Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The organisation of military violence in the 21st century

In this article, I analyse the sociological foundations of military violence in the 21st century. The first part of the article engages critically with the three dominant contemporary approaches in the study of organised violence: (a) the decline of violence perspective, (b) the new wars theories and (c) the technological displacement approach. I argue that despite their obvious merits, these three perspectives do not provide adequate interpretation of recent social change. In particular, I contest their emphasis on the radical discontinuity in the character of the contemporary military violence when compared to the previous historical periods. Hence, to remedy this – in the second part of the article – I develop an alternative, a longue durée, sociological interpretation centred on the role of organisational, ideological and micro-interactional powers in the transformation of military violence. In contrast to the three dominant perspectives, I argue that the 21st-century organisation of military violence has changed but it still exhibits much more organisational continuity with the last two centuries than usually assumed. More specifically, my argument centres on the long-term impact of the three historical processes that have shaped the dynamics of military violence over long stretches of time: the cumulative bureaucratisation of coercion, centrifugal ideologisation and the envelopment of micro-solidarity.
A MODELING FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS OF LANDSCAPE STABILITY AND BIFURCATION PHENOMENA

In the framework of Landscape Ecology, we propose an integra d pproach that combines an ecological graph model for the analysis of the re lationship between spatial pattern and ecological flows and a mathematical model, based on a system of two nonlinear differential equations that studies landscape stability and b ifurcation phenomena. A case study of the district of Cremona (Italy) is performed, and this fur nishes some threshold values of the graph connectivity index corresponding to bifurcation s between two possible different equilibrium states.
Adolescent health brief Can Adolescents Predict Significant Life Events

We examine whether adolescents' probability judgments for significant life events are predic- tive and accurate. We find significant correlations with actual experiences, reported on succes- sive waves of a national survey. Mean probability judgments approximated observed outcome rates, or were optimistic, except that adolescents greatly overestimated their probability of dying prematurely. © 2007 Society for Adolescent Medicine. All rights reserved.
Access to Care, Acculturation, and Risk Factors for Stroke in Mexican Americans: The Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi (BASIC) Project

Background and Purpose— Mexican Americans are the largest subgroup of Hispanic Americans, now the most numerous US minority population. We compared access to care, acculturation, and biological risk factors among Mexican American and non-Hispanic white stroke patients and the general population. Methods— The Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi project is a population-based stroke surveillance study conducted in southeast Texas. All stroke cases were ascertained through active and passive surveillance from January 2000 through April 2002 and compared with population estimates from a random-digit telephone survey. Results— Compared with non-Hispanic white stroke patients (n=405), Mexican American stroke patients (n=403) were less likely to have graduated from high school (odds ratio [OR], 15.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 10.6 to 22.4) and more likely to earn less than $20 000 per year (OR, 6.5; 95% CI, 4.5 to 9.4). Mexican American stroke patients were more likely to have diabetes (OR, 2.7; 95% CI, 2.0 to 3.7) and less likely to have atrial fibrillation (OR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.4 to 0.8). Compared with population estimates (n=719), stroke was associated with diabetes (Mexican Americans: OR, 3.6; 95% CI, 2.2 to 5.8; non-Hispanic whites: OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.7 to 5.5), hypertension (Mexican Americans: OR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.8 to 4.3; non-Hispanic whites: OR, 3.3; 95% CI, 2.2 to 5.0), lower incomes (Mexican Americans: OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 2.1 to 5.4; non-Hispanic whites: OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.7 to 5.2), and lower educational attainment (Mexican Americans: OR, 5.1; 95% CI, 3.2 to 8.1; non-Hispanic whites: OR, 4.5; 95% CI, 2.2 to 9.3). Conclusions— Biological and social variables are associated with stroke to a similar extent in both Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites. Health behavior interventions for both populations may follow from this work. Stroke disparities between these populations may be explained only partially by differences in the prevalence of currently identified biological and social factors.
Coarse-graining of bubbling geometries and the fuzzball conjecture

