Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Resource Allocation and Multiagent Policy Formulation for Resource-Limited Agents Under Uncertainty

The problem of optimal policy formulation for teams of resourcelimited agents in stochastic environments is composed of two strongly coupled subproblems: a resource allocation problem and a policy optimization problem, both of which have individually received significant amount of attention. We show how to combine the two problems into a single constrained optimization problem that yields optimal resource allocations and policies that are optimal under these allocations. We model the stochastic environment as a multiagent Markov decision process, with social welfare of the group as the optimization criterion. We augment the standard MDP framework with constraints that ensure that the shared resource limitations are satisfied and formulate a constrained stochastic policy optimization problem that yields optimal policies among the class of realizable ones given the resource limitations. This work focuses on discrete operationalization resources that determine the actuating capabilities of the agents by defining the sets of actions available to them. We show that the problem of finding optimal policies under such constraints is NP-hard and present a solution algorithm based on mixed integer programming to solve the corresponding optimization problems.
Tizen .NET Memory Profiler

In this paper we present a tool for identifying memory leaks in applications with mixed native and managed code. Such applications have parts with different memory management methods - the managed part is handled by the garbage collector, while the native part allocates and frees memory manually using OS-provided system calls. This presents a unique set of problems when trying to find a memory leak - the managed-unmanaged boundary makes it hard to identify when unmanaged memory is no longer needed in the managed code, and vice versa. Existing solutions tend to focus on one part or the other, however in order to fully understand application's behavior, a comprehensive tool is needed. We have built a memory profiler that is able to trace both managed and unmanaged memory allocations, and combine them into a comprehensive overvew of the application's memory, making managed, native, and unmanaged-from-managed memory leaks evident.
PH-SSBM: Phrase Semantic Similarity Based Model for Document Clustering

In this paper, a novel document representation model the Phrases Semantic Similarity Based Model (PHSSBM), is proposed. This model combines phrases analysis as well as words analysis with the use of WordNet as background knowledge to explore better ways of documents representation for clustering. The PH-SSBM assigns semantic weights to both document words and phrases. The new weights reflect the semantic relatedness between documents terms and capture the semantic information in the documents. The PH-SSBM finds similarity between documents based on matching terms (phrases and words) and their semantic weights. Experimental results show that the phrases semantic similarity based model (PH-SSBM) in conjunction with WordNet has a promising performance improvement for text clustering.
Adolescents' individuation, romantic involvement, and mothers' wellbeing: A comparison of three family structures

This study compared concurrent as well as longitudinal associations between adolescent development and maternal wellbeing, in nuclear families with both biological parents and in single-mother and stepfather families. It relied on data from the first two waves of a longitudinal study in Germany (N = 436). Maternal wellbeing was assessed from mothers' reports of their sense of family mastery and self-esteem. Adolescent development was assessed from adolescents' reports of three aspects of individuation and of their romantic involvement. For single mothers and mothers in nuclear families, the associations between maternal wellbeing and adolescents' development were inconsistent. Mothers in stepfather families with daughters profited from their daughters' growing detachment. The results suggested that the associations between adolescent development and maternal wellbeing are family structure specific, and observable concurrently and across a one-year time period. The discussion considers the different demands and living situations of the three family structures.
Level set diagrams of polyhedral objects

Shape descriptors and feature-based representations are of primary interests in the area of solid modeling. They allow us for easier storage, recognition and general treatments of objects. Axial structures such as skeletons are popular shape descriptors which have been widely studied. Most of the studies focus on a particular type of skeleton called the Medial Axis. Medial Axes can be extracted from discrete volumetric data as well as boundary-based representations. In the later case, however, no algorithm is known to perform well and accurately. We propose a new paradigm for constructing one dimensional axial structures associated with a polyhedral object. These structures, called the level set diagrams, are associated with scalar functions defined over the set of vertices of a polyhedron. We study in details the level set diagram associated with the shortest path distance to a source point. This particular association fits nicely into a theoretical framework and presents interesting properties for the purpose of shape description.
Crowd debugging

Research shows that, in general, many people turn to QA sites to solicit answers to their problems. We observe in Stack Overflow a huge number of recurring questions, 1,632,590, despite mechanisms having been put into place to prevent these recurring questions. Recurring questions imply developers are facing similar issues in their source code. However, limitations exist in the QA sites. Developers need to visit them frequently and/or should be familiar with all the content to take advantage of the crowd's knowledge. Due to the large and rapid growth of QA data, it is difficult, if not impossible for developers to catch up. To address these limitations, we propose mining the QA site, Stack Overflow, to leverage the huge mass of crowd knowledge to help developers debug their code. Our approach reveals 189 warnings and 171 (90.5%) of them are confirmed by developers from eight high-quality and well-maintained projects. Developers appreciate these findings because the crowd provides solutions and comprehensive explanations to the issues. We compared the confirmed bugs with three popular static analysis tools (FindBugs, JLint and PMD). Of the 171 bugs identified by our approach, only FindBugs detected six of them whereas JLint and PMD detected none.
Effect of chicken egg shell powder solution on early enamel carious lesions: an invitro preliminary study.

