Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Emergence of Neuronal Groups on a Self-Organized Spiking Neurons Network Based on Genetic Algorithm

Based on the Theory of Neuronal Group Selection (TNGS), proposed by Edelman, a network composed of one hundred Izhikevich spiking neurons is analyzed. In this study, a genetic algorithm is used to estimate the Izhikevich neuron model parameters in order to enable the self-organization of a neural network into a cluster of tightly coupled neural cells which fire and oscillate in synchrony at a predefined frequency.
Made to measure: Easy Synthesis and Characterization of Nanocomposites with Tailored Functionalities for Chemistry Education

By adding nanoparticles to classical polymer systems, new functional materials with tailored properties can be obtained. The great variety of possibilities opens up just as many interesting fields of application for industry and science. Following on from this, this article will present how the classical educational subject area of polymers can be extended by a current research context. In a series of experiments, students are using inexpensive chemicals and simple materials from the hardware store to produce nanocomposites that have a much greater hardness or antimicrobial activity than polymers alone. Their properties can then be investigated using a simple test method. Overall, it will be illustrated, that the combination of polymer chemistry and nanotechnology offers a variety of learning opportunities and questions with curricular relevance for schools and student laboratories.
ReFOLD: a server for the refinement of 3D protein models guided by accurate quality estimates

Abstract ReFOLD is a novel hybrid refinement server with integrated high performance global and local Accuracy Self Estimates (ASEs). The server attempts to identify and to fix likely errors in user supplied 3D models of proteins via successive rounds of refinement. The server is unique in providing output for multiple alternative refined models in a way that allows users to quickly visualize the key residue locations, which are likely to have been improved. This is important, as global refinement of a full chain model may not always be possible, whereas local regions, or individual domains, can often be much improved. Thus, users may easily compare the specific regions of the alternative refined models in which they are most interested e.g. key interaction sites or domains. ReFOLD was used to generate hundreds of alternative refined models for the CASP12 experiment, boosting our group's performance in the main tertiary structure prediction category. Our successful refinement of initial server models combined with our built-in ASEs were instrumental to our second place ranking on Template Based Modeling (TBM) and Free Modeling (FM)/TBM targets. The ReFOLD server is freely available at: http://www.reading. ac.uk/bioinf/ReFOLD/.
Automated parent-training for preschooler immunization pain relief: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE To examine a computerized parent training program, "Bear Essentials," to improve parents' knowledge and coaching to help relieve preschoolers' immunization distress. METHOD In a randomized controlled trial, 90 parent-child dyads received Bear Essentials parent training plus distraction, distraction only, or control. Outcomes were parent knowledge, parent and child behavior, and child pain. RESULTS Bear Essentials resulted in improved knowledge of the effects of parents' reassurance, provision of information, and apologizing on children's procedural distress. Trained parents also engaged in less reassurance and more distraction and encouragement of deep breathing. Children in Bear Essentials engaged in more distraction and deep breathing than children in other groups. There were no effects on measures of child distress or pain. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that the interactive computer training program impacted parent knowledge, parent behavior, and child behavior as hypothesized, but modifications will be necessary to have more robust outcomes on child procedural distress.
The international transfer of creative industries as a policy idea

This article examines the transfer of creative industries as a policy idea to Lithuania. Tracing the stages of the transfer and analysing its consequences in the local cultural policy field, this paper argues for the importance of studying cultural policy process. The findings reveal that the process of the international transfer of creative industries mattered, because it generated wider transformations in cultural policy field by having ambiguous effects on local power relations. The policy idea of creative industries opened the cultural policy field to new actors. As a result, competition for scarce state funding increased, but cultural organisations gained access to the European Union structural funds. In all, creative industries as a policy idea significantly transformed Lithuanian state cultural policy, in that it led to a reassessment of both the practices and identities of cultural organisations.
Moral Agency, Cognitive Distortion, and Narrative Strategy in the Rehabilitation of Sexual Offenders

Abstract Employing a framework at the intersection of psychological anthropology and narrative theory, I provide a critique of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) approaches to sexual offender rehabilitation. I demonstrate that what forensic psychologists refer to as a “cognitive distortion” or “thinking error” is often embedded within a broader narrative, and that these narratives reveal the existence of identifiable strategies designed to communicate something salient, enduring, and moral about the offender. Through the examination of narratives offered by imprisoned sexual offenders, several such narrative strategies containing the seeds of moral agency are identified. It is suggested that CBT's current focus on cognitive distortions effectively eliminates this narrative context and thus serves to disguise and even eradicate the positive, moral notions of self that most offenders exhibit in some form or another. A rehabilitative approach that works with narrative, facilitating development of shared narratives among offenders and therapists, would allow for the emergence of a plan for morally agentive living, transcending what is currently possible within the hostile, challenging framework of CBT. [narrative theory; cognitive behavior therapy; moral agency; sexual offenders; prisons]
An user configurable clang static analyzer taint checker

