Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Children with autism spectrum disorders who do not develop phrase speech in the preschool years

There is uncertainty about the proportion of children with autism spectrum disorders who do not develop phrase speech during the preschool years. The main purpose of this study was to examine this ratio in a population-based community sample of children. The cohort consisted of 165 children (141 boys, 24 girls) with autism spectrum disorders aged 4–6 years followed longitudinally over 2 years during which time they had received intervention at a specialized autism center. In this study, data collected at the 2-year follow-up were used. Three categories of expressive language were defined: nonverbal, minimally verbal, and phrase speech. Data from the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-II were used to classify expressive language. A secondary objective of the study was to analyze factors that might be linked to verbal ability, namely, child age, cognitive level, autism subtype and severity of core autism symptoms, developmental regression, epilepsy or other medical conditions, and intensity of intervention. The proportion of children who met the criteria for nonverbal, minimally verbal, and phrase speech were 15%, 10%, and 75%, respectively. The single most important factor linked to expressive language was the child’s cognitive level, and all children classified as being nonverbal or minimally verbal had intellectual disability.
A commutative encryption scheme based on ElGamal encryption

A commutative encryption is a kind of an encryption system that enables a plaintext to be encrypted more than once using different users' public keys. In this system, decryption is not required before the encryption/re-encryption processes. Moreover, the resulted ciphertext can be decrypted by the designated decrypters without considering the order of public keys used in the encryption/re-encryption processes. In other words, the order of keys used in encryption and in decryption do not affect the computational result. Commutative encryption scheme is found useful in many real life applications such as in secret sharing, database integration and etc. However, regardless of its usefulness, few paper demonstrates how to construct such kind of a commutative encryption. In this paper, we propose a new commutative encryption scheme based on the ElGamel encryption and provide the security proof in the random oracle model.
ST-MVL: Filling Missing Values in Geo-Sensory Time Series Data

Many sensors have been deployed in the physical world, generating massive geo-tagged time series data. In reality, readings of sensors are usually lost at various unexpected moments because of sensor or communication errors. Those missing readings do not only affect real-time monitoring but also compromise the performance of further data analysis. In this paper, we propose a spatio-temporal multi-view-based learning (ST-MVL) method to collectively fill missing readings in a collection of geosensory time series data, considering 1) the temporal correlation between readings at different timestamps in the same series and 2) the spatial correlation between different time series. Our method combines empirical statistic models, consisting of Inverse Distance Weighting and Simple Exponential Smoothing, with data-driven algorithms, comprised of User-based and Item-based Collaborative Filtering. The former models handle general missing cases based on empirical assumptions derived from history data over a long period, standing for two global views from spatial and temporal perspectives respectively. The latter algorithms deal with special cases where empirical assumptions may not hold, based on recent contexts of data, denoting two local views from spatial and temporal perspectives respectively. The predictions of the four views are aggregated to a final value in a multi-view learning algorithm. We evaluate our method based on Beijing air quality and meteorological data, finding advantages to our model compared with ten baseline approaches.
Efficient content delivery through popularity forecasting on social media

Ubiquitous social networks have in recent years become significant for sharing of content generated in online video platforms. Our work investigates how the predictability of video sharing is associated with the underlying social network of the initial sharer of the video and the context of the media platform it was uploaded. In particular we combine user-centric data from Twitter with video-centric data from YouTube to give insights that neither dataset (social network and media service dataset) individually gives. We propose a simple model to predict future popularity of a video resource with a small and easily extracted feature set, based on the notion of influence score of a user and its fluctuation through time, as well as the distance of content interests among users of both datasets. We further demonstrate how the incorporation of our prediction model into a mechanism for content delivery results in considerable improvement of the user experience.
Resolving the evolution of sterile worker castes: a window on the advantages and disadvantages of monogamy

Many social Hymenoptera species have morphologically sterile worker castes. It is proposed that the evolutionary routes to this obligate sterility must pass through a ‘monogamy window’, because inclusive fitness favours individuals retaining their reproductive totipotency unless they can rear full siblings. Simulated evolution of sterility, however, finds that ‘point of view’ is critically important. Monogamy is facilitating if sterility is expressed altruistically (i.e. workers defer reproduction to queens), but if sterility results from manipulation by mothers or siblings, monogamy may have no effect or lessen the likelihood of sterility. Overall, the model and data from facultatively eusocial bees suggest that eusociality and sterility are more likely to originate through manipulation than by altruism, casting doubt on a mandatory role for monogamy. Simple kin selection paradigms, such as Hamilton's rule, can also fail to account for significant evolutionary dynamics created by factors, such as population structure, group-level effects or non-random mating patterns. The easy remedy is to always validate apparently insightful predictions from Hamiltonian equations with life-history appropriate genetic models.
Information Privacy in Two Dimensions - Towards a Classification Scheme for Information Privacy Research

