Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Egocentric distance judgments in a large screen display immersive virtual environment

People underestimate egocentric distances in head-mounted display virtual environments, as compared to estimates done in the real world. Our work investigates whether distances are still compressed in a large screen display immersive virtual environment, where participants are able to see their own body surrounded by the virtual environment. We conducted our experiment in both the real world using a real room and the large screen display immersive virtual environment using a 3D model of the real room. Our results showed a significant underestimation of verbal reports of egocentric distances in the large screen display immersive virtual environment, while the distance judgments of the real world were closer to veridical. Moreover, we observed a significant effect of distances in both environments. In the real world closer distances were slightly underestimated, while further distances were slightly overestimated. In contrast to the real world in the virtual environment participants overestimated closer distances (up to 2.5m) and underestimated distances that were further than 3m. A possible reason for this effect of distances in the virtual environment may be that participants perceived stereo cues differently when the target was projected on the floor versus on the front of the large screen.
Elevated concentrations of cardiac troponins are associated with severe coronary artery calcification in asymptomatic haemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND Elevated concentrations of cardiac biomarkers, such as troponins and natriuretic peptides, have been shown to be predictive of poorer long-term cardiovascular outcomes in stable patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). However, little is known about the relationship between elevated concentrations of these cardiac markers and underlying coronary artery pathology in these patients. The aim of the present study was to investigate associations between coronary artery calcification (CAC) and the concentrations of cardiac biomarkers in ESRD patients. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study of 38 asymptomatic patients (median age, 54 years; 26 males, 12 females; diabetic, 39%) who were undergoing chronic haemodialysis. In these patients, pre-dialysis circulating concentrations of cardiac troponin T (cTnT), cardiac troponin I (cTnI), creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) were measured. We quantified the level of CAC by multirow spiral computed tomography to obtain a CAC score. CAC scores > or = 400 were defined as being indicative of severe CAC. RESULTS Severe CAC was detected in 17 patients (45%). The degree of CAC severity was positively associated (P < 0.05) with cTnT concentrations. Thus, 15% of patients had severe CAC in the lowest tertile of cTnT, 50% had severe CAC in the middle third, and 69% in the highest third. Similarly, the degree of severity of CAC was positively associated (P < 0.01) with cTnI concentrations across concentration categories. In contrast, there was no association between the degree of CAC severity and the concentrations of either BNP or CK-MB. A logistic regression analysis revealed that elevated concentrations of cTnT (> or = median vs <median, P < 0.05) and cTnI (> or = 0.1 ng/ml vs <detection limit, P < 0.05) were independently associated with severe CAC after adjusting for age, duration of dialysis, diabetes and previous cardiovascular events. CONCLUSIONS Elevated concentrations of cTnT and cTnI, but not BNP or CK-MB, were independently associated with the degree of severity of CAC in asymptomatic haemodialysis patients.
Nonlinear Output Feedback H∞-Tracking Control of a 3-DOF Underactuated Helicopter

Abstract Nonlinear H ∞ -control synthesis is developed to solve the tracking control problem to induce periodic behavior in a 3-DOF underactuated helicopter prototype. Due to the nature of the approach, the proposed controller yields the desired robustness properties against unknown bounded external disturbances. Stabilizability and detectability properties of the control system are ensured by the existence of proper solutions of the corresponding differential Riccati equations. Virtual constraints approach for motion planning is considered prior the controller design in order to achieve the control goal. Performance issues of the proposed controller are illustrated via numerical simulations.
Some topological and geometric properties of pseudozero set

The pseudozero set of a polynomial p is the set of complex numbers that are roots of polynomials which are near to p. This is a powerful tool to analyze the sensitivity of roots with respect to perturbations of the coecients. Some applications in algebraic computation and robust control theory have been proposed recently. In this paper, we establish some topological and geometric properties of the pseudozero set such as boundedness, compactness and convexity.
Strength of Holocaust Survivors

An important problem in trauma research concerns the resources enabling survival after traumatic events and subsequent adaptation. The aim of this study was to describe psychological factors allowing Holocaust survivors to stay alive during the war and to adapt in the postwar period. Participants in the study were 89 Jews who had survived the Holocaust in Poland and Romania. The method used in the study was a qualitative analysis of interviews. The survivors emphasized the role of life optimism, social support, an ability to establish interpersonal contacts, and a sense that there their situation was comprehensible and manageable even under extremely adverse conditions.
The Activity Profile of Young Tennis Athletes Playing on Clay and Hard Courts: Preliminary Data

