Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wand-Like Interaction with a Hand-Held Tablet Device - A Study on Selection and Pose Manipulation Techniques

Current hand-held smart devices are supplied with powerful processors, high resolution screens, and sharp cameras that make them suitable for Augmented Reality (AR) applications. Such applications commonly use interaction techniques adapted for touch, such as touch selection and multi-touch pose manipulation, mapping 2D gestures to 3D action. To enable direct 3D interaction for hand-held AR, an alternative is to use the changes of the device pose for 6 degrees-of-freedom interaction. In this article we explore selection and pose manipulation techniques that aim to minimize the amount of touch. For this, we explore and study the characteristics of both non-touch selection and non-touch pose manipulation techniques. We present two studies that, on the one hand, compare selection techniques with the common touch selection and, on the other, investigate the effect of user gaze control on the non-touch pose manipulation techniques.
Analyzing the Performance of Message Understanding

In this paper we describe a method of classifying facts (information) into categories or levels; where each level signiies a diierent degree of diiculty of extracting the fact from a piece of text containing it. We use this method to analyze the performances of three MUC systems (BBN, NYU, and SRI) based on their ability to extract a set of standard facts (at diierent levels) from two diierent MUC domains. This analysis is then extended to analyze the role of coreferencing in the performance of message understanding systems.
Running Head : ACCURATELY DETECTING FLIRTING Accurately Detecting Flirting : Error Management Theory , the Traditional Sexual Script , and Flirting Base Rate

The present manuscript reports two studies on the accuracy of flirting detection. In Study 1, 52 pairs (N = 104) of opposite-sex heterosexual strangers interacted for 10-12 minutes, then self-reported flirting and perceived partner flirting. The results indicated that interactions where flirting did not occur were more accurately perceived than interactions where flirting occurred. In Study 2, 26 one minute video clips drawn from Study 1 were randomly assigned to one of eight experimental conditions that varied flirting base rate and the traditional sexual script. Participant observers (N = 261) attempted to determine if flirting occurred. Results indicated that base rate affected accuracy; flirting was more accurately detected in clips where flirting did not occur than in clips where flirting occurred. Study 2 also indicated that female targets’ flirting was more accurately judged than male targets’ flirting. Findings are discussed in relation to accuracy and courtship context.
Speech recognition in a reverberant environment using matched filter array (MFA) processing and linguistic-tree maximum likelihood linear regression (LT-MLLR) adaptation

Performance of automatic speech recognition systems trained on close-talking data suffers when used in a distant-talking environment due to the mismatch in the training and testing conditions. Microphone array sound capture can reduce some mismatch by removing ambient noise and reverberation but offers insufficient improvement in performance. However, using array signal capture in conjunction with a hidden Markov model (HMM) adaptation on the clean-speech models can result in improved recognition accuracy. This paper describes an experiment in which the output of an 8-element microphone array system using MFA processing is used for speech recognition with LT-MLLR adaptation. The recognition is done in two passes. In the first pass, an HMM trained on clean data is used to recognize the speech. Using the results of this pass, the HMM model is adapted to the environment using the LT-MLLR algorithm. This adapted model, a product of MFA and LT-MLLR, results in improved recognition performance.
Preoperative prediction of potentially preventable morbidity after fast-track hip and knee arthroplasty: a detailed descriptive cohort study

Objectives Construction of a simple preoperative risk score for patients in high risk of potentially preventable ‘medical’ complications. Secondary objectives were to construct simple preoperative risk scores for ‘severe medical’, ‘surgical’ and ‘total’ potentially preventable complications. Design Prospective observational study. Setting Elective primary unilateral total hip and knee arthroplasty with prospectively collected preoperative patient characteristics; similar standardised fast-track protocols; evaluation of complications through discharge and medical records; and complete 90 days follow-up through nationwide databases. Participants 8373 consecutive unselected total hip arthroplasty (THA) and knee arthroplasty from January 2010 to November 2012. Results There were 557 procedures (6.4%) followed by potentially preventable complications resulting in hospitalisation >4 days or readmission. Of 22 preoperative characteristics, 7 were associated with 379 (4.2%) potentially preventable ‘medical’ complications. Patients with ≥2 of the following, age ≥80 years, anticoagulant therapy, pulmonary disease, pharmacologically treated psychiatric disorder, anaemia and walking aids, composed 19.1% of the procedures; 55.7% constituted potentially preventable ‘medical’ complications that were mainly falls, mobilisation issues, pneumonias and cardiac arrhythmias. The number needed to be treated for a hypothetical intervention leading to 25% reduction in potentially preventable ‘medical’ complications was 34. THA, use of walking aids and cardiac disease were associated with 189 (2.2%) ‘surgical’ complications, but no clinically relevant preoperative prediction was possible. Conclusions Preoperative identification of patients at high risk of preventable ‘medical’, but not ‘surgical’, complications is statistically possible. However, clinical relevance is limited. Future risk indices should differ between ‘medical’ and ‘surgical’ complications, and also consider ‘preventability’ of these. Trial registration number NCT01515670.
Filling the holes – Potential of UAV-based photogrammetric façade modelling

