Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Ontologies to Add Semantics to a Software Engineering Environment

Software Engineering Environments (SEEs) are systems designed to support software development and maintenance, and also for supporting project control and management. They provide means to integrate developers with the software process and the supporting technology. Since during software development many information resources are produced and used, it is very important to add semantics to them in order to improve the assistance given by the environment. In this context, ontologies are a key enabling technology for Semantic SEEs (SSEEs). A SSEE can be viewed as a SEE in which part of the information handled has associated a formal meaning (semantics), augmenting its tools’ ability to work in conjunction with each other and with human developers. This paper discusses how ontologies are used in ODE, an Ontology-based software Development Environment, to make it a SSEE.
Phase-Field Simulation of Process in Sintering Ceramics

A phase field model is used to describe the microstructural development during the ceramic sintering. The evolution of the density is governed by Cahn-Hilliard equation, while the long-range order (lro) parameter fields by the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation. In the simulation, green microstructures that consist of circular particles with different particle-size distributions and green densities have been produced by the stochastic growth model. The porosity of 25.6% was considered. The formation and growth of sintering neck, the seal, spheroidization as well as disappearance of pores and growth of grains are observed during simulation. The simulation results show grain boundary diffusion and surface diffusion are the dominate mechanism at the initial sintering stage. The predicted growth exponent of sintering neck and grain is consistent with the existing theoretical analysis.
Flow velocity profile via time-domain correlation: error analysis and computer simulation

An ultrasonic human-blood-flow velocity profile measurement method using time-domain correlation of consecutive echo pairs has been developed. The time shift between a pair of range gated echoes is estimated by searching for the shift that results in the maximum correlation. The time shift indicates the distance a group of scatterers has moved, from which flow velocity is estimated. The basis for the computer simulations and error analyses of the scheme includes a band-passed white Gaussian noise signal model for an echo from a scattering medium, the estimate of flow velocity from both a single scatterer and multiple scatterers, and a derived precision estimation. The error analysis via computer simulation includes an evaluation of errors associated with the correlation method. For a uniform flow velocity profile, beamwidth modulation represents the greatest error source. However, for a nonuniform flow velocity profile, the jitter caused by a small flow velocity gradient can exceed the other error sources. A detailed computer simulation evaluated the interdependencies of window length, beam width, vessel diameter, and viewing angle on the estimation of flow velocity. <<ETX>>
A Methodology for Extraction of the Density of Interface States in the Presence of Frequency Dispersion via the Conductance Technique

The density of interface states in the presence of significant frequency dispersion arising from parasitic effects is extracted via the conductance technique. A complete electrical model is presented to highlight the complex nature of parasitic effects, which cannot be explained by conventional models. This technique is successfully applied to MOS capacitors with identical layers of HfO2/SiO2 dielectrics but differing in the type of gate. The Poly/TiN gate gives a significant reduction of the EOT; however, the interface state density is found to have increased in comparison with the polysilicon gate.
Observer efficiency in free-localization tasks with correlated noise

The efficiency of visual tasks involving localization has traditionally been evaluated using forced choice experiments that capitalize on independence across locations to simplify the performance of the ideal observer. However, developments in ideal observer analysis have shown how an ideal observer can be defined for free-localization tasks, where a target can appear anywhere in a defined search region and subjects respond by localizing the target. Since these tasks are representative of many real-world search tasks, it is of interest to evaluate the efficiency of observer performance in them. The central question of this work is whether humans are able to effectively use the information in a free-localization task relative to a similar task where target location is fixed. We use a yes-no detection task at a cued location as the reference for this comparison. Each of the tasks is evaluated using a Gaussian target profile embedded in four different Gaussian noise backgrounds having power-law noise power spectra with exponents ranging from 0 to 3. The free localization task had a square 6.7° search region. We report on two follow-up studies investigating efficiency in a detect-and-localize task, and the effect of processing the white-noise backgrounds. In the fixed-location detection task, we find average observer efficiency ranges from 35 to 59% for the different noise backgrounds. Observer efficiency improves dramatically in the tasks involving localization, ranging from 63 to 82% in the forced localization tasks and from 78 to 92% in the detect-and- localize tasks. Performance in white noise, the lowest efficiency condition, was improved by filtering to give them a power-law exponent of 2. Classification images, used to examine spatial frequency weights for the tasks, show better tuning to ideal weights in the free-localization tasks. The high absolute levels of efficiency suggest that observers are well-adapted to free-localization tasks.
K-NN Based Wind Speed Prediction for Energy Conversion and Management

Electricity plays an important role in human civilization. Every aspect of human life and its well being depends on the energy conversion into electricity and utilize it for optimal performance in all kinds of industries. Wind energy is one such important energy being used in the world for producing electricity. However, wind speed is not predictable and thus the wind energy conversion is not straightaway schedulable. In this context, it is a challenging problem to predict wind speed accurately. It is very important for power generation and operations. Recently Yesilbudak et al. proposed a method that predicts wind speed using k-nearest neighbor classification algorithm. Various distance measures are used to achieve wind speed prediction. In this paper we implement a prototype application using Java programming language that will take pre-recorded datasets and performs the prediction of wind speed for a short term. The empirical results are encouraging.
Impact of education for physicians on patient outcomes.

