Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using diaries for evaluating interactive products: the relevance of form and context

In this paper we discuss two studies, in which we used incident diaries to evaluate different aspects of a web-based tool and a wearable display. For the web-based tool we used a diary in form of a table distributed in digital form, which resulted in a very low number of responses. Results from follow-up interviews revealed that one of the reasons for this low response rate was a mismatch between diary form and study context. For the wearable display we designed booklets, which featured predefined sections and questions as well as space for open comments. Although previous research has identified disadvantages of paper-based diaries, this method proved to be valuable for collecting feedback in a mobile context. Based on our experiences and the results from the studies, we provide a qualitative discussion of design issues for diaries used in mobile and desktop-based contexts.
A Qualitative, Interactive Evaluation Procedure for Goal- and Agent-Oriented Models

Applying systematic analysis procedures to early requirements models can test the satisfaction of stakeholder goals and facilitate an evaluation of design alternatives. We introduce a qualitative and interactive model evaluation procedure for goal and agent-oriented models. In applying the procedure to a variety of case studies we found that the interactive nature of the procedure prompts model iteration, producing higher quality models.
SPEM ontology as the semantic notation for method and process definition in the context of SWEBOK

The Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) provides a consensually validated characterization of the bounds of the software engineering discipline and to provide a topical access to the Body of Knowledge supporting that discipline. The topic “Notation for Process Definition” references selected notations appropriate for software process definition. However all of them have weakly defined semantics, thus is not possible to use formal techniques for process model creation, validation etc. In this work we present created Software and Systems Process Engineering Meta-Model (SPEM) Ontology that improves the lack of mentioned process notations. The SPEM Ontology constitutes a semantic notation that provides concepts for knowledge based software process engineering. The work also discusses utilization of such semantic notation in other selected SWEBOK topics, the Software Project Planning, the Software Project Enactment, and the Verification and Validation.
Human CD141+ (BDCA-3)+ dendritic cells (DCs) represent a unique myeloid DC subset that cross-presents necrotic cell antigens

The characterization of human dendritic cell (DC) subsets is essential for the design of new vaccines. We report the first detailed functional analysis of the human CD141+ DC subset. CD141+ DCs are found in human lymph nodes, bone marrow, tonsil, and blood, and the latter proved to be the best source of highly purified cells for functional analysis. They are characterized by high expression of toll-like receptor 3, production of IL-12p70 and IFN-β, and superior capacity to induce T helper 1 cell responses, when compared with the more commonly studied CD1c+ DC subset. Polyinosine-polycytidylic acid (poly I:C)–activated CD141+ DCs have a superior capacity to cross-present soluble protein antigen (Ag) to CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes than poly I:C–activated CD1c+ DCs. Importantly, CD141+ DCs, but not CD1c+ DCs, were endowed with the capacity to cross-present viral Ag after their uptake of necrotic virus-infected cells. These findings establish the CD141+ DC subset as an important functionally distinct human DC subtype with characteristics similar to those of the mouse CD8α+ DC subset. The data demonstrate a role for CD141+ DCs in the induction of cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses and suggest that they may be the most relevant targets for vaccination against cancers, viruses, and other pathogens.
Clinical results of treatment using a modified K-wire tension band versus a cannulated screw tension band in transverse patella fractures

AbstractIt was a retrospective case–control study. The aim of this study was to explore the clinical efficacy and complication of treatment using a modified Kirschner wire tension band (MKTB) or a cannulated screw tension band (CSTB) in transverse patellar fractures.In total, 55 patients with transverse patellar fractures were retrospectively reviewed and divided into 2 groups according to the surgical technique: 29 patients were in the MKTB group and 26 patients in the CSTB group. B[Latin Small Letter o with Caron]stman's clinical grading scale, including range of movement (ROM), pain, ability to work, atrophy of quadriceps femoris, assistance in walking, effusion, giving way, and stair-climbing, was used to evaluate the clinical results. Complications including painful hardware, implant loosening or breakage, and bone nonunion were also assessed.Both groups were evaluated at the final follow-up before removing implant in the MKTB group. The B[Latin Small Letter o with Caron]stman's score of ROM, pain, atrophy of quadriceps femoris, and effusion were all higher in the CSTB group than in the MKTB group (P < 0.05). Twelve patients in the MKTB group underwent implant removal, and the score of ROM, pain, and effusion were higher than before removing implant (P < 0.05), but there was no difference compared to the CSTB group (P > 0.05). Seventeen patients achieved excellent results, 9 had good results, and 3 reported fair results in the MKTB group; the CSTB group had excellent results in 22 patients and good results in 4 patients, showing a significant difference in the excellent rate between the 2 groups (P = 0.021). Total B[Latin Small Letter o with Caron]stman scores in the MKTB and CSTB groups (26.96 ± 4.47 and 29.42 ± 1.47, respectively) were significantly different (P = 0.01). Total scores in the MKTB group after removing implant were higher than those before removing implant (P = 0.001), and similar to those in the CSTB group (P = 0.224). Eleven patients in the MKTB group reported painful hardware, including 4 cases of implant loosening.CSTB achieves better clinical results than MKTB, meanwhile avoiding the problems of painful hardware and implant loosening. Functional limitation caused by hardware pain was commonly seen in the MKTB group, and removing implant after fracture healing improved knee function.
Development under conditions of inequality and distrust: Social cohesion in Latin America

