Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Readers beware: Provocation, problematization and … problems

In their recent Human Relations article and subsequent rejoinder to three commentators, Alvesson and Kärreman make a number of assertions concerning the development of organizational discourse analysis and the current state of research in this area. We believe their emphasis on provocation results in an unsatisfactory problematization of discourse-based work with the result that there are significant problems with both their analysis of the literature and their solutions to the shortcomings that they believe exist. We discuss a number of reasons why we believe that readers should be wary of what they read about organizational discourse analysis in Alvesson and Kärreman’s work. Drawing on our critique of their article and rejoinder, we propose some ideas that we believe will be more useful in developing studies of organizational discourse than those put forward by these authors.
Software-recorded and self-reported duration of computer use in relation to the onset of severe arm–wrist–hand pain and neck–shoulder pain

Objectives In both science and media, the adverse effects of a long duration of computer use at work on musculoskeletal health have long been debated. Until recently, the duration of computer use was mainly measured by self-reports, and studies using more objective measures, such as software-recorded computer duration, were lacking. The objective of this study was to examine the association between duration of computer use at work, measured with software and self-reports, and the onset of severe arm–wrist–hand and neck–shoulder symptoms. Methods A 2-year follow-up study was conducted between 2004 and 2006 among 1951 office workers in The Netherlands. Self-reported computer duration and other risk factors were collected at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Computer use at work was recorded continuously with computer software for 1009 participants. Outcome questionnaires were obtained at baseline and every 3 months during follow-up. Cases were identified based on the transition within 3 months of no or minor symptoms to severe symptoms. Results Self-reported duration of computer use was positively associated with the onset of both arm–wrist–hand (RR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.1 for more than 4 h/day of total computer use at work) and neck–shoulder symptoms (RR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.0 for more than 4 h/day of mouse use at work). The recorded duration of computer use did not show any statistically significant association with the outcomes. Conclusions In the present study, no association was found between the software-recorded duration of computer use at work and the onset of severe arm–wrist–hand and neck–shoulder symptoms using an exposure window of 3 months. In contrast, a positive association was found between the self-reported duration of computer use at work and the onset of severe arm–wrist–hand and neck–shoulder symptoms. The different findings for recorded and self-reported computer duration could not be explained satisfactorily.
Intelligent Instrument Design With ArchWare ADL

The design of intelligent instruments, i.e., sensors and actuators, is a complex field. Competences in physics, mechanics, and computing sciences are needed for this design, and strong constraints coming from the instrument hardware or the chosen fieldbus have to be respected. One of the sensitive issues of the design is that the software design has to be made by instrument designers who are domain specialists, but not software experts. Such a designer is able to easily design the hardware part of the intelligent instrument but not the software part.
A semi-supervised method for efficient construction of statistical spoken language understanding resources

We present a semi-supervised framework to construct spoken language understanding resources with very low cost. We generate context patterns with a few seed entities and a large amount of unlabeled utterances. Using these context patterns, we extract new entities from the unlabeled utterances. The extracted entities are appended to the seed entities, and we can obtain the extended entity list by repeating these steps. Our method is based on an utterance alignment algorithm which is a variant of the biological sequence alignment algorithm. Using this method, we can obtain precise entity lists with high coverage, which is of help to reduce the cost of building resources for statistical spoken language understanding systems. Index Terms: semi-supervised method, spoken language understanding
Virtual intervention to improve storytelling ability among deaf and hard-of-hearing children

Deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) children reveal considerable difficulty in producing an organised and complete narrative. The current study conducted a three-month intervention to improve D/HH children’s storytelling ability through training in arranging episodes of temporal scripts, and telling the stories they created. We examined 65 D/HH children aged four–seven years who were divided into two groups: virtual reality (VR) technological intervention and pictorial intervention. Participants completed pretest and posttest measures and demonstrated significant improvement in storytelling achievements following intervention; in the VR group, the improvement was much more significant. In addition, participants at an early age at onset of treatment correlated with children’s better achievements in storytelling.
One-sided error communication complexity of Gap Hamming Distance

Assume that Alice has a binary string x and Bob a binary string y , both strings are of length n . Their goal is to output 0, if x and y are at least L -close in Hamming distance, and output 1, if x and y are at least U -far in Hamming distance, where L < U are some integer parameters known to both parties. If the Hamming distance between x and y lies in the interval ( L, U ), they are allowed to output anything. This problem is called the Gap Hamming Distance. In this paper we study public-coin one-sided error communication complexity of this problem. The error with probability at most 1/2 is allowed only for pairs at Hamming distance at least U . In this paper we determine this complexity up to factors logarithmic in L . The protocol we construct for the upper bound is simultaneous.
Contactless fingerprint recognition: A neural approach for perspective and rotation effects reduction

