Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coverage and Energy Efficient Information Gathering Protocol in Wireless Sensor Networks

Coverage and energy efficiency are two important concerns in wireless sensor networks. In this paper, a coverage and energy efficient (CEE) task assigning strategy is presented. The basic idea of CEE is to assign tasks according to node’s coverage degree and remaining energy. Based on this idea, grid-based coverage and energy efficient (GCEE) information gathering protocol is designed. GCEE is simulated with NS-2. How the various parameters affect the fraction of the survived nodes and the area energy balancing of the network is shown in simulation results.
The Inherent Context Awareness of Natural User Interfaces: a Case Study on Multitouch Displays

In computer science, context-awareness refers to the capability of a computing device to sense, understand and react to contextual information, i.e. information that is not at the centre of an activity but is still relevant for that activity. A computing device does not necessarily interact with humans at a given moment, but when it does, its Context-Awareness has many implications for human-computer interaction. The thesis that this paper surmises looks at Natural User Interfaces from a Context- Awareness perspective.
Image schemas and their metaphorical extensions: intuitive patterns for tangible interaction

One of the goals of tangible interaction is to build more intuitive interfaces. This paper gives a definition of intuitivity and presents a continuum of knowledge serving as a classification for intuitive interaction. Against the background of the continuum recent taxonomies for tangible interaction are reviewed. A new approach for classifying tangible interaction will be presented: image schemas and their metaphorical extensions. Motivated by linguistic studies of meaning this taxonomy is able to overcome some limitations of previous approaches. The taxonomy is illustrated with examples of using image schemas and their metaphorical extensions in potential TUI applications. A more complex example, the Tangible Memories Box, shows how our taxonomy and earlier approaches may complement each other.
On the Study of Different Approaches to Database Replication in the Cloud

Cloud computing is becoming one of the most used paradigms to deploy highly available and scalable systems. These systems usually demand the management of huge amounts of data, which cannot be solved with traditional nor replicated database systems as we know them. However, it is well-known that traditional replication protocols do not scale well for a cloud environment. Moreover, recent approaches propose to restrict the scope of the transactional support in the cloud in order to ensure high availability. This work presents a study of the traditional replication techniques for static systems applied in a cloud scheme to achieve transactional support combining the high availability and scalability that characterizes cloud systems. This system also maintains the appreciated features of relational databases. This proposal offers different consistency levels according to the demands of client applications using a replication strategy based on a combination of traditional database replication techniques with asynchronous epidemics updates. We have run several simulations that show this is a very interesting approach to provide transactional support to clients with different consistency guaranties while leveraging the resources used. A considerable number of simulations were executed to evaluate the behavior of the replication techniques in the cloud environment based on the response time, the abortion rate and the throughput of the system.
An Ensemble Model that Combines Syntactic and Semantic Clustering for Discriminative Dependency Parsing

We combine multiple word representations based on semantic clusters extracted from the (Brown et al., 1992) algorithm and syntactic clusters obtained from the Berkeley parser (Petrov et al., 2006) in order to improve discriminative dependency parsing in the MST-Parser framework (McDonald et al., 2005). We also provide an ensemble method for combining diverse cluster-based models. The two contributions together significantly improves unlabeled dependency accuracy from 90.82% to 92.13%.
The WISC-R and Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude-2: a Comparative Study

Published in 1985, the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude-2, (DTLA-2) is used widely in schools with students who are experiencing learning prob lems. This study investigated the relationship of the DTLA-2 to the WISC-R with a sample of referred students. Correlation coefficients between the three subscales of the WISC-R and the overall score of the DTLA-2 were high; however, a sig nificant difference between means for those scores also was found. Significant differences between DTLA-2 composite scores for attention and motor skills also were found with this group, a finding that the authors interpret as accurately describ ing the sample. Practitioners are cautioned against using the DTLA-2 overall score as the sole criterion for special education placement until fur ther research can be conducted. While additional studies also are needed to establish the reliability and validity of the composites, the DTLA-2 ap pears promising as an instrument for assessing in traindividual differences.
Aspect-Object Alignment with Integer Linear Programming in Opinion Mining

Target extraction is an important task in opinion mining. In this task, a complete target consists of an aspect and its corresponding object. However, previous work has always simply regarded the aspect as the target itself and has ignored the important "object" element. Thus, these studies have addressed incomplete targets, which are of limited use for practical applications. This paper proposes a novel and important sentiment analysis task, termed aspect-object alignment, to solve the "object neglect" problem. The objective of this task is to obtain the correct corresponding object for each aspect. We design a two-step framework for this task. We first provide an aspect-object alignment classifier that incorporates three sets of features, namely, the basic, relational, and special target features. However, the objects that are assigned to aspects in a sentence often contradict each other and possess many complicated features that are difficult to incorporate into a classifier. To resolve these conflicts, we impose two types of constraints in the second step: intra-sentence constraints and inter-sentence constraints. These constraints are encoded as linear formulations, and Integer Linear Programming (ILP) is used as an inference procedure to obtain a final global decision that is consistent with the constraints. Experiments on a corpus in the camera domain demonstrate that the three feature sets used in the aspect-object alignment classifier are effective in improving its performance. Moreover, the classifier with ILP inference performs better than the classifier without it, thereby illustrating that the two types of constraints that we impose are beneficial.
Parallel Hardware Implementation of Convolution using Vedic Mathematics

Convolution is fundamental operation of most of the signal processing systems. It is necessity of time to speed up convolution process at very appreciable extent. Here Direct method of computing the discrete linear convolution of finite length sequences is used. The approach is easy to learn because of the similarities to computing the multiplication of two numbers by a pencil and paper calculation. Multipliers are basic building blocks of convolver. Since it dominates most of the execution time, for optimizing the speed, 4×4 bit Vedic multipliers based on Urdhva Tiryagbhyam sutra are used. Convolver has delay of 17.996 ns when implemented on 90 nm process technology FPGA. It also provides necessary modularity, expandability, and regularity to form different convolutions for any number of bits. The coding is done in VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated Circuits Hardware Description Language) for the FPGA , as it is being increasingly used for variety of computationally intensive applications. Simulation and synthesis is done using Xilinx 9.2i.
Cataractogenesis in Neonatal Sprague-Dawley Rats by N-Methyl-N-Nitrosourea

Cataract was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of 100 mg/kg N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) to 0-, 5-, 10-, 15-, or 20-day-old male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. In day 0, 5, 10, and 15 MNU-treated rats, mature cataracts were constantly seen 7, 14, 14, and 30 days after dosing, respectively. In the day 20 MNU-treated rats, only subcapsular cataract was seen 30 days after dosing. Therefore, the rats exposed to MNU at an earlier age caused cataract more rapidly and severely. In the day 0 MNU-treated rats, 7-methyldeoxyguanosine DNA adduct was detected in the lens epithelial nuclei 12 hours after MNU dosing, followed by apoptosis, which was confirmed by morphology, by TUNEL signals, and by DNA ladder and peaked 3 days after MNU dosing. In the apoptosis cascade, upregulation of Bax, downregulation of Bcl-2, and increased CPP32 protease (caspase-3) activity were seen 12 hours after MNU dosing. Therefore, the pathogenesis of MNU-induced cataract was associated with DNA adduct formation in the lens epithelial cell nuclei leading to apoptosis by upregulation of Bax protein, downmodulation of Bcl-2 protein, and activation of caspase-3.
Whose? L2-English speakers' possessive pronoun gender errors*

This article reports the results of an experiment on production of his/her in English as a second language (L2) by proficient native speakers of Italian, Spanish, and Dutch. In Dutch and English, 3rd person singular possessive pronouns agree in gender with their antecedents, in Italian and Spanish possessives in general agree with the noun they accompany (possessum). However, while in Italian the 3rd person singular possessives overtly agree in gender with the possessums, in Spanish they lack overt morphological gender marking. Dutch speakers were found to make very few possessive gender errors in any condition, Spanish and Italian speakers, on the other hand, behaved like Dutch speakers when the possessum was inanimate, but made more errors when it was animate (e.g., his mother). Thus, even proficient L2 speakers are susceptible to the influence of automatic processes that should apply in their first language alone. The pattern of results has implications for pronoun production and models of bilingual language production.
Production by Murine Basophils In Vivo IgE-Dependent, Antigen-Independent IL-4 Eggs, Induces Schistosoma mansoni from Cutting Edge: IPSE/alpha-1, a Glycoprotein

During infection with the helminth parasite Schistosoma mansoni , the deposition of eggs coincides with the onset of IL-4 production and Th2 development. Although IL-4 is known as a potent inducer of Th2 differentiation, the mechanism by which schistosome eggs induce IL-4 production is not clear. In this study, we demonstrate that the S. mansoni egg Ag (SmEA) induces IgE-dependent IL-4 production by basophils derived from Heligmosomoides polygyrus -infected or OVA/alum-immunized mice in the absence of pathogen-specific IgE. The effect is mediated by the secretory glycoprotein IPSE/alpha-1, because IPSE/ alpha-1-depleted SmEA no longer induces cytokine production. Conversely, recombinant IPSE/alpha-1 is sufficient to induce IL-4 production. Importantly, the injection of SmEA or recombinant IPSE/alpha-1 into H. polygyrus -infected 4get/KN2 IL-4 reporter mice rapidly induces the dose-dependent IL-4 production by basophils in the liver, a major site of egg deposition. Thus, IPSE/alpha-1 induces basophils to produce IL-4 even in the absence of Ag-specific IgE. The Journal of Immunology, 2007, 178: 6023–6027.
*Word Recognition Error Analysis

The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between word recognition errors made at a letter–sound pattern level on a word list and on a curriculum-based measurement oral reading fluency measure (CBM-ORF) for typical and struggling elementary readers. The participants were second, third, and fourth grade typical and struggling readers (n = 69) who were systematically sampled from a pool of 265 students participating in a larger study. Participants read a nonsense word list composed of 599 words across 89 letter–sound patterns and three CBM-ORF passages. Pearson product–moment (Pearson r) correlation coefficients indicate students’ recognition of letter–sound patterns on word list and CBM-ORF differs between patterns as well as between type of reader. Results are discussed in terms of usefulness for CBM-ORF to assess letter–sound pattern recognition skills of typical and struggling elementary readers.
The Outer Solar Atmosphere during the Maunder Minimum: A Stellar Perspective

By comparing solar data with data of "flat activity" stars at UV and soft X-ray wavelengths, we estimate solar chromospheric, transition region, and coronal emission as it might have existed during the Maunder minimum (1645-1715), the most recent of several episodes of persistently weak sunspot activity. Several flat activity stars from the Mount Wilson S-index survey have been observed with the Hubble Space Telescope and ROSAT. Drawing on published data, we reassess the criteria by which a star may be considered as a Maunder minimum candidate. Of our targets, HD 10700 and HD 143761 are the most likely such candidates. Solar UV spectra from the SOHO and UARS spacecraft, and soft X-ray data from the SNOE spacecraft are compared with the stellar UV and X-ray data. The comparison suggests that the radiative output of the Maunder minimum chromosphere, transition region, and corona were similar to (or at least not much less than) those observed under conditions close to current solar minima. In turn, this suggests that the emitting structures (which on the Sun at sunspot minimum are small scale, ≪R☉), including the magnetic network, were also similar. These results have implications for the nature of the surface magnetic fields and irradiance during the Maunder and other magnetic minima, and for the solar dynamo.
A Low-Profile Wide-Bandwidth Planar Inverted-F Antenna Under Dual Resonances: Principle and Design Approach

A low-profile planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) under the operation of TM<sub>0,1/2</sub> and TM<sub>2,1/2</sub> modes in a single patch resonator for bandwidth enhancement is proposed. Initially, our study demonstrates that all of the even-order modes can effectively be suppressed by employing a rectangular PIFA instead of the conventional microstrip patch antenna. Then, a pair of shorting pins is appropriately loaded underneath the side-shorted radiating patch to investigate the variation of their odd-mode resonant frequencies. The results indicate that the resonant frequency of TM<sub>0,1/2</sub> mode (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$f_{0,1/2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) is dramatically increased up while almost maintaining that of TM<sub>2,1/2</sub> mode (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$f_{2,1/2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>). After that, the width of the radiating patch is progressively enlarged in order to move the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$f_{2,1/2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> more closely to the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$f_{0,1/2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. By using this approach, the dual radiative resonant modes can be reallocated in proximity to each other. Additionally, a narrow slot is etched out on the radiating patch so as to counteract the equivalent inductance caused by the shorting pins and probe. As such, a wide-bandwidth with stable radiation pattern is achieved for the PIFA under the operation of these dual-resonant modes. After the extensive analysis is executed, the proposed antenna is fabricated and tested. Simulated and measured results are found in good agreement with each other, demonstrating that its impedance bandwidth is tremendously widened to about 15.3% with appearance of two in-band attenuation poles. In particular, a low-profile property with the height of 0.036 free-space wavelength is achieved.
Analytical Modeling of Claw-Pole Stator SPM Brushless Machine Having SMC Stator Core

Since the claw-pole machines can exhibit a number of attractive features, they have been widely applied to automotive and domestic markets. Nowadays, with the development of rare-earth permanent magnet (PM) and powder metallurgy techniques, high performance and cost-effective design of a multiphase claw-pole stator SPM brushless machine becomes achievable. However, the inherent 3-D structure makes finite-element analysis very time-consuming. Thus, a lumped-parameter magnetic circuit model is developed and validated by 3-D finite element analysis in this paper to design three-phase 10-pole claw-pole stator surface-mounted PM brushless machine having soft magnetic composite made stator core. A prototype machine is built and tested in accordance with analytically optimized overall design parameters.
Progression of motor deficits in glioma-bearing mice: impact of CNF1 therapy at symptomatic stages

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive type of brain tumor. In this context, animal models represent excellent tools for the early detection and longitudinal mapping of neuronal dysfunction, that are critical in the preclinical validation of new therapeutic strategies. In a mouse glioma model, we developed sensitive behavioral readouts that allow early recognizing and following neurological symptoms. We injected GL261 cells into the primary motor cortex of syngenic mice and we used a battery of behavioral tests to longitudinally monitor the dysfunction induced by tumor growth. Grip strength test revealed an early onset of functional deficit associated to the glioma growth, with a significant forelimb weakness appearing 9 days after tumor inoculation. A later deficit was observed in the rotarod and in the grid walk tasks. Using this model, we found reduced tumor growth and maintenance of behavioral functions following treatment with Cytotoxic Necrotizing Factor 1 (CNF1) at a symptomatic stage. Our data provide a detailed and precise examination of how tumor growth reverberates on the behavioral functions of glioma-bearing mice, providing normative data for the study of therapeutic strategies for glioma treatment. The reduced tumor volume and robust functional sparing observed in CNF1-treated, glioma-bearing mice strengthen the notion that CNF1 delivery is a promising strategy for glioma therapy.
An Interface-Strip Domain Decomposition Preconditioner

