Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DNA repair activity for oxidative damage and risk of lung cancer.

BACKGROUND Although smoking is a major cause of lung cancer, only a proportion of smokers develop lung cancer, suggesting a genetic predisposition in some individuals. Because tobacco smoking is associated with the increased formation of DNA lesions, including those induced from oxidative damage, we investigated whether the activity of the DNA repair enzyme 8-oxoguanine DNA N-glycosylase (OGG), which repairs the oxidative DNA lesion 8-oxoguanine, is associated with lung cancer. METHODS We conducted a molecular epidemiologic case-control study that included 68 case patients with non-small-cell lung cancer and 68 healthy control subjects, frequency matched for age and sex. Enzymatic OGG activity was determined in protein extracts prepared from peripheral blood mononuclear cells or lung tissue by assaying the cleavage product of a radiolabeled synthetic DNA oligonucleotide containing an 8-oxoguanine residue. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were determined by conditional logistic regression. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS OGG activity was lower in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from case patients than in those from control subjects. After adjustment for age and smoking status, individuals in the lowest tertile of OGG activity had an increased risk of non-small-cell lung cancer compared with individuals in the highest tertile (OR = 4.8, 95% CI = 1.5 to 15.9). The adjusted OR associated with a unit decrease in OGG activity was statistically significantly increased (OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.3 to 2.8). There was no interaction between OGG activity and smoking status. The estimated relative risk of lung cancer for smokers with low OGG activity was 34- or 124-fold higher for smokers with a low OGG activity of 6.0 or 4.0 U/ micro g protein, respectively, than for nonsmokers with a normal OGG activity of 7.0 U/ micro g protein, illustrating the cumulative effect of low OGG activity and smoking. CONCLUSIONS Low OGG activity is associated with an increased risk of lung cancer. Although prospective studies are needed to validate the results, they suggest that smoking cessation in individuals with reduced OGG activity might be an effective strategy in lung cancer prevention.
An Estimation System for XPath Expressions

Estimating the result sizes of XML queries is important in query optimization and is useful in providing a quick feedback about the queries. Existing works have focused on the selectivity estimation of XML queries without order-based axes. In this work, we develop a framework to estimate the result sizes of XPath expressions with order-based axes. We describe how the path and order information of XML elements can be captured and summarized in compact data structures. We also describe methods to estimate the selectivity of XPath queries. The results of extensive experiments on both synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed approach.
Layered LDGM codes for scalable video streaming over packet erasure channels

This paper introduces layered low-density generator matrix (Layered-LDGM) codes for scalable video streaming data. The layered-LDGM codes maintain the arbitrary relationship of each layer from the encoder side to the decoder side. This resulting structure supports partial decoding. Furthermore, the proposed codes create forward error correcting (FEC) packets that considers the relationship between the scalable components. Thus, the layered-LDGM codes enable lost packet data to be recovered effectively. Simulation results show that the proposed codes offer better error resiliency, without sacrificing scalability, than the existing method which creates FEC packets for each scalable component independently.
Automatic Segmentation of Dermoscopy Images Using Histogram Thresholding on Optimal Color Channels

Automatic segmentation of skin lesions is the first step towards development of a computer-aided diagnosis of melanoma. Although numerous segmentation methods have been developed, few studies have focused on determining the most discriminative and effective color space for melanoma application. This paper proposes a novel automatic segmentation algorithm using color space analysis and clustering-based histogram thresholding, which is able to determine the optimal color channel for segmentation of skin lesions. To demonstrate the validity of the algorithm, it is tested on a set of 30 high resolution dermoscopy images and a comprehensive evaluation of the results is provided, where borders manually drawn by four dermatologists, are compared to automated borders detected by the proposed algorithm. The evaluation is carried out by applying three previously used metrics of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity and a new metric of similarity. Through ROC analysis and ranking the metrics, it is shown that the best results are obtained with the X and XoYoR color channels which results in an accuracy of approximately 97%. The proposed method is also compared with two state-ofthe-art skin lesion segmentation methods, which demonstrates the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed segmentation method. Keywords—Border detection, Color space analysis, Dermoscopy, Histogram thresholding, Melanoma, Segmentation.
A statistical multiprocessor cache model

