Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards Incremental Separation of Surmountable and Insurmountable Programming Difficulties

In an offering of CS 1, we monitored the amount of help students in a class received through various means. We found that most students wanted help that went beyond office hours and email, and that for the vast majority of them, their grades correlated positively with the amount of help they received. However, increasing help also requires increasing instructional resources unless techniques can be found to separate the surmountable difficulties from the insurmountable ones. We have developed such a technique that looks at individual interaction logs and classifies difficulties incrementally as they occur. The insight behind the technique is that when students face surmountable difficulties, they tend to repeat certain action sequences, which can be detected to distinguish the surmountable difficulties from the insurmountable ones. A lab study shows that the mechanism gives significantly better results than the baselines.
Classification of lung glandular cells for early detection of cancer using multiple color spaces and scale space catastrophe features

One of the biggest challenges the world face today is the mortality due to Cancer. One in four of all diagnosed cancers involve the lung cancer. The lung cancer remains the most common cancer-related cause of death both in developed and developing countries due to inhaling cancer-causing substance such as tobacco. Screening test help doctors to find and detect cancer at early stages. Several methods such as MRI, chest-X rays, CT Scan, etc., are available for screening tests. For developing countries, the cost involved for early detection with the available methods is not affordable. This paper presents a novel low cost method to detect and classify lung glandular cells as benign or malignant (Cancer cells) using conventional pap stained sputum cytology images. The microscopic sputum images are preprocessed and analysis is restricted to cellular regions. For segmentation we use multiple color spaces and clustering algorithms: K-Means and Fuzzy C-Means. Scale Space based Catastrophe points are used as features and are classified using Support Vector Machine (SVM). We successfully classified the glandular cells as benign or malignant cells with an accuracy of 78.61%. [D. Venkataraman, J. Suganthi, Sajith Kecheril S, K. Sujathan. Classification of Lung Glandular cells for early detection of Cancer using Multiple Color Spaces and Scale Space Catastrophe Features. Life Sci J 2013;10(2):2971-2980] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 411
Obtaining Sensitive Data Through the Web: An Example of Design and Methods

Several studies have suggested that the quality of coital data from diaries is superior to that collected by retrospective questionnaires. By collecting data over short intervals of time, diaries can present a more comprehensive picture of exposure, while minimizing the potential for recall bias. Despite these advantages, paper diaries have limited use because of their expense and difficulty of implementation. Web-based data collection offers the opportunity to make improvements to the quality of epidemiologic exposure measurement by providing privacy and convenience to study participants while reducing costs associated with questionnaire administration and allowing for real-time data processing. We adapted coital diaries for Web-based data collection in a study of transmission rates of genital human papillomavirus infection among young adults. University women complete an online sexual behavior questionnaire (“diary”) every 2 weeks over a 3-year follow-up period; men complete a single online sexual behavior questionnaire (“journal”). In this paper we describe the design, methodology and implementation issues that emerge in conducting a Web-based epidemiologic study. We also discuss compliance, as well as methods for assuring appropriate security, confidentiality and privacy.
Cepheids as Distance Indicators

We review the use of Cepheids as distance indicators with particular emphasis on the methods which have been applied to HST observations of Cepheids. The calibration of the period-luminosity relations is examined in detail and we identify possible problems with the existing calibrations. New V- and I-band period luminosity relations are presented based on a sample of 53 Cepheids in the LMC with photometry drawn from the literature. These revised PL relations result in a systematic decrease of approx 0.1 magnitudes in distance moduli derived using the standard method of extinction correction. Hence estimates of the Hubble constant based on such distances should be increased by $\sim5%$. Other aspects of Cepheid distance determination, specifically incompleteness bias, metallicity dependence, the effects of crowding and contamination of samples by non-Cepheids are also discussed. We conclude that current HST distance estimates to individual galaxies are probably good to about 10%, but that much of this error is systematic. Efforts to reduce the systematics, therefore, for example by improving the photometric calibration, refining the distance to the LMC, and reobserving the Cepheid galaxies in the infrared with NICMOS, will give large returns.
Impact of occupational and psychological stress on police health in South India

