Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social coverage for customized test adequacy and selection criteria

Test coverage information can be very useful for guiding testers in enhancing their test suites to exercise possible uncovered entities and in deciding when to stop testing. However, for complex applications that are reused in different contexts and for emerging paradigms (e.g., component-based development, service-oriented architecture, and cloud computing), traditional coverage metrics may no longer provide meaningful information to help testers on these tasks. Various proposals are advocating to leverage information that come from the testing community in a collaborative testing approach. In this work we introduce a coverage metric, the Social Coverage, that customizes coverage information in a given context based on coverage data collected from similar users. To evaluate the potential of our proposed approach, we instantiated the social coverage metric in the context of a real world service oriented application. In this exploratory study, we were able to predict the entities that would be of interest for a given user with an average precision of 97% and average recall of 75%. Our results suggest that, in similar environments, social coverage can provide a better support to testers than traditional coverage.
Exercise Training for Persons with Alzheimer's Disease and Caregivers: A Review of Dyadic Exercise Interventions

ABSTRACT Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and the prevalence will increase dramatically in the next decades. Although exercise has shown benefits for people with dementia due to AD as well as their caregivers, the impact of a dyadic exercise intervention including both groups as study participants remains to be determined. The authors review the current clinical evidence for dyadic exercise interventions, which are exercise regimens applied to both the person with dementia and the caregiver. A total of 4 controlled trials were reviewed. This review shows that dyadic exercise interventions are feasible and may produce a positive effect on functional independence and caregiver burden. However, there was insufficient evidence to support a benefit of dyadic exercise intervention on cognitive performance and on behavioral and neuropsychiatric symptoms in participants with dementia due to AD. A dyadic exercise intervention improves functional independence and caregiver burden. However, there is a need for well-designed randomized controlled clinical trials to confirm these benefits and to investigate several important points such as the effects of a dyadic exercise intervention on cognitive and noncognitive outcomes of AD, the optimal intensity of exercise training, and the cost effectiveness of such a program.
Using Player and World Representation Techniques from Computer Games to Improve Student Engagement

It has been widely documented that student-staff ratios continue to rise in higher education (H.E.) within the UK. As a consequence, H.E. Institutions are becoming increasingly reliant on e-learning tools and this has increased difficulties that students experience in making the transition from secondary to tertiary education. In H.E. , students generally receive far fewer contact hours, classes are larger, and they are often provided with much less personal guidance on how to progress through the educational process than they were used to at secondary level. E-learning system design is typically more focused on issues related to student and content management and less on individualised feedback and process based support. One of the issues with the design of current e-learning systems is that they are poor at representing individual student participation and students’ progress through a course. This may be one of the contributing factors to diminishing student engagement in H.E. which ultimately results in poor grades and low retention rates. In this paper we address this issue by considering how player representation techniques commonly found computer games may inspire the design of e-learning systems so as to improve student engagement within an H.E. course.
Panarchy, Transformation, and Place: Exploring Social Change and Resiliency Through an Ecological Lens

This paper uses panarchy theory, a complexity theory used in environmental management, to describe transformation in social systems. To introduce the concept of panarchy, the authors reflect on the naming of their new son and the changes that their choice of name caused in their family. They then bridge this analogy into Author 1's, (first name) preliminary dissertation research findings that invited exemplary Canadians to revisit their childhood and adolescent transformative place. Using video ethnography and participatory action research, these interviews should be simultaneously viewed when reading this article at http://www.transformativeplaces. com/. The five components of panarchy, scale, time, holarchy, cycles, and cross-scale dependency are demonstrated by the interviewees' connection to their transformative outdoor childhood or adolescent place. Observing systems and the change that arises from 'release' events supports human and social resiliency. The terminology used in panarchy theory provides an ecological approach to describing social systems and their transformation.
Offline handwritten word recognition using a hybrid neural network and hidden Markov model

This paper describes an approach to combine neural network (NN) and hidden Markov models (HMM) for solving the handwritten word recognition problem. The preprocessing involves generating a segmentation graph that describes all possible ways to segment a word into letters. To recognize a word, the NN computes the observation probabilities for each letter hypothesis in the segmentation graph. The HMMs then compute the likelihood for each word in the lexicon by summing the probabilities over all possible paths through the graph. One critical criterion for the NN-HMM hybrid system is that the NN character recognizer should be able to recognize non-characters or junk, apart from having the ability to distinguish between characters. In other words, the NN should give low probabilities for all character classes if junk is presented. We introduce the discriminant training to train the NN to recognize junk. We present a structural training scheme to improve the performance of the recognizer. An offline handwritten word recognizer is developed based on this approach and the recognition performance of the recognizer on three isolated word image databases, namely, IRONOFF, SRTP and AWS, are presented.
Utility of flow cytometry immunophenotyping in multiple myeloma and other clonal plasma cell‐related disorders

