Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of visual languages in developing image analysis algorithms

Developers of new image analysis algorithms typically require an interactive environment in which the image data can be passed through various operators, some of which may involve feedback, synchronization, merging and conditional control strategies. This paper describes the requirements of visual languages for developing new algorithms, and how several visual languages meet these requirements. We then show how the data flow methodology of a visual software development tool called WIT has greatly simplified the prototyping and testing of our new image registration and segmentation methods. We describe the main features of WIT, and show data flow graphs for two medical image analysis algorithms. <<ETX>>
Ontologies, methodologies, and new uses of Big Data in the social and cultural sciences

In our Introduction to the Conceiving the Social with Big Data Special Issue of Big Data & Society, we survey the 18 contributions from scholars in the humanities and social sciences, and highlight several questions and themes that emerge within and across them. These emergent issues reflect the challenges, problems, and promises of working with Big Data to access and assess the social. They include puzzles about the locus and nature of human life, the nature of interpretation, the categorical constructions of individual entities and agents, the nature and relevance of contexts and temporalities, and the determinations of causality. As such, the Introduction reflects on the contributions along a series of binaries that capture the dualities and dynamisms of these themes: Life/Data; Mind/Machine; and Induction/Deduction.
The cultural politics of hospitality: hosts and guests in foreign language coursebooks for tourism.

This article aims at critically addressing the role of language in highly sensitive “contact zones”, such as the wide variety of encounters framed by tourist mobilities. It will particularly focus on the representations of these encounters disseminated by foreign language coursebooks for tourism purposes – a text genre which is generally hardly recognized as a tourism genre, but which is, in fact, as much responsible as any guidebook or travel phrasebook for the construction of “otherness”, and for the consolidation of tourist-host identities and performances through the (pre-)configuration of communicative exchanges. Drawing on a selection of English and German language coursebooks, the analysis further attempts at providing insight into the way they replicate and reinforce the ideology, power relationships and the cultural politics of hospitality underlying the world of contemporary tourism.
Security in software-defined wireless sensor networks: Threats, challenges and potential solutions

A Software-Defined Wireless Sensor Network (SD-WSN) is a recently developed model which is expected to play a large role not only in the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm but also as a platform for other applications such as smart water management. This model makes use of a Software-Defined Networking (SDN) approach to manage a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) in order to solve most of the inherent issues surrounding WSNs. One of the most important aspects of any network, is security. This is an area that has received little attention within the development of SDWSNs, as most research addresses security concerns within SDN and WSNs independently. There is a need for research into the security of SDWSN. Some concepts from both SDN and WSN security can be adjusted to suit the SDWSN model while others cannot. Further research is needed into consolidating SDN and WSN security measures to consider security in SDWSN. Threats, challenges and potential solutions to securing SDWSN are presented by considering both the WSN and SDN paradigms.
Reward/Punishment reversal learning in older suicide attempters.

OBJECTIVE Suicide rates are high in old age, and the contribution of cognitive risk factors remains poorly understood. Suicide may be viewed as an outcome of an altered decision process. The authors hypothesized that impairment in reward/punishment-based learning, a component of affective decision making, is associated with attempted suicide in late-life depression. They expected that suicide attempters would discount past reward/punishment history, focusing excessively on the most recent rewards and punishments. The authors further hypothesized that this impairment could be dissociated from executive abilities, such as forward planning. METHOD The authors assessed reward/punishment-based learning using the probabilistic reversal learning task in 65 individuals age 60 and older: suicide attempters, suicide ideators, nonsuicidal depressed elderly, and nondepressed comparison subjects. The authors used a reinforcement learning computational model to decompose reward/punishment processing over time. The Stockings of Cambridge test served as a control measure of executive function. RESULTS Suicide attempters but not suicide ideators showed impaired probabilistic reversal learning compared to both nonsuicidal depressed elderly and nondepressed comparison subjects, after controlling for effects of education, global cognitive function, and substance use. Model-based analyses revealed that suicide attempters discounted previous history to a higher degree relative to comparison subjects, basing their choice largely on reward/punishment received on the last trial. Groups did not differ in their performance on the Stockings of Cambridge test. CONCLUSIONS Older suicide attempters display impaired reward/punishment-based learning. The authors propose a hypothesis that older suicide attempters make overly present-focused decisions, ignoring past experiences. Modification of this "myopia for the past" may have therapeutic potential.
The facile fabrication of a wire-grid polarizer by reversal rigiflex printing