The field of information privacy comprises of research from a number of different academic disciplines. The field has received increased attention in the last decade and is growing. Consequently, a risk exists that certain areas of research in the field may be neglected. In order to identify areas of neglect in a methodical manner it is first necessary to classify research in the field; however, no classification scheme designed for this purpose exists. This paper contributes by presenting, discussing and demonstrating such a classification scheme. The classification scheme presented consists of two broad dimensions that are designed to classify information research from various academic disciplines.
Stochastic model for performance evaluation of test planning

One of the challenges the IT industry faces involves maintaining the quality of the developed product within a consistent planning. Product delays are in general consequences of badly conceived planning and lack of progress control. The interest in software testing activities has been growing over the last few years. Software companies currently seek low cost testing procedures and at the same, with great capacity to handle mistakes. In this article, concepts related to testing processes are mapped in Stochastic Petri Nets(SPN) which provides a formal representation for measures used in performance analysis.
Deep time framework : A preliminary study of U.K. primary teachers' conceptions of geological time and perceptions of geoscience

As part of a continuing research program on the understanding of geological time (deep time) across society, a total of 51 in-service teachers of 7- to 11-year-old children was studied in relation to their orientations toward geoscience phenomena in general and deep time in particular. The first purpose of the research was to identify the nature of idiosyncratic conceptions of deep time: a cognitive deep time framework of pivotal geo-events. The second was to propose a curricular Deep Time Framework that may form the basis for constructivist approaches to in-service and pre-service teacher training which places deep time center stage. Three research questions were posed, addressing: (1) perceptions of geoscience phenomena and teachers' actual encounters with these in the classroom; (2) conceptions of deep time; and (3) approaches to teaching two curriculum areas (history and geology) which involve the interpretation of material evidence to reconstruct the past. Results enable the selection of 20 geoscience phenomena to be located in relation to teachers' interests and classroom encounters, those of high interest and high encounters being proposed as pivotal areas for further attention in teacher training. Results also reveal that in-service teachers conceive events in the geological past (geo-events) as having occurred in three distinct clusters: extremely ancient; moderately ancient; and less ancient. Within each category there is a strong lack of consensus on time-of-occurrence. Results suggest that primary teachers exhibit greater imagination in their teaching of history compared with geology and that aspects of deep time and past environments are not perceived as being of any great significance in the interpretation of geological specimens. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 191–221, 2001
L'économie des conflits en Afrique

La multiplicite et la perpetuation des conflits en Afrique decouragent souvent les tentatives de comprehension du processus conflictuel et de son eventuelle specificite africaine. Une approche pluridisciplinaire revele cependant une serie de facteurs qui permettent de mieux apprecier les manifestations endemiques de la conflictualite africaine. L’etude de ces differents facteurs ne suffit pas a apporter une explication de la nature de ce processus. C’est en proposant de lui appliquer trois theories economiques, avec ce que cette approche comporte d’arbitraire par la construction de systemes rationnels, que l’on s’eloigne des manifestations pour apprehender la nature meme de la conflictualite. L’introduction, dans l’etude systemique, de nouveaux parametres d’incertitude favorise encore l’analyse. Des lors, les modeles produisent leurs effets, les consequences peuvent etre etudiees, et certaines orientations proposees, qui permettent une meilleure prevention des conflits.
Collagen accumulation in irradiated rat lung: modification by D-penicillamine.

The collagen antagonist D-penicillamine (10 mg/day, p.o.) significantly ameliorated radiation-induced hydroxyproline (HP) accumulation in the lungs of rats killed 3, 6, 9, or 12 months after a single exposure of 25 Gy of 60Co gamma rays to the right hemithorax. The beneficial effect of penicillamine was observed when HP values were expressed on the basis of wet weight, dry weight, or per whole lung and was not accompanied by significant changes in the size of the soluble (0.5 M citrate, pH 3.6) collagen fraction. This drug regimen had no effect on HP concentration in the shielded left lung and was apparently free of deleterious side effects.
A cognitive architecture for robotic hand posture learning

— The paper deals with the design and implementation of a visual control of a robotic system composed of a dexterous hand and a video camera. The aim of the proposed system is to reproduce the movements of a human hand in order to learn complex manipulation tasks or to interact with the user. A novel algorithm for a robust and fast fingertips localization and tracking is presented. A suitable kinematic hand model is adopted to achieve fast and acceptable solution to inverse kinematics problem. The system is part of a cognitive architecture for posture learning that integrates the perceptions by a high level representation of the scene and of the observed actions. The anthropomorphic robotic hand imitates the gestures acquired by the vision system in order to learn meaningful movements, to build its knowledge by different conceptual spaces and to perform complex interaction with the human operator.
Architecture and applications of dynamic survivable resource pooling in battlefield networks

