Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing Pictograph Recognition: A Comparison of Crowdsourcing and Traditional Survey Approaches

Background Compared to traditional methods of participant recruitment, online crowdsourcing platforms provide a fast and low-cost alternative. Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a large and well-known crowdsourcing service. It has developed into the leading platform for crowdsourcing recruitment. Objective To explore the application of online crowdsourcing for health informatics research, specifically the testing of medical pictographs. Methods A set of pictographs created for cardiovascular hospital discharge instructions was tested for recognition. This set of illustrations (n=486) was first tested through an in-person survey in a hospital setting (n=150) and then using online MTurk participants (n=150). We analyzed these survey results to determine their comparability. Results Both the demographics and the pictograph recognition rates of online participants were different from those of the in-person participants. In the multivariable linear regression model comparing the 2 groups, the MTurk group scored significantly higher than the hospital sample after adjusting for potential demographic characteristics (adjusted mean difference 0.18, 95% CI 0.08-0.28, P<.001). The adjusted mean ratings were 2.95 (95% CI 2.89-3.02) for the in-person hospital sample and 3.14 (95% CI 3.07-3.20) for the online MTurk sample on a 4-point Likert scale (1=totally incorrect, 4=totally correct). Conclusions The findings suggest that crowdsourcing is a viable complement to traditional in-person surveys, but it cannot replace them.
The plight to dissent: professional integrity and ethical perception in the institutional care work of early childhood educators

ABSTRACT A Code of Ethics for Early Childhood Educators has been established in Denmark, accentuating the development of a professional ethos. However, the divergence between professional ethical ideals and the complex realities of professional practice can result in the phenomenon defined as moral distress. This article is a case study that discloses how moral distress can be processed through ethics education, based on results from an empirical study of early childhood educators’ experiences with moral dilemmas and ethical intervention in institutional care work. The author discusses professionals’ ‘plight to dissent’ when confronting unethical practice. The article concludes that educational programmes based on a supervision method, conceptualised as Ethical Circles (EC), can support early childhood educators to develop ethical perception and professional integrity. Professionals learn to reflect upon the complexities of early childhood education and care, and develop the competency to intervene in unethical practice, when needed, with the aim of putting children first.
The diffuse X-ray emission in the starburst galaxy NGC 253

Aims. We present a study of the diffuse X-ray emission in the halo and the disc of the starburst galaxy NGC 253. Methods. After removing point-like sources, we analysed XMM-Newton images, hardness ratio maps and spectra from several regions in the halo and the disc. We introduce a method to produce vignetting corrected images from the EPIC pn data, and we developed a procedure that allows a correct background treatment for low surface brightness spectra, using a local background, together with closed filter observations. Results. Most of the emission from the halo is at energies below 1 keV. In the disc, also emission at higher energies is present. The extent of the diffuse emission along the major axis of the disc is 13.6 kpc. The halo resembles a horn structure and reaches out to ∼9 kpc perpendicular to the disc. Disc regions that cover star forming regions, like spiral arms, show harder spectra than regions with lower star forming activity. Models for spectral fits of the disc regions need at least three components: two thermal plasmas with solar abundances plus a power law and galactic foreground absorption. Temperatures are between 0.1 and 0.3 keV and between 0.3 and 0.9 keV for the soft and the hard component, respectively. The power law component may indicate an unresolved contribution from X-ray binaries in the disc. The halo emission is not uniform, neither spatially nor spectrally. The southeastern halo is softer than the northwestern halo. To model the spectra in the halo, we needed two thermal plasmas with solar abundances plus galactic foreground absorption. Temperatures are around 0.1 and 0.3 keV. A comparison between X-ray and UV emission shows that both originate from the same regions. The UV emission is more extended in the southeastern halo, where it seems to form a shell around the X-ray emission.
Novel Kernel-Based Recognizers of Human Actions

