Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Larger Than Life: Injecting Hope into the Planetary Health Paradigm

The term planetary health, popularized in the 1980s and 1990s, was born out of necessity; although the term was used by many diverse groups, it was consistently used to underscore that human health is coupled to the health of natural systems within the Earth’s biosphere. The interrelated challenges of climate change, massive biodiversity losses, environmental degradation, grotesque socioeconomic inequalities, conflicts, and a crisis of non-communicable diseases are, mildly stated, daunting. Despite ‘doomsday’ scenarios, there is plenty of room for hope and optimism in planetary health. All over planet Earth, humans are making efforts at the macro, meso and micro scales to promote the health of civilization with the ingredients of hope—agency and pathway thinking; we propose that planetary health requires a greater commitment to understanding hope at the personal and collective levels. Prioritizing hope as an asset in planetary health necessitates deeper knowledge and discourse concerning the barriers to hope and the ways in which hope and the utopian impulse are corrupted; in particular, it requires examining the ways in which hope is leveraged by advantaged groups and political actors to maintain the status quo, or even promote retrograde visions completely at odds with planetary health. Viewing the Earth as a superorganism, with humans as the collective ‘nervous system’, may help with an understanding of the ways in which experience and emotions lead to behavioral responses that may, or may not be, in the best interest of planetary health. We argue that the success of planetary health solutions is predicated on a more sophisticated understanding of the psychology of prevention and intervention at all scales.
Trixel Indexer using B-Trees based on a random access file

Indexers are software tools to help complete words, phrases, or obtain text or multimedia files such as pictures, audio, videos, etc. in a quick way. The goal of indexing is to reduce the cost of file recovery, by reducing the number of I/O operations to the hard disk. In this paper a different common indexing approach is proposed to this end using references to geospatial positions, i.e. points located on the surface of the earth sphere. With that relationship between the Hierarchical Triangular Mesh algorithm is establish, and the system of latitude-longitude coordinates for indexing the geospatial parameters used by indexers today. The indexer implemented uses a B-Tree as search engine, where each node has internally another index to generate the reference to files that are stored on the server side, which database used is a random access file. Finally, some examples are shown, how the set of trixels is obtained from a file indexing is also expanding the random access file is displayed when it approaches its limit defined in bytes.
Intrinsic Plasticity via Natural Gradient Descent

This paper introduces the natural gradient for intrinsic plas- ticity, which tunes a neuron's activation function such that its output dis- tribution becomes exponentially distributed. The information-geometric properties of the intrinsic plasticity potential are analyzed and the im- proved learning dynamics when using the natural gradient are evaluated for a variety of input distributions. The applied measure for evaluation is the relative geodesic length of the respective path in parameter space.
Studying Supply and Demand of Software Maintenance and Evolution Services

Software maintenance and evolution constitutes an important part of the total cost of the life cycle of software. Some even argue this is the most important fraction of the cost. The added value of software maintenance and evolution is often not fully understood by the customer leading to a perception that software maintenance organizations are costly and inefficient. A common view of maintenance and evolution is that it merely fixes bugs. However, studies over the years have indicated that in many organizations the majority of the maintenance effort is devoted to value-added activities. To improve customer perceptions it is important to provide them with better insight into the activities performed by the maintenance organization and to document such performance with objective measures of software maintenance activities. In this paper, software maintenance trend analysis is used as a basis for improvement. First, the differences between software maintenance activities and the Information System (IS) department development projects are described. Then a trend model is developed as a mean to manage the expectations of customers. To conclude, some remarks are made regarding the application of trend analysis by maintenance work categories for software maintenance managers.
Genome Sequence of the PCE-Dechlorinating Bacterium Dehalococcoides ethenogenes

Dehalococcoides ethenogenes is the only bacterium known to reductively dechlorinate the groundwater pollutants, tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene, to ethene. Its 1,469,720–base pair chromosome contains large dynamic duplicated regions and integrated elements. Genes encoding 17 putative reductive dehalogenases, nearly all of which were adjacent to genes for transcription regulators, and five hydrogenase complexes were identified. These findings, plus a limited repertoire of other metabolic modes, indicate that D. ethenogenes is highly evolved to utilize halogenated organic compounds and H2. Diversification of reductive dehalogenase functions appears to have been mediated by recent genetic exchange and amplification. Genome analysis provides insights into the organism's complex nutrient requirements and suggests that an ancestor was a nitrogen-fixing autotroph.
A novel two-stage algorithm for baseline estimation and correction in Farsi and Arabic handwritten text line

