Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance improvement using data tags for handheld spatial augmented reality

Mobile devices such as some recent phones are now fitted with projection capabilities that support Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR) and require investigation to uncover new interaction possibilities. This paper presents a study measuring user performance in a search and select task using a tracked handheld projector and data tags, a 3D physical cue. This physical cue is used to mark the location of hidden SAR information. The experiment required participants to search for virtual symbols presented on two 5ft, multi-sided control panels. Two methods of presenting AR information were employed, SAR alone and SAR with the inclusion of physical cues to indicate the location of the information. The results showed that attaching data tags, compared to virtual content alone lowered the overall task completion time and reduced handheld projector movement. Subjectively, participants also preferred the combination of virtual data with data tags across both task variations
Modeling the volatility of BFCIUS and creating a financial conditions index

As the economy is still recovering from one of the greatest nancial downturns in the last decades, we have experienced that this period of recession is paired with nancial stress. This nancial stress might even be the reason that we have suered from events like the credit crunch, and thus should be prevented from happening as much as possible. Therefore, this research looks into two dierent aspects of nancial conditions. By forecasting several indi- cators of nancial stress, I make an eort to convert the nancial conditions into numerical values, resulting in a nancial conditions index. Moreover, the index from Bloomberg is ana- lyzed extensively in this research, in order to model the volatility of the nancial conditions. This paper shows, that by correct modeling, the volatility of the nancial conditions can be predicted.
Unsupervised path modeling across multiple cameras with disjoint views for foreground object tracking

We present an unsupervised path modeling method to track foreground objects across multiple cameras with disjoint views. To avoid the training process in most approaches, our method imposes the camera topology graph to identify possible paths of foreground objects in the camera network. Then, with the appearance and temporal information, dynamic programming is applied to search an optimal path of a target foreground object with a given length of the path. The experimental results show that the proposed method can successfully track target objects across multiple cameras with disjoint views compared to the state-of-the-art supervised methods.
Integrating MPI and nanothreads programming model

This paper presents a prototype runtime system that integrates MPI, used on distributed memory systems, and nanothreads programming model (NPM), a programming model for shared memory multiprocessors. This integration does not alter the independence of the two models, since the runtime system is based on a multilevel design that supports each of them individually but offers the capability of combining their advantages. Existing MPI codes can be executed without any changes, codes for shared memory machines can be used directly, while the concurrent use of both models is easy. Major feature of the runtime system is portability, as it is based exclusively on calls to MPI and Nthlib, a user-level threads library that has been ported to several operating systems. The runtime system supports the hybrid-programming model (MPI+OpenMP), providing also a solution for better load balancing in MPI applications. Moreover, it extends the AN and the multiprogramming functionality of the NPM on clusters of multiprocessors and can support an extension of the OpenMP standard on distributed memory multiprocessors.
Fuse: A Technique to Anticipate Failures due to Degradation in ALUs

This paper proposes the fuse, a technique to anticipate failures due to degradation in any ALU (arithmetic logic unit), and particularly in an adder. The fuse consists of a replica of the weakest transistor in the adder and the circuitry required to measure its degradation. By mimicking the behavior of the replicated transistor the fuse anticipates the failure short before the first failure in the adder appears, and hence, data corruption and program crashes can be avoided. Our results show that the fuse anticipates the failure in more than 99.9% of the cases after 96.6% of the lifetime, even for pessimistic random within-die variations.
Structure and function of Escherichia coli type 1 pili: new insight into the pathogenesis of urinary tract infections.

The initial step in the establishment of a mucosal bacterial infection is the interaction of bacterial adhesive proteins with epithelial cells, an event that is often followed by invasion of the epithelial cell. Invasion of host cells has been proposed to provide bacterial pathogens with a means of escaping the harsh extracellular environment, where antibodies, complement, defensins, and other antibacterial molecules are abundant. Bacterial invasion can also facilitate the spread of microbes across and within tissue barriers, allowing for the dissemination of the infection. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), the primary causative agent of urinary tract infections (UTIs), has been presumed to be a predominantly extracellular pathogen. This concept has been challenged by recent studies demonstrating the ability of UPEC to invade bladder epithelial cells [1‐3]. Two adhesive organelles associated with UPEC, the Dr adhesins and type 1 pili, have been linked to epithelial invasion by UPEC. This review will focus on the structure and assembly of type 1 pili and the mechanisms and consequences of type 1 pilus‐mediated invasion of bladder epithelial cells.
The gospel of global efficiency

