Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Book review: Activity theory in practice: Promoting learning across boundaries and agencies Harry Daniels, Anne Edwards, Yrjo Engeström and Tony Gallagher, reviewed by Juan Espinosa

editors of this volume are to be commended in what is an engaging, coherent and well-structured scholarly piece that will appeal to a wide audience and might perhaps capture the imagination and convert those who believe the organization is reducible, measurable and static. It would be nice to see this book become part of the undergraduate/postgraduate course curriculum for studies on business, management, strategy and economics. The measure of this books success will be its adoption on the aforementioned courses of study.
Tactile feedback for ambient awareness in mobile interactions

The study of tactile feedback has attracted increasing interest in HCI over recent years. Similar to icons, tactile messages, or Tactons, can encode and transmit information through the touch sense [1]. We report an experiment to investigate if we can present contextual information to a user in a low attention, ambient manner. In this case, it is done by changing the tactile 'feel' of buttons on a touchscreen keyboard to indicate external events, for example when a friend is close by. Very short Tactons (<=300ms) on each key press were changed in roughness and rhythm to indicate the events. Results showed that users correctly identified the Tactons for the different events with a rate of 88% when 180 Tactons were presented in 45 minutes, and 98% when the Tactons were presented in a more realistic manner. This shows that changing tactile feedback can be an effective method of presenting ambient information on a mobile device.
Continuum Robots for Medical Applications: A Survey

In this paper, we describe the state of the art in continuum robot manipulators and systems intended for application to interventional medicine. Inspired by biological trunks, tentacles, and snakes, continuum robot designs can traverse confined spaces, manipulate objects in complex environments, and conform to curvilinear paths in space. In addition, many designs offer inherent structural compliance and ease of miniaturization. After decades of pioneering research, a host of designs have now been investigated and have demonstrated capabilities beyond the scope of conventional rigid-link robots. Recently, we have seen increasing efforts aimed at leveraging these qualities to improve the frontiers of minimally invasive surgical interventions. Several concepts have now been commercialized, which are inspiring and enabling a current paradigm shift in surgical approaches toward flexible access routes, e.g., through natural orifices such as the nose. In this paper, we provide an overview of the current state of this field from the perspectives of both robotics science and medical applications. We discuss relevant research in design, modeling, control, and sensing for continuum manipulators, and we highlight how this work is being used to build robotic systems for specific surgical procedures. We provide perspective for the future by discussing current limitations, open questions, and challenges.
Data-Based Decision Making in Hawaii's Behavior Support Effort

Sugai, G. , Lewis-Palmer, T. , Todd, A, W. , & Horner, R. H. (1999). School-wide evaluation tool. Eugene: University of Oregon, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Technical Assistance Center. Taylor-Greene, S. , Brown, D. , Nelson, L. , Longton, J., Gassman, T. , Cohen, J., Swartz, J., Horner, R. , Sugai, G. , & Hall, S. (1997). School-wide behavioral support: Starting the year off right. Journal of Behavioral Education, 7(1),
P2PDocTagger

As the amount of user generated content grows, personal information management has become a challenging problem. Several information management approaches, such as desktop search, document organization and (collaborative) document tagging have been proposed to address this, however they are either inappropriate or inefficient. Automated collaborative document tagging approaches mitigate the problems of manual tagging, but they are usually based on centralized settings which are plagued by problems such as scalability, privacy, etc. To resolve these issues, we present P2PDocTagger, an automated and distributed document tagging system based on classification in P2P networks. P2P-DocTagger minimizes the efforts of individual peers and reduces computation and communication cost while providing high tagging accuracy, and eases of document organization/retrieval. In addition, we provide a realistic and flexible simulation toolkit -- P2PDMT, to facilitate the development and testing of P2P data mining algorithms.
Pedicled Temporalis Muscle Flap Stuffing after a Lateral Temporal Bone Resection for Treating Mastoid Osteoradionecrosis

Objective The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of lateral temporal bone resection and pedicled temporalis muscle flap stuffing with external auditory canal closure with those of canal wall down mastoidectomy for the treatment of mastoid osteoradionecrosis. Study Design Prospective nonrandomized case-control clinical study. Setting Department of Otolaryngology of the First People’s Hospital of Foshan. Subjects and Methods Seventy-seven postirradiation nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with mastoid osteoradionecrosis were included. Forty patients (40 ears) underwent lateral temporal bone resection in the temporalis muscle flap group. Their pedicled temporalis muscle flaps were laid on the surgical cavity, and the external canal opening was simultaneously closed. Thirty-seven patients (37 ears) underwent a canal wall down mastoidectomy in the mastoidectomy group. The surgical wounds and complications following surgery were retrospectively analyzed. Results The patients were followed for 2 years. The percentage of patients with purulent otorrhea and persistent osteoradionecrosis in the temporalis muscle flap group was lower than that in the mastoidectomy group. Conclusion Our preliminary results suggest that lateral temporal bone resection with the pedicled temporalis muscle flap filled into the surgical cavity, followed by closure of the external auditory canal, represents a valuable approach for treating mastoid osteoradionecrosis.
The Impact of Privatization and Competition in the Telecommunications Sector around the World