"This paper analyzes the role of social cohesion in economic and institutional development and, broadly, the creation of welfare in Latin America. The paper defines the concept of social cohesion with reference to the notions of social capital and inequality. Using data and literature on Latin America, the paper argues that low interpersonal trust and entrenched inequality interfere with cohesion. The paper develops and introduces an exploratory index of cohesion structured around the definition proposed. Relying on correlations, and with appropriate caveats, the paper uses this index to explore tentative linkages between levels of cohesion and development outcomes. The paper presents evidence of positive linkages among social cohesion and economic growth, investment and innovation capacity, governmental effectiveness, the quality of public policies, and the predictability of the policy environment. Finally, the paper discusses the significance of these findings and some of the policy implications. " from Author's Abstract
A FRAMEWORK FOR ESTIMATING PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS IN HYBRID PATTERN CLASSIFIERS

Classiication methods often perform signiicantly below Bayesian limits in complex , high-dimensional classiication tasks because of model bias, inadequate training data and noise/variability in the data. When several classiiers are used for a given task, selecting one method over all others discards potentially valuable information. Strategies aimed at suitably combining the results of multiple classiiers are expected to perform better than any single method, and reduce overall bias and noise. An underwater passive sonar data set consisting of over 1000 samples processed to produce diierent 25-dimensional and 24-dimensional feature vectors is used in this study to examine an evidence combination framework. An analysis of the conditions that the data sets must satisfy, and the conditions under which improvements can be obtained is provided, and results are presented for hybrid networks using both local and global classiiers.
Characterization of ambient aerosols in Mexico City during the MCMA-2003 campaign with Aerosol Mass Spectrometry ? Part I: quantification, shape-related collection efficiency, and comparison with collocated instruments

An Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) was deployed at the CENICA Supersite, while another was deployed in the Aerodyne Mobile Laboratory (AML) during the Mexico City Metropolitan Area field study (MCMA-2003) from 31 March? 4 May 2003 to investigate particle concentrations, sources, and processes. This is the first of a series of papers reporting the AMS results from this campaign. The AMS provides real time information on mass concentration and composition of the non-refractory species in particulate matter less than 1 µm (NR-PM1) with high time and size-resolution. For the first time, we report field results from a beam width probe, which was used to study the shape and mixing state of the particles and to quantify potential losses of irregular particles due to beam broadening inside the AMS. Data from this probe show that no significant amount of irregular particles was lost due to excessive beam broadening. A comparison of the CENICA and AML AMSs measurements is presented, being the first published intercomparison between two quadrupole AMSs. The speciation, and mass concentrations reported by the two AMSs compared relatively well. The differences found are likely due to the different inlets used in both instruments. In order to account for the refractory material in the aerosol, we also present measurements of Black Carbon (BC) using an aethalometer and an estimate of the aerosol soil component obtained from Proton-Induced X-ray Emission Spectrometry (PIXE) analysis of impactor substrates. Comparisons of AMS + BC + soil mass concentration with other collocated particle instruments (a LASAIR Optical Particle Counter, a Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM) and a DustTrak Aerosol Monitor) are also presented. The comparisons show that the AMS + BC + soil mass concentration during MCMA-2003 is a good approximation to the total PM2.5 mass concentration.
Defining Human Embryo Phenotypes by Cohort-Specific Prognostic Factors

Background Hundreds of thousands of human embryos are cultured yearly at in vitro fertilization (IVF) centers worldwide, yet the vast majority fail to develop in culture or following transfer to the uterus. However, human embryo phenotypes have not been formally defined, and current criteria for embryo transfer largely focus on characteristics of individual embryos. We hypothesized that embryo cohort-specific variables describing sibling embryos as a group may predict developmental competence as measured by IVF cycle outcomes and serve to define human embryo phenotypes. Methodology/Principal Findings We retrieved data for all 1117 IVF cycles performed in 2005 at Stanford University Medical Center, and further analyzed clinical data from the 665 fresh IVF, non-donor cycles and their associated 4144 embryos. Thirty variables representing patient characteristics, clinical diagnoses, treatment protocol, and embryo parameters were analyzed in an unbiased manner by regression tree models, based on dichotomous pregnancy outcomes defined by positive serum ß-human chorionic gonadotropin (ß-hCG). IVF cycle outcomes were most accurately predicted at ∼70% by four non-redundant, embryo cohort-specific variables that, remarkably, were more informative than any measures of individual, transferred embryos: Total number of embryos, number of 8-cell embryos, rate (percentage) of cleavage arrest in the cohort and day 3 follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level. While three of these variables captured the effects of other significant variables, only the rate of cleavage arrest was independent of any known variables. Conclusions/Significance Our findings support defining human embryo phenotypes by non-redundant, prognostic variables that are specific to sibling embryos in a cohort.
Directed Evolution of Biphenyl Dioxygenase: Emergence of Enhanced Degradation Capacity for Benzene, Toluene, and Alkylbenzenes