AIM To evaluate the remineralization potential of enamel surface lesion using chicken eggshell powder (CESP) solution. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ten freshly extracted un-erupted third molars decoronated at cement-enamel junction (CEJ) used in this study. Each decoronated tooth was sectioned to get 4 samples of enamel blocks such that 40 blocks were obtained which were then subjected to demineralization protocol and grouped as: Group 1-untreated group, Group 2-subsurface demineralization, Group 3-subsurface demineralization + 7 days CESP immersion, Group 4- subsurface demineralization + clinpro application. The samples were evaluated for X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy analysis, microhardness testing and atomic analyses using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The data were statistically analysed by using one-way ANOVA and Tukey - Kramer multiple comparison test. RESULTS X-ray Fluorescence spectroscopy shows Calcium concentration of 98% and 0.46% of phosphate. Group 4 (Clinpro) shows the highest efficacy in enhancing the remineralization followed by Group 3 (CESP). The results of atomic analyses showed that quantitative amounts of Ca weight % and P weight % is statistically greater for all the three groups except the demineralized group. CONCLUSION CESP with higher calcium content can remineralise enamel surface lesion.
Diasporic Lakou: A Haitian Academic Explores Her Path to Haiti Pre- and Post-Earthquake

In this essay, Charlene Desir reflects on her role as an academic from the Haitian diaspora and her journey to reconnect to her Haitian roots after the 2010 earthquake. Desir begins by exploring her family background and the centrality of lakou—a sacred family space in which to connect to her ancestors and cultural ways of knowing. By centering the conversation on community and reciprocity, she considers the roles and responsibilities of academics in the diaspora to give back to their communities. This essay tells the story of her experiences in Saint-Raphael, Haiti, developing the Lakou Soley Academic Enrichment and Cultural Arts Center. In examining her own role in her community—or lakou—Desir underscores the importance of using Haitian epistemology in the process of rebuilding Haiti.
Vocal Tract Length Normalization for Statistical Parametric Speech Synthesis

Vocal tract length normalization (VTLN) has been successfully used in automatic speech recognition for improved performance. The same technique can be implemented in statistical parametric speech synthesis for rapid speaker adaptation during synthesis. This paper presents an efficient implementation of VTLN using expectation maximization and addresses the key challenges faced in implementing VTLN for synthesis. Jacobian normalization, high-dimensionality features and truncation of the transformation matrix are a few challenges presented with the appropriate solutions. Detailed evaluations are performed to estimate the most suitable technique for using VTLN in speech synthesis. Evaluating VTLN in the framework of speech synthesis is also not an easy task since the technique does not work equally well for all speakers. Speakers have been selected based on different objective and subjective criteria to demonstrate the difference between systems. The best method for implementing VTLN is confirmed to be use of the lower order features for estimating warping factors.
The prediction of organelle-targeting peptides in eukaryotic proteins with Grammatical-Restrained Hidden Conditional Random Fields

MOTIVATION Targeting peptides are the most important signal controlling the import of nuclear encoded proteins into mitochondria and plastids. In the lack of experimental information, their prediction is an essential step when proteomes are annotated for inferring both the localization and the sequence of mature proteins. RESULTS We developed TPpred a new predictor of organelle-targeting peptides based on Grammatical-Restrained Hidden Conditional Random Fields. TPpred is trained on a non-redundant dataset of proteins where the presence of a target peptide was experimentally validated, comprising 297 sequences. When tested on the 297 positive and some other 8010 negative examples, TPpred outperformed available methods in both accuracy and Matthews correlation index (96% and 0.58, respectively). Given its very low-false-positive rate (3.0%), TPpred is, therefore, well suited for large-scale analyses at the proteome level. We predicted that from ∼4 to 9% of the sequences of human, Arabidopsis thaliana and yeast proteomes contain targeting peptides and are, therefore, likely to be localized in mitochondria and plastids. TPpred predictions correlate to a good extent with the experimental annotation of the subcellular localization, when available. TPpred was also trained and tested to predict the cleavage site of the organelle-targeting peptide: on this task, the average error of TPpred on mitochondrial and plastidic proteins is 7 and 15 residues, respectively. This value is lower than the error reported by other methods currently available. AVAILABILITY The TPpred datasets are available at http://biocomp.unibo. it/valentina/TPpred/. TPpred is available on request from the authors. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
The differentiated classroom observation scale

