Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Forwarding Without Repeating: Efficient Rumor Spreading in Bounded-Degree Graphs

We study a gossip protocol called forwarding without repeating (fwr). The objective is to spread multiple rumors over a graph as efficiently as possible.fwr accomplishes this by having nodes record which messages they have forwarded to each neighbor, so that each message is forwarded at most once to each neighbor. We prove that fwr spreads a rumor over a strongly connected digraph, with high probability, in time which is within a constant factor of optimal for digraphs with bounded out-degree. Moreover, on digraphs with bounded out-degree and bounded number of rumors, the number of transmissions required by fwr is arbitrarily better than that of existing approaches. Specifically, fwr requires O(n) messages on bounded-degree graphs with n nodes, whereas classical forwarding and an approach based on network coding both require ω(n) messages. Our results are obtained using combinatorial and probabilistic arguments. Notably, they do not depend on expansion properties of the underlying graph, and consequently the message complexity of fwr is arbitrarily better than classical forwarding even on constant-degree expander graphs, as n → ∞. In resource-constrained applications, where each transmission consumes battery power and bandwidth, our results suggest that using a small amount of memory at each node leads to a significant savings.
Testing independent and buffer models of the influence of leisure participation on stress-coping and adaptational outcomes.

The rise of stress levels is a major threat to the health of individuals and society as a whole. Not only does stress and coping research contribute to better understanding the mechanisms by which ways of coping influence the relationship between stress and health, but the knowledge of coping mechanisms can also be applied to developing health promotion and lifestyle intervention programs in which stress management is an important component to help citizens prevent ill-health and reduce health costs. The purpose of this study was to test two theoretical models of leisure and coping: (a) an independent model and (b) a buffer model when the effects of general coping were taken into account. Specifically, the study focused on examining what types of leisure best contribute to coping with stress, and how the processes that link specific activities to coping outcomes operate. A repeated assessment design was used to gain stronger confidence in directions of the relationships examined. The participants represented police and emergency response service workers because this occupational group tends to regularly experience very high stress levels. The specific aspects of leisure examined were frequency and enjoyment of participation in leisure activities. The findings suggest that the effects of leisure participation on stresscoping and health differ depending on the type of leisure engaged in. Relaxing leisure, outdoor recreation, and hobbies were found to have “main effects” supporting the independent model, whereas leisure travel was found to have “interaction effects” supporting the buffer model. Interestingly, social leisure and cultural leisure were found to have both “main effects” and “interaction effects” supporting both the independent and buffer models. The findings add to the accumulating evidence that physical activity and exercise may not always contribute to effectively coping with stress. The evidence challenges the current narrow view of health promotion programs (e.g., work-site health programs) that mostly rely on physical exercise and fitness as a tool for managing stress. The study highlights the importance of giving greater attention to a broader range of leisure activities including non-physical types of leisure as a means for dealing with stress and promoting health. Specifically, the results suggest that (a) in addition to general coping strategies such as problem-focused coping, leisure pursuits can act as a means of managing stress, and that (b) stress-coping benefits of leisure can be gained from more than just physical forms of leisure—non-physical forms of leisure can provide such benefits, as well.
Improved active shape models for segmentation of the prostate on MR imagery

OF THE THESIS Improved Active Shape Models for Segmentation of the Prostate on MR Imagery by Robert James Toth Thesis Director: Anant Madabhushi Segmentation aims to determine which locations within an image contain the object of interest. Segmentation of the prostate boundary on clinical images is useful in a large number of applications including calculation of prostate volume preand posttreatment, detection of extra-capsular spread, and creation of patient-specific anatomical models. Manual segmentation of the prostate boundary is, however, time consuming and subject to interand intra-reader variability. T2-weighted (T2-w) Magnetic Resonance (MR) structural imaging (MRI) and MR Spectroscopy (MRS) have recently emerged as promising modalities for detection of prostate cancer in vivo. With the recent advance in prostate imagery, we have generated an accurate prostate segmentation system for MR imagery. Our system builds upon the popular Active Shape Model (ASM) framework, in which a statistical description of the shape is first generated, after which an appearance of the object of interest is modeled. In our system, the shape model can be generated in either 2D or 3D, and is defined by a set of anatomical landmarks. For the appearance model, we offer several improvements. We generated statistical texture features of the prostate images, and use those features to overcome limitations of solely using intensities. In addition, we use intelligent feature selection algorithms including forward feature selection and adaboost to
Evaluation of the single scatter simulation algorithm implemented in the STIR library

