Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CHECKING THE PERFORMANCE OF DYNAMIC COMPOSITE VIDEO-ON-DEMAND WEB SERVICE

The main objective of this paper is to design and implement Dynamic Composite Video-on-Demand Web Service (DCVWS) and check its performance through Parallel Performance Monitoring Service (PPMS) during run-time. The media web services such as Video-on-Demand (VoD), Music-on-Demand (MoD) and News-on-Demand (NoD) are composed at design time using BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) designer and composition can be changed at run-time depends on the user preferences. In addition to existing BPEL exception handling logic, there is a need to check the performance of dynamic composition of service oriented applications at application and system level. This paper proposes Parallel Performance Monitoring Service (PPMS) as a monitoring web service executed in parallel with each requested Media Web Service using multi threading technology and it monitors the execution of Dynamic Composite Video-on-Demand Web Service (DCVWS) which are represented as a BPEL process. The system QoS parameters such as finding response time, delay and external errors, calculating percentage of successful completion of individual media web services, and checking the time at which response time starts to increase are used to measure the run-time performance of the media web services. The application QoS parameters measure run-time performance of media web services that include media characteristics such as frame rate and frame resolution. These parameters are monitored at run-time to get a clear view of how VoD web services perform within their operational environments. The effectiveness of PPMS has been evaluated for Video-on-demand composite web service and its results indicate an improvement in the performance of run time monitoring of media web services.
Bacterial Community Mapping of the Mouse Gastrointestinal Tract

Keeping mammalian gastrointestinal (GI) tract communities in balance is crucial for host health maintenance. However, our understanding of microbial communities in the GI tract is still very limited. In this study, samples taken from the GI tracts of C57BL/6 mice were subjected to 16S rRNA gene sequence-based analysis to examine the characteristic bacterial communities along the mouse GI tract, including those present in the stomach, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum, colon and feces. Further analyses of the 283,234 valid sequences obtained from pyrosequencing revealed that the gastric, duodenal, large intestinal and fecal samples had higher phylogenetic diversity than the jejunum and ileum samples did. The microbial communities found in the small intestine and stomach were different from those seen in the large intestine and fecal samples. A greater proportion of Lactobacillaceae were found in the stomach and small intestine, while a larger proportion of anaerobes such as Bacteroidaceae, Prevotellaceae, Rikenellaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Ruminococcaceae were found in the large intestine and feces. In addition, inter-mouse variations of microbiota were observed between the large intestinal and fecal samples, which were much smaller than those between the gastric and small intestinal samples. As far as we can ascertain, ours is the first study to systematically characterize bacterial communities from the GI tracts of C57BL/6 mice.
Refinery: An Open Source Topic Modeling Web Platform

We introduce Refinery, an open source platform for exploring large text document collections with topic models. Refinery is a standalone web application driven by a graphical interface, so it is usable by those without machine learning or programming expertise. Users can interactively organize articles by topic and also refine this organization with phrase-level analysis. Under the hood, we train Bayesian nonparametric topic models that can adapt model complexity to the provided data with scalable learning algorithms. The project website http://daeilkim.github. io/refinery/ contains Python code and further documentation.
Experimental result of the collision detection of a robot manipulator

An industrial manipulator has been developed. The purpose of the development of the manipulator was the easy and safe human-robot cooperation. Most of the industrial robot manipulator can harm the operator near the robot systems when the manipulator is doing cooperative motion with the human operator. But the developed manipulator is safe even when the manipulator is working in the workspace shared with the human operator. In this experiment, the experimental results for the safety of the developed manipulator will be shown.
Analysis and Design of a Low-Voltage, Low-Power, High-Precision, Class-AB Current-Mode Subthreshold CMOS Sample and Hold Circuit

This paper proposes the design of a current-mode sample and hold circuit using subthreshold MOSFETs. The proposed circuit combines negative feedback and the compressive I-V characteristic of a class-AB weak inversion transconductor to achieve low switching error, high signal-to-noise ratio and high dynamic range from a low supply voltage and very low current consumption. The paper also provides a feedback analysis of current mode sample and hold circuits. Several design issues including circuit stability, mismatch, linearity, noise, and power consumption are discussed and a comparison of class-A and class-AB versions of subthreshold sample and hold circuits is made. The design verification of the proposed class-AB current mode sample and hold circuit is done by circuit simulations using 0.13 μm CMOS model parameters. The results show that, from a 0.6 V supply and with a power consumption of 27.5 nW, the proposed circuit provides 73 dB signal-to-noise ratio, 77 dB dynamic range, and a figure of merit of 1.9 nW/MHz.
REAL-TIME DTW-BASED GESTURE RECOGNITION EXTERNAL OBJECT FOR MAX/MSP AND PUREDATA

This paper focuses on a real-time Max/MSP implementation of a gesture recognition tool based on Dynamic Time Warping (DTW). We present an original ”multi-grid” DTW algorithm, that does not require prior segmentation. The num.dtw object will be downloadable on thenumediart website both for Max/MSP and for Pure Data. Though this research was conducted in the framework described below, with wearable sensors, we believe it could be useful in many other contexts. We are for instance starting a new project where we will evaluate our DTW object on video tracking data as well as on a combination of video tracking and wearable sensors data.
Exploring information delivery on a guided tour using mobile projection and visual markers

We present an in-the-wild user study (n=27) investigating the combination of two mobile technologies - picoprojectors and marker based information browsing. We studied a tour, where the tour guide used combinations of fixed and projected elements to present information, and compare four cases: A) as a baseline, a traditional paper poster, B) a projected poster, C) a printed paper fiducial marker, viewed through a mobile device browser application, and D) a projected fiducial marker viewed through a mobile device browser application. As a contribution, we present a novel approach to ad hoc projection of markers, and the findings of the user study. Here, the salient findings suggest that the techniques using markers have the potential to enhance tour participants' experience, but face practical challenges due to lighting conditions and image stability.
Apolipoprotein M Gene (APOM) Polymorphism Modifies Metabolic and Disease Traits in Type 2 Diabetes

This study aimed at substantiating the associations of the apolipoproein M gene (APOM) with type 2 diabetes (T2D) as well as with metabolic traits in Hong Kong Chinese. In addition, APOM gene function was further characterized to elucidate its activity in cholesterol metabolism. Seventeen APOM SNPs documented in the NCBI database were genotyped. Five SNPs were confirmed in our study cohort of 1234 T2D and 606 control participants. Three of the five SNPs rs707921(C+1871A), rs707922(G+1837T) and rs805264(G+203A) were in linkage disequilibrium (LD). We chose rs707922 to tag this LD region for down stream association analyses and characterized the function of this SNP at molecular level. No association between APOM and T2D susceptibility was detected in our Hong Kong Chinese cohort. Interestingly, the C allele of rs805297 was significantly associated with T2D duration of longer than 10 years (OR = 1.245, p = 0.015). The rs707922 TT genotype was significantly associated with elevated plasma total- and LDL- cholesterol levels (p = 0.006 and p = 0.009, respectively) in T2D patients. Molecular analyses of rs707922 lead to the discoveries of a novel transcript APOM5 as well as the cryptic nature of exon 5 of the gene. Ectopic expression of APOM5 transcript confirmed rs707922 allele-dependent activity of the transcript in modifying cholesterol homeostasis in vitro. In conclusion, the results here did not support APOM as a T2D susceptibility gene in Hong Kong Chinese. However, in T2D patients, a subset of APOM SNPs was associated with disease duration and metabolic traits. Further molecular analysis proved the functional activity of rs707922 in APOM expression and in regulation of cellular cholesterol content.
UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) a RCT comparing daily mindfulness meditations, biofeedback exercises, and daily physical exercise on attention control, executive functioning, mindful awareness, self-compassion, and worrying in stressed young adults

Our Western society is characterized by multitasking, competition, and constant time pressure. Negative effects of stress for the individual (anxiety, depression, somatic complaints) and for organizations and society (costs due to work absence) are very high. Thus, time-efficient self-help interventions to address these issues are necessary. This study assessed the effects of daily mindfulness meditations (MM) versus daily heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV-BF) and daily physical exercise (PE) on attention control, executive functioning, mindful awareness, self-compassion, and worrying. Young adults (n = 75, age range 18 to 40) with elevated stress levels were randomized to MM, HRV-BF, or PE, and measurements were taken at pre-test, post-test, and follow-up. Interventions in all three groups were self-guided and lasted for 5 weeks. Generalized estimating equation analyses showed that overall, all three interventions were effective and did not differ from each other. However, practice time differed between groups, with participants in the PE group practicing much more than participants in the other two groups. Therefore, additional analyses were carried out in two subsamples. The optimal dose sample included only those participants who practiced for at least 70 % of the total prescribed time. In the equal dose sample, home practice intensity was equal for all three groups. Again, the effects of the three interventions did not differ. In conclusion, MM, HRV-BF, and PE are all effective self-help methods to improve attention control, executive functioning, mindful awareness, self-compassion, and worrying, and mindfulness meditation was not found to be more effective thanHRV-biofeedback or physical exercise for these cognitive processes.
How Relevant and Frequent Is the Presence of Mild Renal Insufficiency in Essential Hypertension?

