Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PCFA: mining of projected clusters in high dimensional data using modified FCM algorithm

Data deals with the specific problem of partitioning a group of objects into a fixed number of subsets, so that the similarity of the objects in each subset is increased and the similarity across subsets is reduced. Several algorithms have been proposed in the literature for clustering, where k)means clustering and Fuzzy C)Means (FCM) clustering are the two popular algorithms for partitioning the numerical data into groups. But, due to the drawbacks of both categories of algorithms, recent researches have paid more attention on modifying the clustering algorithms. In this paper, we have made an extensive analysis on modifying the FCM clustering algorithm to overcome the difficulties possessed by the k)means and FCM algorithms over high dimensional data. According to, we have proposed an algorithm, called Projected Clustering based on FCM Algorithm (PCFA). Here, we have utilized the standard FCM clustering algorithm for sub)clustering high dimensional data into reference centroids. The matrix containing the reference values is then fed as an input to the modified FCM algorithm. Finally, experimentation is carried out on the very large dimensional datasets obtained from the benchmarks data repositories and the performance of the PCFA algorithm is evaluated with the help of clustering accuracy, memory usage and the computation time. The evaluation results showed that, the PCFA algorithm shows approximately 20% improvement in the execution time and 50% improvement in memory usage over the PCKA algorithm.
Environmental Chemicals in Pregnant Women in the United States: NHANES 2003–2004

Background Exposure to chemicals during fetal development can increase the risk of adverse health effects, and while biomonitoring studies suggest pregnant women are exposed to chemicals, little is known about the extent of multiple chemicals exposures among pregnant women in the United States. Objective We analyzed biomonitoring data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) to characterize both individual and multiple chemical exposures in U.S. pregnant women. Methods We analyzed data for 163 chemical analytes in 12 chemical classes for subsamples of 268 pregnant women from NHANES 2003–2004, a nationally representative sample of the U.S. population. For each chemical analyte, we calculated descriptive statistics. We calculated the number of chemicals detected within the following chemical classes: polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), organochlorine pesticides, and phthalates and across multiple chemical classes. We compared chemical analyte concentrations for pregnant and nonpregnant women using least-squares geometric means, adjusting for demographic and physiological covariates. Results The percentage of pregnant women with detectable levels of an individual chemical ranged from 0 to 100%. Certain polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, PFCs, phenols, PBDEs, phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and perchlorate were detected in 99–100% of pregnant women. The median number of detected chemicals by chemical class ranged from 4 of 12 PFCs to 9 of 13 phthalates. Across chemical classes, median number ranged from 8 of 17 chemical analytes to 50 of 71 chemical analytes. We found, generally, that levels in pregnant women were similar to or lower than levels in nonpregnant women; adjustment for covariates tended to increase levels in pregnant women compared with nonpregnant women. Conclusions Pregnant women in the U.S. are exposed to multiple chemicals. Further efforts are warranted to understand sources of exposure and implications for policy making.
Genetic diversity of Plasmodium Vivax in South of Iran: A cross-sectional study

Despite declining the number of malaria cases in Iran, increased prevalence of malaria is supposed to be due to migration from eastern neighboring countries of Iran, which are abundant in Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax). The circumsporozoite protein (CSP) of the P. vivax, is one of the candidate antigens for antimalaria vaccine. The diversity of P. vivax populations circulating in Iran has been investigated by using circumsporozoite protein (CSP) in this study. A hundred and eighteen blood samples were collected from patients diagnosed with P. vivax malaria from south of Iran during 2007-2008. All samples were analyzed by using nested PCR/ RFLP and 18 were sequenced. Genotyping of Pvcsp gene showed that VK210 type was predominant (95%) in south of Iran. Sequence analysis of Pvcsp gene revealed 6 distinct allelic variants in VK210 type. The present data indicate that there is some degree of genetic diversity among P. vivax populations in Hormozgan province of Iran. It seems that in neighbors of Iran, VK210 type is predominant, probably due to similar vector of malaria in these regions.
Comparing Peer Selection Mechanisms in P2P Systems

In a P2P system, a peer may select one or more other peers to upload or download a specic le or content. Typically such peers are selected in a random fashion. Such peers can be located anywhere. This might lead to large amounts of trac across the planet. To improve this situation, solutions are developed to chose peers based on their network characteristics. In this paper the currently available peer selection mechanisms are described and compared with each other.
Overcoming Barriers to Self-Management in Software Teams

The basic work unit in innovative software organizations is the team rather than the individual. Such teams consist of "a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable". Work teams have many advantages, such as increased productivity, innovation, and employee satisfaction. However, their implementation doesn't always result in organizational success. It isn't enough to put individuals together and expect that they'll automatically know how to work effectively as a team. Lack of redundancy and conflict between team and individual autonomy are key issues when transforming from traditional command-and-control management to collaborative self-managing teams.
Music therapy in neonatal care: a framework for German speaking countries and Switzerland