We present Dynamic Survivable Resource Pooling (DSRP) that provides survivable access to resources and services in battlefield networks. The servers accessed by mobile users (e.g., FCS backbone managers, TPKI, Bandwidth Brokers, Situation Awareness/Common Network Picture, SIP) are pooled together for higher availability and failover; the Name Servers (NSs) are responsible for maintaining server pools, load balancing, and server discovery. In the DSRP scheme, NSs are placed on a virtual backbone (VB): a highly distributed, scalable, and survivable network formed and maintained through one-hop beacons. By making locally scoped decisions, VB is capable of reorganizing both itself and pool registrations in response to mobility, failures, and partitioning. A proof-of-concept of the DSRP successfully demonstrated its survivability.
The clean conscience at work: emotions, intuitions and morality

How do people decide what is right and wrong, and to what extent are their actions guided by such moral considerations? Inspired by philosophical traditions, early approaches to morality focused on rationality, and assumed that people arrive at moral standards by logical thought. More recently, however, psychologists have explored the influence of emotions and intuitions on morality, and evidence has been accumulating that moral decisions and behaviors are far from rational, but instead, are guided by intuitions and situational considerations. For example, seemingly irrelevant concerns such as keeping one’s mind and spirit clean and pure can change people’s moral judgment. Emotions can also influence behavior, and positive, uplifting emotions such as elevation and gratitude can be harnessed to produce beneficial outcomes for individuals and organizations alike. Furthermore, people appear to aspire to an equilibrium of moral self-worth, and engage in more or less ethical behavior depending on their currently perceived moral integrity. Thus, morality and ethical behavior is less likely to reside in the person than in the context, and thus, for the study of spirituality, it might be beneficial to focus on people’s situational constraints in the workplace rather than their stable dispositions. Further, because of their potential to inspire positive action, organizations might aim to make positive moral emotions, such as gratitude, elevation, and awe part of everyday work contexts. Overall, in organizations and the workplace, the goal shifts from trying to identify the moral individual to providing the contextual conditions that appeal to spiritual concerns in order to foster moral behavior.
A Flexible SoPC-based Fault Injection Environment

Analyzing the behavior of ICs faced to soft errors is now mandatory, even for applications running at sea level, to prevent malfunctions in critical applications such as automotive. This paper introduces a novel prototyping-based fault injection environment that enables to perform several types of dependability analyses in a common optimized framework. The approach takes advantage of hardware speed and of software flexibility offered by embedded processors to achieve optimized trade-offs between experiment duration and processing complexity. The repartition of tasks between hardware and embedded software is defined with respect to the type of circuit to analyze
Detecting Morphologically Distinct Oligomeric Forms of α-Synuclein*

Neuropathologic and genetics studies as well as transgenic animal models have provided strong evidence linking misfolding and aggregation of α-synuclein to the progression of Parkinson disease (PD) and other related disorders. A growing body of evidence implicates various oligomeric forms of α-synuclein as the toxic species responsible for neurodegeneration and neuronal cell death. Although numerous different oligomeric forms of α-synuclein have been identified in vitro, it is not known which forms are involved in PD or how, when, and where different forms contribute to the progression of PD. Reagents that can interact with specific aggregate forms of α-synuclein would be very useful not only as tools to study how different aggregate forms affect cell function, but also as potential diagnostic and therapeutic agents for PD. Here we show that a single chain antibody fragment (syn-10H scFv) isolated from a phage display antibody library binds to a larger, later stage oligomeric form of α-synuclein than a previously reported oligomeric specific scFv isolated in our laboratory. The scFv described here inhibits aggregation of α-synuclein in vitro, blocks extracellular α-synuclein-induced toxicity in both undifferentiated and differentiated human neuroblastoma cell lines (SH-SY5Y), and specifically recognizes naturally occurring aggregates in PD but not in healthy human brain tissue.
Assessment of the Effects of Acute and Repeated Exposure to Blast Overpressure in Rodents: Toward a Greater Understanding of Blast and the Potential Ramifications for Injury in Humans Exposed to Blast

