Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inequality of Experience of Dental Caries between Different Ethnic Groups of Brazilians Aged 15 to 19 Years

Introduction The aim of this study was to assess inequality of experience of dental caries, based on race/ethnicity, among Brazilian adolescents aged 15 to 19 years in 2010 and test whether socioeconomic indicators fully explain ethnic differences in dental caries. Methods Data from a National Oral Health Survey conducted in Brazil in 2010 was analysed. Race/ethnicity was self-assigned and modified to White, African descents, East Asian descents, Mixed Race and Indigenous descents. The prevalence of caries experience by race/ethnic group in 2010(n = 5,367) was calculated. Further analysis included conceptual hierarchical modelling and mediation analysis. Results Caries experience was 76.9% in 15 to 19 year old Brazilians in 2010. While African descents were 32% more likely to have caries experience than Whites, Mixed Race were 69% more likely to have caries experience than Whites. Hierarchical conceptual modelling analysis confirmed the highly significant association between caries and race/ethnicity. Mixed Race and East Asian descents were 1.44 (95% CI 1.24–1.67) and 1.81 (95% CI 1.02–3.20) times more likely to experience caries than Whites after adjusting for age, sex, education and income. The difference in the likelihood of experiencing caries between Whites and African descents was not statistically significant after adjusting for years of education and family income. The results of mediation analysis confirmed that inequality of caries experience between Whites and Mixed Race and East Asian descents was mediated through education and income. The likelihood that Mixed Race and East Asian descents would experience caries compared to Whites was attenuated, by 14.8% and by 9.5% respectively, after adjusting for years of education and income. Conclusions Data analysis demonstrated that Whites have benefited more from the significant reduction in dental caries experience in 15 to 19 year old Brazilians, as compared to African descents and Mixed Race. Education and income fully explained ethnic inequalities in experience of dental caries between Whites and African descents, and largely explained inequalities between Whites and Mixed Race.
Anti-analysis trends in banking malware

Banking Malware, has become a popular and ever more prevalent mechanism to monetise malware development. Since the development of the Zeus malware kit in 2007, the frequency and complexity of banking malware has been increasing. Developing a good understanding of the operation of a malware family is a first step in the reverse engineering required to create tools to extract the malware configuration, which is used in the remediation of malware infrastructure. This reverse engineering process in recent years has become increasingly challenging. This manuscript provides a brief summary of the reverse engineering of banking malware families over a two year period and emphasises the anti-analysis techniques employed by the authors of six families of banking malware. The manuscript presents this analysis, and examines trends in the development of these anti-analysis techniques.
FACTORS AFFECTING SPECIES DISTRIBUTION PREDICTIONS: A SIMULATION MODELING EXPERIMENT

Geospatial species sample data (e.g., records with location information from natural history museums or annual surveys) are rarely collected optimally, yet are increas- ingly used for decisions concerning our biological heritage. Using computer simulations, we examined factors that could affect the performance of autologistic regression (ALR) models that predict species occurrence based on environmental variables and spatially correlated presencelabsence data. We used a factorial experiment design to examine the effects of survey design, spatial contiguity, and species detection probability and applied the results of ten replications of each factorial combination to an ALR model. We used additional simulations to assess the effects of sample size and environmental data error on model performance. Predicted distribution maps were compared to simulated distribution maps, considered "truth," and evaluated using several metrics: omission and commission error counts, residual sums of squares (RSS), and areas under receiver operating charac- teristic curves (AUC). Generally, model performance was better using random and stratified survey designs than when using other designs. Adaptive survey designs were an exception to this generalization under the omission error performance criterion. Surveys using rect- angular quadrats, designed to emulate roadside surveys, resulted in models with better performance than those using square quadrats (using AUC, RSS, and omission error metrics) and were most similar in performance to a systematic quadrat design. Larger detection probabilities, larger sample sizes, contiguous distributions, and fewer environmental data errors generally improved model performance. Results suggest that spatially biased sample data, e.g., data collected along roadsS could result in model performance near that of systematic quadrat designs even in the presence of potentially confounding factors such as contiguity of distributions, detection probability, sample size, and environmental data error.
Topology Analysis of Wireless Sensor Networks Based on Nodes' Spatial Distribution