Abstract The aim of this study was to compare the kinematic characteristics of tennis matches between red clay and hard courts in young tennis players. Eight young tennis players performed two tennis matches on different court surfaces. The match activities were monitored using GPS units. The distance covered in different velocity ranges and the number of accelerations were analyzed. The paired t test and inference based on magnitudes were used to compare the match physical performance between groups. The total distance (24% of difference), high-intensity running distance (15 - 18 km/h) (30% of difference), the number of high-intensity activities (44% of difference), the body load (1% of difference), and accelerations >1.5 g (1.5-2 g and >2 g 7.8 and 8.1 % of difference, respectively) were significantly greater in clay court than hard court matches (p < 0.05). Matches played on the red clay court required players to cover more total and high-intensity running distances and engage in more high-intensity activities than the matches played on the hard court. Finally, on the clay court the body load and the number of accelerations performed (>1.5 g) were possibly higher than on the hard court.
An ultrawideband CMOS low-noise amplifier for 3.1-10.6-GHz wireless receivers

An ultrawideband 3.1-10.6-GHz low-noise amplifier employing an input three-section band-pass Chebyshev filter is presented. Fabricated in a 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS process, the IC prototype achieves a power gain of 9.3 dB with an input match of -10 dB over the band, a minimum noise figure of 4 dB, and an IIP3 of -6.7 dBm while consuming 9 mW.
Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of the Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor Tenofovir and Prophylactic Efficacy against HIV-1 Infection

Antiviral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) through daily drug administration can protect healthy individuals from HIV-1 infection. While PrEP was recently approved by the FDA, the potential long-term consequences of PrEP implementation remain entirely unclear. The aim of this study is to predict the efficacy of different prophylactic strategies with the pro-drug tenofovir-disoproxil-fumarate (TDF) and to assess the sensitivity towards timing- and mode of TDF administration (daily- vs. single dose), adherence and the number of transmitted viruses. We developed a pharmacokinetic model for TDF and its active anabolite tenofovir-diphosphate (TFV-DP) and validated it with data from 4 different trials, including 4 distinct dosing regimes. Pharmacokinetics were coupled to an HIV model and viral decay following TDF mono-therapy was predicted, consistent with available data. Subsequently, a stochastic approach was used to estimate the % infections prevented by (i) daily TDF-based PrEP, (ii) one week TDF started either shortly before, or -after viral exposure and (iii) a single dose oral TDF before viral challenge (sd-PrEP). Analytical solutions were derived to assess the relation between intracellular TFV-DP concentrations and prophylactic efficacy. The predicted efficacy of TDF was limited by a slow accumulation of active compound (TFV-DP) and variable TFV-DP half-life and decreased with increasing numbers of transmitted viruses. Once daily TDF-based PrEP yielded 80% protection, if at least 40% of pills were taken. Sd-PrEP with 300 mg or 600 mg TDF could prevent 50% infections, when given at least before virus exposure. The efficacy dropped to 10%, when given 1 h before 24 h exposure. Efficacy could not be increased with increasing dosage or prolonged administration. Post-exposure prophylaxis poorly prevented infection. The use of drugs that accumulate more rapidly, or local application of tenofovir gel may overcome the need for drug administration long before virus exposure.
Scalable Coding of Depth Maps With R-D Optimized Embedding

Recent work on depth map compression has revealed the importance of incorporating a description of discontinuity boundary geometry into the compression scheme. We propose a novel compression strategy for depth maps that incorporates geometry information while achieving the goals of scalability and embedded representation. Our scheme involves two separate image pyramid structures, one for breakpoints and the other for sub-band samples produced by a breakpoint-adaptive transform. Breakpoints capture geometric attributes, and are amenable to scalable coding. We develop a rate-distortion optimization framework for determining the presence and precision of breakpoints in the pyramid representation. We employ a variation of the EBCOT scheme to produce embedded bit-streams for both the breakpoint and sub-band data. Compared to JPEG 2000, our proposed scheme enables the same the scalability features while achieving substantially improved rate-distortion performance at the higher bit-rate range and comparable performance at the lower rates.
Perceived access to fruits and vegetables associated with increased consumption