Contactless fingerprint recognition systems are being researched in order to reduce intrinsic limitations of traditional biometric acquisition technologies, encompassing the release of latent fingerprints on the sensor platen, non-linear spatial distortions in the captured samples, and relevant image differences with respect to the moisture level and pressure of the fingertip on the sensor surface.Fingerprint images captured by single cameras, however, can be affected by perspective distortions and deformations due to incorrect alignments of the finger with respect to the camera optical axis. These non-idealities can modify the ridge pattern and reduce the visibility of the fingerprint details, thus decreasing the recognition accuracy. Some systems in the literature overcome this problem by computing three-dimensional models of the finger. Unfortunately, such approaches are usually based on complex and expensive acquisition setups, which limit their portability in consumer devices like mobile phones and tablets. In this paper, we present a novel approach able to recover perspective deformations and improper fingertip alignments in single camera systems. The approach estimates the orientation difference between two contactless fingerprint acquisitions by using neural networks, and permits to register the considered samples by applying the estimated rotation angle to a synthetic three-dimensional model of the finger surface. The generalization capability of neural networks offers a significant advantage by allowing processing a robust estimation of the orientation difference with a very limited need of computational resources with respect to traditional techniques. Experimental results show that the approach is feasible and can effectively enhance the recognition accuracy of single-camera biometric systems. On the evaluated dataset of 800 contactless images, the proposed method permitted to decrease the equal error rate of the used biometric system from 3.04% to 2.20%.
Beat Frequency Oscillation Analysis for Power Electronic Converters in DC Nanogrid Based on Crossed Frequency Output Impedance Matrix Model

The interaction of power electronic converters in a microgrid can introduce system instability and power quality issues. Existing investigations focus on interactions either in low-frequency regions, such as the constant power load, or in very high-frequency regions like electromagnetic interference. However, interactions of power converters around their switching frequency range are not included. In fact, the interaction of dc–dc converters with different switching frequencies can introduce beat frequency oscillation in certain cases. Since additional frequency component (beat frequency) is generated, traditional impedance concept is no longer the tool for beat frequency oscillation analysis and new models need to be developed. In this paper, a crossed frequency output impedance matrix model is proposed to describe the terminal characteristics of a dc–dc converter around its switching frequency range. A high-frequency equivalent circuit model for the converter is then developed to predict the beat frequency oscillation in parallel and cascaded systems, which results from the interaction of power converters with different switching frequencies. Finally, design guidelines are proposed to avoid potential beat frequency oscillation in a dc nanogrid. Experimental results for both parallel and cascaded systems validate the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed prediction method and design guidelines.
Universal Scalable Network Architecture

This paper presents new, universal, scalable network architecture, called USA, which resolves the growing tensions between the Internet architecture and routing infrastructure. USA separates the identity of end host from its location and adopts name-based addressing to achieve the end-to-end communication. USA also isolates the address space of end sites from core Internet. Each end site possesses an address space, that avoids renumbering and address exhausting, and is multi-homed without inflating the default-free zone routing table. USA is designed to scalably solve the interconnection of heterogeneous networks, and attempts to provide better services like security, mobility, multi-homing and traffic engineering.
Axenic Cultivation and Pathogenic Assays of Acanthamoeba Strains Using Physical Parameters

Background The main goal of the present study was to set up an axenic cultivation of Acanthamoeba and assess the pathogenic ability of T4 genotypes from different clinical and environmental strains of Acanthamoeba using two physical assays. Methods Sixteen Acanthamoeba isolates including 10 environmental and 6 clinical strains were cultured axenically. Axenic cultivation was performed using Proteosepepton, yeast extract and glucose medium and TY-I-S33culture. Pathogenic survey was done using osmotolerance and thermotolerance assay. Briefly, differentosmolarity (0.5 M and 1 M) of non-nutrient agar plates were performed. One hundred fifty µl of axenic culture were collected and were inoculated in 1% agar medium. For thermotolerance assay 150 µl of amoebas from axenic culture were divided into fresh culture mediums. Cultures were incubated at 37°C and 42 °C. All plates were monitored for 24 h, 48 h and 72 h. Results Overall, 16 strains of Acanthamoeba isolates previously genotyped as T4 were cultivated axenically after several months. Thermotolerance and osmotolerance assay revealed that all of clinical strains, soil and animal feces strains were highly pathogenic isolates. Two dust and water strains did not grow at high temperature (42 °C) and osmolarity (1.5 M) and thus they were classified as weak pathogens. Conclusion Most of T4 genotypes are highly pathogenic organisms. This is an important finding since Acanthamoeba belonging to T4 type is the predominate genotype in environmental and clinical samples. The presence of highly pathogenic Acanthamoeba may pose a risk within susceptible people.
A new mechanism to reduce congestion on TDM networks-on-chips

