Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Paradigm and Software Engineering

The word paradigm is used, defined and re-defined in many disciplines (including software engineering) to the degree that its meaning has become overloaded and hence vague. In this paper, we look at its various meanings and offer a working definition for use in software engineering. We also offer an explanation of the role of paradigm in software engineering, claiming that the choice of modeling/design paradigm has profound effects on the quality of both the software process and its product. We propose that paradigms be reified into artifacts and consciously used to improve software development, and recommend that more emphasis be put towards understanding their nature in
VLSI implementation of Gm-C filter using modified Nauta OTA with double CMOS pair

In the literature, a modified Nauta's OTA has been proposed for achieving higher PSRR and CMRR. In this paper, a modified Nauta's OTA with double CMOS pair is proposed and is used for implementing a programmable Gm-C filter. The double CMOS pair enables the transconductance to be varied by varying the bias voltages at high impedance nodes. This in turn results in programmability of the filter (F-tuning). For the purpose of comparison, the proposed OTA and Nauta's OTA reported in the literature are implemented in UMC-0. 18µm CMOS process and studied through simulation. The proposed OTA results in 11 dB increase in the PSRR and 21 dB increase in the CMRR compared to the Nauta's OTA. The tunable second order Gm-C band pass filter using the proposed OTA is implemented and studied. Simulation of filter is done with BSIM3V3 parameters under (±0.9V) supply voltage and (±1.4V) supply voltage for biasing of double CMOS pair. It is verified from the post-layout simulation that the filter can be tuned over the range (10MHz–300MHz).
Hierarchical clustering using transitive closure and semi-supervised classification based on fuzzy rough approximation

This paper studies a hierarchical rough classification alias fuzzy rough classification as a family of upper approximations. A hierarchical rough classification is related to the single linkage clustering by using the max-min transitive closure of a symmetric relation. Moreover, the approximations naturally are related to semi-supervised classifications. As an extension, a hierarchical rough classification that is symmetric and transitive, but not necessarily reflexive is considered, which is related to another method of clustering. Although this paper is theoretical, an illustrative example is given to observe a relation between hierarchical classification and semi-supervised clustering.
Book review: Re-Engaging Young People in Education – Learning from Alternative Schools

There has recently been some greater interest in various alternatives to the widespread standardisation of schooling and the neoliberal values set. Studies include, for example, Philip Woods and Glenys Woods’ (2009) Alternative Education for the 21st Century and, more recently, Peter Kraftl’s (2015) Geographies of Alternative Education, which uses spatial categories to examine various genres such as forest schools, farms and Steiner and Montessori schools. However, Martin Mills and Glenda McGregor’s book makes a unique contribution to the literature through its rich description and thoughtful evaluation of learning spaces for young people who have either emotionally resisted the normal regimentation, or who have complex lives which regular schools have failed to accommodate. These are, in effect, two rather different situations, and the settings are also divided between England and Australia, so it is fascinating to see the authors develop a coherent explanation out of these diverse case studies. The result is not only a real insight into the educational relationship and participation within these various schools, but, equally illuminating, a stronger understanding of the mainstream. The mainstream pattern, of course, is a peculiar modulation of traditional authoritarian modes of education to fit neoliberal priorities. The authors draw on Lingard’s (2011) argument that ‘Numbers, categories, data, statistics are central to this technology’; and that the technocratic business model is likely to conflict with the ‘emotional labour’ of teaching, leading to ‘a struggle over the teacher’s soul’ (Ball, 2003) as well as diminishing students’ joy of learning:
Defending a Computer System using Autonomous

This report presents a prototype architecture of a defense mechanism for computer systems. The intrusion detection problem is introduced and some of the key aspects of any solution are explained. Standard intrusion detection systems are built as a single monolithic module. A ner-grained approach is proposed, where small, independent agents monitor the system. These agents are taught how to recognise intrusive behaviour. The learning mechanism in the agents is built using Genetic Programming. This is explained, and some sample agents are described. The exibility, scalability and resilience of the agent approach are discussed. Future issues are also outlined.
PACER: toward a cameraphone-based paper interface for fine-grained and flexible interaction with documents

Existing cameraphone-based interactive paper systems fall short of the flexibility of GUIs, partly due to their deficient fine-grained interactions, limited interaction styles and inadequate targeted document types. We present PACER, a platform for applications to interact with document details (e.g. individual words, East Asian characters, math symbols, music notes, and user-specified arbitrary image regions) of generic paper documents through a camera phone. With a see-through phone interface, a user can discover symbol recurrences in a document by pointing the phone's crosshair to a symbol within a printout. The user can also continuously move the phone over a printout for gestures to copy and email an arbitrary region, or play music notes on the printout.
Feature Selection: An Ever Evolving Frontier in Data Mining

