Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Konstantinos Konstantinides, Cheng-Tie Chen, Ting-Chung Chen,

In 1988, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) established the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) with the mission to develop standards for the coded representation of moving pictures and associated audio for digital storage media. The work of the MPEG group led to the development of several ISO standards, including ISO 11172, known as MPEG-1 [1]; ISO 13818, known as MPEG-2 [2]; and ISO 14496, known as MPEG-4 [3]. In recent years, digital video has become a key ingredient in entertainment, digital broadcasting, education, and business. The adoption of the MPEG standard offered consumers a new generation of products, such as DVD players, digital TV, personal video recorders, and DVD recorders. Among the key components for all these new products are integrated circuits (ICs) for MPEG-2 encoding and decoding. While the first generation of MPEG ICs [4] offered playback-only capability, the second generation of MPEG-encoding solutions [5], [6] allowed for a new class of affordable digital video recording products. These ICs integrated complete MPEG-2 video encoders and decoders (codecs); however, a complete audio/video (a/v) system would still require additional hardware for audio processing (encoding and decoding) and for multiplexing or demultiplexing the audio and video streams [7]. The third generation of MPEG ICs [8], [9] pushed system integration even further by integrating both audio and video encoding and decoding into a single chip. In addition to real-time audio and video coding, these ICs provide flexible host interfaces, programmable support for a/v multiplexing and demultiplexing, and other functions, such as video preand post-processing of video data, and on-screen display (OSD). These features increase chip complexity and go far beyond the mandatory specifications of the ISO standards, but they are essential for the development of cost-effective, MPEG-based consumer appliances. In this article, we review the design of a single-chip MPEG-2 a/v codec, covering the design process from the MPEG specifications and system requirements to the final design. After a brief overview of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 standards, we examine the system requirements using as an example a universal serial bus (USB)-based MPEG-2 real-time digital video recorder. Finally, we present in more detail the hardware and software architecture of a specific MPEG a/v codec.
RESEARCH TRENDS IN HIGH PERFORMANCE PARALLEL INPUT/OUTPUT FOR CLUSTER ENVIRONMENTS

Parallel input/output in high performance computing is a field of increasing importance. In particular with compute clusters we see the concept of replicated resources being transferred to I/O issues. Consequently, we find research questions like e.g. how to map data structures to files, which resources to actually use, and how to deal with failures in the environment. The paper will introduce the problem of massive I/O from the user´s point of view and illustrate available programming interfaces. After a short description of some available parallel file systems we will concentrate on the research directions in that field. Besides other questions, efficiency is the main issue. It depends on an appropriate mapping of data structures onto file segments which in turn are spread over physical disks. Our own work concentrates on measuring the performance of individual mappings and to change them dynamically to increase performance and control the sharing of resources.
A PSO-Based Buffer Management Scheme for Improving Hit Ratio of Solid State Drive

As the popularity of flash memory increases, solid state drive (SSD) based on flash memory is widely used in the enterprise computing environment, owing to its shock-resistance, non-volatile, low energy consumption, and high I/O speed. Meanwhile, SSD has the characteristics of not-in-place update and asymmetric I/O latency among read, write, and erase operation as write/erase operation are much slower than read operation. Hence, the buffer replacement algorithm needs to properly reflect the asymmetry. This paper proposes a particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based buffer management algorithm to accurately predict each logical page in the buffer as hot or cold. The prediction is a key criterion of page-level FTL scheme. The pages predicted as hot are maintained in the buffer to maximize the hit ratio of SSD buffer. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme outperforms the existing schemes in terms of read and write hit count and buffer hit ratio.
The Impact of Component Modularity on Design Evolution: Evidence from the Software Industry

Much academic work asserts a relationship between the design of a complex system and the manner in which this system evolves over time. In particular, designs which are modular in nature are argued to be more "evolvable," in that these designs facilitate making future adaptations, the nature of which do not have to be specified in advance. In essence, modularity creates "option value" with respect to new and improved designs, which is particularly important when a system must meet uncertain future demands. Despite the conceptual appeal of this research, empirical work exploring the relationship between modularity and evolution has had limited success. Three major challenges persist: first, it is difficult to measure modularity in a robust and repeatable fashion; second, modularity is a property of individual components, not systems as a whole, hence we must examine these dynamics at the microstructure level; and third, evolution is a temporal phenomenon, in that the conditions at time t affect the nature of the design at time t+1, hence exploring this phenomenon requires longitudinal data. In this paper, we tackle these challenges by analyzing the evolution of a successful commercial software product over its entire lifetime, comprising six major "releases. " In particular, we develop measures of modularity at the component level, and use these to predict patterns of evolution between successive versions of the design. We find that modularity has a strong and unambiguous impact on design evolution. Specifically, we show that i) tightly-coupled components are "harder to kill," in that they have a greater likelihood of survival in subsequent versions of a design; ii) tightly-coupled components are "harder to maintain," in that they experience more surprise changes to their dependency relationships that are not associated with new functionality; and iii) tightly-coupled components are "harder to augment," in that the mix of new components added in each version is significantly more modular than the legacy design.
An Automatic Surface Fitting Method for 3 D Reconstruction from 2 D Video Sequence

