Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regional differences in the circadian modulation of human sleep spindle characteristics

Electroencephalographic oscillations in the sleep spindle frequency range (11–16 Hz) are a key element of human nonrapid eye movement sleep. In the present study, sleep spindle characteristics along the anterior–posterior axis were analysed during and outside the circadian phase of melatonin secretion. Sleep electroencephalograms were recorded during naps distributed over the entire circadian cycle and analysed with two different methodological approaches, the classical fast Fourier transform in the frequency‐domain and a new method for instantaneous spectral analysis, the fast time frequency transform that yields high‐resolution parameters in the combined time‐frequency‐domain. During the phase of melatonin secretion, spindle density was generally increased and intraspindle frequency variation reduced. Furthermore, lower spindle frequencies were promoted: peak frequencies shifted towards the lower end of the spindle frequency range, and spindle amplitude was enhanced in the low‐frequency range (11–14.25 Hz) and reduced in the high‐frequency range (∼14.5–16 Hz). The circadian variation showed a clear dependence on brain topography such that it was maximal in the parietal and minimal in the frontal derivation. Our data provide evidence that the circadian pacemaker actively promotes low‐frequency sleep spindles during the biological night with a parietal predominance.
Using Text Sets to Facilitate Critical Thinking in Sixth Graders

ABSTRACT This case study examines features and processes of a sixth grade teacher (Jane) utilizing text sets as a tool for facilitating critical thinking. Jane’s strong vision and student-centered beliefs informed her use of various texts to teach language arts as she worked to address demands of the Common Core State Standards. Text sets promoted multiple perspectives and fit with her beliefs about student empowerment. Despite contextual constraints, Jane used professional judgment to apply her learning from professional development to design and implement instruction. Findings support the idea that teachers need autonomy when choosing multiple texts across genres as well as effective strategies to engender critical thinking. Results can help guide further inquiry into types of teaching and classroom environments that facilitate or impede critical thinking.
Non-local/local image filters using fast eigenvalue filtering

In this paper, we propose a fast and an approximate solution of non-local/local filters using Chebyshev polynomial approximation (CPA). A non-local/local filter is generally expressible in a matrix form. From the matrix notation, image denoising performance is improved by filtering the eigenvalues of the filter matrix. However, it requires much execution time due to computational complexity of eigendecomposition. To reduce the computational cost, we apply the CPA to eigenvalue filtering, leading to an eigendecomposition-free procedure. Moreover, a fast SURE-based parameter optimization is possible by using the CPA. It enables us to determine a suitable filtering parameter efficiently. Numerical examples illustrate that the proposed method is significantly faster than conventional methods while it maintains high approximate precision.
A Framework for Modeling and Analyzing Fault-Tolerance 1

The development of fault-tolerant systems continues to be difficult due to the evolving and crosscutting nature of fault-tolerance requirements. Fault-tolerance research has largely focused on how to design and implement fault-tolerant systems. Regardless of how fault-tolerance is provided, however, it is equally important to determine what constraints should be met both in the absence and in the presence of faults. In order to address this question, this paper describes a systematic method for modeling and analyzing fault-tolerance concerns in UML at the requirements analysis phase. First, we present an approach for use case analysis of fault-tolerance requirements based on two canonical families of constraints, namely detection and correction constraints. Second, we present a method for object analysis of fault-tolerance requirements where we refine our use case analysis model using two object analysis patterns, called detector and corrector patterns. These detector and corrector object analysis patterns are based on the formal definition of detector and corrector components, which have been proven to be necessary and sufficient for the design of fault-tolerance. Finally, we define an Object Computation Model to provide a formal semantics for our fault-tolerance object analysis patterns. The Object Computation Model can be instantiated to different target specification languages using previously developed UML formalization framework, Hydra. As a result, we are able to automatically generate formal specification for the UML diagrams comprising the composition of functional and fault-tolerance requirements, thus enabling the automated analysis of fault-tolerance. We demonstrate our analysis method in the context of an industrial automotive application.
Botball Kit For Teaching Engineering Computing

Many engineering classes can benefit from hands on use of robots. The KISS Institute Botball kit has found use in many classes at a number of universities. This paper outlines how the kit is used in a few of these different classes at a couple of different universities. This paper also introduces the Collegiate Botball Challenge, and how it can be used as a class project.
Optimizing cache miss equations polyhedra

