Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design of 16 bit digital filter used in delta-sigma A/D converter

A digital decimation filter used in Δ-Σ - ADC is designed and introduced in this paper. The designed filter has a multi-stage structure which is comprised of a stage CIC filter, two stage half-band filters, and a stage compensation filter. The CSD coding, “Hognenauer cut-off theory”, frequency response masking approach and some other techniques are used to improve the performance of the chip and reduce the chip area and power consumption. This downsampling filter is achieved by algorithm modeling using MATLAB and hardware implementation using Verilog HDL. The performance indicators raised are achieved.
Following the User's Interests in Mobile Context-Aware Recommender Systems: The Hybrid-e-greedy Algorithm

The wide development of mobile applications provides a considerable amount of data of all types (images, texts, sounds, videos, etc.). In this sense, Mobile Context-aware Recommender Systems (MCRS) suggest the user suitable information depending on her/his situation and interests. Two key questions have to be considered 1) how to recommend the user information that follows his/her interests evolution? 2)how to model the user's situation and its related interests? Tithe best of our knowledge, no existing work proposing a MCRS tries to answer both questions as we do. This paper describes an ongoing work on the implementation of a MCRS based on the hybrid-å-greedy algorithm we propose, which combines the standard å-greedy algorithm and both content-based filtering and case-based reasoning techniques.
A new shoulder-surfing resistant password for mobile environments

In mobile devices such as smart phones, it is important to provide adequate user authentication. Conventional text-based passwords have significant drawbacks though they are used as the most common authentication method. To address the vulnerabilities of traditional text-based passwords, graphical password schemes have been developed as possible alternative solutions. However, a potential drawback of graphical password schemes is that they are more vulnerable to shoulder-surfing than conventional text-based passwords. In this paper, we present a new shoulder-surfing resistant password. Our approach makes it difficult for attackers to observe a user's password by requiring the user to locate his or her password in the given password grid instead of entering the password (Figure 1). Security analysis for shoulder-surfing attacks shows that our password is robust against both random and shoulder-surfing attacks.
Impact of a School-Based Mindfulness Intervention on Children’s Self Regulation

When schools recognize the importance of social-emotional learning and support young children’s self-regulation skills, students are also likely to see improvements in their academic potential. Youth who encounter the stressors of toxic stress and thus, who may have more challenges developing self-regulation competencies, may particularly benefit from classroom environments where self-regulation and coping skills are emphasized. The current study examined the impact of a school-based mindfulness program on self-regulation and mindfulness skills of 42 children in two fourth grade classrooms that were assigned to either a Mindfulness Group (n = 30) or to a Control Group (n = 12). The intervention group received 30-minute mindfulness lessons delivered by a trained facilitator once a week, for eight weeks. The Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children-Alternate version was used at baseline to measure the incidence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The Self-Control Regulation scale was completed by teachers to measure changes in self-regulation. The Child Adolescent and Mindfulness Measure was used to measure the children’s overall mindfulness score. The Brief Problem Monitor-Teacher was used to measure changes in the children’s behavior in the classroom as reported by teachers. Data were collected before (Time 1), at midpoint (Time 2) and one week following the end of the 8-week intervention (Time 3). Results indicated that the children in the mindfulness group demonstrated an increase in mindfulness skills, improvement in self-regulation, and increased positive behavior in the classroom compared to the control group. The study suggests the potential benefits of a school-based mindfulness intervention with underserved children facing complex trauma. 4 IMPACT OF SCHOOL-BASED MINDFULNESS INTERVENTIONS
Assessing Control of Asthma in Jush, Jimma, South West Ethiopia

Background Despite international guidelines, asthma control is short of the goal in different parts of the world. The objective of this study was to assess control of asthma in patients older than 14 years at the Chest Clinic of Jimma University Specialized Hospital/JUSH, South West Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted on 234 physician-diagnosed asthmatic patients attending the chest follow up clinic from June 01 to July 31, 2012. Asthma control was assessed using the GINA algorithm and the ACT questionnaire. Pulmonary function test was measured using a spirometer for 160 subjects. Data were cleared, entered and analyzed using SPSS version 16 and independent variables were assessed for association with the level of asthma control using bivariate and multinomial analyses. Results Using the GINA based algorithm, 42 respondents (26.2%) were considered to have partly controlled asthma and the majority, 117 (76.1%), had uncontrolled asthma. Asthma was uncontrolled (ACT score <19) in 71.4% subjects and well-controlled (ACT score = 20–25) in 28.6%. Inhaled corticosteroids alone or in association with long-acting b-agonists, which are the prophylactic treatments recommended by GINA, were used by only 9 subjects (3.8%). Factors associated independently with asthma control were individual patient's age group, unscheduled visit, frequency of SABA use, type of treatment and perceived rate of asthma control. Conclusion Asthma control is unacceptably poor in Jimma, South West Ethiopia. This could be changed through improved appropriate treatment and frequent monitoring to achieve and maintain control.
AMASE: A framework for supporting personalised activity-based learning on the web