3D reconstruction is one of the most fundamental problem in computer vision and computer graphics. 3D video reconstruction is the process of recovering the 3D geometric structure and surface from a 2D video sequence which is one of the most challenging research topics in 3D reconstruction. The challenge in 3D video reconstruction is how to align 2D image sequence pixel by pixel. Traditional stereo reconstruction methods and volumetric reconstruction methods suffer from the blank wall problem and the estimated dense depth map is not smooth for surface modeling. In this paper, We present a novel surface fitting approach for 3D dense reconstruction. We propose a non-linear deterministic annealing algorithm to decompose the 3D sparse structure to separate regions, and estimate the dense depth map by plane surface fitting. The experimental results show that the new approach can segment the 3D space geometrically and generate smoother dense depth map. Index Terms Geometric segmentation, surface fitting, dense matching, 3D reconstruction
Genome-Wide Association Study of Receptive Language Ability of 12-Year-Olds

Purpose Researchers have previously shown that individual differences in measures of receptive language ability at age 12 are highly heritable. In the current study, the authors attempted to identify some of the genes responsible for the heritability of receptive language ability using a genome-wide association approach. Method The authors administered 4 Internet-based measures of receptive language (vocabulary, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics) to a sample of 2,329 twelve-year-olds for whom DNA and genome-wide genotyping were available. Nearly 700,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 1 million imputed SNPs were included in a genome-wide association analysis of receptive language composite scores. Results No SNP associations met the demanding criterion of genome-wide significance that corrects for multiple testing across the genome (p < 5 × 10–8). The strongest SNP association did not replicate in an additional sample of 2,639 twelve-year-olds. Conclusions These results indicate that individual differences in receptive language ability in the general population do not reflect common genetic variants that account for more than 3% of the phenotypic variance. The search for genetic variants associated with language skill will require larger samples and additional methods to identify and functionally characterize the full spectrum of risk variants.
Individual Differences Relate to Support for Insanity and Postpartum Depression Legal Defenses: The Mediating Role of Moral Disengagement

Abstract Postpartum depression defense (PPDD) is a form of insanity defense often used when mothers harm their children. Although courts have determined that insanity defenses, including PPDD, can be used as legitimate criminal defenses, such defenses are often misunderstood among jurors and laypersons. The current survey of 467 undergraduates examines relationships between individual differences and support for PPDD and the insanity defense. Need for cognition was found to be positively related to support for PPDD and the insanity defense, while legal authoritarianism (LA) was found to be negatively related to support for both defenses. Faith in intuition is negatively related to support for the insanity defense. In this sample, women are more likely than men to support the PPDD, but not the insanity defense. Additionally, relationships between support and both the need for cognition and LA are partially mediated by moral disengagement, which is negatively related to support for PPDD and insanity defenses. These results replicate a model used in different legal contexts. Implications for legal and academic communities are discussed.
Towards a Theory of Mobile Learning

Contact address to September 2005: Mike Sharples, Centre for Educational Technology and Distance Learning, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT. Tel: +44 121 414 3966. Contact address from September 2005: Mike Sharples, Learning Sciences Research Institute, University of Nottingham, Jubilee Campus, Wollaton Road, Nottingham, NG8 1BB, UK. Email: mike.sharples@nottingham.ac. uk There is a need to re-conceptualise learning for the mobile age, to recognise the essential role of mobility and communication in the process of learning, and also to indicate the importance of context in establishing meaning, and the transformative effect of digital networks in supporting virtual communities that transcend barriers of age and culture. In this paper we offer a framework for theorising about mobile learning, to complement theories of infant, classroom, workplace and informal learning. A related aim is to inform the design of new environments and technologies to support mobile learning, since the work described here has been developed through a series of projects to design mobile learning technology. In the tradition of Activity Theory we analyse learning as a cultural-historical activity system, mediated by tools that both constrain and support the learners in their goals of transforming their knowledge and skills. We separate two perspectives, or layers, of tool-mediated activity. The semiotic layer describes learning as a semiotic system in which the learner’s object-oriented actions are mediated by cultural tools and signs. The technological layer represents learning as an engagement with technology, in which tools such as computers and mobile phones function as interactive agents in the process of coming to know. These layers can be prised apart, to provide either a semiotic framework to promote discussion with educational theorists to analyse learning in the mobile age, or a technological framework for software developers and engineers to propose requirements for the design and evaluation of new mobile learning systems. Or the layers can be superimposed to examine the dynamics and co-evolution of learning and technology.
Slices, Slabs, and Sections of the Unit Hypercube