Abstract Objective To examine the association between fruit and vegetable access in the community and change in fruit and vegetable consumption among participants in community-based health promotion programmes. Design Fruit and vegetable consumption and perceived access to fresh fruit and vegetables were measured by self-administered questionnaires at programme start, end and 1-year follow-up. Community produce availability was determined by grocery store assessments measuring the display space devoted to fruit and vegetable offerings, as well as price, variety and freshness. A total of nine communities were studied; 130 participants completed the fruit and vegetable portions of the questionnaires and could be linked to grocery store assessments. Results Participants made modest but significant increases in fruit and vegetable consumption from programme start to end: the average increase was 2·88 (95 % CI 1·52, 4·25) servings weekly; the average increase from start to follow-up was 2·52 (95 % CI 1·09, 3·95) servings weekly. Greater perceived access to fruits and vegetables was significantly associated with higher increases in fruit and vegetable consumption from programme start to programme end. Greater availability of produce was associated with greater increases in fruit and vegetable servings from programme start to programme end as measured by store assessments. Conclusions Environmental factors, such as access to fruits and vegetables, can modify the effects of community interventions. Interventions with the goal of increasing fruit and vegetable consumption should consider focusing on increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables in target communities. Similarly, researchers may want to study access as an intervention, not just a contextual variable.
Distributed Multiuser Scheduling for Improving Throughput of Wireless LAN

In wireless LANs, the performance of CSMA/CA might be degraded by several problems: (i) severe collisions in the uplink, (ii) head-of-line problem caused by fading in the downlink, and (iii) serious unfairness between uplink and downlink. In this paper, a distributed multiuser scheduling (DMUS) scheme is proposed to simultaneously address these problems. In DMUS, a node (i) computes its normalized SNR (signal to noise ratio) as the ratio of its instantaneous SNR to its average SNR, and (ii) contends via a contention window (CW) for the channel to initiate its uplink or downlink transmission when its normalized SNR is greater than a threshold. The contribution is threefold: (i) All three problems are solved in a unified framework by applying multiuser diversity in both uplink and downlink. Fresh SNR is exploited for distributed scheduling meanwhile airtime fairness is retained. (ii) SNR threshold and CW are jointly optimized to maximize throughput, taking into account time-variant link quality, collision probability and protocol overhead. (iii) Network performance is theoretically analyzed. Extensive simulations confirm that DMUS greatly improves total throughput under almost all scenarios compared with both the contention-based CSMA/CA scheme and the contention-free PCF scheme.
Error analysis of boundary condition approximations in the modeling of coaxially‐gated carbon nanotube field‐effect transistors

In the modeling of carbon nanotube field‐effect transistors, non‐physical boundary conditions are often employed at the borders of the simulation space. This paper investigates the consequences of imposing these boundary conditions on common geometries, and proposes solutions which reduce the error without compromising simulation efficiency. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Throughput Improvement of High Density Wireless Personal Area Networks

Throughput is the key parameter used to estimate the quality of service of the Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). Energy efficiency and security are the important parameters to be addressed after network achieves required level of quality of service. Many research papers have been published on the subject of energy efficiency, but the throughput of the Wireless Personal Area Networks has not been extensively investigated. In this paper, we focus on throughput improvement of Low Rate WPANs. The IEEE 802.15. 4 Low Rate WPAN standard is designed for short range wireless communication based on low power consumption and low cost. In these networks, the communication capacity is limited by the low hardware specifications of the sensor nodes such as limited memory capacity and low processing speed. The authors attempt to address the low memory capacity problem in this paper. Due the exponential growth in the Low Rate WPAN applications in the consumer field, high density networks are most commonly in place. In high density wireless networks, congestion occurs at Cluster Heads (CH) and at the coordinator. As a result of this, some of the packets are dropped and the network throughput is degraded. The authors propose Rate Adjustment Algorithm (RAA) to avoid the congestion at the coordinator. The RAA monitors the buffer occupancy level at the coordinator and informs the current status of the buffer occupancy level to the transmitting nodes and cluster heads using a modified beacon frame. Based on the current buffer occupancy level, the transmitting nodes will either decrease their data transmission rate to reduce the congestion at the coordinator, or increase the data transmission rate to avoid the underutilization of the network. In both the cases, the throughput will be improved. The simulation results show a 31% improvement in throughput with the proposed algorithm RAA.
Automated Expected Output Generation: Is this a Problem that has been solved?

