Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Language Support for Identifying Flexible Points in Coercible Simulations

Abstract : ABSTRACT: Simulation developers are forced to make assumptions about how their simulations will be used and possibly revised to support reuse. Even when developers are aware of potential future adaptations for reuse, current programming languages do not support expression of design alternatives reflecting those adaptations. One can use program documentation to describe them, but documentation does not support automatic simulation transformation. Previously we have described COERCE, a semi-automated simulation transformation technology that supports the capture of design alternatives and the subsequent search and exploitation of these alternatives in order to accomplish desired changes in simulation behavior. In this paper, we propose capturing these design alternatives in programming language extensions called flexible points. With metadata about flexible points embedded in simulation code, COERCE-based software tools can preprocess the code, present information about flexible points to the user, and support semi-automatic evaluation of the fitness of different design alternatives for the new requirements. The programming language extensions we describe in this paper would advance our goal of automating simulation coercion to the extent possible. Semi-automated coercion of simulations, in turn, would greatly enhance user experience with simulation reuse.
Advances in the pharmacological control of the bladder

To effectively control bladder activity, and to treat urinary incontinence caused by bladder overactivity, identification of suitable targets for pharmacological intervention is necessary. Such targets may be found in the central nervous system (CNS) or peripherally. The causes of bladder overactivity are not known, but theoretically increased afferent activity, decreased inhibitory control in the CNS and/or peripheral ganglia, and increased sensitivity of the detrusor to efferent stimulation may be involved. Several CNS transmitters may modulate voiding, but few drugs with a defined CNS site of action have been developed for treatment of voiding disorders. Potentially, drugs affecting GABA, opioid, 5-HT, noradrenaline, dopamine, or glutamatergic receptors and mechanisms can be developed, but a selective action on the lower urinary tract may be difficult to obtain. Traditionally, drugs used for treatment of bladder overactivity have had a peripheral site of action, mainly the efferent neurotransmission or the detrusor muscle itself. Antimuscarinic drugs, beta-adrenoceptor agonists, alpha-adrenoceptor antagonists, drugs affecting membrane channels, prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors and several other agents have been used. However, none of them has been developed specifically for treatment of bladder disorders, and their efficacy, as judged from controlled clinical trials (where performed), is often limited. Recent information on the alpha-adrenoceptor, beta-adrenoceptor (beta 3), and muscarinic receptor subtypes of the human detrusor and outflow region can be the basis for the development of compounds with effect on bladder overactivity and with improved tolerance. New ways of decreasing acetylcholine release may represent a promising way of controlling bladder contraction. Potassium channel (KATP) openers are theoretically attractive, but the drugs available so far have targeted vascular rather than bladder smooth muscle, which has limited their clinical use. However, new drugs belonging to these groups with an interesting profile of action have been developed. Drugs decreasing afferent activity represent an attractive therapeutic approach and transmitters of afferent nerves and their receptors are possible targets for pharmacological interventions. Tachykinins, such as substance P, neurokinins A and B, and other neuropeptides have been demonstrated in nerves of the lower urinary tract and have been shown to influence bladder function. Agents affecting these nerves by causing release of tachykinins, such as capsaicin and resiniferatoxin, given intravesically can be effective in some cases of bladder overactivity, and agents antagonizing tachykinin receptors may also be of therapeutic interest. New drugs specifically directed for control of bladder activity are under development and will hopefully lead to improved treatment of urinary incontinence.
OPTIMAL VANISHING POINT DETECTION AND ROTATION ESTIMATION OF SINGLE IMAGES FROM A LEGOLAND SCENE

The paper presents a method for automatically and optimally determining the vanishing points of a single image, and in case the interior orientation is given, the rotation of an image with respect to the intrinsic coordinate system of a lego land scene. We perform rigorous testing and estimation in order to be as independent on control parameters as possible. This refers to (1) estimating vanishing points from line segments and the rotation matrix, (2) to testing during RANSAC and during boosting lines and (3) to classifying the line segments w. r. t. their vanishing point. Spherically normalized homogeneous coordinates are used for line segments and especially for vanishing points to allow for points at infinity. We propose a minimal representation for the uncertainty of homogeneous coordinates of 2D points and 2D lines and rotations to avoid the use of singular covariance matrices of observed line segments. This at the same time allows to estimate the parameters with a minimal representation. The vanishing point detection method is experimentally validated on a set of 292 images.
The effect of ad rank on the performance of keyword advertising campaigns

