Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Attenuating perceived privacy risk of location-based mobile services

The rapid diffusion of mobile devices has spurred the development and use of location-based mobile services (LBMS). LBMS have the potential to add value to businesses through sale of LBMS applications and targeted marketing of products and services. However, studies have shown that individuals’ intention to use LBMS is plagued by the perceived privacy risks of disclosing location and personal information. This study examines how various consumption values may weaken the negative influence of perceived privacy risk on individuals’ intention to use LBMS based on the multi-dimensional concept of privacy risk, theory of consumption values, and privacy calculus. The attenuating effects of conditional, emotional, epistemic, functional, and social values are studied. Results of a survey of 194 potential users of a LBMS show that conditional, functional, and social values have significant attenuating effects. This study contributes to research by looking beyond the separate and direct effects of perceived privacy risk and consumption values to provide new insights on their joint influences. For practitioners such as LBMS providers and businesses’ marketing managers, the findings highlight the type of values that should be emphasized in designing and promoting LBMS.
A map of topography on the 410‐km discontinuity from PP precursors

We derive a new map of global topography on the 410‐km discontinuity from observations of precursors to PP obtained by stacking almost 25,000 long‐period seismograms. The inferred ‘410’ topography exhibits average peak‐to‐peak amplitude of about 30 km, has a strong degree‐one component, and is highly correlated with previous results obtained from SS precursors [Flanagan and Shearer, 1998]. Spatial variations in ‘410’ topography appear unrelated to ocean‐continent differences, suggesting that continental roots are not a significant factor in observed global temperature variations at 410 km depth.
Advancements in the application of NanoSIMS and Raman microspectroscopy to investigate the activity of microbial cells in soils

The combined approach of incubating environmental samples with stable isotope-labeled substrates followed by single-cell analyses through high-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) or Raman microspectroscopy provides insights into the in situ function of microorganisms. This approach has found limited application in soils presumably due to the dispersal of microbial cells in a large background of particles. We developed a pipeline for the efficient preparation of cell extracts from soils for subsequent single-cell methods by combining cell detachment with separation of cells and soil particles followed by cell concentration. The procedure was evaluated by examining its influence on cell recoveries and microbial community composition across two soils. This approach generated a cell fraction with considerably reduced soil particle load and of sufficient small size to allow single-cell analysis by NanoSIMS, as shown when detecting active N2-fixing and cellulose-responsive microorganisms via 15N2 and 13C-UL-cellulose incubations, respectively. The same procedure was also applicable for Raman microspectroscopic analyses of soil microorganisms, assessed via microcosm incubations with a 13C-labeled carbon source and deuterium oxide (D2O, a general activity marker). The described sample preparation procedure enables single-cell analysis of soil microorganisms using NanoSIMS and Raman microspectroscopy, but should also facilitate single-cell sorting and sequencing.
Dialogic Arguments from Social Media

Online argumentative dialog is a rich source of information on popular beliefs and opinions that could be useful to companies as well as governmental or public policy agencies. Compact, easy to read, summaries of these dialogues would thus be highly valuable. A priori, it is not even clear what form such a summary should take. Previous work on summarization has primarily focused on summarizing written texts, where the notion of an abstract of the text is well defined. We collect gold standard training data consisting of five human summaries for each of 161 dialogues on the topics of Gay Marriage, Gun Control and Abortion. We present several different computational models aimed at identifying segments of the dialogues whose content should be used for the summary, using linguistic features and Word2vec features with both SVMs and Bidirectional LSTMs. We show that we can identify the most important arguments by using the dialog context with a best F-measure of 0.74 for gun control, 0.71 for gay marriage, and
Universal Compression of Envelope Classes: Tight Characterization via Poisson Sampling

The Poisson-sampling technique eliminates dependencies among symbol appearances in a random sequence. It has been used to simplify the analysis and strengthen the performance guarantees of randomized algorithms. Applying this method to universal compression, we relate the redundancies of fixed-length and Poisson-sampled sequences, use the relation to derive a simple single-letter formula that approximates the redundancy of any envelope class to within an additive logarithmic term. As a first application, we consider i.i. d. distributions over a small alphabet as a step-envelope class, and provide a short proof that determines the redundancy of discrete distributions over a small alphabet up to the first order terms. We then show the strength of our method by applying the formula to tighten the existing bounds on the redundancy of exponential and power-law classes, in particular answering a question posed by Boucheron, Garivier and Gassiat [6].
Copy protection through software watermarking and obfuscation

Enforcement of copyright laws in the field of software products is primarily managed in legal way by the software developer companies, as the available technological solutions are not strong enough to prevent illegal distribution and use of software. Almost all copy protection techniques were cracked within some weeks after their market launch. The lack of technical copyright enforcement solutions is responsible for the failure of some recently appeared business models, partially also for the recent dotcom crash. The situation is particularly dangerous in case of the growing market of mobile software products. In this paper we aim at proposing a scheme which combines obfuscating and software-watermarking techniques in order to provide a solution which is purely technical, but strong enough to overcome the problems concerning software copy protection. The solution we propose is focusing primarily on mobile software products, where we can rely on the hardware based integrity protection of the operating system.
Time course of changes in collateral blood flow and isolated vessel size and gene expression after femoral artery occlusion in rats.

