Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Spin-Glass Model Based Local Community Detection Method in Social Networks

Mining community structures has become a general problem which exists in many fields including: Computer-Science, Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Sociology and so on. It has developed rapidly and been used widely in many applications: web data mining, social network analysis, criminal network mining, protein interaction network analysis, metabolic network analysis, genetic network analysis, customers relationship mining and user online behavior analysis, etc. Most community detection algorithms try to obtain the global information of the network, but increasing large scale of the current network makes it computationally expensive. In the meanwhile, the different influence and different behavior of nodes in the network are ignored. In fact, if we know the local information of the network or the interested node, we can easily detect the local community. This paper proposes a multi-resolution local community detection algorithm named MRCDA which uses local structural information in the network to optimize the multi-resolution modularity based on the Potts spin-glass model. A local community can be detected through continuous optimization of the function by expanding from an initial influential node computed by a modified PageRank sorting algorithm. The proposed MRCDA has been tested on both synthetic and real world networks and tested against other algorithms. The experiments demonstrate its efficiency and accuracy.
Influences on student withdrawal from further education: a case study

Provision of Further Education (FE) colleges is becoming more important to the nation’s education strategy. Much of this provision is in National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ); in 2003/04 almost half a million of these qualifications were awarded. However, in contrast to the situation in Higher Education (HE), there has been comparatively little research into the impact of ethnicity and gender on retention in FE. This study is an attempt to address these issues and, in doing so, to provide statistical evidence for one FE college to assist in their strategic planning. Here, statistical analyses of the effects on student withdrawal rates of the factors: age, gender, ethnicity, studying for a qualification with an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) element and Widening Participation (WP) category are carried out. Our statistical analyses show that, in general, gender is a highly significant factor in withdrawal rates as are ethnic group and WP category. Studying for an ESOL‐related qualification, which is used here as a proxy for language issues, was found to be a significant factor for Entry‐level students only. Age was found not to be a significant factor at any level. This led us to the tentative conclusion that, while external factors such as financial hardship are likely to play a part in influencing the decision of students to withdraw, the different ways that genders and ethnic groups at particular levels of study respond to the college environment, apparently independently of external factors, may be an issue that could be addressed through a review of internal college factors including teaching and assessment.
Personal information management

Personal Information Management (PIM) is the management of information (e.g. files, emails, and bookmarks) by an individual in support of his/her roles and tasks. Although PIM is practiced daily by millions of people, a research community has never been established. This SIG aims to provide an opportunity for researchers, students and designers who share an interest in the field to meet and discuss key issues. We hope the SIG will lay the foundation for an ongoing PIM research community.
AVIE: a versatile multi-user stereo 360° interactive VR theatre

The iCinema Centre for Interactive Cinema Research at UNSW has created a versatile virtual reality theatre that, by combining real-time 360-degree omnistereo projection with surround audio and marker-less motion tracking, provides a highly immersive and interactive environment for up to 20 users. The theatre, codenamed AVIE, serves as the Centre's principal platform for experiments in interactive and emergent narrative, artificial intelligence, human-computer interfaces, virtual heritage, panoramic video and real-time computer graphics, as well as our primary platform for public exhibition of iCinema projects. This paper briefly discusses the design of the system, technical challenges, novel features and current and future applications of the system. We believe our system to be the first and only 360 degree cylindrical stereo virtual reality theatre constructed to date.
The Context Gateway : A Pervasive Computing Infrastructure for Context Aware Services

Context -aware computing is an emerging paradigm to relieve users from excessive interactions with various kinds of devices and services in pervasive computing environments. In this paper, we will identify the design requirements of context aware computing, and present a generic layered model (the Context Stack) to melt essential mechanisms into a coherent architecture as a design abstraction. As current development of context aware systems is difficult and costly due to the lack of open middleware support, we plan to develop an open infrastructure for context aware services, namely Context Gateway, to support essential context aware mechanisms in form of a reusable middleware. In particular, the design of Context Gateway will explore Web Ontology Language for context modeling and knowledge sharing, hybrid logic reasoning and machine learning for context interpretation, and Semantic Web query language for context query and resource discovery. Context Gateway consists of two parts: a set of specification delineating Application Programming Interface (API) standards for the essential context aware mechanisms, and a set of Java implementation as a programming library. To evaluate the feasibility of context modeling using ontology and context reasoning using logics, we have presented detailed examples and conducted preliminary experiments.
Diez años de democracia local (La situación del Gobierno local catalán)