The goal of this research is to evaluate the effect of ad rank on the performance of keyword advertising campaigns. We examined a large‐scale data file comprised of nearly 7,000,000 records spanning 33 consecutive months of a major US retailer's search engine marketing campaign. The theoretical foundation is serial position effect to explain searcher behavior when interacting with ranked ad listings. We control for temporal effects and use one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tamhane's T2 tests to examine the effect of ad rank on critical keyword advertising metrics, including clicks, cost‐per‐click, sales revenue, orders, items sold, and advertising return on investment. Our findings show significant ad rank effect on most of those metrics, although less effect on conversion rates. A primacy effect was found on both clicks and sales, indicating a general compelling performance of top‐ranked ads listed on the first results page. Conversion rates, on the other hand, follow a relatively stable distribution except for the top 2 ads, which had significantly higher conversion rates. However, examining conversion potential (the effect of both clicks and conversion rate), we show that ad rank has a significant effect on the performance of keyword advertising campaigns. Conversion potential is a more accurate measure of the impact of an ad's position. In fact, the first ad position generates about 80% of the total profits, after controlling for advertising costs. In addition to providing theoretical grounding, the research results reported in this paper are beneficial to companies using search engine marketing as they strive to design more effective advertising campaigns.
Self-Other Connectedness in Consumer Affect, Judgments, and Action

This dissertation consists of three essays that examine the effects of consumers' identities and connections to others on their behaviors. In the first essay I examine the notion that consumers have multiple identities that interact to influence charitable judgments and behaviors. In the first study, I examine the effect of internal moral identity and gender on adult volunteers' donation allocations to terrorist victims in London or Afghanistan. In studies 2 and 3, I explore the effect of these identities on judgments of relief efforts and donation intentions for terrorist victims in London and Iraq. The pattern in these studies indicate that males give more to ingroups (i.e., London) than to outgroups (i.e., Afghanistan or Iraq) when they have high internal moral identity whereas females with high internal moral identity give equally to both the ingroup and outgroup. Study 4 examines how self-construal moderates the effect of these identities on donation likelihood to victims of natural disasters. I show that consumers have multiple identities that interact to influence judgments, rather than a single salient identity that influences behavior. In my second essay I explore the role of closeness to others and domain relevance, using the self-evaluation maintenance model, on consumer regret. In the first study, I show that closeness to others moderates the effect of performance on regret in entree choice. In two additional studies, I show that relevance moderates the effect of closeness and performance on regret such that consumers experience more regret when they compare to a friend than to a stranger for high relevance domains with the reverse effect occurring for low relevance domains. Jealousy mediates this interactive effect on regret. Finally, in my third essay I explore the effect of special promotions on purchase intentions. I consider when special promotions such as extended employee discounts or birthday discounts increase consumers' intentions to purchase. Self-construal, or one's view of him or herself as connected to or distinct from others, moderates the effect of these inclusively- and exclusively-framed promotions on purchase intentions. Furthermore, I explore the role of feelings of brand connectedness in the effect of self-construal and promotion type on purchase intentions.
General Linear Cameras with Finite Aperture

A pinhole camera selects a two-dimensional set of rays from the four-dimensional light field. Pinhole cameras are a type of general linear camera, defined as planar 2D slices of the 4D light field. Cameras with finite apertures can be considered as the summation of a collection of pinhole cameras. In the limit they evaluate a two-dimensional integral of the four-dimensional light field. Hence a general linear camera with finite aperture factors the 4D light field into two integrated dimensions and two imaged dimensions. We present a simple framework for representing these slices and integral projections, based on certain eigenspaces in a two-plane parameterization of the light field. Our framework allows for easy analysis of focus and perspective, and it demonstrates their dual nature. Using our framework, we present analogous taxonomies of perspective and focus, placing within them the familiar perspective, orthographic, cross-slit, and bilinear cameras; astigmatic and anastigmatic focus; and several other varieties of perspective and focus.
A prototype approach to personality disorder diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE Virtually no research has tested alternatives to the diagnostic method used since DSM-III, which requires decisions about the presence/absence of individual diagnostic criteria, followed by counting symptoms and applying cutoffs (the count/cutoff method). This study tested an alternative, prototype matching procedure designed to simplify diagnosis. The procedure was applied to personality disorders. METHOD A random national sample of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists (N=291) described a randomly selected patient in their care. Clinician-provided diagnostic data were used to generate categorical and dimensional DSM-IV diagnoses (number of symptoms present per disorder). Clinicians also used one of two prototype matching systems to provide a diagnosis for the selected patient. RESULTS Prototype diagnosis led to reduced comorbidity relative to DSM-IV diagnosis, yielded similar estimates of validity in predicting criterion variables (adaptive functioning, treatment response, and etiology), and outperformed DSM-IV diagnosis in ratings of clinical utility and ease of use. Adding a personality health prototype further increased prediction. CONCLUSIONS A simple prototype matching procedure provides a viable alternative for improving diagnosis of personality disorders in clinical practice. Prototype diagnosis has multiple advantages, including ease of use, minimization of artifactual comorbidity, compatibility with naturally occurring cognitive processes, and ready translation into both categorical and dimensional diagnosis.
Parallel Generation of L-Systems