Music therapy in neonatal care reflects a growing area of multi- and inner disciplinary interest in practice and research. But what exactly characterizes best practice in neonatal music therapy? First guidelines already exist but the question remains what implications they have for the German-speaking area considering specific cultural issues. The German speaking Professional Circle of Neonatal Music Therapists aimed to address these questions by developing an overall framework from the three approaches typical of this region 1) recorded mothers voice 2) live vocal and 3) live instrumental music therapy. The group synthesized the members’ practical clinical expertise with the best available evidence, guidelines in neonatal music therapy and German guidelines for individualized developmental neonatal care. The paper presents this framework in a clear and applicable table with overall objectives, (contra-) indications and methods despite the specific approach. The two emerging key elements of this synthesizing process are the central role of the voice and the integration of the whole family in the therapeutic process. The framework should serve as a well founded guide enabling music therapists to offer best cultural adapted practice and to better position themselves as integrity among various related disciplines and opinions.
Learning a Hidden Subgraph

We consider the problem of learning a labeled graph from a given family of graphs on n vertices in a model where the only allowed operation is to query whether a set of vertices induces an edge. Questions of this type are motivated by problems in molecular biology. In the deterministic nonadaptive setting, we prove nearly matching upper and lower bounds for the minimum possible number of queries required when the family is the family of all stars of a given size or all cliques of a given size. We further describe some bounds that apply to general graphs.
Cluster-based solution for virtual and augmented reality applications

This paper presents a cluster-based architecture designed for an augmented reality interface. It can manage and synchronize live video streams as well as 3D deformable objects inside OpenSceneGraph. To preserve modularity, the framework was implemented in RTMaps®, a realtime data flow manager. Based on graphical programming, RTMaps greatly facilitates the design of a customized Virtual and Augmented Reality application with acquisition and rendering components distributed over a network.
Panoramic Views of Cluster-Scale Assemblies Explored by Subaru Wide-Field Imaging

We have started PISCES project; a panoramic imaging and spectroscopic survey of distant clusters on Subaru. It exploits the unique wide-field imaging capability of Suprime-Cam, which provides a 34 � × 27 � field of view corresponding to a physical area of 16 ×13Mpc 2 at z ∼ 1. We plan to target 15 clusters at 0.4 z 1.3. We report on our first results concerning the inner structures and large-scale structures of two distant clusters at z = 0.55 and 0.83 together with the earlier results on a z =0 . 41 cluster. The photometric redshift technique has been applied to multi-color data in order to remove most of the foreground/background galaxies so as to isolate the cluster member candidates. We have found large-scale filamentary structures around the clusters, extending out to > 5Mpc from the cores, as well as complex inner structures. The galaxy distributions in the inner regions of the clusters look similar to the X-ray intensity maps, suggesting that most of the optical structures trace physically bound systems. We also compared the structures of the three clusters with those of model clusters in a numerical simulation (N-body + semi-analytic model) by parameterising the shapes of the iso-density contours of galaxies, and found a broad agreement. Our results that cluster-scale assembly takes place along filaments during hierarchical clustering need to be confirmed spectroscopically in the near future.
ANÁLISE DO MÉTODO DE CALIBRAÇÃO DE CÂMARAS

A calibração de uma câmara de imagem é um processo que permite estimar os parâmetros que definem a projecção de um ponto tridimensional (3D) do mundo num ponto bidimensional (2D) da imagem. Os referidos parâmetros incluem a g eometria interna e óptica da câmara, assim como o seu posicionamento e orientação no esp aço 3D. A utilização de câmaras de imagem devidamente calib radas possibilita a resolução de problemas computacionais relacionados com a obtençã o da posição e orientação 3D (pose) ou com a reconstrução 3D de objectos a partir de image ns. Tal permite, entre outras tarefas, o seguimento 3D de um objecto, a reconstrução 3D da f orma geométrica de objectos ou de cenas ou a estimativa do posicionamento e da orient ação da(s) câmara(s) associada a uma determinada imagem.
Criminal fishing system based on wireless local area network access points

This paper describes a system for criminal identification that utilizes a large number of wireless local area network (LAN) access points and cameras. The proposed “Criminal Fishing system” identifies the media access control (MAC) address of a culprit's device from probe request signals captured by access points during the period in which a culprit remains near the incident scene. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system could identify the culprit MAC address 10 out of 10 times in an indoor experiment and 8 out of 8 times in an outdoor experiment, in case that the culprit's radio wave fingerprint could be captured.
Does coronary artery bypass surgery restore normal maximal coronary flow reserve? The effect of diffuse atherosclerosis and focal obstructive lesions.

