Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human Support as a Model for Assistive Technology

To investigate which kind of assistance users need to run a VCR a study was carried out in which operating tasks were supported by providing either printed operation instructions or a human expert as support. The study was conducted as a computer simulation so that logfiles could show the number of actions and time needed to fulfill the tasks. The results show that human assistance leeds to a shorter way of solving the task but does not support the learning process better than the text. Subjects who used the operation instructions needed more time to solve the problem but could solve the posttest task as fast as the subjects beforehand supported by a human expert. The human experts were not instructed concerning the kind of assistance they provided. Thus it was possible to posthoc analyse the kind of assistance the experts provided and compare the effects of different kinds of assistance on the subjects’ performances. Those subjects who had an active assistance with gestures additional to explanations performed significantly better than those with passive assistance and explanations only.
Nuclear reaction rates and energy in stellar plasmas: The effect of highly damped modes

The effects of the highly damped modes in the energy and reaction rates in a plasma are discussed. These modes, with wave numbers k≫kD, even being only weakly excited, with less than kBT per mode, make a significant contribution to the energy and screening in a plasma. When the de Broglie wavelength is much less than the distance of closest approach of thermal electrons, a classical analysis of the plasma can be made. It is assumed, in the classical analysis, with ℏ→0, that the energy of the fluctuations ℏω≪kBT. Using the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, the spectra of fluctuations with ℏ≠0 is appreciably decreased. The decrease is mainly for the highly damped modes at high frequencies (∼0.5–3kBT). Reaction rates are enhanced in a plasma due to the screening of the reacting ions. This is taken into account by the Salpeter factor, which assumes slow motion for the ions. The implication of including the highly damped modes (with ℏ≠0) in the nuclear reaction rates in a plasma is discussed. Finally, the inves.
Photodissociation regions and star formation in the Carina nebula

We have obtained wide-field thermal infrared (IR) images of the Carina nebula, using the SPIREX/Abu telescope at the South Pole. Emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at 3.29 μm, a tracer of photodissociation regions (PDRs), reveals many interesting well-defined clumps and diffuse regions throughout the complex. Near-IR images (1-2 μm), along with images from the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) satellite (8 - 21 μm) have been incorporated to study the interactions between the young stars and the surrounding molecular cloud in more detail. Two new PAH emission clumps have been identified in the Keyhole nebula, and have been mapped in 1 2 CO(2-1) and (1-0) using the Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST). Analysis of their physical properties reveals that they are dense molecular clumps, externally heated with PDRs on their surfaces and supported by external pressure in a similar manner to the other clumps in the region. A previously identified externally heated globule containing IRAS 10430-5931 in the southern molecular cloud shows strong 3.29-, 8- and 21-μm emission, the spectral energy distribution (SED) revealing the location of an ultracompact (UC) HΙΙ region. The northern part of the nebula is complicated, with PAH emission intermixed with mid-IR dust continuum emission. Several point sources are located here, and through a two-component blackbody fit to their SEDs we have identified three possible UC HΙΙ regions as well as a young star surrounded by a circumstellar disc. This implies that star formation in this region is ongoing and not halted by the intense radiation from the surrounding young massive stars.
A step increase in streamflow in the conterminous United States

Annual minimum, median, and maximum daily streamflow for 400 sites in the conterminous United States (U.S.), measured during 1941–1999, were examined to identify the temporal and spatial character of changes in streamflow statistics. Results indicate a noticeable increase in annual minimum and median daily streamflow around 1970, and a less significant mixed pattern of increases and decreases in annual maximum daily streamflow. These changes in annual streamflow statistics primarily occurred in the eastern U.S. In addition, the streamflow increases appear as a step change rather than as a gradual trend and coincide with an increase in precipitation.
Wage Policy in Austria and the Netherlands under EMU: A Change in Performance or the Continuation of the Status-Quo?

This paper analyses how wage policy in Austria and the Netherlands was affected by economic and monetary union (EMU). The paper concludes that EMU and the macroeconomic shifts resulting from it have had little influence on wage-setting in Austria and the Netherlands. While wage restraint outcomes did diverge for both countries after the start of EMU, this paper will argue that different wage institutions lead to this divergence. The EMU’s new macroeconomic order did not significantly change either countries microeconomic wage institutions.
Disrupted Slit-Robo signalling results in membranous ventricular septum defects and bicuspid aortic valves