In recent years, multiparameter flow cytometry (MFC) immunophenotyping has become mandatory in the clinical management of hematological malignancies, both for diagnostic and monitoring purposes. Multiple myeloma (MM) and other clonal plasma cell‐related (PC) disorders should be no exception to this paradigm, but incorporation of immunophenotypic studies in the management of patients with PC disorders is still far from being routinely established in many diagnostic flow cytometry laboratories. For clonal PC disorders, MFC is of clear and established clinical relevance in: (1) the differential diagnosis between MM and other PC‐related disorders; (2) the identification of high‐risk MGUS and smoldering MM; (3) minimal residual disease investigation after therapy; additionally it may also be useful for (4) the definition of prognosis‐associated antigenic profiles; and (5) the identification of new therapeutic targets. In this article, we review the clinical value of MFC in the study of PC disorders, with specific emphasis in those areas where consensus exists on the need to incorporate MFC into routine evaluation of MM and other clonal PC‐related disorders. © 2010 Clinical Cytometry Society
Epistatic interactions between ancestral genotype and beneficial mutations shape evolvability in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The idea that interactions between mutations influence adaptation by driving populations to low and high fitness peaks on adaptive landscapes is deeply ingrained in evolutionary theory. Here, we investigate the impact of epistasis on evolvability by challenging populations of two Pseudomonas aeruginosa clones bearing different initial mutations (in rpoB conferring rifampicin resistance, and the type IV pili gene network) to adaptation to a medium containing l‐serine as the sole carbon source. Despite being initially indistinguishable in fitness, populations founded by the two ancestral genotypes reached different fitness following 300 generations of evolution. Genome sequencing revealed that the difference could not be explained by acquiring mutations in different targets of selection; the majority of clones from both ancestors converged on one of the following two strategies: (1) acquiring mutations in either PA2449 (gcsR, an l‐serine‐metabolism RpoN enhancer binding protein) or (2) protease genes. Additionally, populations from both ancestors converged on loss‐of‐function mutations in the type IV pili gene network, either due to ancestral or acquired mutations. No compensatory or reversion mutations were observed in RNA polymerase (RNAP) genes, in spite of the large fitness costs typically associated with mutations in rpoB. Although current theory points to sign epistasis as the dominant constraint on evolvability, these results suggest that the role of magnitude epistasis in constraining evolvability may be underappreciated. The contribution of magnitude epistasis is likely to be greatest under the biologically relevant mutation supply rates that make back mutations probabilistically unlikely.
Semi-computability of the Fréchet distance between surfaces

The Frechet distance is a distance measure for pa- rameterized curves or surfaces. Using a discrete ap- proximation, we show that for triangulated surfaces it is upper semi-computable, i.e., there is a non-halting Turing machine which produces a monotone decreas- ing sequence of rationals converging to the result. It follows that the decision problem, whether the Frechet distance of two given surfaces lies below some speci- fied value, is recursively enumerable.
SparKubes: exploring the interplay between digital and physical spaces with minimalistic interfaces

Tangible objects have seen an ongoing integration into real-world settings, e.g. in the classroom. These objects allow for instance learners to explore digital content in the physical space and leverage the physicality of the interface for spatial interaction. In this paper, we present SparKubes, a set of stand-alone tangible objects that are corded with simple behaviors and do not require additional instrumentation or setup. This overcomes a variety of issues such as setting up network connection and instrumentation of the environment--as long as a SparKube sees another, it "works". The contribution of this paper is three-fold: we (1) present the implementation of a minimalistic tangible platform as the basis for SparKube, (2) depict the design space that covers a variety of interaction primitives and (3) show how these primitives can be combined to create and manipulate SparKube interfaces in the scope of two salient application scenarios: tangible widgets and the manipulation of information flow.
Effect of Renal Sympathetic Denervation on Glucose Metabolism in Patients With Resistant Hypertension: A Pilot Study