In the Lin-Lunin-Maldacena (LLM) bubbling geometries, we compute the entropies of black holes and estimate their horizon sizes from the fuzzball conjecture, based on coarse-graining on the gravity side. The differences of black hole microstates cannot be seen by classical observations. Conversely, by counting the possible deformations of the geometry which are not classically detectable, we can calculate the entropy. We carry out this method on the black holes of the LLM bubbling geometries, such as the superstar, and obtain the same result as was derived by coarse-graining directly on the conformal field theory (CFT) (fermion) side. Second, by application of this method, we can estimate the horizon sizes of those black holes, based on the fuzzball conjecture. The Bekenstein-Hawking entropy computed from this horizon agrees with that microscopic entropy above. This result supports the fuzzball conjecture.
Visualization of talking human head

This paper describes the system for visualization of human face and its animation. The system uses the representation of real facial muscles on a model of a face. The animation is based on the deformations of muscles. These deformations are described in the medical literature. We used the advantage of defining objects in VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language). The application has been written in C++ language with support of OpenGL library and platform independence has been achieved by use of QtLib library.
Smoking in the home after the smoke-free legislation in Scotland: qualitative study

Objective To explore the accounts of smokers and non-smokers (who live with smokers) of smoking in their homes and cars after the Scottish smoke-free legislation; to examine the reported impact of the legislation on smoking in the home; and to consider the implications for future initiatives aimed at reducing children's exposure to secondhand smoke in the home. Design and setting A qualitative cross sectional study involving semistructured interviews conducted across Scotland shortly after the implementation of the legislation on 26 March 2006. Participants A purposively selected sample of 50 adults (aged 18-75) drawn from all socioeconomic groups, included smokers living with smokers, smokers living with non-smokers, and non-smokers living with smokers. Results Passive smoking was a well recognised term. Respondents had varied understandings of the risks of secondhand smoke, with a few rejecting evidence of such risks. Children, however, were perceived as vulnerable. Most reported that they restricted smoking in their homes, with a range of restrictions across social classes and home smoking profiles. Spatial, relational, health, and aesthetic factors influenced the development of restrictions. Children and grandchildren were important considerations in the development and modification of restrictions. Other strategies were also used to militate against secondhand smoke, such as opening windows. The meaning of the home as somewhere private and social identity were important underlying factors. Respondents reported greater restrictions on smoking in their cars. There were diverse views on the smoke-free legislation. Few thought it had influenced their smoking in the home, and none thought it had affected how they restricted smoking in their homes. Conclusions These data suggest two normative discourses around smoking in the home. The first relates to acceptable social identity as a hospitable person who is not anti-smoker. The second relates to moral identity as a caring parent or grandparent. Awareness of the risks of secondhand smoke, despite ambivalence about health messages and the fluidity of smoking restrictions, provides clear opportunities for public health initiatives to support people attain smoke-free homes.
Cryptanalysis for RC4 and Breaking WEP/WPA-TKIP

In recent years, wireless LAN systems are widely used in campuses, offices, homes and so on. It is important to discuss the security aspect of wireless LAN networks in order to protect data confidentiality and integrity. The IEEE Standards Association formulated some security protocols, for example, Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (WPA-TKIP). However, these protocols have vulnerability for secure communication. In 2008, we proposed an efffective key recovery attack against WEP and it is called the TeAM-OK attack. In this paper, first, we present a different interpretation and the relation between other attacks and the TeAM-OK attack against WEP. Second, we present some existing attacks against WPA-TKIP and these attacks are not executable in a realistic environment. Then we propose an attack that is executable in a realistic environment against WPA-TKIP. This attack exploits the vulnerability implementation in the QoS packet processing feature of IEEE 802.11e. The receiver receives a falsification packet constructed as part of attack regardless of the setting of IEEE 802.11e. This vulnerability removes the attacker's condition that access points support IEEE 802.11e. We confirm that almost all wireless LAN implementations have this vulnerability. Therefore, almost all WPA-TKIP implementations cannot protect a system against the falsification attack in a realistic environment.
Additional Value of CH4 Measurement in a Combined 13C/H2 Lactose Malabsorption Breath Test: A Retrospective Analysis

The lactose hydrogen breath test is a commonly used, non-invasive method for the detection of lactose malabsorption and is based on an abnormal increase in breath hydrogen (H2) excretion after an oral dose of lactose. We use a combined 13C/H2 lactose breath test that measures breath 13CO2 as a measure of lactose digestion in addition to H2 and that has a better sensitivity and specificity than the standard test. The present retrospective study evaluated the results of 1051 13C/H2 lactose breath tests to assess the impact on the diagnostic accuracy of measuring breath CH4 in addition to H2 and 13CO2. Based on the 13C/H2 breath test, 314 patients were diagnosed with lactase deficiency, 138 with lactose malabsorption or small bowel bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), and 599 with normal lactose digestion. Additional measurement of CH4 further improved the accuracy of the test as 16% subjects with normal lactose digestion and no H2-excretion were found to excrete CH4. These subjects should have been classified as subjects with lactose malabsorption or SIBO. In conclusion, measuring CH4-concentrations has an added value to the 13C/H2 breath test to identify methanogenic subjects with lactose malabsorption or SIBO.
Focusing inside an unknown medium using reflection data with internal multiples: numerical examples for a laterally-varying velocity model, spatially-extended virtual source, and inaccurate direct arrivals

SUMMARY Seismic interferometry is a technique that allows one to reconstruct the full response from a virtual source inside a medium, assuming a receiver is present at the virtual source location. We describe a method that creates a virtual source inside a medium from reflection data measured at the surface, without needing a receiver inside the medium and, hence, presenting an advantage over seismic interferometry. An estimate of the direct arriving wavefront is required in addition to the reflection data. However, no information about the medium is needed. We illustrate the method with numerical examples in a lossless acoustic medium with laterally-varying velocity and density and take into consideration finite acquisition aperture and a spatially-extended virtual source. We examine the reconstructed wavefield when a macro model is used to estimate the direct arrivals. The proposed method can serve as a basis for data-driven suppression of internal multiples in seismic imaging.
Operator Assisted Threat Assessment for Carry-On Luggage Inspection

A summary of activities at the University of Tennessee’s Imaging, Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) Laboratory in the area of threat detection for airport luggage inspection is proposed. Starting with the raw original image, a number of image enhancement techniques (linear regression, nonlinear intensity adjustment, histogram equalization, etc.) were implemented and evaluated for the purpose of increasing contrast and adjusting brightness to make the various components of the luggage scene more distinct. In addition, scene de-cluttering techniques (linear image hashing, non-linear image hashing, and edge-based segmentation) were tested for the purpose of hopefully making screener decisions easier and faster. Lastly, techniques for color-coding and visualizing X-ray data via graphical user interfaces for effective detection of threat objects were investigated.
Neuronal processing of noxious thermal stimuli mediated by dendritic Ca2+ influx in Drosophila somatosensory neurons

Adequate responses to noxious stimuli causing tissue damages are essential for organismal survival. Class IV neurons in Drosophila larvae are polymodal nociceptors responsible for thermal, mechanical, and light sensation. Importantly, activation of Class IV provoked distinct avoidance behaviors, depending on the inputs. We found that noxious thermal stimuli, but not blue light stimulation, caused a unique pattern of Class IV, which were composed of pauses after high-frequency spike trains and a large Ca2+ rise in the dendrite (the Ca2+ transient). Both these responses depended on two TRPA channels and the L-type voltage-gated calcium channel (L-VGCC), showing that the thermosensation provokes Ca2+ influx. The precipitous fluctuation of firing rate in Class IV neurons enhanced the robust heat avoidance. We hypothesize that the Ca2+ influx can be a key signal encoding a specific modality. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.12959. 001
Comparison of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 and Seasonal Influenza Viral Loads, Singapore

Mean viral loads for patients with pandemic (H1N1) 2009 were ≈1 log10 times lower than those for patients with seasonal influenza within the first week after symptom onset. Neither pandemic nor seasonal influenza viral loads correlated with clinical severity of illness. No correlation was found between viral loads and concurrent illness.
Evolutionary bits'n'spikes

We describe a model and implementation of evolutionary spiking neurons for embedded microcontrollers with few bytes of memory and very low power consumption. The approach is tested with an autonomous microrobot of less than 1 in3 that evolves the ability to move in a small maze without human intervention and external computers. Considering the very large diffusion, small size, and low cost of embedded microcontrollers, the approach described here could find its way in several intelligent devices with sensors and/or actuators, as well as in smart credit cards.
The Effectiveness of Cognitive Group Therapy Based on Schema-Focused Approach on Self-Esteem and Emotion Regulation in Drug Addicted Prisoners Under the Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT)

ABSTRACT This study's purpose is to determine the effectiveness of cognitive group therapy based on schema-focused approach on self-esteem and emotion regulation in drug-addicted prisoners under methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). The research population comprised addicted male prisoners under the MMT in Chenaran Prison. The experimental group received cognitive group therapy based on schema-focused approach, whereas the control group received no treatment. The instruments used for measurement in this research were the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Results revealed that cognitive group therapy based on schema-focused approach increase self-esteem and regulate emotions in addicted prisoners who are under the MMT.
Bifurcations in nonlinear networks initialized with linear network weight solutions

It has been reported (Yang and Wu, 1993) that weight convergence of multilayer perceptron networks (MLP) can be improved by smoothly changing the node nonlinearity from a linear to a sigmoidal function during training. While this approach might provide a useful training heuristic, formally, this method depends on an underlying homotopy which transforms a linear to a nonlinear network of the same architecture. As a parameter /spl tau/ (the homotopy parameter) is varied from ten, to one, the linear network weights are mapped onto nonlinear network weight solutions. In this paper, a geometric interpretation of the optimization equations is used to construct and describe an example network that illustrates practical and theoretical difficulties resulting due to bifurcation of solution paths. Since the linear system is a generic high-order bifurcation point of the homotopy equations, solution paths are discontinuous at initialization. Bifurcations and infinite solutions for intermediate values /spl tau//spl isin/(0,1) also can occur for data sets which are not of measure zero. These results weaken the guarantees on global convergence and exhaustive behavior normally associated with homotopy methods. The geometric perspective further provides insight into the relationship between linear and nonlinear perceptron networks, and how weight solutions arise in each. <<ETX>>
Two-sided estimates on the density of Brownian motion with singular drift

Let μ = (μ1, . . . , μd) be such that each μi is a signed measure on Rd belonging to the Kato class Kd,1. The existence and uniqueness of a continuous Markov process X on Rd, called a Brownian motion with drift μ, was recently established by Bass and Chen. In this paper we study the potential theory of X. We show that X has a continuous density qμ and that there exist positive constants ci, i = 1, · · · , 9, such that c1e −c2tt− d 2 e− c3|x−y| 2 2t ≤ q(t, x, y) ≤ c4e5t d 2 e− c6|x−y| 2 2t and |∇xq(t, x, y)| ≤ c7e8t d+1 2 e− c9|x−y| 2 2t for all (t, x, y) ∈ (0,∞) × Rd × Rd. We further show that, for any bounded C1,1 domain D, the density qμ,D of XD, the process obtained by killing X upon exiting from D, has the following estimates: for any T > 0, there exist positive constants Ci, i = 1, · · · , 5, such that C1(1 ∧ ρ(x) √ t )(1 ∧ ρ(y) √ t )t− d 2 e− C2|x−y| 2 t ≤ q(t, x, y) ≤ C3(1 ∧ ρ(x) √ t )(1 ∧ ρ(y) √ t )t− d 2 e− C4|x−y| 2 t and |∇xq(t, x, y)| ≤ C5(1 ∧ ρ(y) √ t )t− d+1 2 e− C4|x−y| 2 t for all (t, x, y) ∈ (0, T ]×D×D, where ρ(x) is the distance between x and ∂D. Using the above estimates, we then prove the parabolic Harnack principle for X and show that the boundary Harnack principle holds for the nonnegative harmonic functions of X. We also identify the Martin boundary of XD. Received May 9, 2005; received in final form December 5, 2005. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 58C60, 60J45. Secondary 35P15, 60G51, 31C25. The research of the second author is supported in part by a joint US-Croatia grant INT 0302167. c ©2006 University of Illinois 635 636 PANKI KIM AND RENMING SONG
Assistance functions for collaborative haptic interaction in virtual environments and their effect on performance and user comfort