OBJECTIVES This study was conducted to assess the impact of an interactive seminar based on self-regulation theory on 1) the treatment practices and communications and education behavior of physicians, 2) the health status and medical care utilization of their pediatric patients with asthma, and 3) the satisfaction with care of the subjects' parents. METHODS A total of 74 general practice pediatricians were assigned to either a program or a control group in a randomized controlled study. Data were collected from physicians at baseline, and 69 (93%) provided follow-up data 5 months after the program. Data were also collected from 637 of their patients at baseline, and in a 22-month window after the intervention, 472 (74%) of this number provided follow-up data. RESULTS After the seminar, physicians in the program group were more likely than were control group physicians to address patients' fears about medicines, review written instructions, provide a sequence of educational messages, write down how to adjust the medicines at home when symptoms change, and report that they spent less time with their patients. Parents of the children treated by program physicians were significantly more likely than were control group parents to report that the physician had been reassuring, described as a goal that the child be fully active, and gave information to relieve specific worries. After a visit with the physician, these parents were also more likely to report that they knew how to make management decisions at home. After the intervention compared to controls, patients of physicians in the program group were more likely to have received a prescription for inhaled antiinflammatory medicine and to have been asked by the physician to demonstrate how to use a metered-dose inhaler. After the intervention, children seen by program physicians made significantly fewer nonemergency office visits and visits for follow-up of an episode of symptoms; however, there were no differences in emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Among children who were placed on inhaled corticosteroids during this study, however, children treated by physicians who had received education had significantly fewer symptoms and fewer follow-up office visits, nonemergency physician office visits, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations. CONCLUSIONS The interactive seminar based on theories of self-regulation led to patient-physician encounters that were of shorter duration, had significant impact on the prescribing and communications behavior of physicians, led to more favorable patient responses to physicians' actions, and led to reductions in health care utilization.
Study on EEG power and coherence in patients with mild cognitive impairment during working memory task

To investigate the features of electroencephalography (EEG) power and coherence at rest and during a working memory task of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Thirty-five patients (17 males, 18 females; 52:_71 years old) and 34 sex-and age-matched controls (17 males, 17 females; 51:_63 years old) were recruited in the present study. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) of 35 patients with MCI and 34 normal controls revealed that the scores of MCI patients did not differ significantly from those of normal controls (P>0.05). Then, EEGs at rest and during working memory task with three levels of working memory load were recorded. The EEG power was computed over 10 channels: right and left frontal (F3, F4), central (C3, C4), parietal (P3, P4), temporal (T5, T6) and occipital (O1, O2); inter-hemispheric coherences were computed from five electrode pairs of F3-F4, C3-C4, P3-P4, T5-T6 and O1-O2 for delta (1.0:_3.5 Hz), theta (4.0:_7.5 Hz), alpha-1 (8.0:_10.0 Hz), alpha-2 (10.5:_13.0 Hz), beta-1 (13.5:_18.0 Hz) and beta-2 (18.5:_30.0 Hz) frequency bands. All values of the EEG power of MCI patients were found to be higher than those of normal controls at rest and during working memory tasks. Furthermore, the values of EEG power in the theta, alpha-1, alpha-2 and beta-1 bands of patients with MCI were significantly high (P<0.05) in comparison with those of normal controls. Correlation analysis indicated a significant negative correlation between the EEG powers and MMSE scores. In addition, during working memory tasks, the EEG coherences in all bands were significantly higher in the MCI group in comparison with those in the control group (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in EEG coherences between two groups at rest. These findings comprise evidence that MCI patients have higher EEG power at rest, and higher EEG power and coherence during working conditions. It suggests that MCI may be associated with compensatory processes at rest and during working memory tasks. Moreover, failure of normal cortical connections may be exist in MCI patients.
Diagnostic visualization for non-expert machine learning practitioners: A design study

As machine learning (ML) becomes increasingly popular, developers without deep experience in ML - who we will refer to as ML practitioners - are facing the need to diagnose problems with ML models. Yet successful diagnosis requires high-level expertise that practitioners lack. As in many complex data-oriented domains, visualization could help. This two-phase study explored the design of visualizations to aid ML diagnosis. In phase 1, twelve ML practitioners were asked to diagnose a model using ten state-of-the-art visualizations; seven design themes were identified. In phase 2, several design themes were embodied in an interactive visualization. The visualization was used to engage practitioners in a participatory design exercise that explored how they would carry out multi-step diagnosis using the visualization. Our findings provide design implications for tools that better support ML diagnosis by non-expert practitioners.
Haemorheological changes in obese adolescents after short-term diet.