We study unsupervised and supervised recognition of human actions in video sequences. The videos are represented by probability distributions and then meaningfully compared in a probabilistic framework. We introduce two novel approaches outperforming state-of-the-art algorithms when tested on the KTH and Weizmann public datasets: an unsupervised nonparametric kernel-based method exploiting the Maximum Mean Discrepancy test statistic; and a supervised method based on Support Vector Machine with a characteristic kernel specifically tailored to histogram-based information.
Integration of rule based and case based reasoning system to support decision making

Augmented by rule based reasoning and data mining method, case-based reasoning (CBR) has emerged as a major research area because CBR is not only a psychological theory for human knowledge, but also will be a new comer stone of the intelligent computer system technology. This paper focuses on the coalition between the research areas of Data Mining, CBR System and decision support systems (DSSs). A conceptual framework model for DSSs based on Data mining and CBR is elaborated here. The model consists of a knowledge base, case base reasoning and data mining subsystems. For our research we chose knowledge driven model because the model has capacity to self-learn, identify association between data, classifying and clustering of the data based on the characteristics, suggest recommended actions to users, all these factors incorporate intelligence into the system thus increasing the capacity of problem solving and improve suggestion accuracy.
GRAPH THEORY AND PROBABILITY

A well-known theorem of Ramsay (8; 9) states that to every n there exists a smallest integer g(n) so that every graph of g(n) vertices contains either a set of n independent points or a complete graph of order n, but there exists a graph of g(n) 1 vertices which does not contain a complete subgraph of n vertices and also does not contain a set of n independent points. (A graph is called complete if every two of its vertices are connected by an edge; a set of points is called independent if no two of its points are connected by an edge.) The determination of g(n) seems a very difficult problem; the best inequalities for g(lz) are (3)
Eliciting information from people with a gendered humanoid robot

A conversational robot can take on different personas that have more or less common ground with users. With more common ground, communication is more efficient. We studied this process experimentally. A "male" or "female" robot queried users about romantic dating norms. We expected users to assume a female robot knows more about dating norms than a male robot. If so, users should describe dating norms efficiently to a female robot but elaborate on these norms to a male robot. Users, especially women discussing norms for women, used more words explaining dating norms to the male robot than to a female robot. We suggest that through simple changes in a robot's persona, we can elicit different levels of information from users-less if the robot's goal is efficient speech, more, if the robot's goal is redundancy, description, explanation, and elaboration.
Lya absorption systems and the intergalactic medium

The last few years have seen a dramatic improvement in our understanding of the origin of Lyα absorption systems. Hydrodynamic numerical simulations of cold–dark–matter–dominated universes have shown that the many properties of the Lyα absorption systems can be explained by a photoionized, space–filling, intergalactic medium. Lyα lines offer promising probes of the photoionizing background, the amplitude of the mass fluctuations at high redshift and the evolution of the equation of state of the intergalactic medium.
Modulation of NMDA receptor function: implications for vertebrate neural development

The NMDA subtype of glutamate receptor is hypothesized to mediate synaptic competition in the developing brain by stabilizing converging synapses that have correlated activity patterns. Disruption of NMDA receptor function during development interferes with synapse elimination and sensory map formation. Moreover, many studies indicate that NMDA receptor function is high during times of synaptic rearrangement. In this review, a corollary of the NMDA receptor hypothesis for activity‐dependent synapse stabilization is proposed. As developing inputs increase in number and strength, the increasing excitatory synaptic activity in young neurons should lead to increases in postsynaptic Ca2+ influx through NMDA receptors. This Ca2+ flux is postulated to trigger a feedback system that changes the subunit composition of the NMDA receptor complex so that less Ca2+ enters postsynaptic cells upon NMDA receptor activation. Changes in NMDA receptor effectiveness resulting from manipulations of activity are consistent with the idea that NMDA receptor function is under the control of activity. This postulate of activity‐dependent control of NMDA receptor expression has implications for the control of brain plasticity. If particular combinations of NMDA receptor subunits typically expressed in young animals are better than adult receptor types at maintaining synapses in regions where they are not well correlated with other inputs, then expression of these juvenile subunit combinations could facilitate synaptic rearrangements in the mature brain after the normal end of synaptic plasticity. Thus, understanding the regulation of NMDA receptor function during development could provide a novel approach to restructuring circuitry in the adult brain to compensate for damage produced by trauma or disease. —Scheetz, A. J., Constantine‐Paton, M. Modulation of NMDA receptor function: implications for vertebrate neural development. FASEB J. 8: 745‐752; 1994.
Design of Optimized BMU for QPSK Modulation scheme for Wi-MAX

