Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implementation of a Collaborative Web Application for Annotating Gameplay Videos Based on Biometric Player Data

In this thesis, the focus of research is on the use of biosignals as metrics for the evaluation of video games. Over the last few years, an increasing number of studies in the field of games user research (GUR) have addressed the use of biometrics as a real-time measure to quantify aspects gameplay experience (e.g., emotional valence and arousal). However, only few studies explore possibilities to visualize biometrics in a way that yields meaningful and intuitively accessible insights for games user researchers. Against this background, it will be examined, (1) how psychophysiological signals and gameplay videos can be visually combined to facilitate the process of video game evaluation and (2) how existing web technologies can be extended to create a software application for games user researchers, that works online in a large, collaborative setting. In response to these research questions, prior work from the fields of GUR and player data visualization will be reviewed. Additionally, a web application was designed and implemented, allowing games user researchers to collaboratively annotate gameplay videos, based on the visualization of biosignal time series. In the prototype, biosignals are represented as time series graphs that may be interactively drilled down and filtered to extract interesting patterns. Using the example of electrodermal activity (i.e., the electric conductance level of the skin), it will be illustrated how time intervals, featuring high levels of emotional arousal, as well as the corresponding gameplay video segments, may be identified and annotated. The application’s functionality will be discussed in depth and implementation details will be given. Finally, the contribution of this work will be highlighted on the basis of multiple usage scenarios, including the evaluation of emotion-centered and fast-paced games and subtle effects of audiovisual ambience as well as the cooperation among geographically remote GUR teams.
Numerical Simulation of Groundwater Flow and Solute Transport in a Karst Aquifer with Conduits

Numerical simulation of groundwater flow and solute transport in a dual-permeabili‐ ty karst aquifer is a challenging issue, since groundwater flow in karst conduit network can become non-darcian even turbulent flow. The discrete-continuum model is a relatively new modeling method, which accounts for turbulent and laminar flow in karst aquifer. MODFLOW-CFP (Conduit Flow Process) is compared to the MODFLOW, a numerical code based on Darcy law, to evaluate the accuracy in a sub-regional scale karst aquifer. MODFLOW-CFP is more accurate than the MODFLOW when compar‐ ing the head simulation results with field measurements. After that, the CFPv2 and UMT3D numerical models are applied in the WKP to establish a sub-regional scale model to simulate chloride transport processes in the last four decades, and to predict contamination development. Numerical simulation results indicate sprayfields are the major chloride source in the study region. Conduit networks significantly control solute transport and contaminant distribution in the study region. Chloride transports through conduits rapidly and spread to several large contamination plumes in a short period. Chloride concentration started to increase in 1980s due to the operation of sparyfield. Solute transport simulation results by discrete-continuum models are more accurate because of the precise description of conduit network.
The shuttlewalk exercise test in idiopathic pulmonary

The shuttlewalk test (SWT) is a validated, incrementalwalking test for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but not for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The measurement of maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) is consideredtobethegold standardmeasurementof functionalcapacity.This studyexamines therelationshipbetween IPF patients’performance on the SWTand VO2 max.Twenty patientswere recruited for the study, which consisted of two separateexperiments.Firstly, therelationshipbetween SWTperformanceonaconventionalcorridor SWT,withthaton a programmable treadmill SWT designed to reproduce the corridor SWTwas examined (n=10). In the second experiment, therelationshipbetweenperformance onthetreadmillequivalent SWTand VO2maxmeasurementswas studied (n=10). Therewas a significantcorrelationbetweendistancewalkedonthe corridor SWT, and thatwalkedonthe treadmill equivalent SWTwithout VO2maxmeasurements (367m vs.410m) (r=0.91,P=0.0003). Therewas a significantcorrelation between distance walked on the treadmill equivalent SWT (277m), and the directly determined VO2 max (14.87ml/kg/min) (r=0.74,P=0.01). Duringbothexperiments, a significantcorrelationwas also observedbetweenbaseline PaO2 and SWT performance, and between DLCO and SWT performance.The shuttle walk test is a simple objective measure of functional capacity in IPF patients, which should facilitate the evaluation of new therapeutic compounds for IPF.r2003 Elsevier Science Ltd.Allrights reserved. doi:10.1053/rmed.2003. 1501, available online athttp://www.sciencedirect. com
Effect of N-Lauryl-N , N-Dimethylamine N-Oxide on Dimyristoyl Phosphatidylcholine Bilayer Thickness :