Aims The mesenchymal cushions lining the early embryonic heart undergo complex remodelling to form the membranous ventricular septum as well as the atrioventricular and semilunar valves in later life. Disruption of this process underlies the most common congenital heart defects. Here, we identified a novel role for Slit-Robo signalling in the development of the murine membranous ventricular septum and cardiac valves. Methods and results Expression of Robo1 and Robo2 receptors and their ligands, Slit2 and Slit3, was present in or adjacent to all cardiac cushions/valves. Loss of Robo1 or both Robo1 and Robo2 resulted in membranous ventricular septum defects at birth, a defect also found in Slit3, but not in Slit2 mutants. Additionally, Robo1;Robo2 double mutants showed thickened immature semilunar and atrioventricular valves as well as highly penetrant bicuspid aortic valves. Slit2 mutants recapitulated the semilunar phenotype, whereas Slit3 mutants displayed thickened atrioventricular valves. Bicuspid aortic cushions were already observed at E12.5 in the Robo1;Robo2 double mutants. Expression of Notch- and downstream Hey and Hes genes was down-regulated in Robo1 mutants, suggesting that reduced Notch signalling in mice lacking Robo might underlie the defects. Luciferase assays confirmed regulation of Notch signalling by Robo. Conclusion Cardiac defects in mutants for Robo or Slit range from membranous ventricular septum defects to bicuspid aortic valves. These ligands and receptors have unique functions during development of specific cardiac cushion derivatives, and the Slit-Robo signalling pathway likely enforces its role by regulating Notch signalling, making these mutants a valuable new model to study cardiac valve formation.
The Euro Area and the Financial Crisis: The financial crisis and the Baltic countries

Introduction After several years of very strong economic growth, the Baltic countries have witnessed one of the deepest recessions in the world. In an historical context, the expected cumulative output loss associated with this Baltic recession is almost twice the size of the losses suffered by the hardest-hit countries in the 1997–8 Asian crisis, and in the case of Latvia comes close to the size of the US output decline during the Great Depression. Despite many similarities in structural characteristics (including fixed exchange rate arrangements) and macroeconomic developments prior to the crisis, the Baltic countries have shown clear differences in their ability to cope with the common negative shocks associated with the global economic crisis. Estonia has been more successful than its Baltic neighbours in withstanding the impact of the financial crisis, and will join the euro area from 2011. Resilience to the crisis has been weakest in Latvia, which is dependent on financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the EU and has a more uncertain economic outlook.
Proving programs terminate using well orderings, Ramsey Theory, and Matrices

Many programs allow the user to input data several times during its execution. If the program runs forever the user may input data infinitely often. A program terminates if it terminates no matter what the user does. We discuss various ways to prove that program terminates. The proofs use well orderings, Ramsey Theory, and Matrices. These techniques are used by real program checkers.
Impact of TCP congestion control on bufferbloat in cellular networks

The existence of excessively large and too filled network buffers, known as bufferbloat, has recently gained attention as a major performance problem for delay-sensitive applications. One important network scenario where bufferbloat may occur is cellular networks. This paper investigates the interaction between TCP congestion control and buffering in cellular networks. Extensive measurements have been performed in commercial 3G, 3.5G and 4G cellular networks, with a mix of long and short TCP flows using the CUBIC, NewReno and Westwood+ congestion control algorithms. The results show that the completion times of short flows increase significantly when concurrent long flow traffic is introduced. This is caused by increased buffer occupancy from the long flows. In addition, for 3G and 3.5G the completion times are shown to depend significantly on the congestion control algorithms used for the background flows, with CUBIC leading to significantly larger completion times.
Prospective, randomized, and controlled trial on ketamine infusion during bilateral axillo-breast approach (BABA) robotic or endoscopic thyroidectomy: Effects on postoperative pain and recovery profiles

Background: Robotic or endoscopic thyroidectomy using bilateral axillo-breast approach (BABA) is frequently performed for excellent cosmesis. However, postoperative pain is remained as concerns due to the extent tissue dissection and tension during the operation. Ketamine is a noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist that reduces acute postoperative pain. We evaluated the effects of intraoperative ketamine infusion on postoperative pain control and recovery profiles following BABA robotic or endoscopic thyroidectomy. Methods: Fifty-eight adult patients scheduled for BABA robotic or endoscopic thyroidectomy were randomized into a control group (n = 29) and ketamine group (n = 29). Following induction of anesthesia, patients in each group were infused with the same volume of saline or ketamine solution (1 mg/kg bolus, 60 &mgr;g/kg/h continuous infusion). Total intravenous anesthesia with propofol and remifentanil was used to induce and maintain anesthesia. Pain scores (101-point numerical rating scale, 0 = no pain, 100 = the worst imaginable pain), the consumption of rescue analgesics, and other postoperative adverse effects were assessed at 1, 6, 24, and 48 hours postoperatively. Results: Patients in the ketamine group reported lower pain scores than those in the control group at 6 hours (30 [30] vs 50 [30]; P = 0.017), 24 hours (20 [10] vs 30 [20]; P < 0.001), and 48 hours (10 [10] vs 20 [15]; P < 0.001) in neck area. No statistically significant differences were found between the 2 groups in terms of the requirements for rescue analgesics or the occurrence of adverse events. Conclusion: Intravenous ketamine infusion during anesthesia resulted in lower postoperative pain scores following BABA robotic or endoscopic thyroidectomy, with no increase in adverse events.
Centralized routing and distributed routing protocol for dynamic routing

