Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is Extreme Programming Just Old Wine in New Bottles: A Comparison of Two Cases

This article explores extreme programming (XP) as an information systems development approach and argues that it is mainly old wine in new bottles. We take an interpretive and critical view of the phenomenon. We made an empirical study of two companies that apply an XP-style development approach throughout the information systems development life cycle. The results of our research suggest that XP is a combination of best practices of traditional information systems development methods. It is hindered by its reliance on talented individuals, which makes its large-scale deployment as a general-purpose method difficult. We claim that XP can be useful for small teams of domain experts who are physically close together and able to communicate well with the end users, and who are good designers and implementers. However, these skilled and motivated individuals with high working moral can exhibit high productivity regardless of the methods used if they are not overly constrained by bureaucracy.
Taming Weak Memory Models

Speculative techniques in microarchitectures relax various dependencies in programs, which contributes to the complexity of (weak) memory models. We show using WMM, a new weak memory model, that the model becomes simpler if it includes load-value speculation and thus, does not enforce any dependency! However, in the absence of good value-prediction techniques, a programmer may end up paying a price for the extra fences. Thus, we also present WMM-D, which enforces the dependencies captured by the current microarchitectures. WMM-D is still much simpler than other existing models. We also show that non-atomic multi-copy stores arise as a result of sharing write-through caches. We think restricting microarchitectures to write-back caches (and thus simpler weak memory models) will not incur any performance penalty. Nevertheless, we present WMM-S, another extension to WMM, which could model the effects of non-atomic multi-copy stores. WMM, WMM-D, and WMM-S are all defined using Instantaneous Instruction Execution (I^2E), a new way of describing memory models without explicit reordering or speculative execution.
Algorithm Research on Fuzzy Linear Separable Support Vector Classifier

When the training subset of a support vector machine contains fuzzy information, the support vector machine won't work. A method for calculating fuzzy linear separable support vector classifier is discussed. With the given confidence level, convert the fuzzy classification problem into finding the fuzzy chance constrained programming, and establish a solution finding theory with fuzzy chance constrained programming rarr crisp equivalence programming rarr dual programming. A algorithm for fuzzy linear separable support vector classifier is derived: given the fuzzy training subset of a fuzzy linear separable problem and selecting appropriate confidential level, construct appropriate quadratic programming equation; find the optimal solution of the quadratic programming; construct optimal separating hyperplane, find the optimal classification function, and establish new training subset; construct support vector regression machine with the new training subset, get the regression functions, and establish the membership function of the optimal classification function from these; lastly, find the optimal solution. The algorithm is also verified with given data.
NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME AND ITS EFFECT ON STAFF ’ S FINANCIAL BURDEN IN A NIGERIAN TERTIARY HEALTH FACILITY Tanimola Makanjuola AKANDE

Background: The core roles of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in health financing include raising of revenue and pooling of resources for health care so that health risk can be effectively shared among enrollees. This study seeks to find out the effects of NHIS on hospital staffs’ financial burden and satisfaction with services rendered in a Nigerian Tertiary Health Centre. Methodology: This study was carried out in the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital Staff Clinic (UITH Staff Clinic). This is a cross-sectional descriptive study with a sample size of 210 derived using Fishers formula. Semi-structured, pre-tested, interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data while the analysis was done using EPI INFO version 4.3. 1. Systematic sampling technique was used to select respondents. Frequency tables and cross tabulations were generated. Chi-square and student t-test was used to determine statistical significance of observed 1 Department of Community Medicine, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria 2 Department of Community Medicine, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria 3 Department of Community Medicine, Federal Medical Center, Ido-Ekiti, Nigeria Postal address: P. O. Box 6170, Ilorin,
EXPLORING AUTOMATION ISSUES IN SUPERVISORY CONTROL OF MULTIPLE UAVS

Abstract : An evaluation was conducted on a generic UAV operator interface simulation testbed to explore the effects of levels-of-automation (LOAs) and automation reliability on the number of simulated UAVs that could be supervised by a single operator. LOAs included Management-by-Consent (operator consent required) and Management-by-Exception (action automatic unless operator declines). Results indicated that the tasks were manageable, but performance decreased with increased number of UAVs supervised and reduced automation reliability. Performance with the two LOAs varied little and did not show a consistent trend across measures. Analyses indicated that participants typically did not utilize the automation. A follow-on study was conducted that employed shorter LOA time limits. Results showed participants' workload and confidence ratings were less favorable for the shorter limits and they still exercised the automation rarely, although more frequently. Further research is needed to explore the complex relationship between LOAs, time limits, perception of workload, vigilance effects, and confidence.
Optimal Signaling Scheme and Capacity Limit of PLC Under Bernoulli-Gaussian Impulsive Noise

This paper studies the optimal signaling scheme and capacity of the Bernoulli-Gaussian impulsive noise channel to shed new light on the impact of impulsive noise on spectral efficiency of power-line communications systems. First, by focusing on the practically typical case with impulse power that is much higher than signal power, we develop a tight approximation to the differential entropy of Bernoulli-Gaussian noise. Closed-form tight lower and upper bounds on the capacity are then derived. By comparing these bounds, it is demonstrated that the capacity decreases with an increasing impulse occurrence rate and the Gaussian signaling scheme is nearly optimal. We then focus on the case with an impulse power lower than signal power to develop tight lower and upper bounds. We subsequently show that the Gaussian signaling can approach the capacity in this region as well. In addition, channel erasure is shown to be very effective for the impulsive noise channel when impulse power is higher than signal power, but it introduces rate loss when impulse power is sufficiently lower than signal power. Illustrative simulation results confirm the analytical derivations and show their applications to estimate the maximum achievable rate of a power-line communication link with practical parameters.
Robust pitch detection by narrow band spectrum analysis

This paper proposes a new technique for detecting pitch patterns which is useful for automatic speech recognition, by using a narrow band spectrum analysis. The motivation of this approach is that humans perceive some kind of pitch in whispers where no fundamental frequencies can be observed, while most of the pitch determination algorithm (PDA) fails to detect such perceptual pitch. The narrow band spectrum analysis enable us to find pitch structure distributed locally in frequency domain. Incorporating this technique into PDA’s is realized to applying the technique to the lag window based PDA. Experimental results show that pitch detection performance could be improved by 4% for voiced sounds and 8% for voiceless sounds.
Recombinant Protein Production in High Cell Density Cultures of Escherichia coli with Galactose as a Gratuitous Inducer

A new expression system was developed by introducing two major modifications into the genome of Escherichia coli: a deletion in the gal operon (ΔgalEKT) to allow the use of the inexpensive compound galactose as a gratuitous inducer and the introduction of the gal P2 promoter driving the expression of the T7 RNA polymerase. The novel JRR10 strain containing these two features gives high‐level expression of a reporter gene cloned under the T7 ϕ10 promoter in high cell density cultures. The cost of the induction of this novel system is more than 30 times lower than that of the IPTG‐induced system of the widely used BL21 strain.
DDoS Simulation and Hybrid DDoS Defense Mechanism

In cyberworld, resource accessibility has a key part in digital security alongside confidentiality and trustworthiness. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack has turned into an intriguing issue to the availability of assets in computer networks. In this paper, DDoS attacks at different layers of TCP/IP protocol are scrutinized and comparison of existing GUI DDoS tools with a distinct DDoS script is done so as to know the trend of attacking technique used by the assailants to perform an attack.Various defense tools are analyzed and comparison of existing defense mechanism with a distinct hybrid protection methodology is done. This paper aims to provide a superior comprehension of the current DDoS tools, protective mechanisms,and comparative analysis of them.Existing deficiencies in tools and defensive tecniques are examined and reduced to improve the efficiency.
Institutionen För Systemteknik Diagnosis of a Truck Engine Using Nonlinear Filtering Techniques Diagnosis of a Truck Engine Using Nonlinear Filtering Techniques

Scania CV AB is a large manufacturer of heavy duty trucks that, with an increasingly stricter emission legislation, have a rising demand for an effective On Board Diagnosis (OBD) system. One idea for improving the OBD system is to employ a model for the construction of an observer based diagnosis system. The proposal in this report is, because of a nonlinear model, to use a nonlinear filtering method for improving the needed state estimates. Two nonlinear filters are tested, the Particle Filter (PF) and the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). The primary objective is to evaluate the use of the PF for Fault Detection and Isolation (FDI), and to compare the result against the use of the EKF. With the information provided by the PF and the EKF, two residual based diagnosis systems and two likelihood based diagnosis systems are created. The results with the PF and the EKF are evaluated for both types of systems using real measurement data. It is shown that the four systems give approximately equal results for FDI with the exception that using the PF is more computational demanding than using the EKF. There are however some indications that the PF, due to the nonlinearities, could offer more if enough CPU time is available.
Automatic Placement A Review of Current Techniques

This review provides an overview of the placement function within automatic layout systems. The automatic placement problem is defined and the data abstractions are described. The discussion divides placement algorithms into two classes: constructive and iterative. Applications of the algorithms within layout systems are described. A large number of references is provided to allow use as a guide to placement literature.
Asymptotic Analysis of CP-SC-FDE and UW-SC-FDE in Additive Cyclostationary Noise

In this paper, linear minimum mean-squared error (LMMSE) frequency domain equalizers (FDEs) are considered for single-carrier (SC) block transmission over additive wide- sense cyclostationary (WSCS) noise. Using the theory of asymptotically equivalent sequences of matrices, it is shown that the mean-squared error (MSE) of cyclic prefix (CP) appended SC- FDE and that of the unique word (UW) appended SC-FDE converge to the same limit as the block length tends to infinity. The closed-form expression of the limit is also derived. Unlike SC-FDEs in additive white Gaussian noise, the computational complexity of the FDEs are as high as that of the time domain equalizers in the presence of the WSCS noise. So, suboptimal SC- FDEs with much lower computational complexity are proposed that achieve the asymptotic MSE of the LMMSE SC-FDEs as the block length tends to infinity. Numerical results are also provided.
Effects of hand drift while typing on touchscreens

On a touchscreen keyboard, it can be difficult to continuously type without frequently looking at the keys. One factor contributing to this difficulty is called hand drift, where a user's hands gradually misalign with the touchscreen keyboard due to limited tactile feedback. Although intuitive, there remains a lack of empirical data to describe the effect of hand drift. A formal understanding of it can provide insights for improving soft keyboards. To formally quantify the degree (magnitude and direction) of hand drift, we conducted a 3-session study with 13 participants. We measured hand drift with two typing interfaces: a visible conventional keyboard and an invisible adaptive keyboard. To expose drift patterns, both keyboards used relaxed letter disambiguation to allow for unconstrained movement. Findings show that hand drift occurred in both interfaces, at an average rate of 0.25mm/min on the conventional keyboard and 1.32mm/min on the adaptive keyboard. Participants were also more likely to drift up and/or left instead of down or right.
T-Cell Epitopes in Variable Segments ofChlamydia trachomatis Major Outer Membrane Protein Elicit Serovar-Specific Immune Responses in Infected Humans

ABSTRACT We previously identified 18 stimulatory Chlamydia trachomatis major outer membrane protein (MOMP) peptides containing at least 23 epitopes presented with various HLA class II allotypes. Only one peptide contained an epitope localized in a variable segment (VS2). Continued studies reported here identified a total of five VS peptides containing T-cell epitopes that are distributed among MOMPs VS1, VS2, and VS4. Only MOMP-primed T-cell cultures from subjects infected with serovar E responded to the serovar E VS peptides, while the response of such cultures to constant-segment peptides was independent of the infecting serovar. Furthermore, MOMP-primed T cells proliferated in response only to the VS peptides encoded in serovar E but not to the corresponding peptides derived from serovar F, I, or J, confirming that these responses were serovar specific.
A framework for the evaluation of patient information leaflets