The model-based single scatter simulation (SSS) algorithm has been implemented in the Open Source software library called STIR (Software for Tomographic Image Reconstruction). The main advantage of the SSS algorithm is its good accuracy at small computational time. The aim of the current work is to validate our implementation and to investigate the influence of several parameters. The validation tests are based on the NEMA-NU 2001 standard about scatter accuracy. The results of our implementation are compared both with data from the SimSET Monte Carlo simulation package and with measured data. The flexibility of our code can help us to understand the influence of many parameters of the algorithm, such that optimal values can be found for given time constraints, as for example are the detector sampling and the voxel size of the transmission image. This implementation will be included in future distributions of STIR.
An examination of adolescents' self-efficacy, engagement and achievement in representational drawing

The period of adolescence is of special interest in art education because it is at this age students often appear to start to doubt their abilities in art. At this time, they can become less confident in their art making abilities and need special support from their teachers to continue to be involved with art as a subject (Hobbs and Rush, 1997). Drawing is often considered a foundation skill that holds an integral position within a student's art education. From observing the mixed-ability group (12-13 years old) involved in this study, it was noted that many students questioned their drawing ability, particularly when they were struggling and their confidence levels were being challenged. Common observations included those students who were' good at drawing' and had confidence in their ability to those who appeared to have little confidence regardless of their ability. Self-Efficacy theory, which is defined as people's judgements of their capabilities in order to complete a given task (Bandura, 1997), may help to explain why students with similar drawing experiences perceive their own drawing ability differently. One challenge to art teachers is to raise learners' levels of self-efficacy with the aim of improving learners' levels of engagement and achievement in drawing.
The identity of the discriminator base has an impact on CCA addition

CCA-adding enzymes synthesize and maintain the C-C-A sequence at the tRNA 3′-end, generating the attachment site for amino acids. While tRNAs are the most prominent substrates for this polymerase, CCA additions on non-tRNA transcripts are described as well. To identify general features for substrate requirement, a pool of randomized transcripts was incubated with the human CCA-adding enzyme. Most of the RNAs accepted for CCA addition carry an acceptor stem-like terminal structure, consistent with tRNA as the main substrate group for this enzyme. While these RNAs show no sequence conservation, the position upstream of the CCA end was in most cases represented by an adenosine residue. In tRNA, this position is described as discriminator base, an important identity element for correct aminoacylation. Mutational analysis of the impact of the discriminator identity on CCA addition revealed that purine bases (with a preference for adenosine) are strongly favoured over pyrimidines. Furthermore, depending on the tRNA context, a cytosine discriminator can cause a dramatic number of misincorporations during CCA addition. The data correlate with a high frequency of adenosine residues at the discriminator position observed in vivo. Originally identified as a prominent identity element for aminoacylation, this position represents a likewise important element for efficient and accurate CCA addition.
Health effects of working in pulp and paper mills: exposure, obstructive airways diseases, hypersensitivity reactions, and cardiovascular diseases.

Workers in the pulp and paper industry are exposed to different substances, such as hydrogen sulfide and other reduced sulfur compounds, chlorine, chlorine dioxide, sulfur dioxide, terpenes, and paper dust. The exposure level depends on the process, i.e., sulfite, sulfate, groundwood, bleachery, or paper production. Hitherto, exposures have been poorly described and more studies are certainly needed. Workers with repeated exposure peaks to chlorine, e.g., bleachery workers, seem to have an impaired lung function and an increased prevalence of respiratory symptoms. Exposure to high levels of paper dust, (> 5 mg/m3) causes impaired lung function. Therefore, exposure to respiratory irritants is an important, and probably overlooked, occupational risk among certain groups of pulp and paper workers. Some studies indicate that sulfate workers with high exposure to reduced sulfur compounds have an increased mortality due to ischemic heart disease. However, before any definite conclusions can be drawn, the impact of important confounders, such as shift-work and smoking habits have to be further evaluated.
The Quest to Replace Passwords : a Framework for Comparative Evaluation of Web Authentication Schemes

Passwords exist as an authentication method many years. Researchers have found after all these years, major drawbacks regarding text passwords. The goal of this paper is to evaluate two decades of proposals to replace text passwords. Also the evaluation process could function as a benchmark for future work on web authentication proposals. The rating criteria consists of three main categories Usability, Deployability and Security, covering a wide range scenarios, in contrast with other evaluations that address very speci c environments and narrow scenarios. So the evaluation is focused as user authentication on the web from end-user client devices to remote veri ers.
Simulate Heart Failure by a Mathematical Model