In this paper, we explore methods to generate optimal network topologies for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) with and without obstacles. Specifically, we investigate a dense network with n sensor nodes and m=nb (0<;b<;1) helping nodes, and assess the impact of topology on its throughput capacity. For networks without obstacles, we find that uniformly distributed sensor nodes and regularly distributed helping nodes have some advantages in improving the throughput capacity. We also explore properties of networks composed of some isomorphic sub-networks. For networks with obstacles, we assume there are M= Θ (nv) (0 <; v ≤ 1) arbitrarily or randomly distributed obstacles, which block cells they are located in, i.e., sensor nodes cannot be placed in these cells and nodes' communication cannot cross them directly. We find that the overall throughput capacity is bounded by the transmission burden in areas around these blocked cells and introduce a novel algorithm of complexity O(M) to generate optimal sensor nodes' topologies for any given obstacles' distributions. We further analyze its performance for regularly distributed obstacles, which can be taken to estimate the lower bound of the algorithm's performance.
Daechuri as Symbolic Battleground: Failure to Integrate Divergent Frames for Conflict Interpretation

This study examined how government negotiators` and opponents`different frames for construing others` motivations prevented a settlement andintensified the Daechuri policy conflict over appropriation of land for a militarybase. Although communication- and consensus-based processes have beenacknowledged as useful methods of conflict resolution, the issue of how participants`divergent definitions and interpretations of the situation may inhibit effectivecommunication has rarely been empirically examined. Employing frame analysis,this study explored how two parties` motivations and issue interpretations werepersistently mismatched over time without reaching consensus. The resultsrevealed that government negotiators tended to oversimplify opponents` motivationsas being economically driven, while they were in fact more complicated.These results suggest that communicative negotiation will not likely be conduciveto effective conflict resolution unless it is based on thorough understanding ofthe situation.
High Performance Cache Architectures to Support Dynamic Superscalar Microprocessors

Simple cache structures are not sufficient to provide the memory bandwidth needed by a dynamic superscalar computer, so more sophisticated memory hierarchies such as non-blocking and pipelined caches are required. To provide direction for the designers of modern high performance microprocessors, we investigate the performance tradeoffs of the combinations of cache size, blocking and non-blocking caches, and pipeline depth of caches within the memory subsystem of a dynamic superscalar processor for integer applications. The results show that the dynamic superscalar processor can hide about two-thirds of the additional latency of two and three pipelined caches, and that a non-blocking cache is always beneficial. A pipelined cache will only outperform a non-pipelined cache if the miss penalty and miss rates are large.
Analyzing Performance and Power of Multicore Architecture Using Multithreaded Iterative Solver

Problem statement: Scientific modeling and simulations have been popularly used with experiments and theoretical analysis in science and engineering communities. Approach: Consequently, computational demands are growing exponentially to afford large scale modeling and simulations. Results: As a result, multicore computing architectures had been proposed and several products are already available. However, we do not have a proper study on the performance, power and thermal issues of real science and engineering problems bec ause software, which takes advantage of multicore architecture, is not available. Conclusion/Recommendations: In this study, we explored the performance and power characteristics of scientific algorithms on multicore architectures using a multithreaded version of sparse iterative linear so lver, named mtCG, with real scientific application problems.
Supporting insertions and deletions in striped parallel filesystems

The dramatic improvements in the processing rates of parallel computers are turning many compute-bound jobs into IO-bound jobs. Parallel file systems have been proposed to better match IO throughput to processing power. Many parallel file systems stripe files across numerous disks; each disk has its own controller. A striped file can be appended (or prepended) to and maintain its structure. However, a block can't be inserted into or deleted from the middle of the file, since this would destroy the round robin striping structure of the file. The author presents a distributed file structure that maintains files in indexed striped extents on a message passing multiprocessor. This approach allows highly parallel random and sequential reads, and also allows insertion and deletion into the middle of the file. <<ETX>>
A Probabilistic Scheme for Reducing the Packet Loss in Mobile IPv6

Mobile IPv6 allows a Mobile Node to remain reachable by a Correspondent Node while roaming from one network to another network. In Mobile IPv6, a Mobile Node directly updates its current location information to a Correspondent Node using a route optimization method. Route optimization helps to culminate the packet delay incurred due to suboptimal route traversed by the packets from a Correspondent Node to a Mobile Node in Mobile IPv4. However, it introduces packet losses during Mobile Node's transition from one network to another network. This packet loss increases as the mobility of the node increases. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic scheme to reduce this packet loss. Our solution is based on the Mobile Node's mobility prediction at the Correspondent Node and a buffering mechanism at the Home Agent. Simulation results prove the effectiveness of our scheme in case of reducing the packet loss problem besetting the Mobile IPv6.
Prescribed exercise in people with fibromyalgia: parallel group randomised controlled trial