This article presents a new classroom observation scale that was developed to examine the differential learning activities and experiences of gifted children educated in regular classroom settings. The Differentiated Classroom Observation Scale (DCOS) is presented in total, with clarification of the coding practices and strategies. Although the DCOS was developed to examine the impact of differentiated classroom practices for gifted children, it is expected that the scale could be used for observing the educational experiences of any identifiable group of children. Reflections on the benefits offered by the DCOS that are not available with existing measures are provided, and include (a) the ability to contrast the educational experiences of two groups of learners; (b) documentation of a variety of educational factors including pedagogy, student engagement, and level of cognitive activity; and (c) preservation of contextual factors for deeper investigation through a database‐driven record keeping system that maintains disaggregated data from a series of short observational segments.
Transitional Group Therapy to Promote Resiliency in First-Time Foster Children: A Pilot Study

Foster care places children at high risk for immediate and long-term psycho-social-educational problems. A therapeutic “cocktail”—transitional group therapy (TGT)—has been developed as an inoculation for first-time foster children in order to inhibit these undesirable effects. TGT combines best practices culled from diverse therapeutic approaches to foster children. Psychoeducational and play therapeutic interventions are included in a group therapy context. This combination focuses on the immediate experiences of these children while cultivating the bases of personal resiliency. In this pilot study, 11 first-placement foster children, ages 6 to 11 years, demonstrated desirable changes in prosocial behavior and orientation toward peers, family, and schools. TGT is worth further exploration as a “shot in the arm” to boost resiliency in first-placement foster children.
A Team Approach to Planning and Evaluating Personnel Preparation Programs in Public Schools

Utilization of a Personnel Preparation Team for planning and evaluating personnel preparation programs in public school districts within the context of Public Law 94–142 (The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975) is described, outcome evidence supporting the effectiveness of the approach is reported, and considerations in its implementation are discussed. The Team Approach, developed by the author and used in numerous public school districts, has three goals: (a) identification and assessment of the personnel preparation needs of public school district staff; (b) design of a personnel preparation plan consisting of programs that address priority needs; and (c) evaluation of plan implementation and outcome. A Team comprises a cross section of teachers, specialists (e.g., counselors), and administrators. This multidisciplinary approach allows a range of perspectives to be considered when planning and evaluating personnel preparation programs, thereby helping to ensure actual program implementation and expected program outcome.
Linking Individual and Environmental Characteristics to Work-Family Enrichment of Chinese Employees

The present study examined the main effects of individual and environmental characteristics in work domain on work-to-family enrichment, and the moderating effect of work centrality on the relationship between environmental characteristics and work-to-family enrichment as well. Hierarchical linear regression analyses based on data collected from a sample of 262 employees in China demonstrated that job overload negatively predicted WEF, and job autonomy, LMX, and work centrality were positively related to WEF. The four variables explained 21% variance of work-to-family enrichment after controlling the effects of demographics. In addition, the moderating effect of work centrality on the positive correlation between LMX and work-to-family enrichment was statistically significant.
treA Codifies for a Trehalase with Involvement in Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri Pathogenicity

Citrus canker, caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc), is a severe disease of citrus. Xcc presents broad spectrum of citrus hosts including economically important species whereas X. fuscans subsp. aurantifolii–type C (XauC) causes a milder disease and only infects Citrus aurantifolia. Trehalase catalyzes hydrolysis of the disaccharide trehalose, a sugar that has been reported to be related to Xcc pathogenicity. We expressed the recombinant gene product and assessed Xcc trehalase structural and kinetics data. The recombinant protein presented 42.7% of secondary structures in α-helix and 13% in β-sheets, no quaternary structure in solution, and Michaelis-Menten constant (KM) of 0.077 mM and Vmax 55.308 μMol glucose.min-1.mg protein-1 for trehalose. A Xcc mutant strain (XccΔtreA) was produced by gene deletion from Xcc genome. Enzymatic activity of trehalase was determined in Xcc, XauC and XccΔtreA cellular lysates, showing the highest values for XauC in in vitro infective condition and no activity for XccΔtreA. Finally, leaves of Citrus aurantifolia infected with XccΔtreA showed much more drenching and necrosis than those infected by wild type Xcc. We concluded that trehalase contributes to alleviate bacterial virulence and that inability for trehalose hydrolysis may promote higher Xcc infectivity.
Effects of progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery and deep diaphragmatic breathing on quality of life in elderly with breast or prostate cancer