Digital communication systems usually represent an increase in complexity over the equivalent analog system. Digital communication has become the most preferred option because of the increased scale of integration, sophistication and reliability of digital electronics for signal processing. In the proposed system the discrete data are EX- OR'ed with randomizer and Convolutionally encoded to transmit data securely. The data is rearranged in Block Interleaver and it is modulated by QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) for increasing the signal strength by adding carrier signal and transmitted over to a AWGN (Additive White Gaussian Noise) channel. In the receiver side the received signal is demodulated using QPSK. The scrambled bits are rearranged by Block De-Interleaver and these bits are decoded by Viterbi Decoder. The extra bits decoded by Viterbi Decoder is removed by de-Randomizer which results in original discrete source data. The viterbi decoder increases the channel capacity by adding redundant bits to original bits, it performs Euclidean Distance approach to calculate the distance between the neighbouring signal points, so it performs complex operations. Efficient and secure data transmissions helps to achieve minimum computation.
DDD Pacing with Rate Drop Response Function Versus DDI with Rate Hysteresis Pacing for Cardioinhibitory Vasovagal Syncope

Background: The effectiveness of cardiac pacing in preventing vasovagal syncope remains controversial. However, DDI pacing with rate hysteresis has been reported to prevent the recurrence of Cardioinhibitory vasovagal syncope in up to 35% of affected subjects and to reduce the overall incidence of syncopal episodes in the others. Recently, DDD pacing with a new promising rate drop response function (Medtronic Thera‐I model 7960) has become available in clinical practice. Aim of the study: The aim of the present open trial was to test the effectiveness of this new pacing modality in patients with Cardioinhibitory vasovagal syncope. Study population and methods: The study population included 20 patients (12 males and 8 females; mean age 61.1 ± 14 yrs) with recurrent syncope (mean number of prior episode = 6.8, range 5–11) and Cardioinhibitory responses during two head‐up tilt tests: the first diagnostic and the second during drug therapy with either β‐blockade or etilephrine. The study patients were randomized to receive either DDI pacing with rate hysteresis (8 patients) or DDD pacing with rate drop response function (11 patients). The head‐up tilt test performed 1 month after pacemaker implantation was positive in 3 of 12 patients (25%) with DDD pacing with rate drop response function and in 5 of 8 patients (62.5%) with DDI pacing with rate hysteresis. The mean duration of follow‐up was 17.7 ± 7.4 months. During follow‐up no patients with a DDD pacemaker with rate drop response function had syncope, while 3 of 8 patients with a DDI pacemaker with rate hysteresis had recurrence of syncope (P < 0.05). Conclusions: These data suggest that DDD pacing with rate drop response function is effective in Cardioinhibitory vasovagal syncope and may be preferable to DDI pacing with rate hysteresis.
Shadows on the Cloud: An Energy-aware, Profit Maximizing Resilience Framework for Cloud Computing

