Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Municipal Benefits of Participatory Urban Sensing: A Simulation Approach and Case Validation

Involving citizens in public affairs through the use of participatory sensing applications is an emerging theme in Pervasive Computing and mobile E-Government (M-Government). Prior work, however, suggests that local governments place more emphasis on internal than on external M-Government projects. This paper takes an action design research perspective to provide insight into the often overlooked potential of citizen-centric, external M-Government services. We consider the scenario of a sensing application for reporting urban infrastructure issues to the municipality and present a System Dynamics model to estimate the diffusion, use, and municipal impacts of such service. The model is validated based on the case of a large German city, a dedicated survey, and further data sources. The simulation results indicate that, compared to internal information acquisition procedures, the use of urban sensing can improve a municipality's availability of environmental information at a comparable level of cost. Furthermore, we discuss a number of aspects and learnings related to an urban sensing implementation and provide an empirical estimation of the diffusion model. Our results provide an impetus for researchers and government practitioners to reconsider the benefits of urban sensing applications in E-Government endeavors.
Finding Shortest Paths on Terrains by Killing Two Birds with One Stone

With the increasing availability of terrain data, e.g., from aerial laser scans, the management of such data is attracting increasing attention in both industry and academia. In particular, spatial queries, e.g., k-nearest neighbor and reverse nearest neighbor queries, in Euclidean and spatial network spaces are being extended to terrains. Such queries all rely on an important operation, that of finding shortest surface distances. However, shortest surface distance computation is very time consuming. We propose techniques that enable efficient computation of lower and upper bounds of the shortest surface distance, which enable faster query processing by eliminating expensive distance computations. Empirical studies show that our bounds are much tighter than the best-known bounds in many cases and that they enable speedups of up to 43 times for some well-known spatial queries.
Efficient Testing of Large Graphs

P be a property of graphs. An -test for P is a randomized algorithm which, given the ability to make queries whether a desired pair of vertices of an input graph G with n vertices are adjacent or not, distinguishes, with high probability, between the case of G satisfying P and the case that it has to be modified by adding and removing more than edges to make it satisfy P. The property P is called testable, if for every there exists an -test for P whose total number of queries is independent of the size of the input graph. Goldreich, Goldwasser and Ron [8] showed that certain individual graph properties, like k-colorability, admit an -test. In this paper we make a first step towards a complete logical characterization of all testable graph properties, and show that properties describable by a very general type of coloring problem are testable. We use this theorem to prove that first order graph properties not containing a quantifier alternation of type ``'' are always testable, while we show that some properties containing this alternation are not.
Classification Technique of Human Motion Context based on Wireless Sensor Network

The fusion technology of small sensor and wireless communication was followed by various application examples of the embedded system, where the social infrastructural facilities and ecological environment were wirelessly monitored. In the paper, new monitoring and classifying method of human motion context was proposed by using 2-axial MEMS accelerometer and 916 MHz short range data communication technology. During four types of subjects motion, waveform changes of the accelerometer data was acquired by wireless sensor network, then analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) and support vector machine (SVM) method for clustering the first and second principal components. To classify the subjects motion type, supervised learning method was used for segmentation algorithm. The present study showed that the developed algorithm could classify four types correctly. Therefore, human motion context during daily life could be monitored and classified by using wireless sensor network
Comparing the Efficacy of add-on Nortryptiline With Triiodothyronine in the Management of Citalopram-Resistant Depression

We selected 48 adult outpatients with a diagnosis of non-psychoticmajor depressive disorder who had not responded to 12 weeks citalopram therapy (40 mg perday). They were randomly allocated to two groups. One group received nortryiptiline (at a dose of upto 150 mg per day) and the other triiodothyronine (T3) (at a dose of up to 50 µg per day). The remission of depression was defined as a score of 7or less on the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression(HRSD-17).
Monitoring soil disturbance on salvaged areas within the mountain pine beetle infestation using digital imagery

Abstract There is a concern that the accelerated timber harvest in the mountain pine beetle epidemic area of British Columbia (BC) could compromise long-term forest productivity if soils are unduly disturbed. Consequently, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources Operations (MFLNRO) developed a protocol using ground- and image-based methods to assess the status of the forest soil resource in part of the BC Forest and Range Evaluation Program (FREP). Although this protocol uses high-resolution aerial imagery, the MFLNRO is also collecting beetle imagery at a smaller scale for detecting and monitoring. For this evaluation, we use a combination of ground- and imagery-based assessments as developed for FREP within the BC Interior Plateau. We determined that low-resolution data are useful and are sufficient for detecting and measuring the extent of roads and landings. Areas occupied by landslides, erosion, drainage diversion, inordinate disturbance, or roadside work areas can be captured on remote-sensed images with spatial resolution greater than 2.5 m. However, based on this review and previous work, aerial photographs in 10-cm pixel size are best suited to reveal less evident harvesting-related soil disturbance.
Experimental Validation of the Role of Trifluoroethanol as a Nanocrowder