It's raining reports about the state of the planet. The Gaia-Atlas and the Worldwatch Institute's State of the World are circulating in more than a dozen languages, the annual report of the World Resources Institute stands in easy reach of enlightened UN offi cials, and environmentalists across the world hail the report of the Brundtland-Commission as high-level testimony to their claims. I should show gratitude and relief. It is true, the curtain of silence is finally pulled away from the global survival crisis and a series of data and tables reveal the vast panorama of today's threats and perils. The evidence is indeed undebatable. Also the appeal for urgent responsible action has been long overdue and cannot but command consent. Con version is indeed indispensable. Yet my admiration for the reports is increasingly stained with mistrust in their effects. The proposed policies of resource management, I am afraid, ignore the option of intelligent self-limitation and reduce ecology to a higher form of efficiency. Such a reductionism, I claim, implicitly affirms the universal validity of the economic world-view and will eventually spread further the Westernisa tion of minds and habits, a cultural fall-out that in the long run also endangers the overall goal of sustainability. Each of the 80 odd Worldwatch papers, for example, paints a pic ture of the global state of affairs which looks roughly as follows. On the one hand we see how more and more people with increasing needs for food, shelter, health care or energy, are demanding to be recognised, as the population grows and some inequality is levelled. On the other hand we are shown how economies squander their potential to meet these demands as they deplete resources, ruin the environment and drive up costs. The available means are diminishing, while needs become more pressing: what looms large in the picture is a global sustainability squeeze. Fossil fuels, for instance, use up in one year what took a million
Using social media to challenge unwarranted clinical variation in the treatment of chronic noncancer pain: the “Brainman” story

There is a substantial clinical variation in the contemporary treatment of chronic noncancer pain reflecting different explanatory models and treatment emphasis. Hunter Integrated Pain Service and collaborators developed three key messaging videos outlining the foundations of chronic pain treatment, thus challenging unwarranted clinical variation and calling for greater therapeutic consistency. The videos were released on YouTube as a low-cost public health intervention. Each video used an evidenced informed script appropriate for low literacy and a cartoonist to provide matching images. The whole-person approach emphasized the role of the nervous system and active self-management approaches over passively received medical treatments. The first video was launched on YouTube in August 2011 and made freely available through a Creative Commons license. Multisource feedback led to refinement of key messages using a broader advisory group. Two further videos were launched on a dedicated YouTube channel in October 2014 and circulated through varied professional and consumer networks. All videos were widely viewed on YouTube, utilized by diverse health care organizations, and independently translated into multiple languages. They were embedded in multiple health-related websites. The first video “Understanding pain in less than 5 minutes” is known to have been translated into 15 languages by other health care organizations. The subsequent two videos (Brainman stops his opioids, and Brainman chooses) were translated into German and subtitled in French and Japanese. When the organization hosting the first video ceased operation in 2015 due to changes in primary health care funding, the video had received >700,000 views. Each of the three videos continues to receive ~1,500 views per month on YouTube. Release of evidence-informed key messages via YouTube is a simple method of challenging clinical variation and providing education about chronic pain across the health care system and community.
Should I Stop or Should I Go? The Role of Associations and Expectancies

Following exposure to consistent stimulus–stop mappings, response inhibition can become automatized with practice. What is learned is less clear, even though this has important theoretical and practical implications. A recent analysis indicates that stimuli can become associated with a stop signal or with a stop goal. Furthermore, expectancy may play an important role. Previous studies that have used stop or no-go signals to manipulate stimulus–stop learning cannot distinguish between stimulus-signal and stimulus-goal associations, and expectancy has not been measured properly. In the present study, participants performed a task that combined features of the go/no-go task and the stop-signal task in which the stop-signal rule changed at the beginning of each block. The go and stop signals were superimposed over 40 task-irrelevant images. Our results show that participants can learn direct associations between images and the stop goal without mediation via the stop signal. Exposure to the image-stop associations influenced task performance during training, and expectancies measured following task completion or measured within the task. But, despite this, we found an effect of stimulus–stop learning on test performance only when the task increased the task-relevance of the images. This could indicate that the influence of stimulus–stop learning on go performance is strongly influenced by attention to both task-relevant and task-irrelevant stimulus features. More generally, our findings suggest a strong interplay between automatic and controlled processes.
Alcohol use and alcohol-related problems before and after military combat deployment.

