Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measuring Parental Treatment Adherence in a Multimodal Treatment Program for Children with ADHD: A Preliminary Investigation

This study evaluated the clinical significance of measuring between session parental adherence on child and parent outcomes for 51 children (age 4 to 8.5 years) with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a multimodal group training program. Three group treatment conditions: (a) child-only treatment (C1), (c) child and parent training (C2), and (c) C2 + Parent Adherence Measure [PAM (C3)] were compared to assess the clinical significance of measuring parental adherence on child behavioral problems, socialization skills, and parental efficacy. Parents administered the PAM (C3) displayed, in general, better outcomes on child and parent measures than the other two conditions. Results suggest that a multimodal group training program for young children with ADHD is favorable to child group training only. This study offers preliminary support for the clinical utility of measuring parental adherence in a child ADHD multimodal group training program.
Instruction Precomputation for Fault Detection

Fault tolerance (FT) is becoming increasingly important in computing systems. This work proposes and evaluates the instruction precomputation technique to detect hardware faults. Applications are profiled off-line, and the most frequent instruction instances with their operands and results are loaded into the precomputation table when executing. The precomputation-based error detection technique is used in conjunction with another method that duplicates all instructions and compares the results. In the precomputation-enabled version, whenever possible, the instruction compares its result with a precomputed value, rather than executing twice. Another precomputation-based scheme does not execute the precomputed instructions at all, assuming that precomputation provides sufficient reliability. Precomputation improves the fault coverage (including permanent and some other faults) and performance of the duplication method. The proposed method is compared to an instruction memoization-based technique. The performance improvements of the precomputation- and memoization-based schemes are comparable, while precomputation has a better long-lasting fault coverage and is considerably cheaper.
Degrees of Freedom on MIMO Multi-Link Two-Way Relay Channels

In this paper, we introduce multi-link two-way relay channels where multiple two-way relay systems are interfering with each other. We study the capacity of this system by investigating the degree of freedom (DOF) with various message settings. Specifically, we consider two cases of two-way relay interference channels and two-way relay X channels. We show that the two-way relay interference channel where all nodes have M antennas obtains the DOF of 2M and compare with multipair two-way relay channels. Next, we introduce general message settings for two-way relay X channels. For the case where each user is equipped with 3 antennas and relays have 4 antennas, we prove that the DOF of 8 is achieved by employing network coding.
Weather Data Warehouse: An Agent-Based Data Warehousing System

The quality and content of data regarding certain types of information can vary over time. Such data may be weather data, news reports, demographic data, and health data. To effectively utilize such data, it has to be gathered, processed, stored, and provided to information consumers in different formats. In case of different sources, the data must also be processed taking different formats and update frequencies into account. An agent-based system supports deploying and provisioning data processing services where they are best suited - at the information source, data warehouse, broker, or information consumer. We describe an agent-based approach to data warehousing enabling dynamic and seamless integration of new information sources and data formats. The system provides data to the ultimate information consumers on a subscription (push) or request (pull) basis. We have applied this architecture to provide a dynamic and flexible weather data warehouse that provides a wide variety of weather data from different sources to different weather-based applications.
Acute exercise enhances the consolidation of fear extinction memory and reduces conditioned fear relapse in a sex-dependent manner

Fear extinction-based exposure therapy is the most common behavioral therapy for anxiety and trauma-related disorders, but fear extinction memories are labile and fear tends to return even after successful extinction. The relapse of fear contributes to the poor long-term efficacy of exposure therapy. A single session of voluntary exercise can enhance the acquisition and consolidation of fear extinction in male rats, but the effects of exercise on relapse of fear after extinction are not well understood. Here, we characterized the effects of 2 h of voluntary exercise during the consolidation phase of contextual or auditory fear extinction learning on long-term fear extinction memory and renewal in adult, male and female, Long-Evans rats. Results indicate that exercise enhances consolidation of fear extinction memory and reduces fear relapse after extinction in a sex-dependent manner. These data suggest that brief bouts of exercise could be used as an augmentation strategy for exposure therapy, even in previously sedentary subjects. Fear memories of discrete cues, rather than of contextual ones, may be most susceptible to exercise-augmented extinction, especially in males. Additionally, exercise seems to have the biggest impact on fear relapse phenomena, even if fear extinction memories themselves are only minimally enhanced.
Developmentof Instrumentationand Fluorochromesfor Automated MultiparameterAnalysisof Cells