Aortocoronary vein bypass surgery might not restore normal maximal coronary flow reserve to bypassed coronary vessels because residual diffuse coronary atherosclerosis might limit maximal hyperemia. To investigate the effect of diffuse atherosclerosis and a focal stenosis at the graft-coronary anastomosis, we measured coronary flow reserve with an extensively validated subselective Doppler catheter in 24 patients with 35 bypass grafts perfusing angiographically normal coronary vessels. The Doppler catheter was positioned in the midportion of the graft, and coronary flow reserve was measured as the peak/resting velocity ratio after selective graft injection of a maximally vasodilating dose of papaverine. Luminal dimensions of the bypass graft, graft-coronary insertion, and bypassed coronary vessel were measured by quantitative coronary angiography (Brown/Dodge method). Measurements of coronary flow reserve and coronary dimensions of vein bypass grafts were compared with similar measurements obtained from 13 patients with normal coronary vessels and normal myocardium. Seventeen of the 35 bypass grafts perfused unobstructed coronary-vein graft anastomoses (less than 50% area stenosis) and normal myocardium. The coronary flow reserve of these 17 bypass grafts was normal (5.0 +/- 0.4, mean +/- SEM) and not significantly different from that measured in normal arteries (5.1 +/- 0.6), even though the cross-sectional area of the native coronary artery just distal to the bypass insertion was 40% smaller than in matched normal vessels. Bypass grafts perfusing hypertrophied (n = 2) or infarcted (n = 6) myocardium had significantly reduced coronary flow reserve compared with normal vessels (2.7 +/- 0.3; p less than .01), even when the infarcted wall had only minimal hypokinesis. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Entrenchment and the Psychology of Language Learning: How We Reorganize and Adapt Linguistic Knowledge

Linguistic communication is among the most highly automatized forms of human behavior. Effortlessly and with stunning speed, speakers and hearers access and retrieve linguistic knowledge from memory and apply lower level and higher level cognitive abilities such as perception, attention, categorization, and inferencing while producing and comprehending utterances. For this to be possible, linguistic knowledge must be organized in maximally and immediately accessible and retrievable formats. In the wake of Chomsky’s claim in the 1960s that language is a highly specialized and largely autonomous cognitive module, linguists and psychologists lost sight of the psychological foundations shared by language and nonlinguistic cognition. Although most linguists focused their attention on the description of linguistic structures and structural principles of language, most psychologists studied behavior and its cognitive and neuronal basis without worrying too much about the potential influence of language and its representations in the mind. Over the past 20 years, this division of labor has begun to crumble. With the development of cognitive–linguistic, usage-based, and complex–adaptive models of language, linguistics has begun to emancipate itself from its self-imposed isolation and has found a foothold in the cognitive sciences alongside cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, social psychology, and other related fields. Many linguists have developed a keen interest in the role played by domain-general neurocognitive abilities and processes in the emergence and storage of linguistic knowledge. In contrast, many psychologists have not yet ventured far into linguistics, partly because what is still perceived as “mainstream” linguistics (i.e., Chomskyan autonomous linguistics) did not seem to offer much that would have made that effort worthwhile. Potential effects of the omnipresence of language and linguistic thought on human behavior, input processing, and learning are frequently not considered as falling within the remit of psychological inquiry. The notion of entrenchment epitomizes like no other the opportunity to establish a new meeting ground for psychology and linguistics. It captures the idea that linguistic knowledge is not autonomous, abstract, and stative but is instead continuously refreshed and reorganized under the influence of communicative events in social situations. Linguistic entrenchment can essentially be regarded as a lifelong cognitive reorganization process, the course and quality of which are conditioned by exposure to and use of language on one hand and by the application of domaingeneral cognitive abilities and processes to language on the other. Memory, categorization, analogy, and abstraction, as well as perception and attention, are crucially
A study to determine the impact of the Picture Exchange Communication System on challenging behaviors in adults with autism

Stephanie M. Belsanti A Study to Determine the Impact of The Picture Exchange Communication System on Challenging Behaviors in Adults with Autism December 2001 Dr. Kianderman, Thesis Advisor Master of Arts School Psychology The purpose of this study was to determine if an increase in communication skills, over an 80 week period, in adults with autism would decrease challenging behaviors. The sample in this study consisted of 3 adult males diagnosed with autism and no verbal communication skills. The participants were between the ages of 24 and 27 and attended a data treatment center, which was used as the training environment in the current study. The Picture Exchange Communication System was the primary treatment for three adults who have no verbal language and are diagnosed with autism. Treatment sessions were conducted throughout the course of the day through both mass and situational trials. The results of this study found no consistent evidence that adults who utilize PECS will have a decrease in challenging behaviors exhibited. However there is evidence that functional communication can increase with training in PECS.
Performance analysis of an orthogonal rendezvous routing protocol for wireless mesh networks

The increased usage of directional methods of communications (e.g. directional smart antennas [15], Free-Space Optical transceivers [19], and sector antennas) has prompted research into leveraging directionality in every layer of the network stack. In this paper, we learnt how the concept of directionality can be used in layer 3 to facilitate routing under contexts of 1) wireless mesh networks, 2) highly mobile environments, and 3) overlay networks through virtual directions. In the context of wireless mesh networks, we introduce Orthogonal Rendezvous Routing Protocol (ORRP), a lightweight-but-scalable routing protocol utilizing the inherent nature of directional communications to relax information requirements such as coordinate space embedding and node localization. The ORRP source and ORRP destination send route discovery and route dissemination packets respectively in locally-chosen orthogonal directions. We show that ORRP achieves connectivity with high probability even in sparse networks with voids. ORRP scales well without imposing DHT-like graph structures (eg: trees, rings, torus etc). We show that MORRP achieves connectivity with high probability even in highly mobile environments while maintaining only probabilistic information about destinations. MORRP scales well without imposing DHT-like graph structures (eg: trees, rings, torus etc). We will also show that high connectivity can be achieved without the need to frequently disseminate node position resulting increased scalability even in highly mobile environments. We will also evaluate the metrics of reachability, state maintenance, path stretch, end-to-end latency and aggregate network good put under conditions of varying network densities, number of interfaces, and TTL values.
Simvastatin Ameliorates Liver Fibrosis via Mediating Nitric Oxide Synthase in Rats with Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis-Related Liver Fibrosis

Background Simvastatin exerts pleiotropic effects on cardiovascular system. However, its effect on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, especially the liver fibrosis, remains obscure. We aimed to clarify the relationship between simvastatin and liver fibrosis both in vivo and in vitro. Methods A High-fat diet was given to establish rat models with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)-related liver fibrosis and simvastatin (4mg·kg-1·d-1) was administrated intragastrically until hepatic histological findings confirmed the appearance of fibrosis. Human hepatic stellate cell (HSC) line lx-2 cells were cultured in an adipogenic differentiating mixture (ADM) and then were treated with transforming growth factorβ1 (TGF-β1), served as a positive control, simvastatin, TGF-β1 plus simvastatin, Nω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (L-NAME, a inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase), and L-NAME plus simvastatin, respectively. The expressions of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and Collagen І as well as cellular α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were measured by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot in liver tissue and HSC. Results With the progress of NASH-related fibrosis, hepatic mRNA and protein expressions of iNOS, α-SMA, and Collagen І were increased while those of eNOS were decreased. Compared with model rats in 24th week group, rats in simvastatin group had less expressions of iNOS, α-SMA, and Collagen І and more expressions of eNOS. In vitro, LX-2 cells acquired quiescent phenotype when cultured in ADM, and TGF-β1 could activate the quiescent HSC. Simvastatin inhibited LX-2 cells activation due to TGF-β1 or L-NAME by increasing the expression of eNOS and decreasing the expression of iNOS. Conclusions Simvastatin improves the prognosis of NASH-related fibrosis by increasing the expression of eNOS, decreasing the expression of iNOS, and inhibiting the activation of HSC.
Dealing with Uncertainty in Fuzzy Inductive Reasoning Methodology

The aim of this research is to develop a strategy of reasoning under uncertainty in the context of the Fuzzy Inductive Reasoning methodology. This methodology allows the prediction of systems behavior by means of two different schemes. The first one corresponds to a pattern prediction scheme, based exclusively on pattern rules. The second one corresponds to a purely Sugeno inference system, i.e. Sugeno prediction scheme. The Sugeno fuzzy rules are automatically extracted from the pattern rules producing a compact representation of the system modelled. In this paper a mixed pattern/fuzzy rules scheme is studied to deal with uncertainty in such a way that the best of both perspectives is used. The proposed scheme is applied to a real biomedical system, i.e. the central nervous system control of the cardiovascular system.
Bisimulation for Higher-Order Process Calculi

A higher-order process calculus is a calculus for communicating systems which contains higher-order constructs like communication of terms. We analyse the notion of bisimulation in these calculi. We argue that %, if static binding is assumed, both the standard definition of bisimulation (i.e., the one for CCS and related calculi), as well as higher-order bisimulation \cite{AsGi88,Bou89,Tho90} are in general unsatisfactory, because over-discriminating. We propose and study a new form of bisimulation for such calculi, called context bisimulation, which yields a more satisfactory discriminanting power. A drawback of context bisimulation is the heavy use of universal quantification in its definition. A major goal of the paper is to find characterisations which make bisimilarities easier to verify. An important role in our theory is played by the factorisation theorem: When comparing the behaviour of two processes, it allows us to «isolate» subcomponents which might cause differences, so that the analysis can be concentrated on them.