There are two sort of routing protocol, dynamic routing and static routing. For dynamic routing of the network topology, the centralized routing protocol and the distributed routing protocol are essential and critical. The author would compare and contrast two typical routing protocols regarding their features in my paper. By expounding on the principles of each two protocols and how they work in detail, I would set forth the effect throughout the network, as well as their advantages and disadvantages respectively. Moreover, the two algorithms used by Distributed Routing Protocol, Distance Vector and Link-State, are also explained. At the end of this paper, the author proposes to utilize both merits of two dynamic routing protocols throughout the data-path service of the network.
An improved l-diversity model for numerical sensitive attributes

L-diversity model is an effective model to thwart homogeneity attack and background knowledge attack for microdata, but it has some defects on handling numerical sensitive attributes. The paper proposes an improved l-diversity model to address the problem. The model divides numerical sensitive values into several levels, and realizes sensitive attribute l-diversity based on these levels. Distinct diversity and entropy diversity are defined. Based on these definitions, an l-incognito algorithm is designed to implement the improved model. Experimental results show that the improved l-diversity model can protect numerical sensitive attributes effectively, and the anonymity tables generated by the l-incognito algorithm have high sensitive attributes diversity, so can resist homogeneity attack and partial background knowledge attack effectively.
Adjuvant Bidirectional Chemotherapy Using an Intraperitoneal Port

Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) have been established as treatment options for patients with peritoneal metastases or peritoneal mesothelioma. However, this novel treatment strategy remains associated with a large percentage of local-regional treatment failures. These treatment failures are attributed to the inadequacy of HIPEC to maintain a surgical complete response. Management strategies to supplement CRS and HIPEC are indicated. A simplified approach to the intraoperative placement of an intraperitoneal port for adjuvant bidirectional chemotherapy (ABC) was devised. Four different chemotherapy treatment plans were utilized depending upon the primary site of the malignancy. Thirty-one consecutive patients with an intraoperative placement of the intraperitoneal port were available for study. The incidence of adverse events that caused an early discontinuation of the bidirectional chemotherapy occurred in 75% of the 8 patients who had an incomplete cytoreduction and in 0% of patients who had a complete cytoreduction. All of the patients who had complete cytoreduction completed at least 5 of the scheduled 6 bidirectional chemotherapy treatments. Adjuvant bidirectional chemotherapy is possible following a major cytoreductive surgical procedure using a simplified method of intraoperative intraperitoneal port placement.
Influence of Probe Flexibility and Gelatin Embedding on Neuronal Density and Glial Responses to Brain Implants

To develop long-term high quality communication between brain and computer, a key issue is how to reduce the adverse foreign body responses. Here, the impact of probe flexibility and gelatine embedding on long-term (6w) tissue responses, was analyzed. Probes of same polymer material, size and shape, flexible mainly in one direction, were implanted in rat cerebral cortex (nimplants = 3 x 8) in two orientations with respect to the major movement direction of the brain relative to the skull: parallel to (flex mode) or transverse to (rigid mode). Flex mode implants were either embedded in gelatin or non-embedded. Neurons, activated microglia and astrocytes were visualized using immunohistochemistry. The astrocytic reactivity, but not microglial response, was significantly lower to probes implanted in flex mode as compared to rigid mode. The microglial response, but not astrocytic reactivity, was significantly smaller to gelatin embedded probes (flex mode) than non-embedded. Interestingly, the neuronal density was preserved in the inner zone surrounding gelatin embedded probes. This contrasts to the common reports of reduced neuronal density close to implanted probes. In conclusion, sheer stress appears to be an important factor for astrocytic reactivity to implanted probes. Moreover, gelatin embedding can improve the neuronal density and reduce the microglial response close to the probe.
Genome Analysis of Multi- and Extensively-Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The KZN strain family of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a highly virulent strain endemic to the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa, which has recently experienced an outbreak of extensively-drug resistant tuberculosis. To investigate the causes and evolution of drug-resistance, we determined the DNA sequences of several clinical isolates - one drug-susceptible, one multi-drug resistant, and nine extensively drug-resistant - using whole-genome sequencing. Analysis of polymorphisms among the strains is consistent with the drug-susceptibility profiles, in that well-known mutations are observed that are correlated with resistance to isoniazid, rifampicin, kanamycin, ofloxacin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide. However, the mutations responsible for rifampicin resistance in rpoB and pyrazinamide in pncA are in different nucleotide positions in the multi-drug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant strains, clearly showing that they acquired these mutations independently, and that the XDR strain could not have evolved directly from the MDR strain (though it could have arisen from another similar MDR strain). Sequencing of eight additional XDR strains from other areas of KwaZulu-Natal shows that they have identical drug resistant mutations to the first one sequenced, including the same polymorphisms at sites associated with drug resistance, supporting the theory that this represents a case of clonal expansion.
Magnetic Accretion and Photopolarimetric Variability in Classical T Tauri Stars