Cache Miss Equations (CME) [GMM97] is a method that accurately describes the cache behavior by means of polyhedra. Even though the computation cost of generating CME is a linear function of the number of references, to solve them is a very time consuming task and thus trying to study a whole program may be infeasible.In this work, we present effective techniques that exploit some properties of the particular polyhedra generated by CME. Such technique reduce the complexity of the algorithm to solve CME, which results in a significant speed-up when compared with traditional methods. In particular, the proposed approach does not require the computation of the vertices of each polyhedron, which has an exponential complexity.
Cosy Cognitive Systems for Cognitive Assistants Wp 4.3 Monotonic Grounding of Novel Noun Meaning Executive Summary Role of Grounding in Cosy Relation to the Demonstrators Cosy Fp6-004250

For meaningful human-robot interaction a robot needs to be able to connect linguistic interaction to its embodied experience of the context it is situated in. A crucial problem therefore is perceptual grounding. Approaches to perceptual grounding try to connect words or sequences thereof (i.e. expressions) to perceptual features. This yields a grounded representation that provides a level of perceptual understanding which purely symbolic object descriptions traditionally lack. However, this is only part of the meaning of an expression. If we want to understand the meaning of an expression used in the context of a dialogue, the representations we assign should also enable linguistic grounding besides perceptual grounding. In this deliverable we investigate grounding therefore as an interplay between perceptual grounding, and linguistic grounding. We propose to enhance the characterization of a model that represents embodied experience related to an expression with a structural description of its linguistic meaning, seen as an ontologically rich relational structure. These descriptions enable us to incrementally update or learn the description of a perceptual referent, and-by co-indexing descriptions-we can explicitly identify models for different aspects of a specific type of object or location. For this workpackage, we focus on different aspects of perceptual and linguistic grounding we encounter in the human-augmented mapping scenario. When interpreting the spatial organization of an area, the robot needs to translate its sensory data into representations that provide an accurate basis for communicating about the situated context. Several issues can arise in that context, though. In the papers for this deliverable we focus on two issues, namely vagueness and clarification. In the paper " Processing vague spatial locations " we deal with this problem of context-sensitive interpretation and use of references to vague spatial regions. In the paper " Clarification dialogues in human-augmented mapping " we deal with a different aspect of grounding. Namely, to provide an accurate model of the context, the robot may need to verify with a human whether it has correctly applied a given qualitative description to its interpretation of its sensory input. In such a case, the robot needs to take the initiative in the dialogue, and ask the human a clarification question. We present an approach that is cross-modal in nature: Perceptual modalities can raise the need for clarification, which we then need to resolve through communication. In the CoSy project, we explore this complementary relationship between perceptual and linguistic grounding of meaning in …
String Similarity Measures and Pam-like Matrices for Cognate Identification

We present a new automatic learning system for cognate identification. We design a linguistic-inspired substitution matrix to align sensibly our training dataset. We introduce a PAM-like technique, similar to the one successfully used in biological sequence analysis, in order to learn substitution parameters. We propose a novel family of parameterised string similarity measures and we apply them together with the PAM-like matrices to the task of cognate identification. We train and test our proposal on standard datasets of Indo-European languages in orthographic format based on the Latin alphabet, but it could easily be adapted to datasets using any other alphabet, including the phonetic alphabet if data was available. We compare our system with other models reported in the literature and the results show that our method outperforms both orthographic and phonetic approaches formerly presented, increasing the accuracy by approximately 5%.
Gamma-ray bursts from stellar remnants - Probing the universe at high redshift

ABSTRA C T A gamma-ray burst (GRB) releases an amount of energy similar to that of a supernova explosion, which combined with its rapid variability suggests an origin related to neutron stars or black holes. Since these compact stellar remnants form from the most massive stars not long after their birth, GRBs should trace the star formation rate in the Universe; we show that the GRB flux distribution is consistent with this. Because of the strong evolution of the star formation rate with redshift, it follows that the dimmest known bursts have z , 6, much above the value usually quoted and beyond the most distant quasars. This explains the absence of bright galaxies in well-studied GRB error boxes. The increased distances imply a peak luminosity of 8:3 〈 10 51 erg s π1 and a rate density of 0.025 per million years per galaxy. These values are 20 times higher and 150 times lower, respectively, than are implied by fits with nonevolving GRB rates. This means either that GRBs are caused by a much rarer phenomenon than mergers of binary neutron stars, or that their gamma-ray emission is often invisible to us due to beaming. Precise burst locations from optical transients will discriminate between the various models for GRBs from stellar deaths, because the distance between progenitor birth place and burst varies greatly among them. The dimmest GRBs are then the most distant known objects, and may probe the Universe at an age when the first stars were forming.
Differential Patterns of Prefrontal MEG Activation during Verbal & Visual Encoding and Retrieval