In this paper we examine the photogrammetric workflow for façade reconstruction based on imagery captured by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-system. The UAV we use is a quadrocopter which is able to capture the scene from many different perspectives. This makes the system a perfect device for imaging complex façade structures like balconies, jutties and even roof contours. The challenge for the processing is to deal with a not well structured block of images, which are taken by a low-cost consumer camera on a relatively unstable platform. Therefore, in the sense of correctness and completeness, the main advantage of UAV-acquired images lies on the latter, which is often the more important criterion for architectural photogrammetry. We compare the performance of the UAV-system with the results of classical terrestrial photogrammetry and laserscanning using the example of the façade of the Welfenschloss in Hannover. For camera calibration, orientation of the bundle and dense matching we use the open source software APERO/MicMac. Besides that, the near-real-time ability of this workflow for the purpose of a semi-automatic control of the UAV is evaluated in a future
Joint Power Allocation and Scheduling of Multi-Antenna OFDM System in Broadcast Channel

This paper considers the general multiuser down-link scheduling problem and power minimization with multiuser rate constraints. We present joint user selection algorithms for DPC, ZF-DPC, ZFBF and TDMA for multi-antenna OFDM system in broadcast channels, and we also present a practical waterfilling solution in this paper. By the selected users with the consideration of fairness, we derive the power optimization algorithm with multiuser rate constraints. Simulation results show that the presented user scheduling algorithms and power minimization algorithms can achieve good power performance. Meanwhile, simulation results also show that the scheduling algorithm can guarantee fairness.
Improving Effectiveness of Online Teaching (An Application of Web Usage Mining)

WWW is one of the most valuable resources of information retrievals and knowledge discoveries and it supports Online teaching learning process. We can use this resource to upload information about particular subject (under course) and can find popularity of such information. We can extract knowledge from this resource by many mining techniques to improve the performance of this information. In this paper we are providing an introduction of web mining and review of web mining categories. Then we are focusing on one of these categories the web usage mining. After this we are showing how this category can be used to raise the performance of our information. General Term: Online teaching, Web usage mining
Synthesis of variable dancing styles based on a compact spatiotemporal representation of dance

Dance as a complex expressive form of motion is able to convey emotion, meaning and social idiosyncrasies that opens channels for non-verbal communication, and promotes rich cross-modal interactions with music and the environment. As such, realistic dancing characters may incorporate crossmodal information and variability of the dance forms through compact representations that may describe the movement structure in terms of its spatial and temporal organization. In this paper, we propose a novel method for synthesizing beatsynchronous dancing motions based on a compact topological model of dance styles, previously captured with a motion capture system. The model was based on the Topological Gesture Analysis (TGA) which conveys a discrete three-dimensional point-cloud representation of the dance, by describing the spatiotemporal variability of its gestural trajectories into uniform spherical distributions, according to classes of the musical meter. The methodology for synthesizing the modeled dance traces back the topological representations, constrained with definable metrical and spatial parameters, into complete dance instances whose variability is controlled by stochastic processes that considers both TGA distributions and the kinematic constraints of the body morphology. In order to assess the relevance and flexibility of each parameter into feasibly reproducing the style of the captured dance, we correlated both captured and synthesized trajectories of samba dancing sequences in relation to the level of compression of the used model, and report on a subjective evaluation over a set of six tests. The achieved results validated our approach, suggesting that a periodic dancing style, and its musical synchrony, can be feasibly reproduced from a suitably parametrized discrete spatiotemporal representation of the gestural motion trajectories, with a notable degree of compression.
Observers for Lipschitz nonlinear descriptor systems: Application to unknown inputs systems

This paper deals with the design of reduced order observers for a class of nonlinear descriptor systems. The order of these observer is qlesn , where n is the dimension of the semi state. A new method is presented, the conditions for the existence of these observers are given and sufficient conditions for their stability are derived using linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) formulation. A numerical example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed method.
Stable Energy efficient QoS based Congestion and Delay aware Routing (SEQCDR) Protocol for MANETs

A Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) is an infrastructure less and decentralized network which need a robust routing protocol. With the development of the MANET applications, more importance is given to Quality of Service (QoS) routing strategy. However mobility and congestion of the nodes lead to frequent link failures and packet losses affecting the QoS performance of the protocol. Taking these factors into account, we propose in this paper, a Stable Energy efficient QoS based Congestion and Delay aware Routing (SEQCDR) Protocol for effective QoS support. The protocol uses the multiple metrics of signal strength, queue length, drain rate and the delay in order to enhance the system performance. It provides effective load balancing at the node and finds a stable path between the source and destination meeting the delay requirement. Simulation results show that the proposed SEQCDR protocol outperforms AODV in terms of packet delivery ratio, throughput, routing overhead and average end to end delay.
A Lightweight Lattice-Based Homomorphic Privacy-Preserving Data Aggregation Scheme for Smart Grid

Consumer privacy and consumption confidentiality and integrity are the main security concerns for smart grid connection with the residential electricity consumers. This paper proposes a lightweight privacy-preserving electricity consumption aggregation scheme that exploits lightweight lattice-based homomorphic cryptosystem. In the proposed scheme, smart household appliances aggregate their readings without involving the smart meter. Although smart meters or the intermediate base station cannot decrypt this aggregated consumption, they can validate the message’s authenticity. The proposed scheme also investigates the impact of different types of smart appliances on the home area network’s overhead. The total communication and computation load for the proposed scheme is trivial and tolerable by different parties in the connection, i.e., smart appliances, smart meters, and the base station. In addition, the deployed cryptosystem, which depends on simple arithmetic operations, can further reduce the computation duty for smart appliances. Simulation results and security analysis show that our proposed scheme guarantees consumers privacy, and messages authenticity and integrity, with lightweight communication and computation complexity.
Compression Stockings Suppressed Reduced Muscle Blood Volume and Oxygenation Levels Induced by Persistent Sitting

This study quantitatively analyzed the effects of 3 h of constant sitting on skeletal muscle oxygenation in the lower extremities, using near-infrared time-resolved spectroscopy (NIRTRS). The effects of compression stockings were also evaluated. Eleven healthy men (age, 30.0 ± 6.7 years) maintained their knee joints at 90° flexion during 3 h of constant sitting and wore a compression stocking on either the right or left leg. The side the stocking was worn was chosen randomly. Subsequently, leg circumference and extracellular water were measured. After 3 h of sitting, both factors increased significantly in uncompressed limbs. Furthermore, intracellular water and muscle oxygenation had significantly decreased. In contrast, extracellular water had not increased in the limbs wearing compression stockings. Furthermore, the increased circumference of compressed limbs was significantly smaller than that of uncompressed limbs. Decreases in oxygenated hemoglobin and total hemoglobin were significantly smaller in compressed limbs than in uncompressed limbs (oxy-Hb; p = 0.021, total-Hb; p = 0.013). Three hours of sitting resulted in decreased intracellular water and increased extracellular water in the lower extremities, leading to reduced blood volume and oxygenation levels in skeletal muscle. Compression stockings successfully suppressed these negative effects.
Association of Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases Gene Polymorphisms with the Risk of Congenital Heart Disease in the Chinese Han Population

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are in charge of cellular protein synthesis and have additional domains that function in a versatile manner beyond translation. Eight core ARSs (EPRS, MRS, QRS, RRS, IRS, LRS, KRS, DRS) combined with three nonenzymatic components form a complex known as multisynthetase complex (MSC). We hypothesize that the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the eight core ARS coding genes might influence the susceptibility of sporadic congenital heart disease (CHD). Thus, we conducted a case-control study of 984 CHD cases and 2953 non-CHD controls in the Chinese Han population to evaluate the associations of 16 potentially functional SNPs within the eight ARS coding genes with the risk of CHD. We observed significant associations with the risk of CHD for rs1061248 [G/A; odds ratio (OR) = 0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.81–0.99; P = 3.81×10−2], rs2230301 [A/C; OR = 0.73, 95%CI = 0.60–0.90, P = 3.81×10−2], rs1061160 [G/A; OR = 1.18, 95%CI = 1.06–1.31; P = 3.53×10−3] and rs5030754 [G/A; OR = 1.39, 95%CI = 1.11–1.75; P = 4.47×10−3] of EPRS gene. After multiple comparisons, rs1061248 conferred no predisposition to CHD. Additionally, a combined analysis showed a significant dosage-response effect of CHD risk among individuals carrying the different number of risk alleles (P trend = 5.00×10−4). Compared with individuals with “0–2” risk allele, those carrying “3”, “4” or “5 or more” risk alleles had a 0.97-, 1.25- or 1.38-fold increased risk of CHD, respectively. These findings indicate that genetic variants of the EPRS gene may influence the individual susceptibility to CHD in the Chinese Han population.
BactoScan FC : conversion system for results at the national level in Italy and reproducibility of total bacterial count testing four years after implementation

BactoScan and BactoCount are automated instruments for the determination of the total bacterial count (TBC) in milk through an alternative routine method. Results are given in impulses, but the TBC is officially expressed in colony-forming units per ml (CFU/ml), making a conversion system necessary in order to transfer results onto the official scale. In Italy, these instruments were introduced at the beginning of the 1980s, and today amount to more than 50 units. The initial huge number of conversion lines was gradually reduced over the years until 2012, when a single conversion relationship, developed by a joint NRCBMQ – NRLMMP project, was finally made available to Italian laboratories. In fact, it has been adopted by almost all the laboratories that routinely use these instruments. This article examines the results of about 50 proficiency tests (PTs) organised by the Italian Breeders Association (AIA) on a national scale in the period 2003-2016, for which laboratories were asked to provide results in impulses and in CFU, according to their own current conversion system. A retrospective statistical analysis of the results enabled us to assess the changes in the reproducibility of the results expressed in both units of measurement over time: that is, in impulses (mainly dependent on instrumental performance) and in CFU (also dependent on the conversion line used). In particular, we demonstrate the effect of applying the national conversion system developed via the 2008-2012 harmonisation project.
Robust fuzzy control for a mobile robot

The paper proposes a stable tracking fuzzy controller for a mobile robot (MR). Input to the vehicle are the reference position (xr, yr, thetas). The main objective is to propose a control algorithm to guide the robot from an initial position to a predefined target. One of the difficulties of this problem lies in the fact that the velocities posses two degree of freedom (translational (V) and angular (omega) although vehicles have three degree of freedom in the initial positioning. Another difficulty is the nonlinearity of the kinematicspsila relation between the translational and angular velocities on one side and between (x', y', thetas). The results obtained show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm for practical use.
New psychoactive substances in Poland. The analysis of policy responses and its effects

Introduction: The aim of this article is to analyse the process of creation and implementation of policy on new psychoactive substances (NPS) in Poland in the context of definitional and legal issues, social and market response, implementation of prevention programmes and scientific knowledge. New psychoactive substances and policy response in Poland: New psychoactive substances are a subject to both criminal and administrative law in Poland. Two definitions that refer to NPS and two lists on which they can be placed are currently in force: the annex to the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction and the annex to the regulation of the Minister of Health. Changes in legislation and the expansion of the list of scheduled substances in 2009-2015 were accompanied by an increase in health risks while the initial success of the policy was diminished with the revival of the NPS market. Streszczenie
Extending JADE for agent grid applications

This paper presents an extension of the JADE agent development framework that may be the basis for the realization of flexible agent-based grid systems. In particular, JADE framework has been enriched with two new types of agents that, on the one hand simplify the distribution of tasks inside a grid of agent platforms, and, on the other hand, facilitate the composition of tasks through the use of production rules. Moreover, the paper describes how such kinds of operations are executed through the proper authentication and authorization mechanisms.
Unequal Clustering Algorithm for WSN to Prolong the Network Lifetime (UCAPN)

A fundamental issue in wireless sensor networks is maximizing the lifetime of a network subject to a given constraint. To achieve this goal, energy consumption must be well-balanced among the nodes. Clustering is a key technique to reduce the energy consumption and increase the lifetime of network. In existing clustering algorithm, the cluster head role can be rotated periodically among the nodes to balance the energy dissipation and it collects the data from the cluster members and then it forwards to the base station. However, the hot spot problem cannot be avoided. To mitigate the hot spot problem, balancing the energy consumption among the nodes and increase the network lifetime, we propose an energy aware unequal clustering algorithm (UCAPN). It divides the nodes into clusters of unequal in sizes. To preserve more energy, data from the sensor nodes are directly transferred to the nearest cluster heads which forwards them to the base station to avoid data gathering in the cluster head. Simulation results show that UCAPN balance the energy consumption among the nodes significantly when compared with HEED.
DIVISION AND REPLICATION OF DATA IN CLOUD FOR OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE AND SECURITY

Outsourcing data to third party administrative control ,as is done in cloud computing ,gives rise to security concern.The data insecurity may occur due to attacks by the other users and nodes in the cloud.Therefore, high security measures are required to protect data that collectively approaches security and performance issues.We divide the file into fragments and replicate the fragmented data over the cloud nodes.Each of the nodes store only a single fragment of a particular file that ensures even in case of a successful attack, no meaningful information is revealed to attacker.We show that the probability to locate and compromise all of the nodes storing the fragments of a single file is extremely low.