This paper presents a new two-stage method for estimating and correcting the baseline of handwritten subwords in Farsi and Arabic text lines. Based on the template matching algorithm, the candidate baseline pixels are detected. The writing path and the baseline of the subwords are estimated in the first and second stages of the proposed algorithm, respectively. After the estimation in each stage, the baseline is adjusted in the correction phase. Experimental results show the effectiveness of this approach in adjusting the baseline close to the correct position.
Nonatomic total rewards Markov decision processes with multiple criteria

We consider a Markov decision process with an uncountable state space for which the vector performance functional has the form of expected total rewards. Under the single condition that the fixed initial distribution and transition probabilities are nonatomic, we prove that for any policy there is a nonrandomized Markov policy such that for these two policies the performance vectors are equal.
Approximating the DTD of a set of XML documents

The WWW contains a huge amount of documents. Some of them share the subject, but are generated by different people or even organizations. To guarantee the interchange of such documents, we can use XML. This allows to share documents that do not have the same structure. However, it makes difficult to understand the core of such heterogeneous documents (in general, schema is not available). In this paper, we offer a characterization and algorithm to obtain the midpoint (in terms of a resemblance function) of a set of semi-structured, heterogeneous documents without optional elements. The trivial case of midpoint would be the common elements to all documents. Nevertheless, in cases with several heterogeneous documents this may result in an empty set. Thus, we consider that those elements present in a given amount of documents belong to the midpoint. Once we have such midpoint, the algorithm is generalized for the obtaining of repetitions and optional elements. Thus, a exact schema can always be found generating optional elements. However, the exact schema of the whole set may result in overspecialization (lots of optional elements), which would make it useless.
The development and pilot testing of a new instrument “Promoting Active Ageing in Older People with Mental Disorders Scale”

Background: There is little evidence about the factors that influence the promotion of active ageing, and the level of activity, in older people with mental disorders living in rural areas in Thailand.Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop and test a new instrument: Promoting Active Ageing in Older People with Mental Disorders (PAA-MD). Methods: The study involved item generation, content validity testing, face validity testing in 15 participants, and pilot testing in 40 participants of the PAA-MD. Content validity was evaluated using relevance ratings from an expert panel to calculate the content validity index for individual items (I-CVI) and the content validity index for the overall survey (S-CVI). Internal reliability was tested using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. External reliability was examined using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.Results: The PAA-MD uses a self-rating scale for primary care providers and consists of 59 items in three sections. Section I, 14 items, evaluates characteristics of participants and familiarity of active ageing and related concepts. Section II, 22 items, examines the promotion of active ageing amongst older people with mental disorders. Section III, 23 items, measures factors that influence the promotion of active ageing. A five-point Likert scale is used in sections II and III. S-CVI of section II and III were 0.82 and 0.84. Five items in section II and three items in section III were deleted (I-CVI < 0.78). Cronbach’s Alpha of section II and III was 0.975 and 0.964. The Spearman’s Correlation in section II and III was 0.970 and 0.988. Conclusions: The PAA-MD takes 10-15 minutes to complete, has good content validity, high internal reliability, and a strong correlation of external reliability.
Arterial stiffness contributes to coronary artery disease risk prediction beyond the traditional risk score (RAMA-EGAT score)

Objectives The traditional risk score (RAMA-EGAT) has been shown to be an accurate scoring system for predicting coronary artery disease (CAD). Arterial stiffness measured by the cardio–ankle vascular index (CAVI) is known to be a marker of atherosclerotic burden. A study was undertaken to determine whether CAVI improves the prediction of CAD beyond the RAMA-EGAT score. Design Cross-sectional study. Patients Patients with a moderate to high risk for CAD by the RAMA-EGAT score were enrolled between November 2005 and March 2006. 64-slice multidetector CT coronary angiography was used to evaluate the coronary artery calcium score and coronary stenosis. Arterial stiffness was assessed by CAVI. Results 1391 patients of median age 59 years (range 31–88) were enrolled in the study, 635 (45.7%) men and 756 (54.3%) women. Of the 1391 patients, 346 (24.87%) had coronary stenosis. There was a correlation between CAVI and the prevalence of coronary stenosis after adjusting for traditional CAD risk factors (OR 3.29). In addition, adding CAVI into the RAMA-EGAT score (modified RAMA-EGAT score) improved the prediction of CAD incidence, increasing C-statistics from 0.72 to 0.85 and resulting in a net reclassification improvement of 27.7% (p<0.0001). Conclusion CAVI is an independent risk predictor for CAD. The addition of CAVI to the RAMA-EGAT score significantly improves the diagnostic yield of CAD.
Sobel and Canny Edges Segmentations for the Dental Age Assessment