We have developed and interfaced to a computer an automated instrument (the AMAC Ill) which is designed to observe simultaneously several physical parameters of cells. Typical parameters include electronic cell volume (Coulter effect), RF amplitude (opacity), multiwavelength fluorescence of cytological stains, and cell light-scattering. The use of a new ultraviolet laser combined with a holographic grating spectrograph promises to increase the number of fluorescing species that can be detected Simultaneously. This number can be further increased by use of special rare-earth-based fluorochromes, that emit well-defined, spectrally distinct peaks.
Targeted Brain Delivery of Bioactive Molecules Using Nanocarriers

Delivery of the bioactives to the brain is the utmost challenging task to cope with brain diseases. Brain is protected with blood brain barrier, blood-CSF barrier and efflux systems, which controls the entry of body as well as foreign compounds to access the brain cells. Only nutrients, which are essential for normal metabolism, can enter into the brain. In the shadow of this fact new strategies are being investigated to facilitate the entry of administered therapeutic compound into the brain. Active targeting is a evolving approach, which uses ligand and suitable carrier for the site-specific delivery and is being recently achieved by the use of nanocarriers. These nanocarriers are nanosized systems, which act as a cargo for the encapsulated drugs. At the same time, endo- or exogenous ligand can be attached to these nanocarriers to recognize specific receptors on brain capillary endothelium leading to delivery of drug in the vicinity of brain cells. Their potential is under immense investigation to increase the therapeutics outcome in the treatment of brain related problems. This review deals with the recent advances in nanocarriers based novel strategies for effective brain specific delivery.
Second-Order Statistics Analysis to Cope With Contrast Enhancement Counter-Forensics

Image forensic analysis for the detection of contrast enhancement and other histogram-based processing, usually relies on the study of first-order statistics derived from image histogram. Methods based on such an approach, though, are easily circumvented by adopting some counter-forensic attacks. To overcome such a problem, we propose a novel forensic technique based on the study of second-order statistics derived from the co-occurrence matrix. The experiments we carried out demonstrate that the proposed approach is very effective even in the presence of counter-forensic attacks, while it retains the good performance of histogram-based methods when no attack is present.
Side Channels in Cloud Services: Deduplication in Cloud Storage

As the volume of data increases, so does the demand for online storage services, from simple backup services to cloud storage infrastructures. Although deduplication is most effective when applied across multiple users, cross-user deduplication has serious privacy implications. Some simple mechanisms can enable cross-user deduplication while greatly reducing the risk of data leakage. Cloud storage refers to scalable and elastic storage capabilities delivered as a service using Internet technologies with elastic provisioning and usebased pricing that doesn't penalize users for changing their storage consumption without notice.
Human amniotic epithelial cells inhibit growth of epithelial ovarian cancer cells via TGF-β1-mediated cell cycle arrest

It is reported that human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs) endow intrinsic antitumor effects on certain kinds of cancer. This research was designed to evaluate whether hAECs endowed potential anticancer properties on epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cells in vivo and in vitro, which has not been reported before. In this study, we established a xenografted BALB/c nude mouse model by subcutaneously co-injecting ovarian cancer cell line, SK-OV-3, and hAECs for 28 days. In ex vivo experiments, CCK-8 cell viability assay, real-time PCR, cell counting assay, cell cycle analysis and immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay were used to detect the effects of hAEC-secreted factors on the proliferation and cell cycle progression of EOC cells. A cytokine array was conducted to detect anticancer-related cytokines released from hAECs. Human recombinant TGF-β1 and TGF-β1 antibody were used to treat EOC cells and analyzed whether TGF-β1 contributed to the cell cycle arrest. Results from in vivo and ex vivo experiments showed that hAEC-secreted factors and rhTGF-β1 decreased proliferation of EOC cells and induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest in cancer cells, which could be partially reversed by excess TGF-β1 antibody. These data indicate that hAECs endow potential anticancer properties on epithelial ovarian cancer in vivo and in vitro which is partially mediated by hAEC-secreted TGF-β1-induced cell cycle arrest. This study suggests a potential application of hAEC-based therapy against epithelial ovarian cancer.
Biometrics and Privacy A note on the politics of theorizing technology

Society's increased surveillance needs are accelerating the spread of biometric security solutions (new authentication and identification technologies based on individual physical characteristics). There are two opposing lines of argument regarding the question of whether biometrics are a threat to privacy or not. This paper analyses the two views on their tacit assumptions regarding the nature of biometric technology. It argues that the different assessments of biometric technology involve different conceptualizations and constructions of the technology in terms of its demarcation as a stabilized object. On a second level, the analysis deals with the philosophical issue of technological determinism. The opposition between deterministic and voluntarist views of technology is shaped by an underlying opposition between reification of technology on the one hand, and a conception of technology as a multifactor contingent human practice on the other . In this paper deterministic and voluntarist constructions of technology are considered as rhetorical devices , and as discursive strategies. This allows me to show how distinctions between inherent features and contingent aspects of biometric technologies, as well as demarcations between human and non-human agency are made, that imply particular distributions of responsibility and negotiating space for human choices and values. Examples are presented showing how each construction of biometric technology serves its own purpose in the political process of shaping biometrics.
Feature Extraction in P 100 Detection for Classification of Pattern Visual Evoked Potential ( P-VEP ) Signals Correlated with Occlusion Therapy for Squint eyes