Background The provision of patient information leaflets (PILs) is an important part of health care. PILs require evaluation, but the frameworks that are used for evaluation are largely under‐informed by theory. Most evaluation to date has been based on indices of readability, yet several writers argue that readability is not enough. We propose a framework for evaluating PILs that reflect the central role of the patient perspective in communication and use methods for evaluation based on simple linguistic principles.
Poison Frog Colors Are Honest Signals of Toxicity, Particularly for Bird Predators

Antipredator defenses and warning signals typically evolve in concert. However, the extensive variation across taxa in both these components of predator deterrence and the relationship between them are poorly understood. Here we test whether there is a predictive relationship between visual conspicuousness and toxicity levels across 10 populations of the color-polymorphic strawberry poison frog, Dendrobates pumilio. Using a mouse-based toxicity assay, we find extreme variation in toxicity between frog populations. This variation is significantly positively correlated with frog coloration brightness, a viewer-independent measure of visual conspicuousness (i.e., total reflectance flux). We also examine conspicuousness from the view of three potential predator taxa, as well as conspecific frogs, using taxon-specific visual detection models and three natural background substrates. We find very strong positive relationships between frog toxicity and conspicuousness for bird-specific perceptual models. Weaker but still positive correlations are found for crab and D. pumilio conspecific visual perception, while frog coloration as viewed by snakes is not related to toxicity. These results suggest that poison frog colors can be honest signals of prey unpalatability to predators and that birds in particular may exert selection on aposematic signal design.
Lazy Codes For Scientific Computations

The lazy evaluation protocol defers the evaluation of a function arguments until the moment, when the function uses them. If such a function constructs composite data structures, it is possible to manipulate “infinite”, recursively open objects. We use these techniques to manipulate power series, to construct Pade approximants, to implement the differentiation of programs, etc. in a compact and readable way. Laziness permits to transform some intricate mathematical identities and equations into effective algorithms. We suggest that the lazy languages may be used as powerful algorithmization tools, often avoiding the blind usage of symbolic manipulation packages.
eat-5 and unc-7 represent a multigene family in Caenorhabditis elegans involved in cell-cell coupling

The Drosophila melanogaster genes Passover and l(1)ogre and the Caenorhabditis elegans gene unc-7 define a gene family whose function is not known. We have isolated and characterized the C. elegans gene eat-5, which is required for synchronized pharyngeal muscle contractions, and find that it is a new member of this family. Simultaneous electrical and video recordings reveal that in eat-5 mutants, action potentials of muscles in the anterior and posterior pharynx are unsynchronized. Injection of carboxyfluorescein into muscles of the posterior pharynx demonstrates that all pharyngeal muscles are dye-coupled in wild-type animals; in eat-5 mutants, however, muscles of the anterior pharynx are no longer dye-coupled to posterior pharyngeal muscles. We show that a gene fusion of eat-5 to the green fluorescent protein is expressed in pharyngeal muscles. unc-7 and eat-5 are two of at least sixteen members of this family in C. elegans as determined by database searches and PCR-based screens. The amino acid sequences of five of these members in C. elegans have been deduced from cDNA sequences. Polypeptides of the family are predicted to have four transmembrane domains with cytoplasmic amino and carboxyl termini. We have constructed fusions of one of these polypeptides with beta-galactosidase and with green fluorescent protein. The fusion proteins appear to be localized in a punctate pattern at or near plasma membranes. We speculate that this gene family is required for the formation of gap junctions.
Myotube migration to cover and shape the testis of Drosophila depends on Heartless, Cadherin/Catenin, and myosin II

