Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measures of Campaign Negativity: Comparing Approaches and Eliminating Partisan Bias

We compare measures of the tone of parties’ campaigns in the 2015 General Election in England, based on, respectively, coverage of parties’ campaigns in six national newspapers, citizens’ perceptions, and expert judgments. It is the most extensive study of such measurements outside the United States and one of very few to include expert judgments. We find that citizen perceptions and expert judgments are heavily affected by partisan bias. We show how these biases can be eliminated with a regression-based procedure. After such adjustment, seven of the eight resulting measures of parties’ campaign tone (five based on newspapers, one on citizen perceptions, and one on expert judgments) are strongly correlated. The eighth measure (based on one of the newspapers) depicts the tone of parties’ campaigns very differently owing to different criteria of what to cover in a campaign. Each of the three kinds of empirical information is adequate as a basis for measuring parties’ campaign tone, but adjustment for partisan biases is essential for perception and judgment data. Common apprehensions about the “subjectivity” of citizen perceptions are not justified, while expert judgments are equally useful, as long as sufficient information is available to eliminate their partisan bias.
Design of fuzzy systems using a new chemical optimization paradigm

In this paper, we apply an optimization method inspired on the chemical reactions to find the gain constants involved in the tracking controller for the dynamic model of an unicycle mobile robot. This tracking controller integrates a kinematic and a torque controller based on fuzzy logic theory. The search of these constants was made previously using genetic algorithms. The objective of this paper is to introduce the new optimization algorithm based on the chemical paradigm and compare it with the results obtained by previous optimization techniques.
Antennas for RFID tags

This communication covers the design and optimization of antennas for RFID tags at UHF and microwave frequencies. Such design will focus on the specific characteristics of RFID applications such as back-scattering mode, variability of substrates and low cost constraints. The introduction includes a short history of RFID development. The second part will address the main characteristics of RFID antennas. The third part introduces the material characterization. Current developments of RFID antennas that meet the objectives of low-cost and size reduction are presented in part four. Design of antennas on plastic substrate using conductive inks will be shown as an example of low-cost approach. Advanced design techniques for size reduction, such as fractal techniques will be introduced and some design examples will be discussed. The fifth part concerns antenna modeling from the system point of view and examples of system simulation of an RFID communication will be shown.
On the suitability of diversity metrics for learning-to-rank for diversity

An optimally diverse ranking should achieve the maximum coverage of the aspects underlying an ambiguous or underspecified query, with minimum redundancy with respect to the covered aspects. Although evaluation metrics that reward coverage and penalise redundancy provide intuitive objective functions for learning a diverse ranking, it is unclear whether they are the most effective. In this paper, we contrast the suitability of relevance and diversity metrics as objective functions for learning a diverse ranking. Our results in the context of the diversity task of the TREC 2009 and 2010 Web tracks show that diversity metrics are not necessarily better suited for guiding a learning approach. Moreover, the suitability of these metrics is compromised as they try to penalise redundancy during the learning process.
Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems ( PACIS ) 2014 USING HERMENEUTICS TO UNCOVER ANOMALIES FOR NON-ADOPTION OF BEHAVIOR CHANGE SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Technologies cannot help improve personal health if individuals do not use them. Information systems discipline has a strong heritage of technology adoption research. This case study introduces a behavior change support system (BCSS) aimed at improving health and well-being. Hermeneutics is used as a methodological approach to analyze open-ended responses from participants who had had an electronic health check but did not activate the following electronic health coaching. The data consist of textual feedback from a total of 2543 respondents. This article investigates the anomalies related to consumers’ non-adoption of a BCSS. The research question addressed in this study is: What can anomalies reveal about BCSS acceptance? According to our findings, a positive attitude toward the system does not automatically increase acceptance. Usefulness of the electronic health system can be seen from a self-development perspective rather than from instrumental value. Credibility of the system, usability, and technical issues are also important for BCSS acceptance. This study brings new insights to the research fields of technological acceptance and persuasive technology; additionally, it provides a valuable example of a hermeneutics methodology and how new knowledge can be retrieved studying anomalies.
Supramammillary serotonin reduction alters place learning and concomitant hippocampal, septal, and supramammillar theta activity in a Morris water maze

