Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Mechanism Design Approach for Coordination of Thermostatically Controlled Loads with User Preferences

This paper focuses on the coordination of a population of thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs) with unknown parameters to achieve group objectives. The problem involves designing the device bidding and market clearing strategies to motivate self-interested users to realize efficient energy allocation subject to a peak energy constraint. This coordination problem is formulated as a mechanism design problem, and we propose a mechanism to implement the social choice function in dominant strategy equilibrium. The proposed mechanism consists of a novel bidding and clearing strategy that incorporates the internal dynamics of TCLs in the market mechanism design, and we show it can realize the team optimal solution. A learning scheme is proposed to address the unknown load model parameters. Numerical simulations are performed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed coordination framework.
Kin Support among Blacks and Whites: Race and Family Organization

This article addresses two central debates in the scholarship on black families: the disorganization versus superorganization debate and the culture versus structure debate. Focusing on kin support as a measure of family integration and using the National Survey of Families and Households (1992-1994), this article challenges the assumptions about black and white families in both debates. It shows that blacks and whites have different patterns of kin support involvement. Whereas blacks are more involved in practical support (help with transportation, household work, and child care), whites report greater involvement in financial and emotional kin support. This article also shows that gender is crucial for understanding racial differences. Black men and white men are very much alike, whereas there are many significant differences between black women and white women. Furthermore, in understanding kin support, diversity within racial groups appears to matter more than race itself. Social structure explains most of the racial differences in kin support, though cultural differences between whites and blacks do exist and help to explain kin support.
Finding and Exploring Health Information with a Slider-Based User Interface

Despite the fact that search engines are the primary channel to access online health information, there are better ways to find and explore health information on the web. Search engines are prone to problems when they are used to find health information. For instance, users have difficulties in expressing health scenarios with appropriate search keywords, search results are not optimised for medical queries, and the search process does not account for users' literacy levels and reading preferences. In this paper, we describe our approach to addressing these problems by introducing a novel design using a slider-based user interface for discovering health information without the need for precise search keywords. The user evaluation suggests that the interface is easy to use and able to assist users in the process of discovering new information. This study demonstrates the potential value of adopting slider controls in the user interface of health websites for navigation and information discovery.
Footprint-based Quadruped Motion Synthesis

This paper applies trajectory based optimization techniques to the synthesis of quadruped motions The animator speci es hard constraints consisting of footprint locations and their timings and soft con straints that encode both physically plausible beha vior and the notion of comfortable positions By deal ing rst and foremost with the spline trajectories rep resenting the gross motion of the quadruped the res ulting optimization problem can be solved e ciently and robustly Results include walking jumping and galloping quadrupeds
Brief-term counseling with sexually abused girls: the impact of sex of counselor on clients' therapeutic involvement, self-concept, and depression

Two overlapping studies were conducted with sexually abused girls referred to a university outpatient clinic for 6 sessions of psychoeducationally based individual counseling in which participants were alternately assigned to either male or female counselors. Ratings of videotaped segments of 21 girls' in-session behavior revealed no significant effect for sex of counselor, although a significant improvement was found in girls' participation in counseling across the 6 treatment sessions.
The Test Anxiety Inventory for Children and Adolescents (TAICA)

The Test Anxiety Inventory for Children and Adolescents (TAICA) is a new multidimensional measure used to assess test anxiety in elementary and secondary school students. The TAICA is a 45-item self-report measure consisting of a Total Test Anxiety scale, four debilitating test anxiety subscales (Cognitive Obstruction/Inattention, Physiological Hyperarousal, Social Humiliation, and Worry), a facilitating test anxiety scale (Performance Enhancement/ Facilitation Anxiety), and a Lie scale. In the present study, the psychometric properties of the TAICA scores are examined with a volunteer sample of 206 children and adolescents. Results of the study indicate that the TAICA scores have strong to very strong internal consistency reliability and temporal stability (1- to 3-week test-retest interval). Evidence supporting the construct validity of the TAICA scores was found.
A Stellar Gyroscope for Small Satellite Attitude Determination