The x-ray image is a grey scale image and the distribution of the intensity of the pixel is uneven. The x-ray image widely use in dental age assessment especially Demirjian method. The purpose of the dental age assessment is to estimate the age of unidentified bodies. The current process is done manually by the examiner. The process potentially converted to an automated system. The development an automated dental age assessment required segmentation process, which is dividing the image into multiple meaningful parts based on region and edge. The edge segmentation form a contour based on the links detected. The authors present two types of edge segmentation methods (i.e. Sobel and Canny). The objective of the study is to make a comparison between the two methods. Result showed Sobel method was able to segment all the teeth area and remove the noise on the x-ray image while Canny algorithm was not able to segment all the teeth area especially incisors. The region of segmentation is important because one of the requirements in Demirjian method is to assess all the teeth types in quadrant 2 and quadrant 3. Based on the result, the experiment showed the Sobel algorithm able to segment most of the teeth area in quadrant 2 and quadrant 3.
A Probabilistic Algorithm for Segmenting Non-Kanji Japanese Strings

We present an algorithm for segmenting unrestricted Japanese text that is able to detect up to 98% of the words in a corpus. The segmentation technique, which is simple and extremely fast, does not depend on a lexicon or any formal notion of what a word is in Japanese, and the training procedure does not require annotated text of any kind. Relying almost exclusively on character type information and a table of hiragana bigram frequencies, the algorithm makes a decision as to whether to create word boundaries or not. This method divides strings of Japanese characters into units that are computationally tractable and that can be justified on lexical and syntactic grounds as well.
A Comparison of Relaxations of Multiset Cannonical Correlation Analysis and Applications

Canonical correlation analysis is a statistical technique that is used to find relations between two sets of variables. An important extension in pattern analysis is to consider more than two sets of variables. This problem can be expressed as a quadratically constrained quadratic program (QCQP), commonly referred to Multi-set Canonical Correlation Analysis (MCCA). This is a non-convex problem and so greedy algorithms converge to local optima without any guarantees on global optimality. In this paper, we show that despite being highly structured, finding the optimal solution is NP-Hard. This motivates our relaxation of the QCQP to a semidefinite program (SDP). The SDP is convex, can be solved reasonably efficiently and comes with both absolute and output-sensitive approximation quality. In addition to theoretical guarantees, we do an extensive comparison of the QCQP method and the SDP relaxation on a variety of synthetic and real world data. Finally, we present two useful extensions: we incorporate kernel methods and computing multiple sets of canonical vectors.
A Parameter-Based Scheme for Service Composition in Pervasive Computing Environment

Pervasive computing, the new computing paradigm aiming at providing services anywhere at anytime, poses great challenges on dynamic service composition. Existing service composition methods can hardly meet the requirements of dynamic characteristic and heterogeneity in pervasive computing environment. In this paper, we propose a parameter-based service model to accurately describe pervasive services. Based on the model, pervasive services are aggregated in a two-layer graph according to both semantic and syntactic information of the input and output parameters. Moreover, we design a novel service composition scheme to accomplish the user task while satisfy the QoS requirements. Both theoretical analysis and simulation experiments show that this service composition mechanism is effective in pervasive environment.
A real-time capable model predictive approach to lateral vehicle guidance

The paper at hand proposes a real-time capable approach to combined trajectory planning and control. One single prediction model is used to plan a feasible trajectory and to perform lateral guidance of the vehicle at the same time. Nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) methods are applied to solve the optimal control problem, which incorporates environmental constraints leading to a model predictive planning and control approach (MPPC). Experiments are conducted utilizing a rapid prototyping system. The analysis shows the versatile application range of the developed algorithm, such as challenging emergency evasive maneuvers as well as automated steering as an approach to lateral guidance of the vehicle in general.
Implication of Gβγ proteins and c-SRC tyrosine kinase in parathyroid hormone-induced signal transduction in rat enterocytes

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) interacts in target tissues with a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) localized in the plasma membrane. Although activation of GPCR can elicit rapid stimulation of cellular protein tyrosine phosphorylation, the mechanism by which G proteins activate protein-tyrosine kinases is not completely understood. In the present work, we demonstrate that PTH rapidly increases the activity of non-receptor tyrosine kinase c-Src in rat intestinal cells (enterocytes). The response is biphasic, the early phase is fast and transient, peaking at 30 s (+120%), while the second phase progressively increases up to 5 min (+220%). The hormone activates c-Src in intestinal cells through fast changes in tyrosine phosphorylation of the enzyme. The first event in the activation of c-Src is the dephosphorylation of Tyr527 (which happens after a few seconds of PTH treatment), followed by a second event of activation with phosphorylation at Tyr416 (+twofold, 5 min). Removal of external Ca(2+) (EGTA, 0.5 mM) and chelation of intracellular Ca(2+) with 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetracetic acid acetoxymethyl ester (BAPTA) (5 microM) suppressed Tyr527 dephosphorylation and Tyr416 phosphorylation, indicating that Ca(2+) is an upstream activator of c-Src in enterocytes stimulated with PTH. The G protein subunits, Galphas and Gbeta, are associated with c-Src in basal conditions and this association increases two- to threefold in cells treated with PTH. Blocking of Gbeta subunits by preincubation of cells with a Gbeta antibody abolished hormone-dependent c-Src Tyr416 phosphorylation and ERK1/ERK2 activation. The results of this work indicate that PTH activates c-Src in intestinal cells through conformational changes via G proteins and calcium-dependent modulation of tyrosine phosphorylation of the enzyme, and that PTH receptor activation leads via Gbetagamma-c-Src to the phosphorylation of the MAP kinases, ERK1 and ERK2.
Dense optical flow computation using textural features