Along with other risk factors in coronary heart and cerebrovascular disease, obesity is frequently associated with the development of atherosclerosis, a disease in which the rheological characteristics of blood are important. We studied the influence of weight reduction on haemorheological parameters of 20 obese adolescents (10 female, 10 male; aged 12-17 years) without metabolic and/or cardiovascular diseases. The control group composed 39 health non-obese subjects (19 female, 20 male; aged 13-17 years). At the beginning of the study the mean (+/- s.d.) body mass indices (BMI) of the obese adolescents were 36.0 +/- 5.3 kg/m2 in males and 36.8 +/- 5.0 kg/m2 in females. This was significantly reduced (31.5 +/- 4.9 kg/m2 in males and 32.5 +/- 4.7 kg/m2 in females) after one month following a diet of 1000 kcal/day: 25% proteins, 26% lipids and 49% carbohydrates. Before dieting, plasma fibrinogen level, whole blood viscosity at low shear rates and plasma viscosity were significantly higher in obese patients than in normal subjects, while the microhaematocrit values of the two groups were not significantly different. After dieting, plasma viscosity, the plasma fibrinogen level and the mean erythrocyte aggregation index of the patients decreased significantly compared to basal values, while whole blood viscosity did not change. Our data seem to indicate that short-term diet improves the haemorheological pattern in obese adolescents, probably as a consequence of an important metabolic rearrangement.
Platelet-Activating Factor and Platelet-Activating Factor Antagonists in Acute Pancreatitis

Introduction: Acute pancreatitis causes platelet-activating factor (PAF) to be released which induces systemic effects that contribute to circulatory disturbances and multiple organ failure. PAF has also been implicated as a key mediator in the progression of severe acute pancreatitis, which can lead to complications and unacceptably high mortality rates. Mode of Action of PAF in Acute Pancreatitis: Synthesis of PAF is sensitive to biologically active mediators seen in many inflammatory processes. PAF significantly potentiates pancreatic tissue damage; it causes serum amylase and lipase levels to rise significantly, causes scattered haemorrhages and may serve as a primary mediator of inflammation. PAF Antagonists: Several classes of compounds show significant PAF antagonisms, and all have shown significant local and systemic effects to reduce inflammatory changes. Only lexipafant, however, has been studied in human acute pancreatitis. Lexipafant specifically binds to the PAF receptor and is more potent than other PAF antagonists. In clinical trials lexipafant reduces organ failure and suppresses some aspects of the inflammatory response. Conclusion: Our understanding of the pathology of systemic complications, and of a central role of PAF in mediating an inappropriate inflammatory response has improved in recent years. Confirmation of clinical findings with lexipafant will indicate an effective new therapy for the treatment of severe acute pancreatitis.
Phenotypic characterization and genealogical tracing in an Afrikaner schizophrenia database

Founder populations hold tremendous promise for mapping genes for complex traits, as they offer less genetic and environmental heterogeneity and greater potential for genealogical research. Not all founder populations are equally valuable, however. The Afrikaner population meets several criteria that make it an ideal population for mapping complex traits, including founding by a small number of initial founders that likely allowed for a relatively restricted set of mutations and a large current population size that allows identification of a sufficient number of cases. Here, we examine the potential to conduct genealogical research in this population and present initial results indicating that accurate genealogical tracing for up to 17 generations is feasible. We also examine the clinical similarities of schizophrenia cases diagnosed in South Africa and those diagnosed in other, heterogeneous populations, specifically the US. We find that, with regard to basic sample descriptors and cardinal symptoms of disease, the two populations are equivalent. It is, therefore, likely that results from our genetic study of schizophrenia will be applicable to other populations. Based on the results presented here, the history and current size of the population, as well as our previous analysis addressing the extent of background linkage disequilibrium (LD) in the Afrikaners, we conclude that the Afrikaner population is likely an appropriate founder population to map genes for schizophrenia using both linkage and LD approaches. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Analysis of Electricity Bill Data using Interactive Dimensionality Reduction

The liberalization process undergone by the EU in the last years gives the consumer large degrees of freedom to choose supply conditions and electricity prices. In this context, a comprehensive understanding by the consumers about their power consumption is crucial to choose the best option. For that purpose, they could analyze the information contained in the past electricity bills. Although suppliers generally provide simple bar charts displaying monthly consumption, using this fixed representation consumers cannot find additional correlations with other variables or even, other related bills from the same institution. We propose an innovative approach based on Interactive Dimensionality Reduction (iDR) in order to allow consumers to analyze and track their own electricity consumption in a fully interactive way. We present a case study using data from the electricity bills of the University of León. A HTML5/JavaScript tool implementing iDR concept is used. The extracted knowledge can be used in the negotiation with the suppliers.
Levy processes for image modeling