A stellar gyroscope is a star based attitude propagator that is capable of propagating a spacecraft’s attitude in three degrees of freedom by tracking the motion of the stars in an imager's field of view. The modeling and algorithm development has been done by the Space Systems Laboratory at the University of Kentucky. This paper discusses a realization of the stellar gyroscope concept on a CubeSat attitude determination and control system (ADCS) designed by SSBV Space & Ground Systems UK. The stellar gyroscope can be used to measure attitude changes from a known initial condition without drift while sufficient stars are common across frames, because absolute attitude changes are measured and not angular rates. Algorithms to perform the star detection, correspondence, and attitude propagation are presented in this paper. The Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) approach is applied to the correspondence problem which is challenging due to spurious false-star detections, missed stars, stars leaving the field of view, and new stars entering the field of view. The CubeSat attitude determination and control system described in this paper uses a stellar gyroscope, implemented using inexpensive optics and sensor, to augment a MEMS gyroscope attitude propagation algorithm to minimize drift in the absence of an absolute attitude sensor. The MEMS device provides the high frequency measurement updates required by the control system, and the stellar gyroscope, at a lower update rate, resets the drift accumulated in the MEMS inertial gyroscope integrator. This in effect could allow sun-sensing satellites to maintain a high quality attitude estimate in eclipse, where the sun sensors can no longer contribute in absolute attitude estimates. This paper describes an algorithm to solve the relative attitude problem by identifying the change in attitude between two star field images. RANSAC is applied to solve the correspondence problem in the presence of false star detections and misses. The camera and attitude determination and control system are described, prototype hardware is used to generate night-sky datasets of known attitude changes to demonstrate the performance of the algorithm, and a simulation is developed to evaluate the stellar gyroscope’s ability in limiting the drift of an attitude propagator based on MEMS gyroscope rates. The CubeSat ADCS system developed by SSBV is an experiment on TechDemoSat-1, to be launched in early 2013.
Long‐term but not short‐term blockade of dopamine release in Drosophila impairs orientation during flight in a visual attention paradigm

Dopamine is a major neuromodulator in both vertebrates and invertebrates and has profound effects on many physiological processes, including the regulation of attention. Most studies of the functions of dopamine use models with long‐term blockade of dopamine release and few effects of transient blockade have yet been reported. The goal of the present study was to determine the role of dopamine in attention‐like behavior in Drosophila by taking advantage of the fly's orientation behavior during flight. The examination of several different transgenic flies in a single‐target visual attention paradigm showed that flies lost their orientation ability if dopamine release was blocked from the beginning of the development of dopaminergic neurons. This is similar to the attention loss in mammals. However, if the blockade of dopamine release was induced during the experimental procedure, flies performed normally. Statistical analysis of the behavioral assessment showed a significant difference between long‐term and transient blockade. Using the RNA interference approach, we generated flies with down‐regulated J‐domain protein, which is a potential cochaperone in synaptic vesicle release, to make an alternative form of long‐term dopamine‐blockade mutant. Behavioral assays revealed that flies with permanent J‐domain protein down‐regulation specifically in dopaminergic neurons have an attention defect similar to that induced by long‐term blockade of dopamine release. Furthermore, dopamine depletion beginning at eclosion also caused an attention deficit. Our results indicate that prolonged but not transient blockade of dopamine release impairs visual attention‐like behavior in Drosophila.
The adaptation and testing of diagnostic and outcome measures for cross-cultural research

Specific symptom presentations as well as patterns of onset, duration, risk and outcome of mental illness have been shown to vary across cultures. Cross cultural research aims to understand the processes which explain these differences in the expression of mental illness. This endeavor can give clues to the etiology of disorders and can provide evidence on whether different societal responses to mental illness affects its course, thus ultimately providing clues to the improvement of treatment. However, cross-cultural research is affected by a number of methodological and substantive issues, namely, the definition of what constitutes a “true” case, the use of culturally sensitive diagnostic tools and the need for evaluating outcomes in the particular context in which they occur. The present paper focuses on these main issues and describes a particular cross-cultural method consisting of obtaining content, semantic, technical, and criterion equivalence. The method has been found successful in achieving the .
The Effect of Excluding Out of Domain Training Data from Supervised Named-Entity Recognition

Supervised named-entity recognition (NER) systems perform better on text that is similar to its training data. Despite this, systems are often trained with as much data as possible, ignoring its relevance. This study explores if NER can be improved by excluding out of domain training data. A maximum entropy model is developed and evaluated twice with each domain in Stockholm-Ume˚a Corpus (SUC), once with all data and once with only in-domain data. For some domains, excluding out of domain training data improves tagging, but over the entire corpus it has a negative effect of less than two percentage points (both for strict and fuzzy matching).
A Position Statement on Optimizing the Role of Oncoplastic Breast Surgery

