGROUND The relationship between cutaneous malignant melanoma and sunlamp use is examined in a Caucasian population in Connecticut, United States. METHODS Cases were diagnosed between 15 January 1987 and 15 May 1987 with a first primary cutaneous melanoma. Controls were obtained from the general population, frequency matched to cases by sex and age, through random digit dialling of Connecticut telephone numbers. RESULTS Of all study subjects, 141 (23%) cases and 95 (19%) controls reported ever having used sunlamps. The crude odds ratio (OR) for developing malignant melanoma after ever having used sunlamps was 1.30 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.97-1.74). This was reduced to 1.13 (95% CI: 0.82-1.54) after further adjusting for cutaneous phenotype and recreational sun exposure. Those who used more than one type of sunlamp had a threefold higher risk for melanoma compared to never users. Subgroup analyses showed that sunlamp use was associated with a greater increase in risk for melanoma among those who used sunlamps at home and those who were first exposed to sunlamps prior to 1971. The first use of sunlamps before the age of 25 showed somewhat higher risk for melanoma compared to first use later in life. CONCLUSION The current study provides limited evidence that use of sunlamps increases the risk of melanoma. For future studies, it is crucial that type of sunlamp, year of first use and amount of exposure are all taken into account. The association between melanoma and tanning with both UV-A and UV-B lamps and tanning under sunlamps early in life merits further investigation.
The Technical Efficiency of Collective Irrigation Schemes in South-Eastern of Tunisia

The purpose of this paper is to asses the technical efficiency (TE) and proposes a measure for irrigation water efficiency (IE) based on the concept of input-specific technical efficiency for a sample of 46 irrigators inZeuss-Koutine region (South eastern Tunisia). In this paper, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to quantify TE and IE.A major finding of the study is that the irrigation systems are clearly inefficient. Under constants returns to scale (CRS) specification, the average technical efficiency of the sample was 71.75%. A similar pattern of scores was shown for IE; although in this case the average IE was even lower (49.9%) indicating that if farmers became more efficient using the technology currently available, the same level of output can be produced using the same level of other inputs but with, on average, 50.1% less water irrigation. In a second stage, critical determinants of sub-vector efficiency are determined using a Tobit model. Education level (EDU) and agricultural training (AGT) showed a significant impact on the subvector efficiency for water. Such information is valuable for extension services and policy makers since it can help guide policies towards increased efficiency.
A Recombinant Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) Expressing VP2 Protein of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV) Protects against NDV and IBDV

ABSTRACT Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) causes a highly immunosuppressive disease in chickens. Currently available, live IBDV vaccines can lead to generation of variant viruses. We have developed an alternative vaccine that will not create variant IBDV. By using the reverse genetics approach, we devised a recombinant Newcastle disease virus (NDV) vector from a commonly used vaccine strain LaSota to express the host-protective immunogen VP2 of a variant IBDV strain GLS-5. The gene encoding the VP2 protein of the IBDV was inserted into the most 3′-proximal locus of a full-length NDV cDNA for high-level expression. We successfully recovered the recombinant virus, rLaSota/VP2. The rLaSota/VP2 was genetically stable, at least up to 12 serial passages in chicken embryos, and was shown to express the VP2 protein. The VP2 protein was not incorporated into the virions of recombinant virus. Recombinant rLaSota/VP2 replicated to a titer similar to that of parental NDV strain LaSota in chicken embryos and cell cultures. To assess protective efficacy of the rLaSota/VP2, 2-day-old specific-pathogen-free chickens were vaccinated with the recombinant virus and challenged with a highly virulent NDV strain Texas GB or IBDV variant strain GLS-5 at 3 weeks postvaccination. Vaccination with rLaSota/VP2 generated antibody responses against both NDV and IBDV and provided 90% protection against NDV and IBDV. Booster immunization induced higher levels of antibody responses against both NDV and IBDV and conferred complete protection against both viruses. These results indicate that the recombinant NDV can be used as a vaccine vector for other avian pathogens.
Fundamental limits of spectrum-sharing in fading environments

Traditionally, the frequency spectrum is licensed to users by government agencies in a rigid manner where the licensee has the exclusive right to access the allocated band. Therefore, licensees are protected from any interference all the time. From a practical standpoint, however, an unlicensed (secondary) user may share a frequency band with its licensed (primary) owner as long as the interference it incurs is not deemed harmful by the licensee. In a fading environment, a secondary user may take advantage of this fact by opportunistically transmitting with high power when its signal, as received by the licensed receiver, is deeply faded. In this paper we investigate the capacity gains offered by this dynamic spectrum sharing approach when channels vary due to fading. In particular, we quantify the relation between the secondary channel capacity and the interference inflicted on the primary user. We further evaluate and compare the capacity under different fading distributions. Interestingly, our results indicate a significant gain in spectrum access in fading environments compared to the deterministic case
Alterations in Peripheral Blood B Cell Subsets and Dynamics of B Cell Responses during Human Schistosomiasis

Antibody responses are thought to play an important role in control of Schistosoma infections, yet little is known about the phenotype and function of B cells in human schistosomiasis. We set out to characterize B cell subsets and B cell responses to B cell receptor and Toll-like receptor 9 stimulation in Gabonese schoolchildren with Schistosoma haematobium infection. Frequencies of memory B cell (MBC) subsets were increased, whereas naive B cell frequencies were reduced in the schistosome-infected group. At the functional level, isolated B cells from schistosome-infected children showed higher expression of the activation marker CD23 upon stimulation, but lower proliferation and TNF-α production. Importantly, 6-months after 3 rounds of praziquantel treatment, frequencies of naive B cells were increased, MBC frequencies were decreased and with the exception of TNF-α production, B cell responsiveness was restored to what was seen in uninfected children. These data show that S. haematobium infection leads to significant changes in the B cell compartment, both at the phenotypic and functional level.
Incremental view maintenance and data lineage tracing in heterogeneous database environments

heterogeneous database environments Hao Fan School of Computer Science & Information Systems Birkbeck College, University of London h.fan@dcs.bbk. ac.uk 1. Motivation for the research With the increasing amount and diversity of information available on the Internet, there has been a huge growth in information systems that need to integrate data from distributed, heterogeneous data sources. Automed (Automatic Generation of Mediator Tools for Heterogeneous database Integration) is a database transformation and integration system, which is designed to support both virtual and materialized integration of schemas expressed in a variety of modelling languages. In previous work of the Automed project [PM98, MP99a, MP99b], a general framework has been developed to support schema transformation and integration in heterogeneous database architectures. The framework consists of a low-level hypergraph based data model (HDM) and a set of primitive schema transformations on HDM schemas. We term the sequence of primitive transformations defined for transforming a schema S1 to a schema S2 a transformation pathway from S1 to S2. That is, a transformation pathway consists of a sequence of primitive transformations. The purpose of my research is to investigate techniques for incremental view maintenance and data lineage tracing for integrated databases which have been formed from heterogeneous source databases via Automed schema transformation pathways (data lineage tracing investigates how data in a data warehouse has been derived from the data sources). My approach is to decompose the processes of incremental view maintenance and data lineage tracing into a sequence of simple steps based on the transformation pathways. I use a functional intermediate query language (IQL) as the query language to implement the algorithms for incremental view maintenance and tracing data lineage. The remainder of this paper is as follows. Section 2 outlines the related work. Section 3 gives the examples of the IQL language and Automed transformation pathways. Section 4 presents my research questions and research approach. The preliminary ideas and results achieved so far are given in Section 5. Section 6 describes contributions of my research so far and directions of future work.
A two-phase algorithm for off-line inter-domain traffic optimization

Inter-domain traffic engineering is a key issue where QoS-aware resource optimization is concerned. Mapping inter-domain traffic flows into existing service level agreements is, in general, a complex problem, for which some algorithms have recently been proposed in the literature. In this paper a two-phase algorithm to optimize the utilization of domain resources both from a technical perspective and a monetary costs perspective is proposed. The first phase is carried out by a greedy random algorithm, which returns a feasible solution. This is followed by an improvement phase performed by a genetic algorithm, which returns the optimal solution. Results show that the first phase produces quasi-optimal resource assignments for regional ISP and outer core autonomous systems (AS). For transit core and dense core AS, where the number of aggregate flows is considerably higher, the second phase leads to significant improvement.
Incorporating neuroendocrine methods into intergroup relations research

Intergroup researchers have the opportunity to access to a wide variety of methods to help deepen theoretical insights about intergroup relations. In this paper, we focus on neuroendocrine measures, as these physiological measures offer some advantages over traditional measures used in intergroup research, are noninvasive, and are relatively easy to incorporate into existing intergroup paradigms. We begin by discussing the major neuroendocrine systems in the body and their measurable biological products, emphasizing systems that have conceptual relevance to intergroup relations. We then describe how to collect, store, and quantify neuroendocrine measures. Altogether, this paper serves as a primer for intergroup researchers interested in adding neuroendocrine measures to their methodological toolkits to enrich the study of intergroup relations.
Solid waste monitoring and management using RFID, GIS and GSM

This paper deals with the solid waste monitoring and management system using radio frequency identification (RFID) associate with intelligent systems. The system consists of RFID system, mobile communication like GSM and geographical information system (GIS) for tracking vehicle position. The proposed system would be able to monitor the solid waste collection process and management the overall collection process. It would provide in time solid waste collection, tracking the vehicle position through the GIS database and also overcome the disadvantages such as usage of minimum route, low fuel cost, clean environment and available vehicle. The technologies that would be used in the proposed system are good enough to ensure the practical and perfect for solid waste collection process monitoring and management for green environment.
A simulation model to analyze the impact of hole size on putting in golf