This paper introduces a solution to compute Lsystems on parallel architectures like GPUs and multi-core CPUs. Our solution can split the derivation of the L-system as well as the interpretation and geometry generation into thousands of threads running in parallel. We introduce a highly parallel algorithm for L-system evaluation that works on arbitrary L-systems, including parametric productions, context sensitive productions, stochastic production selection, and productions with side effects. Further we directly interpret the productions defined in plain-text, without requiring any compilation or transformation step (e.g., into shaders). Our algorithm is efficient in the sense that it requires no explicit inter-thread communication or atomic operations, and is thus completely lock free.
Analytical Cell-Based Model for the Breakdown Statistics of Multilayer Insulator Stacks

A fully analytical cell-based model is proposed to describe the breakdown (BD) statistics of multiple-layer insulator stacks. The model is shown to be completely equivalent to the full percolation model by comparing with recently published kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. The role of an initial density of native defects in the as-grown oxide and the time-dependent generation of inert defects are successfully addressed. The effect of the generation of interface states on the stack BD statistics is also incorporated into the model.
Who Is Worthy of Being Followed? The Impact of Leaders’ Character and the Moderating Role of Followers’ Personality

ABSTRACT The study of character found its way into leadership research through different kinds of leadership concepts. And indeed, there are some significant reasons for why character is worth studying and cannot be left out of the leadership equation. However, the explicit study of certain aspects of character is rare. Therefore, this study examined the impact of three aspects of leaders’ character (integrity, humility and forgiveness, and interest and gratitude) on followers’ perceptions of the leader's worthiness of being followed, followers’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and followers’ voice behavior. In addition, the moderating effects of followers’ personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism) were examined. Data from 626 participants of a scenario experiment supported the impact of leaders’ character as well as the moderating impact of followers’ personalities. Theoretical implications for what it means to truly follow and practical implications for what it means to truly lead are provided.
A Model of Decision-Making Based on the Theory of Persuasion used in MMORPGs

From a videogame perspective, decision-making is a crucial activity that takes place at all times and at different levels of perception. Moreover, this process influences the gamers' performances, which is an interesting feature for RPGs as they are games that are able to work as tools for increasing the improvement of the proximal development zones of players due to their inherent trait of cooperation, which alone, stimulates their skills of socialization, interaction and, consequently, communication. A feat that is achieved by involving players in a kind of plot that requires them to interact and take decisions, hence, favoring decision-making process. For these reasons, the RPG genre was considered as an appropriate test bed to apply the decision-making model proposed by this paper, which was built by using a Petri Net and that combines concepts taken from The Game Theory and from the reciprocity principle from the Theory of Persuasion.
On the use of spiking neural network for EEG classification

This paper presents a new classification technique of continuous EEG recordings, based on a network of spiking neurons. Human EEG signals published on the BCI Competition website were used for the study. The signals were pre-processed using Wavelet Transform to remove the noise and to extract the low frequency content. Analysis of the signals was performed on the ensemble EEG and the task of the neural network was to identify the P300 component in the signal. The network employed leaky-integrate-and-fire (LIF) neurons as nodes in a multi-layered structure. The method involved formation of multiple weak classifiers to perform voting. Collective results are used for final classification. Results have shown the method to perform better than a genetic algorithm approach to the same problem.
DECOMPOSITION METHOD FOR NONSMOOTH CONVEX VARIATIONAL SIGNAL RECOVERY

Under consideration is the large body of signal recovery problems that can be formulated as the problem of minimizing the sum of two proper lower semicontinous convex (not necessarily smooth) functions in a real Hilbert space. A general analysis of this problem is given and a decomposition method is proposed to solve it. The convergence of the method, which is based on an extension of the standard Douglas-Rachford algorithm for monotone operators, is established under genral conditions. Various signal recovery applications are discussed and numerical results are provided.
Characteristics Comparison and Selection Guide for Selected Magnetic Materials used in Electrical Machines