Hippocampal theta activity is related to spatial information processing, and high-frequency theta activity, in particular, has been linked to efficient spatial memory performance. Theta activity is regulated by the synchronizing ascending system (SAS), which includes mesencephalic and diencephalic relays. The supramamillary nucleus (SUMn) is located between the reticularis pontis oralis and the medial septum (MS), in close relation with the posterior hypothalamic nucleus (PHn), all of which are part of this ascending system. It has been proposed that the SUMn plays a role in the modulation of hippocampal theta-frequency; this could occur through direct connections between the SUMn and the hippocampus or through the influence of the SUMn on the MS. Serotonergic raphe neurons prominently innervate the hippocampus and several components of the SAS, including the SUMn. Serotonin desynchronizes hippocampal theta activity, and it has been proposed that serotonin may regulate learning through the modulation of hippocampal synchrony. In agreement with this hypothesis, serotonin depletion in the SUMn/PHn results in deficient spatial learning and alterations in CA1 theta activity-related learning in a Morris water maze. Because it has been reported that SUMn inactivation with lidocaine impairs the consolidation of reference memory, we asked whether changes in hippocampal theta activity related to learning would occur through serotonin depletion in the SUMn, together with deficiencies in memory. We infused 5,7-DHT bilaterally into the SUMn in rats and evaluated place learning in the standard Morris water maze task. Hippocampal (CA1 and dentate gyrus), septal and SUMn EEG were recorded during training of the test. The EEG power in each region and the coherence between the different regions were evaluated. Serotonin depletion in the SUMn induced deficient spatial learning and altered the expression of hippocampal high-frequency theta activity. These results provide evidence in support of a role for serotonin as a modulator of hippocampal learning, acting through changes in the synchronicity evoked in several relays of the SAS.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) among Children Aged 6 to 17 Years Old Living in Girja District, Rural Ethiopia

Objective Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common behavioral disorders in childhood with long-term outcomes. Although ADHD is the most studied behavioral disorders of childhood in developed countries, few studies have been conducted in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of ADHD in rural parts of Ethiopia. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted from May to June 2015 among children aged 6 to 17 years living in rural areas. A multistage cluster sampling technique was used to select 1302 participants. The Disruptive Behavior Disorder Rating Scale was used to collect the data. Logistic regression analysis was used to see statistically significant variables. Result The prevalence rate of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among children was 7.3%. Being male (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 1.81, 95% CI: (1.13, 2.91)); living with a single parent (AOR = 5.0, 95% CI: (2.35, 10.65)); child birth order/rank (AOR = 2.35, 95% CI: (1.30, 4.25)); and low family socioeconomic status (AOR = 2.43, 95% CI: (1.29, 4.59)) were significantly associated with ADHD. Conclusion The ADHD prevalence rate was found to be similar with global reports. Prevention and early management of maternal complications is important to reduce the prevalence of ADHD among children.
Image categorization using Fisher kernels of non-iid image models

The bag-of-words (BoW) model treats images as an unordered set of local regions and represents them by visual word histograms. Implicitly, regions are assumed to be identically and independently distributed (iid), which is a poor assumption from a modeling perspective. We introduce non-iid models by treating the parameters of BoW models as latent variables which are integrated out, rendering all local regions dependent. Using the Fisher kernel we encode an image by the gradient of the data log-likelihood w.r. t. hyper-parameters that control priors on the model parameters. Our representation naturally involves discounting transformations similar to taking square-roots, providing an explanation of why such transformations have proven successful. Using variational inference we extend the basic model to include Gaussian mixtures over local descriptors, and latent topic models to capture the co-occurrence structure of visual words, both improving performance. Our models yield state-of-the-art categorization performance using linear classifiers; without using non-linear transformations such as taking square-roots of features, or using (approximate) explicit embeddings of non-linear kernels.
Static Performance Analysis of Low Power SRAM

Summary Low power SRAMs are essential in embedded systems as they are preferred as on chip memories. This paper examines the read stability, write ability and leakage power of various dual-Vt configurations, of an asymmetric SRAM cell (Pass cell) in an array considering the process-induced intra-die threshold voltage variations using N-curve metrics. The effects of process induced Vt variations in 22 different dual-Vt cell combinations are evaluated and compared using Monte Carlo simulations. The comparisons are made with the help of power noise margins and leakage power. The variances and percentage variances from the mean of margins for all combinations are estimated and compared. Comparisons are also made based on four different yield values of the metrics. Thus given a range of a metric and the yield value one can choose the type of configuration of Pass cell. The results help in process variation tolerant design of Pass cell. In addition to this sub threshold operation of C0 configuration of Pass cell is examined under various conditions.
Unstable angina : the breakthrough