Background: Police personnel form an important occupational group who constantly work under stressful situations. Preventive programs in the government organizations and studies investigating the occupational stress among police officers in India, particularly in the state of Andhra Pradesh, are still limited. Materials and Methods: Demographic details such as age, educational qualification, years of service, and number of children etc of Demographic details such as age, educational qualification, years of service, and number of children etc of Male police constables (n = 123) working in the Bellampalli subdivision of Adilabad district of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh were captured. Details of height, weight, body mass index (BMI, kg/m2), blood pressure (BP), pulse, the status of addiction, and type of illness were extracted from the records. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and Chi-square test to find an association between categorical variables was performed using SPSS version 16. Results: About 72.4% of the constables were addicted to at least one habit such as alcohol consumption, smoking, and chewing smokeless tobacco and pan. Nearly 20.3% were addicted to chewing tobacco/pan followed by addition to alcohol consumption 14.6%. With the increase in age, the prevalence of hypertension also increased showing a significant association (systolic BP [SBP]: P = 0.001; diastolic BP [DBP]: P = 0.001). Similarly, higher BMI (SBP: P = 0.008; DBP: P = 0.001) and increased number of service years (SBP: P = 0.001; DBP: P = 0.001) were associated with higher prevalence of hypertension. Conclusion: Developing an adequate evaluation of the association between chronic diseases and mortality in addition to a hazard surveillance system for tracking the risks for occupational injury and illness among police officers should be considered.
A mixed QoS SDRAM controller for FPGA-based high-end image processing

High-end video and multimedia processing applications today require huge amounts of memory. For cost reasons, the usage of conventional dynamic RAM (SDRAM) is preferred. However, accessing SDRAM is a complex task, especially if multi-stream access, different stream types and realtime capability are an issue. The paper describes a multi-stream SDRAM controller IP (intellectual property) that covers different stream types and applies memory scheduling to achieve high bandwidth utilization. Two different architectures are presented and discussed; simulation results with a realistic application configuration demonstrate up to 90% of maximum memory bandwidth utilization. The scheduler IP is suitable for FPGA implementation and is flexible enough to be used in other applications.
Effect of future climatic variability on agriculture in a Mediterranean region

Recent analysis on changes in climate (IPCC, 1995, 2001) showed that the globally averaged surface temperatures have increased by 0.6±0.2°C over the 20 century. In addition, for the range of scenarios developed in the IPCC Special Report on Emission Scenarios (2000), the globally averaged surface air temperature is projected by models to warm 1.4 to 5.8°C by 2100 relative to 1990. These projections indicate that the warming would vary by region, with increases and decreases in precipitation. The records for Mediterranean areas show similar trends (Rambal and Hoff, 1998), with an increase in the frequency of heat waves and a surface air temperature increase greater than that observed at global scale. Brunetti et al. (2000) and Buffoni et al. (1999) analyzed trends of temperature and rainfall in Italy from mid-1800 to 1996 showing a positive trend for temperature and a decreasing trend for rainfall. This decreasing rainfall trend was confirmed also at a local scale for Sardinia island, Italy, by Delitala at al. (2000). Environmental variability is the key issue when addressing agricultural production in arid a semi-arid regions. Alternating periods of variable length of relatively dry and wet years are common in these regions. Climate variability, which mainly affects rainfall, is inherently part of the system. Considerable effort has been expended in studies on large-scale and general circulation modeling to assess climatic risk. However, downscaling to the local level to assess climate risk for agricultural areas and crops has proven difficult (Parry and Carter, 1988; Rosenzweig, 1982). In addition, there have been few attempts to account for inter-annual climate variability (van Lanen, 1992; Hudson and Birnie, 1999, Motroni et al., 2002; Duce et al., 2003). To overcome these deficiencies, a project to incorporate year-to-year climate variability with Land Evaluation was conducted. Land Evaluation models provide qualitative information about land, such as its cropping potential or land vulnerability risk, based on bio-physical and socio-economic characteristics (Rossiter, 1996). In general, land qualities derived from measurements of dynamic variables (e.g. climate data) are converted to static variables (means,
Hybrid WiFi/UWB, cooperative localization using Particle Filter

Indoor navigation using RF signals has attracted tremendous attention in the recent years. However, indoor localization using RF signaling is very challenging and does not provide adequate precision for many applications. In this paper we use Particle Filter (PF) to integrate the Received Signal Strength (RSS) of WiFi and the Time Of Arrival (TOA) of UWB RF signaling for precise cooperative localization in indoor environment. The choice for PF is due to non-linear and Non-Gaussian channel models for RF localization algorithm. We use channel models for the RSS of WiFi and the TOA of UWB. The performance of the PF results are evaluated in a typical indoor scenario and are compared with the Cramér-Rao-Lower-Bound (CRLB) for Hybrid (UWB & WiFi) in Cooperative (COOP) and non-Cooperative (NCOOP) modes.
Cell-Type Specific Penetrating Peptides: Therapeutic Promises and Challenges