Personalised web information systems have in recent years been evolving to provide richer and more tailored experiences for users than ever before. In order to provide even more interactive experiences as well as to address new opportunities, the next generation of Personalised web information systems needs to be capable of dynamically personalising not just web media but web services as well. In particular, eLearning provides an example of an application domain where learning activities and personalisation are of significant importance in order to provide learners with more engaging and effective learning experiences. This paper presents a novel approach and technical framework called AMASE to support the dynamic generation and enactment of Personalised Learning Activities, which uniquely entails the personalisation of media content and the personalisation of services in a unified manner. In doing so, AMASE follows a narrative approach to personalisation that combines state of the art techniques from both adaptive web and adaptive workflow systems.
Self-organizing strategies for a column-store database

Column-store database systems open new vistas for improved maintenance through self-organization. Individual columns are the focal point, which simplify balancing conflicting requirements. This work presents two workload-driven self-organizing techniques in a column-store, i.e. adaptive segmentation and adaptive replication. Adaptive segmentation splits a column into non-overlapping segments based on the actual query load. Likewise, adaptive replication creates segment replicas. The strategies can support different application requirements by trading off the reorganization overhead for storage cost. Both techniques can significantly improve system performance as demonstrated in an evaluation of different scenarios.
The Cartwheel galaxy with XMM-Newton

Aims. The extreme environment provided by the Cartwheel ring is analyzed to study its X-ray and optical-UV properties. We compare the Cartwheel with the other members of its group and study the system as a whole in the X-ray band. Methods. We analyze the data of the Cartwheel galaxy obtained with XMM-Newton in two different periods (December 2004 and May 2005). We focus on the X-ray properties of the system and use the OM data to obtain additional information in the optical and UV bands. Each dataset is analyzed separately to study source variability and summed together to study fainter and extended sources. Results. We detect a total of 8 sources associated with the Cartwheel galaxy and three in its vicinity, including G1 and G2, all at L X ≥ 10 39 erg s -1 , that is the Ultra Luminous X-ray (ULX) source range. The brightest ULX source has been already discussed elsewhere. The spectra of the next three brightest ULX are well fitted by a power-law model with a mean photon index of ~2. We compare the XMM-Newton and Chandra datasets to study the long-term variability of the sources. At least three sources vary in the 5 months between the two XMM-Newton observations and at least four in the 4-year timeframe between Chandra and XMM-Newton observations. One Chandra source disappears and a new one is detected by XMM-Newton in the ring. Optical-UV colors of the Cartwheel ring are consistent with a burst of star formation that is close to reaching its maximum, yielding a mean stellar age of about 40 Myr. The inferred variability and age suggest that high mass X-ray binaries are the counterparts to the ULX sources. The 3 companion galaxies have luminosities in the range 10 39-40 erg/s consistent with expectations. The hot gas of the Cartwheel galaxy is luminous and abundant (a few 10 8 ${M_{\odot}}$) and is found both in the outer ring, and in the inner part of the galaxy, behind the shock wave front. We also detect gas in the group with L X ~ 10 40 erg s -1 .
Fusion of multisource data sets from agricultural areas for improved land cover classification

An approach for spectral-spatial classification of multisource remote sensing data from agricultural areas is addressed. Mathematical morphology is used to derive the spatial information from the data sets. The different data sources (i.e., SAR and multispectral) are classified by support vector machines (SVM). Afterwards, the SVM outputs are transferred to probability measurements. These probability values are combined by different fusion strategies, to derive the final classification result. Comparing the results based on mathematical morphology the total accuracy increased by 6% compared to the pure-pixel classification results. Moreover the transfer of the SVM outputs into probability values and the subsequent fusion further increases the classification accuracy, resulting in an accuracy of 78.5%.
A score for predicting risk of death from cardiovascular disease in adults with raised blood pressure, based on individual patient data from randomised controlled trials