This article presents an up-to-date magnetic material investigation and overview on magnetic materials used in rotating electrical machines. The focus is on small to mediumsized high-performance and high-efficiency permanent-magnet and induction motors for different application scenarios. The investigated materials include fully processed silicon-iron, nickeliron, and cobalt-iron lamination steels, as well as soft magnetic composites and amorphous magnetic materials. The technical focus of the article is on the magnetic properties and iron losses as well as the manufacturing influence and required thermal treatments during the manufacturing process. A new loss to flux density factor is introduced to compare the characteristic B H magnetization curve and the iron losses of different materials within the same diagram. The aim of the article is to give the machine designer an efficient material overview and selection guide during the early machine design process.
Uma escala de avaliação da empatia: adaptação portuguesa do Questionnaire to Assess Affective and Cognitive Empathy

Resumo Neste estudo, procedeu-se à adaptação portuguesa de uma escala de empatia, ―A Questionnaire to Assess Affective and Cognitive Empathy in Children‖ (QACEC), de Zoll e Enz (2010). A amostra envolveu 328 alunos do ensino básico de escolas de Lisboa, 4o e 6o anos, com sujeitos do género masculino e feminino. A escala apresentou bons índices de consistência interna. Numa análise de componentes principais com rotação varimax, foram identificadas duas dimensões, a afectiva e a cognitiva. No estudo da validade externa, os factores da escala apareceram correlacionados, no sentido esperado, com variáveis específicas (género, retenções, idade, ano de estudo desejado e habilitações escolares dos pais). Os resultados sugerem que a versão agora adaptada apresenta boas qualidades psicométricas que a tornam útil na investigação em psicologia e em educação.
Statistical analysis of real clutter at different range resolutions

A statistical analysis is presented of real radar clutter data collected using the McMaster I FIX radar in 1998 and stored in the Grimsby database. We first show the deviations of the amplitude statistics from the Rayleigh model and the suitability of the K- and Weibull-distribution for the first-order amplitude statistical characterization. Thus we focus on the I and Q components of the available data and study their statistical compatibility with the compound Gaussian model. Towards this goal it has been necessary devising appropriate testing procedures; in particular, with reference to the higher order statistics agreement, we have designed a validation procedure involving the clutter representation into generalized spherical coordinates. Remarkably the results have confirmed the suitability of the spherically invariant random processes (SIRPs) for the correct modeling of the radar clutter. Finally we have performed a spectral analysis highlighting the close matching between the estimated clutter spectral density and the exponential model.
Possible Function of Matrix Proteins in Fluoride Incorporation into Enamel Mineral during Porcine Amelogenesis

The present study was undertaken to elucidate the mechanism of fluoride incorporation into secretory enamel mineral, with porcine enamel used as a model. Although the fluoride content in the enamel varied greatly among the animals, we observed that the fluoride-to-calcium ratio in the enamel tissue was maximal at the beginning of the secretory stage; the F/Ca ratio decreased (and leveled off) with the advancement of mineralization. In vitro work showed that some of the fluoride in the secretory enamel tissue was removed with the extraction of organic matter, mostly amelogenins. Furthermore, coating hydroxyapatite crystals with enamel matrix proteins resulted in a retardation of fluoride incorporation into the crystals when exposed to fluoride solutions, as a result of an inhibition of apatite reprecipitation. We also confirmed that the growth kinetics of fluoridated apatite onto HA seeds decreased with increasing coverage of the seed surface with the enamel proteins_ All the results of the present study strongly suggest that the fluoride incorporation into enamel mineral during the secretory stage may be regulated by the kinetics of mineralization, which is highly dependent on the driving force for precipitation and the presence of proteinaceous inhibitors, mainly amelogenins.
Genetic diversity of human metapneumovirus in hospitalized children with acute respiratory infections in Croatia

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is recognized as a global and frequent cause of acute respiratory tract infections among people of all ages. The objectives of this study were molecular epidemiology and evolutionary analysis of HMPV strains which produced moderate and severe acute respiratory tract infections in children in Croatia during four consecutive seasons (2011‐2014). A total of 117 HMPV‐positive samples collected from hospitalized pediatric patients presenting with acute respiratory tract infections and tested by direct immunofluorescence assay were first analyzed by amplifying a part of the F gene. Sixteen samples were further analyzed based on complete F, G, and SH gene sequences. HMPV genome was identified in 92 of 117 samples (78%) and the circulation of multiple lineages of HMPV was confirmed. In 2011, 2012, and 2014, subgroups A2 and B2 co‐circulated, while B1 gained prevalence in 2013 and 2014. The study established the presence of a novel subcluster A2c in Croatia. This subcluster has only recently been detected in East and Southeast Asia. This study provides new insights into epidemiology and genetic diversity of HMPV in this part of Europe.