The objectives of this study were to assess the time course of enlargement and gene expression of a collateral vessel that enlarges following occlusion of the femoral artery and to relate these responses to the increases in collateral-dependent blood flow to the calf muscles in vivo. We employed exercise training to stimulate collateral vessel development. Rats were exercise trained or kept sedentary for various times of up to 25 days postbilateral occlusion (n=approximately 9/time point). Collateral blood flow to the calf muscles, determined with microspheres, increased modestly over the first few days to approximately 40 ml.min(-1). 100 g(-1) in sedentary animals; the increase continued over time to approximately 80 ml.min(-1). 100 g(-1) in the trained animals. Diameters of the isolated collateral vessels increased progressively over time, whereas an increased vessel compliance observed at low pressures was similar across time. These responses were greater in the trained animals. The time course of upregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor and placental growth factor, and particularly endothelial nitric oxide synthase and fms-like tyrosine kinase 1, mRNAs in the isolated collateral vessel implicates these factors as integral to the arteriogenic process. Collateral vessel enlargement and increased compliance at low pressures contribute to the enlarged circuit available for collateral blood flow. However, modulation of the functioning collateral vessel diameter, by smooth muscle tone, must occur to account for the observed increases in collateral blood flow measured in vivo.
Prehypertension in children and adolescents: association with body weight and neck circumference.

OBJECTIVE The present study was undertaken to investigate the role of neck circumference (NC) in predicting prehypertension in children and adolescents. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study including 6,802 children and adolescents (3,631 boys and 3,171 girls) aged 5-18 years. Main anthropometric data and related information were collected. RESULTS The prevalence of prehypertension was 14.4%, 16.4% and 17.1% in normal weight, overweight and obese group respectively. Among the participants with normal body mass index (BMI), higher NC was significantly associated with increased odds of prehypertension (OR: 1.439; 95% CI: 1.118 to 1.853) after adjustment for age, gender, BMI and WC. Significant associations between NC and either systolic blood pressure (SBP) (β=0.581 mmHg) or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (β=0.236 mmHg) were found in the linear regression. No significant ORs were observed either in overweight or in obese categories. CONCLUSION We concluded that additional measure of NC might expand the ability of BMI for the identification of prehypertension in normal weight children and adolescents.
Proprioceptive control of a hybrid legged-wheeled robot

In this work we describe an innovative proprioceptive control architecture for our hybrid legged-wheeled robot ASGUARD. This robot is able to cope with a variety of stairs, very rough terrain, and is able to move with the speed of two body-lengths per second on flat ground. An additional proprioceptive inclination feedback is used to make the same controller more robust in terms of stair-climbing capabilities. Contrary to existing approaches, we did not use a pre-defined walking pattern for stair climbing, but an adaptive approach based only on internal sensor information. The data we use in our architecture is based on proprioceptive information, like body inclination and external torques, which are acting on the driving motors. In this work we show how this adaptivity results in a versatile controller for hybrid legged-wheeled robots. For the locomotion control we use an adaptive model of motion pattern generators. In contrast to many other walking pattern based robots, we use the direct proprioceptive feedback in order to modify the internal control loop, thus adapting the compliance of each leg on-line. For different terrains and stairs we use a phase-adaptive pattern which is using directly the proprioceptive data from each leg. We show that our adaptive controller is able to improve the stair-climbing behaviour in terms of energy consumption and energy distribution.
Salt and water regulation in the embryos of freshwater pulmonate molluscs. II. Sodium uptake during the development of Biomphalaria sudanica.

In the previous paper (Beadle, 1969 a) it was shown that the eggs of Biomphalaria sudanica and Lymnaea stagnalis are, from the moment of laying, immersed in the capsular fluid between which and the outside water there is a free and rapid exchange of water and inorganic ions through the capsular membrane and outer jelly. It is therefore to be expected that the egg and early embryo can regulate their salt and water content in a very hypotonic medium before any special cells are differentiated for this purpose. The object of the experiments here described was to test this expectation by studying the uptake of sodium by means of Na during the course of development, to determine the relation between uptake and the external concentration of sodium and to discover how far uptake is dependent upon oxidative metabolism. It would have been preferable to study also the uptake of potassium, but work with the short-lived isotope was impracticable in Kampala. From what is known about the inorganic composition of animal cells and body fluids it is likely that the sodium taken up by the developing embryo accumulates mainly in the extracellular spaces and cavities and that potassium is in higher concentration in the cells. But we have no means of deciding this directly and, since we cannot even roughly estimate the separate volumes of cells and spaces in a normal embryo, we are limited to determining, by means of ^Na, the total sodium in the whole embryo.
The Igneous Diversity of Mars: Evidence for Magmatic Evolution Analogous to Earth