As the demand for cloud computing continues to increase, cloud service providers face the daunting challenge to meet the negotiated SLA agreement, in terms of reliability and timely performance, while achieving costeffectiveness. This challenge is increasingly compounded by the increasing likelihood of failure in largescale clouds and the rising cost of energy consumption. This paper proposes Shadow Replication, a novel profit-maximization resiliency model, which seamlessly addresses failure at scale, while minimizing energy consumption. The basic tenet of the model is to associate a suite of shadow processes to execute concurrently with the main process, but initially at a much reduced execution speed, to overcome failures as they occur. Two computationally-feasible schemes are proposed to achieve shadow replication. A performance evaluation framework is developed to analyze these schemes and compare their performance to traditional replicationbased fault tolerance methods, focusing on the inherent tradeoff between fault tolerance, the specified SLA and profit maximization. The results show Shadow Replication leads to significant energy reduction, and is better suited for compute-intensive execution models, where up to 30% more profit increase can be achieved.
PRACTITIONERS' VIEWS ON SERVICE NEEDS FOR JUSTICE INVOLVED YOUTH

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . v CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW Introduction . 1 Problem Statement . 1 Policy Context . 4 Purpose of the Study . 7 Significance of the Study for Social Work . 8 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction . 10 Mental Health Needs . 10 Barriers to Mental Health Services . 10 Treatment Planning . 14 Educational Service Needs . 15 Substance Abuse and Service Needs. 18 Treatment . 18 Screening and Assessment . 19 Risk Factors . 20 Theories Guiding Conceptualization . 21 Summary . 24 CHAPTER THREE: METHODS Introduction . 26
Synonymy, common knowledge, and the social construction of meaning

In this paper it is shown how a formal theory of interpretation in Montague’s style can be reconciled with a view on meaning as a social construct. We sketch a formal theory in which agents can have their own theory of interpretation and in which groups can have common theories of interpretation. Frege solved the problem how dieren t persons can have access to the same proposition by placing the proposition in a Platonic realm, independent from all language users but accessible to all of them. Here we explore the alternative of letting meaning be socially constructed. The meaning of a sentence is accessible to each member of a linguistic community because the way the sentence is to be interpreted is common knowledge among the members of that community. Misunderstandings can arise when the semantic knowledge of two or more individuals is not completely in sync.
CaMKII: The molecular villain that aggravates cardiovascular disease

Pathological remodeling of the myocardium is an integral part of the events that lead to heart failure (HF), which involves altered gene expression, disturbed signaling pathways and altered Ca2+ homeostasis and the players involved in this process. Of particular interest is the chronic activation of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) isoforms in heart, which further aggravate the injury to myocardium. Expression and activity of CaMKII have been found to be elevated in various conditions of stressed myocardium and in different heart diseases in both animal models as well as heart patients. CaMKII is a signaling molecule that regulates many cellular pathways by phosphorylating several proteins involved in excitation-contraction coupling and relaxation events in heart, cardiomyocyte apoptosis, transcriptional activation of genes related to cardiac hypertrophy, inflammation, and arrhythmias. CaMKII is activated by reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are elevated under conditions of ischemia-reperfusion injury and in a cyclical manner, CaMKII in turn elevates ROS production. Both ROS and activated CaMKII increase Ca-induced Ca release from sarcoplasmic reticulum, which leads to cardiomyocyte membrane depolarization and arrhythmias. These CaMKII-mediated changes in heart ultimately culminate in dysfunctional myocardium and HF. Genetic studies in animal models clearly demonstrated that inactivation of CaMKII is protective against a variety of stress induced cardiac dysfunctions. Despite significant leaps in understanding the structural details of CaMKII, which is a very complicated and multimeric modular protein, currently there is no specific and potent inhibitor of this enzyme, that can be developed for therapeutic purposes.
Service-Oriented Adaptation in Ubiquitous Computing Environments

Ubiquitous computing environments may offer dynamically discoverable services that can be utilized by adaptive applications to improve their functionality and quality of service. We have developed a general software development framework for context-aware adaptive applications. In this paper we present our novel modeling concepts that extend an existing component-based modeling approach by service-oriented adaptation concepts. With our new extensions a dynamically discovered service may replace an application component if it increases the overall utility of the application. We discuss open questions and point to potential solution approaches.
Retirement Income Insurance: A Do-it-Yourself Approach