Trifluoroethanol (TFE) is commonly used to induce protein secondary structure, especially α-helix formation. Due to its amphiphilic nature, however, TFE can also self-associate to form micellelike, nanometer-sized clusters. Herein, we hypothesize that such clusters can act as nanocrowders to increase protein folding rates via the excluded volume effect. To test this hypothesis, we measure the conformational relaxation kinetics of an intrinsically disordered protein, the phosphorylated kinase inducible domain (pKID), which forms a helix–turn–helix in TFE solutions. We find that the conformational relaxation rate of pKID displays a rather complex dependence on TFE percentage (v/v): while it first decreases between 0 and 5%, between 5 and 15% the rate increases and then remains relatively unchanged between 15 and 30% and finally decreases again at higher percentages (i.e., 50%). This trend coincides with the fact that TFE clustering is maximized in the range of 15–30%, thus providing validation of our hypothesis. Another line of supporting evidence comes from the observation that the relaxation rate of a monomeric helical peptide, which due to its predominantly local interactions in the folded state is less affected by crowding, does not show a similar TFE dependence.
Circadian expression of the presynaptic active zone protein bruchpilot in the lamina of Drosophila melanogaster

In the fly's visual system, the morphology of cells and the number of synapses change during the day. In the present study we show that in the first optic neuropil (lamina) of Drosophila melanogaster, a presynaptic active zone protein Bruchpilot (BRP) exhibits a circadian rhythm in abundance. In day/night (or light/dark, LD) conditions the level of BRP increases two times, in the morning and in the evening. The same pattern of changes in the BRP level was detected in whole brain homogenates, thus indicating that the majority of synapses in the brain peaks twice during the day. However, these two peaks in BRP abundance, measured as the fluorescence intensity of immunolabeling, seem to be regulated differently. The peak in the morning is predominantly regulated by light and involves the transduction pathway in the retina photoreceptors. This peak is present neither in wild‐type Canton‐S flies in constant darkness (DD), nor in norpA7 phototransduction mutant in LD. However, it also depends on the clock gene per, because it is abolished in the per0 arrhythmic mutant. In turn, the peak of BRP in the evening is endogenously regulated by an input from the pacemaker located in the brain. This peak is present in Canton‐S flies in DD, as well as in the norpA7 mutant in LD, but is absent in per01, tim,01 and cry01 mutants in LD. In addition both peaks seem to depend on clock gene‐expressing photoreceptors and glial cells of the visual system. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol, 2013
Markov Incremental Constructions

A classic result asserts that many geometric structures can be constructed optimally by successively inserting their constituent parts in random order. These randomized incremental constructions (RICs) still work with imperfect randomness: the dynamic operations need only be “locally” random. Much attention has been given recently to inputs generated by Markov sources. These are particularly interesting to study in the framework of RICs, because Markov chains provide highly nonlocal randomness, which incapacitates virtually all known RIC technology.We generalize Mulmuley’s theory of Θ-series and prove that Markov incremental constructions with bounded spectral gap are optimal within polylog factors for trapezoidal maps, segment intersections, and convex hulls in any fixed dimension. The main contribution of this work is threefold: (i) extending the theory of abstract configuration spaces to the Markov setting; (ii) proving Clarkson–Shor-type bounds for this new model; (iii) applying the results to classical geometric problems. We hope that this work will pioneer a new approach to randomized analysis in computational geometry.
Developmental differences in addition strategies: a comparison of mathematically disabled and mathematically normal children.

BACKGROUND Several studies concerned with task-specific strategies in addition have suggested that, when compared with the performance of mathematically normal peers (MN pupils), the performance of mathematically disabled pupils (MD pupils) is characterised by frequent use of inefficient problem-solving strategies. These studies, however, have focused more or less exclusively on single age-groups and on the youngest age-groups in particular. What characterises strategy use, as this develops year by year during the primary school stage, has not been adequately studied. AIMS The major purpose of the present study was to investigate the character and extent of differences between the MD pupils and the MN pupils as reflected in the use of task-specific strategies for solving elementary addition problems as the pupils move up through primary school, i.e., from grade 1 to grade 7. Particular concern was with the variability within the groups of MD pupils, especially in light of the general literature showing substantial heterogeneity in the performance characteristics of the mathematically less able children. SAMPLE The sample included 32 MD pupils in grade 1, 33 MD pupils in grade 3, 36 MD pupils in grade 5 and a corresponding number of MN pupils in each of the grades. METHODS The pupils were asked to solve 28 single-digit addition problems on two different occasions separated by an interval of two years. The task-specific strategies used by the pupils were recorded on a 'trial-by-trial basis' and were classified as defined single variants of backup strategies and retrieval strategies, respectively. RESULTS The pattern of development as it emerged in a longitudinal perspective in the present study showed the mathematically disabled pupils as being characterised by: (a) use of backup strategies only, (b) use of the most primary backup strategies, (c) small degree of variation in the use of strategy variants and, (d) limited degree of change in the use of strategies from year to year throughout the primary school. CONCLUSIONS Compared with the mathematically normal pupils, the mathematically disabled exhibited a divergent pattern of development, with unexpectedly little variability within the group itself.
The Needs of Older People in Later Life