The spatiotemporal profile of activation of the prefrontal cortex in verbal and non-verbal recognition memory was examined using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Sixteen neurologically healthy right-handed participants were scanned whilst carrying out a modified version of the Doors and People Test of recognition memory. A pattern of significant prefrontal activity was found for non-verbal and verbal encoding and recognition. During the encoding, verbal stimuli activated an area in the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and non-verbal stimuli activated an area in the right. A region in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex also showed significant activation during the encoding of non-verbal stimuli. Both verbal and non-verbal stimuli significantly activated an area in the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the right anterior prefrontal cortex during successful recognition, however these areas showed temporally distinct activation dependent on material, with non-verbal showing activation earlier than verbal stimuli. Additionally, non-verbal material activated an area in the left anterior prefrontal cortex during recognition. These findings suggest a material-specific laterality in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex during encoding for verbal and non-verbal but also support the HERA model for verbal material. The discovery of two process dependent areas during recognition that showed patterns of temporal activation dependent on material demonstrates the need for the application of more temporally sensitive techniques to the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in recognition memory.
Authentication and Privacy in IPv 4 and IPv 6

This paper describes the security mechanisms for IP version 4 (IPv4) and IP version 6 (IPv6) and the services that they provide. An overview of key management requirements for systems implementing those security mechanisms will also be discussed. There are two specific headers that are used to provide security services in IPv4 and IPv6. These headers are the IP Authentication Header (AH) and the IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) header. The Authentication Header provides support for data integrity and authentication of IP packets as well as protection against replay attacks. The Encapsulating Security Payload header, like the Authentication Header, provides for data integrity, authentication, and replay protection but also provides for confidentiality through packet encryption. Depending on the application, both AH and ESP can be used to either protect either a transport layer segment or the entire IP packet (transport-mode versus tunnel-mode). Example applications of both the AH and the ESP will be discussed using the HMAC-MD5 algorithm to illustrate the AH and DES-CBC transform to illustrate the ESP. Descriptions will cover both AH and ESP used individually as well as in tandem. A key concept that appears in both the authentication and privacy mechanisms for IP is the security association. This security association is uniquely identified by the internet destination address, the security protocol and a Security Parameter Index (SPI). The SPI is enclosed in both the AH and the ESP header and is the method by which a key management mechanism is linked to the authentication and privacy mechanisms. This loose coupling of key management systems allows for the use of existing systems while allowing for the development of future key systems without modification of the security mechanisms. Current key management systems mandated by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) draft standards include manual management as well as the ISAKMP/OAKLEY key management and exchange protocol. Note that many of the concepts described here have yet to be standardized and are to be considered as work in progress. Much of the available information upon which this paper is based is drawn from Internet Draft documents which are working documents of the IETF.
Analyzing Persian Social Networks: An Empirical Study

Analysis of data in social networks is very important for researchers, sociologists, and academics. Given the size and diversity of web data in a Web 2.0 environment, analyzing this data has been a challenge. Since data act as inputs in such projects, the accuracy of the output is directly related to the input. Good data allows for extraction of valuable knowledge. In this article, the authors present their experiences with preparation and preprocessing of data in a Persian social network. The authors also report on the analysis of the data and findings.
Stakeholder evaluation of the feasibility of watershed management alternatives, using Integrated Lake Basin Management principles

Containing more than 90% of the liquid fresh water on our planet's surface, lakes are used for a wide range of human needs. Managing them for sustainable use also requires consideration of a multitude of scientific, socioeconomic and governance issues. Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM) is a comprehensive approach for achieving sustainable management of lakes and reservoirs through gradual, continuous and holistic improvement of basin governance, involving sustained efforts for improvement of six governance ‘pillars’ (Policy; Institutions: Stakeholders; Knowledge; Technology; Finances). This study demonstrates that ILBM is applicable not only to lentic water systems (lakes, reservoirs), but also to the upstream and downstream water systems (rivers, tributaries) of which they are a part. Two watersheds in eastern Pennsylvania (USA), designated as ‘Critical Water Planning Areas,’ are used as a case study for this application, with a focus on the ILBM Stakeholder pillar. The primary objective was to rank the feasibility of alternative management options for these watersheds on the basis of watershed stakeholder perceptions and discussions. The results of this process and the analyses undertaken in this study are discussed, including the management options ultimately identified, the lessons learned in the evaluation process, and means for improving the process for future evaluations.
CHAPTER 16 METRIC ANALYSIS OF SKELETAL REMAINS : METHODS AND APPLICATIONS