Heart failure is simulated using a cardiovascular system model with embedded autonomic nervous regulation and renal blood volume adjustment. The main cardiovascular parameters under heart failure are set as reducing the left ventricular myocardial maximum elasticity by 50%, increasing sympathetic nerve activity by 20% and decreasing vagus nerve activity by 80%, increasing peripheral resistance by 60% and decreasing vascular compliance by 25%. The simulation results show that compared with normal condition, in heart failure the cardiac output (CO) reduced from 5.832 L/min to 5.767 L/min, the eject fraction (EF) reduced from 63.31% to 43.65% and left ventricular wall thickness (LVWT) increased from 10 mm to 13.70 mm. These results generally agree with physiological and pathological features of human heart failure.
Evaluator services for optimised service placement in distributed heterogeneous cloud infrastructures

Optimal placement of demanding real-time interactive applications in a distributed heterogeneous cloud very quickly results in a complex tradeoff between the application constraints and resource capabilities. This requires very detailed information of the various requirements and capabilities of the applications and available resources. In this paper, we present a mathematical model for the service optimization problem and study the concept of evaluator services as a flexible and efficient solution for this complex problem. An evaluator service is a service probe that is deployed in particular runtime environments to assess the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of deploying a specific application in such environment. We discuss how this concept can be incorporated in a general framework such as the FUSION architecture and discuss the key benefits and tradeoffs for doing evaluator-based optimal service placement in widely distributed heterogeneous cloud environments.
The Monetary Independence Hypothesis: Evidence from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland*

Empirical evidence on the validity of the monetaryindependence hypothesis for a group of advancedaccession countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary andPoland) is presented. In particular, we employDynamic Conditional Correlation Multivariate GARCH(DCC-MGARCH) models to estimate the degree of(time-varying) correlation in interest rates shocks withrespect to two leading economies, Germany and theUS, under different exchange rates regimes. The resultsare mixed: while the dynamic behaviour of thecorrelations in interest rate shocks in the CzechRepublic appears consistent with theory, no evidenceconcerning the validity of the monetary hypothesis isfound for Hungary and Poland.
Characterization of embroidered dipole-type RFID tag antennas

Wearable RFID tags and wireless sensors can be used for on-body and human monitoring applications. Embroidery with conductive thread provides compelling means for the fabrication of seamlessly garment-integrable antennas for wearable tags and wireless sensors. In this paper, we present the fabrication of fully assembled tags based on embroidered dipole-type antennas. The prototype tags achieve 5.5-to-7 meters read range. Moreover, we present a method for estimating the effective conductivity of the embroidery pattern, which depends on the sewing pattern and the stitch density. This will enable the judicious optimization of embroidered tag antennas using electromagnetic simulation tools.
Discriminative feature transformation by guided discriminative training

In this paper, we investigate guided discriminative training in the context of improving multi-class classification problems. We are interested in applications that require improvement in the classification performance of only a subset of the classes at the possible expense of poorer classification performance of the remaining classes. However, should the classification of the remaining classes deteriorate, it is guaranteed not to be worse than the extent that the user specifies. The problem is formulated as a nonlinear programming problem, which can be translated to a unconstrained nonlinear optimization problem using the barrier method that, in turn, can be solved by the gradient descent method. To prove the concept, we apply guided discriminative training to derive an optimal linear transformation on the mel-filterbank log power spectra to improve TIMIT phoneme classification. Encouraging results are obtained.
On the fixation probability of superstars

The Moran process models the spread of genetic mutations through populations. A mutant with relative fitness r is introduced and the system evolves, either reaching fixation (an all-mutant population) or extinction (no mutants). In a widely cited paper, Lieberman et al. (2005 Evolutionary dynamics on graphs. Nature 433, 312–316) generalize the model to populations on the vertices of graphs. They describe a class of graphs (‘superstars’), with a parameter k and state that the fixation probability tends to 1−r−k as the graphs get larger: we show that this is untrue as stated. Specifically, for k=5, we show that the fixation probability (in the limit, as graphs get larger) cannot exceed 1−1/j(r), where j(r)=Θ(r4), contrary to the claimed result. Our proof is fully rigorous, though we use a computer algebra package to invert a 31×31 symbolic matrix. We do believe the qualitative claim of Lieberman et al.—that superstar fixation probability tends to 1 as k increases—and that it can probably be proved similarly to their sketch. We were able to run larger simulations than the ones they presented. Simulations on graphs of around 40 000 vertices do not support their claim but these graphs might be too small to exhibit the limiting behaviour.
Constitution, Charter and religions in South Africa

This article discusses the status of religious rights and freedoms under the South African Constitution and the South African Charter of Religious Rights and Freedoms. Following a discussion of the demographics of religious and ethnic pluralism in South Africa, the article discusses the relevant provisions of the Constitution and the Charter and historical antecedents in common law and Roman-Dutch law and the historical and contemporary influence of African traditional religion and customary law that have shaped the current relationship of the Christian church to the South African state. The article concludes with an argument for the recognition of a plurality of religions and religious legal systems in Africa.
CREB/CBP and SRE‐interacting transcriptional regulators are fast on–off switches: duration of calcium transients specifies the magnitude of transcriptional responses