CONTEXT High rates of alcohol misuse after deployment have been reported among personnel returning from past conflicts, yet investigations of alcohol misuse after return from the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are lacking. OBJECTIVES To determine whether deployment with combat exposures was associated with new-onset or continued alcohol consumption, binge drinking, and alcohol-related problems. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Data were from Millennium Cohort Study participants who completed both a baseline (July 2001 to June 2003; n=77,047) and follow-up (June 2004 to February 2006; n=55,021) questionnaire (follow-up response rate = 71.4%). After we applied exclusion criteria, our analyses included 48,481 participants (active duty, n = 26,613; Reserve or National Guard, n = 21,868). Of these, 5510 deployed with combat exposures, 5661 deployed without combat exposures, and 37 310 did not deploy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES New-onset and continued heavy weekly drinking, binge drinking, and alcohol-related problems at follow-up. RESULTS Baseline prevalence of heavy weekly drinking, binge drinking, and alcohol-related problems among Reserve or National Guard personnel who deployed with combat exposures was 9.0%, 53.6%, and 15.2%, respectively; follow-up prevalence was 12.5%, 53.0%, and 11.9%, respectively; and new-onset rates were 8.8%, 25.6%, and 7.1%, respectively. Among active-duty personnel, new-onset rates were 6.0%, 26.6%, and 4.8%, respectively. Reserve and National Guard personnel who deployed and reported combat exposures were significantly more likely to experience new-onset heavy weekly drinking (odds ratio [OR], 1.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.36-1.96), binge drinking (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.24-1.71), and alcohol-related problems (OR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.33-2.01) compared with nondeployed personnel. The youngest members of the cohort were at highest risk for all alcohol-related outcomes. CONCLUSION Reserve and National Guard personnel and younger service members who deploy with reported combat exposures are at increased risk of new-onset heavy weekly drinking, binge drinking, and alcohol-related problems.
Systems Biology Analysis of Zymomonas mobilis ZM4 Ethanol Stress Responses

Background Zymomonas mobilis ZM4 is a capable ethanologenic bacterium with high ethanol productivity and ethanol tolerance. Previous studies indicated that several stress-related proteins and changes in the ZM4 membrane lipid composition may contribute to ethanol tolerance. However, the molecular mechanisms of its ethanol stress response have not been elucidated fully. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, ethanol stress responses were investigated using systems biology approaches. Medium supplementation with an initial 47 g/L (6% v/v) ethanol reduced Z. mobilis ZM4 glucose consumption, growth rate and ethanol productivity compared to that of untreated controls. A proteomic analysis of early exponential growth identified about one thousand proteins, or approximately 55% of the predicted ZM4 proteome. Proteins related to metabolism and stress response such as chaperones and key regulators were more abundant in the early ethanol stress condition. Transcriptomic studies indicated that the response of ZM4 to ethanol is dynamic, complex and involves many genes from all the different functional categories. Most down-regulated genes were related to translation and ribosome biogenesis, while the ethanol-upregulated genes were mostly related to cellular processes and metabolism. Transcriptomic data were used to update Z. mobilis ZM4 operon models. Furthermore, correlations among the transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolic data were examined. Among significantly expressed genes or proteins, we observe higher correlation coefficients when fold-change values are higher. Conclusions Our study has provided insights into the responses of Z. mobilis to ethanol stress through an integrated “omics” approach for the first time. This systems biology study elucidated key Z. mobilis ZM4 metabolites, genes and proteins that form the foundation of its distinctive physiology and its multifaceted response to ethanol stress.
Real-time classification of IDS alerts with data mining techniques

During the last decade, intrusion detection systems (IDSs) have become a widely used measure for security management. However, these systems often generate many false positives and irrelevant alerts. In this paper, we propose a data mining based real-time method for distinguishing important network IDS alerts from frequently occurring false positives and events of low importance. Unlike conventional data mining based approaches, our method is fully automated and able to adjust to environment changes without a human intervention.
Two‐Dimensional Crosslinked Nanoparticle Networks

height. Assuming a linear relationship between thickness and absorption, as well as assuming a direct relationship between absorption and emission, the fluorescence signal, measured by NSOM, is expected to increase by the same percentage. The increase in fluorescence between the tallest feature and the background signal of 13 kcps is 13 kcps. Although this is not the total emission from the sample, since we have less than unity collection efficiency and we have placed a beam splitter in the path of the collected signal , as shown in Figure 1, we can compare the fluorescence percentage increase with the thickness percentage increase. Our observed fluorescence difference, as recorded in the NSOM image, is 100 %. This compares well to the percentage increase in topography. In contrast to the spin-cast film, the drop-cast film in Figure 4C exhibits an increased fluorescence yield that is not correlated to topography. Although the shear force image indicates undulating surface topography throughout the film, regions of higher topography do not necessarily correspond to regions of increased fluorescence. Brighter regions in the shear force image are indicative of thicker regions in the irregular drop-cast film. For a sufficiently thin film, such as our 20 nm film, thicker regions would be expected to yield more fluorescence in a given area. In this case, the regions with the most fluorescence are not correlated with the highest regions in the topography image. As appears to be the case for the 10 mm Alq 3 film, variations in fluorescence may be due to local variations in the molecular packing of the Alq 3 molecules in film. In addition to the variation in fluorescence and topography, drop-cast films exhibited rms surface roughness of approximately 5 nm, the largest surface topography variation among the three deposition methods. We have examined a variety of Alq 3 films (vacuum-deposited, drop-cast, and spin-cast) with confocal, near-field and shear force microscopy. NSOM allows direct probing of 10±100 nm features in Alq 3 films unseen in previous experiments. We found the vacuum-deposited Alq 3 film to be the most homogeneous film, both in terms of topography and fluorescence. In contrast, the drop-cast film had both the most varied surface topography and fluores-cence, while the spin-cast film had large topographical features that directly correlated to increased local fluores-cence efficiency. Experimental Glass coverslips (Fisher) were used as sample substrates. The slides were rinsed in acetone and flamed before use. …
Cross-language Question Answering : The Key Role of Translation

The goal of a Question Answering (QA) system is to provide inexperienced users with a flexible access to the information allowing them for writing a query in natural language and obtaining a concise answer. Cross-language QA systems allow the user for querying in a language different than the language in which documents are written. In this paper, we illustrate a case study to understand how much the translation of the questions may reduce the accuracy of a QA system. The main goal is to investigate whether more machine translators could be used in order not to rely just on one translation and to choose the best one on a statistical basis.
The algorithmization of counterfactuals ( or , what if Oswald were a robot ? )

Recent advances in causal reasoning have given rise to a computation model that emulates the process by which humans generate, evaluate and distinguish counterfactual sentences. Though compatible with the “possible world” account, this model enjoys the advantages of representational economy, algorithmic simplicity and conceptual clarity. Using this model, the paper demonstrates the processing of counterfactual sentences on a classical example due to Ernst Adam. It then gives a panoramic view of several applications where counterfactual reasoning has benefited problem areas in the empirical sciences.
State Space Modelling of Dynamic Choice Behavior with Habit Persistence

In this dissertation, I present a new approach to capturing dependence across time in dynamic choice data. To achieve this, I develop a state space dynamic choice model and a novel algorithm to fit the data. Instead of capturing dependence in outcomes through lagged response variables, referred to as state dependence, I introduce a lagged utility term through the latent state equation. The lagged utility term captures habit persistence, which has not been explored directly in earlier models (Heckman, 1981b). The autoregressive nature of the lagged utility provides a significantly richer summary of prior utility than a lagged outcome variable. The fitting algorithm combines a non-linear particle filter with a standard Metropolis-Hastings step to compute Bayesian posterior estimates of the parameters. The model can capture habit persistence (inertia), variety seeking, serial correlation, and unobserved heterogeneity. Through simulation analysis, I demonstrate that while the proposed method is effective in estimating the parameters, both a large sample size and the number of simulated particles are critical. Misspecification in serial correlation in the random component of the utility function is shown to result in biased estimates for certain coefficients, although not the habit persistence term. This method avoids the initial conditions problem common with lagged variables (Wooldridge, 2010). From the perspective of a marketer, the value of the proposed model stems from its ability to distinguish the effects of habit, variety seeking,
Specific Effects of Anti-Hypertensive Treatment in an Older Patient with Dementia

Dementia is one of the most common health problems in the world. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. The presence of vascular risk factors such as hypertension (HT) may increase the risk of AD [1,2]. The relation between blood pressure (BP) and dementia has been the subject of numerous epidemiological studies, midlife HT is a risk factor for dementia and AD [3-7] but the association between HT and risk of dementia is lower in the older population [8]. A fair modulation of an antihypertensive treatment, based on the cognitive status of the elderly, can avoid multiple complications. A case of an older for whom cognitive improvement and reduced risk of falls were noticed after mild blood pressure elevation is reported.
Indonesian experience with financial sector reform

Since the early 1980s Indonesia has been engaged in serious efforts to reform the financial system, and thereby stimulate sounder economic growth. This paper discusses the nature of the specific reforms carried out in Indonesia, the environment in which they were undertaken and, most importantly, their effects on the real economy. It finds that a fairly standard, phased series of reforms led to large, sustained increases in financial savings, increases in real savings, new financial products and more cost effective banks. Credit allocation suffered, however, as state banks and new entrants made loans that became nonperforming. The unusual features of the reforms, opening the capital account before the financial sector, did not have adverse effects. Rather, the open capital account aided macroeconomic management by providing quick feed-back when domestic policies moved out of line and by limiting the inflationary consequences of excessive demand stimulus. Indonesia's experience highlights the need for macroeconomic management that recognizes the limitations imposed by fiscal and external constraints and responds quickly to those constraints.