Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A study of presence and recognition on impacting the elder consumer behavior in 3 D virtual stores

Online shopping has become quite popular since its first arrival on the internet. Along with elderly society’s coming, many older adults (i.e., the “silver tsunami” generation) have problems performing daily tasks because of restricted mobility, lack of transportation, inconvenience, and fear of crime (Czaja & Lee, 2003). Computers with an internet connection used at home can provide this population a new channel to access to information and services, and can also be used to manage internet shopping tasks. However, the traditional web shops introduce commodities only by two dimension (2D) pictures and descriptive catalogue, which fall short in terms of reality and the interaction with goods. This kind design with poor reality and interaction will influence customers’ real shopping experiences; and what is more, they minimize customers’ desire to shop. Therefore, the elderly may find the barriers so great to prevent effective communication and shopping taking place (Johnson & Kent, 2007). Nowadays, such problems can be solved utilizing the technology of virtual environments (VEs). One of the primary advantages of VEs technology applied in web shops is its ability to provide a three dimension (3D) perspective to customers for more real sense on goods and shopping environment. When the elderly is growing rapidly worldwide (Jones & Fox, 2009), for this population, the combination of VEs and internet would introduce a new mode in online shopping. However, previous studies on cognitive aging have found that certain aspects of human informationprocessing abilities are negatively correlated with age. Specifically, there are four basic mechanisms accounting for age-related decline in cognitive functions, including processing speed, working memory, sensory function and inhibition. Additionally, as the technology, hardware and software, improves, real applications become more feasible gaps in our knowledge about them become even more apparent. One need for better knowledge concerns the notion of recognition and presence. The recognition, in terms of perception, means that what we are seeing now puts us in mind of something we already know or are familiar with. The presence is a desirable outcome of VEs participation, the existence of user predictable interactivity, degree of realism of the VEs and quality of fidelity of sensory input. The emotion is a subjective feeling state within the individual such as pleasure, joy and excitement, and will be simulated by traditional retail store design (Dennis, 2005). Recognition and presence belong to perception level, emotion belongs to cognition level. Good recognition and presence will stimulate positive emotion. Furthermore, the atmospherics and control mode are important factors for designing 3D virtual store. What types of atmospherics and control mode would induce better recognition and presence? Therefore, this study will discuss the effects of perception and emotion on atmospherics and control mode designed in 3D virtual store for improving usability and acceptability in the elderly.
Conformal symmetries of the Einstein–Hilbert action on horizons of stationary and axisymmetric black holes

We suggest a way to study possible conformal symmetries on black hole horizons. We do this by carrying out a Kaluza–Klein-like reduction of the Einstein–Hilbert action along the ignorable coordinates of stationary and axisymmetric black holes. Rigid diffeomorphism invariance of the m-ignorable coordinates then becomes a global SL(m, R) gauge symmetry of the reduced action. Related to each non-vanishing angular velocity, there is a particular SL(2, R) subgroup, which can be extended to the Witt algebra on the black hole horizons. The classical Einstein–Hilbert action thus has k-copies of infinite-dimensional conformal symmetries on a given black hole horizon, with k being the number of non-vanishing angular velocities of the black hole.
Differential Regulation of Drosophila Tyrosine Hydroxylase Isoforms by Dopamine Binding and cAMP-dependent Phosphorylation*

Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) catalyzes the first step in dopamine biosynthesis in Drosophila as in vertebrates. We have previously reported that tissue-specific alternative splicing of the TH primary transcript generates two distinct TH isoforms in Drosophila, DTH I and DTH II (Birman, S., Morgan, B., Anzivino, M., and Hirsh, J. (1994)J. Biol. Chem. 269, 26559–26567). Expression of DTH I is restricted to the central nervous system, whereas DTH II is expressed in non-nervous tissues like the epidermis. The two enzymes present a single structural difference; DTH II specifically contains a very acidic segment of 71 amino acids inserted in the regulatory domain. We show here that the enzymatic and regulatory properties of vertebrate TH are generally conserved in insect TH and that the isoform DTH II presents unique characteristics. The two DTH isoforms were expressed as apoenzymes in Escherichia coli and purified by fast protein liquid chromatography. The recombinant DTH isoforms are enzymatically active in the presence of ferrous iron and a tetrahydropteridine co-substrate. However, the two enzymes differ in many of their properties. DTH II has a lower K m value for the co-substrate (6R)-tetrahydrobiopterin and requires a lower level of ferrous ion than DTH I to be activated. The two isoforms also have a different pH profile. As for mammalian TH, enzymatic activity of the Drosophila enzymes is decreased by dopamine binding, and this effect is dependent on ferrous iron levels. However, DTH II appears comparatively less sensitive than DTH I to dopamine inhibition. The central nervous system isoform DTH I is activated through phosphorylation by cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) in the absence of dopamine. In contrast, activation of DTH II by PKA is only manifest in the presence of dopamine. Site-directed mutagenesis of Ser32, a serine residue occurring in a PKA site conserved in all known TH proteins, abolishes phosphorylation of both isoforms and activation by PKA. We propose that tissue-specific alternative splicing of TH has a functional role for differential regulation of dopamine biosynthesis in the nervous and non-nervous tissues of insects.
MicroRNA miR‐133b is essential for functional recovery after spinal cord injury in adult zebrafish

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles during development and also in adult organisms by regulating the expression of multiple target genes. Here, we studied the function of miR‐133b during zebrafish spinal cord regeneration and show upregulation of miR‐133b expression in regenerating neurons of the brainstem after transection of the spinal cord. miR‐133b has been shown to promote tissue regeneration in other tissue, but its ability to do so in the nervous system has yet to be tested. Inhibition of miR‐133b expression by antisense morpholino (MO) application resulted in impaired locomotor recovery and reduced regeneration of axons from neurons in the nucleus of the medial longitudinal fascicle, superior reticular formation and intermediate reticular formation. miR‐133b targets the small GTPase RhoA, which is an inhibitor of axonal growth, as well as other neurite outgrowth‐related molecules. Our results indicate that miR‐133b is an important determinant in spinal cord regeneration of adult zebrafish through reduction in RhoA protein levels by direct interaction with its mRNA. While RhoA has been studied as a therapeutic target in spinal cord injury, this is the first demonstration of endogenous regulation of RhoA by a microRNA that is required for spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish. The ability of miR‐133b to suppress molecules that inhibit axon regrowth may underlie the capacity for adult zebrafish to recover locomotor function after spinal cord injury.
Competence-Conscious Associative Rank Aggregation

The ultimate goal of ranking methods is to achieve the best possible ranking performance for the problem at hand. Recently, a body of empirical evidence has emerged suggesting that methods that learn to rank offer substantial improvements in enough situations to be regarded as a relevant advance for applications that depend on ranking. Previous studies have shown that different (learning to rank) methods may produce conflicting ranked lists. Rank aggregation is based on the idea that combining such lists may provide complementary information that can be used to improve ranking performance. In this paper we investigate learning to rank methods that uncover, from the training data, associations between document features and relevance levels in order to estimate the relevance of documents with regard to a given query. There is a variety of statistic measures or metrics that provide a different interpretation for an association. Interestingly, we observed that each association metric has a specific domain for which it is most competent (that is, there is a specific set of documents for which a specific metric consistently produces better ranked lists). We employ a second-stage meta-learning approach, which describes the domain of competence of each metric, enabling a more sensible aggregation of the ranked lists produced by different metrics. We call this new aggregation paradigm competence-conscious associative rank aggregation. We conducted a systematic evaluation of competence-conscious aggregation methods using the LETOR 3.0 benchmark collections. We demonstrate that the proposed aggregation methods outperform the constituent learning to rank methods not only when they are considered in isolation, but also when they are combined using existing aggregation approaches.
Compiling Parallel Functional Code with Data Parallel Idealised Algol