I. INTRODUCCION. EL ESTUDIO DEL GOBIERNO LOCAL: 1. Los ejes del analisis. 2. Las cuestiones a responder. —II. LA SITUACION DEL GOBIERNO LOCAL EN 1979: 1. La configuracion del marco institucional: normas basicas y sistema electoral. 2. Las expectativas: los programas de los partidos en las elecciones de 1979 y su posterior evolucion. —III. EL PROCESO DE CONFIGURACION DEL MAPA POLITICO CATALAN: SECCIONES, PARTIDOS Y ELITES LOCALES: 1. Las elecciones de 1979. 2. Las elecciones de 1983. 3. Las elecciones de 1987. 4. La Cataluna de las elecciones locales: continuidades territoriales de los comportamientos electorales. 5. Las elites locales en Cataluna: seleccion y consolidacion de un grupo de dirigentes locales. IV. LA SITUACION ACTUAL DEL GOBIERNO LOCAL CATALAN: PARTICIPACION, DESCENTRALIZACION Y GESTION: 1. La participacion. 2. La descentralizacion. 3. Formas de organizacion y gestion. 4. Un caso especial: descentralizacion y participacion en la ciudad de Barcelona. —V. BALANCE GENERAL Y PERSPECTIVAS: 1. Un debate pendiente: la reforma del mapa municipal. 2. La democracia local: «partidificacion», rigidez, politicas de comunicacion, participacion y presidencialismo debil. 3. La organizacion local: las dificultades para adaptarse a una demanda de servicios renovada y ampliada. 4. La gestion y reorganizacion de los recursos, mejora de eficiencia, profesionalizacion de los politicos, politizacion de los tecnicos. 5. Perspectivas de futuro: la dificil evaluacion del papel de gobierno local en un marco intergubernamental y politico todavia poco definido.
Understanding of causal expressions in skilled and less skilled text comprehenders

This experiment investigated the. relation between 7- to 8-year-old children's reading comprehension and their understanding of causal expressions. A group of skilled comprehenders was compared to a less skilled group on two oral tasks involving because sentences: a questions task and a sentence completion task. For each task, the subjects received deductive items (where because introduces the evidence for a conclusion) and empirical items (where because introduces a cause). The experiment also investigated the effect of modifying the instructions for the deductive items so as to focus the subjects' attention on the source of evidence for a conclusion. Skilled comprehenders performed significantly better than less skilled comprehenders on the deductive, but not on the empirical, items. Performance on deductive items was poorer than that on empirical items. However, scores on the deductive items were increased by the modified instructions.
Modeling location for pervasive environments

The representation of spaces, locations and the entities they contain is of great importance to location aware systems and pervasive computing scenarios. There has been an active research community in developing many diverse models of location, resulting in significant progress in the area. Various types of location model have evolved through experiment and experience however there still remains many challenges to be met by the research community. This paper aims to highlight previous trends in location modeling, discuss the research challenges ahead and to outline the initial design of a location model for the Strathclyde Context Infrastructure [? ].
Efficient Multicast Scheme based on Hybrid ARQ and Busy Tone for Multimedia Traffic in Wireless LANs

Multicast in wireless LANs (Local Area Networks) is very useful for transmitting multimedia traffic from a sender to a group of receivers. The IEEE 802.11 WLAN MAC (Medium Access Control) layer does not support reliable multicast since, for multicast transmissions, it has no control packets such as the RTS, CTS, and ACK, which are used for unicast transmissions. Several protocols have been proposed to provide reliable multicast transmissions. However, they are not efficient for IEEE 802.11 WLANs due to the large number of packet transmissions and the excessive control overhead caused by the use of a large number of control packets in the error recovery process. In this paper, we propose a simple and effective scheme. The proposed scheme combines FEC (Forward Error Correction) and ARQ (Automatic Repeat reQuest) to reduce a large number of packet transmissions and to provide data reliability in the IEEE 802.11 WLANs multicast environment. It then uses busy tones to improve efficiency by reducing the excessive control overhead. Performance evaluation is conducted using both numerical analysis and simulation. The results show that the proposed scheme has good performance in terms of normalized throughput and average delay.
Kick-Starting the Ratchet: The Fate of Mutators in an Asexual Population

Muller's ratchet operates in asexual populations without intergenomic recombination. In this case, deleterious mutations will accumulate and population fitness will decline over time, possibly endangering the survival of the species. Mutator mutations, i.e., mutations that lead to an increased mutation rate, will play a special role for the behavior of the ratchet. First, they are part of the ratchet and can come to dominance through accumulation in the ratchet. Second, the fitness-loss rate of the ratchet is very sensitive to changes in the mutation rate and even a modest increase can easily set the ratchet in motion. In this article we simulate the interplay between fitness loss from Muller's ratchet and the evolution of the mutation rate from the fixation of mutator mutations. As long as the mutation rate is increased in sufficiently small steps, an accelerating ratchet and eventual extinction are inevitable. If this can be countered by antimutators, i.e., mutations that reduce the mutation rate, an equilibrium can be established for the mutation rate at some level that may allow survival. However, the presence of the ratchet amplifies fluctuations in the mutation rate and, even at equilibrium, these fluctuations can lead to dangerous bursts in the ratchet. We investigate the timescales of these processes and discuss the results with reference to the genome degradation of the aphid endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola.
Blocking Cytochrome c Activity within Intact Neurons Inhibits Apoptosis