This paper proposes a new algorithm for dense optical flow computation. It combines Gabor filter texture description in a variational framework. The textural features with spatial Gabor filter group are used as an extension to the original bright constant model. The corresponding global energy functional is established, and the flow field at each pixel of the image is iteratively computed by solving the corresponding discretized Euler-Lagrange equations. Performances of the algorithm are tested on real and synthetic sequences, and are compared with other dense optical flow computation techniques, which demonstrate a great improvement on the convergence rate and robustness against brightness changes.
Wires on Demand: Run-Time Communication Synthesis for Reconfigurable Computing

In systems typified by software defined radio, existing flows for run-time FPGA reconfiguration limit resource efficiency when constructing a variety of datapaths. Our approach allocates a sandbox region in which modules from a library can be flexibly placed and interconnected. An efficient run-time framework makes use of lightweight placement and routing techniques to respond on-demand to application requests. Compile time tools automate the task of adding interface wrappers to modules, insulating the designer from reconfiguration details.
Trajectory generation and ℋ∞ robust control for inertially stabilized system

This paper describes a controller design method for inertially stabilized system of tracking radar. Its aim is to track a reference target trajectory while isolating any rigid body motion of a host ship. First, we treat the trajectory generation problem to make the control input for a target tracking on the moving base. Second, dynamic equation of motion is formulated by spring-mass-damper system to include rigid body dynamics as well as structural flexibility. The unknown parameters of the dynamic equation are estimated with experimental input output data by minimizing predicted error. Third, mixed sensitivity ℋ∞ robust controller is designed to meet the conflict requirements of robustness and performance in the face of plant uncertainty. Finally, the proposed optimal controller is implemented and show the effectiveness of design methodology by experimental results.
Avian influenza A(H5N1) and A(H9N2) seroprevalence and risk factors for infection among Egyptians: a prospective, controlled seroepidemiological study.

BACKGROUND A(H5N1) and A(H9N2) avian influenza viruses are enzootic in Egyptian poultry, and most A(H5N1) human cases since 2009 have occurred in Egypt. Our understanding of the epidemiology of avian viruses in humans remains limited. Questions about the frequency of infection, the proportion of infections that are mild or subclinical, and the case-fatality rate remain largely unanswered. METHODS We conducted a 3-year, prospective, controlled, seroepidemiological study that enrolled 750 poultry-exposed and 250 unexposed individuals in Egypt. RESULTS At baseline, the seroprevalence of anti-A(H5N1) antibodies (titer, ≥80) among exposed individuals was 2% significantly higher than that among the controls (0%). Having chronic lung disease was a significant risk factor for infection. Antibodies against A(H9N2) were not detected at baseline when A(H9N2) was not circulating in poultry. At follow-up, A(H9N2) was detected in poultry, and consequently, the seroprevalence among exposed humans was between 5.6% and 7.5%. Vaccination of poultry, older age, and exposure to ducks were risk factors for A(H9N2) infection. CONCLUSIONS Results of this study indicate that the number of humans infected with avian influenza viruses is much larger than the number of reported confirmed cases. In an area where these viruses are enzootic in the poultry, human exposure to and infection with avian influenza becomes more common.
Integration and learning in supervision of flexible assembly systems

A generic architecture for evolutive supervision of robotized assembly tasks, in a context of integrated manufacturing systems, is presented. This architecture provides, at different levels of abstraction, functions for dispatching actions, monitoring their execution, and diagnosing and recovering from failures. The problem of integration of legacy systems is discussed and an implementation approach described. Modeling execution failures through taxonomies and causal relations plays a central role in diagnosis and recovery. Through the use of machine learning techniques, the supervision architecture will be given capabilities for improving its performance over time. Particular attention is given to the inductive generation of structured classification knowledge for diagnosis. Methodologies used, performed experiments, and obtained results are described in detail.