EARTH. P. R. Christensen1, H.Y. McSween, Jr.2, J. L. Bandfield1, S.W. Ruff1, A. D. Rogers1, V.E. Hamilton3, N. Gorelick1, M. B. Wyatt1, B.M. Jakosky4, H. H. Kieffer5, M.C. Malin6, J. E. Moersch2. 1Department of Geological Sciences, Arizona State University Tempe, AZ 85287, 2Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, 3Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, 4University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 5U.S. Geological Survey, Emeritus, 6Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, CA 92191.
Young Adult Outcomes Associated With Teen Pregnancy Among High-Risk Girls in a Randomized Controlled Trial of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care

Teen pregnancy is associated with a host of deleterious outcomes for girls, such as drug use and poor parenting. Thus, reducing teen pregnancy rates could improve long-term developmental outcomes for girls, including adjustment during young adulthood. Based on the positive effects of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) relative to group care (GC) in a study of adolescent girls (significantly fewer pregnancies reported in the 2-year follow-up for MTFC girls), the present study followed this sample into young adulthood (approximately 7 years post-baseline) to examine the effects of adolescent pregnancy on young adult substance use and pregnancy-related outcomes. All participants were randomly assigned to MTFC (N = 81) or GC (N = 85) as adolescents as part of a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Results from logistic regression analyses indicated that becoming pregnant during the 2-year follow-up was significantly related to illicit drug use, miscarriage from a new pregnancy, and child welfare involvement 7 years post-baseline. In addition, baseline marijuana use predicted marijuana use at 7 years post-baseline.
The Importance of Process Thinking in Business Intelligence

The growing field of Operational Business Intelligence (BI) has resulted in increasing interest in BI-supported Business Processes (BPs), including their management and ongoing improvement. This has led BI practitioners to consider another fieldâ€“Business Process Management (BPM)â€“that is closely related to business performance management. However, current approaches to the BPM and operational BI integration have been limited and reduced to the problem of technical integration of BPM and BI systems. This paper argues that by adopting process- thinking in BI, further opportunities for business value creation could be discovered through systematic analysis of the non-technical aspects of BI and BPM integration, including strategy alignment, human-centered knowledge management, and ongoing improvement of BI supported processes. The authors propose a theoretical framework founded in the related research in BPM, BI, and Knowledge Management (KM) fields, describing the ways it has been used to guide ongoing empirical research in diverse case organizations across different industry sectors.
A Generic Approach to Bulk Loading Multidimensional Index Structures

Recently there has been an increasing interest in supporting bulk operations on multidimensional index structures. Bulk loading refers to the process of creating an initial index structure for a presumably very large data set. In this paper, we present a generic algorithm for bulk loading which is applicable to a broad class of index structures. Our approach differs completely from previous ones for the following reasons. First, sorting multidimensional data according to a predefined global ordering is completely avoided. Instead, our approach is based on the standard routines for splitting and merging pages which are already fully implemented in the corresponding index structure. Second, in contrast to inserting records one by one, our approach is based on the idea of inserting multiple records simultaneously. As an example we demonstrate in this paper how to apply our technique to the R-tree family. For R-trees we show that the I/O performance of our generic algorithm meets the lower bound of external sorting. Empirical results demonstrate that performance improvements are also achieved in practice without sacrificing query performance.
Mechanism of Action of Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty and Predictors of Response

