Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Bayesian Hierarchical Nonoverlapping Random Disc Growth Model

A methodology is proposed to efficiently model a random set via a multistage hierarchical Bayesian model. We define a NonOverlapping Random Disk Model (NORDM), which is similar in spirit to the well-known Poisson–Boolean model. This model is formulated in a conditional setting that facilitates Bayesian sampling of important parameters in the model. This framework can accommodate any object, not just those with disk shapes, although the model can be easily extended to include any known compact convex set instead of the disc (e.g., polygons or ellipses). We further propose a growth model that is conceptually simple and allows straightforward estimation of parameters, without the need for tedious calculations of hitting or inclusion probabilities. The model is applied to severe storm cell development as obtained from weather radar.
FWM in One-dimensional Nonlinear Photonic Crystal and Theoretical Investigation of Parametric Down Conversion Efficiency (Steady State Analysis)

The light propagation through one-dimensional photonic crystal using Four-wave mixing (FWM) nonlinear process is modeled. The linear and nonlinear indexes of refraction are approximated with the first Fourier harmonic term. Based on this approximation, a complete set of coupled wave equations, including pump fields depletion, for description of FWM process and conversion efficiency from pump to signal and idler waves for periodic structures is presented. The derived coupled wave equations are evaluated numerically. Some of important system parameters effects on FWM performance are investigated. The obtained relations are suitable and can easily be applied for description of Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) optical signals transmitted through (parametric process) nonlinear fiber Bragg Gratings compatible to optical fiber communications.
Towards a context-based representation of the dynamicity perspective in knowledge-intensive processes

A Knowledge-intensive process (KIP) is characterized as a bag of activities based on knowledge intensive acquisition and manipulation. A KIP differentiates from traditional business processes mainly because of the dynamism or the variability of event flows among the process instances. Thus, traditional business process modeling notations do not adequately represent the broad spectrum of flows that occur in each KIP instance, making them even more challenging to be understood or managed. Some approaches to represent a KIP were defined in the literature, but representing the KIP variability in a cognitively efficient way is still an open issue. This paper presents the graphical notation KIPN-C, which proposes diagrams to represent variability of a KIP relating it to the context of its instances.
The ERCC1/XPF endonuclease is required for completion of homologous recombination at DNA replication forks stalled by inter-strand cross-links

Both the ERCC1-XPF complex and the proteins involved in homoIogous recombination (HR) have critical roles in inter-strand cross-link (ICL) repair. Here, we report that mitomycin C-induced lesions inhibit replication fork elongation. Furthermore, mitomycin C-induced DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are the result of the collapse of ICL-stalled replication forks. These are not formed through replication run off, as we show that mitomycin C or cisplatin-induced DNA lesions are not incised by global genome nucleotide excision repair (GGR). We also suggest that ICL-lesion repair is initiated either by replication or transcription, as the GGR does not incise ICL-lesions. Furthermore, we report that RAD51 foci are induced by cisplatin or mitomycin C independently of ERCC1, but that mitomycin C-induced HR measured in a reporter construct is impaired in ERCC1-defective cells. These data suggest that ERCC1–XPF plays a role in completion of HR in ICL repair. We also find no additional sensitivity to cisplatin by siRNA co-depletion of XRCC3 and ERCC1, showing that the two proteins act on the same pathway to promote survival.
The Coexistence of Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): Prevalence and Risk Factors in Young, Middle-aged and Elderly People from the General Population

Background The joint distribution of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has not been well described. This study aims at determining the prevalence of self-reported physician diagnoses of asthma, COPD and of the asthma-COPD overlap syndrome and to assess whether these conditions share a common set of risk factors. Methods A screening questionnaire on respiratory symptoms, diagnoses and risk factors was administered by mail or phone to random samples of the general Italian population aged 20–44 (n = 5163) 45–64 (n = 2167) and 65–84 (n = 1030) in the frame of the multicentre Gene Environment Interactions in Respiratory Diseases (GEIRD) study. Results A physician diagnosis of asthma or COPD (emphysema/chronic bronchitis/COPD) was reported by 13% and 21% of subjects aged <65 and 65–84 years respectively. Aging was associated with a marked decrease in the prevalence of diagnosed asthma (from 8.2% to 1.6%) and with a marked increase in the prevalence of diagnosed COPD (from 3.3% to 13.3%). The prevalence of the overlap of asthma and COPD was 1.6% (1.3%–2.0%), 2.1% (1.5%–2.8%) and 4.5% (3.2%–5.9%) in the 20–44, 45–64 and 65–84 age groups. Subjects with both asthma and COPD diagnoses were more likely to have respiratory symptoms, physical impairment, and to report hospital admissions compared to asthma or COPD alone (p<0.01). Age, sex, education and smoking showed different and sometimes opposite associations with the three conditions. Conclusion Asthma and COPD are common in the general population, and they coexist in a substantial proportion of subjects. The asthma-COPD overlap syndrome represents an important clinical phenotype that deserves more medical attention and further research.
Query Classification System Based on Snippet Summary Similarities for NTCIR-10 1CLICK-2 Task