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and other parallel devices are widely available and have the potential for accelerating a wide class of algorithms. However, expert programming skills are required to achieve maximum performance. ese devices expose low-level hardware details through imperative programming interfaces which inevitably results in non-performanceportable programs highly tuned for a specic device. Functional programming models have recently seen a renaissance in the systems community as they oer a solution to tackle the performance portability challenge. Recent work has shown that a functional representation can be eectively used to automatically derive and encode low-level hardware-specic parallelism strategies resulting in high performance across a range of target architectures. However, the translation of the functional representation to the actual imperative program expected by the hardware interface is typically ad hoc with no correctness guarantees. In this paper, we present a formalised strategy-preserving translation from high level functional code to low level data race free parallel imperative code. is translation is formulated and proved correct within a language we call Data Parallel Idealised Algol (DPIA), a dialect of Reynolds’ Idealised Algol. Performance results on GPUs and a multicore CPU show that the formalised translation process leads to performance on a par with ad hoc approaches.
Potentiometric determination of Minoxidil in topical use pharmaceutical samples

A potentiometric titration method for the determination of minoxidil based on its re- dox reaction with K2Cr2O7 is described. The best results were observed using 1.00 x 10-3 mol L-1 K2Cr2O7 and 1.00 x 10-2 mol L-1 minoxidil solutions, and the minoxidil as titrant in 2.00 mol L-1 H2SO4 medium. The method was applied to commercial samples and compared with the results from a chromatographic procedure. Recoveries from 97.4 to 98.7 % were observed depending on the sample. Comparison with the chromatographic procedure reveled agreement within 90% confidence level.
An Empirical Analysis of The Lilith Instruction Set

A static analysis of the instructions used to implement all of the system software on the Lilith computer is described. The results are compared to those of a similar analysis performed on the Mesa instruction set architecture. The data provide a good illustration of how code generation strategies and language usage can affect opcode statistics, even for machines with similar architectures. >
Timing uncertainty measurements on the Power5 microprocessor

On-chip timing measurement (Skitter) circuits are included on the Power5 microprocessor. By cross-coupling the 3 Skitter instances, the combined effect of jitter, skew, and supply noise can be measured for all cycles of a pattern or an application. System results show a maximum of 27ps timing impact on a 500ps path.
Health‐related quality of life following bilateral intrastriatal transplantation in Parkinson's disease

Intrastriatal transplantation of embryonic dopaminergic tissue is a new, experimental approach for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). Clinical trials have shown long‐term graft survival and therapeutically valuable improvements with decreased l‐dopa dose and time spent in the “off”‐phase, and reduced rigidity and hypokinesia. We have measured health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) using the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) in five patients subjected to bilateral transplantation in the caudate and putamen to explore the influence of intrastriatal grafts on HRQoL and the value of such measures in trials of restorative therapies. The results demonstrate improved HRQoL following transplantation, with individual patients showing striking improvements within different dimensions of the NHP as well as the NHP distress index (NHPD). The most pronounced improvements after grafting were observed for physical mobility along with emotional reactions and energy. These results indicate that intrastriatal transplantation of embryonic dopaminergic tissue can give rise to improvements within most areas of HRQoL, and that HRQoL measurements provide important information additional to that obtained by traditional, symptom‐oriented assessment protocols. However, the optimal approach to HRQoL measurement in PD remains to be determined.
Cross-Cloud MapReduce for Big Data