The introduction of general-purpose microprocessors running multiple threads will put a focus on methods and tools helping a programmer to write efficient parallel applications. Such a tool should be fast enough to meet a software developer's need for short turn-around time, but also be accurate and flexible enough to provide trend-correct and intuitive feedback. This paper presents a novel sample-based method for analyzing the data locality of a multithreaded application. Very sparse data is collected during a single execution of the studied application. The architectural-independent information collected during the execution is fed to a mathematical memory-system model for predicting the cache miss ratio. The sparse data can be used to characterize the application's data locality with respect to almost any possible memory system, such as complicated multiprocessor multilevel cache hierarchies. Any combination of cache size, cache-line size and degree of sharing can be modeled. Each modeled design point takes only a fraction of a second to evaluate, even though the application from which the sampled data was collected may have executed for hours. This makes the tool not just usable for software developers, but also for hardware developers who need to evaluate a huge memory-system design space. The accuracy of the method is evaluated using a large number of commercial and technical multi-threaded applications. The result produced by the algorithm is shown to be consistent with results from a traditional (and much slower) architecture simulation.
Scale- and orientation-invariant scene similarity metrics for image queries

In this paper we extend our previous work on shape-based queries to support queries on configurations of image objects. Here we consider spatial reasoning, especially directional and metric object relationships. Existing models for spatial reasoning tend to rely on pre-identified cardinal directions and minimal scale variations, assumptions that cannot be considered as given in our image applications, where orientations and scale may vary substantially, and are often unknown. Accordingly, we have developed the method of varying baselines to identify similarities in direction and distance relations. Our method allows us to evaluate directional similarities without a priori knowledge of cardinal directions, and to compare distance relations even when query scene and database content differ in scale by unknown amounts. We use our method to evaluate similarity between a user-defined query scene and object configurations. Here we present this new method, and discuss its role within a broader image retrieval framework.
Professionals' and community members' understandings and use of mindfulness and the effect of different understandings on treatment outcomes and future use

Enthusiasm for and interest in mindfulness has grown exponentially over recent decades in the field of psychology. Although a great deal of empirical work continues to provide support for the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions for a range of issues and population groups, there is ongoing debate within the academic literature regarding what mindfulness is. Additionally, the paradoxical and experiential nature of mindfulness, its many forms and potential mechanisms of action, and resemblance to other practices, may result in professionals and community members having different conceptualisations of mindfulness and using it in distinct ways. Importantly, these diverse perceptions and applications of mindfulness may translate into different therapeutic outcomes. This dissertation presents a series of three empirical studies examining these issues. The first survey-based study of mental health and related professionals found that mindfulness is understood and used in many ways by this group. It emerged that some professionals perceive mindfulness as a direct change-based strategy and use it-as such, while others conceptualise it as fostering change through a process of acceptance of what is. Study 2, a survey of community members familiar with mindfulness, demonstrated that a similar distinction in conceptualisations of mindfulness exists in this group. A third experimental study with individuals predominantly new to meditation examined the effect of providing two rationales reflecting the conceptualisations of mindfulness identified in Study 1 and 2 ' prior to a brief mindfulness practice, with one rationale describing the potential benefits of mindfulness and the other describing the process of simply observing whatever experiences arise during the practice of mindfulness. Results showed that although the rationale itself did not directly affect self-reported mood, defusion, state mindfulness, or physiology, participants' expectations about how they might benefit from the mindfulness
Development and depth control of biomimetic robotic fish

This paper describes the design of a biologically inspired robotic fish which is capable of three-dimensional locomotion, and presents its depth control method. The mechanical design of the pectoral fins improves both the waterproof capability and the control precision. By adjusting the rotation angles of the pectoral fins, the robotic fish can fulfill up-and-down motion. Due to the uncertainty of the depth information measured by the pressure sensor, fuzzy logic method is applied to the depth control of the robotic fish. The experimental results on the designed prototype verify that the given method is effective in design and implementation.
Paying For and Consuming College: Student's Resource Integration Strategies

1 PART 1BACKGROUND INFORMATION 2 INTRODUCTION 2 STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 3 STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE 4 LITERATURE REVIEW 4 METHODOLOGY 7 ANALYSIS 10 PART 2RESULTS 12 DID IT WORK OUT HOW THEY PLANNED AND HOW DID IT CHANGE? 12 THE WAY THEY PLANNED IT IS THE WAY IT HAPPENED 12 CHANGED OVER TIME 14 WHAT RESOURCES WERE USED 17 PARENTAL SUPPORT 18 GOVERNMENT & FINANCIAL AID 20 SAVINGS 21 LOANS 22 PART-TIME / FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT 23 SCHOLARSHIPS 25 FAMILY/FRIENDS 26 HOW STUDENTS FEEL ABOUT THEIR RESOURCE ALLOCATION STRATEGY 27 COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH METHODS OF RESOURCE ALLOCATION 29 LEARNING EXPERIENCES 31 EXPECATIONS OF THE FAMILY 32 AFFECT ON RELATIONSHIP WITH PARENTS 35 PART 3DISCUSSION 39 REFERENCES 41 APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW SCRIPT 42
A Descriptive Study on the Preparation of Student Teachers to Work with Diverse Populations

If the agricultural education profession is to attract a more diverse audience to pursue agriculture as a viable career path, the secondary teacher education pathway must be reevaluated. The purpose of the study was to describe the degree to which the involved agricultural education programs prepared their students to work with diverse populations. The study also examined attitudes and beliefs of the student teachers regarding diversity. The results of the study suggest that this group of student teachers was not adequately exposed to diversity neither in their student teaching experience nor in their university preparation. To assist the national agricultural education goal of diversity in agriculture, a national study should be conducted to determine if there is a correlation between minority enrollment in agriculture and the race and gender of the teacher educator. Introduction/Conceptual Framework Diversity among public school students is increasing while at the same time diversity among teachers is not (Banks et al., 2005). Within agricultural education gender diversity is increasing, with female teachers comprising 22% of the total; however, ethnic diversity is not, as Whites comprise 94% of agriculture teachers (Camp, Broyles, & Skelton, 2002). Agricultural education has a stated commitment to diversity (National Council for Agricultural Education, 1989, 1999) while the National FFA Organization has “improve FFA’s performance as a diverse organization” (National FFA Organization, 2005) as one of nine key strategic priority areas for the years 2001-2005. Diversity is also important for teacher education in agricultural education. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) includes diversity as one of the standards it uses to evaluate teacher education units. Teacher education candidates must have experiences “working with diverse higher education and school faculty, diverse candidates, and diverse students in P–12 schools” (NCATE, 2002, p. 10).
Cartesian trajectory control of humanoid robot arms based on a disturbance observer

This paper presents an application of a disturbance observer (DOB) to the Cartesian space control of one of humanoid robot arms. Position tracking performance of the robot arm is improved by rejecting disturbance by an acceleration-based DOB(AbDOB). AbDOB utilizes an accelerometer to measure acceleration of the end-effector directly, uses that to form a conventional DOB structure, and cancels out disturbance. Experimental studies are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed Cartesian position control by an acceleration based DOB method.
Efficient mobile mesh networking: attractions, myths and techno-economic roadmap to successful commercial innovation

This paper examines four scalability hypotheses of interest for mobile meshes via the following questions: 'Do meshes self-generate capacity as new nodes join? ' 'Are meshes more spectrally efficient? ' 'Do directional antennas confer significant benefits for hand-held below 3.5 GHz? ' 'No' is the answer because these hypotheses, whilst having a theoretical basis, can be shown to rely on inappropriate real world assumptions. However the following hypothesis is found to be true: 'Meshes may improve spectrum utilization'. Importantly however, there remain properties of meshes which make them uniquely attractive, such as coverage extension. However this raises a further question over the ability of mobile mesh architecture to provide a guaranteed quality of service. Finally, the wider aspects of commercial innovation are considered
MAX-DOAS measurements of formaldehyde in the Po-Valley

Abstract. During the first measurement campaign of the EU FORMAT project in summer 2002 near Milan, northern Italy, ground-based scattered light differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) measurements were performed using a new multi-axis instrument. From the data set of this four week measurement period, the detailed analysis results of three days, 12–14 August, are presented exemplary. Slant column densities for formaldehyde (HCHO) and the oxygen dimer (O4) have been retrieved, employing fitting windows from 335 nm to 357 nm and 350 nm to 360 nm respectively. In order to convert slant into vertical columns radiative transfer calculations were perfomred using aerosol parameters derived from the actual O4 measurements. By analysing the measurements from different viewing directions (zenith, 4x off-axis) vertical profile information, and in particular mixing ratios for the boundary layer have been derived for the first time for HCHO with a multi-axis DOAS (MAX-DOAS) instrument. HCHO vertical columns are in the range of 5 to 20·1015 molec/cm2 with an relative error of about 15%. This corresponds to HCHO mixing ratios in the boundary layer of 0.7 ppb to 4.2 ppb, which is in excellent agreement with simultaneous measurements from both a Hantzsch in-situ and a long-path DOAS instrument operated at the same place.
Active Aging: Exploration into Self-Ratings of “Being Active,” Out-of-Home Physical Activity, and Participation among Older Australian Adults Living in Four Different Settings

We examined whether self-ratings of “being active” among older people living in four different settings (major city high and lower density suburbs, a regional city, and a rural area) were associated with out-of-home participation and outdoor physical activity. A mixed-methods approach (survey, travel diary, and GPS tracking over a one-week period) was used to gather data from 48 individuals aged over 55 years. Self-ratings of “being active” were found to be positively correlated with the number of days older people spent time away from home but unrelated to time traveled by active means (walking and biking). No significant differences in active travel were found between the four study locations, despite differences in their respective built environments. The findings suggest that additional strategies to the creation of “age-friendly” environments are needed if older people are to increase their levels of outdoor physical activity. “Active aging” promotion campaigns may need to explicitly identify the benefits of walking outdoors to ambulatory older people as a means of maintaining their overall health, functional ability, and participation within society in the long-term and also encourage the development of community-based programs in order to facilitate regular walking for this group.
Atypical hyperpachymorph Trypanosoma (Nannomonas) congolense forest-type in a dog returning from Senegal

Trypanosoma congolense forest-type was identified by PCR in France, in a dog returning from Senegal. This paper describes the morphological features of the parasite on Giemsa-stained smears. Slender forms and “latent bodies” represent 30.4% and 20.4%, respectively. Some rosettes have been observed (0.8%). The predominant form (48.4%) is stumpy, close to “montgomeryiform”, but it is unusually broad, with a width/length ratio (WLr) of 0.40-0.55, while that of “montgomeryi-forms” is close to 0.3. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description of such a form of T. (Nannomonas). Also unusual, the shape of the cytoplasm appears to be tightened by an “S-” or “C-” shaped flagellum. We propose naming this peculiar morphotype “hyperpachymorph”, and adding its description to that of T. congolense forest-type. Thus T. (Nannomonas) forms would include: sphaeromorph or “latent bodyform” (globular), hyperleptomorph (rodhaini-form, very long and slender, with a free flagellum); leptomorph (simiae-form, slender, with a free flagellum); isomorph (congolense-form, short, generally without a free flagellum); pachymorph (montgomeryi-form, short and stout; 0.25 < WLr < 0.34, without a free flagellum), and hyperpachymorph (“hyper-montgomeryi-form”, short and very stout; 0.35 < WLr < 0.7, without a free flagellum).
Towards crowdsourcing translation tasks in library cataloguing, a pilot study

Although automated translation systems are increasingly impressive they are still far from perfect, and even casual use demonstrates that they can? t produce robust, error free, transcriptions of arbitrary text. However it is becoming increasingly apparent that Crowdsourcing of translation tasks is not only viable but, in many cases, provides results equal to more expensive and slower alternatives. This paper provides a brief survey of academic and commercial systems that harness collective intelligence in the translation of text, and presents the results of a pilot conducted using MTurk for the translation of non-Roman scripts of unknown providence. It concludes by proposing a workflow for integration of Crowdsourcing in to the cataloguing of foreign texts.
SOS: A Service Oriented Storage Scheme for Data Grid

It is widely believed that future computing environment will consist of logically connected but geographically distributed computation and storage resources with a variety of capabilities. Furthermore, these systems typically go through rather complicated upgrades which lead to heterogeneity over time. Meanwhile, there are various applications that exhibit different I/O access patterns. In this paper, we proposed a novel scheme called service oriented storage (SOS) to automatically adapt diverse storage systems to their services in a large data grid environment. Using clustering algorithm based Pattern Discovery, Pattern Divisive, Storage Agent and Dissimilation Diagnosis modules, SOS attempts to identify proper storage nodes from the storage pool based on interactions of the user's I/O attribute. In other words, structure and attribute of the storage systems can adapt to the changed workloads and allow system service to achieve optimal and maximum self adaptively.
The effects of a technology-enhanced inquiry instructional model on students' understanding of science in Thailand

The study examined the effects of a technology-enhanced inquiry instructional model on students’ understanding of science in Thailand. Two sixth-grade classrooms at a medium-sized public school in Bangkok, Thailand were randomly selected for the study one as the control group and the other as the experimental group. The 34 students in the control group only received the inquiry instructional model, while the 35 students in the experimental group received the technology-enhanced inquiry instructional model. Both groups of students had been taught by the same science teacher for 15 weeks (three periods per week). The results and findings from the study seemed to indicate that both the technology-enhanced inquiry instructional model and the inquiry instructional model significantly improve students’ understanding of science. However, it might be claimed that students receiving the technology-enhanced inquiry instructional model gain more than students only receiving the inquiry instructional model. In addition, the technology-enhanced inquiry instructional model seemed to support the assessment during the 5E Model’s evaluation stage. Most students appeared to have very good attitudes toward using it in the science classroom suggesting that the technology-enhanced inquiry instructional model motivates students to learn science.
Detection of driver unawareness based on long- and short-term analysis of driver lane keeping

Many traffic accidents are caused by driver unawareness. This includes fatigue, drowsiness and distraction. In this thesis two systems are described that could be used to decrease the number of accidents. In the first part of this thesis a system using long-term information to warn drivers suffering from fatigue is developed. Three different versions with different criteria are evaluated. The systems are shown to handle more then 60% of the cases correctly.The second part of this thesis examines the possibilities of developing a warning system based on the predicted time-to-lane crossing, TLC. A basic TLC model is implemented and evaluated. For short time periods before lane crossing this may offer adequate accuracy. However the accuracy is not good enough for the model to be used in a TLC based warning system to warn the driver of imminent lane departure.