In this paper, we describe the development and usage of clang static analyzer checker for detecting tainted data in C, C++ and Objective C source programs. The checker is user configurable, so it can be used to check tainted data for any user provided API. It also include subsets of C/C++ APIs commonly used as memory and string handling and file input-output. Taint checking is a widely used technique as source code review tools to detect possible security vulnerabilities for attacks as code injection and buffer overflows. We describe the clang static analyzer architecture, the taint checker design considerations, some implementation details and some test cases to show the capability for detecting security vulnerabilities as the hearthbleed in a real and big open source project such as OpenSSL.
Gender and severity of symptoms of mobile phone addiction in Polish gymnasium, secondary school and university students Płeć a nasilenie objawów uzależnienia od telefonu komórkowego u uczniów polskich szkół gimnazjalnych, średnich i wyższych

The risk of mobile phone addiction and the addiction itself represent an ever larger psychological and social problem pointed out by psychiatrists, psychologists and educationalists. Addiction to the mobile phone is not a homogeneous phenomenon, and, therefore, some researchers distinguish among addiction to sending and receiving text messages, addiction to voice calls and addiction to mobile phone features and mobile phone games. Pawlowska and Potembska, based on a study of a group of Polish adolescents, have distinguished four dimensions of mobile phone addiction which form the scales of their Mobile Phone Addiction Assessment Questionnaire (Kwestionariusz do Badania Uzaleznienia od Telefonu Komorkowego, KBUTK). These dimensions cover symptoms of 1/ addiction to mobile phone features, 2/ addiction to voice calls and text messages, 3/ trying to meet the need for acceptance and closeness by establishing social relatonships using phone calls and text messages, and 4/ preference for communicating and expressing emotions through text messages and phone calls over face-to-face communication. In the literature, studies are available which show that the predisposition towards the individual types of mobile phone addiction is gender-related. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to provide an answer to the question of whether, and what, differences occur between women and men in the severity of symptoms of mobile phone addiction? The study included a total of 493 persons, among which there were 99 gymnasium students (65 girls and 36 boys) aged 13 to16 years, 186 secondary school students (124 girls and 62 boys) aged 17 to 19 years and 208 university students (140 women and 68 men) aged 20 to 22 years. The study was conducted using a socio-demographic questionnaire and the Mobile Phone Addiction Assessment Questionnaire (KBUTK) by Potembska and Pawlowska. A t-test comparison of the scores obtained by the surveyed women and men on KBUTK scales afforded the following conclusions: 1. Women significantly more frequently than men use the mobile phone to satisfy their need for acceptance and closeness, to establish and maintain social relationships and to express their emotions. 2. Women are characterized by a higher severity of symptoms of addiction to voice calls and text messages than men. 3. Men significantly more frequently than women use the mobile phone to listen to music, take pictures and videos, play games, and connect to the Internet.
Domain Structure of Heparan Sulfates from Bovine Organs*

Samples of heparan sulfate, isolated from bovine aorta, lung, intestine, and kidney, were degraded by digestion with a mixture of heparitinases or by treatment with nitrous acid, with or without previous N-deacetylation. Analysis of the resulting oligosaccharides showed that the various heparan sulfate samples all contained regions of up to 8 or 9 consecutive N-acetylated glucosamine residues, as well as contiguous N-sulfated sequences. L-Iduronic acid accounted for a remarkably constant proportion, 50-60%, of the total hexuronic acid units within the latter structures. Of the total iduronic acid units, 36-55% were located outside the contiguous N-sulfated regions, presumably in sequences composed of alternating N-acetylated and N-sulfated disaccharide residues. While most of the iduronic acid units within the N-sulfated blocks were 2-O-sulfated, those located outside were almost exclusively nonsulfated. The heparan sulfate preparations differed markedly with regard to the content of 6-O-sulfated glucosamine units, more than half of which were located outside the N-sulfated block regions. These findings suggest that the formation of iduronic acid residues and their subsequent 2-O-sulfation are coupled within but not outside the contiguous N-sulfated regions of the heparan sulfate chains and, furthermore, that the 2-O- and 6-O-sulfotransferase reactions are differentially regulated during heparan sulfate biosynthesis.
Bandwidth Efficiency of Practical MIMO-OFDM Systems with Adaptive MIMO Schemes