The aim of this report is to understand the actual needs of older people who live in a nursing home in Sweden. Qualitative method was applied in order to collect data from interviews of both older people and staffs of the nursing home. Data analysis was performed by using hermeneutical circle. The results revealed the basic needs, the psychological needs, the self-fulfillment and the ‘needs and wants’ of older people. The results showed that the needs of older people were varied as individuals are unique. In general, the basic needs are for survival, and the needs of families, communications, personalized activities, and encouragement which might have the conductive function for older people to live a happy later life.
Comparison of life satisfaction within couples one year after a partner's stroke.

OBJECTIVE To compare life satisfaction within couples one year after a partner's stroke and with norm values and social factors. SUBJECTS AND METHODS A total of 56 couples were consecutively included. The respondents estimated life satisfaction using the Life Satisfaction Checklist 9-item version. Patients' impairments, self-care ability and handicap were assessed. Social characteristics were registered. Non-parametrical statistical methods were used for analyses. RESULTS Patients were physically mildly disabled by their stroke. The most common symptom was mental fatigability. Patients were, in general, less satisfied than spouses. The couples were less satisfied than norms. Satisfaction with life as a whole, leisure and sex life were most affected for both patients and spouses. Relationship with partner was the only domain in which patients were more satisfied than their spouses and almost equally satisfied compared with norms. The proportion of couples in which both partners agreed they were satisfied, for the following domains was: leisure time 20%, sex life 25%, vocation/occupation 29%, life as a whole 30%, finances 47%, social contacts 48%, relationship with partner 60%, family life 66% and ability in self-care 66%. CONCLUSION Life satisfaction was negatively affected in both partners, although in different life domains. Support should address the different needs of patients and spouses as well as their mutual needs.
Cloning of the Streptococcus mutans Gene Encoding Glucan Binding Protein B and Analysis of Genetic Diversity and Protein Production in Clinical Isolates

ABSTRACT Streptococcus mutans, the primary etiological agent of dental caries, produces several activities that promote its accumulation within the dental biofilm. These include glucosyltransferases, their glucan products, and proteins that bind glucan. At least three glucan binding proteins have been identified, and GbpB, the protein characterized in this study, appears to be novel. The gbpB gene was cloned and the predicted protein sequence contained several unusual features and shared extensive homology with a putative peptidoglycan hydrolase from group B streptococcus. Examination of gbpB genes from clinical isolates ofS. mutans revealed that DNA polymorphisms, and hence amino acid changes, were limited to the central region of the gene, suggesting functional conservation within the amino and carboxy termini of the protein. The GbpB produced by clinical isolates and laboratory strains showed various distributions between cells and culture medium, and amounts of protein produced by individual strains correlated positively with their ability to grow as biofilms in an in vitro assay.
Correlating sub-phenomena in performance data in the frequency domain

Finding and understanding correlated performance behaviour of the individual functions of massively parallel high-performance computing (HPC) applications is a time-consuming task. In this poster, we propose filtered correlation analysis for automatically locating interdependencies in call-path performance profiles. Transforming the data into the frequency domain splits a performance phenomenon into sub-phenomena to be correlated separately. We provide the mathematical framework and an overview over the visualization, and we demonstrate the effectiveness of our technique.
The Search for a Highly-Available Hadoop Distributed Filesystem

Hadoop is becoming the standard framework to process large amounts of data. It takes advantage of distributed computing to do it fast and efficiently. However, this is only possible if data is supplied with high availability and consistency. Those goals are fulfilled by a core piece of Hadoop called the Hadoop Distributed Filesystem (HDFS). HDFS is a very scalable distributed filesystem capable of storing petabytes and providing high throughput data access. It makes intensive use of replication and checksums to protect the system from data loss and corruption. Despite of all those qualities, HDFS has a central component whose maintenance demands the entire system to be shut down. Furthermore, that component is also a single point of failure. Those limitations make HDFS unsuitable for 24x7 applications. In this technical report we are going to make a high-level introduction to HDFS and discuss attempts to solve the mentioned problem. ∗aoriani@comp.ufscar. br †islene@ic.unicamp. br ‡rschmidt@facebook.com
Brain death and its influence on donor organ quality and outcome after transplantation.