In shared virtual environments, multiple users can perform complex manipulations collaboratively, while receiving haptic feedback from the environment and other users. In single-user systems, dynamic assistance functions were shown to improve task performance; however, little is known about their effect on user perception. In this paper, state-of-theart assistance functions presented for single-user systems are transferred to a multi-user system. Aiming to assess the effect of these assistance functions on objective and perceived task performance, as well as on user comfort, an experimental user study has been conducted with a typical collaborative haptic interaction task. The analysis of the results showed that some assistance functions significantly improved movement coordination compared to unassisted execution of the task. The results further indicate that the effects of an assistance function on subjective performance and comfort ratings depend on the level of movement control that the user is afforded. The results of this study provide useful information for the design of effective and comfortable assistance functions.
Using a Raster Display for Photometric Stereo

This paper presents a new controlled lighting apparatus which uses a raster display device as a light source. The setup has the advantage over other alternatives in that it is relatively inexpensive and uses commonly available components. The apparatus is studied through application to shape recovery using photometric stereo. Experiments on synthetic and real images demonstrate how the depth map of an object can be recovered using only a camera and a computer monitor.
Security and Safety Considerations for the DECOS Core OS

This paper presents safety and security considerations for the Core Operating System (COS) of the Encapsulated Execution Environment (EEE) developed in DECOS (Dependable Embedded Components and Systems), an integrated project within the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Commission. It is shown that security and safety is well considered in the COS and a high level of security and safety can be achieved when systems using the COS are designed properly.
Human Vestibular Cortex as Identified with Caloric Stimulation in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Anatomic and electrophysiological studies in monkeys have yielded a detailed map of cortex areas receiving vestibular afferents. In contrast, comparatively little is known about the cortical representation of the human vestibular system. In this study we applied caloric stimulation and fMRI to further characterize human cortical vestibular areas and to test for hemispheric dominance of vestibular information processing. For caloric vestibular stimulation we used cold nitrogen to avoid susceptibility artifacts induced by water calorics. Right and left side vestibular stimulation was repetitively performed inducing a nystagmus for at least 90 s after the end of the stimulation in all subjects. Only the first 60 s of this nystagmus period was included for statistical analysis and compared with the baseline condition. Activation maps revealed a cortical network with right hemispheric dominance, which in all subjects comprised the temporoparietal junction extending into the posterior insula and, furthermore, the anterior insula, pre- and postcentral gyrus, areas in the parietal lobe, the ventrolateral portion of the occipital lobe, and the inferior frontal gyrus extending into the inferior part of the precentral sulcus. In conclusion, caloric stimulation in fMRI reveals a widespread cortical network involved in vestibular signal processing corresponding to the findings from animal experiments and previous functional imaging studies in humans. Furthermore, this study demonstrates a strong right hemispheric dominance of vestibular cortex areas regardless of the stimulated side, consistent with the current view of a rightward asymmetrical cortical network for spatial orientation.