Wire-grid polarizers (WGPs) can be fabricated easily by reversal rigiflex printing. Metal films with gratings were fabricated on a transparent glass substrate by transfer printing with a metal coated rigiflex mold, and the transferred metal gratings were then etched slightly to eliminate the residual layer. As a result, aligned metal wires (70 nm line/space width, 120 nm height) occupying an area of 3.0 cm × 2.5 cm were obtained. The maximum and minimum transmittances of a WGP replicated from a commercial Moxtek polarizer at 800 nm were 85% and 27%, respectively.
Dynamic and Static Approaches to Quantifying 18F-FDG Uptake for Measuring Cancer Response to Therapy, Including the Effect of Granulocyte CSF

The response of cancer to chemotherapy can be quantified using 18F-FDG to indicate changes in tumor metabolism. Quantification using the standardized uptake value (SUV) is more feasible for clinical practice than is the metabolic rate of 18F-FDG (MRFDG), which requires longer, dynamic scanning. The relationship between MRFDG and SUV depends in part on how each accounts for blood clearance of tracer. We tested whether chemotherapy and treatment with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (CSF) changed the blood clearance curves and therefore affected the relationship between MRFDG and SUV. Methods: Thirty-nine patients with locally advanced breast cancer underwent 18F-FDG PET before and after chemotherapy, including granulocyte CSF. The area under the curve (AUC) for blood clearance was determined before and after therapy. MRFDGs were determined by graphical analyses, whereas SUVs were calculated using the standard formula normalized by body weight. MRFDG and SUVs were compared with each other and with tumor response. Paired percentage changes in MRFDG and SUV were also divided into tertiles based on pretherapy SUV to investigate differences in the relative sensitivity of SUV changes to MRFDG changes due to baseline tumor uptake. Results: Despite a small but statistically significant 6% decrease in blood AUCs after therapy (P = 0.02), SUV and MRFDG did not differ significantly in slope (P = 0.53) or in correlation before and after therapy (r = 0.95 for both). Percentage changes in MRFDG and SUV between serial scans correlated with each other (r = 0.84) and with patient response (P ≤ 0.06). The maximum detectable percentage change in SUV and the slope of percentage changes in MRFDG versus SUV for the patient tertile with the lowest baseline SUVs (65% ± 5% [±SE], slope (m) = 0.40 ± 0.12, n = 13) were significantly lower than for the other patients (86% ± 3%, m = 0.85 ± 0.10, n = 26, P = 0.01 for both). Conclusion: Chemotherapy and granulocyte CSF treatment resulted in a lower 18F-FDG blood AUC. The maximum detectable percentage change in 18F-FDG uptake is less when quantifying via static SUV than via dynamic MRFDG. This effect is small in most patients but may have clinical significance for measuring the response of patients with a low pretherapy 18F-FDG uptake.
Frequency and functions of involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memories across the day.

Involuntary autobiographical memories are memories of personally experienced events that come to mind spontaneously, whereas voluntary (i.e., deliberately recalled) memories are based on strategic retrieval processes, reflecting a goal-directed search. Previous work using an online recording methodology (i.e., a mechanical counter) has shown that involuntary compared with voluntary memories are 3 times as frequent in daily life, but there is evidence to suggest that frequency estimates of involuntary memories are sensitive to the methods used to make the recordings. Here, we use different types of online recording devices across 3 studies. In Study 1, using a mechanical counter, we replicated previous work showing that involuntary memories are almost 3 times as frequent as their voluntary counterparts. In Studies 2 and 3, we used smartphones to assess online frequency and found that the shift in recording device led to a decrease in the frequency of involuntary but not of voluntary memories. Furthermore, the smartphone assessment showed that involuntary memories were more frequent in the middle of the day, whereas voluntary retrieval was evenly distributed across the day. Voluntary relative to involuntary memories were estimated to serve more problem solving and directive functions in Studies 1 and 2 and as being more functionally relevant to the ongoing situation in Study 3. In conclusion, regardless of recording device, involuntary memories are at least as frequent as their voluntary counterparts, but are perceived to be less functionally relevant to the immediate retrieval context.
A High-Throughput Standard PCR-Based Genotyping Method for Determining Transgene Zygosity in Segregating Plant Populations

In crop research programs that implement transgene-based strategies for trait improvement it is necessary to distinguish between transgene homozygous and hemizygous individuals in segregating populations. Direct methods for determining transgene zygosity are technically challenging, expensive, and require specialized equipment. In this report, we describe a standard PCR-based protocol coupled with capillary electrophoresis that can identify transgene homozygous and hemizygous individuals in a segregating population without knowledge of transgene insertion site. PCR primers were designed to amplify conserved T-DNA segments of the 35S promoter, OCS terminator, and NPTII kanamycin resistance gene in the pHellsgate-8 RNAi construct for the Gossypium hirsutum phytochrome A1 gene. Using an optimized multiplexed reaction mixture and an amplification program of only 10 cycles we could discriminate between transgene homozygous and hemizygous cotton control DNA samples based on PCR product peak characteristics gathered by capillary electrophoresis. The protocol was refined by evaluating segregating transgenic progeny from nine BC1S1 populations derived from crosses between the transgenic cotton parent ‘E-1-7-6’ and other cotton cultivars. OCS PCR product peak height and peak area, normalized by amplification of the native cotton gene GhUBC1, revealed clear bimodal distributions of OCS product characteristics for each BC1S1 population indicating the presence of homozygous and hemizygous clusters which was further confirmed via K-means clustering. BC1S1 plants identified as homozygous or hemizygous were self-fertilized to produce BC1S2 progeny. For the homozygous class, 19/20 BC1S2 families confirmed the homozygous BC1S1 prediction while 21/21 BC1S2 families confirmed the hemizygous prediction of the original parent. This relatively simple protocol provides a reliable, rapid, and high-throughput way of evaluating segregating transgenic populations using methods and equipment common to crop molecular breeding labs.
Preparation and morphology of sarcoplasmic reticulum terminal cisternae from rabbit skeletal muscle

We have developed a procedure to isolate, from skeletal muscle, enriched terminal cisternae of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), which retain morphologically intact junctional "feet" structures similar to those observed in situ. The fraction is largely devoid of transverse tubule, plasma membrane, mitochondria, triads (transverse tubules junctionally associated with terminal cisternae), and longitudinal cisternae, as shown by thin-section electron microscopy of representative samples. The terminal cisternae vesicles have distinctive morphological characteristics that differ from the isolated longitudinal cisternae (light SR) obtained from the same gradient. The terminal cisternae consist of two distinct types of membranes, i.e., the junctional face membrane and the Ca2+ pump protein-containing membrane, whereas the longitudinal cisternae contain only the Ca2+ pump protein-containing membrane. The junctional face membrane of the terminal cisternae contains feet structures that extend approximately 12 nm from the membrane surface and can be clearly visualized in thin section through using tannic acid enhancement, by negative staining and by freeze-fracture electron microscopy. Sections of the terminal cisternae, cut tangential to and intersecting the plane of the junctional face, reveal a checkerboardlike lattice of alternating, square-shaped feet structures and spaces each 20 nm square. Structures characteristic of the Ca2+ pump protein are not observed between the feet at the junctional face membrane, either in thin section or by negative staining, even though the Ca2+ pump protein is observed in the nonjunctional membrane on the remainder of the same vesicle. Likewise, freeze-fracture replicas reveal regions of the P face containing ropelike strands instead of the high density of the 7-8-nm particles referable to the Ca2+ pump protein. The intravesicular content of the terminal cisternae, mostly Ca2+-binding protein (calsequestrin), is organized in the form of strands, sometimes appearing paracrystalline, and attached to the inner face of the membrane in the vicinity of the junctional feet. The terminal cisternae preparation is distinct from previously described heavy SR fractions in that it contains the highest percentage of junctional face membrane with morphologically well- preserved junctional feet structures.
Title of Dissertation: MODERNIZATION, LIFE COURSE, AND MARRIAGE TIMING IN INDONESIA

Title of Dissertation: MODERNIZATION, LIFE COURSE, AND MARRIAGE TIMING IN INDONESIA Aparna Sundaram, PhD, 2005 Dissertation directed by: Professor Reeve Vanneman Department of Sociology Past research on marriage timing in Asia has found the modernization framework to be insufficient for explaining and understanding the processes of marriage and nonmarriage. Using insights provided by research on marriage timing in Western societies, we examine the determinants of marriage and non-marriage for Indonesian men and women using the 1993 and 1997 waves of the Indonesian Family Life Survey dataset. Using a logit and a hierarchical model we examine the characteristics of unmarried men and women at time 1 who had married by time 2. We find that the basic correlates of the process of industrialization – education and work-force participation have counterintuitive associations with marriage. While level of education does nothing to delay marriage, being enrolled in school keeps people away from marriage. Work force participation in contrast increases the odds of people’s marriage while earnings from work have no effect. Based on our results we argue that the processes of marriage and non-marriage are best understood using a life course perspective. The life course perspective examines how the social context that people live in influences their lives, and determines their life trajectories, and the choices they make. Seen from this perspective, events such as marriage are a part of a person’s life course that follows a normative sequence. People get married at that stage in their life when they are considered ready for it. When they are in school they are viewed as minors who are not suited to starting and raising a family whereas people who are working are viewed as adults who have the stability to take on the responsibilities of a married life. Modernization, Life course, and Marriage Timing in Indonesia
Evaluating preprocessing techniques in a Text Classiﬁcation problem