Using a comprehensive countrylevel panel data set covering the period from 1981 to 1998, we examine the impact of privatization and competition in the telecommunications sector around the world. Privatization contributed substantially to labor shedding, output growth, network expansion, and improvements in labor productivity as well as total factor productivity. But how countries privatized is important. Share issue privatization facilitated the development of the mobile market segment. Granting a newly privatized operator a period of exclusive market access, on the other hand, reduced the gains from privatization (due to the output-restricting tendency associated with market power) but not entirely negated the gains. The presence of competitive pressure in the market was associated with more employment, higher output, faster network expansion, and higher labor and total factor productivity. We find evidence of complementarity between privatization and competition in that competition increased the gains from privatization and vice versa. Our estimates show that half of the output growth between 1990 and 1998 was attributable to privatization and competition after controlling for input growth. Competition appeared to have a larger impact on labor and total factor productivity than privatization. 1 We are grateful to Mary Shirley, Luke Haggarty, George Clarke, Scott Wallsten, Roger Noll, and Rosario Kaneshiro for their efforts in creating the World Bank-Stanford telecommunication database, and to Christine Z. Qiang for sharing part of the data with us. We have benefited from comments and suggestions from Nancy Rose, participants in the 2002 ISNIE conference in Cambridge, MA, and workshop participants in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We have also benefited from discussions with Ioannis Kessides, Luke Haggarty, Scott Wallsten, and Mary Shirley. We thank Rosario Kaneshiro and Takis Papapanagiotou for research assistance. Wei Li gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Darden School Foundation. The views expressed in this paper do not represent those of the World Bank, its executive directors, or the countries they represent.
Cell cycle‐dependent localization of monoclonal antibodies raised against isolated Dictyostelium centrosomes

The ultrastructure of the Dictyostelium centrosome is markedly different from that of the well known yeast spindle pole body and vertebrate centriole‐containing centrosome. It consists of a box‐shaped, layered core structure surrounded by a corona with dense nodules embedded in an amorphous matrix. For further structural and biochemical analyses of this type of centrosome we used highly enriched isolated Dictyostelium centrosomes as an antigen to raise 14 new centrosomal monoclonal antibodies. Immunofluorescence microscopy and Western blot analysis revealed that at least 10 of them were directed against different antigens. Immunofluorescence microscopy also showed that the monoclonal antibodies fell into three different groups: A) antibodies localizing to the centrosome during the entire cell cycle; B) antibodies staining the centrosome mainly during mitosis; and C) antibodies labeling centrosome associated structures. All antibodies, except one, exhibited a cell cycle‐dependent staining pattern underscoring the highly dynamic properties of the Dictyostelium centrosome.
N′-[5-(4-Nitrophenyl)furan-2-ylmethylidene]-N,N-diphenylhydrazine

The title compound, C23H17N3O3, has an E configuration with respect to the C=N bond. The dihedral angle between the two phenyl rings bonded to the hydrazine group is 86.45 (13)°. The furan ring makes dihedral angles of 3.4 (2) and 7.06 (13)°, respectively, with the methylidenehydrazine C=N—N plane and the benzene ring.
Clonal Characterization of Bone Marrow Derived Stem Cells and Their Application for Bone Regeneration

Tissue engineering allows the design of functionally active cells within supportive bio‐scaffolds to promote the development of new tissues such as cartilage and bone for the restoration of pathologically altered tissues. However, all bone tissue engineering applications are limited by a shortage of stem cells. The adult bone marrow stroma contains a subset of nonhematopoietic cells referred to as bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). BMSCs are of interest because they are easily isolated from a small aspirate of bone marrow and readily generate single‐cell‐derived colonies. These cells have the capacity to undergo extensive replication in an undifferentiated state ex vivo. In addition, BMSCs have the potential to develop either in vitro or in vivo into distinct mesenchymal tissues, including bone, cartilage, fat, tendon, muscle, and marrow stroma. Thus, BMSCs are an attractive cell source for tissue engineering approaches. However, BMSCs are not homogeneous and the quantity of stem cells decreases in the bone marrow in aged population. A sequential loss of lineage differentiation potential has been found in the mixed culture of bone marrow stromal cells due to a heterogenous population. Therefore, a number of studies have proposed that homogenous bone marrow stem cells can be generated from clonal culture of bone marrow cells and that BMSC clones have the greatest potential for the application of bone regeneration in vivo.
Tracking using Flocks of Features, with Application to Assisted Handwashing