A query classification system for NTCIR-10 1CLICK-2 is described in this paper. The system classifies queries in Japanese and English into eight predefined classes by using support vector machines (SVMs) for classification. Feature vectors are created based on snippet similarities instead of snippet word frequency. These vectors, which have fewer dimensions than those made from raw words, reduce the number of parameters of SVMs. Therefore, the system achieves more generalization and reduces computing resources. Two methods for calculating document similarity, cosine similarity and Jaccard index, were compared. Additionally, two snippet sources, Bing search results given by the task organizer and Yahoo! Japan Web search results, were compared. Other methods that add query string information to snippet information for the feature vectors were compared with the above methods. Our system achieved 0.89 accuracy in the English task by cosine similarity and the Yahoo! Japan Web search results, and 0.86 in the Japanese task by cosine similarity and the Bing search results.
XYLab: an interactive plotting tool for mixed multivariate data observation and interpretation

The correct display of data is often a key point for interpreting the results of experimental procedures. Multivariate data sets suffer from the problem of representation, since a dimensionality above 3 is beyond the capability of plotting programs. Moreover, non numerical variables such as protein annotations are usually fundamental for a full comprehension of biological data. Here we present a novel interactive XY plotter designed to take the full control of large datasets containing mixed-type variables, provided with an intuitive data management, a powerful labelling system and other features aimed at facilitating data interpretation and sub-setting. Availability XYLab program, test dataset and manual is available at www4.unifi. it/scibio/bioinfo/ XYLab.html.
The ecology of human fear: survival optimization and the nervous system

We propose a Survival Optimization System (SOS) to account for the strategies that humans and other animals use to defend against recurring and novel threats. The SOS attempts to merge ecological models that define a repertoire of contextually relevant threat induced survival behaviors with contemporary approaches to human affective science. We first propose that the goal of the nervous system is to reduce surprise and optimize actions by (i) predicting the sensory landscape by simulating possible encounters with threat and selecting the appropriate pre-encounter action and (ii) prevention strategies in which the organism manufactures safe environments. When a potential threat is encountered the (iii) threat orienting system is engaged to determine whether the organism ignores the stimulus or switches into a process of (iv) threat assessment, where the organism monitors the stimulus, weighs the threat value, predicts the actions of the threat, searches for safety, and guides behavioral actions crucial to directed escape. When under imminent attack, (v) defensive systems evoke fast reflexive indirect escape behaviors (i.e., fight or flight). This cascade of responses to threat of increasing magnitude are underwritten by an interconnected neural architecture that extends from cortical and hippocampal circuits, to attention, action and threat systems including the amygdala, striatum, and hard-wired defensive systems in the midbrain. The SOS also includes a modulatory feature consisting of cognitive appraisal systems that flexibly guide perception, risk and action. Moreover, personal and vicarious threat encounters fine-tune avoidance behaviors via model-based learning, with higher organisms bridging data to reduce face-to-face encounters with predators. Our model attempts to unify the divergent field of human affective science, proposing a highly integrated nervous system that has evolved to increase the organism's chances of survival.
ALLiS: a Symbolic Learning System for Natural Language Learning

We present ALLiS, a learning system for identifying syntactic structures which uses theory refinement. When other learning techniques (symbolic or statistical) are widely used in Natural Language Learning, few applications use theory refinement (Abecker and Schmid, 1996), (Mooney, 1993). We would like to show that even a basic implementation of notions used in TR is enough to build an efficient machine learning system concerning the task of learning linguistic structures.
KidzFrame: Supporting Awareness in the Daycare