This paper presents a mechanism to decrease the congestion on TDM networks handling both Best Effort and Guaranteed Throughput traffic. The mechanism consists of an algorithm which gives an optimal Time Slot to begin transactions between source and destination, thus maximising the probability of successfully reserving a path through the network, to guarantee Quality of Service for the streaming traffic. In order to evaluate the improvements given by the algorithm, a 4×4 2D mesh was simulated in the Soclib environment under random traffic and compared to a same mesh not using the algorithm. Simulation results show that the rate of acceptance of connections from a source to a destination through the network is significantly higher when using the algorithm illustrating a decrease in the global congestion.
Randomized trial of radiofrequency ablation versus conventional surgery for superficial venous insufficiency: if you don’t tell, they won’t know

OBJECTIVES: This study compared radiofrequency ablation versus conventional surgery in patients who had not undergone previous treatment for bilateral great saphenous vein insufficiency, with each patient serving as his own control. METHOD: This was a randomized controlled trial that included 18 patients and was carried out between November 2013 and May 2015. Each of the lower limbs of each patient was randomly assigned to undergo either radiofrequency ablation or conventional surgery. Clinical features (hyperpigmentation, hematoma, aesthetics, pain, skin burn, nerve injury, and thrombophlebitis) were evaluated at one week, one month, and six months postoperatively. Hemodynamic assessments (presence of resection or occlusion of the great saphenous vein and recurrent reflux in the sapheno-femoral junction and in the great saphenous vein) were performed at one month, six months, and 12 months postoperatively. The independent observer (a physician not involved in the original operation), patient, and duplex ultrasonographer were not made aware of the treatment done in each case. Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT02588911. RESULTS: Among the clinical variables analyzed, only the aesthetic evaluation by the physicians was significant, with radiofrequency ablation being considered better than conventional surgery (average, 0.91 points higher: standard deviation: 0.31; 95% confidence interval: -1.51, -0.30; p=0.003). However, in our study, we observed primary success rates of 80% for radiofrequency ablation and 100% for conventional surgery. CONCLUSIONS: If the physician is not required to inform the patient as to the technique being performed, the patient will not be able to identify the technique based on the signs and symptoms. Our study revealed that both techniques led to high levels of patient satisfaction, but our results favor the choice of conventional surgery over radiofrequency ablation, as patients who underwent conventional surgery had better hemodynamic assessments.
Decomposition of symmetric powers of irreducible representations of semisimple Lie algebras and the Brion polytope

To any closed irreducible G-invariant cone in the space V of a finitedimensional representation of a semisimple Lie group there corresponds a convex polytope called the Brion polytope. This is closely connected with the action of the group G on the algebra of functions on the cone, and also with the moment map. In this paper we give a description of Brion polytopes for the spaces V themselves and for their nullcones.
Novel Insights Regarding the Operational Characteristics and Teleological Purpose of the Renal Na+-K+-Cl2 Cotransporter (NKCC2s) Splice Variants

The absorptive Na+-K+-Cl− cotransporter (NKCC2) is a polytopic protein that forms homooligomeric complexes in the apical membrane of the thick ascending loop of Henle (TAL). It occurs in at least four splice variants (called B, A, F, and AF) that are identical to one another except for a short region in the membrane-associated domain. Although each of these variants exhibits unique functional properties and distributions along the TAL, their teleological purpose and structural organization remain poorly defined. In the current work, we provide additional insight in these regards by showing in mouse that the administration of either furosemide or an H2O-rich diet, which are predicted to alter NKCC2 expression in the TAL, exerts differential effects on mRNA levels for the variants, increasing those of A (furosemide) but decreasing those of F and AF (furosemide or H2O). Based on a yeast two-hybrid mapping analysis, we also show that the formation of homooligomeric complexes is mediated by two self-interacting domains in the COOH terminus (residues 671 to 816 and 910 to 1098), and that these complexes could probably include more than one type of variant. Taken together, the data reported here suggest that A, F, and AF each play unique roles that are adapted to specific physiological needs, and that the accomplishment of such roles is coordinated through the splicing machinery as well as complex NKCC2–NKCC2 interactions.
Precision medicine and FPGA technology: Challenges and opportunities

As genomic medicine becomes part of standard clinical care, Precision Medicine faces a daunting computational challenge in scaling up to support the genomic, image processing and analytics workloads required for millions of patients, especially in oncology clinics. Computational solutions based on heterogeneous hardware platforms like FPGAs have the potential to enable rollout of personalized care for large numbers of patients. We review several clinical use cases to shed light on how FPGA-based solutions can lead to large performance gains and tackle the computational bottlenecks in precision medicine. The biggest barrier to FPGA adoption is their accessibility and the steep learning curve for many bioinformatics and precision medicine codebase development groups. We describe new standard libraries and development environments that will facilitate FPGA-based development and show how they enable performance improvements with modest effort investment.
A novel approach to estimation of the time to biomarker threshold: applications to HIV