Abstract Objective: To create a risk score for death from cardiovascular disease that can be easily used. Design: Data from eight randomised controlled trials of antihypertensive treatment. Setting: Europe and North America. Participants: 47 088 men and women from trials that had differing age ranges and differing eligibility criteria for blood pressure. Main outcome measure: 1639 deaths from cardiovascular causes during a mean 5.2 years of follow up. Results: Baseline factors were related to risk of death from cardiovascular disease using a multivariate Cox model, adjusting for trial and treatment group (active versus control). A risk score was developed from 11 factors: age, sex, systolic blood pressure, serum total cholesterol concentration, height, serum creatinine concentration, cigarette smoking, diabetes, left ventricular hypertrophy, history of stroke, and history of myocardial infarction. The risk score is an integer, with points added for each factor according to its association with risk. Smoking contributed more in women and in younger age groups. In women total cholesterol concentration mattered less than in men, whereas diabetes had more of an effect. Antihypertensive treatment reduced the score. The five year risk of death from cardiovascular disease for scores of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 was 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.8%, 2.3%, 6.1%, and 15.6%, respectively. Age and sex distributions of the score from the two UK trials enabled individual risk assessment to be age and sex specific. Risk prediction models are also presented for fatal coronary heart disease, fatal stroke, and all cause mortality. Conclusion: The risk score is an objective aid to assessing an individual's risk of cardiovascular disease, including stroke and coronary heart disease. It is useful for physicians when determining an individual's need for antihypertensive treatment and other management strategies for cardiovascular risk. What is already known on this topic Many other factors are known to affect the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with raised blood pressure A patient's overall risk should be taken into account when determining their need for antihypertensive drugs and other strategies for improving cardiovascular health What this study adds A new score uses 11 risk factors to quantify an adult's risk of death from cardiovascular disease, including stroke and coronary heart disease The score is based on a large cohort of participants in controlled trials of antihypertensive drugs An individual's risk can be readily assessed as high or low compared with others of the same age and sex The website http://www.riskscore. org.uk/ is available for users of the risk score
Dexamethasone suppresses DU145 cell proliferation and cell cycle through inhibition of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 pathway and cyclin D1 expression.

AIM To determine the mechanisms of glucocorticoids in inhibiting advanced prostate cancer growth. METHODS The cell proliferation and cell cycle of prostate cancer DU145 cells following dexamethasone treatment were determined by proliferation assay and fluorescence-activated cell sorter. Western blot analysis was carried out to evaluate the effects of dexamethasone on phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 and expression of cyclin D1 in DU145 cells with or without glucocorticoid receptor (GR) antagonist RU486. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction verified the expression of GR mRNA in DU145 cells. RESULTS Dexamethasone significantly inhibited DU145 cell proliferation at the G(0)/G(1) phase. Western blot analysis showed a dramatic reduction of ERK1/2 activity and cyclin D1 expression in dexamethasone-treated cells. The decreased phosphorylation of ERK1/2 in dexamethasone-treated cells was attenuated by GR blockade. Additionally, the effects of dexamethasone in inhibiting cyclin D1 expression were altered by GR blockade. CONCLUSION Dexamethasone suppresses DU145 cell proliferation and cell cycle, and the underlying mechanisms are through the inhibition of phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and cyclin D1 expression. The inhibition of ERK1/2 phosphorylation and cyclin D1 expression is attenuated by GR blockade, suggesting that GR regulates ERK1/2 and cyclin D1 pathways. These observations suggest that dexamethasone has a potential clinical application in prostate cancer therapy.
Adaptive Nonlinear Filtering for Nonlinear Anisotropic Diffusion Approximation in Image Processing .

