Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integrating risk management activities into requirements engineering

Software projects are often faced with unanticipated problems caused by e.g. changes in the development environment resulting in delays or threatening the ability of the project to succeed. Managing these uncertainties is a challenging task at all phases of the development, but nevertheless crucial in controlling schedule and costs. Therefore software development risks need to be controlled as early as possible. As software development risks are not merely of technical nature it is equally important to tackle non-technical risks. The paper presents a goal-driven software development risk management model (GSRM) that takes a holistic view on development, taking both technical and non-technical development components into consideration. The focus of the paper is on how to integrate GSRM and particularly the holistic risk perspective into requirements engineering. GSRM effectively identifies and makes explicit the critical project goals (for arriving at a successful project) and the risk factors that may obstruct these goals. GSRM also helps in planning how to employ control actions for mitigating risks and by that increase the ability to meet project goals. The integrated requirements engineering risk management model has been applied to an on-going development project in a low-cost development environment (Bangladesh). The result showed it to be relatively trivial to integrate the model into requirements engineering activities and that the model did indeed contribute to the overall project success.
Correlative intravital imaging of cGMP signals and vasodilation in mice

Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) is an important signaling molecule and drug target in the cardiovascular system. It is well known that stimulation of the vascular nitric oxide (NO)-cGMP pathway results in vasodilation. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics of cGMP signals themselves and the cGMP concentrations within specific cardiovascular cell types in health, disease, and during pharmacotherapy with cGMP-elevating drugs are largely unknown. To facilitate the analysis of cGMP signaling in vivo, we have generated transgenic mice that express fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based cGMP sensor proteins. Here, we describe two models of intravital FRET/cGMP imaging in the vasculature of cGMP sensor mice: (1) epifluorescence-based ratio imaging in resistance-type vessels of the cremaster muscle and (2) ratio imaging by multiphoton microscopy within the walls of subcutaneous blood vessels accessed through a dorsal skinfold chamber. Both methods allow simultaneous monitoring of NO-induced cGMP transients and vasodilation in living mice. Detailed protocols of all steps necessary to perform and evaluate intravital imaging experiments of the vasculature of anesthetized mice including surgery, imaging, and data evaluation are provided. An image segmentation approach is described to estimate FRET/cGMP changes within moving structures such as the vessel wall during vasodilation. The methods presented herein should be useful to visualize cGMP or other biochemical signals that are detectable with FRET-based biosensors, such as cyclic adenosine monophosphate or Ca2+, and to correlate them with respective vascular responses. With further refinement and combination of transgenic mouse models and intravital imaging technologies, we envision an exciting future, in which we are able to “watch” biochemistry, (patho-)physiology, and pharmacotherapy in the context of a living mammalian organism.
Statistical Validation of the Relationships of Cancer Pain Relief With Various Factors Using Ordered Logistic Regression Analysis

Objective To clarify the relationships of cancer pain with various factors that prevent pain control statistically. Methods The participants were 71 terminal cancer patients admitted to the Department of Hematology/Oncology or Department of Gastroenterology/Hepatology, University Hospital, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine in whose pain control a pharmacist was involved as part of her clinical duties from January 2004 to November 2006. The effectiveness of pain control was evaluated using a 5-point verbal rating scale (0=excellent, 1=good, 2=moderate, 3=poor, and 4=very poor) by interviewing the patients. As pain was rated using a graded scale and as many factors were involved in pain, analysis was performed using ordered logistic regression analysis. Moreover, prediction of an optimal model was performed by leave-one-out cross-validation to eliminate unnecessary variables. A program to perform leave-one-out cross-validation by ordered logistic regression analysis was prepared, independent variables used in the model were increased one by one, and calculation was performed in all combinations. Then, the optimal model was predicted by calculating the percent accuracy of predictions and Spearman rank correlation coefficient. Results Nausea [odds ratio (OR)=1.948, P=0.0232], sex (OR=2.322, P=0.0030), and bone metastasis (OR=2.367, P=0.0017) remained as variables significantly correlated with pain when the number of independent variables was 5, and sex (OR=2.167, P=0.006) and bone metastasis (OR=2.093, P=0.005) remained when the number of variables was 6. Discussion The statistical identification of factors preventing pain control is considered to contribute to the establishment of an evidence-based approach to cancer pain relief.
Workload Prediction Using ARIMA Model and Its Impact on Cloud Applications’ QoS