ABSTRACT Biphenyl dioxygenase (Bph Dox) catalyzes the initial oxygenation of biphenyl and related compounds. Bph Dox is a multicomponent enzyme in which a large subunit (encoded by the bphA1 gene) is significantly responsible for substrate specificity. By using the process of DNA shuffling of bphA1 of Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707 and Burkholderia cepaciaLB400, a number of evolved Bph Dox enzymes were created. Among them, anEscherichia coli clone expressing chimeric Bph Dox exhibited extremely enhanced benzene-, toluene-, and alkylbenzene-degrading abilities. In this evolved BphA1, four amino acids (H255Q, V258I, G268A, and F277Y) were changed from the KF707 enzyme to those of the LB400 enzyme. Subsequent site-directed mutagenesis allowed us to determine the amino acids responsible for the degradation of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
A Structured Timing Itinerary Using an Augmented Swarm Intelligent Algorithm

There are well-known approaches which have been exercised to generate automated timing itinerary which is limited to secluded environment. The number of entity having individual characteristics increases, thus increases the complexity of the solution. As scheduling timing itinerary is a well-known NP-completeness problem, so there is no existing particular algorithm which can solve the time scheduling problem in polynomial time bounded by the number of entities present in the itinerary where multiple constraints between entities are to be satisfied. We present an augmented swarm intelligent algorithm called ASIA which has been applied into a structured time itinerary approach consists of an intelligent neighborhood selection strategy by exchanging the pair of scheduled lectures and with a faster running time improvement due to increased memory feeding and addition of code complexity. Also, an objective value or weight is defined to get better optimization output and the associated plot of objective value is drawn to compare the result of the proposed approach with meta-heuristic approaches. The result shows that using ASIA can deliver an optimal solution and proved to be an efficient than other well-known meta-heuristic approaches.
Kinematics of the 3-RSR wrist

Among the new architectures for parallel wrists, recently presented in the literature, one of the simplest is the architecture of the 3-revolute-spherical-revolute (RSR) wrist. The kinematics of the 3-RSR wrist has not been presented yet, in the literature. This paper presents the kinematic analysis of the 3-RSR wrist. In particular, the demonstration that the 3-RSR wrist makes the end-effector perform finite spherical motion is reconsidered from a different point of view. The new demonstration directly provides the constraint singularities of the 3-RSR wrist. Moreover, the position analysis of the 3-RSR wrist is reduced to the solution of problems already solved in the literature. Finally, the mobility analysis of the 3-RSR wrist is addressed, and all its singularity conditions are found in analytical form and geometrically interpreted.
Cake Division by Majority Decision

We consider a collective choice process where three players make proposals sequentially on how to divide a given quantity of resources. Afterwards, one of the proposals is chosen by majority decision. If no proposal obtains a majority, a proposal is drawn by lot. We establish the existence of the set of subgame perfect equilibria, using a suitable refinement concept. In any equilibrium, the first agent offers the whole cake to the second proposal-maker, who in turn offers the whole cake back to the first agent. The third agent is then indifferent about dividing the cake between himself and the first or the second agent.
ActiveRaUL : Automatically Generated Web Interfaces for Creating RDF Data

The amount of automatically generated machine-readable data on the Web has significantly increased in recent years. This is in part due to the advent of Linked Data and its publishing tools that allowed the mapping of relational data to RDF. However, the amount of semantic Web data is still many orders of magnitude smaller than the World-Wide-Web, and this limits semantic Web applications. One of the barriers for semantic Web novices to create machine-readable data is the lack of easy-touse Web publishing tools that separate the schema modelling from the data creation. In this article we present ActiveRaUL, a Web form-based user interface that particularly supports users inexperienced in semantic Web technologies in creating RDF data. These Web form-based user interfaces in ActiveRaUL can be automatically generated from any arbitrary input ontology through a process described in this article. We map the graph-structured input ontology to a tree-structured Web form while still allowing the user to create RDF data typed according to the input ontology. We validate our approach of automatically generating Web interfaces from an ontology in a user study based on use cases developed by the W3C Semantic Sensor Network (SSN) Incubator group. We test the effectiveness, efficiency and the satisfaction of users in creating RDF data based on the SSN ontology with ActiveRaUL generated user interfaces compared to a state-of-the-art ontology editing tool.
Optimization of clustering process in WSN with meta-heuristic techniques - a survey