Cell penetrating peptides (CPP), also known as protein transduction domains (PTD), are small peptides able to carry peptides, proteins, nucleic acid, and nanoparticles, including viral particles, across the cellular membranes into cells, resulting in internalization of the intact cargo. In general, CPPs can be broadly classified into tissue-specific and non-tissue specific peptides, with the latter further sub-divided into three types: (1) cationic peptides of 6–12 amino acids in length comprised predominantly of arginine, lysine and/or ornithine residues; (2) hydrophobic peptides such as leader sequences of secreted growth factors or cytokines; and (3) amphipathic peptides obtained by linking hydrophobic peptides to nuclear localizing signals. Tissue-specific peptides are usually identified by screening of large peptide phage display libraries. These transduction peptides have the potential for a myriad of diagnostic as well as therapeutic applications, ranging from delivery of fluorescent or radioactive compounds for imaging, to delivery of peptides and proteins of therapeutic potential, and improving uptake of DNA, RNA, siRNA and even viral particles. Here we review the potential applications as well as hurdles to the tremendous potential of these CPPs, in particular the cell-type specific peptides.
Logic optimization using rule-based randomized search

In this paper we describe a new logic synthesis approach based on rule-based randomized search using simulated annealing. Our work is motivated by two observations: (1) traditional logic synthesis applies literal count as the primary quality metric during the technology independent optimization phase. This simplistic metric often leads to poor circuit structures as it cannot foresee the impact of early choices on the final area, delay, power consumption, etc. (2) Although powerful, global Boolean optimization is not robust and corresponding algorithms cannot be used in practice without artificially restricting the application window. Other techniques, such as algebraic methods scale well but provide weaker optimization power. To address both problems, we use randomized search that is based on a simple circuit graph representation and a complete set of local transformations that include algebraic and Boolean optimization steps. The objective of the search process can be tuned to complex cost functions, combining area, timing, mutability, and power. Our experimental results on benchmark functions demonstrate the significant potential of the presented approach.
Beelight: helping children discover colors

Despite the modern technology being used at preschool, how children learn about colors remains in a traditional, lacking of interaction way, teachers show a color object and make children know the color. We found that children are fascinated about exploring the world through the direct manipulation of physical objects. In this paper, we present Beelight, a novel digital manipulative aimed at preschool children, aged four and up, to improve children's color recognition ability. Cooperative inquiry and iterative prototype design are conducted during the project in order to evolve our prototype. Our Beelight system has a powerful ability to engage preschool children in active playing, which promotes their color cognitive development. Beelight is a great companion for young children to learn and discover colors. This study is a tangible interactive attempt of the preschool teaching system.
A Comparative Study of Approximate Joint Diagonalization Algorithms for Blind Source Separation in Presence of Additive Noise

A comparative study of approximate joint diagonalization algorithms of a set of matrices is presented. Using a weighted least-squares criterion, without the orthogonality constraint, an algorithm is compared with an analogous one for blind source separation (BSS). The criterion of the present algorithm is on the separating matrix while the other is on the mixing matrix. The convergence of the algorithm is proved under some mild assumptions. The performances of the two algorithms are compared with usual standard algorithms using BSS simulations results. We show that the improvement in estimating the separating matrix, resulting from the relaxation of the orthogonality restriction, can be achieved in presence of additive noise when the length of observed sequences is sufficiently large and when the mixing matrix is not close to an orthogonal matrix
Multiresolution 3-D Reconstruction From Side-Scan Sonar Images

In this paper, a new method for the estimation of seabed elevation maps from side-scan sonar images is presented. The side-scan image formation process is represented by a Lambertian diffuse model, which is then inverted by a multiresolution optimization procedure inspired by expectation-maximization to account for the characteristics of the imaged seafloor region. On convergence of the model, approximations for seabed reflectivity, side-scan beam pattern, and seabed altitude are obtained. The performance of the system is evaluated against a real structure of known dimensions. Reconstruction results for images acquired by different sonar sensors are presented. Applications to augmented reality for the simulation of targets in sonar imagery are also discussed
Electromagnetic modeling by Finite Element Analysis and experimental measurements applied to Power Electronics teaching

Power Electronics is a multidisciplinary subject which is taught in many universities, being of interest because of its great variety of applications. In this paper we present a methodical procedure based on the integrated use of modeling, simulation and experimentation carried out using real inductors. As an example we apply this procedure to the modeling and simulation of ferrite inductors which are used in power converters. Our methodology can be applied to undergraduate and graduate students to help them understand the behavior of typical circuits such as power converters and the nonlinear physical phenomena involved in power electronics.
Hindi-English Language Identification , Named Entity Recognition and Back Transliteration : Shared Task System Description