ABSTRACT During Drosophila metamorphosis, nascent testis myotubes migrate from the prospective seminal vesicle of the genital disc onto pupal testes and then further to cover the testes with multinucleated smooth-like muscles. Here we show that DWnt2 is likely required for determination of testis-relevant myoblasts on the genital disc. Knock down of fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) heartless by RNAi and a dominant-negative version revealed multiple functions of Heartless, namely regulation of the amount of myoblasts on the genital disc, connection of seminal vesicles and testes, and migration of muscles along the testes. Live imaging indicated that the downstream effector Stumps is required for migration of testis myotubes on the testis towards the apical tip. After myoblast fusion, myosin II is needed for migration of nascent testis myotubes, in which Thisbe-dependent fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling is activated. Cadherin-N is essential for connecting these single myofibers and for creating a firm testis muscle sheath that shapes and stabilizes the testis tubule. Based on these results, we propose a model for the migration of testis myotubes in which nascent testis myotubes migrate as a collective onto and along the testis, dependent on FGF-regulated expression of myosin II. Summary: Drosophila testes and mammalian seminiferous tubules are surrounded by a muscle layer. Drosophila myotubes migrate towards testes in dependence of the FGF receptor Heartless, myosin II and Cadherin-N.
Acute poisonings registered since 1970: trends and characteristics. Analysis of the files collected in the National Poison Information Centre, Łódź, Poland.

OBJECTIVES The aim of the presented study was to trace the trends and characteristics of acute poisonings in Poland, including the rate, type, and causal agents, over a long period of time (1970-2000) to define the dynamics of changes and major causes of poisoning-related mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS The analysis was based on the data obtained from the patients' records submitted by all poison centers in Poland (Gdańsk, Kraków, Lublin, Łódź, Poznań, Sosnowiec, Rzeszów, Warszawa, and Wroclaw). RESULTS Drugs were the most frequent group of chemical substances, responsible for more than 50% of all admissions because of acute poisonings. From 1980, the rate of drug poisonings showed a slightly downward trend from 56.4% in 1980 to 48.8% in 2000. Ranked second with respect to the prevalence rate were alcohol poisonings. A clear upward trend from 8.0% in 1980 to as high as 30.8% in 2000 was noted in this category. Poisonings with carbon monoxide became less frequent, ranging from 15.3 to 5.1%, respectively in the aforesaid years. The percentage of poisonings with pesticides, corrosives and metal compounds have been reduced in recent years. The greatest number of lethal outcomes was also due to poisonings with alcohols and drugs. The highest mortality ratio was recorded for ethylene glycol, methanol and Amanita phalloides poisonings. CONCLUSIONS A constantly growing number of acute poisonings in Poland makes it necessary for all the medical and other professionals involved (clinical toxicologists, diagnostic laboratory staff, and poison information specialists) to enhance and coordinate their efforts. These activities should be focused on: (a) better and faster accessibility of all information on the agent of poisoning, possible health effects, and methods of treatment to support the medical staff; (b) selection of the most effective methods to eliminate poisons from the system and improve further therapy, and (c) better accessibility of antidotes.
Personalized Recommendation with Confidence

This paper presents a personalized recommendation system mining online product reviews, fusing opinions together and providing a ranked order of a set similar products. We define three attributes of opinion summary: opinion coverage, opinion consistency and opinion consensus. Confidence factor is computed based on these attributes. A user specifies the relative importance of each product feature. The quantitive summary reflects the user's preference, the opinion synopsis and the confidence measurement.
Continuous non-invasive monitoring of blood pressure in the operating room: a cuffless optical technology at the fingertip

Abstract Routine monitoring of blood pressure during general anaesthesia relies on intermittent measurements with a non-invasive brachial cuff every five minutes. This manuscript provides first experimental evidence that a physiology-based pulse wave analysis algorithm applied to optical data (as provided by a standard fingertip pulse oximeter) is capable of accurately estimating blood pressure changes in-between cuff readings. Combined with the routine use of oscillometric cuffs, the presented novel approach is a candidate technology to increase patient safety by providing beat-to-beat hemodynamic measurements without the need of invasive monitoring procedures.