Transient increases in the intracellular calcium concentration, which are associated with electrical activation of neurones, control synapse‐to‐nucleus communication. Calcium signals differ in time and space but it is unclear exactly how this translates into stimulus‐specific gene expression. Analysis of transcription induced by calcium transients with defined durations revealed that the evoked genomic responses, unlike those following neurotrophin exposure, are not all‐or‐none but graded events. The CRE‐binding protein CREB, its coactivator CREB‐binding protein (CBP), and SRE‐interacting transcriptional regulators are fast on–off switches: their activities are induced by short‐lasting calcium signals, remain active for the duration of the signal and are rapidly shut‐off after calcium concentrations have returned to basal levels. CREB is switched on by a fast, nuclear calmodulin (CaM) kinase‐dependent mechanism that mediates CREB phosphorylation on serine 133 within 30 s of calcium entry. The second calcium‐activated route to CREB involves the MAP kinase/extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK1/2) cascade. This pathway can be triggered by brief, 30–60 s calcium transients. ERK1/2 activity peaks several minutes after calcium entry and can outlast the calcium transient. The shut‐off of CREB and ERK1/2 involves rapid dephosphorylation of their activator sites. These properties of transcription factors and their regulating kinases and phosphatases provide a mechanism through which the duration of calcium signals specifies the magnitude of the transcriptional response. The decoding of temporal features of calcium transients is likely to contribute to impulse‐specific gene expression.
Blocking carbohydrate absorption and weight loss: a clinical trial using a proprietary fractionated white bean extract.

BACKGROUND A proprietary fractionated white bean extract of Phaseolus vulgaris has been shown in vitro to inhibit the digestive enzyme alpha-amylase. This may prevent or delay the digestion of complex carbohydrates, potentially resulting in weight loss. METHODS A 4-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 25 healthy subjects consuming 1000 mg of a proprietary fractioned white bean extract or an identical placebo twice a day before meals in conjunction with a multi-component weight-loss program, including diet, exercise, and behavioral intervention, was conducted. RESULTS Both groups reduced their weight and waist size significantly from baseline. The active group lost 6.0 lbs (P=.0002) and 2.2 in (P=.0050), and the placebo group lost 4.7 lbs (P=.0016) and 2.1 in (P=.0001). The differences between groups were not significant (weight P=.4235, waist size P=.8654). Through subsequent exploratory analysis to investigate group findings further, subjects were stratified by total dietary carbohydrate intake. This probative analysis revealed that the tertile of subjects who had consumed the most carbohydrates demonstrated significant reductions in both weight (8.7 lbs vs 1.7 lbs, P=.0412) and waist size (3.3 in vs 1.3 in P=.0100) compared with placebo subjects in the same tertile of carbohydrate intake. CONCLUSION Subjects who adhere to a program including dietary modification, exercise, and behavioral intervention can significantly reduce their weight and waist size in a short period of time. In an exploratory analysis of data, the tertile of subjects who ate the most carbohydrates experienced a significant reduction in both weight and waist size with the addition of the white bean extract compared to the placebo group of the same tertile of carbohydrate consumption. Longer studies with a larger pool of subjects are required to validate these findings.
Why fair tests are needed: a brief history

Why do we need fair tests of treatments in health care? Have not doctors, for centuries, “done their best” for their patients? Sadly, there are many examples of doctors and other health professionals harming their patients because treatment decisions were not informed by what we consider now to be reliable evidence about the effects of treatments. With hindsight, health professionals in most if not all spheres of health care have harmed their patients inadvertently, sometimes on a very wide scale. Indeed, patients themselves have sometimes harmed other patients when, on the basis of untested theories and limited personal experiences, they have encouraged the use of treatments that have turned out to be harmful. The question is not whom we might blame, but whether the harmful effects of inadequately tested treatments can be reduced. They can, to a great extent, firstly, by avoiding applying untested theories about the effects of treatment in practice, and secondly, by wider use of fair tests of treatments. What are fair tests of treatments? They are tests that take steps to obtain reliable information about treatment effects by reducing the misleading influences of biases and the play of chance. ### Van Helmont 1662 ! [Graphic][1] People have often been harmed because treatments have been based on our theories about how disease should be treated without testing the theories in practice. For example, for centuries we believed the theory that illnesses were caused by “humoral imbalances. ” So patients were bled and purged, made to vomit and take snuff, in … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif