Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sign Language Recognition using Leap Motion Controller

Making deaf people use an alternative method instead of current voice input to ICT equipment, we propose a sign language recognition method using Leap Motion Controller. As decisions using sign language, 16 kinds of decisions that focus on characteristic of hands and fingers are proposed. Sign language recognition algorithm is constructed using 16 kinds of decisions. The constructed flowchart is differing as order of decisions, recognition rate for all letters change from the difference accuracy rate of decisions. For sorting of decisions is enormous combination, genetic algorithm is applied to search for the optimal solution in the automatic construction of sign language recognition algorithm.
Formative self-and peer assessment for improved student learning: the crucial factors of design, teacher participation and feedback

Abstract Self and peer-assessment are becoming central aspects of student-centred assessment processes in higher education. Despite increasing evidence that both forms of assessment are helpful for developing key capabilities in students, such as taking more responsibility for their own learning, developing a better understanding of the subject matter, assessment criteria and their own values and judgements, and developing critical reflection skills, both forms of assessment are still not the norm at universities. This paper provides the findings of a two-year study of formative self and peer-assessment at an Australian university. The study supports other research showing that students tend to regard formative self and peer-assessment as beneficial for gaining more insights about the assessment process and for improving their own work. We argue that self and peer-assessment requires careful design and implementation for it to be an effective tool for formative assessment processes; and that the development of students’ capacities for giving feedback, and the continuous and timely involvement of the teacher, are central aspects for successful self and peer-assessment. The move to self and peer-assessment is not simple for teachers and students but is worthwhile and necessary for twenty-first century higher education.
Personalization Systems and Processes Review based on a Predetermined User Interface Categorization

The plethora of information and services as well as the complicated nature of most Web structures intensify the navigational difficulties that arise when users navigate their way through this large information space. Personalised services that are highly sensitive to the immediate environment and the goals of the user can alleviate the orientation difficulties experienced by the relatively diverse user population. Personalization is the process of customizing a Web site to users’ specific requirements using the knowledge acquired from the analysis of users’ navigational behaviour in correlation with other information collected in the Web context as well as other related individual intellectual, mental, emotional and socialcontext elements. With the emergence of the wireless and mobile technologies, these needs have been extended to requirements for continuous interaction in the “anytime, anywhere and anyhow” context. Since the personalization dimensions for both desktop and mobile users are relatively diverse and since a standard definition has not yet been developed, this paper will make an extensive review of the personalization considerations, categories and paradigms, comparing and contrasting processes and techniques in an attempt to establish a framework that will act as the base for the formulation of a more concrete personalization definition, platform and device independent.
Supervision of professionals: Interdependency between embodied experiences and professional knowledge

Social work counsellors, exposed to hardships of clients’ lives, might, over time, experience strain as bodily reactions of muscle tension and pain. Within the framework of improving professional practice, the aim was to explore meanings attached to moving and breathing by studying the influence of supervision, encompassing experiences and reflections on bodily exercises, and reflection on challenging professional experiences. Action research of interdisciplinary supervision for seven counsellors, based on observations, field notes, reflection notes, and a focus group interview, was carried out. Data were analysed across participants within sessions and over time to compare meaning variations. The counsellors’ change of experiences were identified as phases: What is in it for me, not knowing what to perceive, attention as basis for knowing how to move, experiencing and creating connections, and knowing oneself better. Adjusted to change of experiences, supervisors encouraged counsellors to give attention to, become aware of, and relieve and explore muscle tension and breathing restrictions to contexts of meaning. Supervision based on movement opened access to personal learning. Supervision as approaches of movements and reflections contributed to increased self-knowledge in professional social work practices. Based on ability to perceive and relieve muscle tension and flow of breathing, the approach might be a potential for professionals to handle challenging situations. The findings, related to the lived body, encompass appearances of new meanings and new uses to experiences of muscular tension and flow of breathing.
Delay Tolerant Event Collection in Sensor Networks with Mobile Sink

We are interested in event collection in a 2D region where sensors are deployed to detect and collect interested events. Using traditional multi-hop routing in wireless sensor networks to report events to a sink node or base station, will result in severe imbalanced energy consumption of static sensors. In addition, full connectivity among all the static sensors may not be possible in some cases since generally the sensors are randomly deployed in the target region. In this paper, we exploit a mobile sensor as the sink node to assist the event collection by controlling the movement of the mobile sink to collect static sensor readings. A key observation of our work is that an event has spatialtemporal correlation. Specifically, the same event can be detected by multiple nearby sensors within a period of time. Thus, it is more energy-efficient if the mobile sink can selectively communicate with only a portion of static sensors, while still collecting all the interested events. In this paper, we discuss the event collection problem by leveraging the mobility of the sink node and the spatial-temporal correlation of the event, in favor of maximizing the network lifetime with a guaranteed event collection rate. We first model the problem as sensor selection problem and show that it could be solved in polynomial time, if global knowledge of events is available and there is no velocity constraints on mobile sink. We also analyze the design of a feasible movement route for mobile sink to minimize the velocity requirements for a practical system. An online scheme is then proposed to relax the assumption about global knowledge of events and we prove that the expected event collection rate can be guaranteed in theory. Through comprehensive simulation on real trace data, we demonstrate that the network lifetime can be significantly extended, comparing to some other schemes.
Vocal turn-taking patterns in groups of children performing collaborative tasks: an exploratory study

Since children (5-9 years old) are still developing their emotional and social skills, their social interactional behaviors in small groups might differ from adults' interactional behaviors. In order to develop a robot that is able to support children performing collaborative tasks in small groups, it is necessary to gain a better understanding of how children interact with each other. We were interested in investigating vocal turn-taking patterns as we expect these to reveal relations to collaborative and conflict behaviors, especially with children behaviors as previous literature suggests. To that end, we collected an audiovisual corpus of children performing collaborative tasks together in groups of three. Through automatic turn-taking analyses, our results showed that speaker changes with overlaps are more common than without overlaps and children seemed to show smoother turn-taking patterns, i.e., less frequent and longer lasting speaker changes, during collaborative than conflict behaviors.
L'informatique : une technique assimilée par les jeunes générations

En juin 1998, environ 46 % des Français déclaraient savoir se servir d’un micro-ordinateur. Cette compétence est bien plus répandue chez les enfants, les adolescents et les jeunes adultes que dans les générations des parents et des grands-parents. À côté de cet effet de génération, d’autres facteurs influent sur la compétence en informatique : toutes choses égales par ailleurs, savoir se servir d’un ordinateur est plus fréquent chez les « cols blancs » que chez les « cols bleus », chez les gens ayant fait des études que chez les autres, chez les actifs que chez les personnes au foyer. Si les adultes qui savent aujourd’hui se servir d’un ordinateur ont généralement découvert l’informatique sur leur lieu de travail, c’est au cours de la scolarité que les jeunes se familiarisent avec cet outil. Ceux qui savent se servir d’un ordinateur ont souvent l’occasion de mettre en pratique cette compétence : en juin 1998, un sur deux se servait d’un ordinateur tous les jours, hors du domicile (école, bureau, locaux d’une association.).
Physiological and morphological correlates of among-individual variation in standard metabolic rate in the leopard frog Rana pipiens

SUMMARY Rates of standard metabolism (SMR) are highly variable among individuals within vertebrate populations. Because SMR contributes a substantial proportion of an individual's energy budget, among-individual variation in this trait may affect other energetic processes, and potentially fitness. Here, we examine three potential proximate correlates of variation in SMR: organ mass, serum T4 thyroxine and relative mitochondrial content, using flow cytometry. Body-mass-adjusted kidney mass correlated with SMR, but liver, heart, small intestine and gastrocnemius did not. Thyroxine correlated with SMR, as did mitochondrial content. These results suggest several novel proximate physiological and morphological mechanisms that may contribute to among-individual variation in SMR. Variation in SMR may be maintained by diverse environmental conditions. Some conditions, such as low resource availability, may favor individuals with a low SMR, through small organ size, or low thyroxine or mitochondrial content. Other conditions, such as high resource availability, may favor individuals with a high SMR, through large organ size, or high thyroxine or mitochondrial content.
Faint arc-minute extended radio emission around Cygnus X-3

Aims. We revisit the vicinity of the microquasar Cygnus X-3 at radio wavelengths. We aim to improve our previous search for possible associated extended radio features/hot spots in the position angle of the Cygnus X-3 relativistic jets focusing on shorter angular scales than previously explored. Methods. Our work is mostly based on analyzing modern survey and archive radio data, mainly including observations carried out with the Very Large Array and the Ryle Telescopes. We also used deep near-infrared images that we obtained in 2005. Results. We present new radio maps of the Cygnus X-3 field computed after combining multi-configuration Very Large Array archive data at 6 cm and different observing runs at 2 cm with the Ryle Telescope. These are probably among the deepest radio images of Cygnus X-3 reported to date at cm wavelengths. Both interferometers reveal an extended radio feature within a few arc-minutes of the microquasar position, thus making our detection more credible. Moreover, this extended emission is possibly non-thermal, although this point still needs confirmation. Its physical connection with the microquasar is tentatively considered under different physical scenarios. We also report on the serendipitous discovery of a likely Fanaroff-Riley type II radio galaxy only $3^{\prime}$ away from Cygnus X-3.
Mesh denoising based on differential coordinates

In this paper, we propose a novel triangle mesh denoising method based on the differential coordinates. The proposed approach consists of the application of the mean filter to differential coordinates of the mesh and the reconstruction of mesh vertices' Cartesian coordinates to make them fit to the modified differential coordinates. The presented method is simple, stable and able to effectively remove large noise. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed Mesh Mean Filter does not cause surface shrinkage and shape distortion during the denoising process, and preserves geometric detail features to a certain extent.
Efficiency, Economic and Environmental Assessment of Ground Source Heat Pumps in Central Pennsylvania

The energy use of a ground-source heat pump (GSP) for heating, cooling and hot water in a Central Pennsylvania residence (namely, the author's house) is analyzed, compared to a simulation of electricity and a heating-oil furnace (with electric cooling) for these same energy uses. Energy demands for space conditioning in the house are simulated by building a model of the house using the Transient Energy System Simulation (TNRSYS) tool. Overall, the efficiency gain for the ground-source heat pump compared to electricity is 43% for cooling and 81% for heating. For home heating and hot water, the ground-source heat pump has a 42% efficiency gain over a fuel-oil furnace. The system modeled in this paper has a payback period of between four and five years compared to an all-electric system. The payback period compared to a hybrid system of fuel-oil heat and electric cooling is between two and three years.
A Linear Camera Self-calibration Approach from Four Points

In this paper a new approach for obtaining the intrinsic camera parameters based on circular points is proposed. This method just requires the camera to observe a planar pattern with square at a few different unknown orientations (at least three). With the image of four corner points of square we can obtain the image of circular points (ICPs) linearly. Without conic fitting, pattern matching and metric information of square, camera intrinsic parameters can be obtained automatically. This method is particularly useful for those people who want to get camera intrinsic parameters fast with relative high precision. Simulation and real planar pattern experiment show that the new approach is convenient, accurate and robust.
Compiler Parallelization Techniques for Tiled Multicore Processors

Recently, tiled multicore processors have been proposed as a solution to provide both performance and scalability. Unlike conventional multicore processors, tiled microprocessors provide on-chip networks to exploit fine-grained parallelism. However, the performance of tiled microprocessors largely depends on compilers because of their relatively simple hardware; exploitation of parallelism, communication between cores, memory locality, and load balancing are all managed by a compiler. Thus, the compiler design is very important in tiled multicore processors. In this paper, we explore previously proposed compiler parallelization techniques for tiled processors, focusing on the exploitation of fine-grained parallelization. We also investigate future research directions in this area.
Evidence for association of schizophrenia with genetic variation in the 8p21.3 gene, PPP3CC, encoding the calcineurin gamma subunit

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by a complex mode of inheritance. Forebrain-specific CNB knockout mice display a spectrum of behavioral abnormalities related to altered behaviors observed in schizophrenia patients. To examine whether calcineurin dysfunction is involved in schizophrenia etiology, we undertook studies of an initial subset of calcineurin-related genes, prioritizing ones that map to loci previously implicated in schizophrenia by linkage studies. Transmission disequilibrium studies in a large sample of affected families detected association of the PPP3CC gene, which encodes the calcineurin γ catalytic subunit, with disease. Our results identify PPP3CC, located at 8p21.3, as a potential schizophrenia susceptibility gene and support the proposal that alterations in calcineurin signaling contribute to schizophrenia pathogenesis.
Art-of-Living: A Model and the Development of the Art-of-Living Questionnaire (AOLQ)

How should I live my life in order to gain satisfaction in my personal life? The modern industrial world proposes technical innovations, global exchange, media, and increasingly reduced moral standards as answer to this question and offers an endless number of lifestyle options promising personal satisfaction. However, as for the philosophers in the past, questions such as “how to lead a good life” and “what is the essence of art-of-living” are still prominent in all layers of society and modern lifestyles. We developed a theoretical psychological model for art-of-living, which is based on philosophical considerations and combines philosophic elements with human resources and individual strategies. We then used this model to develop a questionnaire measuring art-of-living, which we validated based on the data from 224 individuals. In total, 22 scales including 4 items each were assessed. Evaluations showed that the AOLQ outcome predicts participant well-being measured with the “Subjective Happiness Scale” (SHS). In addition, we also found correlations with specific personality characteristics (“Big Five Inventory”, BFI-K). Very good psychometric properties could be shown for the AOLQ – e.g., high internal consistency and factorial validation as well as convergent, predictive, and incremental validity. Our results also indicate that optimism, romantic relationships, enthusiasm, learning, and partnership/family are important aspects of individuals’ art-of-living. Further revision of the AOLQ resulted in a practical tool that can also be used to create individual profiles of the art-of-living components.
A Game with Many Purposes : Improving Information Retrieval Through Pleasurable Competition