In this work, we carried out a detailed study of various features of pattern visual evoked potential (P-VEP) signal. P-VEP tests are commonly used in ophthalmology to estimate bioelectrical function of the retina and optic nerve. P-VEP signal which consist of extracted information could assist ophthalmologist in making appropriate decisions during occlusion therapy. The extraction and detection of P100 from P-VEP signal with powerful and advance methodologies is becoming a very important requirement for monitoring the effectiveness of occlusion therapy in squint eye patient. By analyzing the features in different domains we conclude that amplitude and time domain features are more powerful in finding P100 signals from non-P100 signals. The method we proposed in this work is based on the extraction of five out of nine main features of P-VEP signal. Five features are: Latency, Amplitude, Peakto-peak, Peak of N100 and Latency of N100. The performance of each feature assessed by Linear Discriminate Analysis (LD) classifier. The experiment was performed with different number of channels to analyze the effect of the number of channels.
World Place Name Location Skills of Elementary Pre-Service Teachers

AbstractIn this study, 282 elementary and secondary pre-service teachers at two universities were asked to locate 10 countries that are prominent in current events on a world map. Approximately two-thirds of the 254 elementary pre-service teachers incorrectly located nearly all of the countries. Slight to weak Pearson correlations were found between each subject's test score and variables such as gender, newspaper and news magazine reading, television news watching, and travel abroad.
On the regulator problem for a class of LTI systems with delays

This paper deals with the problem of tracking a reference signal while maintaining the stability of the closed loop system for linear time invariant systems with delays in the states. We show that conditions for the existence of a solution to this problem (the so-called regulation problem), similar to those known for the case of delay-free linear systems, may be given. We propose a solution for both the state and error feedback regulation.
Drawing out emotions: the use of participant-produced drawings in qualitative inquiry

In this article we outline the use of participant-produced drawings as part of a larger study that examined the emotional impact of change on individuals in an educational institution (Kearney, 2002; Kearney and Hyle, 2003). Both the participants’and the researchers’perspectives on the drawing methodology, as used in this study, provide the foundation for our findings that drawings: 1) create a path toward feelings and emotions, 2) lead to a more succinct presentation of participant experiences, 3) require additional verbal interpretation by the participant for accuracy, 4) are unpredictable as a tool for encouraging participation in the research, 5) combat researcher biases when left unstructured, 6) are affected by the amount of researcher-imposed structure in the scope of how they could be interpreted, and 7) help to create triangulation of study data.
Tear and Destroy: Chain voting and destruction problems shared by Pret a Voter and Punchscan and a solution using Visual Encryption

Pret a Voter and Punchscan are two electronic voting schemes that both use paper based ballot forms, part of which is detached and destroyed, to provide receipt-free voter verifiability. However, both schemes share the chain voting problem and the part destruction problem. The first is where anyone who can see the ballot form before it is used can coerce a voter who uses it and the latter where a voter who can leave with the complete form can prove to a coercer the contents of the vote. In this paper we provide a comparison of the schemes from a systems perspective. We also introduce a visual encryption solution to both the above problems.
Poster Abstract: SEAL: An Easy-to-use Sensor Node Application Development System

Majority of potential wireless sensor network (WSN) users have no formal education in computer science. To make WSN application development more feasible and attractive to this target audience, we have designed and implemented SEAL, a domain-specific language for WSN application description. Our idea is based on the observation that even though the lowlevel details of WSN are swarming with complexities, a broad class of WSN applications are conceptually simple – they can be described either as sense-and-send or event detection. SEAL decouples the low-level networking and hardware details present in sensor networks from application logic, thus reducing the complexity visible to the user. We suggest that our approach leads to reduced source code sizes and faster development times, without sacrificing user freedom and energy-efficiency.
Chapter 1 Projection of state space realizations