In this paper we consider domain decomposition preconditioners based on a vertex-oriented (VO) decomposition of the computational domain. In element-oriented (EO) decompositions, each element of the grid belongs to a different domain, while in VO decompositions each vertex belongs to a different subdomain. Based on VO decompositions, we present some preconditioners for the solution of the original system, as well as for that of the Schur complement system. Theoretical properties are investigated for a finite element approximation of an elliptic problem. Numerical results and comparison with state-of-the-art preconditioners are also reported. The numerical results presented here show the effectiveness of the proposed preconditioners and their good scalability properties.
Why do some infants survive and others not? Determinants of infant mortality in the mewat region of Haryana State, India

Infants and children are the most vulnerable group for morbidity and mortality. Consequently, infant and child mortality has long been of interest to demographers. Unlike the causes of death for the elderly, a high proportion of the deaths of children under the age of five years in developing countries is believed to be preventable through fairly simple medical attention (Zheng, 1993). High infant and child mortality may present one of the greatest health problems in today's developing world, and research on the covariates of infant and child mortality, as well as mortality differentials in different socio-economic groups of a population, is particularly important for both social policy makers and health programme planners in developing countries.
Probably Approximately Correct (PAC) Exploration in Reinforcement Learning

Reinforcement Learning (RL) Markov Decision Processes is studied with an emphasis on the well-studied exploration problem. We first formulate and discuss a definition of “efficient” algorithms that is termed Probably Approximately Correct (PAC) in RL. Next we provide general sufficient conditions for such an algorithm that applies to several different modeling assumptions. The conditions can be used to demonstrate that efficient learning is possible in finite MDPs, with either a model-based or model-free approach, in factored MDPs, and in continuous MDPs with linear dynamics. In the reinforcement-learning (RL) problem (Sutton & Barto 1998), an agent acts in an unknown or incompletely known environment with the goal of maximizing an external reward signal. In the most standard mathematical formulation of the problem, the environment is modeled as a Markov Decision Process (MDP) and the goal of the agent is to obtain near-optimal discounted return. Over the years, many algorithms have been proposed for this problem, but analyses of their performances have been relatively scarce. In fact, until recently, most theoretical guarantees have been that certain algorithms will discover an optimal policy in the limit, after an infinite amount of experience. In contrast, several attempts have been made to study “Probably Approximately Correct” or PAC-MDP algorithms, which exhibit near-optimal behavior in polynomial time and experience. This paper discusses several extensions of those results. We present a theorem that provides sufficient conditions for an algorithm to be PAC-MDP. We examine these conditions and show how they can be applied to prove that efficient learning is possible in three interesting scenerios: finite MDPs (i.e. the “Tabular case”),
The Contribution of Painting to Children's Cognitive Development

This article explores the grounds for the belief generally held that there are benefits to be derived by children from art activity. It describes nine consequences or potential consequences of art activity which lead to qualitative changes in the child's ability to think and perceive. Through art children learn that the world itself can be regarded as a source of aesthetic experience and as a pool of expressive form. The author concludes that since some aspects of artistic thinking are inherent in the human condition whereas others are culturally determined , education in the arts is one vehicle through which culture is brought to nature. Through this wedding , children 's cognitive development will be enhanced. Although teachers of art have an abiding belief in the benefits art activity has for children, the grounds for holding this belief are often less than clear. What is it that art activities provide to children? Why do children make visual images? What is it that nature provides and what is it that culture provides in the course of a child's development in art? But perhaps more specifically, what is it that children learn when they paint, draw, or make three-dimensional images? Questions such as these serve as the focus of this paper. In it I shall describe nine consequences or potential consequences for children who are given the opportunity to work with teachers of art. All of these consequences represent an attempt to answer the question: What do children learn when they paint? Before trying to answer this question a word should be said about why the question itself is important. Most teachers of art operate on the belief that drawing, painting, sculpting and the like are good for children, but I believe few of us have formulated satisfying answers to the question of just why we consider it so good. Yet more and more people are asking for justifications for what we teach in the schools. Particularly as educational accountability