KidzFrame is an innovative system that connects working parents with their children at daycare centers. This paper reports the findings of three focus groups and a two- week long field study of the system. As conclusions of our study we offer six guidelines that are of direct salience for designers of pervasive computing services wanting to address the communication needs of daycare centers, parents and their children. I. INTRODUCTION Daycare, or child care, is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child's legal guardians. Compared to the communication of children with caretakers, communication between parents and caretakers is much less frequent. The content of the parent-caretaker communication is limited to the information related to the status of the child. Endsley and Minish (3) found that communication between parents and caretakers usually involves the giving of or asking for information about children's behavior, health or day at the daycare center. Communication frequency and attitudes towards this communication was the main focus of this study. Researchers have found that home-school communication, besides keeping diaries, is usually brief, primarily social and most of the time takes place during the drop-off and pick up moments (3, 10, 12).
An Algebraic Definition of Simulation Between Programs

A simulation relation between programs is defined which is quasi-ordering. Mutual simulation is then an equivalence relation, and by dividing out by it we abstract from a program such details as how the sequencing is controlled and how data is represented. The equivalence classes are approxiamtions to the algorithms which are realized, or expressed, by their member programs. A technique is given and illustrated for proving simulation and equivalence of programs; there is an analogy with Floyd''s technique for proving correctness of programs. Finally, necessary and sufficient conditions for simulation are given.
Discourse markers and (dis)fluency across registers : a contrastive usage-based study in English and French

Spoken language is characterized by the occurrence of linguistic devices such as discourse markers (e.g. so, well, you know, because, I mean) and other so-called “disfluent” phenomena, which reflect the temporal and non-linear nature of the cognitive mechanisms of language production and comprehension. These markers, also called “fluencemes”, are ambivalent in their use insofar as they can be produced and interpreted either as signals performing a strategic function (a pause or a but marking a major thematicdiscursive boundary) or as symptoms manifesting temporary trouble (a pause or a but expressing a hesitation). The purpose of this thesis is to distinguish between more or less strategic or symptomatic uses of fluencemes on the basis of their combination and distribution across several registers in English and French. The analysis specifically targets the syntactic (grammatical category, position in the unit) and functional properties of discourse markers, manually identif.
Online versus offline learning for spiking neural networks: A review and new strategies

Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) are considered to be the third generation of neural networks, and have proved more powerful than classical artificial neural networks from the previous generations. The main reason for studying SNNs lies in their close resemblance with biological neural networks. However their applicability in real world applications has been limited due to the lack of efficient training methods. For training large networks on large data sets, online learning is the more natural approach for learning non-stationary tasks. In this paper, existing offline and online learning algorithms for SNNs will be reviewed, the issue that online learning algorithms for SNNs were less developed will be highlighted, and future lines of research related to online training of SNNs will be presented.
The dark side of ISO 14001: The symbolic environmental behavior

Some of the academic research on ISO 14001 has focu ed on analyzing the benefits of its adoption. However, this international standard has also received some criticism, particularly in respect of the adoption of ISO 1400 1 when not accompanied by significant improvements in environmental performan ce. This study analyzes the relationship between the symbolic environmental beh avior and the adoption of ISO 14001. In so doing, it uses binary logistic regress ion to analyze an international sample of 1,961 manufacturing facilities that each employs more than 50 people. The results indicate that the higher the symbolic environmental performance of the firm, the greater the probability of adopting ISO 14001.
Changes in the Black-White Test score Gap in the Elementary School Grades. CSE Report 715.

In a pair of recent studies, Fryer and Levitt (2004a, 2004b) analyzed the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) to explore the characteristics of the Black-White test score gap in young children. They found that the gap grew markedly between kindergarten and the third grade and that they could predict the gap from measured characteristics in kindergarten but not in the third grade. In addition, they found that the widening of the gap was differential across areas of knowledge and skill, with Blacks falling behind in all areas other than the most basic. They raised the possibility that Black and Whites may not be on “parallel trajectories” and that Blacks, as they go through school, may never master some skills mastered by Whites. This study re-analyzes the ECLS-K data to address this last question. We find that the scores used by Fryer and Levitt (proficiency probability scores, or PPS) do not support the hypothesis of differential growth of the gap. The patterns they found reflect the nonlinear relationships between overall proficiency, θ , and the PPS variables, as well as ceiling effects in the PPS distributions. Moreover, θ is a sufficient statistic for the PPS variables, and therefore, PPS variables merely re-express the overall mean difference between groups and contain no information about qualitative differences in performance between Black and White students at similar levels of θ . We therefore carried out differential item functioning (DIF) analyses of all items in all rounds of the ECLS-K through grade 5 (Round 6), excluding only the fall of grade 1 (which was a very small sample) and subsamples in which there were too few Black students for reasonable analysis. We found no relevant patterns in the distribution of the DIF statistics or in the characteristics of the items showing DIF that support the notion of differential divergence, other than in kindergarten and the first grade, where DIF favoring Blacks tended to be on items tapping simple skills taught outside of school (e.g., number recognition), while DIF disfavoring Blacks tended to be on material taught more in school (e.g., arithmetic). However, there were exceptions to this. Moreover, because of its construction and reporting, the ECLS-K data were not ideal for addressing this 1Young-Suk Kim is currently at the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) and Department of Childhood Education, Reading, and Disability Services, College of Education, Florida State University
Particle Filters in a Continuous Time Framework