Human skeletal and dental remains continue to provide the most direct evidence for examining the biology of past populations (Larsen, 1997, 2002). Quantitative (i.e., metric) as well as more qualitative (i.e., nonmetric or discrete) aspects of human biological variation remain central to studies in physical anthropology since its inception. Measurement of living (anthropometry) and skeletal remains (osteome­ try and craniometry), and the methods for ana­ lyzing this category of variation represent one of the discipline's most notable contributions to science. Much of this early attention to measurement and description in physical anthropology focused on investigations of human population structure and past biological relationships, including the assignment of unknown speci­ mens to known reference groups. As was typical of the discipline as a whole during this formative period, these early studies of popu­ lation history were associated frequently with the now outdated concept of racial typology and classification. After this formative period, there have been major refinements in biological evolutionary theory and the methods for analyzing quantitative data, refinements that now provide a solid foundation for understand­ ing the history of human groups and biological relatedness among groups, past and present.
Energy and latency impact of outsourcing decisions in mobile image processing

This research paper illustrates an adaptive outsourcing algorithm that runs on mobile phones. The algorithm outsources the computational load that needs to be done on a sensor data (in this case an image) to a server, based on many criteria, where the execution takes place. The end result is sent back to the mobile phone and presented to the user. The results from these measurements have shown up to 85 % decrease in power consumption and up to 60% decrease in latency compared to locally executing on the mobile phone in many situations. Moreover, outsourcing using a WiFi connection has proved to be favourable in most scenarios where complex algorithms are applied on the image, while a 3G connection has showed a lot of discrepancy from one situation to another.
Comparing and Contrasting Micro-payment Models for Content Sharing in P2P Networks

Micro-payment systems have the potential to provide non-intrusive, high-volume and low-cost pay-as-you-use services for a wide variety of web-based applications. We proposed a new model, P2P-NetPay, a micro-payment protocol characterized by off-line processing, suitable for peer-to-peer network service charging. P2P micro-payment systems must provide a secure, highly efficient, flexible, usable and reliable environment, the key issues in P2P micro-payment systems development. Therefore, in order to assist in the design of an efficient micro-payment model suitable for P2P networks, we compare and contrast several existing P2P micro-payment models in this paper and outline a new P2P micro-payment scheme we have been developing that addresses the disadvantages in current schemes.
Comparison of MM5 integrated water vapor with microwave radiometer, GPS, and radiosonde measurements

A large dataset of concurrent integrated precipitable water vapor (IPWV) estimates from ground-based microwave radiometers (MWRs), global positioning system (GPS) ground-receivers, and radiosonde observations (RAOBs) has been collected in five different sites in Central Italy. Both MWRs and GPS have shown a capability of accurate and continuous water vapor monitoring. These data are used to study the seasonal and spatial variability of IPWV. A comparison of these data with the IPWV field produced operationally by the nonhydrostatic Mesoscale Model (MM5), running at the University of L'Aquila/Center of Excellence (CETEMPS) is performed in order to find either model shortcomings and to corroborate the IPWV behavior highlighted by the measurements. Both measurements and model outputs span over a period of about one year allowing for a systematic statistical analysis for all the examined stations. The statistical analysis shows a good agreement between GPS and MWR data, whereas discrepancies are found between RAOBs and the other techniques. The IPWV shows the largest diurnal variability, approximately 3%, during the summer season. An overall good agreement is found between the forecasted and observed IPWV. The related statistical parameters show a very low bias (0.001 cm) with a good correlation coefficient (0.939). On the other hands, the seasonal analyses highlight a few discrepancies, mostly due to the MM5 difficulties in correctly forecasting the diurnal cycle.
Distinct effects of oleic acid and its trans-isomer elaidic acid on the expression of myokines and adipokines in cell models

Trans-fatty acids (TFA) and cis-monounsaturated fat appear to exert detrimental and beneficial effects, respectively, on glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity. Adipose tissue and skeletal muscle are a source of signalling proteins (adipokines and myokines), some of which have been related to the control of insulin sensitivity. Here, we investigated the possible differential effects of elaidic acid (EA; trans-9-18 : 1) – the major component in industrially produced TFA – and oleic acid (OA; cis-9-18 : 1) – its cis-isomer naturally present in food – on cellular glucose uptake and the expression of selected myokines and adipokines using cell models. Differentiated C2C12 myotubes and 3T3-L1 adipocytes were pretreated with the vehicle (control cells) or fatty acids for 24 h, after which basal and insulin-stimulated 2-deoxyglucose uptake and the expression of selected signalling proteins were measured. In C2C12 myotubes, pretreatment with OA, but not with EA, led to increased insulin-stimulated 2-deoxyglucose uptake and IL-6 expression levels, while pretreatment with EA, but not with OA, led to reduced IL-15 mRNA levels and increased TNF-α expression levels. In 3T3-L1 adipocytes, exposure to OA, but not to EA, resulted in reduced resistin gene expression and increased adiponectin gene expression. The results show evidence of distinct, direct effects of OA and EA on muscle glucose uptake and the expression of target myokines and adipokines, thus suggesting novel mechanisms by which cis- and trans-monounsaturated fat may differentially affect systemic functions.