Objectives: To propose initiatives and actions that could improve access to and outcomes from oncoplastic breast surgery. Methods: The author group met in May 2010 to draft position statements on key unmet needs in oncoplastic breast surgery and how these may be addressed. At a second meeting in December 2010, the statements were voted upon and adjusted as necessary to achieve unanimous agreement. Results: It was agreed that every patient undergoing breast cancer surgery should be assessed by an oncoplastic team capable of offering the full range of surgical options. However, currently, not all women are adequately informed about the surgical options available. Furthermore, levels of multidisciplinary working, standards of care, and levels of surgical training in the full range of breast oncoplastic techniques are suboptimal. Institution-specific guidelines relating to the optimal patient pathway, the definition of clinical standards, and improved education in reconstructive surgery are required. Oncoplastic breast surgery should be offered to all patients, within the context of multidisciplinary teams that include accredited surgeons who consult with each other early in the treatment pathway. These teams should be focused on achieving not just positive oncologic outcomes, but also esthetic outcomes in line with patient wishes, to achieve optimal quality of life. Conclusions: There is a desire within the surgical community to improve patient outcomes by better incorporating oncoplastic procedures into the treatment pathways for breast cancer. These position statements represent the perspectives of a group of European plastic surgeons on the key elements required to achieve this goal.
Matrix-Based Characterization of the Motion and Wrench Uncertainties in Robotic Manipulators

Characterization of the uncertainty in robotic manipulators is the focus of this paper. Based on the random matrix theory (RMT), we propose uncertainty characterization schemes in which the uncertainty is modeled at the macro (system) level. This is different from the traditional approaches that model the uncertainty in the parametric space of micro (state) level. We show that perturbing the system matrices rather than the state of the system provides unique advantages especially for robotic manipulators. First, it requires only limited statistical information that becomes effective when dealing with complex systems where detailed information on their variability is not available. Second, the RMT-based models are aware of the system state and configuration that are significant factors affecting the level of uncertainty in system behavior. In this study, in addition to the motion uncertainty analysis that was first proposed in our earlier work, we also develop an RMT-based model for the quantification of the static wrench uncertainty in multi-agent cooperative systems. This model is aimed to be an alternative to the elaborate parametric formulation when only rough bounds are available on the system parameters. We discuss that how RMT-based model becomes advantageous when the complexity of the system increases. We perform experimental studies on a KUKA youBot arm to demonstrate the superiority of the RMT-based motion uncertainty models. We show that how these models outperform the traditional models built upon Gaussianity assumption in capturing real-system uncertainty and providing accurate bounds on the state estimation errors. In addition, to experimentally support our wrench uncertainty quantification model, we study the behavior of a cooperative system of mobile robots. It is shown that one can rely on less demanding RMT-based formulation and yet meets the acceptable accuracy.
Person-centred Communication: Theory and Practice

Theory: Thinking about people - unique experiences and perceptions of people, specific experiences, the development of the self, unsymbolized experiences, wholeness and self-determination, conditions for facilitation, the process of change. The facilitator's values: Respect, individualizationSelf-determination confidentiality. Putting thinking and values into practice: Dealing with unsymbolized experiences, advanced empathy, immediacy. Some special considerations: Cross-cultural communication - people in conflict, the self of the facilitator.
Combining nonspecificity measures in Dempster–Shafer theory of evidence

In Dempster–Shafer theory (DST) of evidence coexist two types of uncertainty: conflict and nonspecificity. The maximum of entropy is a total uncertainty measure that verifies an important set of properties in this theory. We prove that this function has a fault of sensibility to changes in evidence in situations where only the part of nonspecificity is presented in the uncertainty (uncertainty without conflict), producing no-logical values. We analyse two measures of nonspecificity presented in DST, which have been used as part of total uncertainty measures. We compare their behaviour, focusing on situations where only the part of nonspecificity is presented in the uncertainty. We will see that it makes sense to combine them and use this combination as part of a total uncertainty measure verifying an important set of properties and behaviours. This new total measure has not the mentioned problem of lack of sensitivity to changes in evidence.
Lipoarabinomannan of Mycobacterium: Mannose capping by a multifunctional terminal mannosyltransferase

Biosynthesis of phosphatidylinositol (PI)-containing lipoarabinomannan (LAM) and lipomannan (LM) of Mycobacterium spp. follows a conserved pathway involving multiple membrane-associated, substrate-specific mannosyltransferases (ManTs) responsible for the sequential addition of α-mannopyranosyl (Manp) units donated by decaprenyl-P-Manp on the periplasmic side of the plasma membrane. Because of their receptor-binding and immunomodulatory properties, the α(1→2)-linked di- and tri-Manp motifs that functionalize the nonreducing arabinan termini of LAM (ManLAM) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis are of crucial importance. We now show that the M. tuberculosis ManT, Rv2181, is required for the addition of these α(1→2)-linked Manp residues but also at other locations of the LAM molecule. Structural analyses of the LM and LAM variants produced by a M. tuberculosis Rv2181 knockout mutant revealed the presence of but a single Manp residue on the nonreducing arabinan termini of LAM and also a complete absence of α(1→2)-linked Man branching on the mannan backbones of LM and LAM. A recombinant strain was constructed in ManLAM-deficient Mycobacterium smegmatis that coexpressed Rv2181 and Rv1635c—the ManT responsible for the addition of the first Manp capping residue of ManLAM. Analysis revealed LAM termini fully capped with di- and tri-Manp motifs in addition to α(1→2)Man branching on the mannan backbones of LM and LAM, confirming the involvement of the α(1→2)ManT Rv2181 in the dual role of Man capping and mannan-core branching, and in the process generated a rapidly growing, ManLAM-containing strain, a tool for the study of the role of ManLAM in the pathogenesis of tuberculosis.
SITUATED, EMBODIED AND POLITICAL

This article brings together theories of journalistic objectivity and affectivity in order to discuss their relevance in light of the emergence of citizen journalism. The claim of subjectivity and bias in citizen journalism is discussed and an idea of journalistic subjectivity as affectivity is developed. The article discusses ways in which professional journalism is positioned in relation to engaging subjectivity of citizen journalism—as convergence media, as well as independent forms of knowledge and information sharing. The often political affectivity of citizen journalism is discussed in this article and analysed in a short study.
O significado da anemia falciforme no contexto da 'política racial’ do governo brasileiro 1995-2004

This essay reflects on the social significance of growing interest in sickle cell anemia and other illnesses associated with the black body in Brazil. I explore the discursive network that has taken shape around the disease within the social context of its production. I first summarize anthropologist Melbourne Tapper's analysis of the United States program to fight sickle cell anemia in the 1970s, shortly after blacks attained victories in the civil rights movement. Tapper (1999) argues that one of the consequences of this policy was the creation of a responsible black citizenry. In the late 1990s, the Brazilian government developed a program (Programa de Anemia Falciforme) that counted on the heavy participation of black activists and that also contributed to the formation of a "responsible black community. My argument is that sickle cell anemia becomes much more than an illness to be eradicated. The discourse surrounding it is a powerful element in the process of naturalization of the "black race" (and, by logical and political complement, the "white race") in a country that until recently imagined itself a biologically and culturally hybrid nation.
Application-Driven No-Reference Quality Assessment for Dermoscopy Images With Multiple Distortions

Goal: Dermoscopy images often suffer from blur and uneven illumination distortions that occur during acquisition, which can adversely influence consequent automatic image analysis results on potential lesion objects. The purpose of this paper is to deploy an algorithm that can automatically assess the quality of dermoscopy images. Such an algorithm could be used to direct image recapture or correction. Methods: We describe an application-driven no-reference image quality assessment (IQA) model for dermoscopy images affected by possibly multiple distortions. For this purpose, we created a multiple distortion dataset of dermoscopy images impaired by varying degrees of blur and uneven illumination. The basis of this model is two single distortion IQA metrics that are sensitive to blur and uneven illumination, respectively. The outputs of these two metrics are combined to predict the quality of multiply distorted dermoscopy images using a fuzzy neural network. Unlike traditional IQA algorithms, which use human subjective score as ground truth, here ground truth is driven by the application, and generated according to the degree of influence of the distortions on lesion analysis. Results: The experimental results reveal that the proposed model delivers accurate and stable quality prediction results for dermoscopy images impaired by multiple distortions. Conclusion: The proposed model is effective for quality assessment of multiple distorted dermoscopy images. Significance: An application-driven concept for IQA is introduced, and at the same time, a solution framework for the IQA of multiple distortions is proposed.
Out-Group Flies in the In-Group’s Ointment

People tend to misclassify ambiguous individuals as members of the out-group rather than the in-group. This in-group overexclusion effect (IO effect) is thought to occur because people are motivated to maintain their in-group’s positivity by protecting it from potential out-group intrusions. The present research tested this explanation by asking university students (N = 122) to complete a self-esteem scale and then recall the group memberships of individuals who belonged to minimal groups. Consistent with predictions, participants misassigned significantly fewer individuals to the in-group than to the out-group when the in-group was positive and the out-group was negative but not when these valences were reversed. In addition, self-esteem negatively predicted the IO effect. Alternative explanations of the IO effect are discussed.