I report on a new class of algorithms for the numerical solution of the continuous time filtering problem. These algorithms are inspired by recent advances in the area of weak approximations for solutions of stochastic differential equations. The algorithms belonging to this class generate approximations of the conditional distribution of the signal in the form of linear combinations of Dirac measures, hence can be interpreted as particle filters or, more precisely, particle approximations to the solution of the filtering problem. The main characteristics of these algorithms are discussed and a convergence result for the entire class is stated.
A Configurable Internet Browser for Unreliable Internet Connection

In this paper, we introduce a configurable Internet browser for accessing Internet using networks with low-quality connection. The goal is to build user-configurable Internet browser from existing software. We propose a new model for accessing Internet that allows a user to keep accessing the Internet even in very low speed and/or with temporary disconnection. In this model, we integrate concept of User-Oriented Quality of Service into Internet browser. The User-Oriented Quality of Service becomes a critical issue here, because the current model assumes a partial approach where access is constrained by the browser used to access the Internet. Furthermore, the browser fully controls the way access is performed, giving no opportunity for the user to specify alternative access arrangements. We therefore need a more flexible access model that allows a user to break the constraints.
Physicians’ Belief about Organ Donation

Background: Several studies have suggested that knowledge, attitudes and determinants concerning organ donation are influenced by many factors including gender, educational level, occupation, sociodemographic status, income level, culture and religion. Objective: To highlight the awareness of cardiopulmonary and brain death (CD and BD) among the physicians and their belief about the organ donation. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 15% of 1700 physicians working under the auspices of Ministry of Health in Makkah region, were selected randomly from two hospitals of Makkah city, i.e., Alnoor Specialist Hospital and King Abdalaziz Hospital. A self-administered questionnaire with dichotomous answers was distributed to them. Results: Out of 185 respondents, 174 (94.1%) identified the right definition of BD and CD and 155 (83.3%) agreed organ donation. The difference among physicians to differentiate CD from BD was not significant (p=0.2). Conclusion: Physicians had enough knowledge to differentiate CD from BD; most of them are highly positive regarding the concept of organ donation.
Evaluation of gastric submucosal tumors using endoscopically visualized features with submucosal endoscopy

Although the macroscopic characteristics of submucosal tumors (SMTs), such as gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), have been characterized, the assessment of SMTs by their endoscopically visualized features (EVF; which are observed by endoscopic imaging under direct view) remains unevaluated. The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential of endoscopic diagnostics for SMTs using EVF. The EVF of 26 gastric SMT cases, in which the final pathological diagnosis was obtained by core biopsy using the submucosal endoscopy with mucosal flap method, were retrospectively reviewed. Each type of SMT was classified according to the following five EVF: Color, clarity, shape, tumor coating and solidity. Additionally, the EVF of 13 low-risk GISTs and 13 benign submucosal tumors (BSTs) were comparatively evaluated for the five abovementioned EVF. Similar trends were identified between the low-risk GISTs, granular cell tumors and the schwannoma with regard to EVF. However, while these tumors exhibited cloudy EVF, the leiomyomas tended to exhibit clear EVF. Among SMTs of the heterotopic pancreas type, the EVF demonstrated particularly small nodules of the pancreatic tissue itself. Although the sample size included in the present study is small, a classification system for gastric SMTs was proposed according to the EVF. When compared with the BST group, the GIST group demonstrated a significantly higher frequency of tumors that exhibited a combination of three EVF (white, cloudy and rigid) that are consistent with all gastric GISTs (P<0.05). Gastric SMTs may be classified based on the EVF, which indicates that the EVF possess potential diagnostic value for the differentiation of GISTs from BSTs.