Recent analyses of the influence of renal function on the cardiovascular outcome in essential hypertensive patients have confirmed the relevance of the kidney in cardiovascular prognosis even in the initial stages of renal failure. The evaluation of renal function in clinical practice is based mainly on the finding of changes in serum creatinine, but the estimation of creatinine clearance or its determination after 24‐hour urine collection is not usually performed. The objective of this study was to analyze the prevalence of mild chronic renal insufficiency (MCRI) through the determination of creatinine clearance in patients with essential hypertension to reinforce the need to consider using this parameter in daily clinical practice. We analyzed clinical and biochemical data from 2686 essential hypertension patients referred to our unit from 1979–1999. MCRI was defined as a serum creatinine ≥1.5 mg/dL in men and ≥1.4 mg/dL in women, or a creatinine clearance estimated by the Cockroft‐Gault formula or by a 24‐hour urine collection of <60 mL/min. A prevalence of MCRI was found in 7.6% according to serum creatinine levels. This prevalence increased to 22.3% and 21.5% respectively when the diagnostic criteria for MCRI was the estimation of 24‐hour creatinine clearance in urine, or its estimation using the Cockroft‐Gault formula. When classified by creatinine clearance values, patients with MCRI were characterized by older age, elevated systolic blood pressure, higher serum total cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides, lower levels of high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, higher serum uric acid, fasting serum glucose, serum potassium, and higher levels of urinary albumin excretion. In summary, MCRI is more prevalent in essential hypertension than previously thought, particularly if the estimated creatinine clearance is used to define MCRI. The finding of an altered renal function is associated with a significant increase in cardiovascular risk. This fact reinforces the need to pay attention to any of the manifestations of renal damage observed in the usual clinical assessment of any hypertensive patient.
Regulation of cGMP levels by guanylate cyclase in truncated frog rod outer segments

Cyclic GMP is the second messenger in phototransduction and regulates the photoreceptor current. In the present work, we tried to understand the regulation mechanism of cytoplasmic cGMP levels in frog photoreceptors by measuring the photoreceptor current using a truncated rod outer segment (tROS) preparation. Since exogenously applied substance diffuses into tROS from the truncated end, we could examine the biochemical reactions relating to the cGMP metabolism by manipulating the cytoplasmic chemical condition. In tROS, exogenously applied GTP produced a dark current whose amplitude was half-maximal at approximately 0.4 mM GTP. The conductance for this current was suppressed by light in a fashion similar to when it is activated by cGMP. In addition, no current was produced in the absence of Mg2+, which is known to be necessary for the guanylate cyclase activity. These results indicate that guanylate cyclase was present in tROS and synthesized cGMP from exogenously applied GTP. The enzyme activity was distributed throughout the rod outer segment. The amount of synthesized cGMP increased as the cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration of tROS decreased, which indicated the activation of guanylate cyclase at low Ca2+ concentrations. Half-maximal effect of Ca2+ was observed at approximately 100 nM. tROS contained the proteins involved in the phototransduction mechanism and therefore, we could examine the regulation of the light response waveform by Ca2+. At low Ca2+ concentrations, the time course of the light response was speeded up probably because cGMP recovery was facilitated by activation of the cyclase. Then, if the cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration of a photoreceptor decreases during light stimulation, the Ca2+ decrease may explain the acceleration of the light response during light adaptation. In tROS, however, we did observe an acceleration during repetitive light flashes when the cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration increased during the stimulation. This result suggests the presence of an additional light- dependent mechanism that is responsible for the acceleration of the light response during light adaptation.
Gateway Control of Wireless Mesh Networks

The use of multi-hop wireless networks based on 802.11 technology is extensive and growing. The primary advantages of this approach are ease of deployment and lower cost. However, such networks typically exhibit poor fairness properties, often starving nodes if they are too many hops distant from the gateway. Research efforts to address this problems have largely focused on notions of fairness (e.g., time fairness vs. bandwidth fairness ; proportional fairness vs. max-min fairness, etc.), with little attention being paid to how the desired fairness might actually be achieved. MAC-layer approaches have been shown to not extend fairness properties across the network, and thus do not produce the desired network-layer fairness. The only extant technique we are aware that has been shown to achieve network-layer fairness is source-rate limiting. The problem with such an approach is that it requires telling the mesh routers what their fair share is, and having them enforce that rate. In this paper we propose an alternate approach, exploiting the traffic patterns inherent in mesh networks. Since all traffic is expected to traverse the gateway, we enforce rate control there, anticipating that the sources will react to limit their traffic to their gateway-limited capacity. We use a fair-share computational model to determine the appropriate rate for the various sources. Our approach does not require any additions or changes to the basic mesh network protocols, and works well with 802.11-based systems. We evaluate the performance of our algorithm using simulation over various mesh topologies.
Locating emergency responders using mobile wireless sensor networks

Emergency response in disaster management using wireless sensor networks has recently become an interest of many researchers in the world. This interest comes from the growing number of disasters and crisis (natural or man-made) affecting millions of lives and the easy-use of new and cheap technologies. This paper details another application of WSN in the post disaster scenario and comes up with an algorithm for localization of sensors attached to mobile responders (firefighters, policemen, first aid agents, emergency nurses, etc) while assisted by a mobile vehicle (fire truck, police car, or aerial vehicle like helicopters) called mobile anchor, sent to supervise the rescue operation. This solution is very efficient and rapidly deployable since no pre-installed infrastructure is needed. Also, there is no need to equip each sensor with a GPS receiver which is very costly and may increase the sensor volume. The proposed technique is based on the prediction of the rescuers velocities and directions considering previous position estimations. The evaluation of our solution shows that our technique takes benefit from prediction in a more effective manner than previous solutions. The simulation results show that our algorithm outperforms conventional Monte Carlo localization schemes by decreasing estimation errors with more than 50%.
AN ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF AUTOMOBILE TRANSACTIONS

Most models conceal the decision making process of households; the author describes the use of a model based on household intertemporal choice activities, providing reliable short-term forecasts which when periodically updated lead to improved long-term predictions. A random utility minimisation framework is used to characterise a household's transactions in its automobile market. Multinomial logit analysis is adopted to eliminate the model and the results indicate that household behaviour depends upon the base period level of attributes, including income, number of licensed drivers and the number of newer vehicles in the household stock, and also short-term variations in factors relevant to the choice environment including prior state occupancy and brand loyalty. A simplified model, requiring less data is found to approximate the more general model quite well. Forecasting characteristics of the simpler model are examined showing that short-term predictions are significantly improved if prior household decisions on ownership levels are considered. (TRRL)
Behavior Pattern Recognition using A New Representation Model

We study the use of inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) as a tool for the recognition of agents' behavior on the basis of observation of their sequential decision behavior interacting with the environment. We model the problem faced by the agents as a Markov decision process (MDP) and model the observed behavior of the agents in terms of forward planning for the MDP. We use IRL to learn reward functions and then use these reward functions as the basis for clustering or classification models. Experimental studies with GridWorld, a navigation problem, and the secretary problem, an optimal stopping problem, suggest reward vectors found from IRL can be a good basis for behavior pattern recognition problems. Empirical comparisons of our method with several existing IRL algorithms and with direct methods that use feature statistics observed in state-action space suggest it may be superior for recognition problems.
Reconstructing indoor environmental 3D model using laser range scanners and omnidirectional camera

This paper present a method to acquire a realistic, visually convincing 3D model for indoor environment using a mobile robot platform with two laser range scanners and one omnidirectional camera. First, the vertical mounted laser scanner is used to acquire geometrical 3D model of indoor environment, while the horizontal mounted laser scanner is used to solve the simultaneous localization and mapping problem. After joint calibration of vertical mounted laser scanners and omnidirectional camera, we can combine the scan points of laser scanner with the corresponding pixels in the panoramic images, and then finally can get a high-quality real-time 3D model by incorporating the range data and color information. Experimental results from a real environment are presented at last.
Enhanced MIMO detection with parallel V-BLAST

Foschini quantified the large capacity of the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless channel and showed how this capacity could be achieved using a layered and coded space-time architecture. Unfortunately, his proposed diagonal Bell Laboratories Space-Time (D-BLAST) detection algorithm has proved awkward to implement. Attention has instead focused on the simpler vertically-layered architecture. The well-known vertical MIMO detectors, such as zero forcing (ZF), minimum mean squared error (MMSE), maximum likelihood (ML), vertical BLAST (V-BLAST), and several versions of sphere decoding (SD), offer different trade-offs between computational complexity and performance. V-BLAST offers intermediate, but clearly suboptimal performance that has a computational complexity that grows linearly in the number of transmitted layers and in the size M of the symbol constellation. Fouladi Fard, Alimohammad and Cockburn recently proposed a parallel V-BLAST algorithm, which we call F-BLAST, that offers performance that approaches that of optimal ML at the cost of performing V-BLAST in parallel for all M possible values of the symbol in the layer with the weakest expected signal-to-noise ratio. Here we revisit the performance of F-BLAST and show how the degree of parallelism can be reduced while maintaining performance that greatly exceeds that of V-BLAST. The data parallel structure of the new detection algorithms, and their simpler control structure compared to SD, should offer implementation advantages.
Innovation and growth in the global economy

Traditional growth theory emphasizes the incentives for capital accumulation rather than technological progress. Innovation is treated as an exogenous process or a by-product of investment in machinery and equipment. Grossman and Helpman develop a unique approach in which innovation is viewed as a deliberate outgrowth of investments in industrial research by forward-looking, profit-seeking agents.