Background— Hypertension is associated with impaired glucose metabolism and insulin resistance. Chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system may contribute to either condition. We investigated the effect of catheter-based renal sympathetic denervation on glucose metabolism and blood pressure control in patients with resistant hypertension. Methods and Results— We enrolled 50 patients with therapy-resistant hypertension. Thirty-seven patients underwent bilateral catheter-based renal denervation, and 13 patients were assigned to a control group. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures, fasting glucose, insulin, C peptide, hemoglobin A1c, calculated insulin sensitivity (homeostasis model assessment–insulin resistance), and glucose levels during oral glucose tolerance test were measured before and 1 and 3 months after treatment. Mean office blood pressure at baseline was 178/96±3/2 mm Hg. At 1 and 3 months, office blood pressure was reduced by −28/−10 mm Hg (P<0.001) and −32/−12 mm Hg (P<0.001), respectively, in the treatment group, without changes in concurrent antihypertensive treatment. Three months after renal denervation, fasting glucose was reduced from 118±3.4 to 108±3.8 mg/dL (P=0.039). Insulin levels were decreased from 20.8±3.0 to 9.3±2.5 &mgr;IU/mL (P=0.006) and C-peptide levels from 5.3±0.6 to 3.0±0.9 ng/mL (P=0.002). After 3 months, homeostasis model assessment–insulin resistance decreased from 6.0±0.9 to 2.4±0.8 (P=0.001). Additionally, mean 2-hour glucose levels during oral glucose tolerance test were reduced significantly by 27 mg/dL (P=0.012). There were no significant changes in blood pressure or metabolic markers in the control group. Conclusions— Renal denervation improves glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity in addition to a significantly reducing blood pressure. However, this improvement appeared to be unrelated to changes in drug treatment. This novel procedure may therefore provide protection in patients with resistant hypertension and metabolic disorders at high cardiovascular risk. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.ClinicalTrials. gov. Unique identifiers: NCT00664638 and NCT00888433.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Functional Mri of Music Emotion Processing in Frontotemporal Dementia

Frontotemporal dementia is an important neurodegenerative disorder of younger life led by profound emotional and social dysfunction. Here we used fMRI to assess brain mechanisms of music emotion processing in a cohort of patients with frontotemporal dementia (n = 15) in relation to healthy age-matched individuals (n = 11). In a passive-listening paradigm, we manipulated levels of emotion processing in simple arpeggio chords (mode versus dissonance) and emotion modality (music versus human emotional vocalizations). A complex profile of disease-associated functional alterations was identified with separable signatures of musical mode, emotion level, and emotion modality within a common, distributed brain network, including posterior and anterior superior temporal and inferior frontal cortices and dorsal brainstem effector nuclei. Separable functional signatures were identified post-hoc in patients with and without abnormal craving for music (musicophilia): a model for specific abnormal emotional behaviors in frontotemporal dementia. Our findings indicate the potential of music to delineate neural mechanisms of altered emotion processing in dementias, with implications for future disease tracking and therapeutic strategies.
Adenosine as a Vasodilator in Primary Pulmonary Hypertension

BackgroundThe acute administration of vasodilator drugs to patients with primary pulmonary hypertension has been advocated to identify those with reversible pulmonary vasoconstriction. Unfortunately, the usefulness of the drugs currently available is limited by accompanying systemic hypotension. A vasodilator with effects confined to the pulmonary circulation would therefore be advantageous in such patients. Methods and ResultsThe purine nucleoside adenosine was infused into the pulmonary artery in seven patients with primary pulmonary hypertension (baseline pulmonary vascular resistance [PVR], 442-1,295 dyne/cm/sec−5) to determine its effect on PVR. In all patients, there was a dose-dependent and significant reduction (mean maximal percent decrease from baseline, 38.9%; p < 0.001) in PVR mediated through a decrease in pulmonary artery pressure and an increase in cardiac output. Systemic vascular resistance (SVR) also decreased, but the ratio of PVR to SVR decreased (maximal mean percent decrease from baseline) by 10.5% (p < 0.025), indicating that adenosine has a preferential vasodilator effect on the pulmonary circulation when administered in this manner. ConclusionsBecause of its pharmacokinetic and vasodilator properties, adenosine may have a specific role in the investigation of primary pulmonary hypertension.
Implementing community-based perinatal care: results from a pilot study in rural Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE This pilot study investigated the feasibility of delivering a package of community-based interventions for improving perinatal care using lady health workers (LHWs) and traditional birth attendants (Dais) in rural Pakistan. METHODS The intervention was implemented in four of eight village clusters (315 villages, total population 138,600), while four served as a comparison group. The LHWs in intervention clusters received additional training focused on essential maternal and newborn care, conducted community education group sessions, and were encouraged to link up with local Dais. The intervention was delivered within the regular government LHW programme and was supported by the creation of voluntary community health committees. FINDINGS In intervention villages, there were significant reductions from baseline in stillbirth (from 65.9 to 43.1 per 1000 births, P < 0.001) and neonatal mortality rates (from 57.3 to 41.3 per 1000 live births, P < 0.001). The proportion of deliveries conducted by skilled attendants at public sector facilities also increased, from 18% at baseline to 30%, while the proportion of home births decreased from 79% to 65%. A household survey indicated a higher frequency of key behaviours (e.g. early and exclusive breastfeeding, delayed bathing and cord care) in intervention villages. CONCLUSION The improved stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates observed indicate that community health workers (i.e. LHWs and Dais) can be effective in implementing a community and outreach package that leads to improved home care practices by families, increased care-seeking behaviour and greater utilization of skilled care providers. These preliminary observations require confirmation in an adequately powered trial.
Nativos digitales y nuevas tecnologias: implantación en la universidad Digital natives and new technologies: implementation in the university

