Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Privacy APIs: access control techniques to analyze and verify legal privacy policies

There is a growing interest in establishing rules to regulate the privacy of citizens in the treatment of sensitive personal data such as medical and financial records. Such rules must be respected by software used in these sectors. The regulatory statements are somewhat informal and must be interpreted carefully in the software interface to private data. This paper describes techniques to formalize regulatory privacy rules and how to exploit this formalization to analyze the rules automatically. Our formalism, which we call privacy APIs, is an extension of access control matrix operations to include (1) operations for notification and logging and (2) constructs that ease the mapping between legal and formal language. We validate the expressive power of privacy APIs by encoding the 2000 and 2003 HIPAA consent rules in our system. This formalization is then encoded into Promela and we validate the usefulness of the formalism by using the SPIN model checker to verify properties that distinguish the two versions of HIPAA
Registration-by-regression of coronary CTA and X-ray angiography

We evaluate the integration of 3D preoperative computed tomography angiography of the coronary arteries with intraoperative 2D X-ray angiographies by a recently proposed novel registration-by-regression method. The method relates image features of 2D projection images to the transformation parameters of the 3D image. We compared different sets of features and studied the influence of preprocessing the training set. For the registration evaluation, a gold standard was developed from eight X-ray angiography sequences from six different patients. The alignment quality was measured using the 3D mean target registration error (mTRE). The registration-by-regression method achieved moderate accuracy (median mTRE of 15 mm) on real images. It does therefore not provide yet a complete solution to the 3D–2D registration problem but it could be used as an initialisation method to eliminate the need for manual initialisation.
Personality and coping as moderators of work stress processes: Models, methods and measures

Abstract This article reviews the role of individual differences in work stress processes, with particular reference to personality and coping as moderator variables. Vulnerability/resilience and person-environment fit (congruence) models of moderator effects are contrasted and relevant issues of methodology and analysis are outlined. Personality traits (locus of control, hardiness, Type A, optimism, and neuroticism) that act as moderators of stress/strain relations are reviewed; the characteristics and limitations of available measures are described. Associations between personality and coping, inventories for the assessment of coping, and the dimensions of coping behaviour, are then considered. The implications of structural and transactional models of stress for coping assessment are discussed with reference to dispositional versus situational approaches and other psychometric issues. The need for research into coping flexibility and consistency is emphasized. No attempt is made to provide a comprehens.
Applying the Helmholtz illusion to fashion: horizontal stripes won't make you look fatter

A square composed of horizontal lines appears taller and narrower than an identical square made up of vertical lines. Reporting this illusion, Hermann von Helmholtz noted that such illusions, in which filled space seems to be larger than unfilled space, were common in everyday life, adding the observation that ladies' frocks with horizontal stripes make the figure look taller. As this assertion runs counter to modern popular belief, we have investigated whether vertical or horizontal stripes on clothing should make the wearer appear taller or fatter. We find that a rectangle of vertical stripes needs to be extended by 7.1% vertically to match the height of a square of horizontal stripes and that a rectangle of horizontal stripes must be made 4.5% wider than a square of vertical stripes to match its perceived width. This illusion holds when the horizontal or vertical lines are on the dress of a line drawing of a woman. We have examined the claim that these effects apply only for 2-dimensional figures in an experiment with 3-D cylinders and find no support for the notion that horizontal lines would be ‘fattening’ on clothes. Significantly, the illusion persists when the horizontal or vertical lines are on pictures of a real half-body mannequin viewed stereoscopically. All the evidence supports Helmholtz's original assertion.
Joint use of Overlap FDE and STTD for MC-CDMA Downlink Transmission

Recently, multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) has been attracting much attention for the next generation mobile communications systems. Using frequency-domain equalization based on minimum mean square error criterion (MMSE-FDE), the frequency diversity effect can be obtained and improved bit error rate (BER) performance can be obtained. Antenna diversity is an effective technique to further improve the BER performance. Space-time transmit diversity (STTD) is suitable for the downlink transmission. Recently, overlap FDE that requires no guard interval (GI) insertion are presented. Combining STTD decoding and overlap FDE is not straightforward. In this paper, we propose STTD decoding for the MC-CDMA transmission using overlap FDE and then, its BER performance is evaluated by computer simulation.
Beyond the Border: A Comparative Literature Review on Communication Practices for Agile Global Outsourced Software Development Projects