The rapid advance of computer technologies in data processing, collection, and storage has provided unparalleled opportunities to expand capabilities in production, services, communications, and research. However, immense quantities of high-dimensional data renew the challenges to the state-of-the-art data mining techniques. Feature selection is an eective technique for dimension reduction and an essential step in successful data mining applications. It is a research area of great practical signicance and has been developed and evolved to answer the challenges due to data of increasingly high dimensionality. Its direct benets include: building simpler and more comprehensible models, improving data mining performance, and helping prepare, clean, and understand data. We rst briey introduce the key components of feature selection, and review its developments with the growth of data mining. We then overview FSDM and the papers of FSDM10, which showcases of a vibrant research eld of some contemporary interests, new applications, and ongoing research eorts. We then examine nascent demands in data-intensive applications and identify some potential lines of research that require multidisciplinary eorts.
Astrocytes and neurosteroids: metabolism of pregnenolone and dehydroepiandrosterone. Regulation by cell density

The rat central nervous system (CNS) has previously been shown to synthesize pregnenolone (PREG) and convert it to progesterone (PROG) and 7 alpha-hydroxy-PREG (7 alpha-OH PREG). Astrocytes, which participate to the regulation of the CNS function, might be involved in the metabolism of neurosteroids. Purified type 1 astrocytes were obtained from fetal rat forebrain with the use of selective culture conditions and were identified by immunostaining with specific antibodies (GFAP+, A2B5-). They were plated at low, intermediate, or high densities (2.5-5 x 10(5), 1-2 x 10(6), or 4-8 x 10(6) cells/dish, respectively) and maintained for 21 d. They were then incubated with 14C-PREG and 14C-DHEA for 24 h and the steroids extracted from cells and media were analyzed. Most radioactive derivatives were released into incubation media. Two metabolic pathways were mainly observed. PREG and DHEA were oxidized to PROG and androstenedione (ADIONE), respectively, [3 beta-hydroxysteroid-dehydrogenase, delta 5-->4 3- ketosteroid-isomerase (3 beta-HSD) activity], and converted to 7 alpha- OH PREG and 7 alpha-OH DHEA, respectively (7 alpha-hydroxylase activity). After low density plating, the formation of PROG and ADIONE was approximately 10% of incubated radioactivity, tenfold larger than that of 7 alpha-hydroxylated metabolites. In contrast, after high density plating, low levels of PROG and ADIONE were formed, whereas the conversion to either 7 alpha-OH PREG or 7 alpha-OH DHEA was > or = 50%. The results expressed per cell indicated that the 3 beta-HSD activity was almost completely inhibited at high cell density, in contrast to the 7 alpha-hydroxylation which was maintained or increased. The pattern of steroid metabolism was related to cell density at the time of measurement and not to an early commitment of cells: when primary cultures were plated at high density (8 x 10(6) cells/dish), then subcultured after several dilutions (3-, 9-, or 27-fold), the 3 beta- HSD activity was recovered only at low density. Furthermore, when 5 x 10(5) cells were centrifuged and the resulting clusters were plated, 3 beta-HSD activity was decreased, whereas steroid 7 alpha-hydroxylation was enhanced. This implies that cell density per se, but neither cell number nor a diffusible factor(s) is involved in the regulation of steroid metabolism. We conclude that astrocytes in culture metabolize PREG and DHEA, and that the metabolic conversions and, therefore, the related enzymatic activities depend on cell-to-cell contacts. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
The hierarchy of the preferred scales in the fractal universe

The fractal structure with a power index of 2 is considered within the framework of the universe with the linear law of evolution. The fractal structure arises due to the linear evolution of the scale of mass. Potential fluctuations connect two scales and thus define the preferred scales. The hierarchy of the preferred scales is developed which includes universe, superclusters, clusters of galaxies, galaxies, star clusters and stars.
Organic electronics for high-resolution electrocorticography of the human brain

Conducting polymer–based electrodes can acquire population and individual neural activity from the surface of the human brain. Localizing neuronal patterns that generate pathological brain signals may assist with tissue resection and intervention strategies in patients with neurological diseases. Precise localization requires high spatiotemporal recording from populations of neurons while minimizing invasiveness and adverse events. We describe a large-scale, high-density, organic material–based, conformable neural interface device (“NeuroGrid”) capable of simultaneously recording local field potentials (LFPs) and action potentials from the cortical surface. We demonstrate the feasibility and safety of intraoperative recording with NeuroGrids in anesthetized and awake subjects. Highly localized and propagating physiological and pathological LFP patterns were recorded, and correlated neural firing provided evidence about their local generation. Application of NeuroGrids to brain disorders, such as epilepsy, may improve diagnostic precision and therapeutic outcomes while reducing complications associated with invasive electrodes conventionally used to acquire high-resolution and spiking data.
Plasma adiponectin and leptin levels, body composition, and glucose utilization in adult women with wide ranges of age and obesity.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between plasma adiponectin and leptin levels, total and central obesity, and glucose utilization across the adult age span. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We studied 148 women aged 18-81 years with a BMI range of 17.2-44.3 kg/m(2). Total percent body fat was determined by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and abdominal fat by computed tomography. Glucose tolerance in non-type 2 diabetic volunteers was determined with an oral glucose tolerance test. Glucose utilization (M) was measured during the last 60 min of hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps (240 pmol x m(-2) x min(-1)). Plasma adiponectin levels were measured by radioimmunoassay. The women were separated into three age-groups: young, middle, and old (<40, 40-59, and >or=60 years, respectively), as well as by glucose tolerance status. RESULTS Adiponectin concentrations did not differ by age-groups. There were significant age effects for BMI, percent body fat, visceral fat, subcutaneous abdominal fat, VO(2max), and M. Adiponectin levels were lower in the prediabetic women (n = 18) than in the normal glucose-tolerant women (n = 108) and the women with type 2 diabetes (n = 22) (both P < 0.05). Univariate correlations revealed significant negative relationships between plasma adiponectin levels and BMI, percent body fat, visceral fat, subcutaneous abdominal fat, fasting leptin, and fasting insulin and positive relationship with M (all P < 0.05). In a multiple stepwise regression model to predict adiponectin, only M remained in the model at P < 0.001. Multivariate analyses revealed a significant relation for M as a function of adiponectin, insulin, and VO(2max). CONCLUSIONS The data suggest that plasma adiponectin does not change with age but levels are negatively associated with percent body fat, visceral fat, subcutaneous abdominal fat, insulin, and leptin levels in women. Adiponectin is positively associated with M across the age span in women.
Efficient Relevance Feedback for Content-Based Image Retrieval by Mining User Navigation Patterns

Nowadays, content-based image retrieval (CBIR) is the mainstay of image retrieval systems. To be more profitable, relevance feedback techniques were incorporated into CBIR such that more precise results can be obtained by taking user's feedbacks into account. However, existing relevance feedback-based CBIR methods usually request a number of iterative feedbacks to produce refined search results, especially in a large-scale image database. This is impractical and inefficient in real applications. In this paper, we propose a novel method, Navigation-Pattern-based Relevance Feedback (NPRF), to achieve the high efficiency and effectiveness of CBIR in coping with the large-scale image data. In terms of efficiency, the iterations of feedback are reduced substantially by using the navigation patterns discovered from the user query log. In terms of effectiveness, our proposed search algorithm NPRFSearch makes use of the discovered navigation patterns and three kinds of query refinement strategies, Query Point Movement (QPM), Query Reweighting (QR), and Query Expansion (QEX), to converge the search space toward the user's intention effectively. By using NPRF method, high quality of image retrieval on RF can be achieved in a small number of feedbacks. The experimental results reveal that NPRF outperforms other existing methods significantly in terms of precision, coverage, and number of feedbacks.
Discerning if your Elderly Client is Financially Incapacitated, and if so, then what?

The capacity to manage financial affairs is a fundamental aspect of individual autonomy in society and represents a cognitively complex set of knowledge and skills that are sadly particularly vulnerable to cognitive aging and dementia. As yet, there are no published studies of a financial planner’s assessment of a client’s financial capacity. Until recently there have been no pragmatic means to assess a client’s financial capacity. Recent medical discoveries have enabled the financial planner to conduct such an assessment and thereby help their clients both better retain their autonomy and prevent financial exploitation. This Article illuminates the complex interrelationships of neurocognitive change and functional change and clarifies the extent to which specific cognitive impairments translate into instrumental activity of daily living (IADL) impairments. By analyzing recent medical findings, financial planners can now much earlier identify any financial incapacity impairments in clients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), and after which provide guidance to reduce the risk of financial exploitation. The early detection of impaired financial competency will better protect both the emotional well-being and the economic resources of clients possibly suffering from some form of dementia, as well as their families.
Using sounds to convey complex information

Mathematicians who are blind must rely on non-visual representations of mathematical material. This paper describes sound-based representations which have been designed, implemented and evaluated as part of the development of a computer workstation for blind mathematics students. Particular emphasis has been on supporting synthetic speech with non-verbal cues, in the forms of the prosodic component of the speech, 'algebra earcons' and spatialized sounds.
Analysis of the association between spawning time QTL markers and the biannual spawning behavior in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

The rainbow trout is a salmonid fish that occasionally exhibits broodstocks with biannual spawning behavior, a phenomenon known as a double annual reproductive cycle (DARC). Spawning time quantitative trait loci (SPT-QTLs) affect the time of the year that female rainbow trout spawn and may influence expression of the DARC trait. In this study, microsatellite markers linked and unlinked to SPT-QTLs were genotyped to investigate the underlying genetics of this trait. SPT-QTLs influenced the DARC trait since in two case-control comparisons three linked markers (OmyFGT12TUF, One3ASC and One19ASC) had significant levels of allelic frequency differentiation and marker-character association. Furthermore, alleles of One3ASC and One19ASC had significantly higher frequencies in populations that carried the DARC trait.
Evaluating Ecohydrological Theories of Woody Root Distribution in the Kalahari

The contribution of savannas to global carbon storage is poorly understood, in part due to lack of knowledge of the amount of belowground biomass. In these ecosystems, the coexistence of woody and herbaceous life forms is often explained on the basis of belowground interactions among roots. However, the distribution of root biomass in savannas has seldom been investigated, and the dependence of root biomass on rainfall regime remains unclear, particularly for woody plants. Here we investigate patterns of belowground woody biomass along a rainfall gradient in the Kalahari of southern Africa, a region with consistent sandy soils. We test the hypotheses that (1) the root depth increases with mean annual precipitation (root optimality and plant hydrotropism hypothesis), and (2) the root-to-shoot ratio increases with decreasing mean annual rainfall (functional equilibrium hypothesis). Both hypotheses have been previously assessed for herbaceous vegetation using global root data sets. Our data do not support these hypotheses for the case of woody plants in savannas. We find that in the Kalahari, the root profiles of woody plants do not become deeper with increasing mean annual precipitation, whereas the root-to-shoot ratios decrease along a gradient of increasing aridity.
p21-Activated Kinases Are Required for Transformation in a Cell-Based Model of Neurofibromatosis Type 2

Background NF2 is an autosomal dominant disease characterized by development of bilateral vestibular schwannomas and other benign tumors in central nervous system. Loss of the NF2 gene product, Merlin, leads to aberrant Schwann cell proliferation, motility, and survival, but the mechanisms by which this tumor suppressor functions remain unclear. One well-defined target of Merlin is the group I family of p21-activated kinases, which are allosterically inhibited by Merlin and which, when activated, stimulate cell cycle progression, motility, and increased survival. Here, we examine the effect of Pak inhibition on cells with diminished Merlin function. Methodology/Principal Findings Using a specific peptide inhibitor of group I Paks, we show that loss of Pak activity restores normal cell movement in cells lacking Merlin function. In addition, xenografts of such cells form fewer and smaller tumors than do cells without Pak inhibition. However, in tumors, loss of Pak activity does not reduce Erk or Akt activity, two signaling proteins that are thought to mediate Pak function in growth factor pathways. Conclusions/Significance These results suggest that Pak functions in novel signaling pathways in NF2, and may serve as a useful therapeutic target in this disease.
Introduction of basic fibroblast growth factor gene into mouse renal cell carcinoma cell line enhances its metastatic potential.

To clarify the role of basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) in the malignant progression of renal cell carcinoma, we transfected the FGF-2 gene, which lacks the typical signal sequence, into RenCa, a mouse renal cell carcinoma cell line that does not express FGF-2 mRNA. In an in vitro tumor cell invasion assay, the FGF-2-transfected cell lines (RenCa/F) exhibited 3- to 4-fold higher invasive potential than either the parental RenCa (RenCa/P) or the vector-only transfected cell line (RenCa/C). Zymography showed a marked increase in matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) production in the culture supernatants of RenCa/F. Furthermore, when injected i.v. or into the renal subcapsule in syngeneic mice, RenCa/F formed more than 10 times as many metastatic nodules in the lung as did RenCa/P and RenCa/C. Metastases to the liver and mesenteric lymph nodes were observed only after the injection of RenCa/F into the renal subcapsule. In contrast, there was no significant difference in either cell proliferation in vitro or tumor growth in vivo among RenCa sublines. These results suggest that if it is overexpressed, endogenous native FGF-2 plays an important role in the invasion and metastasis of renal cell carcinoma, probably through the production of MMP-2.
Typology of rhythm reconsidered: an SLA perspective

Abstract This paper offers an analysis of various typologies of speech rhythm with a Second Language Acquisition (SLA) perspective. The notion of isochrony and the enduring stress- and syllable-time theory are shown to be perception-, rather than production-, related. Duration-centered statistical approaches are found to measure phonotactics rather than establish a functional typology. It is further argued that no existing rhythmic typology can be recognized as efficiently organizing data to enable grouping and comparison of languages, a highly coveted tool in SLA. The outline of an SLA relevant classification, taking into account phonological elements and phonetic processes, is sketched.