Abstract Objectives: To evaluate cardiovascular fitness exercise in people with fibromyalgia Design: Randomised controlled trial Setting: Hospital rheumatology outpatients. Group based classes took place at a “healthy living centre. ” Participants: 132 patients with fibromyalgia. Interventions:Prescribed graded aerobic exercise (active treatment) and relaxation and flexibility (control treatment). Main outcome measures: Participants' self assessment of improvement, tender point count, impact of condition measured by fibromyalgia impact questionnaire, and short form McGill pain questionnaire. Results: Compared with relaxation exercise led to significantly more participants rating themselves as much or very much better at three months: 24/69 (35%) v 12/67 (18%), P=0.03. Benefits were maintained or improved at one year follow up when fewer participants in the exercise group fulfilled the criteria for fibromyalgia (31/69 v 44/67, P=0.01). Peoplein the exercise group also had greater reductions in tender point counts (4.2 v 2.0, P=0.02) and in scores on the fibromyalgia impact questionnaire (4.0 v 0.6, P=0.07). Conclusions: Prescribed graded aerobic exercise is a simple, cheap, effective, and potentially widely available treatment for fibromyalgia.
Young People Mentoring

Against a background of increasing recognition of young people′s needs for guidance and advice in their learning choices, highlights the principal challenges facing employers today, and discusses the various approaches which need to be reconciled. Suggests a number of actions needed to implement mentoring as an integral part of an effective outcomes‐referenced system. Explores the possible roles and responsibilities of mentors in such a system and argues that the suitability of mentors should be of paramount concern for those planning to introduce mentoring for young people.
Money Talks or Millennials Walk

The nonprofit sector has become increasingly reliant on paid professional staff and now faces competition from the private and public sectors, which often pay higher to attract and retain workers. Although Millennials are attracted to nonprofit work, there are concerns that they will not remain committed to the nonprofit workforce due to low pay. We analyzed data from the 2011 Young Nonprofit Professionals Network Survey to examine the relationship between pay, perceptions of equitable pay, and sector-switching intentions among Millennial nonprofit workers. Although two thirds of the respondents indicate sector-switching intentions, we found no evidence that Millennial nonprofit workers, who are purported to value extrinsic and materialistic rewards, expressed sector-switching intentions on account of pay. However, pay influences the sector-switching intentions of Millennial nonprofit managers and those with advanced education. Our results suggest that the nonprofit sector may be facing challenges in attracting and retaining Millennial managers because of low pay.
Animating algorithms with XTANGO

Algorithm animation is the process of abstracting a program 's data, operations, and semantics, and then creating a dynamic visualization of those abstractions[3] . Algorithm animations can be helpful for teaching algorithms and as a research test-bed for acquirin g intuition about the fundamental behavior of algorithms . XTANGO is a general purpos e algorithm animation system that I have developed . The system supports the development of color, real-time, 2 & 1/2-dimensional, smooth algorithm animations . The focus of the syste m is on ease-of-use ; programmers need not be graphics experts to develop their own animations . Many students, both undergraduates and graduates, have used XTANGO to create algorithm animations . Information about how to acquire XTANGO free via anonymous ftp is include d later in this article . The basic process of building an algorithm animation consists of implementing the algorithm in C (another language can be used, but it must just produce a trace file whic h is read by a C program driver) and then deciding on the important events or operation s to be portrayed during the execution of the algorithm . These events activate animatio n routines implemented in a separate file using the XTANGO animation package to creat e and manipulate objects (circles, squares, lines, and so on) . Transitions on objects include movement, color change, resizing, and filling, as well as others . For example, the animatio n of binary search consists of a series of rectangles, each representing one of the elements bein g searched . A bouncing circle hits the current dividing element, which changes color . The bal l then bounces to the next dividing element and continues to do this until the desired elemen t has been found . The function call to activate a given animation routine or routines is placed in the pro gram at the point where the event occurs . In the above example, the call to the routine t o bounce the circle to the chosen element would be placed after the code in the implementatio n where the pertinent element was chosen . This method has several advantages . First, the algorithm implementation can be debugged separately from the animation . Second, because the animation is produced and appears on the screen as the algorithm executes, viewing animations over different data sets is as easy as running the algorithm again . No recompilation is necessary . XTANGO provides a high-level animation package for creating algorithm animations , rather than forcing developers to make calls to a low-level library such as as Xlib . The package is based on the path-transition animation paradigm[2] which provides four abstract dat a types, images, locations, paths and transitions, to describe an animation . Animation de signers create images (graphical objects) to model the data or attributes of their algorithms .
Call admission control in wireless multimedia networks