In longitudinal studies of biomarkers, an outcome of interest is the time at which a biomarker reaches a particular threshold. The CD4 count is a widely used marker of human immunodeficiency virus progression. Because of the inherent variability of this marker, a single CD4 count below a relevant threshold should be interpreted with caution. Several studies have applied persistence criteria, designating the outcome as the time to the occurrence of two consecutive measurements less than the threshold. In this paper, we propose a method to estimate the time to attainment of two consecutive CD4 counts less than a meaningful threshold, which takes into account the patient‐specific trajectory and measurement error. An expression for the expected time to threshold is presented, which is a function of the fixed effects, random effects and residual variance. We present an application to human immunodeficiency virus‐positive individuals from a seroprevalent cohort in Durban, South Africa. Two thresholds are examined, and 95% bootstrap confidence intervals are presented for the estimated time to threshold. Sensitivity analysis revealed that results are robust to truncation of the series and variation in the number of visits considered for most patients. Caution should be exercised when interpreting the estimated times for patients who exhibit very slow rates of decline and patients who have less than three measurements. We also discuss the relevance of the methodology to the study of other diseases and present such applications. We demonstrate that the method proposed is computationally efficient and offers more flexibility than existing frameworks. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Technology in the Classroom: Wii: An Innovative Learning Tool in the Classroom

As educators, we know that one of the fundamental constructsof education is using what children know to enhance their learning in the classroom. We also know that children spend an enormous amount of their free time playing video games. With video game play constituting 97% of the preteen and teenage population’s leisure time (Lenhart et al., 2008), there is no doubt that the use of video games, specifically Nintendo’s Wii, ismaking its presence knownin the classroom. Video game systems currently offer great opportunities for creating more advanced learning systems for non-entertainment purposes that could easily fit into the curriculum (Gee, 2005; Shaffer, 2007). Educators are currently evaluating and debating the use of Wii video games to supplement the curriculum in the classroom.
An Oral Recombinant Vaccine in Dogs against Echinococcus granulosus, the Causative Agent of Human Hydatid Disease: A Pilot Study

Dogs are the main source of human cystic echinococcosis. An oral vaccine would be an important contribution to control programs in endemic countries. We conducted two parallel experimental trials in Morocco and Tunisia of a new oral vaccine candidate against Echinococcus granulosus in 28 dogs. The vaccine was prepared using two recombinant proteins from adult worms, a tropomyosin (EgTrp) and a fibrillar protein similar to paramyosin (EgA31), cloned and expressed in a live attenuated strain of Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium. In each country, five dogs were vaccinated with the associated EgA31 and EgTrp; three dogs received only the vector Salmonella; and six dogs were used as different controls. The vaccinated dogs received two oral doses of the vaccine 21 d apart, and were challenged 20 d later with 75,000 living protoscoleces. The controls were challenged under the same conditions. All dogs were sacrificed 26–29 d postchallenge, before the appearance of eggs, for safety reasons. We studied the histological responses to both the vaccine and control at the level of the duodenum, the natural localization of the cestode. Here we show a significant decrease of parasite burden in vaccinated dogs (70% to 80%) and a slower development rate in all remaining worms. The Salmonella vaccine EgA31-EgTrp demonstrated a high efficacy against E. granulosus promoting its potential role in reducing transmission to humans and animals.
Antimicrobial applications of nanotechnology: methods and literature

The need for novel antibiotics comes from the relatively high incidence of bacterial infection and the growing resistance of bacteria to conventional antibiotics. Consequently, new methods for reducing bacteria activity (and associated infections) are badly needed. Nanotechnology, the use of materials with dimensions on the atomic or molecular scale, has become increasingly utilized for medical applications and is of great interest as an approach to killing or reducing the activity of numerous microorganisms. While some natural antibacterial materials, such as zinc and silver, possess greater antibacterial properties as particle size is reduced into the nanometer regime (due to the increased surface to volume ratio of a given mass of particles), the physical structure of a nanoparticle itself and the way in which it interacts with and penetrates into bacteria appears to also provide unique bactericidal mechanisms. A variety of techniques to evaluate bacteria viability, each with unique advantages and disadvantages, has been established and must be understood in order to determine the effectiveness of nanoparticles (diameter ≤100 nm) as antimicrobial agents. In addition to addressing those techniques, a review of select literature and a summary of bacteriostatic and bactericidal mechanisms are covered in this manuscript.