Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the use of Three-dimensional Self-Organizing Maps for Visualizing Clusters in Geo-referenced Data

The Self-Organizing Map (SOM) is an artificial neural network that is very effective for clustering via visualization. Ideally, so as produce a good model, the output space dimension of the SOM should match the intrinsic dimension of the data. However, because it is very difficult or even impossible to visualize SOM’s with more than two dimensions, the vast majority of applications use SOM with a regular two-dimensional (2D) grid of nodes. For complex problems, this poses a limitation on the quality of the results obtained. There are no theoretical problems in generating SOMs with higher dimensional output spaces, but the 3D SOMs have met limited success. In this paper we show that the 3D SOM can be used successfully for visualizing clusters in georeferenced data. To overcome the problem of visualizing the 3D grid of units, we start by assigning one primary color (of the RGB color scheme) to each of the three dimensions of the 3D SOM. We then use those colors when representing, on a geographic map, the geo-referenced elements that are mapped to each SOM unit. We then provide a comparison of a 2D and 3D SOM for a concrete problem. The results obtained point to a significant increase in the clustering quality due to use of 3D SOMs.
Long-term follow-up of women institutionalized in childhood: Factors promoting good functioning in adult life.

The early adult functioning of 89 women from inner London who had been reared in residential Children's Homes was compared with that of 41 women sampled from the general population of the same area. The behaviour of both groups had previously been studied in middle childhood by means of standardized questionnaires. The adult assessment comprised detailed standardized interviews with the women and with their spouses, together with systematic observations of mother-child interaction in the home for those with 2–3 1/2-year-old children. The adult outcome of the institution-reared women as a whole was substantially worse than that for the comparison group, but the course of their personality development had been greatly modified by positive school experiences in childhood and by the characteristics of their spouse and marriage in adult life. The institution-reared women in good psychosocial circumstances in adulthood functioned as well as the comparison group women. The findings are interpreted in terms of direct and indirect effects of experiences leading to both continuities and discontinuities in social development.
Comparison and integration of heuristic and statistical models of landslide susceptibility mapping

Heuristic and statistical models are both important models of landslide susceptibility mapping. Experts' Scoring Model (ESM) and Generalized Linear Model (GLM), typical heuristic and statistical models respectively, are adopted to carry out a case study of Shenzhen where landslides are increasingly serious. The outputs of the two models obviously differ in terms of receiver operating characteristic (ROC), susceptibility distribution, information entropy, and prediction efficiency. Two integration methods, one to change the ranks of the factors and the other to change the weights of the factors, are evaluated and the outputs of the integration models appear to be more comprehensive and reasonable than ESM and GLM. This paper will provide a guide to future studies on landslide susceptibility mapping.
Calculation of the Performance of Communication Systems From Measured Oscillator Phase Noise

Oscillator phase noise (PN) is one of the major problems that affect the performance of communication systems. In this paper, a direct connection between oscillator measurements, in terms of measured single-side band PN spectrum, and the optimal communication system performance, in terms of the resulting error vector magnitude (EVM) due to PN, is mathematically derived and analyzed. First, a statistical model of the PN, considering the effect of white and colored noise sources, is derived. Then, we utilize this model to derive the modified Bayesian Cramér-Rao bound on PN estimation, and use it to find an EVM bound for the system performance. Based on our analysis, it is found that the influence from different noise regions strongly depends on the communication bandwidth, i.e., the symbol rate. For high symbol rate communication systems, cumulative PN that appears near carrier is of relatively low importance compared to the white PN far from carrier. Our results also show that 1/f 3 noise is more predictable compared to 1/f 2 noise and in a fair comparison it affects the performance less.
Tumor Suppressor p53 Can Participate in Transcriptional Induction of the GADD45 Promoter in the Absence of Direct DNA Binding

ABSTRACT The GADD45 gene is a growth arrest-associated gene that is induced by certain DNA-damaging agents and other stresses, such as starvation, in all mammalian cells. In addition to a strong p53-binding element in an intronic sequence, we have recently found that p53, while not required or sufficient alone, may contribute to the stress responsiveness of the promoter. Much of the responsiveness was localized to a GC-rich motif in the proximal promoter which contains multiple Egr1 sites and a larger WT1 site; this 20-bp WT1 motif is identical to the WT1-binding site in the PDGF-A gene. In extracts from a human breast carcinoma cell line expressing p53 and WT1, which is known to associate with p53 in vivo, evidence was obtained that these proteins are in a complex that binds this 20-bp element. A combination of p53 and WT1 expression vectors strongly induced a GADD45-reporter construct, while mutation of the WT1-Egr1 site in the promoter prevented this induction. Abrogation of p53 function by a dominant-negative vector or abrogation of WT1 function by an antisense vector markedly reduced the induction of this promoter. Since p53 does not bind directly to the promoter, these results indicate that p53 can contribute to the positive regulation of a promoter by protein-protein interactions.
Increasing Secretion of a Bivalent Anti-T-Cell Immunotoxin by Pichia pastoris

ABSTRACT The bivalent anti-T-cell immunotoxin A-dmDT390-bisFv(G4S) was developed for treatment of T-cell leukemia and autoimmune diseases and for tolerance induction for transplantation. This immunotoxin was produced extracellularly in toxin-sensitive Pichia pastoris JW102 (Mut+) under control of the AOX1 promoter. There were two major barriers to efficient immunotoxin production, the toxicity of the immunotoxin for P. pastoris and the limited capacity of P. pastoris to secrete the immunotoxin. The immunotoxin toxicity resulted in a decrease in the methanol consumption rate, cessation of cell growth, and low immunotoxin productivity after the first 22 h of methanol induction. Continuous cell growth and continuous immunotoxin secretion after the first 22 h of methanol induction were obtained by adding glycerol to the methanol feed by using a 4:1 methanol-glycerol mixed feed as an energy source and by continuously adding a yeast extract solution during methanol induction. The secretory capacity was increased from 22.5 to 37 mg/liter by lowering the induction temperature. A low temperature reduced the methanol consumption rate and protease activity in the supernatant but not cell growth. The effects of adding glycerol and yeast extract to the methanol feed were synergistic. Adding yeast extract primarily enhanced methanol utilization and cell growth, while adding glycerol primarily enhanced immunotoxin production. The synergy was further enhanced by decreasing the induction temperature from 23 to 15°C, which resulted in a robust process with a yield of 37 mg/liter, which was sevenfold greater than the yield previously reported for a toxin-resistant CHO cell expression system. This methodology should be applicable to other toxin-related recombinant proteins in toxin-sensitive P. pastoris.
Sparse distributed observers with nonlinear interconnections

This paper considers a nonlinear distributed observer for state estimation in a large scale network of linear time invariant systems, interconnected by time varying nonlinear coupling terms. The network observer is built from distinct sub-observers which employ local (i.e node level information) but which exchange their state estimates with neighbouring observers mirroring the interconnection structure of the system itself. The objective is to use only a small number of measurements at certain nodes within the network, to reduce the sensors which are required, and yet to estimate the entire state of the network. This may be viewed as the dual to the more well known and studied controller pinning problem. The proposed approach is demonstrated with a numerical example.
Image Set Compression with Content Adaptive Sparse Dictionary

Image compression plays more and more important role in image processing. Image sparse coding with learned over-complete dictionaries shows promising results on image compression by representing images with dictionary atoms compactly. Within the sparse coding based compression framework, a sparse dictionary is ﬁrst learned from training images in a predefined image library, and then an image is compressed by representing its non- overlapping image patches as linear combination of very few dictionary atoms, which is called sparse coding. In this paper, we proposed a content adaptive sparse dictionary for image set compression based on sparse coding. For a set of similar images to be compressed, first we divided image patches into DC and AC components. For the AC components, a clustering algorithm is used to get cluster centers. Then a content adaptive dictionary will be learned according to each cluster center. We compared our method with RLS- DLA method and JPEG method to validate the performance of our method, and experimental results show that our method outperforms the comparing methods at high bitrate.
A Resource Scheduling Strategy for Intrusion Detection on Multi-core Platform

As network becomes faster, there is an emergence need for parallel intrusion detection techniques to keep up with the rapid increase in link speed. Resource scheduling plays a key role in parallel detection schemes. Its primary function is to assist a parallel network-based intrusion detection system (NIDS) to achieve high performance in network environment. In this paper, we introduce an abstract NIDS model and a related new resource scheduling strategy on multi-core platform. This strategy provides a resource configuration scheme by comprehensively considering many performance metrics. Preliminary examples demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach and present a first experimental evaluation.
Talking to Godot: dialogue with a mobile robot

Godot is a mobile robot platform that serves as a testbed for the interface between a sophisticated low-level robot navigation and a symbolic high-level spoken dialogue system. The interesting feature of this combined system is that information flows in two directions: (1) the navigation system. supplies landmark; information from the cognitive map used for the interpretation of the user's utterances in the dialogue system; and (2) the semantic content of utterances analysed by the dialogue system are used to adjust probabilities about the robot's position in the navigation system.
Mining common topics from multiple asynchronous text streams

Text streams are becoming more and more ubiquitous, in the forms of news feeds, weblog archives and so on, which result in a large volume of data. An effective way to explore the semantic as well as temporal information in text streams is topic mining, which can further facilitate other knowledge discovery procedures. In many applications, we are facing multiple text streams which are related to each other and share common topics. The correlation among these streams can provide more meaningful and comprehensive clues for topic mining than those from each individual stream. However, it is nontrivial to explore the correlation with the existence of asynchronism among multiple streams, i.e. documents from different streams about the same topic may have different timestamps, which remains unsolved in the context of topic mining. In this paper, we formally address this problem and put forward a novel algorithm based on the generative topic model. Our algorithm consists of two alternate steps: the first step extracts common topics from multiple streams based on the adjusted timestamps by the second step; the second step adjusts the timestamps of the documents according to the time distribution of the discovered topics by the first step. We perform these two steps alternately and a monotone convergence of our objective function is guaranteed. The effectiveness and advantage of our approach were justified by extensive empirical studies on two real data sets consisting of six research paper streams and two news article streams, respectively.
A Method for Measuring Person-Centered Interventions: Detecting and Characterizing Complex Behavioral Symptoms of Persons With Dementia

The past several years have witnessed an upsurge in the focus on person-centered care for several populations, and especially for vulnerable elders with dementia who reside in nursing homes. The limited ability to accurately detect and quantify complex behavioral symptoms of dementia (BSD) patterns has hampered the development and refinement of tailored interventions. This study's purpose was to characterize complex patterns of BSD and examine the association among different BSD patterns and cortisol profiles. Two groups of nursing home residents were analyzed (N = 28, N = 27) using THEME™. Behavioral and cortisol data were collected for four consecutive days. Random effects model was used to characterize BSD trajectories over time. There was a significant difference in BSD between the two groups from late afternoon to early evening. The groups differed significantly in age, comorbidities, antianxiety medication, and the number and complexity of patterns of vocalization and restlessness. THEME™ analysis, a first step in developing and timing person-centered interventions, was able to identify BSD patterns that drove the overall time of day pattern.
The SUPERFAMILY database in 2004: additions and improvements

The SUPERFAMILY database provides structural assignments to protein sequences and a framework for analysis of the results. At the core of the database is a library of profile Hidden Markov Models that represent all proteins of known structure. The library is based on the SCOP classification of proteins: each model corresponds to a SCOP domain and aims to represent an entire superfamily. We have applied the library to predicted proteins from all completely sequenced genomes (currently 154), the Swiss-Prot and TrEMBL databases and other sequence collections. Close to 60% of all proteins have at least one match, and one half of all residues are covered by assignments. All models and full results are available for download and online browsing at http://supfam.org. Users can study the distribution of their superfamily of interest across all completely sequenced genomes, investigate with which other superfamilies it combines and retrieve proteins in which it occurs. Alternatively, concentrating on a particular genome as a whole, it is possible first, to find out its superfamily composition, and secondly, to compare it with that of other genomes to detect superfamilies that are over- or under-represented. In addition, the webserver provides the following standard services: sequence search; keyword search for genomes, superfamilies and sequence identifiers; and multiple alignment of genomic, PDB and custom sequences.
Popular horoscopes and the "Barnum effect."

Summary The following were investigated in a series of studies on 366 college students: (a) individual differences associated with horoscope reading habits, (b) the reliability and validity of daily and monthly horoscope forecasts and astrologically based personality descriptions, and (c) the effects of knowing the zodiac sign on the perception of the usefulness of horoscope forecasts and on the accuracy of astrologically based personality descriptions. Results indicate that females were more likely to read their horoscopes. Although locus of control was unrelated to horoscope reading habits, Neuroticism on the EPI was closely related. Daily and monthly forecasts were shown to be unreliable and invalid. Astrologically based personality descriptions were found to have some reliability. Knowledge of zodiac sign was found to affect ratings of horoscope usefulness and accuracy of astrologically based personality descriptions. Such personality descriptions, even when not identified by zodiac sign, were shown t.
Hegemony after deconstruction: the consequences of undecidability

Hegemonic decisions institute and shape the ideological terrain in which politics occurs; different forms of decision will structure the terrain in different ways. This article explores the decisions inaugurating specifically democratic forms of hegemony. It analyses this question by investigating the conditions under which such decisions emerge. Its starting‐point is Laclau's account of hegemony as a decision taken in an undecidable terrain. However, by utilizing a morphological approach, I argue that undecidability cannot be understood and its consequences for politico‐ideological analysis cannot be developed to the full, unless the other terms giving sense to undecidability are taken seriously. In particular, I give attention to Derrida's account of responsibility and democracy‐to‐come, linked to a very specific understanding of the subject and the decision. I argue that once we understand undecidability in this context, it can no longer be regarded as a mere propadeutic to hegemony per se. Rather, it contains important insights into the institution of democratic political orders.
Stirring up experience through movement in game play: effects on engagement and social behaviour