Transplantation has evolved as the treatment of choice for many patients with end-stage organ disease. However, despite the . 80% one-year functional survival rate of most transplanted organs at the present time, the ultimate goal—to provide long-term treatment for an irreversible process—has not been achieved; the rate of attrition over time has not changed appreciably throughout the entire experience (1). Although recurrent disease, de novo infections, malignancies, and other factors may contribute to late graft deterioration, chronic rejection remains the most important etiologic factor (2). Despite well-characterized functional and morphological changes, the mechanisms leading to this progressive state remain poorly understood. Its pathophysiology has been conceptualized as stemming from both antigendependent and -independent risk factors (3). Although immune-mediated events are considered to be primarily responsible for the late graft changes, it seems increasingly that the influence of nonimmunological events has been underestimated. This concept has been emphasized by recent pooled United Network of Organ Sharing data that show that the survival rates of kidneys from living-unrelated and one haplotype-matched living-related donors are identical despite potentially important differences in genetic relationship with the given recipient (4). In addition, organs from all living donors demonstrate consistently superior results to those from cadaver sources over both the shortand long-term. Various nonimmunological factors that might explain these discrepancies include the effects of initial ischemia/reperfusion injury, inadequate functioning nephron mass, viral infections, and drug toxicity. Brain death is a rarely considered risk factor uniquely relevant to the cadaver donor. Multivariate analysis has emphasized that both initial and long-term results of engrafted cadaver organs may be dependent upon donor demographics and the etiology of the central injury (5). In virtually all experimental studies of organ transplantation, young, healthy living animals are used as donors; in clinical practice, in contrast, a relatively low percentage of organs comes from living donors, as cadavers remain the primary source of supply. Amongst other variables, the difference between the two donor populations implies the effect of profound physiological and structural derangements that may occur during and subsequent to brain death and before the actual engraftment procedure.
Proprioceptive Feedback and Brain Computer Interface (BCI) Based Neuroprostheses

Brain computer interface (BCI) technology has been proposed for motor neurorehabilitation, motor replacement and assistive technologies. It is an open question whether proprioceptive feedback affects the regulation of brain oscillations and therefore BCI control. We developed a BCI coupled on-line with a robotic hand exoskeleton for flexing and extending the fingers. 24 healthy participants performed five different tasks of closing and opening the hand: (1) motor imagery of the hand movement without any overt movement and without feedback, (2) motor imagery with movement as online feedback (participants see and feel their hand, with the exoskeleton moving according to their brain signals, (3) passive (the orthosis passively opens and closes the hand without imagery) and (4) active (overt) movement of the hand and rest. Performance was defined as the difference in power of the sensorimotor rhythm during motor task and rest and calculated offline for different tasks. Participants were divided in three groups depending on the feedback receiving during task 2 (the other tasks were the same for all participants). Group 1 (n = 9) received contingent positive feedback (participants' sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) desynchronization was directly linked to hand orthosis movements), group 2 (n = 8) contingent “negative” feedback (participants' sensorimotor rhythm synchronization was directly linked to hand orthosis movements) and group 3 (n = 7) sham feedback (no link between brain oscillations and orthosis movements). We observed that proprioceptive feedback (feeling and seeing hand movements) improved BCI performance significantly. Furthermore, in the contingent positive group only a significant motor learning effect was observed enhancing SMR desynchronization during motor imagery without feedback in time. Furthermore, we observed a significantly stronger SMR desynchronization in the contingent positive group compared to the other groups during active and passive movements. To summarize, we demonstrated that the use of contingent positive proprioceptive feedback BCI enhanced SMR desynchronization during motor tasks.
Never Abandon Minorities: Exhaustive Extraction of Bursty Phrases on Microblogs Using Set Cover Problem

We propose a language-independent data-driven method to exhaustively extract bursty phrases of arbitrary forms (e.g., phrases other than simple noun phrases) from microblogs. The burst (i.e., the rapid increase of the occurrence) of a phrase causes the burst of overlapping N-grams including incomplete ones. In other words, bursty incomplete N-grams inevitably overlap bursty phrases. Thus, the proposed method performs the extraction of bursty phrases as the set cover problem in which all bursty N-grams are covered by a minimum set of bursty phrases. Experimental results using Japanese Twitter data showed that the proposed method outperformed word-based, noun phrase-based, and segmentation-based methods both in terms of accuracy and coverage.