Besides an obvious instrumental motivation, people often engage in information seeking because it is pleasurable. Recent projects by major search engine companies bear this out. For many people, finding information is fun. This paper describes a system that is currently under development whose design is predicated on this idea. The system is both a collaborative information seeking environment and an interactive game. The game has two goals: it supports collaborative information retrieval while aiming to help its players become more skillful users of IR systems in general.
The Crossover Process: Learnability and Data Protection from Inference Attacks

It is usual to consider data protection and learnability as conflicting objectives. This is not always the case: we show how to jointly control inference --- seen as the attack --- and learnability by a noise-free process that mixes training examples, the Crossover Process (cp). One key point is that the cp~is typically able to alter joint distributions without touching on marginals, nor altering the sufficient statistic for the class. In other words, it saves (and sometimes improves) generalization for supervised learning, but can alter the relationship between covariates --- and therefore fool measures of nonlinear independence and causal inference into misleading ad-hoc conclusions. For example, a cp~can increase / decrease odds ratios, bring fairness or break fairness, tamper with disparate impact, strengthen, weaken or reverse causal directions, change observed statistical measures of dependence. For each of these, we quantify changes brought by a cp, as well as its statistical impact on generalization abilities via a new complexity measure that we call the Rademacher cp~complexity. Experiments on a dozen readily available domains validate the theory.
A Phase II Study of Adjuvant Therapy with Anti-B 4-blocked Ricin after Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation for Patients with Relapsed B-Cell Non-Hodgkin ’ s Lymphoma 1

This Phase II trial was undertaken to determine the safety, toxicity, and potential efficacy of the B-cell restricted immunotoxin anti-B4-blocked ricin (Anti-B4-bR) when administered as adjuvant therapy to patients in complete remission (CR) after autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) for B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). Fortynine patients with B-cell NHL in CR 46–202 days (median, 112 days) post-ABMT received Anti-B4-bR at a dose of 30 mg/kg lean body weight/day for 7 days by continuous i.v. infusion. Patients were eligible for up to two additional courses of therapy at 14-day intervals. A total of 83 courses of Anti-B4-bR were administered, with 31 patients receiving two or more courses of therapy. The mean serum level on day 7 of the first course was 0.776 0.41 nM. Reversible toxicities included hepatic transaminase elevations, thrombocytopenia, myalgias, fatigue, nausea, hypoalbuminemia, and dyspnea. Human antimouse antibody (HAMA) and/or human antiricin antibody (HARA) responses occurred in 23 patients at a median of 22 days from the initiation of AntiB4-bR therapy (range, 11–100 days). The 4-year disease-free survival and overall survival are estimated at 56 and 72%, respectively. Twenty-six patients remain in CR after a median follow-up of 54.5 months. This study demonstrates that Anti-B4-bR can be administered safely to patients as adjuvant therapy early after ABMT for B-cell NHL. The toxicities are tolerable and reversible. Although the early estimate of disease-free survival was very encouraging in this single-armed trial, the 4-year follow-up data demonstrate continued relapse.
STRUCTURAL RELIABILITY ANALYSIS USING FUZZY SETS THEORY ANALIZA NIEZAwOdNOśCIOwA kONSTRUkCjI

Prediction of structural performance is a complex problem because of the existence of randomness and fuzziness in engineering practice. In this area, reliability analyses have been performed using probabilistic methods. This work investigates reliability analysis of structure involving fuzziness and randomness. In particular, the safety state of the structure is defined by a fuzzy state variable, fuzzy random allowable interval, or fuzzy random generalized strength. Because the membership function of the fuzzy safety state is the key to structural reliability analysis using the fuzzy sets theory, this work proposes useful methods to determine the membership functions and develops a structural reliability analysis method based on the fuzzy safety state. Several examples are provided to illustrate the proposed methods.
Orbital current mode in elliptical quantum dots

An orbital current mode peculiar to deformed quantum dots is theoretically investigated; first by using a simple model that allows to interpret analytically its main characteristics, and second, by numerically solving the microscopic equations of time evolution after an initial perturbation within the time-dependent local-spin-density approximation. Results for different deformations and sizes are shown.