Cytochrome c has been shown to play a role in cell-free models of apoptosis. During NGF withdrawal–induced apoptosis of intact rat superior cervical ganglion (SCG) neurons, we observe the redistribution of cytochrome c from the mitochondria to the cytoplasm. This redistribution is not inhibited by the caspase inhibitor Z-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone (ZVADfmk) but is blocked by either of the neuronal survival agents 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)adenosine 3′:5′-cyclic monophosphate (CPT-cAMP) or cycloheximide. Moreover, microinjection of SCG neurons with antibody to cytochrome c blocks NGF withdrawal–induced apoptosis. However, microinjection of SCG neurons with cytochrome c does not alter the rate of apoptosis in either the presence or absence of NGF. These data suggest that cytochrome c is an intrinsic but not limiting component of the neuronal apoptotic pathway.
A combinatorial approach to create artificial homing endonucleases cleaving chosen sequences

Meganucleases, or homing endonucleases (HEs) are sequence-specific endonucleases with large (>14 bp) cleavage sites that can be used to induce efficient homologous gene targeting in cultured cells and plants. These findings have opened novel perspectives for genome engineering in a wide range of fields, including gene therapy. However, the number of identified HEs does not match the diversity of genomic sequences, and the probability of finding a homing site in a chosen gene is extremely low. Therefore, the design of artificial endonucleases with chosen specificities is under intense investigation. In this report, we describe the first artificial HEs whose specificity has been entirely redesigned to cleave a naturally occurring sequence. First, hundreds of novel endonucleases with locally altered substrate specificity were derived from I-CreI, a Chlamydomonas reinhardti protein belonging to the LAGLIDADG family of HEs. Second, distinct DNA-binding subdomains were identified within the protein. Third, we used these findings to assemble four sets of mutations into heterodimeric endonucleases cleaving a model target or a sequence from the human RAG1 gene. These results demonstrate that the plasticity of LAGLIDADG endonucleases allows extensive engineering, and provide a general method to create novel endonucleases with tailored specificities.
Talking with terminally ill patients and their caregivers about death, dying, and bereavement: is it stressful? Is it helpful?

BACKGROUND Discussing end-of-life issues with terminally ill patients is often considered distressing and harmful. This study was conducted to assess whether interviewing terminally ill patients and their caregivers about death, dying, and bereavement is stressful and/or helpful. METHODS Patients from 6 sites in the United States who were estimated to have 6 months or less to live were interviewed in person and reinterviewed 2 to 6 months later. Their caregivers were interviewed separately. At the end of the interviews, patients and caregivers were asked how stressful and how helpful the interview had been. Of 1131 eligible patients, 988 (87.4%) were interviewed, and of 915 eligible caregivers, 893 (97.6%) were interviewed. RESULTS At the end of the first interview, 1.9% of the patients reported having experienced a great deal of stress, 7.1% some stress, and 88.7% little or no stress from the interview. Among the caregivers, 1.5% reported a great deal of stress, 8.4% some stress, and 89.7% little or no stress. Slightly more stress was reported to have been caused by the reinterview. Overall, 16.9% of the patients reported the initial interview as very helpful, 29.6% as somewhat helpful, and 49.6% as offering little or no help. Among the caregivers, 19.1% reported the initial interview as very helpful, 34.3% as somewhat helpful, and 44.9% as offering little or no help. The reported helpfulness of the second interview was slightly less. Patients experiencing pain (odds ratio [OR], 1.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.56), more personal meaning in dying (OR, 3.05; 95% CI, 2.02-4.59), and less ease with talking about the end of life (OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.09-1.60) were significantly more likely to report stress. Patients who were from an ethnic minority (OR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.31-2.63), anxious about the end of their life (OR, 1.39; 95% CI 1.16-1.67), more spiritual (OR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.06-1.61), and serene (OR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.08-1.45) were significantly more likely to report the interview helpful. There was no relationship between stress and helpfulness. CONCLUSIONS Terminally ill patients and their caregivers can discuss death, dying, and bereavement in a structured interview with minimal stress and report that the interview was helpful. Institutional review boards should not preemptively restrict surveys with terminally ill patients without reliable evidence that they will be stressful or otherwise harmful.
Racial Differences in Perceived Burden of Rural Dementia Caregivers