As companies shift from desktop applications to cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) applications deployed on public clouds, the competition for end-users by cloud providers offering similar services grows. In order to survive in such a competitive market, cloud-based companies must achieve good quality of service (QoS) for their users, or risk losing their customers to competitors. However, meeting the QoS with a cost-effective amount of resources is challenging because workloads experience variation overtime. This problem can be solved with proactive dynamic provisioning of resources, which can estimate the future need of applications in terms of resources and allocate them in advance, releasing them once they are not required. In this paper, we present the realization of a cloud workload prediction module for SaaS providers based on the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model. We introduce the prediction based on the ARIMA model and evaluate its accuracy of future workload prediction using real traces of requests to Web servers. We also evaluate the impact of the achieved accuracy in terms of efficiency in resource utilization and QoS. Simulation results show that our model is able to achieve an average accuracy of up to 91 percent, which leads to efficiency in resource utilization with minimal impact on the QoS.
Household debt and credit constraints: comparative micro evidence from four OECD countries

Household debt levels have increased substantially over the last decade, both in terms of the total amount outstanding and relative to incomes. At the same time, household debt portfolios became more diversified. While such qualitative observations apply to many OECD countries, the betweencountry differences remain very stark and are empirically more important than changes over time within any country. This paper uses micro data from four OECD countries (the United States, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands), to assess the determinants of household debt holding and to investigate whether or not credit constraints are important for household debt holding. We extend the existing literature in important ways. First, we present comparative evidence for four countries at the micro level, where we rely on household panel data for two countries; we are thus able to control for unobserved heterogeneity via individual household effects and to track changes in household behaviour over time. Second, by making data across countries as comparable as possible, we can explore the importance of the differences in institutional settings for debt incidence, debt outstanding and credit constraints. We also explore the implications for debt holding from consumption models, including a numerically solved precautionary savings model. We find that inter-country differences are substantial and remain even after controlling for a host of observable characteristics. This points to institutional differences between the countries being important.
On the Influence of Confounding Factors in Multisite Brain Morphometry Studies of Developmental Pathologies: Application to Autism Spectrum Disorder

Pooling data acquired on different MR scanners is a commonly used practice to increase the statistical power of studies based on MRI-derived measurements. Such studies are very appealing since they should make it possible to detect more subtle effects related to pathologies. However, the influence of confounds introduced by scanner-related variations remains unclear. When studying brain morphometry descriptors, it is crucial to investigate whether scanner-induced errors can exceed the effect of the disease itself. More specifically, in the context of developmental pathologies such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD), it is essential to evaluate the influence of the scanner on age-related effects. In this paper, we studied a dataset composed of 159 anatomical MR images pooled from three different scanners, including 75 ASD patients and 84 healthy controls. We quantitatively assessed the effects of the age, pathology, and scanner factors on cortical thickness measurements. Our results indicate that scan pooling from different sites would be less fruitful in some cortical regions than in others. Although the effect of age is consistent across scanners, the interaction between the age and scanner factors is important and significant in some specific cortical areas.
A Design Framework for High-Density Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks Achieving Cooperative Diversity

In this paper, we present a systematic design structure for high-density ad hoc networks aimed at achieving full cooperative diversity, based on which the PHY, MAC and Network layers of the system are specifically tailored. For the latter in particular, we present a cooperative routing protocol that is capable of exploiting full transmit diversity in adhoc networks. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the substantial performance gain in terms of increased packet delivery reliability over high-throughput scenarios and reduced system delay, achieved by the cooperative diversity attained using a virtual MIMO system architecture.
Collaboration and “Visibility” of Health Research in the Western Pacific Region

Using more than 3.5 million bibliographic references in Thomson ISI Web of Science (health-related articles, notes, and reviews) and a broad definition of health (covering related social, medical, environmental, and physical sciences) research production, collaboration patterns and “visibility” of that production for largest producers in the Western Pacific Region of the World Health Organization are estimated for the 1992-2001 period. Two findings are of particular interest in relation to the production of relevant knowledge on health topics and equity in the access to this knowledge. The first is that intraregional collaboration is low and that large regional producers of research (ie, Japan, Australia, China, etc) collaborate more with high-income countries from other regions than among themselves within the region, or with smaller regional research producers. The second one is that “visibility” of health research in the region is relatively low, even for high-income countries. High “visibility” research is mostly done with the involvement, through collaboration, of extra-region high-income countries. Collaboration between low-income or middle-income countries is mostly in low “visibility” research.
OBPRM: an obstacle-based PRM for 3D workspaces

Recently, a new class of randomized path planning methods, known as Probabilistic Roadmap Methods (prms) have shown great potential for solving complicated high-dimensional problems. prms use randomization (usually during preprocessing) to construct a graph of representative paths in C-space (a roadmap) whose vertices correspond to collision-free con gurations of the robot and in which two vertices are connected by an edge if a path between the two corresponding con gurations can be found by a local planning method.
Disruption of nodal architecture in skin biopsies of patients with demyelinating neuropathies

Cutaneous nerves represent the most distal part of the sensory nervous system. We took advantage of the good discernibility of longitudinal myelinated fibers in skin biopsies to analyze the distribution of nodal and paranodal proteins in neuropathies and to assess nodal disorganization as a diagnostic marker of demyelinating neuropathy (NP). We analyzed myelinated nerve fibers in skin biopsies from the finger and the proximal leg of 52 prospectively recruited patients with different peripheral neuropathies and 17 controls. We performed immunohistochemical double labeling with anti‐MBP, anti‐PGP9.5, anti‐caspr, anti‐pan‐neurofascin, and anti‐pan‐sodium‐channel. Three potential features of demyelinating NP could be established: elongated nodes of Ranvier and dispersion of contactin‐associated protein (caspr) staining were found more often in demyelinating than in axonal neuropathies (p < 0.05) and were not detectable in normal controls. Broadening of neurofascin staining was detectable more often in demyelinating neuropathies compared with normal controls (p < 0.05). Our data suggest that pathological changes of nodal architecture can be visualized in skin biopsies and that the detection of elongated nodes of Ranvier and alterations in the distribution of paranodal proteins may be useful in the diagnostic assessment of peripheral NP.
Query efficiency in probabilistic XML models

Various known models of probabilistic XML can be represented as instantiations of abstract p-documents. Such documents have, in addition to ordinary nodes, distributional nodes that specify the probabilistic process of generating a random document. Within this abstraction, families of pdocuments, which are natural extensions and combinations of previous models, are considered. The focus is on efficiency of applying twig queries (with projection) to p-documents. A closely related issue is the ability to (efficiently) translate a given document of one family into another family. Furthermore, both of these tasks have two variants that correspond to the value-based and object-based semantics. The translation relationships among different families of p-documents are studied. An efficient algorithm for evaluating twig queries over one specific family is given. This algorithm generalizes a known algorithm and significantly improves its running time, both analytically and experimentally. It is shown that this family is the maximal, among the ones considered, for which query evaluation is tractable. For the rest, efficient approximate algorithms for query evaluation are presented.
Allowing for missing outcome data and incomplete uptake of randomised interventions, with application to an Internet-based alcohol trial

Missing outcome data and incomplete uptake of randomised interventions are common problems, which complicate the analysis and interpretation of randomised controlled trials, and are rarely addressed well in practice. To promote the implementation of recent methodological developments, we describe sequences of randomisation‐based analyses that can be used to explore both issues. We illustrate these in an Internet‐based trial evaluating the use of a new interactive website for those seeking help to reduce their alcohol consumption, in which the primary outcome was available for less than half of the participants and uptake of the intervention was limited.
Design of a Wideband Highly Directive EBG Antenna Using Double-Layer Frequency Selective Surfaces and Multifeed Technique for Application in the Ku-Band

We have shown in previous works that the use of double-layer frequency selective surface (FSS) in the superstrate of an electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) antenna provides a radiation bandwidth improvement. Nevertheless, such an antenna is still not directive enough for some applications. To increase its gain, the antenna will be fed using the multisource feeding technique. This principle is applied to design a wideband highly directive antenna operating in the Ku-band. When the radiation bandwidth corresponding to the realized gain is equal to 14% for a maximal gain of 22.5 dB, 17% of radiation bandwidth is obtained for a maximal directivity of 23 dB.
Real-Time Inference of Complex Mental States from Facial Expressions and Head Gestures

This paper presents a system for inferring complex mental states from video of facial expressions and head gestures in real-time. The system is based on a multi-level dynamic Bayesian network classifier which models complex mental states as a number of interacting facial and head displays, identified from component-based facial features. Experimental results for 6 mental states groups- agreement, concentrating, disagreement, interested, thinking and unsure are reported. Real-time performance, unobtrusiveness and lack of preprocessing make our system particularly suitable for user-independent human computer interaction.
Magnetic Trapping of Neutral Particles: A Study of a Physically Realistic Model

We study, both classically and quantum-mechanically, the problem of a neutral particle with spin S, mass m and magnetic moment mue, moving in two-dimensions in an inhomogeneous magnetic field given by B_x=B'*x; B_y=-B'*y; B_z=B; We identify K, the ratio between the precessional frequency of the particle and its vibration frequency, as the relevant parameter of the problem. Classicaly, we find that when the magnetic moment is antiparallel to B, the particle is trapped provided that K<sqrt{4/27}. We also find that viscous friction, be it translational or precessional, destabilizes the system. Quantum-mechanically, we study the problem of spin S=h_bar/2 particle in the same field. Treating K as a small parameter for the perturbation from the adiabatic Hamiltonian, we find that the lifetime T_esc of the particle in its trapped ground-state is T_esc={T_vib}/{128 pi^2} * exp{2/K} where T_vib is the classical period of the particle when placed in the adiabatic potential V=mue *|B(x,y)|
Effect of Permethrin-Impregnated Nets on Exiting Behavior, Blood Feeding Success, and Time of Feeding of Malaria Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Western Kenya

Abstract The impact of permethrin-treated bednets on the feeding and house entering/exiting behavior of malaria vectors was assessed in two studies in western Kenya. In one study, matched pairs of houses were allocated randomly to receive bednets or no bednets. Exiting mosquitoes were collected in Colombian curtains hung around half of each house; indoor resting mosquitoes were collected by pyrethrum spray catches. The number of Anopheles gambiae Giles and An. arabiensis Patton estimated to have entered the houses was unaffected by the presence of bednets; Anopheles funestus Giles was less likely to enter a house if bednets were present. Anopheles gambiae and An. funestus were less likely to obtain a blood meal and significantly more likely to exit houses when bednets were present. No difference was detected in An. arabiensis rates of blood feeding and exiting. In a second experiment, hourly night biting collections were done on 13 nights during the rainy season to assess whether village-wide use of permethrin-treated bednets caused a shift in the time of biting of malaria vectors. A statistically significant shift was detected in the biting times of An. gambiae s.l. , although the observed differences were small. No change was observed in the hourly distribution of An. funestus biting. Our study demonstrated that, at least in the short-term, bednets reduced human-vector contact and blood feeding success but did not lead to changes in the biting times of the malaria vectors in western Kenya.
Supporting SQL-3 Aggregations in Distributed Environments : Towards System Suport for Grid-Based Data Mining

Mining data from remote data repositories holds great promise for many scientific and commercial applications. One big challenge in this area is the complexity of developing efficient distributed data mining implementations. Though there have been many efforts on supporting data mining tasks using high-level queries (e.g., SQL extensions), none of these apply for parallel and distributed data mining. This paper takes a preliminary step in this direction. Specifically, we describe a system for executing SQL-3 like queries over data stored as flat-files in remote repositories. A relational table-based virtual view is supported on these flat-file datasets. The class of queries we consider involve data retrieval using Select and Where clauses, and processing with user-defined aggregate functions and group-bys. As demonstrated by projects such as ATLAS, such a dialect can express many of the popular data mining algorithms. We describe an early prototype of this system, and evaluate it using two scientific data analysis applications.
Yuzu: Publishing Any Data as Linked Data

Linked data is one of the most important methods for improving the applicability of data, however most data is not in linked data formats and raising it to linked data is still a significant challenge. We present Yuzu, an application that makes it easy to host legacy data in JSON, XML or CSV as linked data, while providing a clean interface with advanced features. The ease-of-use of this framework is shown by its adoption for a number of existing datasets including WordNet.
Properties of an Intergenic Terminator and Start Site Switch That Regulate IMD2 Transcription in Yeast

ABSTRACT The IMD2 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is regulated by intracellular guanine nucleotides. Regulation is exerted through the choice of alternative transcription start sites that results in synthesis of either an unstable short transcript terminating upstream of the start codon or a full-length productive IMD2 mRNA. Start site selection is dictated by the intracellular guanine nucleotide levels. Here we have mapped the polyadenylation sites of the upstream, unstable short transcripts that form a heterogeneous family of RNAs of ≈200 nucleotides. The switch from the upstream to downstream start sites required the Rpb9 subunit of RNA polymerase II. The enzyme's ability to locate the downstream initiation site decreased exponentially as the start was moved downstream from the TATA box. This suggests that RNA polymerase II's pincer grip is important as it slides on DNA in search of a start site. Exosome degradation of the upstream transcripts was highly dependent upon the distance between the terminator and promoter. Similarly, termination was dependent upon the Sen1 helicase when close to the promoter. These findings extend the emerging concept that distinct modes of termination by RNA polymerase II exist and that the distance of the terminator from the promoter, as well as its sequence, is important for the pathway chosen.