The recent market downturn highlighted the substantial impact that capital markets fluctuations can have on retirement wealth. A possible strategy to manage investment risk is to purchase guarantees (i.e. put options), which can be fairly expensive. As an alternative, this paper suggests that an individual can self-insure against poor market outcomes by adjusting his retirement date as a function of market returns. To analyze this strategy, we introduce an endogenous retirement date in Merton's (1971) optional consumption and portfolio choice model. We show that with a flexible retirement date, the worker can effectively guarantee that his retirement wealth will not drop below an endogenously determined floor. The presence of this self-insurance may crowd out the demand for guarantees, which is consistent with the relatively small size of that market. In that context, our analysis suggests that an interesting guarantee design would make the guarantee payments contingent on the individual's inability to work. Our analysis also reveals that a flexible retirement date increases the worker's risk tolerance and allows him to invest a higher proportion of his wealth in risky assets. However, when the individual retires, this increased risk tolerance disappears and our results indicate that the new retiree should suddenly switch to a more prudent investment strategy.
Language acquisition and category discrimination in the Modeling Field Theory framework

We propose a categorization task scenario to study language acquisition in which an agent receives linguistic input from an external teacher, in addition to sensory stimuli from the objects that make up the environment. The agent is endowed with the modeling field theory (MFT) categorization mechanism, which enables it to identify overlapping categories from the exposition to hundreds of examples. Rather remarkably, we find that the agent with language is capable of differentiating object features that it could not distinguish without language. In this sense, the linguistic stimuli prompt the agent to redefine and refine the discrimination capacity of its sensory channels.
Anthocyanin Characterization of Pilot Plant Water Extracts of Delonix regia Flowers

Following the development of new applications of pilot plant scale extraction and formulation processes for natural active bioproducts obtained from various under-utilized tropical plants and herbs, we have manufactured water-extracts from Delonix regia flowers, grown in Ivory Coast. These extracts, which contain polyphenols, are traditionally home made and used as healthy bioproducts. They are reddish-coloured due to the presence of anthocyanins. The three major anthocyanins in these extracts have been characterized. The molecular structures were confirmed by LC-SM analysis. Amongst them, two are described for the first time in Delonix regia.
A deep neural network for audio-visual person recognition

This paper presents applications of special types of deep neural networks (DNNs) for audio-visual biometrics. A common example is the DBN-DNN that uses the generative weights of deep belief networks (DBNs) to initialize the feature detecting layers of deterministic feed forward DNNs. In this paper, we propose the DBM-DNN that uses the generative weights of deep Boltzmann machines (DBMs) for initialization of DNNs. Then, a softmax layer is added on top and the DNNs are trained discriminatively. Our experimental results show that lower error rates can be achieved using the DBM-DNN compared to the support vector machine (SVM), linear regression-based classifier (LRC) and the DBN-DNN. Experiments were carried out on two publicly available audio-visual datasets: the VidTIMIT and MOBIO.
A distributed arithmetic hardware architecture for real-time hough-transform-based segmentation

Real-time segmentation and tracking of biopsy needles is a very important part of image-guided surgery. Since the needle appears as a straight line in medical images, the Hough transform for straight-line detection is a natural and powerful choice for needle segmentation. However, the transform is computationally expensive and in the standard form is ineffective for real-time segmentation applications. This paper proposes a dedicated hardware architecture for the Hough transform based on distributed arithmetic (DA) principles that results in a real-time implementation. The architecture exploits the inherent parallelism of the Hough transform and reduces the overall computation time. The DA Hough transform architecture has been implemented using the Xilinx field-programmable gate array (FPGA). For a 256x256-bit image, the proposed design takes between 0.1 ms and 1.2 ms to process the Hough transform when the feature points in the image are varied from 2% to 50% of the total image; these values are well within the bounds of real-time operation and thus can facilitate needle segmentation in real time.