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) resulting from exposure to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has fueled a requirement to develop animals models that mirror this condition using exposure to blast overpressure (BOP). En route to developing a model of repeated exposure to BOP we sought to initially characterize the effects of acute BOP exposure in rodents, focusing specifically on the levels of BOP exposure that produced clinical mTBI symptoms. We first measured BOP effects on gross motor function on a balance beam. Separate groups of unanesthetized rats were exposed (in different orientations) to 36.6, 74.5, and 116.7 kPa BOP exposure inside a pneumatically driven shock tube. Results demonstrated that rats exposed to 116.7 kPa demonstrated transient alterations or loss of consciousness indicated by a transient loss of righting and by increased latencies on the balance beam. The 116.7 kPa exposure was the threshold for overt pathology for acute BOP exposure with approximately 30% of rats presenting with evidence of subdural hemorrhage and cortical contusions. All animals exposed to 116.7 kPa BOP manifested evidence of significant pulmonary hemorrhage. Anterograde memory deficits were observed in rats exposed to 74.5 kPa facing the BOP wave and rats exposed to 116.7 kPa in the lateral (side) orientation. We next assessed repeated exposure to either lateral or frontal 36.6 kPa BOP in anesthetized rats, once per day for 12 days. Results showed that repeated exposure in the frontal, but not side, orientation to the BOP wave produced a transitory learning deficit on a Morris water maze task as shown by significantly longer latencies to reach the submerged platform in the second and third blocks of a four block session. Implications of these data are discussed in relation to the manifestation of mTBI in military personnel exposed to IEDs. Finally, we suggest that there are multiple types of long-term brain injury from blast exposure.
Differences in electrophysiological and contractile properties of mammalian cardiac tissues bathed in bicarbonate - and HEPES-buffered solutions.

AIM The aim of this study was to compare the action potential configuration, contractility, intracellular Ca2+ and H+ concentrations in mammalian cardiac tissues bathed with Krebs and Tyrode solutions at 37 degrees C. RESULTS In Langendorff-perfused guinea-pig hearts, loaded with the fluorescent Ca2+-indicator Fura-2, or H+-sensitive dye carboxy-SNARF, shifts from Krebs to Tyrode solution caused intra-cellular acidification, increased diastolic pressure and [Ca2+]i, decreased systolic pressure and [Ca2+]i, leading to a reduction in the amplitude of [Ca2+]i transients and pulse pressure. Contractility was also depressed in canine ventricular trabeculae when transferred from Krebs to Tyrode solution. Shifts from Krebs to Tyrode solution increased the duration of action potentials in multicellular cardiac preparations excised from canine and rabbit hearts but not in isolated cardiomyocytes. All these changes in action potential morphology, contractility, [Ca2+]i and [H+]i were readily reversible by addition of 26 mmol L(-1) bicarbonate to Tyrode solution. Effects of dofetilide and CsCl, both blockers of the delayed rectifier K current, on action potential duration were compared in Krebs and Tyrode solutions. Dofetilide lengthened rabbit ventricular action potentials in a significantly greater extent in Tyrode than in Krebs solution. Exposure of canine Purkinje fibres to CsCl evoked early after depolarizations within 40 min in all preparations incubated with Tyrode solution, but not in those bathed with Krebs solution. CONCLUSION It is concluded that the marked differences in action potential morphology, [Ca2+]i, [H+]i and contractility observed between preparations bathed with Krebs and Tyrode solutions are more likely attributable to differences in the intracellular buffering capacities of the two media.
Preparation, characterization, and in vitro and in vivo evaluation of lovastatin solid lipid nanoparticles

The purpose of this research was to study whether the bioavailability of lovastatin could be improved by administering lovastatin solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) duodenally to rats. Lovastatin SLN were developed using triglycerides by hot homogenization followed by ultrasonication. Particle size and zeta potential were measured by photon correlation spectroscopy. The solid state of the drug in the SLN and lipid modification were characterized. Bioavailability studies were conducted in male Wistar rats after intraduodenal administration of lovastatin suspension and SLN. Stable lovastatin SLN having a mean size range of 60 to 119 nm and a zeta potential range of −16 to −21 mV were developed. More than 99% of the lovastatin was entrapped in the SLN. Lovastatin was dispersed in an amorphous state, and triglycerides were in {ieE162-1} form in the SLN. In vitro stability studies showed the slow release and stability of lovastatin SLN. The relative bioavailabilities of lovastatin and lovastatin hydroxy acid of SLN were increased by ∼173% and 324%, respectively, compared with the reference lovastatin suspension.
Understanding Norm Change: An Evolutionary Game-Theoretic Approach

Human societies around the world interact with each other by developing and maintaining social norms, and it is critically important to understand how such norms emerge and change. In this work, we define an evolutionary game-theoretic model to study how norms change in a society, based on the idea that different strength of norms in societies translate to different game-theoretic interaction structures and incentives. We use this model to study, both analytically and with extensive agent-based simulations, the evolutionary relationships of the need for coordination in a society (which is related to its norm strength) with two key aspects of norm change: cultural inertia (whether or how quickly the population responds when faced with conditions that make a norm change desirable), and exploration rate (the willingness of agents to try out new strategies). Our results show that a high need for coordination leads to both high cultural inertia and a low exploration rate, while a low need for coordination leads to low cultural inertia and high exploration rate. This is the first work, to our knowledge, on understanding the evolutionary causal relationships among these factors.