It is widely perceived that unstable angina is a critical phase of coronary heart disease. The risk of acute myocardial infarction or death in these patients is high: up to 5% during hospitalization, 20% within 30 days, and 25% in 6 months. Medical and invasive treatment options for these patients have been rather discouraging, with two reasons responsible for this unsatisfactory state: first, there has been no objective marker to identify the patient at risk in the large group of patients with chest pain. Second, effective pharmacological concepts have been lacking and the results of invasive approaches controversial. However, diagnostic and therapeutic achievements in recent years may finally provide a breakthrough to improve the outcome of this high risk group of patients. Risk assessment in patients with acute chest pain is frequently a difficult and time-consuming process. The traditional approach is based on clinical symptoms, electrocardiographic findings, and measurements of creatine kinase. The limitations of this are well known: too many patients are unnecessarily hospitalized and up to 5% of patients are falsely discharged with infarction. Over the past 7 years several studies have documented that troponin T and troponin I are independent markers which best predict the acute outcome of patients with unstable angina. Approximately one third of patients presenting clinically with unstable angina have elevated troponins in the presence of no or only a minor rise in creatine kinase or creatine kinase-MB. However, an effective therapeutic concept for this high risk group of patients has been lacking. The key role of plaque rupture or erosion followed by local thrombus activation and aggregation has been recognised as the underlying pathophysiological mechanism in acute myocardial infarction as well as in unstable angina. In unstable angina, this is typically a white, platelet-rich thrombus as opposed to a red thrombus, as in myocardial infarction. Accordingly, it is reasonable that the new group of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa antagonists, the most potent anti-platelet compounds, have been found to be effective in this scenario. However, in large trials with the antibody abciximab or synthetic compounds such as tirofiban or eptifibatide the effect had a low statistical
Neural Networks And Genetic Algorithms For Domain Independent Multiclass Object Detection

This paper describes a domain independent approach to multiple class rotation invariant 2D object detection problems. The approach avoids preprocessing, segmentation and specific feature extraction. Instead, raw image pixel values are used as inputs to the learning systems. Five object detection methods have been developed and tested, the basic method and four variations which are expected to improve the accuracy of the basic method. In the basic method cutouts of the objects of interest are used to train multilayer feed forward networks using back propagation. The trained network is then used as a template to sweep the full image and find the objects of interest. The variations are (1) Use of a centred weight initialization method in network training, (2) Use of a genetic algorithm to train the network, (3) Use of a genetic algorithm, with fitness based on detection rate and false alarm rate, to refine the weights found in basic approach, and (4) Use of the same genetic algorithm to refine the weights found by method 2. These methods have been tested on three detection problems of increasing difficulty: an easy database of circles and squares, a medium difficulty database of coins and a very difficult database of retinal pathologies. For detecting the objects in all classes of interest in the easy and the medium difficulty problems, a 100% detection rate with no false alarms was achieved. However the results on the retinal pathologies were unsatisfactory. The centred weight initialization algorithm improved the detection performance over the basic approach on all three databases. In addition, refinement of weights with a genetic algorithm significantly improved detection performance on the three databases. The goal of domain independent object recognition was achieved for the detection of relatively small regular objects in larger images with relatively uncluttered backgrounds. Detection performance on irregular objects in complex, highly cluttered backgrounds such as the retina pictures, however, has not been achieved to an acceptable level.
Effect of chewing gums with xylitol, sorbitol and xylitol-sorbitol on the remineralization and hardness of initial enamel lesions in situ

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of three chewing gums and paraffin on the remineralization and the hardness of demineralized enamel. Materials and Methods: A total of 12 subjects wore intraoral palatal appliances with two demineralized bovine enamel slabs. The study consisted of four experimental periods each lasting 21-days, during which subjects were assigned to one of three gum-chewing regimens: gum containing sorbitol, xylitol and a mixture of sorbitol and xylitol and with paraffin as control. The appliances were worn during gum-chewing for 20 min and then retained for 20 min 4 times/day. The slabs were subjected to energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis and surface microhardness measurements before in setting into the appliance and after the experimental period. The data were subjected to analysis of variance for repeated measures. A P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Mineral analysis revealed no significant difference between the baseline and after chewing periods for all groups (P > 0.05). No significant difference was found among the groups either for the baseline measurements or after chewing periods (P > 0.05). All groups showed higher microhardness values after the chewing periods than the baseline except for the Vivident Xylit group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The chewing of gum had no effect on the Ca/P ratio of demineralized enamel surfaces. The hardening of the demineralized enamel surfaces may vary according to the type of chewing gum.
Assessment of routine inspection methods for porcine cysticercosis in Zambian village pigs