Small-angle neution scatteimg on large extruded unilamellar dimyris­ toyl phosphatidylcholine (DMPC) liposomes was used to determine the DMPC bilayer thickness di and its change in the presence of N-lauryl-N,N-dimethylamme N-oxide (LDAO) At 36°C, the values of dL are dL = 3 44 ± 0 10 nm and dL = 2 90 ± 0 10 nm in pure DMPC bilayers and in bilayers at DMPC LDAO = 2 1 molar íatio, respectively Using the specific volumes of DMPC and LDAO and sup­ posing that the molecular volumes and surface areas in the bilayer are additive, the surface areas of DMPC ( ^ D M P C ) and of LDAO (^LDAO) weie found to be at 36 °C ADMPC = 0 644 ± 0 018 nm and ^LDAO = 0 25 ± 0 05 nm
Rethinking governance and value in commodity chains through global recycling networks

The dominant political-economic approaches to global trade flows known as global value chains and global production networks offer powerful insights into the coordination and location of globally stretched supply chains, in particular from global South to North. By way of both conceptual and empirical challenge, this paper highlights flows of end-of-life goods from the global North towards the global South. This involves the disassembly and destruction of goods to recover secondary resources for further rounds of commodity production. Global recycling networks take things of rubbish value (often spent or ‘end-of-life’ goods) and turn them back into resources in other places and production networks. They operate not through adding value, but by connecting different regimes of value. The paper does not set out a new conceptual framework, but asks what challenges the rekindling of value in used goods creates for global commodity chain analysis and what insights those approaches bring to looking at ‘waste’ flows. The examples of used clothing and end-of-life merchant ships are mobilised to illustrate the dynamics of global recycling networks and to challenge prevailing commodity chain approaches in three key areas – supply logics and crosscutting networks, value and materiality, and inter-firm governance. We argue that resource recovery engenders highly complex and brokered forms of governance that relate to practices of valuing heterogeneous materials and which contrast markedly with the modes of co-ordination dominated by ‘big capital typical of global production networks for consumer goods.
Membrane mirror light modulator technology

We have incorporated membrane mirror technology over a discrete array of pixel wells to create both high-efficiency optical shutters and spatial light modulators (SLM). A continuous metalized-membrane mirror with greater than 98% reflectivity minimizes optical insertion loss. This mirror is electrostatically deformed into the wells with either a common electrode (shutter) or pixilated electrodes (SLM). By using a spatial filter, analog intensity optical modulation is realized. Both 1-D (linear) and 2-D grating pixel patterns have been investigated. With the appropriate pixel dimensions, both coherent monochromatic and broadband incoherent light within the 0.25 to 10.6 micron range can be modulated with contrast ratios up to 1000:1. Small well sizes (approximately 10-micron diameter) allow for modulation speeds up to 1 MHz. The theoretical foundations for the well layout, the membrane mirror deformation and its diffraction properties, and the design trade-offs are detailed. We have applied our membrane mirror technology to CMOS VLSI circuits creating a high-speed, high-efficiency spatial light modulator capable of 80 X 64 resolution and scalable to HDTV standards. The membrane mirror SLM provides either amplitude or phase modulation. In the phase modulation mode, at least two waves of stroke per discrete well are possible.
A Comprehensive Survey of Digital Image Processing Techniques from the Perspective of Embedded Computing Environment