Aiming to access the importance of the preprocessing phase on the text classiﬁcation problem, we applied the Support Vector Machine paradigm to the Portuguese Attorney General’s Ofﬁce dataset (written in the European Portuguese language) and the Reuters dataset. Searching for the best document representation, we evaluated and analysed some known feature reduction/construction, feature subset selection and term weighting techniques. From the results, we could identify the document representation that produces the best SVM performance for each dataset.
Doctor-Patient Communication

AbstractPURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of communication on rectal cancer patients’ quality of life over four years. Previous studies have either used short follow-up periods or examined only certain aspects of quality of life, such as anxiety and depression. METHODS: In a prospective, observational study, rectal cancer patients, recruited by clinicians over a two-year period, were sent questionnaires over four years. The clinical details of these patients were recorded by the Munich Cancer Registry. The psychological scores from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30 and CR38 were the main outcome variables. RESULTS: Thirty-nine percent of the sample reported that some aspect of the communication they received was unclear (incomprehensible or too little). More than 60 percent wished to speak more with their physician. Younger patients and those in larger hospitals were more likely to report unclear communication (P < 0.05). Analyses of covariance, controlled for age, gender, adjuvant therapy, stoma, education, clinic, and comorbidity, demonstrated that role, emotional, and social functioning scores were consistently lower in patients reporting unclear communication. Additionally, these patients experienced more problems sleeping, poorer body image, more financial worries, and a worse future perspective. Repeated measures analyses indicated that sleeping problems and emotional and social functioning difficulties persisted for at least three years. CONCLUSION: Reports of unclear communication were associated with poorer quality of life in rectal cancer patients without disease progression.
The Business of Caring: Women's Self‐Employment and the Marketization of Care

Our goal in this article is to contribute to a differentiated analysis of paid caring work by considering whether and how women's experiences of such work is shaped by their employment status (for example, self-employed versus employee) and the nature of care provided (direct or indirect). Self-employed care workers have not been widely studied compared with other types of care workers, such as employees providing domestic or childcare in private firms or private homes. Yet their experiences may be quite distinct. Existing research suggests that self-employed workers earn less than employees and are often excluded from employment protection. Nonetheless, they often report greater autonomy and job satisfaction in their day-to-day work. Understanding more about the experiences of self-employed caregivers is thus important for enriching existing theory, research and policy on the marketization of care. Addressing this gap, our article explores the working conditions, pay and levels of satisfaction of care workers who are self-employed. We draw on interviews from a small-scale study of Canadian women engaged in providing direct care (for example, childcare) and indirect care (for example, cleaning).
Design concepts for learning spatial relationships

Maps are cognitive artifacts that represent not only the characteristics of the information space but also the use people make of the space. There are three privileged modalities by which humans learn the relationships in existing spaces: path-based learning, landmark-based learning and survey learning. These three modalities are differently sustained by maps and by the real environments. Maps afford Simultaneous experience of the space, Single point of view, Survey knowledge, Secondary spatial activity; while real environments afford Progressive Experience of the space, Multiple point of view, Procedural knowledge, Primary Spatial activity. The most important attempts to modify these differences between maps and real environments, and to merge their properties, have been: a) the creation of visual structures that enable focus + context views; b) the design of information landscapes that enable free flight in 3D space. The principles used to obtain such a view are the combination of Simultaneous and Progressive Experience of the space as a Primary spatial activity.We are designing new views for a graphic information system by merging the affordances of traditional maps and real environments for learning spatial relations. The emerging views will be presented and discussed from a theoretical point of view and exemplified in their application to the design of an information system for a National Park in Italy. The prototype of the information system was tested by human factors specialists and by end-users; the results of the test show both strength, and weakness, in the implementation of the proposed design concepts.