MapReduce plays a critical role as a leading framework for big data analytics. In this paper, we consider a geo-distributed cloud architecture that provides MapReduce services based on the big data collected from end users all over the world. Existing work handles MapReduce jobs by a traditional computation-centric approach that all input data distributed in multiple clouds are aggregated to a virtual cluster that resides in a single cloud. Its poor efficiency and high cost for big data support motivate us to propose a novel data-centric architecture with three key techniques, namely, cross-cloud virtual cluster, data-centric job placement, and network coding based traffic routing. Our design leads to an optimization framework with the objective of minimizing both computation and transmission cost for running a set of MapReduce jobs in geo-distributed clouds. We further design a parallel algorithm by decomposing the original large-scale problem into several distributively solvable subproblems that are coordinated by a high-level master problem. Finally, we conduct real-world experiments and extensive simulations to show that our proposal significantly outperforms the existing works.
Comprehensive Fitness Control in Young Soccer Players - Comparison of Laboratory and Field Testing Indicators

Young athletes require a specialized approach to training process, taking into consideration a broad range of physiological and training aspects. The study is focused on the evaluation of fitness level of young soccer players and the search for interrelations between parameters of laboratory and field tests with the physiologic measurements during match play. The proposed paper provides coaches, sports scientists and physicians with important information on effective training control based on accessible and reliable tests. Twenty six healthy male soccer players born in 2004 currently aged 12-13 were recruited for the study. Data obtained from laboratory testing (cycling stress-test with gas-exchange measurements, Wingate cycling test, and blood lactate measurements), maximal interval running field test and soccer game analysis with heart rate monitoring were analysed. Firstly, Wingate cycle test parameters in young soccer players aged 12-13 were described in details. Furthermore, significant interrelations between indicators of physical state, obtained from the various types of tests were revealed. The most important finding was close correlations between measured indicators during the game with results of laboratory and field tests. Based on mentioned above, laboratory and field tests can be widely used in training control of young soccer players.
Central nervous system metastases in patients with ovarian carcinoma. A report of 23 cases and a literature review.

BACKGROUND Central nervous system (CNS) involvement by ovarian carcinoma is rare. PATIENTS AND METHODS From September 1982 to September 1994, 23 patients with CNS metastases from ovarian carcinoma were observed in our institution. RESULTS Their median age at the time of CNS metastasis diagnosis was 59 years, and the median interval between diagnosis of ovarian cancer and documentation of the metastasis was 35 months. The most common symptoms related to CNS involvement were motor weakness, headache, seizures, dizziness and visual disturbances. One patient had meningeal carcinomatosis; 22 had parenchymal lesions (18 cerebral and 4 cerebellar). Nine patients had a single CNS lesion, and 13 had multiple metastatic sites. CNS was the only site of disease in 9 patients, while 8 had concomitant extraperitoneal dissemination. The median survival (MS) from diagnosis of cerebral metastases for the entire series was five months. Four patients were not treated (MS 3 months); 14 received radiotherapy (MS 5.5 months), and five underwent surgical resection of solitary metastases followed by radiotherapy (MS 17 months). Number of CNS lesions, extent of the disease at the time of CNS metastasis and treatment were the only factors which significantly affected survival CONCLUSIONS The prognosis of patients with CNS metastasis from ovarian carcinoma appears poor. However, early diagnosis followed by multimodal treatment may result in significant palliation and improve overall survival in a selected group of patients.
Molecular Pathogenesis of Hodgkin Lymphoma

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a distinctive lymphoma subtype that accounts for approximately 30% of all lymphomas in the Western world and approximately 5% in Japan. HL is characterized by the giant multinucleated tumor cells called Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg (H/RS) cells, but the cellular origin had long been unknown. Recent investigations have clarified that H/RS cells have a clonally rearranged immunoglobulin gene in most cases, but it still seems appropriate to differentiate HL from other B-cell neoplasms, because the transforming event rather than its cellular origin is more likely to influence the nature of H/RS cells. Many questions remain to be answered for comprehensive understanding of the pathogenesis of HL. The presence of H/RS cells alone is probably not enough for disease onset, but the immune reaction against these cells appears to be inevitable for generation of HL. Most HL patients are cured with current treatment strategies, but some of them have refractory or recurrent disease, and intensified treatment occasionally induces therapy-related secondary malignancies. Because the growth and survival of H/RS cells are supported by various external stimuli and constitutive intracellular signals, management of HL is expected to be one of the best applications of molecule-targeted therapy.
Electrical impedance measurement for assessment of the pork aging: A preliminary study