In recent trend, image processing domain plays a vital part of real time applications in modern world. Such image processing technique helps to carry process on the digitized image to provide better solutions. Varieties techniques taken together forms the set of tools for image processing application, most of which are involved in enhancing the clarity of image, making the images noise free and compressing the original image to compressed data in order to reduce the storage space. Soft-computing techniques help the realization of image processing algorithms perform better optimization in producing desired output. Survey work presented through this paper brings out a brief overview various digital image processing techniques and their applications in varieties of domains in context of the real-time image processing applications using embedded systems environment involving dedicated and special purpose hardware are discussed. Keywords—Digital Image Processing(DIP), Image Registration (IR), Image Enhancement(IE), Image Restoration(IR), Image Compression(IC), Image Segmentation(IS), Image Recognizing(IRg), Image Smoothing(IS), Image Fusion(IF), Image Steganography(ISg), Soft-Computing Techniques (SCT), Embedded Platform(EP).
Low‐resolution phases: influence on SIR syntheses and retrieval with double‐step filtration

Different sources of error in single isomorphous replacement (SIR) maps are analysed. It is shown that SIR maps are good enough in themselves to localize a molecule but the absence of low-resolution reflections can distort the image of the molecule. Even in this case the molecule can be reliably localized using the double-step filtration technique of Urzhumtsev, Lunin & Luzyanina [Acta Cryst. (1989), A45, 34–39] if parameters are chosen appropriately. On the other hand, such syntheses may be considerably improved by addition of low-resolution structure factors. A very simple procedure is suggested to retrieve unknown phases for these structure factors.
Design and Optimization of Colon Targeted Microspheres of Prednisolone Sodium Phosphate using Quality by Design Approach

Article history The present study deals with the design and optimization of Prednisolone sodium phosphate (PSP) microspheres to target and activate the drug release at specific sites in colon. Combinations of pH dependent and microbially triggered polymers were employed to target the drug at the colonic region. PSP loaded guar gum microspheres were prepared using emulsion solvent evaporation technique and were further microencapsulated by an enteric polymer, HPMC acetate succinate. For the development of PSP microspheres, Quality by Design approach was implemented. Based on risk assessment of critical quality attributes (CQAs), the effect of independent parameters, surfactant concentration (Span 80) and Coat: Core ratio (HPMC AS MF: PSP-GG microspheres) on microsphere size, encapsulation efficiency, drug release after 2 and 5 hrs was optimized using 3 2 Factorial design. For the optimized formulation, microspheres size was ranging from 214-250 µm and encapsulation efficiency was 84-86 %. The in vitro drug release from the microspheres after 2 and 5 hrs was found to be less than 6.25% and 26.39% respectively. To confirm the role of native microbial flora as triggering mechanism for burst release of drug from Guar gum core microspheres, the in vitro dissolution studies were carried out using ceacal content of rats fed on Guar gum. The microspheres clearly indicated burst release due to enzymatic degradation of Guar gum. The scanning electron micrographs of microspheres revealed perfect spherical shape of microspheres as well as double encapsulation of drug. X-ray diffraction patterns of microspheres did not show any change in the amorphous state of the drug during process. The values of micromeritics properties indicated good flow properties of these microspheres. Conclusively, GG-HPMC AS MF microspheres were found to target PSP efficiently at distal part of small intestine and colon by using the combined approach of pH-dependent and microflora activated system. It was demonstrated that the use of Quality by Design (QbD) principles, provide an effective means to achieve a greater understanding of process and formulation parameters for microsphere preparation.
Internet of Things – Does Particle Photon rely too much on its own cloud solution ?

Internet of Things is rapidly growing and there are many devices and cloud solutions on the market. This thesis addresses the usage of Particle Photon alongside Microsoft Azure and intends to determine its suitability as an IoT solution. Particle Photon is bundled with Particle Cloud which is a comprehensive solution that makes IoT simple, swift and cheap – but how good is the device if the service ceases to exist? To determine this dependency and its overall IoT suitability, tests were performed to measure transmission limitations as well as reliability both with and without the included cloud service. In addition, the research method includes a Microsoft Azure implementation. The results show that Particle Photon and Microsoft Azure makes a great IoT solution, with or without its own cloud solution – even though most of the ease-of-use and benefits comes from the cloud service. Using Particle Cloud alongside Particle Photon and Microsoft Azure reduces transmission time and increases reliability compared to only using Particle Photon. Author
EVOLUTION OF SHOCKS AND TURBULENCE IN MAJOR CLUSTER MERGERS

We performed a set of cosmological simulations of major mergers in galaxy clusters, in order to study the evolution of merger shocks and the subsequent injection of turbulence in the post-shock region and in the intra-cluster medium (ICM). The computations have been performed with the grid-based, adaptive mesh refinement hydrodynamical code Enzo, using a refinement criterion especially designed for refining turbulent flows in the vicinity of shocks. When a major merger event occurs, a substantial amount of turbulence energy is injected in the ICM of the newly formed cluster. Our simulations show that the shock launched after a major merger develops an ellipsoidal shape and gets broken by the interaction with the filamentary cosmic web around the merging cluster. The size of the post-shock region along the direction of shock propagation is of the order of 300 kpc h−1, and the turbulent velocity dispersion in this region is larger than 100 km s-1. We performed a scaling analysis of the turbulence energy within our cluster sample. The best fit for the scaling of the turbulence energy with the cluster mass is consistent with M5/3, which is also the scaling law for the thermal energy in the self-similar cluster model. This clearly indicates the close relation between virialization and injection of turbulence in the cluster evolution. As for the turbulence in the cluster core, we found that within 2 Gyr after the major merger (the timescale for the shock propagation in the ICM), the ratio of the turbulent to total pressure is larger than 10%, and after about 4 Gyr it is still larger than 5%, a typical value for nearly relaxed clusters. Turbulence at the cluster center is thus sustained for several gigayears, which is substantially longer than typically assumed in the turbulent re-acceleration models, invoked to explain the statistics of observed radio halos. Striking similarities in the morphology and other physical parameters between our simulations and the “symmetrical radio relics” found at the periphery of the merging cluster A3376 are finally discussed. In particular, the interaction between the merger shock and the filaments surrounding the cluster could explain the presence of “notch-like” features at the edges of the double relics.
Ebola-associated genes in the human genome: implications for novel targets

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a major healthcare challenge facing the globe today and if left unchecked could become a pandemic. A limited knowledgebase exists about the Ebola virus with no U.S. Federal Drug Agency (FDA) approved drugs. Ebolaspecific proteins, antibodies and vaccines are being explored currently for therapy. In an attempt to first develop an understanding of the human proteins involved in the EVD and potentially create a pipeline of targets for evaluation, the human genome was mined for EVD association using 1) genetic association, 2) disease-oriented knowledge database text mining, 3) transcriptome-based Meta Analysis and 4) pathway enrichment analysis. Forty-five human proteins (29 known proteins and 16 novel previously uncharacterized proteins) were identified which were associated with EVD. Mining the proteomic expression databases revealed the detection of these 45 proteins in diverse body fluids. Detailed bioinformatics and proteomic analyses of these EVD associated proteins shed light on pathways, nature and class of the proteins and their association with diverse diseases including other infectious diseases. Mining the drug banks for association with the 45 genes reveals putative drugs including antineoplastics, anti-inflammatory drugs, leukotrienes, interferons, anticoagulants, nucleoside analogues, retinoic acid and statins to add to the currently meager options for therapy and supportive care. Putative targets of interest include a chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 8 (CCL8), enzymes (indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1|IDO1, cytochrome c oxidase| COA6) and Short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase, SDR) and members of the receptor family, killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor, cytoplasmic tail (KIR). Using knockout technology, the 45 proteins identified in this study can be rapidly verified for therapeutic potential. The association of these proteins with other diseases potentially expands the scope to diverse use. The results presented in this study provide a further example of harnessing the human genome to identify disease relevant proteins for subsequent research and development.
Concealable Stigma and Occupational Segregation: Toward a Theory of Gay and Lesbian Occupations