What is the importance of automated test data generation? This question is of concern for the entire software community. We want to know the meaning and usefulness of automated test data generation. Is it related to design of test cases or execution of already designed test cases or both? How can we generate expected output using automated test data generation technique? This is a weak area and limits the applicability of automated testing. The test case creation, execution and evaluation are three distinct activities. The execution and evaluation of test cases can be easily automated, but creation needs expected output that is difficult to automate due to its dependency on functionality of the program. This paper addresses the significance of techniques and tools available for automated test data generation. In this work, we analyze and assess the existing techniques for automated expected output generation and discuss the practical significance of these techniques.
Gazing and Frowning to Computers Can Be Enjoyable

The present aim is to introduce first results of a new wearable prototype called Face Interface. The prototype was developed to carry both a video-based wearable eye tracker for pointing and a capacitive facial movement detector for selecting objects on a computer screen. The functionality of the prototype was evaluated in a controlled laboratory conditions in pointing and selecting tasks with three target diameters and three pointing distances. Also subjective ratings about the use of the device in interaction were collected. Participants achieved a mean pointing task time of 2.5 seconds with the prototype. This was improved to 1.2 seconds on average when the wearable eye tracker of the prototype was substituted by a commercial desktop eye tracker. The results revealed that target selection using the Face Interface prototype followed the Fitts' law with correlation of r = 0.76. The participants rated the use of the prototype as enjoyable, fast and accurate.
Community Service in the Transition: Shifts and Continuities in Participation from High School to College

This study investigates shifts in community service participation from high school to college in a sample of 6,491 members of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) cohort who were surveyed two years out of high school. Two theories informed the inquiry: social participation theory distinguishes between core and segmental volunteers, while transition theory emphasizes the importance of personal, social, and contextual resources in managing change.
Disruption of six novel genes from the left arm of chromosome XV of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and basic phenotypic analysis of the generated mutants

Six open reading frames (ORFs) of unknown function from the left arm of Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome XV were deleted in two genetic backgrounds by disruption cassettes with long flanking homology (LFH) (Wach, 1996), within the frame of the research project EUROFAN. The LFH disruption cassettes, obtained by PCR, were made by introducing the kanMX4 marker module between two fragments homologous to the promoter and terminator regions of a given ORF. Transformants resistant to geneticin (G418) were selected. The LFH disruption cassettes were cloned in a bacterial vector. Each cognate gene was also cloned in a centromeric plasmid. Correct deletion of each gene was verified by four different PCR reactions. Sporulation and tetrad analysis of heterozygous deletants revealed that ORF YOL102c is essential. The non‐growing haploid spores gave rise to microcolonies. Basic phenotypic analyses were performed on haploid deletants of both mating types of the five non‐essential ORFs, YOL018c, YOL098c, YOL101c, YOL104c and YOL105c. Plate growth tests on different media at 15°C, 30°C or 37°C did not reveal any significant differences between parental and mutant cells. Mating and sporulation efficiencies were not affected in any of the viable disruptants as compared to wild‐type cells. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
SWoTSuite: A Development Framework for Prototyping Cross-domain Semantic Web of Things Applications

Semantic Web of Things (SWoT) applications focus on providing a wide-scale interoperability that allows the sharing of IoT devices across domains and the reusing of available knowledge on the web. However, the application development is difficult because developers have to do various tasks such as designing an application, annotating IoT data, interpreting data, and combining application domains. To address the above challenges, this paper demonstrates SWoTSuite, a toolkit for prototyping SWoT applications. It hides the use of semantic web technologies as much as possible to avoid the burden of designing SWoT applications that involves designing ontologies, annotating sensor data, and using reasoning mechanisms to enrich data. Taking inspiration from sharing and reuse approaches, SWoTSuite reuses data and vocabularies. It leverages existing technologies to build applications. We take a hello world naturopathy application as an example and demonstrate an application development process using SWoTSuite. The demo video is available at URL: this http URL
Using the Language of NIMBY: A topic for research, not an activity for researchers

During the 1990s the social scientific literature on local opposition to proposed developments has moved from a focus on individual motives to a concern with the social causes and significance of such protest. However, the language of NIMBYism is still widely used by researchers. Drawing on data from a case study of local responses to a proposed new road the central role that the language of NIMBY plays within siting disputes is illustrated, and it is concluded that academics interested in understanding the dynamics and process of local development disputes might usefully study participants' use of NIMBY, but should distance themselves from the activity of attributing NIMBYism to certain parties. In addition those concerned with managing, mediating or resolving local disputes should also steer clear of the language of NIMBY and engage with the diversity and complexity of local concerns and interests.
LIGHT AND ELECTRON MICROSCOPE STUDIES OF MYCOBACTERIUM-MYCOBACTERIOPHAGE INTERACTIONS II

In the previous experiments (Takeya et al., 1959b) the interactions of Mycobacterium avium with mycobacteriophage B-1 were studied by cyttilogical techniques, and the latent period of the B-1 phage infecting the host cell was determined under the conditions used in the preparation for electron microscopy. The present paper deals with the results of experiments on the interactions of mycobacteriophage B-1 with Mycobacterium avium as revealed by electron microscopy.