This paper considers the practical multiple-input multiple-output systems with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) and bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) in spatially correlated broadband channels. Using link adaption techniques, the MIMO scheme that better exploits the space and frequency characteristics of the encountered channel condition is selected. It is shown that the bandwidth efficiency is increased compared to systems with fixed MIMO schemes in all propagation scenarios, while maintaining a predefined link quality. Furthermore, the adaptive transmission in channels with low spatial correlation can attain the complete multiplexing gain, whereas the finite set of modulation and coding schemes restricts the multiplexing gain that can be extracted when the spatial correlation is large.
Model-based partial shape recognition using contour curvature and affine transformation

The authors present a novel technique for recognizing partially obscured and overlapping objects by using the contour curvature and affine transformation. This technique is based on the use of an invariant attribute of an object, called a footprint, for the purpose of hashing. The recognition strategy is to match the given contour curve against all model objects and select the best matching. The recognition procedures are divided into reading each object picture, retrieving a footprint, building a model objects database, finding break points, and matching. Associated techniques, such as border tracking with chain code, setting a footprint hashing table, and connecting an orientational linked list, are also discussed. <<ETX>>
High-Precision Robust Broadband Ultrasonic Location and Orientation Estimation

This paper presents an indoor broadband ultrasonic system for estimation of a mobile device's 3-D location and three-axis orientation using beacons. It presents the first implementation and characterization of a real frequency hopping spread spectrum-based ultrasonic positioning system, a novel application of uniform circular array angle of arrival estimation techniques to indoor location-orientation estimation and a novel hybrid algorithm for location-orientation estimation. The performance of the system was assessed experimentally. The system has been shown to provide better accuracy, robustness to noise and multipath than other previously reported indoor ultrasonic location or orientation estimation systems with comparable range in the typical office environment tested. The prototype provided location estimates with an error of less than 1.5 cm and and error of less than 4.5deg in the yaw, 3deg in the pitch and 3.5deg in the roll, in 95% of cases.
Event-Driven Architectures for Distributed Crisis Management

This paper describes an approach for developing distributed applications that help deal with rapidly changing situations such as terrorist attacks, hurricanes and supply chain disruptions. Important characteristics of such applications are that they must handle unexpected events and that they are often modified on-the-fly, by multiple people who may belong to different organizations, to deal with changing situations. Abstract and concrete models for specifying, reasoning about, and implementing such systems are presented. In the abstract model, an application is a set of state transition rules over the global state of a distributed system. In the concrete model, an application is a set of messagedriven processes and each computation is a sequence of atomic operations in which a process receives a message, changes its state, and sends messages. An implementation of the concrete model using XML as the message and state format, with state transitions specified using XSLT, is briefly described. A key feature of this implementation is that messages and process states are represented using a format that allows applications to be easily observed and modified during their execution.and concrete models for specifying, reasoning about, and implementing such systems are presented. In the abstract model, an application is a set of state transition rules over the global state of a distributed system. In the concrete model, an application is a set of messagedriven processes and each computation is a sequence of atomic operations in which a process receives a message, changes its state, and sends messages. An implementation of the concrete model using XML as the message and state format, with state transitions specified using XSLT, is briefly described. A key feature of this implementation is that messages and process states are represented using a format that allows applications to be easily observed and modified during their execution.
A novel five-level optimized carrier multilevel PWM quad-inverter six-phase AC drive

A novel single carrier pulse-width modulation (PWM) for a new quad-inverter configuration for multilevel six-phase asymmetrical open-winding ac converter is proposed in this article. Modularity of the circuit consist of four standard two-level voltage source inverters (VSIs) with slight modifications, i.e. one additional bi-direction switch (MOSFET/IGBT) in each phase and a link to neutral with two capacitors to generate increased output levels. Furthermore, original optimal single carrier zero-shifted five-level modulation (SCZSFM) algorithm is developed for each VSI to behave as equivalent to ones, a classical five-level multilevel inverter. Moreover, feasibility of the topology allows the VSIs to provide multilevel output voltage regardless of the open-winding electrical machine configuration. Also, the developed single carrier based PWM presents a straightforward solution compared to space vector modulation approaches for real time implementation. The total electric power shared among the four dc buses and quadruples the power capability of VSIs. Complete ac drive modules are developed numerically using simulation in MATLAB/PLECS software. Observed set of results are depicted in this paper under balanced conditions to show the effectiveness of the proposal in good agreement with theoretical background. This proposal suits the need of low-voltage/high-current applications to ac tractions, electrical vehicles and `More-Electric Aircraft' propulsion systems.
Does Religion Make You Conscientious? The Implications of Religious Beliefs on Smoking from the German separation Experiment Very preliminary version

We analyse the role of culture on individual behavior by focusing on the link between religiousness and smoking in a quasi-experimental setting. Our research design exploits the exogenous switch to atheism that took place in East Germany after the separation adopting a Conditional Dierence-in-Dier ence strategy. Our analysis on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the period 1998 - 2006 suggests that atheists are consistently more likely to smoke than religious individuals, by around 12% -21%. We interpret our results on the basis of a restraining eect of religious ethics on vices and
How Entrepreneurs Exploit Global Opportunities

Risk taking is crucial for long-term growth of any firm and constant innovation in the form of new products and services is the key to success. However, failure rates of new products have been extraordinarily high. We contend that success rates can be improved if a more systematic analysis of opportunities is carried out so that potential winners can be spotted. We introduce three key concepts, criticality of a problem, customer discontentment and Customer Dissatisfaction Elimination Chain. Using these concepts, we have developed a framework called the Opportunity Identification Matrix for systematically analysing an opportunity so that its potential for success can be judged. This paper discusses findings from an empirical validation of the framework. We find that the Matrix is indeed an effective tool and its application allows a comprehensive assessment of opportunities and guides the formulation of suitable strategies to exploit them.
Lightweight admission control and traffic management with SDN

This paper presents a scalable solution for guaranteeing bandwidth to interactions/communications assuming no information is provided by the applications. The objective is to define and assess what the network can do with so little information both in terms of guaranteeing quality and preventing being throttled by overloads. The suggestion of having applications indicating their needs did not materialize in the past and it is not credible to happen in the future. Applications tend to adapt to the conditions of the network (instead of requiring resources), and can drive the network to a halt. With no explicit information, the network must firstly protect itself from being driven into an uncontrolled saturation situation with unacceptable delays, and secondly devise what kind of guarantees can still be provided to applications. In this paper, if interactions live enough time, they become flows without any disruption in traffic or initial delays for flow establishment. Traffic is aggregated in the core and all flows access the network up to a maximum rate that is calculated when they begin. When the network becomes loaded, traffic that was granted guarantees is protected. New traffic is never blocked from accessing the network and may even get guarantees.
Thrombolysis with alteplase 3 to 4.5 hours after acute ischemic stroke.

BACKGROUND Intravenous thrombolysis with alteplase is the only approved treatment for acute ischemic stroke, but its efficacy and safety when administered more than 3 hours after the onset of symptoms have not been established. We tested the efficacy and safety of alteplase administered between 3 and 4.5 hours after the onset of a stroke. METHODS After exclusion of patients with a brain hemorrhage or major infarction, as detected on a computed tomographic scan, we randomly assigned patients with acute ischemic stroke in a 1:1 double-blind fashion to receive treatment with intravenous alteplase (0.9 mg per kilogram of body weight) or placebo. The primary end point was disability at 90 days, dichotomized as a favorable outcome (a score of 0 or 1 on the modified Rankin scale, which has a range of 0 to 6, with 0 indicating no symptoms at all and 6 indicating death) or an unfavorable outcome (a score of 2 to 6 on the modified Rankin scale). The secondary end point was a global outcome analysis of four neurologic and disability scores combined. Safety end points included death, symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage, and other serious adverse events. RESULTS We enrolled a total of 821 patients in the study and randomly assigned 418 to the alteplase group and 403 to the placebo group. The median time for the administration of alteplase was 3 hours 59 minutes. More patients had a favorable outcome with alteplase than with placebo (52.4% vs. 45.2%; odds ratio, 1.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02 to 1.76; P=0.04). In the global analysis, the outcome was also improved with alteplase as compared with placebo (odds ratio, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.65; P<0.05). The incidence of intracranial hemorrhage was higher with alteplase than with placebo (for any intracranial hemorrhage, 27.0% vs. 17.6%; P=0.001; for symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage, 2.4% vs. 0.2%; P=0.008). Mortality did not differ significantly between the alteplase and placebo groups (7.7% and 8.4%, respectively; P=0.68). There was no significant difference in the rate of other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS As compared with placebo, intravenous alteplase administered between 3 and 4.5 hours after the onset of symptoms significantly improved clinical outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke; alteplase was more frequently associated with symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00153036.)