The recent development of controllers designed around natural body movements has altered the nature of gaming and contributed towards it being marketed as a more social activity. The study reported here compares the use of Donkey Konga bongos with a standard controller to examine how affording motion through an input device affects social interaction. Levels of engagement with the game were also measured to explore whether increases in social behaviour in the 'real world' would result in reduced involvement with the 'game world'. Social interaction was significantly higher when the bongos were used, but this did not detract from engagement. Instead, engagement was also found to increase when body movement was afforded.
Parameters dynamics estimation method for printed electronics conductive elements layers

In the study both of the screen conductive ink multilayer printing process on polymer substrates, and layers parameters dynamics at a curing production stage for portable communication devices and solar batteries manufacturing are presented. The multipurpose "conductivity-adhesion" estimation method for polymer compositions prints with special test object exemplified by graphite dispersion based ink depending on interphase surface forming time was developed. Both the direct-current surface resistance reduction (by four order — from ∼2000 kΩ to ∼ 0.5 kΩ), and the "phase boundary — ink bulk" total resistance reduction (by 3 order — from ∼115.0 kΩ to ∼0.5 kΩ through the thickness) were found. The method of optimal printing time definition for the next conductive or dielectric layer over previously printed wet conductive ink layer by means of the direct-current ink resistance was offered.
Using Listening Progress Profile (LIP) to assess early functional auditory performance in young implanted children

Abstract Listening Progress Profile (LIP) is a profile devised to monitor changes in the early auditory performance of young implanted children. The profile covers a range of abilities from first response to environmental sounds, through discrimination of environmental sounds and discrimination of voice, to identification of own names. This study, prospective and longitudinal, involved 68 prelingually deaf children (congenitally deaf or deafened before the age of three years and implanted before the age of five years). Prior to implantation the median score of LIP was zero. By the 3-month interval it had increased to 20; at the 6-month interval to 32; at the 12-month interval to 40; and at the 24-month interval it reached the maximum score available (42). The increase in scores at each interval following implantation was statistically significant. In conclusion, LIP was found to be a sensitive tool with which to measure the progress of auditory skills in young implanted children. The profile may help the implant programme and local professionals working with young implanted children, as well as parents, to obtain a measure of progress of auditory performance in the early stages following implantation, where other, more formal, measures may be inappropriate.
Duality of Structure: Some Critical Issues

In this brief paper I shall critically examine the notion of a duality of structure. I shall suggest that what might be loosely referred to as ’structurationist’ school has recently emerged and that this is focussed upon the attempt to transcend the dichotomy of structure and action. However, I will argue that the most significant attempts to transcend this dichotomy in Britain do not fully succeed and that it is necessary both to identify a variety of diverse Interdependent ’structures’, and to analyse forms of social struggle whose unintended effects are complex and contradictory and yet essential for more sustained analysis.
Ordered statistics based rate allocation scheme for closed loop MIMO-OFDM system

We propose a new rate allocation algorithm for closed loop MIMO-OFDM system. The new scheme utilizes ordered statistics of channel matrix's singular value and is significantly simpler than ideal scheme which uses water-filling in both frequency and space domain. The proposed scheme is more flexible in that it does not force the use of large antenna array as "conventional frequency flat constraint" scheme does [J.R. B. Joon Hyun Sung, January 2003]. It also outperforms FFC algorithm under equal hardware complexity.
PETTool: A pattern-based GUI testing tool

Nowadays, the usage of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) in order to ease the interaction with software applications is preferred over command line interfaces. Despite recent advances in software testing, GUIs are still tested in a complete ad-hoc, manual fashion, with little support from (industrial) testing tools. Automating the process of testing GUIs has additional challenges when compared to command-line applications. This paper presents an approach for GUI (semi-automated) testing which uses knowledge of the common behaviour of a GUI. To do so, the most common aspects in a GUI are identified and then a suite of test cases is automatically generated and executed. To validate our approach, we have run it against well known web-based applications, such as GMail.
Social psychology of self-referent behavior

1 Introduction. - 2 Social Antecedents and Consequences of Self-Referent Cognition. - 3 Social Antecedents and Consequences of Self-Evaluation. - 4 Social Antecedents and Consequences of Self-Feelings. - 5 Nature and Antecedents of Self-Protective-Self-Enhancing Responses. - 6 Toward A General Theory of Self-Referent Behavior. - References. - Author Index.