We employ a Monte Carlo radiation transfer code to investigate the multiwavelength photopolarimetric variability arising from a spotted T Tauri star surrounded by a dusty circumstellar disk. Our aim is to assess the ability of the magnetic accretion model to explain the observed photopolarimetric variability of classical T Tauri stars and to identify potentially useful observational diagnostics of T Tauri star/disk/spot parameters. We model a range of spot sizes, spot latitudes, inner disk truncation radii, and system inclination angles, as well as multiple disk and spot geometries. We find that the amplitude, morphology, and wavelength-dependence of the photopolarimetric variability predicted by our models are generally consistent with existing observations; a flared disk geometry is required to reproduce the largest observed polarization levels and variations. Our models can further explain stochastic polarimetric variability if unsteady accretion is invoked, in which case irregular (but correlated) photometric variability is predicted, in agreement with observations. We find that variability in percent polarization is by itself an unreliable diagnostic, because certain system geometries do not produce any variability in linear polarization (contrary to the commonly held notion that hot spots will necessarily produce periodic polarimetric variability). Observations of variability in polarization position angle, however, could provide useful constraints on system inclination. The observation of wavelength-dependent polarization position angles, attributed by some to interstellar effects, is naturally explained by our models. Certain system geometries yield peculiar photometric light curve morphologies, the observation of which could also serve to constrain system inclination. We do not find useful diagnostics of disk truncation radius, nor do we find significant differences when we model the spots as rings. We also investigate the reliability of modeling spot parameters via analytic fits to multiband photometric variations. We find that commonly used analytic models consistently recover input model parameters but that inferred spot temperatures are more sensitive to uncertainties in the photometric data than previous modeling would suggest.
Validity-Based Failure Algebra for Distributed Sensor Systems

Distributed applications dealing with data from networked sensors need some indication about the quality of remote information. This paper describes how to derive a dynamic validity value that represents a measure for the confidence in remote sensor data. In contrast to conventional systems which treats a typical processing chain as a whole, this paper describes how individual characteristic of sensing, detection and filter mechanisms can be assessed and how this assessment can be evaluated to a single validity value. In particular the paper defines respective operations combining the run-time validity estimates of every stage in a processing chain. The combination is evaluated by rules as part of a failure algebra. The paper presents the generation of an application specific validity value which is finally demonstrated in a robotic application.
The use of pronominal case in English sentence interpretation

ABSTRACT This study examined adult English native speakers' processing of sentences in which pronominal case marking conflicts with word order. Previous research has shown that English speakers rely heavily on word order for assigning case roles during sentence interpretation. However, in terms of cue reliability measures, we should expect English pronominal case to be nearly as strong a cue as word order. The current study examined this issue by asking subjects to interpret grammatical and ungrammatical sentences in which case competes with word order. The results indicated that word order remains the strongest cue in English, even when the case-marking cue is available. However, for noncanonical word orders, the case-marking cue had a strong effect on sentence interpretation.
Operative and nonoperative treatment of clavicle fractures in adults

Background and purpose Traditionally, clavicle fractures have been treated nonoperatively. However, many recent studies have concentrated on the results of operative treatment. We assessed and compared the outcomes of operative and nonoperative treatment for acute clavicle fractures in adults. Methods We performed a systematic search of the medical literature from 1966 until the end of March 2011. We included randomized controlled trials and controlled clinical trials comparing operative and nonoperative treatment and studies comparing different operative and nonoperative treatments. We required that there should be at least 30 adult patients and a follow-up of at least 6 months in each individual trial. We used the GRADE method to assess the quality of evidence. Results 6 randomized controlled trials (n = 631) and 7 controlled clinical trials (n = 559) were included. There was moderate-quality evidence (i.e. of grade B) (1) that surgery has considerable effectiveness on better function and less disability at short follow-up, (2) of similar risk of relatively mild complications after operative or nonoperative treatment, (3) that delayed union and nonunion were more common in patients who were treated nonoperatively than in those treated operatively, and (4) that the osteosynthesis method had no effect on the incidence of delayed union or nonunion. Only 1 controlled clinical trial was found on lateral clavicle fractures with very limited (grade D) evidence. Interpretation Patients treated operatively have slightly better function and less disability than those treated nonoperatively at short follow-up, but then the effectiveness diminishes and is weak at 6 months. The different operative techniques may not differ in effectiveness or in adverse effects, but the evidence is very limited or conflicting. Surgery could be considered for active patients who require recovery to the previous level of activity in the shortest possible time.