Nonhomogenous random fields are known to be well adapted to modeling a wide class of images. Their computational complexity generally causes their lack of appeal, we propose a more efficient model capable of capturing textures, shapes, as well as jumps typically encountered in infra-red images. The so-called Levy random fields as we show, can indeed represent a very well adapted alternative for inference applications and the like.
Cytologic diagnosis of fibrous hamartoma of infancy: A case report

Fibrous hamartoma of infancy (FHI) is a rare benign lesion in the first 2 years of life with a distinctive histomorphologic appearance. There were only two descriptions of this entity in the cytology literature. In this article, the detailed clinical profile and cytologic features of a case of FHI is described in a 6‐month‐old male infant who presented with a nodular mass in the anterior axillary fold. Fine‐needle aspiration (FNA) cytology smears showed an admixture of adipose tissue fragments, discretely lying, and clusters of fibroblastic cells in association with myxoid and collagenous matrix. FNA cytology features along with proper clinical history, radiological findings, family history, and location of the lesion may be helpful to suggest the probable preoperative diagnosis of this lesion. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2003;28:272–273. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A lower bound for the capacity of the discrete-time Poisson channel

A simple lower bound to the capacity of the discrete-time Poisson channel with average number of quanta of energy ε<inf>s</inf> is derived. The rate 1/2 log(1 + ε<inf>s</inf>) is shown to be the generalized mutual information of a modified minimum-distance decoder, when the input follows a gamma distribution of parameter 1/2 and mean <inf>s</inf>.
High-current nanotube transistors

Planar field effect transistors (FET) consisting of a large number of parallel single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) have been fabricated that allow very high on-currents of the order of several milliamperes and on/off ratios exceeding 500. With these devices it is demonstrated, for the first time, that SWCNTs can be used as transistors to control macroscopic devices, e.g., light emitting diodes and electromotors. Those transistors were fabricated by a very simple process that is based on the catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) growth of SWCNTs at low temperatures, a single lithographic step to define the source and drain contacts, and a bias pulse to eliminate the metallic SWCNTs.
Cell Adhesion to Phosphatidylserine Mediated by a Product of Growth Arrest-specific Gene 6*

Gas6, a product of a growth arrest-specific gene 6, potentiates proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells and prevents cell death of vascular smooth muscle cells. It has been also demonstrated that Gas6 is a ligand of receptor tyrosine kinases Axl, Sky, and Mer. Gas6 contains γ-carboxyglutamic acid residues, which are found in some blood coagulation factors and mediate the interaction of the coagulation factors with negatively charged phospholipid. In this study, we clarified that Gas6 specifically bound to phosphatidylserine and the binding was dependent on Ca2+ and γ-carboxyglutamic acid residues. Furthermore, we found that U937 cells, which express Gas6 receptor on their surfaces, adhered to phosphatidylserine-coated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) plate only in the presence of Gas6 and Ca2+. U937 cells also bound to ELISA plate coated with phosphatidylinositol, but the binding was independent of Gas6 and Ca2+. On the other hand, U937 cells did not adhere to phosphatidylcholine- or phosphatidylethanolamine-coated ELISA plate even in the presence of Gas6 and Ca2+. These findings suggest that Gas6 may play a role in recognition of cells exposing phosphatidylserine on their surfaces by phagocytic cells, which is supposed to be one of the mechanisms for clearing dying cells.
Improving traceability link recovery methods through software artifact summarization

Analyzing candidate traceability links is a difficult, time consuming and error prone task, as it usually requires a detailed study of a long list of software artifacts of various kinds. One option to alleviate this problem is to select the most important features of the software artifacts that the developers would investigate. We discuss in this position paper how text summarization techniques could be used to address this problem. The potential gains in using summaries are both in terms of time and correctness of the traceability link recovery process.
'Personal Influence': Social Context and Political Competition

This paper studies the effect of social learning on political outcomes in a model of informative campaign advertising. Voters' communication network affects parties' incentives to disclose political information, voters' learning about candidates running for office, and polarization of the electoral outcome. In richer communication networks, parties disclose less political information and voters are more likely to possess erroneous beliefs about the characteristics of the candidates. In turn, a richer communication network among voters may lead to political polarization. These results are reinforced when interpersonal communication occurs more frequently among ideologically homogeneous individuals and parties can target political advertising. (JEL D72, D85, M37, Z13)