1.0. 1 Description of the problem We consider two m × p strictly proper transfer functions T (s) = C(sI n − A) −1 B, ˆ T (s) = ˆ C(sI k − ˆ A) −1ˆB, (1.1) of respective Mc Millan degrees n and k < n. We are interested in finding the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of projecting matrices Z, V ∈ C n×k such that and in characterizing the set of all transfer functionsˆT (s) that can be obtained via the projection equations (1.1,1.2). Only the image of the projecting matrices Z and V are important since choosing other bases satisfying the bi-orthogonality condition (1.2) amounts to a state-space transformation of the realization ofˆT (s). 1.0. 2 Motivation and history of the problem Equation (1.2) arises naturally in the general framework of model reduction of large scale linear systems [1]. In this context we are given a transfer function T (s) of Mc Millan degree n which we want to approximate by a transfer function 1
Focusing problems of subsurface imaging by a low-frequency SAR

ONERA radar RAMSES was recently upgraded with low frequency band (P-band, 435 MHz). In P-band, frequencies penetrate through the ground and through forest canopy. Unfortunately, the formation of the subsurface radar images presents a number of new specific challenges that include algorithm validity, calibration methods, radio-frequency interference, and image focusing and analysis. This paper addresses the aspects of focusing images from an airborne low frequency SAR of buried targets in a lossy and dispersive soil. The hydrological model (Richards' equation) was used to model the multilayer case.
The Role of Classroom-Level Child Behavior Problems in Predicting Preschool Teacher Stress and Classroom Emotional Climate

Research Findings: Despite the abundance of research suggesting that preschool classroom quality influences children's social-emotional development, the equally important and related question of how characteristics of children enrolled in a classroom influence classroom quality has rarely been addressed. The current article focuses on this question while also considering teacher stress as a mediator of the relationship between child behavior problems and classroom emotional climate. Data came from 2 low-income samples. Ordinary least squares regression revealed that higher levels of child externalizing behavior problems in the fall predicted higher teacher stress in the spring. Teacher stress was nonlinearly related to classroom emotional climate in the spring: Moderate levels of teacher stress were associated with higher (i.e., more positive) classroom emotional climates, and low and high levels of teacher stress were associated with lower classroom emotional climates. Contrary to expectations, higher levels of child externalizing behavior problems were related to higher classroom emotional climates. There was no evidence that teacher stress mediated this relationship. Practice or Policy: These results are discussed in terms of strategies to reduce the disruptive influence of child behavior problems on the classroom emotional climate as well as strategies to limit high levels of preschool teacher stress.
Using Quake III Arena to simulate sensors and actuators when evaluating and testing mobile services

We describe QuakeSim, a system that uses Quake III Arena to evaluate, test, and demonstrate context aware services. Context, such as users position or activity, is simulated in Quake and provided to real-world services as real data. The simulation is made more realistic by modeling real physical environments and calibrating the models to correspond to reality. QuakeSim allows simulated and actual context information to be used interchangeably in real services.
Evaluation of a Community Networking Initiative for Parents with Infants

A community networking initiative for parents (mothers) of infants was initiated in two urban regions in Sydney, Australia. The service consisted of three components: weekly pramwalks, weekly talks on topics of interest to new parents and a regular service newsletter, containing information of interest to the participants and contact details of members. A total of 97 mothers enrolled in the service from two regions, and each completed various self-report measures at enrolment and again approximately six months later (N = 70). These measures assessed aspects of the experience of motherhood, their social networks and their evaluation of the service. Approximately half the enrolled women attended at least one of the walks or talks, and nearly all the women found the three service components to have been helpful. About two-thirds of the women reported that the service had had a positive impact on their experience of motherhood, and half had made a friend through the service. While these results are encouraging, considerable planning and resources need to be given to optimise the likelihood that such a service will in fact be used by those new parents who may benefit from it the most.
The dynamics of Rabinovich system

y Abstract. The paper presents some dynamical aspects of Rabinovich type. For the system (1.1) we have presented some Hamilton-Poisson re- alizations,a metriplectic structure, the system with distributed delay, with fractional derivatives and some numerical applications using Moulton- Adams algorithm for differential systems with fractional deviratives.
Towards energy proportionality for large-scale latency-critical workloads

Reducing the energy footprint of warehouse-scale computer (WSC) systems is key to their affordability, yet difficult to achieve in practice. The lack of energy proportionality of typical WSC hardware and the fact that important workloads (such as search) require all servers to remain up regardless of traffic intensity renders existing power management techniques ineffective at reducing WSC energy use. We present PEGASUS, a feedback-based controller that significantly improves the energy proportionality of WSC systems, as demonstrated by a real implementation in a Google search cluster. PEGASUS uses request latency statistics to dynamically adjust server power management limits in a fine-grain manner, running each server just fast enough to meet global service-level latency objectives. In large cluster experiments, PEGASUS reduces power consumption by up to 20%. We also estimate that a distributed version of PEGASUS can nearly double these savings.