Purpose This study was designed to evaluate the changes in aqueous humor dynamics (AHD) produced by selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) and to explore if baseline AHD parameters are predictive of IOP response to SLT. Methods Thirty-one consecutive subjects diagnosed with ocular hypertension or primary open-angle glaucoma scheduled to undergo SLT as their primary IOP-lowering therapy were enrolled in this prospective observational study. Subjects underwent baseline assessment of AHD in both eyes. Variables assessed were IOPs at 9 AM and noon, aqueous humor flow rate (fluorophotometry), episcleral venous pressure (EVP, venomanometry), outflow facility (pneumatonography and fluorophotometry) and uveoscleral outflow (calculated using modified Goldmann equation). All subjects underwent 360 degrees SLT and AHD measurements were repeated 3 months later. Results Compared with baseline, IOPs after SLT were significantly lower at 9 AM (22.9 ± 5.1 vs. 19.7 ± 3.0 mm Hg; P = 0.001) and noon (23.4 ± 4.6 vs. 20.0 ± 3.5 mm Hg; P < 0.001). Outflow facility by fluorophotometry was significantly increased from 0.17 ± 0.11 μL/min/mm Hg at baseline to 0.24 ± 0.14 μL/min/mm Hg at 3 months (P = 0.008). Outflow facility by tonography (baseline: 0.16 ± 0.07 μL/min/mm Hg vs. 3 months: 0.22 ± 0.16 μL/min/mm Hg; P = 0.046) was similarly increased. No change in aqueous flow or EVP was observed. There were no changes in IOP or AHD in the contralateral untreated eye. Using multiple linear regression models, higher baseline aqueous flow, lower baseline outflow facility, and possibly lower uvescleral outflow were associated with more IOP lowering with SLT. Conclusions The IOP-lowering effect of SLT is mediated through an increase in outflow facility. There is no contralateral effect. Higher aqueous flow and lower outflow facility may be predictive of better response to SLT.
Comprehensive model for the atmospheric sodium layer

We present a steady state model of the midlatitude nighttime sodium layer which is comprehensive in the sense that it includes deposition of the metal, diffusion, and kinetics as well as the seasonal variations in the atmosphere. The model is used to compute seasonal variations in the layer parameters and the sodium nightglow. The behavior of the model reproduces well the observed behavior of the layer. We find that the main contributor to the seasonal variation is the temperature dependence of the reaction recycling atomic sodium from NaHCO 3 . Seasonal variations in the atmospheric minor species including ozone are secondary effects at best. The relative contributions of all factors are compared.
Deconstructing Events: The Neural Bases for Space, Time, and Causality

Space, time, and causality provide a natural structure for organizing our experience. These abstract categories allow us to think relationally in the most basic sense; understanding simple events requires one to represent the spatial relations among objects, the relative durations of actions or movements, and the links between causes and effects. The present fMRI study investigates the extent to which the brain distinguishes between these fundamental conceptual domains. Participants performed a 1-back task with three conditions of interest (space, time, and causality). Each condition required comparing relations between events in a simple verbal narrative. Depending on the condition, participants were instructed to either attend to the spatial, temporal, or causal characteristics of events, but between participants each particular event relation appeared in all three conditions. Contrasts compared neural activity during each condition against the remaining two and revealed how thinking about events is deconstructed neurally. Space trials recruited neural areas traditionally associated with visuospatial processing, primarily bilateral frontal and occipitoparietal networks. Causality trials activated areas previously found to underlie causal thinking and thematic role assignment, such as left medial frontal and left middle temporal gyri, respectively. Causality trials also produced activations in SMA, caudate, and cerebellum; cortical and subcortical regions associated with the perception of time at different timescales. The time contrast, however, produced no significant effects. This pattern, indicating negative results for time trials but positive effects for causality trials in areas important for time perception, motivated additional overlap analyses to further probe relations between domains. The results of these analyses suggest a closer correspondence between time and causality than between time and space.
Debugging of Reversible Circuits Using pDDs

Different kinds of decision diagrams have played key roles in advancements for the synthesis of reversible circuits in the recent past. In this work, decision diagrams are used to efficiently debug reversible circuits in cases when they do not match their intentional specification. It can automatically be checked whether the faulty circuit is almost equal to a given function, i.e. it can realize the function by slightly modifying the circuit, e.g. by adding or changing a gate. For this purpose, πDDs are used which allow for a compact representation of a set of permutations.
Preparation of liposomes: a novel application of microengineered membranes - investigation of the process parameters and application to the encapsulation of vitamin E

Liposomes with a mean size of 59–308 nm suitable for pulmonary drug delivery were prepared by the ethanol injection method using nickel microengineered flat disc membranes with a uniform pore size of 5–40 μm and a pore spacing of 80 or 200 μm. An ethanolic phase containing 20–50 mg ml−1 phospholipid (1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) or Lipoid® E80), 5–12.5 mg ml−1 stabilizer (cholesterol, stearic acid or cocoa butter), and 0 or 5 mg ml−1 vitamin E was injected through the membrane into an agitated aqueous phase at a controlled flux of 142–355 l m−2 h−1 and a shear stress on the membrane surface of 0.80–16 Pa. The mean particle size obtained under optimal conditions was 84 and 59 nm for Lipoid E80 and POPC liposomes, respectively. The particle size of the prepared liposomes increased with an increase in the pore size of the membrane and decreased with an increase in the pore spacing. Lipoid E80 liposomes stabilized by cholesterol or stearic acid maintained their initial size within 3 months. A high entrapment efficiency of 99.87% was achieved when Lipoid E80 liposomes were loaded with vitamin E. Transmission electron microscopy images revealed spherical multi-lamellar structure of vesicles. The reproducibility of the developed fabrication method was high.