Using combinatorial methods, we derive several formulas for the volume of convex bodies obtained by intersecting a unit hypercube with a halfspace, or with a hyperplane of codimension 1, or with a flat defined by two parallel hyperplanes. We also describe some of the history of these problems, dating to Polya's Ph.D. thesis, and we discuss several applications of these formulas. Subject Class: Primary: 52A38, 52B11; Secondary: 05A19, 60D05. In this note we study the volumes of portions of n-dimensional cubes determined by hyper- planes. More precisely, we study slices created by intersecting a hypercube with a halfspace, slabs formed as the portion of a hypercube lying between two parallel hyperplanes, and sections obtained by intersecting a hypercube with a hyperplane. These objects occur natu- rally in several fields, including probability, number theory, geometry, physics, and analysis. In this paper we describe an elementary combinatorial method for calculating volumes of arbitrary slices, slabs, and sections of a unit cube. We also describe some applications that tie these geometric results to problems in analysis and combinatorics. Some of the results we obtain here have in fact appeared earlier in other contexts. How- ever, our approach is entirely combinatorial, in contrast with most of the other work on this topic. In addition, due to the wide application of cube slices and sections in several fields, it appears that some of the previous work we describe here (including, for instance, Polya's thesis) is not widely cited in the literature, and we hope that by surveying some of this work here we might make some of the history and prior contributions on these topics better known. We remark that Zong's recent article (32) and monograph (33) survey many problems and topics regarding n-dimensional cubes and parallelotopes, including questions on sections, projections, triangulations, and inscribed simplices. We refer the reader to these sources for additional problems and questions about unit cubes. We employ the following notation throughout. Let I n denote the n-dimensional unit cube placed in the positive orthant of R n with one vertex at the origin,
Stent Selection for Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Drainage of Pancreatic Fluid Collections: A Multicenter Study in China

Aims. We attempted to establish some guidelines for the selection of transmural stents during endoscopic drainage of PFCs by retrospective review of the clinical data obtained from three tertiary hospitals. Patients and Methods. Clinical data of 93 patients with attempted endoscopic drainage of symptomatic PFCs were obtained through chart review and prospective follow-up. Results. Treatment success for acute pseudocyst (n = 67), chronic pseudocyst (n = 9), and WOPN (n = 17) was 95.3%, 100%, and 88.2%, respectively (P = 0.309). Clinical success for single-stent drainage was 93.9% (46/49) versus 97.4% (37/38) for multiple-stent drainage (P = 0.799). Secondary infection for single-stent drainage was 18.4% (9/49) versus 5.3% (2/38) for multiple-stent drainage (P = 0.134). Secondary infection for stent diameter less than or equal to 8.5 F was 3.4% (1/29) versus 17.2% (10/58) for stent diameter larger than or equal to 10 F (P = 0.138). Conclusion. EUS-guided transmural drainage is an effective therapy for PFCs. Single-stent transmural drainage of PFCs is enough and does not seem to influence clinical success. The number or diameter of stents does not seem to be associated with secondary infection.
A new strategy in selective harmonic elimination for a photovoltaic multilevel inverter

Selective harmonic elimination technology (SHE) has been widely used in many medium and high power converters. Because of low switching frequency privilege in this method, low power loss is expected in the converters. Although it is still a crucial work to find optimum switching angle from a group of nonlinear transcendental equations, especially in multilevel inverters with multiple switching in each level. In this article a new strategy based on selective harmonic elimination concept (SHE-PWM) in photovoltaic multilevel inverter with multiple switching is proposed. In the proposed strategy, the solving process is divided into two steps to ease the complexity of the problem and increase the degree of control in each step. It also offers an exclusive searching scheme which makes convergence easily achievable. Simulation's result also proves validity of the proposed strategy for a wide range of modulation indices.
Effect of skilled and unskilled training on nerve regeneration and functional recovery

The most disabling aspect of human peripheral nerve injuries, the majority of which affect the upper limbs, is the loss of skilled hand movements. Activity-induced morphological and electrophysiological remodeling of the neuromuscular junction has been shown to influence nerve repair and functional recovery. In the current study, we determined the effects of two different treatments on the functional and morphological recovery after median and ulnar nerve injury. Adult Wistar male rats weighing 280 to 330 g at the time of surgery (N = 8-10 animals/group) were submitted to nerve crush and 1 week later began a 3-week course of motor rehabilitation involving either “skilled” (reaching for small food pellets) or “unskilled” (walking on a motorized treadmill) training. During this period, functional recovery was monitored weekly using staircase and cylinder tests. Histological and morphometric nerve analyses were used to assess nerve regeneration at the end of treatment. The functional evaluation demonstrated benefits of both tasks, but found no difference between them (P > 0.05). The unskilled training, however, induced a greater degree of nerve regeneration as evidenced by histological measurement (P < 0.05). These data provide evidence that both of the forelimb training tasks used in this study can accelerate functional recovery following brachial plexus injury.
VEGFR-1–Selective VEGF Homologue PlGF Is Arteriogenic: Evidence for a Monocyte-Mediated Mechanism

Abstract— Two signaling receptors for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the vasculature are known with not yet well-understood roles in collateral vessel growth (arteriogenesis). In this study, we examined the involvement of the two VEGF receptors in arteriogenesis. Therefore, we used the VEGF homologue placenta growth factor (PlGF), which only binds to VEGFR-1 and VEGF-E, which only recognizes VEGFR-2. These peptides were locally infused over 7 days after ligation of the femoral artery in the rabbit. Evaluation of collateral growth by determining collateral conductance and angiographic scores demonstrated that the VEGFR-1–specific PlGF contributed significantly more to arteriogenesis than the VEGFR-2 specific VEGF-E. The combination of VEGF-E and PlGF did not exceed the effect of PlGF alone, indicating that cooperation of the two VEGF receptors in endothelial cell signaling is not required for arteriogenesis. In an in vitro model of angiogenesis, VEGF and VEGF-E were comparably active, whereas PlGF displayed no activity when given alone and did not further increase the effects of VEGF or VEGF-E. However, PlGF was as potent as VEGF when monocyte activation was assessed by monitoring integrin surface expression. In addition, accumulation of activated monocytes/macrophages in the periphery of collateral vessels in PlGF-treated animals was observed. Furthermore, in monocyte-depleted animals, the ability of PlGF to enhance collateral growth in the rabbit model and to rescue impaired arteriogenesis in PlGF gene–deficient mice was abrogated. Together, these data indicate that the arteriogenic activity observed with the VEGFR-1–specific PlGF is caused by its monocyte-activating properties.
A sociobiological account of indirect speech

Indirect speech is a remarkable trait of human communication. The present paper tackles the sociobiological underpinnings of communicative indirectness discussing both socio-interactional and cognitive rationales behind its manifestation in discourse. From a social perspective, the use of indirect forms in interactions can be regarded as an adaptive response to the epistemic implications of transacted new information in small primary groups, representing – in Givon’s terms – our “bio-cultural” descent. The design features of indirect strategies today may therefore be explained in terms of a form-function mapping in which indirect communicative expressions allowed a “safer” transaction of contents and a more cooperative attitude of speakers in both face-to-face and public contexts of communication. The unchallengeability effects notably induced by underencoded meanings have now received extensive experimental backing, unveiling intriguing underlying cognitive mechanisms such as the well-known cognitive illusions or fallacies.
The effectiveness of the Peer Mediation Program in improving the atmosphere in the school and reducing violent acts in the school setting

Robert Milavsky The Effectiveness of the Peer Mediation Program in Improving the Atmosphere in the School and Reducing Violent Acts in the School Setting 2000 Dr. Gini Doolittle Educational Administration The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact mediation has in reducing violence in the school setting. Through the use of survey instrumentation, the researcher will gather feedback from disputants regarding the effectiveness of the program in resolving their problems. Along with a survey instrument, the researcher will conduct monthly mediation meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to gather information from the mediators in regards to both effective and ineffective mediations and ways to improve the total program. Survey instruments will go out to all individuals participating in a mediation. It will be distributed approximately two weeks after the mediation to give time for the agreements to take shape. Once the surveys are returned to the researcher, they will be used to gather information regarding the effectiveness of resolving the mediated conflict. Conclusions from the study indicate that, by in large, most students view the mediation process and the role of the mediator as positive. Almost one third, twelve out of 37 indicated they would have acted out physically, resulting in a fight had the mediation not been available.