We develop a model of golfer putting skill and combine it with physics-based putt trajectory and holeout models to study the impact of doubling the radius of the hole on the putting performance of professional and amateur golfers. The putting skill model reflects golfer execution errors, i.e., that golfers cannot hit the ball at exactly their intended velocity and direction. A green reading skill model reflects a golfer¿s inability to perfectly estimate the slope or contour of the putting surface. The model is calibrated to professional and amateur putting data. Optimal putting strategies are computed using stochastic dynamic programming. Quasi-Monte Carlo and other methods are used to speed up computations. Doubling the hole radius improves the putting performance of both professional and amateur golfers, as expected. However, the improvement for amateur golfers is shown to be relatively larger than for professionals.
On Configuration Trajectory Formation in Spatiotemporal Profile for Reproducing Human Hand Reaching Movement

Most functional reaching activities in daily living generally require a hand to reach the functional position in appropriate orientation with invariant spatiotemporal profile. Effectively reproducing such spatiotemporal feature of hand configuration trajectory in real time is essential to understand the human motor control and plan human-like motion on anthropomorphic robotic arm. However, there are no novel computational models in literature toward reproducing hand configuration-to-configuration movement in spatiotemporal profile. In response to the problem, this paper presents a computational framework for hand configuration trajectory formation based on hierarchical principle of human motor control. The composite potential field is constructed on special Euclidean Group to induce time-varying configuration toward target. The dynamic behavior of hand is described by a second-order kinematic model to produce the external representation of high-level motor control. The multivariate regression relation between intrinsic and extrinsic coordinates of arm, is statistically analyzed for determining the arm orientation in real time, which produces the external representation of low-level motor control. The proposed method is demonstrated in an anthropomorphic arm by performing several highly curved self-reaching movements. The generated configuration trajectories are compared with actual human movement in spatiotemporal profile to validate the proposed method.
“No Fear Comes”

This article examines the relationship between gender, physicality, and embodiment among a group of adolescent girls. The analysis is based on interviews with 24 girls who play ice hockey. In their accounts of the practice of hockey, respondents emphasize the importance of being aggressive, which they define as being powerful and sometimes fearless in use of the body. Whereas aggressiveness is a feature of both men's and women's hockey, the men's game is generally understood to be more physical and aggressive. Players understand that contrasts between men's and women's hockey arise out of both the material advantages that boys and men enjoy and the gendered ideologies that underlie the practice of sport. The article concludes with a consideration of the potential of hockey and other confrontational sports to challenge contemporary gender constructions and the limitations and possibilities of sport as an arena for change in gender ideologies and relations.
Multi-fidelity modeling & simulation methodology for simulation speed up

M&S-based analysis has been performed for simulation experiments of all possible input combinations as a 'what-if' analysis causing the simulation to be extremely time-consuming. To resolve this problem, this paper proposes a multi-fidelity M&S methodology for enhancing simulation speed while minimizing accuracy loss and maximizing model reusability, in the M&S-based analysis. Target systems of this methodology are continuous and discrete event system. The proposed multi-fidelity M&S methodology consists of 4 steps: 1) target model selection and Interest Region definition, 2) low-fidelity model development, 3) multi-fidelity model composition, 4) selected target model substitution. Also this methodology proposes structure of multi-fidelity model and its mathematical specifications for the third step. This methodology is applied without any modification of existing models and simulation engine for maximizing model reusability. Case study applies this methodology to Torpedo Tactics Simulation model and the Vehicle Allocation Simulation model. The result shows that simulation speed increases at least 1.21 times with 5% accuracy loss. We expect that this methodology will be applicable in various M&S-based analysis for enhancing simulation speed.
Shape modeling by sketching using convolution surfaces

This paper proposes a user-friendly modeling system that interactively generates 3D organic-like shapes from user drawn sketches. A skeleton, in the form of a graph of branching polylines and polygons, is first extracted from the user's sketch. The 3D shape is then defined as a convolution surface generated by this skeleton. The skeleton's resolution is adapted according to the level of detail selected by the user. The subsequent 2D strokes are used to infer new object parts, which are combined with the existing shape using CSG operators. We propose an algorithm for computing a skeleton defined as a connected graph of polylines and polygons. To combine the primitives we propose precise CSG operators for a convolution surfaces blending hierarchy. Our new formulation has the advantage of requiring no optimization step for fitting the 3D shape to the 2D contours. This yields interactive performances and avoids any non-desired oscillation of the reconstructed surface. As our results show, our system allows nonexpert users to generate a wide variety of free form shapes with an easy to use sketch-based interface.