Este articulo se enmarca dentro de la linea de investigacion que el gruposocmedia (www.gruposocmedia.es) esta desarrollando desde hace varios anos sobre Nativos Digitales y su relacion con las Nuevas Tecnologias. Se trata de investigar como construyen realidad Social los jovenes a traves de los servicios y contenidos digitales abiertos. En este articulo se expone la implantacion de los conocimientos extraidos de las investigaciones del grupo a las clases practicas dentro de la universidad durante el curso academico 2009-2010. Se intenta transferir los conocimientos adquiridos en investigacion a las clases de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Informacion de la Universidad Complutense. Abstract This article is part of the research that gruposocmedia (www.gruposocmedia.es) is developed over several years on Digital Natives and their relationship to new technologies. The research focuses on how young people construct social reality through services and open digital content. This article describes the implementation of knowledge from the group research to practical classes in the university during the academic year 2009-2010. Attempting to transfer the knowledge acquired in research classes at the School of Information Sciences at the Complutense University. Keywords Education; Social networking; New technologies
Building an Open Lab on Information Quality for future computer education

The first Open Lab on Information Quality (OLIQ) is planned and being offered to prepare trainees for careers in industry and government as well as advanced graduate studies. The Lab is built according to the vision, mission, strategies and objectives, which can be achieved by two types of roadmaps, one is the roadmap of research and development (R&D), and the other is strategy roadmap. Research areas, current projects and training courses in the OLIQ are provided in the detail. The training integrates two key educational innovations: (1) an interdisciplinary approach to curriculum design, and (2) a balance between theoretical rigor and practical relevance.
In sickness and in health

Abstract. In search of a better understanding of inequalities in citizen political engagement, scholars have begun addressing the relationship between personal health and patterns of political behavior. This study focuses on the impact of personal health on various forms of political participation. The analysis contributes to existing knowledge by examining a number of different participation forms beyond just voting. Using European Social Survey data from 2012/2013 for Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (N = 8,060), self-reported turnout and six alternative modes of political engagement were modeled as dependent variables. Contrary to expectations, poor health did not depress participation across all forms. As assumed by the increased activism hypothesis, all else equal, people with poor health were more active than their healthy counterparts in direct contacts with power holders and demonstrations. The results reveal a “reversed health gap” by showing that people with health problems are in fact more politically active than what previous research, which has focused on voting, has suggested. Although the magnitude of the gap should not be overdramatized, our results stress the importance of distinguishing between different forms of participation when analyzing the impact of health on political engagement. Nevertheless, the findings show that poor health can stimulate people into political engagement rather than depressing activity. This finding holds when the effects of several sociodemographic and motivational factors are controlled for.
Resuscitation of critically ill patients based on the results of gastric tonometry: A prospective, randomized, controlled trial

Objective: To determine whether additional therapy aimed at correcting low gastric intramucosal pH (pHi) improves outcome in conventionally resuscitated, critically ill patients. Design: Prospective, randomized, controlled study. Setting: General intensive care unit (ICU) of a university teaching hospital. Patients: A total of 210 adult patients, with a median Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score of 24 (range, 8‐51). Interventions: All patients were resuscitated according to standard guidelines. After resuscitation, those patients in the intervention group with a pHi of <7.35 were treated with additional colloid and then dobutamine (5 μg/kg/min then 10 μg/kg/min) until 24 hrs after enrollment. Measurements and Main Results: There were no significant differences (p > .05) in ICU mortality (39.6% in the control group vs. 38.5% in the intervention group), hospital mortality (45.3% in the control group vs. 42.3% in the intervention group), and 30‐day mortality (43.7% in the control group vs. 40.2 in the intervention group); survival curves; median modified maximal multiorgan dysfunction score (10 points in the control group vs. 13 points in the intervention group); median modified duration of ICU stay (12 days in the control group vs. 11.5 days in the intervention group); or median modified duration of hospital stay (60 days in the control group vs. 42 days in the intervention group). A subgroup analysis of those patients with gastric mucosal pH of ≥7.35 at admission revealed no difference in ICU mortality (10.3% in the control group vs. 14.8% in the intervention group), hospital mortality (13.8% in the control group vs. 29.6% in the intervention group), or 30‐day mortality (10.3% in the control group vs. 26.9% in the intervention group). Conclusions: The routine use of treatment titrated against pHi in the management of critically ill patients cannot be supported. Failure to improve outcome may be caused by an inability to produce a clinically significant change in pHi or because pHi is simply a marker of disease rather than a factor in the pathogenesis of multiorgan failure.