This paper presents an algorithm for word level language identification, named entity recognition and classification, and transliteration of Indian language words written in the Roman script to their native Devanagari script from bilingual textual data. We propose the construction of an extensive, hierarchical structured dictionary and hierarchical rule-based classifier to expedite word search and language identification. The proposed method uses lexical, contextual and special character features particular to Hindi and English. With a few modifications to the system, the present solution can be replicated for other languages. The system we have submitted shows the best performance in English token level precision (0.895) and the second best in Indian language token recall (0.915). The transliteration level f-measure is relatively low (0.15); this can be significantly improved with a more representative and exhaustive training data.
Modified Double Bilateral Filter for Sharpness Enhancement and Noise Removal

This paper propose a double bilateral filter that extends the classical bilateral filtering for image noise removal. A new median-metric weighting function is introduced by incorporating a 3 × 3 median filter into a second bilateral filter. A variety of images contaminated by various degrees of Gaussian, impulse, and mixed noise were used to assess the performance of this new filtering method. It is indicated that the double bilateral filter outperformed several existing methods in both visual image quality and restored signal quantity. In this paper, we propose a Modified double bilateral filter where we replaced 3 × 3median filter with a new decision-based algorithm based median filter in the second bilateral filter. The proposed method, unlike other nonlinear filters, removes only corrupted pixel by the median value or by its neighboring pixel value. As a result of this, the proposed method removes the noise effectively even at noise level as high as 90% and preserves the edges without any loss up to 80% of noise level. The new proposed median filter is for restoration of images that are highly corrupted by impulse noise.
Remote Magnetic Navigation to Guide Endocardial and Epicardial Catheter Mapping of Scar-Related Ventricular Tachycardia

Background— The present study examines the safety and feasibility of using a remote magnetic navigation system to perform endocardial and epicardial substrate-based mapping and radiofrequency ablation in patients with scar-related ventricular tachycardia (VT). Methods and Results— Using the magnetic navigation system, we performed 27 procedures on 24 consecutive patients with a history of VT related to myocardial infarction, dilated cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or sarcoidosis. Electroanatomic mapping of the left ventricular, right ventricular, and ventricular epicardial surfaces was constructed in 24, 10, and 12 patients, respectively. Complete-chamber VT activation maps were created in 4 patients. A total of 77 VTs were inducible, of which 21 were targeted during VT with the remotely navigated radiofrequency ablation catheter alone. With a combination of entrainment and activation mapping, 17 of 21 VTs (81%) were successfully terminated in a mean of 8.4±8.2 seconds; for the remainder, irrigated radiofrequency ablation was necessary. The mean fluoroscopy times for endocardial and epicardial mapping were 27±23 seconds (range, 0 to 105 seconds) and 18±18 seconds (range, 0 to 49 seconds), respectively. In concert with a manually navigated irrigated ablation catheter, 75 of 77 VTs (97%) were ultimately ablated. Four patients underwent a second procedure for recurrent VT, 3 with the magnetic navigation system. After 1.2 procedures per patient, VT did not recur during a mean follow-up of 7±3 months (range, 2 to 12 months). Conclusions— The present study demonstrates the safety and feasibility of remote catheter navigation to perform substrate mapping of scar-related VT in a wide range of disease states with a minimal amount of fluoroscopy exposure.
Diffraction of flexural waves by cracks in orthotropic thin elastic plates. Part II. Far field analysis

The scattered field arising from diffraction of a plane flexural wave by a semi-infinite crack in an orthotropic Kirchhoff thin plate is analysed. The crack is aligned with a principal direction of the material, so that two of the plate's three planes of symmetry are preserved. An asymptotic approximation is derived via the method of steepest descents, and explicit expressions are given for the most significant contributions. The effects of anisotropy upon the scattered field are made clear, and numerical results are presented for several typical engineering materials.
Energy efficient random cast DSR protocol with mediation device in MANET

Mobile Ad hoc networks (MANET) basically have dynamic topology, as the routing system's list of neighboring nodes and routers changes its location from time to time. MANET's often consumes lot of bandwidth, as the medium is shared with other nodes. MANET nodes consumes more power, even if they don't take part in active communication. The drawback is mainly because of limitations of the technology and routing protocols available. MANET's are vulnerable to attack as they share a wireless medium with infrastructure less backbone. The system proposes a Routing protocol in MANET which enables efficient usage of power and bandwidth in Mobile Ad-hoc networks (MANET). Randomized Overhearing techniques is proposed to reduce power consumption and enhance effective Routing in MANET. Randomized overhearing technique is used with AODV (Ad-Hoc on Demand Distance Vector)and DSR(Dynamic Source Routing) protocols to reduce the power consumed during transmission in a MANET. Minimum hop path is introduced to reduce excess bandwidth consumption. MD(Mediation Device)protocol is proposed to extend the battery life of nodes in the MANET scenario.