Multi-scale image enhancement and representation is an important part of biological and machine early vision systems. The process of constructing this representation must be both rapid and insensitive to noise, while retaining image structure at all scales. This is a complex task as small scale structure is difficult to distinguish from noise, while larger scale structure requires more computational effort. In both cases good localization can be problematic. Errors can also arise when conflicting results at different scales require cross-scale arbitration. Broadly speaking, multi-scale image analysis has historically been accomplished using two types of techniques: those which are sensitive to image structure and those which are not. Algorithms in the latter category typically use a set of variously sized predefined blurring kernels to produce images each of which retain structure at a different scale (Marr & Hildreth, 1980; Burt & Adelson, 1983; Koenderink, 1984; Hummel, 1986). Koenderink showed that if the kernels are Gaussian, then this process is equivalent to the evolution of the linear heat (or diffusion) equation. He thus transformed the integral equation representing the convolution process into the solution of a partial differential equation (PDE). Structure sensitive multi-scale techniques perform an analysis at a variety of scales within a single image (Klinger, 1971; Perona & Malik, 1987; Nitzberg & Shiota, 1992). Recently, the PDE formalism introduced by Koenderink has been extended to allow structure-sensitive multi-scale analysis (Perona & Malik, 1987, 1990) through the use of a nonlinear conductance function. The end result is a single image representation which contains information at all scales of interest. The Perona and Malik approach produces impressive results, but the numerical integration of a nonlinear PDE is a costly and inherently serial process. In this paper we present a technique Supported in part by the office of naval research (ONR N00014-95-1-0409).
An Examination of the Derivation of the Lagrange Equations of Motion

The Lagrange equations of motion are familiar to anyone who has worked in physics. However, their range of validity is rarely, if ever, a topic for discussion. Following on an earlier examination of the consequences for these equations if the mass is not assumed constant, this note will look carefully at the other assumptions made and consider any further consequences resulting. The form of the equations applicable in electromagnetism will also be reviewed in the light of these discussions.
NELL’s subcategories from a question answering environment

With advances in machine learning, natural language processing, processing speed, and amount of data storage, conversational agents are being used in applications that were not possible to perform within a few years. NELL, a machine learning agent who learns to read the web, today has a considerably large ontology and while it can be used for multiple fact queries, it is also possible to expand it further and specialize its knowledge. One of the first steps to succeed is to refine existing knowledge in NELL’s knowledge base so that future communication between it and humans is as natural as possible. This work describes the results of an experiment where we investigate which machine learning algorithm performs best in the task of classifying candidate words to subcategories in the NELL knowledge base.
Messages, Communication, Information Security and Value

This paper addresses the problem of analysing an information system for security flaws or vulnerabilities in a way that is analogous to the analysis of a safety-critical system. In particular, instead of adopting the approach that security is a property that must be proved to hold (fault avoidance), it shows how to analyse a system for possible security failures so that fault prevention, tolerance, recovery or even fault acceptance techniques can be chosen where appropriate.
Targeting of frog prodermorphin to the regulated secretory pathway by fusion to proenkephalin

We have investigated the sorting and processing of the amphibian precursor prepro-dermorphin in mammalian cells. Dermorphin, a D-alanine- containing peptide with potent opioid activity, has been isolated from the skin of the frog Phyllomedusa sauvagei. The maturation of this peptide from the precursor involves several posttranslational steps. Recombinant vaccinia viruses were used to infect AtT-20, PC12, and HeLa cells to study the sorting and processing of prepro-dermorphin. While this precursor was not processed in any of the examined cell lines, AtT- 20 cells were able to process approximately 40% of a chimeric precursor consisting of the first 241 amino acids of prepro-enkephalin fused to a carboxy-terminal part of pro-dermorphin. By immunogold-EM, we could show that the chimeric protein, but not pro-dermorphin, was sorted to dense-core secretion granules. The processing products could be released upon stimulation by 8-Br-cAMP. We conclude that the pro- enkephalin part of the fusion protein contains the information for targeting to the regulated pathway of secretion, while this sorting information is missing in pro-dermorphin. This indicates that sorting mechanisms may differ between amphibian and mammalian cells.
Bank concentration: cross-country evidence

This paper extends the analysis of bank concentration to a broad cross-section of countries, including developing countries, by directly examining the political economy aspects of bank concentration. The research examines the relationship between bank concentration and measures of financial sector efficiency, bank stability, industrial competitiveness, and a wide range of policies, regulations, and institutions essential for economic interactions in a cross-section of up to 94 countries. The research extends the literature to a wide-array of countries. The paper uses broad cross-country comparisons. The relationship between bank concentration and the structure of the tax system, tax compliance, policies toward industrial competition, political corruption, and the efficiency of legal and accounting systems are systematically assessed. The links between bank concentration and a wide assortment of policy, regulatory, and institutional factors that influence economic development are also addressed.