Background and Objectives: Due to the increasing number of elderly and an increase in the number of cases of cancer by age, cancer is a common problem in the elderly. For elderly patients with cancer, the disease and its treatment can have long-term negative effects on their quality of life (QoL). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of progressive muscle relaxation, body image and deep diaphragmatic breathing on the QoL in the elderly with cancer. Materials and Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial in which 50 elderly patients with breast or prostate cancer were randomized into study and control groups. Progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, and deep diaphragmatic breathing were given to the study group, but not to the control group. The effect of the progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery and deep diaphragmatic breathing was measured at three different time points. European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer and QoL Questionnaire-Core questionnaires was completed before, after and 6 weeks after the intervention for the patients in both groups simultaneously. The data were analyzed by SPSS. Results: There was statistically significant improvement in QoL (P < 0.001) and physical functioning (P < 0.001) after progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery and deep diaphragmatic breathing intervention. Conclusions: The findings indicated that concurrent application of progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, and deep diaphragmatic breathing would improve QoL in the elderly with breast or prostate cancer.
A personal assistant - a push system to offer relevant information with a minimum of input

To date, the research on usability has focused on offering simple-to-use interfaces, often with forms for input, menus, and buttons. However, an even simpler interface is the input-free version. This idea is explored here in the form of a personal assistant. The task of the assistant is to offer the information that a user needs at any time, preferably without requiring any input. The information is based on user data, such as calendars, contact lists, and email, and on background data from the Web. The selection is based on time, location, and usage patterns. Results are presented on a smartphone display.
Chaotic iterations versus Spread-spectrum: topological-security and stego-security

A new framework for information hiding security, called topological-security, has been proposed in a previous study. It is based on the evaluation of unpredictability of the scheme, whereas existing notions of security, as stego-security, are more linked to information leaks. It has been proven that spread-spectrum techniques, a well-known stego-secure scheme, are topologically-secure too. In this paper, the links between the two notions of security is deepened and the usability of topological-security is claried, by presenting a novel data hiding scheme that is twice stego and topological-secure. This last scheme has better scores than spread-spectrum when evaluating qualitative and quantitative topological-security properties. Incidentally, this result shows that the new framework for security tends to improve the ability to compare data hiding scheme.
Heterogeneous Beliefs and Risk-Neutral Skewness

Abstract This study tests whether belief differences affect the cross-sectional variation of risk-neutral skewness using data on firm-level stock options traded on the Chicago Board Options Exchange from 2003 to 2006. We find that stocks with greater belief differences have more negative skews, even after controlling for systematic risk and other firm-level variables known to affect skewness. Factor analysis identifies latent variables linked to risk and belief differences. The belief factor explains more variation in the risk-neutral skewness than the risk-based factor. Our results suggest that belief differences may be one of the unexplained firm-specific components affecting skewness.
MapView: Graphical Data Representation for Active Learning

Active learning facilitates the training of classifiers by selectively querying the user in order to gain insights on unlabeled data samples. Until recently, the user had limited abilities to interact with an active learning system: A sub-selection was presented by the system and every sample within had to be annotated. We propose an alternative and graphical solution to active learning called MapView where the user may profit from a different interpretation of the underlying data. Experiments underline the usability and advantages of our approach during the training of a classifier from scratch.
The actor–partner interdependence model for categorical dyadic data: A user‐friendly guide to GEE

The actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) has been widely used for the analysis of pairs of individuals who interact with each other. The goal of this article is to detail in a nontechnical way how the APIM for binary or count outcomes can be implemented and how actor and partner effects can be estimated using generalized estimating equations (GEE) methodology. Both SPSS- and SAS-syntax needed to estimate the model and the interpretation of the output are illustrated using data from a study exploring the effect of satisfaction with the relationship before the breakup on unwanted pursuit behavior after the breakup in formerly married partners. The use of this GEE method will allow researchers to test a wide array of research hypotheses.
Unsuspected Rickettsioses among Patients with Acute Febrile Illness, Sri Lanka, 2007

We studied rickettsioses in southern Sri Lanka. Of 883 febrile patients with paired serum samples, 156 (17.7%) had acute rickettsioses; rickettsioses were unsuspected at presentation. Additionally, 342 (38.7%) had exposure to spotted fever and/or typhus group rickettsioses and 121 (13.7%) scrub typhus. Increased awareness of rickettsioses and better tests are needed.