Abstract The value of tongue and meat inspection as diagnostic tools for porcine cysticercosis was assessed in 65 Zambian village pigs by comparing the results with carcass dissections. In addition, the intensity of infections, distribution and viability of cysts in infected pigs were measured. Five pigs (7.7%) were positive on tongue examination, while routine meat inspection showed 12 (18.5%) positives. However, carcass dissections detected cysticerci in 31 (47.7%) pigs. The range in number of cysticerci was 1 to 14,662 per carcass. Cysticerci were distributed throughout the carcass with the highest concentration in the heart, tongue and hind legs. In one animal 13 viable cysts were detected only in the brain. Fourteen pigs had more than 100 viable cysts, six between 2 and 100, and four had single cyst infections. Seven animals harboured only calcified cysts. These findings demonstrate the serious shortcomings of routine detection methods for porcine cysticercosis. While the specificity of tongue palpation and meat inspection was 100%, these tests failed to detect the infection in 83.9% and 61.3% of infected pigs, respectively.
Cellule: Lightweight Execution Environment for Accelerator-based Systems

The increasing prevalence of accelerators is changing the high performance computing (HPC) landscape to one in which future platforms will consist of heterogeneous multi-core chips comprised of both general purpose and specialized cores. Coupled with this trend is increased support for virtualization, which can abstract underlying hardware to aid in dynamically managing its use by HPC applications while at the same time, provide lightweight, efficient, and specialized execution environments (SEE) for applications to maximally exploit the hardware. This paper describes the Cellule architecture which uses virtualization to create high performance, low noise SEEs for accelerators. The paper describes important properties of Cellule and illustrates its advantages with an implementation on the IBM Cell processor. With compute-intensive workloads, performance improvements of up to 60% are attained when using Cellule’s SEE vs. the current Linux-based runtime, resulting in a system architecture that is suitable for future accelerators and specialized cores irrespective of whether they are on-chip or off-chip. A key principle, coordinated resource management for accelerator and general purpose resources, is shown to extend beyond Cell, using experimental results obtained on a different accelerator platform.
Immunoprotectivity of HLA-A2 CTL Peptides Derived from Respiratory Syncytial Virus Fusion Protein in HLA-A2 Transgenic Mouse

Identification of HLA-restricted CD8+ T cell epitopes is important to study RSV-induced immunity and illness. We algorithmically analyzed the sequence of the fusion protein (F) of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and generated synthetic peptides that can potentially bind to HLA-A*0201. Four out of the twenty-five 9-mer peptides tested: peptides 3 (F33–41), 13 (F214–222), 14 (F273–281), and 23 (F559–567), were found to bind to HLA-A*0201 with moderate to high affinity and were capable of inducing IFN-γ and IL-2 secretion in lymphocytes from HLA-A*0201 transgenic (HLA-Tg) mice pre-immunized with RSV or recombinant adenovirus expressing RSV F. HLA-Tg mice were immunized with these four peptides and were found to induce both Th1 and CD8+ T cell responses in in vitro secondary recall. Effector responses induced by these peptides were observed to confer differential protection against live RSV challenge. These peptides also caused better recovery of body weight loss induced by RSV. A significant reduction of lung viral load was observed in mice immunized with peptide 23, which appeared to enhance the levels of inflammatory chemokines (CCL17, CCL22, and IL-18) but did not increase eosinophil infiltration in the lungs. Whereas, significant reduction of infiltrated eosinophils induced by RSV infection was found in mice pre-immunized with peptide 13. Our results suggest that HLA-A2-restricted epitopes of RSV F protein could be useful for the development of epitope-based RSV vaccine.
A procedure for developing intuitive and ergonomic gesture interfaces for man-machine interaction

Many disciplines of multimedia and communication go towards ubiquitous computing and hand free interaction with computers. Application domains in this direction involve virtual reality, augmented reality, wearable computing, and smart spaces. This paper presents two main approaches to developing and testing these interfaces using gestures. It presents the important issues in gesture communication, from a technological viewpoint as well as a user viewpoint such as the technological complexity, learning rate, ergonomics, and intuition. These issues must be taken into account when choosing the gesture vocabulary. A procedure is proposed which includes those issues in the selection of gestures, and to test the resulting set of gestures. The procedure is tested and demonstrated on an example application with a small test group. The procedure is concluded to be useful and time consuming. The importance of using theory from ergonomics is also concluded.