This paper describes a method for tracking in the presence of distractors, changes in shape, and occlusions. An object is modeled as a flock of features describing its approximate shape. The ock’ s dynamics keep it spatially localised and moving in concert, but also well distributed across the object being tracked. A recursive Bayesian estimation of the density of the object is approximated with a set of samples. The method is demonstrated on two simple examples, and is applied to an assistive system that tracks the hands and the towel during a handwashing task.
Effective bandwidth of general Markovian traffic sources and admission control of high speed networks

A prime instrument for controlling congestion in high-speed broadband ISDN (BISDN) networks is admission control, which limits call and guarantees a grade of service determined by delay and loss probability in the multiplexer. It is shown, for general Markovian traffic sources, that it is possible to assign a notational effective bandwidth to each source which is an explicitly identified, simply computing quantity with provably correct properties in the natural asymptotic regime of small loss probabilities. It is the maximal real eigenvalue of a matrix which is directly obtained from the source characteristics and the admission criterion, and for several sources it is simply additive. Both fluid and point process models are considered, and parallel results are obtained. Numerical results show that the acceptance set for heterogeneous classes of sources is closely approximated and conservatively bounded by the set obtained from the effective bandwidth approximation. <<ETX>>
Treatment of orthotopic malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors with oncolytic herpes simplex virus.

BACKGROUNDS Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) are an aggressive and often lethal sarcoma that frequently develops in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). We developed new preclinical MPNST models and tested the efficacy of oncolytic herpes simplex viruses (oHSVs), a promising cancer therapeutic that selectively replicates in and kills cancer cells. METHODS Mouse NF1(-) MPNST cell lines and human NF1(-) MPNST stemlike cells (MSLCs) were implanted into the sciatic nerves of immunocompetent and athymic mice, respectively. Tumor growth was followed by external measurement and sciatic nerve deficit using a hind-limb scoring system. Oncolytic HSV G47Δ as well as "armed" G47Δ expressing platelet factor 4 (PF4) or interleukin (IL)-12 were injected intratumorally into established sciatic nerve tumors. RESULTS Mouse MPNST cell lines formed tumors with varying growth kinetics. A single intratumoral injection of G47Δ in sciatic nerve tumors derived from human S462 MSLCs in athymic mice or mouse M2 (37-3-18-4) cells in immunocompetent mice significantly inhibited tumor growth and prolonged survival. Local IL-12 expression significantly improved the efficacy of G47Δ in syngeneic mice, while PF4 expression prolonged survival. Injection of G47Δ directly into the sciatic nerve of athymic mice resulted in only mild symptoms that did not differ from phosphate buffered saline control. CONCLUSIONS Two new orthotopic MPNST models are described, including in syngeneic mice, expanding the options for preclinical testing. Oncolytic HSV G47Δ exhibited robust efficacy in both immunodeficient and immunocompetent MPNST models while maintaining safety. Interleukin-12 expression improved efficacy. These studies support the clinical translation of G47Δ for patients with MPNST.
Learning Animal Concepts with Semantic Hierarchy-Based Location-Aware Image Browsing and Ecology Task Generator

This study firstly notices that lack of overall ecologic knowledge structure is one critical reason for learners’ failure of keyword search. Therefore in order to identify their current interesting sight, the dynamic location-aware and semantic hierarchy (DLASH) is presented for learners to browse images. This hierarchy mainly considers that plant and animal species are discontinuously distributed around the planet, hence this hierarchy combines location information for constructing the semantic hierarchy through WordNet. After learners confirmed their intent information needs, this study also provides learners three kinds of image-based learning tasks to learn: similar-images comparison, concept map fill-out and placement map fill-out. These tasks are designed based on Ausubel’s advance organizers and improved it by integrating three new properties: Displaying the nodes of the concepts by authentic images, automatically generating the knowledge structure by computer and interactively integrating new and old knowledge.
Probabilistic recurrence relations

This paper is concerned with recurrence relations that arise frequently in the analysis of divide-and-conquer algorithms. In order to solve a problem instance of size z, such an algorithm invests an amount of work a(z) to break the problem into subproblems of sizes Ill(x),hz(z),. , hk (z), and then proceeds to solve the subproblems. Our particular interest is in the case where the sizes hi(z) are random variables; this may occur either because of randomization within the alg~ rithm or because the instances to be solved are assumed to be drawn from a probability distribution. When the hi are random variables the running time of the algorithm on instances of size z is also a random variable Z’(Z). We give several easy-to-apply methods for obtaining fairly tight bounds on the upper tails of the probability distribution of T(z), and present a number of typical applications of these bounds to the analysis of algorithms. The proofs of the bounds are based on an interesting analysis of optimal strategies in certain gambling games.
An API for Runtime Code Patching