This work develops a simple technique to evaluate the sirloin pork quality based on its electrical impedance. The measurement of tissue electrical properties can reveal the quality of meat because tissue has certain electrical characteristics such as impedance and conductivity, which change according to post-mortem time. The preliminary results show that the impedance of pork is reduced by time and increased by measurement frequency. Especially, when pork is washed by potassium nitrate, the impedance is much lower than the impedance of the unwashed fresh one.
Shared Congestion Detection : A Comparative Study

Most Internet-tomography problems such as shared congestion detection depend on network measurements. Usually, such measurements are carried out in multiple locations inside the network and relied on local clocks. These clocks usually skewed with time making these measurements unsynchronized and thereby degrading the performance of most techniques. Recently, shared congestion detection has become an important issue in many computer networked applications such as multimedia streaming and peer-to-peer file sharing. One of the most powerful techniques that employed in literature is based on Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) with cross-correlation operation to determine the state of the congestion. Wavelet transform is used as a de-noising tool to reduce the effects of both clock skew and queuing delay fluctuations on the decision of congestion type. Since, classical Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) is not shift-invariant transform which is a very useful property particularly in signal de-noising problems. Therefore, another transform called Stationary Wavelet Transform (SWT) that possesses shiftinvariant property is suggested and used instead of DWT. The modified technique exhibits a better performance in terms of the time required to correctly detect the state of congestion especially with the existence of clock skew problem. The suggested technique is tested using simulations under different environments.
Dihydrolipoamide Dehydrogenases of Advenella mimigardefordensis and Ralstonia eutropha Catalyze Cleavage of 3,3′-Dithiodipropionic Acid into 3-Mercaptopropionic Acid

ABSTRACT The catabolism of the disulfide 3,3′-dithiodipropionic acid (DTDP) is initiated by the reduction of its disulfide bond. Three independent Tn5::mob-induced mutants of Advenella mimigardefordensis strain DPN7T were isolated that had lost the ability to utilize DTDP as the sole source of carbon and energy and that harbored the transposon insertions in three different sites of the same dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase gene encoding the E3 subunit of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multi-enzyme complex of this bacterium (LpdAAm). LpdAAm was analyzed in silico and compared to homologous proteins, thereby revealing high similarities to the orthologue in Ralstonia eutropha H16 (PdhLRe). Both bacteria are able to cleave DTDP into two molecules of 3-mercaptopropionic acid (3MP). A. mimigardefordensis DPN7T converted 3MP to 3-sulfinopropionic acid, whereas R. eutropha H16 showed no growth with DTDP as the sole carbon source but was instead capable of synthesizing heteropolythioesters using the resulting cleavage product 3MP. Subsequently, the genes lpdAAm and pdhLRe were cloned, heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli applying the pET23a expression system, purified, and assayed by monitoring the oxidation of NADH. The physiological substrate lipoamide was reduced to dihydrolipoamide with specific activities of 1,833 mkat/kg of protein (LpdAAm) or 1,667 mkat/kg of protein (PdhLRe). Reduction of DTDP was also unequivocally detected with the purified enzymes, although the specific enzyme activities were much lower: 0.7 and 0.5 mkat/kg protein, respectively.
A Graph-Based Implementation of the Anti-aliased Euclidean Distance Transform

With this paper, we present an algorithm for the anti-aliased Euclidean distance transform, based on wave front propagation, that can easily be extended to images of arbitrary dimensionality and sampling lattices. We investigate the behavior and weaknesses of the algorithm, applied to synthetic two-dimensional area-sampled images, and suggest an enhancement to the original method, with complexity proportional to the number of edge elements, that may reduce the amount and relative magnitude of the errors in the transformed image by as much as a factor of 10.