Software development is increasingly heading in the direction of combining agile software development practices and outsourcing software development to external vendors worldwide. The resulting agile global outsourced software development (AGOSD) projects are characterized by applying agile methods to distributed environments, which results in several problems for collaboration and coordination. Specifically, communication between the project participants has been found to be a major challenge in distributed environment. Therefore, our study investigates the problem of improving communication in distributed settings by identifying suitable communication practices for usage within AGOSD projects. Based on an extensive literature review, our study (1) provides an overview of adequate practices for usage in AGOSD and (2) points out differences to traditional communication practices of agile software development (ASD) projects used in collocated, non-distributed environments.
The Discourse of the Middle Ground

In this study, Foucauldian theory is used to interpret a corporate social report published by the Royal Dutch/Shell Group to reveal the contours of an emerging corporate discourse of sustainability and the knowledge-power dynamics entailed by social reporting. The report could be read simply as a corporate attempt to reestablish discursive regularity and hegemonic control in the wake of challenges by environmentalists and human rights activists. However, the author interprets it in the context of the larger sociopolitical discursive struggle over environment and social justice and finds that Shell’s “embrace” of the concept of sustainable development has transforming effects on the company and on the notion of sustainability itself. This contradictory and ambiguous result is characteristic of discursive struggle, which is where, according to Foucault, power is played out and social change occurs.
Deep brain stimulation of anteromedial globus pallidus interna for severe Tourette's syndrome.

OBJECTIVE Multiple anatomical targets for deep brain stimulation (DBS) have been proposed for the treatment of severe Tourette's syndrome. In this open study, the authors evaluated the effectiveness of DBS of the anteromedial globus pallidus interna on tic severity and common comorbidities. METHOD Eleven patients (eight of them men, mean age=39 years) with severe and medically intractable Tourette's syndrome underwent implantation of Medtronic quadripolar electrodes in the globus pallidus interna bilaterally. The primary outcome measure was the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale. Secondary outcome measures included the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, the Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome-Quality of Life Scale, and the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale. Follow-up occurred at 1 month and then at a mean of 14 months after surgery (range=4-30 months). RESULTS Ten patients (91%) reported improvement in tic severity soon after DBS. Overall, there was a 48% reduction in motor tics and a 56.5% reduction in phonic tics at final follow-up. Six patients (54.5%) had a more than 50% reduction, sustained for at least 3 months, in Yale Global Tic Severity Scale score. Only two patients required ongoing pharmacotherapy for tics after surgery, and patients improved significantly on all secondary measures. One patient did not tolerate DBS and discontinued treatment after 3 months. Greater anxiety in two patients and hardware malfunction in three patients were noteworthy adverse outcomes. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest anteromedial globus pallidus interna DBS for Tourette's syndrome is an effective and well-tolerated treatment for a subgroup of patients with severe Tourette's syndrome.
Prognostic value of preoperative von Willebrand factor plasma levels in patients with Glioblastoma

Circulating biomarker for malignant gliomas could improve both differential diagnosis and clinical management of brain tumor patients. Among all gliomas, glioblastoma (GBM) is considered the most hypervascularized tumor with activation of multiple proangiogenic signaling pathways that enhance tumor growth. To investigate whether preoperative antigen plasma level of von Willebrand Factor (VWF:Ag) might be possible marker for GBM onset, progression, and prognosis, we retrospectively examined 57 patients with histological diagnosis for GBM and 23 meningiomas (MNGs), benign intracranial expansive lesions, enrolled as controls. Blood samples were collected from all the patients before tumor resection. Plasma von Willebrand Factor (VWF):Ag levels were determined by using a latex particle‐enhanced immunoturbidimetric assay. The median levels of vWF:Ag were significantly higher in GBMs than in meningiomas (MNGs) (183 vs. 133 IU/dL, P = 0.01). The cumulative 1‐year survival was significantly shorter in patients with VWF:Ag levels >200 IU/dL than in those with levels <200 IU/dL and increased VWF levels were associated with a threefold higher risk of death in GBM patients. Our data suggest that VWF:Ag could be a circulating biomarker of disease malignancy, that could be considered, in association with other genetic and epigenetic factors, currently available in the GBM management. Future studies should investigate whether plasma VWF:Ag levels could also be used to monitor therapeutic effects and whether it may have a prognostic value.
Object Recognition Algorithm Utilizing Graph Cuts Based Image Segmentation

This paper concentrates on designing an object recognition algorithm utilizing image segmentation. The main innovations of this paper lie in that we convert the image segmentation problem into graph cut problem, and then the graph cut results can be obtained by calculating the probability of intensity for a given pixel which is belonged to the object and the background intensity. After the graph cut process, the pixels in a same component are similar, and the pixels in different components are dissimilar. To detect the objects in the test image, the visual similarity between the segments of the testing images and the object types deduced from the training images is estimated. Finally, a series of experiments are conducted to make performance evaluation. Experimental results illustrate that compared with existing methods, the proposed scheme can effectively detect the salient objects. Particularly, we testify that, in our scheme, the precision of object recognition is proportional to image segmentation accuracy
Analytical Modeling of Wind Farms: A New Approach for Power Prediction