This study explores whether religiosity explains racial differences in caregiving burden for a rural sample of dementia family caregivers. Data are from a probability sample of 74 non-Hispanic White and 67 African American dementia caregivers in rural Alabama. SPSS macros for estimating indirect effects in multiple mediator models are used to test the mediation effects of religiosity. White caregivers report higher burden, are less likely to use religious coping, and less likely to engage in organized religion than do African American caregivers. Church attendance is found to significantly (B = —.57, p < .05) mediate the racial differences on caregiving burden (R 2 = .07). Religious involvement in general, and church attendance in particular, seem to provide both spiritual and social psychological benefits to dementia caregivers. Thus, supplementing formal services with the services provided by religious organizations may be important in rural areas where formal resources are scarce.
Eating disturbance as a manifestation of the stress process: a review of the literature

This article reviews the current literature on ‘disturbed eating patterns’, particularly anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) and the relationship between these two eating disorders and life stress, coping styles, social support and personality factors. The article sets out to describe how these psychosocial factors interact and the possible role they play in eating disturbance. Three possible models of the stress process and its relationship to disordered eating behaviour are proposed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Male role and gender role conflict: Relations to help seeking in men.

Tested theory that adherence to the traditional male gender role and help-seeking attitudes and behaviors are related. Ss were 401 undergraduate men who completed measures of help-seeking attitudes and behaviors, attitudes toward the stereotypic male role, and gender role conflict factors (i.e., success/power/competition, restrictive emotionality, and restrictive affectionate behavior between men). Canonical analysis and regression indicated that traditional attitudes about the male role, concern about expressing emotions, and concern about expressing affection toward other men were each significantly related to negative attitudes toward seeking professional psychological assistance. Restrictive emotionality also significantly predicted decreased past helpseeking behavior and decreased likelihood of future help seeking. The implications of these results for theory, research, and counseling practice are discussed. There appear to be distinct gender differences in psychological help seeking. Two-thirds of all clients seeking psychological help are female. Further, one in three women, compared with one in seven men, seek services from a mental health professional at some point during their lifetime (Collier, 1982). Whereas much research and theoretical writing has focused on the psychological and sociological reasons for women's use of counseling services, a much smaller amount of literature has focused on the problems associated with male reluctance to use psychological services. One possible source of men's hesitance to use counseling services is adherence to the traditional male gender role, although this hypothesis has received very little attention in the help-seeking literature. This lack of attention is somewhat surprising, given that adherence to a role characterized by instrumentality, strength, aggressiveness, and emotional inexpressiveness (David & Brannon, 1976; O'Neti, 1981) seems intuitively antithetical to the behavior of seeking help for psychological concerns. The little research that is available has reported that people with a masculine gender role orientation are less likely to express an interest in seeking counseling than individuals with a feminine gender role'Orientation
A TBD algorithm based on improved Randomized Hough Transform for dim target detection

For the detection of dim target, the track-before-detect(TBD) methodology has been employed to integrate the target's energy through a time sequence of frames. A TBD algorithm based on improved Randomized Hough Transform for dim target detection is proposed in this paper. This algorithm uses the sequence number of frames to make sure that the point pairs are selected randomly from different frames, avoiding the unreasonable situation that initiates target's track in the same frame data. Second, it also introduces a new vote method. Based on the minimum Euclidean distance criterion, this vote method finds the optimal parameter cell to vote, making the vote result better than traditional Randomized Hough Transform (RHT). In addition, we not only increase the poll of the optimal parameter cell but also update the corresponding parameter, avoiding the large deviation between the recovered track and the real track. By simulation, we conclude that this algorithm can detect dim target more speedily and accurately than traditional RHT, especially under the background of low Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).
Human papillomavirus and gastrointestinal cancer in Iranian population: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies are the most common cancers and account for nearly half of all cancer-related deaths in Iran. There was a strong association between human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and urogenital cancers, in particular the cervix. However, there is no clear causal relationship in all types of cancers, including gastrointestinal cancers. Therefore, the present study as a systematic review and meta-analysis was designed to evaluate the prevalence and relation of HPV in GI cancers. Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis study assess the prevalence of human papillomavirus in GI cancers in Iran. Data were collected by searching electronic databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, SID and Iranmedex by English and Persian key words up to August 2016. Key words included: Human Papillomavirus, HPV, Cancer, Neoplasm, Carcinoma, Esophageal, colorectal, Gastrointestinal and Iran articles were entered in the EndNote software and duplicate papers were excluded. Data were extracted and analyzed by comprehensive meta-analysis software, Version 2 (CMA.V2) and random effects model. Results: Finally, we included 17 studies in this meta-analysis. The prevalence of HPV in Iranian patients with GI cancers was 16.4% (CI95%: 10.4-24.9). Considering all HPV types, the odds ratio of GI cancers in positive patients was 3.03 (CI95%: 1.42-6.45) while in patients with HPV-16 was 3.62 (CI: 1.43-4.82). Conclusion: The results show a strong relationship between HPV infection especially high-risk HPV type 16 and GI cancers in Iranian population.