Call admission control (CAC) is a mechanism used in networks to administer quality of service (QoS). Whereas the CAC problem in time-division multiple access (TDMA)-based cellular networks is simply related to the number of physical channels available in the network, it is strongly related to the physical layer performance in code-division multiple access (CDMA) networks since the multi-access interference in them is a function of the number of users and is a limiting factor in ensuring QoS. In this article, the CAC issues in multimedia DS-CDMA systems are reviewed by illustrating the basic principles underlying various schemes that have been proposed progressively from the simplest to the complex. The article also introduces SIR as a measure of QoS and describes the relatively simple schemes to administer CAC. The expression for SIR resulting from linear minimum mean-squared error processing is also presented. This article illustrates how CAC for multiple class service can be casted into an optimality framework and then discuss the recent work addressing self-similar multiple access interference.
Entanglement in d-dimensional Hilbert spaces

It is a pleasure to thank both Dr hab. A. Wójcik and Dr A. Grudka with whom the work " Generation of inequivalent generalized Bell bases " was written. I wholeheartedly thank everybody who has supported and helped me throughout the entire period of my studies. Finally, I would like to thank Mummy and Ania for reading the manuscript and also for their understanding during the time of my writing this thesis.
A New Method for Current Differential ISFET/REFET Readout Circuit

This paper presents a new differential current mode readout circuit for ion sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET) to be used as a pH sensor. The circuit used only two MOSFETs to provide current differential pairs result in simplification and very small circuit. It provides a linear sensitivity to pH over a wide range (pH 2-12) which is 25.6 μA/pH with power dissipation of 937.6 μW at 27oC. The circuit is operating in differential mode, reference field effect transistor (REFET) is provided to compensate environment conditions. Temperature compensation in a range of 22-32oC is investigated. It can be well compensated output varying. Simulation results validate the performance of the circuit.
GeT-based Ontology Construction for Semantic Disambiguation

Semantic Ambiguation refers to the disagreement in meaning of terms used by parties in communication due to polysemy, leading to increased complexity and lesser accuracy in information integration, migration, retrieval and related activities. Semantic Disambiguation can be performed through establishing and reconciling relative positions of parties in communication by matching their terms' meanings to a common domain-specific ontology -- a knowledge representation showing concepts, organized into domains, and relationships between them. In this paper, based on the wide existence and limitations of established hierarchical ontology in a form of Classification Schemes, we proposed a novel ontology structure combining the structured nature of hierarchy with expressive capability of graphs, called Graph-embedded Tree (GeT), and a novel approach to construct a GeT-based Ontology. Evaluation was performed on United States Patent Classification System (USPC); the results showed that the information retrieval backed by GeT-based ontology yields better disambiguation capability than other typical patent search methods.
Stackable 4-BAR Manipulators for Single Port Access Surgery

This paper proposes a new robotic manipulator using stack able 4-BAR mechanisms for single port access (SPA) surgery where the operation is performed by inserting multiple manipulators through one small body cavity. The proposed manipulator has the advantage that all actuators are able to be separated from the driving mechanism. In other words, it is possible to separate the electrical actuators from the mechanical linkage/joint components in the manipulators. Thus, the robotic manipulators, including the working joints and linkages, can be fabricated using selective materials that are light-weight and slim so that the multiple manipulators can be inserted through one small cavity. Moreover, since the suggested manipulator makes use of an individual 4-BAR mechanism to drive each independent joint, it is structurally strong. Using the kinematic model, we conduct a kinematic synthesis (design methodology) because the operating range of each working joint is usually limited by the design parameters of 4-BAR. Finally, we show that the stackable 4-BAR manipulator is a good alternative for SPA surgery through numerical simulations and implementation of the proposed manipulator.
On the New Stopping Criteria of Iterative Turbo Decoding by Using Decoding Threshold

Although many stopping methods of iterative decoding have been discussed in the literature extensively, many of them only focus on the solvable decoding (information is enough for successful decoding). In this paper, we discuss the limitation of the decoding ability based on the extrinsic information transform (EXIT) chart. Then, we propose a new information measurement by using cross correlation to predict the decoding threshold. Moreover, we propose two early termination (ET) schemes (ET-I and ET-II) based on the predicted decoding threshold. The iterative decoding can stop in either high-signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) situations where the decoded bits are highly reliable (solvable decoding), or low-SNR situations where the decoder already has no capability to decode (unsolvable decoding). The simulation results show that the reduced iterations due to the ET-I scheme almost will not affect the SNR performance, and the ones due to the ET-II scheme can still satisfy the requirement of the specification. Based on our analysis and simulation results, we can further modify the conventional GENIE chart by considering the decoding threshold. By using our new ET concepts, the previous stopping techniques can also be modified to stop in low-SNR situations. The ET property for the iterative decoding can help reduce the unnecessary iterations, so as to save computational complexity and power consumptions in digital signal processors (DSPs) or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) in mobile handsets.