Wind farm power production is known to be strongly affected by turbine wake effects. The purpose of this study is to develop and test a new analytical model for the prediction of wind turbine wakes and the associated power losses in wind farms. The new model is an extension of the one recently proposed by Bastankhah and Porte-Agel for the wake of stand-alone wind turbines. It satisfies the conservation of mass and momentum and assumes a self-similar Gaussian shape of the velocity deficit. The local wake growth rate is estimated based on the local streamwise turbulence intensity. Superposition of velocity deficits is used to model the interaction of the multiple wakes. Furthermore, the power production from the wind turbines is calculated using the power curve. The performance of the new analytical wind farm model is validated against power measurements and large-eddy simulation (LES) data from the Horns Rev wind farm for a wide range of wind directions, corresponding to a variety of full-wake and partial-wake conditions. A reasonable agreement is found between the proposed analytical model, LES data, and power measurements. Compared with a commonly used wind farm wake model, the new model shows a significant improvement in the prediction of wind farm power.
Iatrogenic hypocalcaemia during parenteral fluid therapy of diarrhoeic calves

Acid-base balance and electrolyte concentrations, including ionised calcium, were monitored during intravenous fluid therapy of 1 1 collapsed diarrhoeic suckler calves aged five to 10 days. Six healthy calves of similar age and type were used to provide control data. All the diarrhoeic calves were severely acidotic (TCO2<12 mmol/litre). Isotonic sodium bicarbonate (1.3 per cent) was administered until the metabolic acidosis was half corrected, as indicated by the TCO2 increasing to 17 to 24 mmol/litre when the infusion was changed to an extracellular volume replacement fluid containing 144 mmol/litre Na+, 35 mmol/litre HCO-3, 4 mmol/litre K+ and 113 mmol/litre Cl- which was administered until the calf was discharged. Milk feeding was started as soon as the calf had a suck reflex. The treatment was successful in 10 calves. At admission the diarrhoeic calves were hypocalcaemic compared with the control calves, but their ionised calcium was significantly higher, with significantly less calcium being protein bound. Treatment with isotonic sodium bicarbonate resulted in a significant improvement in acid-base balance, but both total and ionised calcium decreased significantly, the decrease in ionised calcium being proportionately greater owing partly to a significant increase in the protein binding of calcium. The mean total, bound and ionised calcium concentrations were all significantly lower in the treated calves after they had received isotonic sodium bicarbonate than in the control calves. Further treatment with replacement fluid had no significant effect on any of the parameters apart from pCO2 which increased significantly. Milk feeding had no significant effect on plasma calcium concentrations. The calves' mean ionised calcium concentration was significantly lower at the end of the treatment than before it, but there was no difference in the mean total and bound calcium concentrations. The calves' mean plasma potassium and magnesium concentrations decreased significantly during the course of the treatment.
Germination and allometry of the native palm tree Euterpe edulis compared to the introduced E. oleracea and their hybrids in Atlantic rainforest.

Palms are distinctive plants of tropics and have peculiar allometric relations. Understanding such relations is useful in the case of introduced species because their ability to establish and invade must be clarified in terms of their responses in the new site. Our purpose was to assess the survival and invasive capacity of an introduced palm species in the Atlantic rainforest, Euterpe oleracea Mart. , compared to the native Euterpe edulis Mart. and to the hybrids produced between the two species. Considering this, we compared the allometry in different ontogenetic stages, the germination rates, and aspects of the initial development. The ontogenetic stages proposed for both Euterpe illustrated the growth patterns described for palm trees. E. oleracea and hybrids adjusted to the geometric similarity allometric model, while E. edulis presented a slope greater than would be expected considering this model, indicating a greater height for a given diameter. E. oleracea showed the same amount of pulp per fruit as E. edulis and a similar initial development of seedlings. The main differences observed were a lower germination rate and a faster height gain of E. oleracea seedlings. We conclude that E. oleracea, which is similar to E. edulis in aspects of allometry, development, seed and seedling morphology, may be an important competitor of this native palm tree in the Atlantic Forest.
Reset compensation applied on industrial heat exchangers