Numerous scholars have noted the disproportionately high number of gay and lesbian workers in certain occupations, but systematic explanations for this type of occupational segregation remain elusive. Drawing on the literatures on concealable stigma and stigma management, we develop a theoretical frame-work predicting that gay men and lesbians will concentrate in occupations that provide a high degree of task independence or require a high level of social perceptiveness, or both. Using several distinct measures of sexual orientation, and controlling for potential confounds, such as education, urban location, and regional and demographic differences, we find support for these predictions across two nationally representative surveys in the United States for the period 2008-2010. Gay men are more likely to be in female-majority occupations than are heterosexual men, and lesbians are more represented in male-majority occupations than are heterosexual women, but even after accounting for this tendency, common to both gay men and lesbians is a propensity to concentrate in occupations that provide task independence or require social perceptiveness, or both. This study offers a theory of occupational segregation on the basis of minority sexual orientation and holds implications for the literatures on stigma, occupations, and labor markets.
Diversity in fragments of artificial and natural marine habitats

In fragmented landscapes the matrix, i.e. the surrounding but different habitat, can have a strong influence on the biodiversity in fragments. The amount of natural habitat converted for urban use is increasing on every continent, so fragments of natural habitat are becoming more likely to be embedded in a matrix of human-made habitat, rather than other natural habitats. This is partic- ularly prevalent on urbanised coastlines. Yet there has been little research to help us understand the dynamics and consequences of fragmented coastal landscapes. In Sydney, Australia, most of the nat- ural intertidal landscape of Sydney Harbour (a mosaic of rocky shore, mudflats and sandflats) has been replaced by artificial habitat (such as seawalls). I tested the hypothesis that biota on rocky shores in Sydney Harbour would differ depending on whether shores were embedded in a matrix of artificial habitat (here called 'complete fragments'), natural habitat (here called 'natural patches'), or a mixture of the 2 types of matrix (called mixed fragments). Assemblages at mid-shore levels were significantly different among these types of fragments. At mid- and low-shore levels, assemblages were more variable in mixed fragments than in complete fragments and natural patches. The kinds of mobile and sessile taxa that contributed most to differences among fragments differed, depending on which types of fragments were compared. Many taxa were found in greater abundance in natural patches than in mixed or complete fragments, although not all comparisons were statistically signifi- cant. Artificial habitat seems to interrupt natural connectivity among local populations of intertidal marine organisms in this urbanised estuary.
sign of steel beam-columns New proposals for the de in case of fire , including a new approach for the lateral – torsional buckling

The possibility of having, in parts 1-1 and 1-2 of Eurocode 3, the same approach for the design of beam-columns and for lateral–torsional buckling, was investigated by the authors in previous papers using a numerical approach, where it was concluded that those assumptions could be made. In the present paper, a new approach for lateral–torsional buckling has been used with the formulae for the design of beam-columns at elevated temperature based on prEN 1993-1-1 combined with the formulae from prEN 1993-1-2. In both cases the results obtained are much better than the current design expressions, when compared with those obtained in the numerical calculations.
Determination of low citric acid concentrations in a mixture of weak acid/bases

A titration approach was developed to measure low concentrations of citric acid (C 6 H 8 O 7 ) in a mixture of other weak acid/ bases. Two methods were tested. The first and more practical method (a 4-point titration procedure) is applicable in conditions where volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are not normally present. The second method (a 5-point titration procedure) was developed for anaerobic environments where VFAs may be encountered. Generally, fairly accurate and repetitive results (precision >95%) were obtained for both situations although stability and accuracy were better in the absence of VFA. Both methods can be used for routine monitoring of biological reactors where citric acid is added as a carbon source and electron donor. Mg 2+ and Ca 2+ form complexes with citric acid and thus inhibit the use of the method. To overcome this, a sodium-saturated cationic ion exchanger was used to exchange these cations with Na + . Following cation exchange, citric acid concentration was determined accurately using the method.