In a wireless sensor network deployed in remote area, because of no rechargeable energy source available, the network lifetime is critically dependent on how efficiently the energy resources are used. Clustering is powerful technique to use energy efficiently. Meta-heuristic methods can be applied for clustering. In this paper, different meta-heuristic methods are analyzed such as PSO, ACO, GA, HS, SA, and its pros and cons are discussed. Also, how those cons are removed in further enhanced versions and combinations of these methods are described with its performance comparison.
Magnetic field depression at the earth's surface calculated from the relationship between the size of the magnetosphere and the Dst values

A linear relationship between the hourly Dst value and the inverse of the cube of the magnetosphere subsolar distance Rs−3 from Explorer 12 satellite boundary observations has been found to exist for geomagnetically quiet times and slightly disturbed periods. The proportionality constant between the Dst and Rs−3 is found to be 1.40 times the theoretical value predicted by Mead but remains unchanged for different geomagnetic conditions. The only changes are the amount of the field depression due to the ring current registered in the Dst values. The field depression at the earth's surface is found to be −19 γ from the quiet time ring current and −44 γ from the slightly disturbed time ring current.
A highly adaptive distributed routing algorithm for mobile wireless networks

We present a new distributed routing protocol for mobile, multihop, wireless networks. The protocol is one of a family of protocols which we term "link reversal" algorithms. The protocol's reaction is structured as a temporally-ordered sequence of diffusing computations; each computation consisting of a sequence of directed link reversals. The protocol is highly adaptive, efficient and scalable; being best-suited for use in large, dense, mobile networks. In these networks, the protocol's reaction to link failures typically involves only a localized "single pass" of the distributed algorithm. This capability is unique among protocols which are stable in the face of network partitions, and results in the protocol's high degree of adaptivity. This desirable behavior is achieved through the novel use of a "physical or logical clock" to establish the "temporal order" of topological change events which is used to structure (or order) the algorithm's reaction to topological changes. We refer to the protocol as the temporally-ordered routing algorithm (TORA).
EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION OF THE POTENTIAL FIELD LANEKEEPING SYSTEM

Lanekeeping assistance has the potential to save thousands of lives every year by preventing accidental road departure. This paper presents experimental validation of a potential field lanekeeping assistance system with quantitative performance guarantees. The lanekeeping system is implemented on a 1997 Corvette modified for steer-by-wire capability. With no mechanical connection between the hand wheel and road wheels the lanekeeping system can add steering inputs independently from the driver. Implementation of the lanekeeping system uses a novel combination of a multi-antenna Global Positioning System (GPS) and precision road maps. Preliminary experimental data shows that this control scheme performs extremely well for driver assistance and closely matches simulation results, verifying previous theoretical guarantees for safety. These results also motivate future work which will focus on interaction with the driver.
Marriage Equality, Labor (In)Equality: The Impact of Same-Sex Marriage Legalization on the Labor Outcomes of Lesbian Women

This paper investigates the impact of same-sex legalization and same-sex relationship recognition on labor outcomes such as wages and specialization for lesbian women. Using 1990 U.S. Census data and 2013 American Community Survey (ACS), I exploit the temporal and spatial variation of legalizing samesex marriage using a triple difference-in-differences-in-differences estimator, and employing an OaxacaBlinder wage and specialization decomposition. Results demonstrate that unmarried lesbians who are primary partners experience a wage premium of 15.2% and unmarried lesbians who are secondary partners experience a more modest wage premium of 3.7%. Married lesbians who are secondary partners experience a wage penalty of 10.7%. For primary partners, wage premiums are 19.3% under domestic partnerships, and 15.9% under civil unions. No such effects are detected under same-sex marriage for the general lesbian population, suggesting that the primary partner marriage premium is being offset by the secondary partner wage penalty. Marriage, more than any other legal institution, signals greater commitment and in turn facilitates specialization. There is little evidence of marriage market selection and employer discrimination related mechanisms.
Model-driven engineering and run-time model-usage in service robotics

The development of service robots has gained more and more attention over the last years. A major challenge on the way towards industrial-strength service robotic systems is to make the step from code-driven to model-driven engineering. In this work we propose to put models into the focus of the whole life-cycle of robotic systems covering design-time as well as run-time. We describe how to explicate parameters, properties and resource information in the models at design-time and how to take these information into account by the run-time system of the robot to support its decision making process. We underpin our work by an exhaustive real-world example which is completely developed with our tools.