This work aims at improving the control of an industrial heat exchanger used in the thermal treatment in food industry. The goal is to investigate the potentials of a hybrid compensator previously developed by the authors, the PI+CI reset compensator, in the robust control when significant uncertainty is present. To this end, a PI+CI compensator has been designed by using a two step method: firstly, a base robust PI compensator is tuned by using the Quantitative Feedback Theory to satisfy (robust) relative stability and tracking specifications; and secondly, a partial reset action is added to the lineal PI compensator to improve transitory response. Finally, the reset conditions are simply modified in the PI+CI compensator to overcome the effect of the dominant time delay over the reset action, through the introduction of a reset band which can have fixed or variable values along the time.
Folded Fields as the Source of Extreme Radio-Wave Scattering in the Galactic Center

A strong case has been made that radio waves from sources within about half a degree of the Galactic center undergo extreme diffractive scattering. However, problems arise when standard ("Kolmogorov") models of electron density fluctuations are employed to interpret the observations of scattering in conjunction with those of free-free radio emission. Specifically, the outer scale of a Kolmogorov spectrum of electron density fluctuations is constrained to be so small that it is difficult to identify an appropriate astronomical setting. Moreover, an unacceptably high turbulent heating rate results if the outer scale of the velocity field coincides with that of the density fluctuations. We propose an alternative model based on folded magnetic field structures that have been reported in numerical simulations of small-scale dynamos. Nearly isothermal density variations across thin current sheets suffice to account for the scattering. There is no problem of excess turbulent heating, because the outer scale for the velocity fluctuations is much larger than the widths of the current sheets. We speculate that interstellar magnetic fields could possess geometries that reflect their origins: fields maintained by the Galactic dynamo could have large correlation lengths, whereas those stirred by local energetic events might exhibit folded structures.
Phase II study of gemcitabine plus 5-fluorouracil biologically modulated by folinic acid plus long-acting formulation of octreotide (LAR) in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

PURPOSE To investigate the efficacy and toxicity of gemcitabine, in combination with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) biologically modulated by folinic acid (FA) plus a somatostatin analogue (octreotide acetate-long acting formulation-LAR) that can both inhibit the action of several growth factors and angiogenesis, in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS Thirty-two patients with advanced symptomatic pancreatic cancer with measurable disease and median age 64 years (range 50-72) received the following combination: 5-FU, given at 350 mg/m(2) i.v. bolus, biologically modulated by FA 350 mg/m(2) on days 1, 2, 8 and 9; and gemcitabine, given by short i.v. infusion at 1000 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8. The regimen was administered every 3 weeks. LAR 30 mg was given intramuscularly every 4 weeks. RESULTS Objective tumor response was documented in 7 out of 32 evaluable patients (all partial responses-PR), yielding a 22% response rate (RR) (95% CI 10.5-35). Sixteen (50%) patients (95% CI 31.4-60.8) remained with stable disease (SD), while 9 (28%) patients (95% CI 20.4-48.4) progressed while on chemotherapy. The median response duration (RD) was 7 months (range 4-18). The median time to tumor progression (TTP) was 7 months (range 2-20), while the median survival was 7 months (range 4-29). The probability of surviving beyond 12 months was 20%. Of the 32 patients with tumor-related symptoms who were considered evaluable for clinical benefit response, 25 (78%) had pain improvement, while 14 (44%) experienced weight gain during treatment. In general, performance status improved in 16 (50%) patients during treatment. Serum concentrations of Ca 19-9 were decreased by more than 50% in 14 (44%) of the 32 assessable patients. Chemotherapy was well tolerated with mild myelotoxicity. Gastrointestinal toxicity was moderate with mild mucositis. CONCLUSION The combination of gemcitabine and 5-FU/FA plus LAR 30 was well tolerated and showed a moderate antitumor activity and a significant palliative effect on tumor-related symptoms. It would be interesting to evaluate in a randomized study the impact of octreotide administration on the palliative effect of the regimen.
Experience, Introspection, and Expertise: Learning to Reene the Case-based Reasoning Process* Experience, Introspection, and Expertise: Learning to Reene the Case-based Reasoning Process

The case-based reasoning paradigm models how reuse of stored experiences contributes to expertise. In a case-based problem-solver, new problems are solved by retrieving stored information about previous problem-solving episodes and adapting it to suggest solutions to the new problems. The results are then themselves added to the reasoner's memory in new cases for future use. Despite this emphasis on learning from experience, however, experience generally plays a minimal role in models of how the case-based reasoning process is itself performed. Case-based reasoning systems generally do not re ne the methods they use to retrieve or adapt prior cases, instead relying on static pre-de ned procedures. The thesis of this article is that learning from experience can play a key role in building expertise by re ning the case-based reasoning process itself. To support that view and to illustrate the practicality of learning to re ne case-based reasoning, this article presents ongoing research into using introspective reasoning about the case-based reasoning process to increase expertise at retrieving and adapting stored cases.