The authors present a postcompiler program manipulation tool called Dyninst, which provides a C++ class library for program instrumentation. Using this library, it is possible to instrument and modify application programs during execution. A unique feature of this library is that it permits machine-independent binary instrumentation programs to be written. The authors describe the interface that a tool sees when using this library. They also discuss three simple tools built using this interface: a utility to count the number of times a function is called, a program to capture the output of an already running program to a file, and an implementation of conditional breakpoints. For the conditional breakpoint example, the authors show that by using their interface compared with gdb, they are able to execute a program with conditional breakpoints up to 900 times faster.
Revisiting sentence alignment algorithms for alignment visualization and evaluation

In this paper, we revisit the well-known problem of sentence alignment, in a context where the entire bitext has to be aligned and where alignment confidence measures have to be computed. Following much recent work, we study here a multi-pass approach: we first compute sure alignments that are used to train a discriminative model; then we use this model to fill in the gaps between sure links. Experimental results on several corpora show the effectiveness of this method as compared to alternative, state-of-the-art, proposals.
IdlePower : Application-Aware Management of Processor Idle States Hrishikesh Amur

Power has become the first class design constraint in modern processor design. To reduce the power density caused by aggressive, speculative execution seen in previous processor generations, computer architects have turned to a multicore design strategy with each core substantially simplified. Additionally, different power-saving features have been proposed and integrated into each core to adapt dynamic execution scenarios. Due in part to the independent nature of these cores, the power management has also become more flexible to further reduce the overall power consumption. With careful adaptation schemes, the system can save power by entering different idle states dynamically with minimal performance impact. Given the simultaneous emergence of virtualization technologies, the question, then, is how to effectively leverage these idle states in the context of multiple virtual machines (VMs) executing on multicore parts. Towards this end, we develop the IdlePower approach to managing idle states in virtualized systems. Our approach combines a novel batching algorithm that creates improved opportunities to enter deep idle states by removing unnecessary system wakeups depending upon monitored behavior of workloads. IdlePower also provides application awareness in another fashion by not only entering deep idle states based upon transition latencies, but also factoring in the performance degradation that can occur due to secondary effects such as data loss in cache structures. We extend the use of Bloom filters with IdlePower to detect application characteristics for dynamically predicting whether deep idle states are worthwhile based upon possible performance implications. Overall, IdlePower is shown to improve residencies in the deepest C3 idle state by up to 10%, and to avoid performance degradations in workloads of up to 26%.
In Vivo Evidence for a Myogenic Response in the Fetal Pulmonary Circulation

In vitro studies have suggested that pulmonary arteries can exhibit a myogenic response and that this myogenic response may be potent during the perinatal period. However, whether a myogenic response can be demonstrated to exist in vivo and the potential role of the myogenic response on the regulation of pulmonary blood flow during fetal life is unknown. We hypothesized that an acute increase in pulmonary artery pressure resulting from partial compression of the ductus arteriosus (DA) in the fetus may simultaneously activate two opposing responses: 1) blood flow-induced vasodilation (owing to shear stress); and 2) pressure-induced vasoconstriction (owing to the myogenic response). To test this hypothesis, we studied the hemodynamic response to partial DA compression with and without inhibition of shear stress-induced vasodilation by nitric oxide synthase blockade in chronically prepared late-gestation fetal lambs. Without inhibition of nitric oxide synthase, pulmonary vascular resistance progressively decreased by 39 ± 5% during the DA compression period (p < 0.05). In contrast, DA compression after nitric oxide synthase inhibition caused left pulmonary artery blood flow to initially increase and then steadily decrease toward a plateau value, and caused pulmonary vascular resistance to progressively increase by 28 ± 4% above baseline (p < 0.05). The plateau value of pulmonary vascular resistance was reached in less than 5 min after the onset of DA compression. Left pulmonary artery blood flow after 10 min of partial DA compression did not change with the rise in pulmonary artery pressure; plateau values of pulmonary vascular resistance increased linearly with the increase in pulmonary artery pressure. These results support the hypothesis that the perinatal lung circulation has a potent myogenic response, and that this response may be masked in vivo under physiologic conditions by nitric oxide synthase activity. We speculate that the myogenic response may become a predominant regulatory mechanism of pulmonary vascular resistance when endothelium-dependent vasoreactivity is impaired, such as in persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn.