Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assistive mobile application for support of mobility and communication of people with IDD

This paper describes the mobile application 'Travel and Communication Assistant' which supports the mobility and communication of people with Intellectual and Development Disabilities (IDD). This application provides the possibility to people with IDD to independently perform a known route (for example a route from home to the day care center, from home to the baker's, etc.) under the remote supervision of their caregivers and to communicate with them using text, voice and pictogram messages.
Conceptualising Binge Eating: A Review of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature

Binge eating is a distressing symptom common to bulimia nervosa (BN), anorexia nervosa binge/purge subtype (AN-BP) and binge-eating disorder (BED). Over the last 40 years, many attempts have been made to conceptualise this symptom in terms of its antecedents, function, triggers, consequences, and maintaining factors. Cognitive theories of binge eating have evolved as new evidence has emerged. This literature review summarises the main and most influential cognitive models of binge eating across different eating disorder presentations. Many theories have examined binge eating in the context of restriction or compensatory behaviours, as is often observed in cases of BN. Few theories have examined binge eating as it occurs in BED specifically. The long-term efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) treatment based on these models leaves much to be desired, and indicates that there may be maintaining factors of binge eating not addressed in the typical CBT treatment for eating disorders. More recent cognitive models of binge eating propose possible maintaining beliefs, but further study is required to validate these models. Suggestions for future research are presented.
Real-time haptic rendering of slowly deformable bodies based on two dimensional visual information for telemanipulation

This paper presents a real-time haptic rendering technique for deformable objects based on visual information about the intervention between a tool and a real object in a remote place. A user can feel the artificial reaction force through a haptic device in real-time when a slave system exerts manipulation tasks on a deformable object. Models of the deformable object and the manipulator are created from the captured image obtained with a CCD camera and the objects are recognized using image processing techniques. The force at a rate of 1 kHz for stable haptic interaction is deduced by extrapolating forces at a low update rate. The rendering algorithm developed was tested and validated on a test platform consisting of a one-dimensional indentation device and an off-the shelf force feedback device.
Alternative Sources of n-3 Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Marine Microalgae

The main source of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) in human nutrition is currently seafood, especially oily fish. Nonetheless, due to cultural or individual preferences, convenience, geographic location, or awareness of risks associated to fatty fish consumption, the intake of fatty fish is far from supplying the recommended dietary levels. The end result observed in most western countries is not only a low supply of n-3 LC-PUFA, but also an unbalance towards the intake of n-6 fatty acids, resulting mostly from the consumption of vegetable oils. Awareness of the benefits of LC-PUFA in human health has led to the use of fish oils as food supplements. However, there is a need to explore alternatives sources of LC-PUFA, especially those of microbial origin. Microalgae species with potential to accumulate lipids in high amounts and to present elevated levels of n-3 LC-PUFA are known in marine phytoplankton. This review focuses on sources of n-3 LC-PUFA, namely eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids, in marine microalgae, as alternatives to fish oils. Based on current literature, examples of marketed products and potentially new species for commercial exploitation are presented.
Expression Analysis of Combinatorial Genes Using a Bi-Cistronic T2A Expression System in Porcine Fibroblasts

In pig-to-primate xenotransplantation, multiple transgenic pigs are required to overcome a series of transplant rejections. The generation of multiple transgenic pigs either by breeding or the introduction of several mono-cistronic vectors has been hampered by the differential expression patterns of the target genes. To achieve simultaneous expression of multiple genes, a poly-cistronic expression system using the 2A peptide derived from the Thosea asigna virus (T2A) can be considered an alternative choice. Before applying T2A expression system to pig generation, the expression patterns of multiple genes in this system should be precisely evaluated. In this study, we constructed several bi-cistronic T2A expression vectors, which combine target genes that are frequently used in the xenotransplantation field, and introduced them into porcine fibroblasts. The proteins targeted to the same or different subcellular regions were efficiently expressed without affecting the localization or expression levels of the other protein. However, when a gene with low expression efficiency was inserted into the upstream region of the T2A sequences, the expression level of the downstream gene was significantly decreased compared with the expression efficiency without the insertion. A small interfering RNA targeting one gene in this system resulted in the significant downregulation of both the target gene and the other gene, indicating that multiple genes combined into a T2A expression vector can be considered as a single gene in terms of transcription and translation. In summary, the efficient expression of a downstream gene can be achieved if the expression of the upstream gene is efficient.
Sub-grid physical optical flow for remote sensing of sandstorm

Satellite observations are currently of major importance in geosciences. Remote sensing is a strong tool to study atmospheric and earth phenomena. In this work, we propose a new motion estimation approach with application to dust storm tracking from remote sensing images. Dynamic natural phenomena in the atmosphere are generally turbulent due to a high Reynolds number. Meteorological images are still poor in time and space resolution compared to the turbulence characteristics of the flow. To tackle this problem, we define a new formulation of the flow equation based on a filtered scalar transport equation. Using Large Eddy Simulation theory, we propose a sub-grid model which incorporates small scale effects as missing (ie non-observed) information of remote sensing images. For day light changes, a uniform brightness variation term is incorporated to the model. We validated our approach on synthetic Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of scalar propagation. Promising results are obtained on real MTSAT-1R visible images of a dust storm event over Australia.
Exploiting Opportunistic Packet Delivery for Rate Control in 802.11 Wireless Networks

The throughput of the 802.11 protocol, which offers multiple transmission rates, is greatly influenced by the rate control algorithms. However, the high overheads associated with rate adjustment cause traditional rate selection mechanisms to select rates that are non-optimal. In this paper, we explore how packet combining can address this problem. Combining together and broadcasting packets originally destined different receivers exploits multiple opportunities of packet delivery and reduces the risk of poor choices of rates. As a result, our algorithm more aggressively seeks higher transmission rates and can adapt to fast changing channel conditions. Throughput enhancement in simulation indicates that throughput can be boosted by more than 50% on average in Rayleigh fading channels
Sodium Hydrosulphide Alleviates Remote Lung Injury Following Limb Traumatic Injury in Rats

Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) was found to attenuate ventilator or oleic acid induced lung injury. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of exogenous H2S donor, sodium Hydrosulphide (NaHS), on lung injury following blast limb trauma and the underlying mechanisms. For in vitro experiments, pulmonary micro-vessel endothelial cells (PMVECs) were cultured and treated with NaHS or vehicle in the presence of TNF-α. For in vivo, blast limb traumatic rats, induced by using chartaceous electricity detonators, were randomly treated with NaHS, cystathionine gamma-lyase inhibitor (PAG) or vehicle. In vitro, NaHS (100 µM) treatment increased PMVECs viability and decreased LDH release into culture media after tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α challenge. In addition, NaHS treatment prevented the increase of nitric oxide, Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 1(ICAM-1) and interleukin (IL)-6 production and inducible nitric oxide synthase activation induced by TNF-α. Knock-down of NF-E2-Related Factor 2 (Nrf2) partially abolished the protective effect of NaHS. In vivo, NaHS treatment significantly alleviated lung injury following blast limb trauma, demonstrated by a decreased histopathological score and lung water content. Furthermore, NaHS treatment reversed the decrease of H2S concentration in plasma, prevented the increase of TNF-α, IL-6, malondialdehyde and myeloperoxidase, increased the Nrf2 downstream effector glutathione in both plasma and lungs, and reversed the decrease of superoxide dismutase in both plasma and lungs induced by blast limb trauma. Our data indicated that NaHS protects against lung injury following blast limb trauma which is likely associated with suppression of the inflammatory and oxidative response and activation of Nrf2 cellular signal.
SPECIAL FEATURES IN TURBULENT MIXING. COMPARISON BETWEEN PERIODIC AND NON PERIODIC CASE

After hundreds of years of stability study, the problems of ‡ow kinematics are far from complete solving. A modern theory appears in this …eld: the mixing theory. Its mathematical methods and techniques developed the signi…cant relation between turbulence and chaos. The turbulence is an important feature of dynamic systems with few freedom degrees, the so-called "far from equilibrium systems". These are widespread between the models of excitable media. Studying a mixing for a ‡ow implies the analysis of successive stretching and folding phenomena for its particles, the in‡uence of parameters and initial conditions. In the previous works, the study of the 3D non-periodic models exhibited a quite complicated behavior, involving some signi…cant events - the so-called "rare events". The variation of parameters had a great in‡uence on the length and surface deformations. The 2D (periodic) case is simpler, but signi…cant events can also issue for irrational values of the length and surface versors, as was the situation in 3D case. The comparison between 2D and 3D case revealed interesting properties; therefore a modi…ed 2D (periodic) model is tested. The numerical simulations were realized in MapleVI, for searching special mathematical events. Continuing this work both from analytical and numeric standpoint would relieve useful properties for the turbulent mixing. A proximal target is to test some special functions for the periodic model, and to study the behavior of the structures realized by the model.
Trophic Dynamics of a Nebraska Black Crappie and White Crappie Population

Abstract Diet variations of black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus) and white crappie (Pomoxis annularis) were investigated at Hayes Center State Lake, a turbid 20-hectare state lake in southwest Nebraska. Zooplankton and insects accounted for most of the diet of all black crappie and of white crappie less than 200 mm long. The daily ration of planktophagic crappie declined to 1.3% as both species approached a length of 200 mm. Black crappie longer than 200 mm did not convert to fish and the daily ration declined to 0.8%. The dietary shift of white crappie to fish significantly increased the average volume of food as the daily ration increased to 1.6 and 2.9% at 200-249 and ≳ 250 mm, respectively. Crappie growth and survivorship were affected by the nature of the food. White crappie were 2.4 times more numerous and grew faster with improved survival at Age IV compared to the less dense black crappie population. Mortality rates of black crappie related positively to their size and water temperature during t.
A Fair and Efficient Resource Allocation Scheme for Multi-Server Distributed Systems and Networks

Maintaining efficiency and fairness is a challenging problem in distributed systems and networks. In this paper, we focus on distributed multi-server systems and networks in which each user may be allocated resources by different servers. Reemphasizing polling systems as abstractions of resource sharing systems, in this paper, first we introduce a multi-server polling system in which each server (resource) can poll (be allocated to) only a subset of queues (users) in the system to model a wide range of multi-server systems such as multihomed networks and cloud computing. Then, to obtain a fair resource allocation vector to queues, a network utility maximization problem with a general utility function is defined. Depending on the type of the utility function, the presented scheme can attain different kinds of fairness such as weighted proportional and max-min fairness. Although maintaining fairness is important in many applications, providing efficiency is also crucial. Hence, we present an efficient algorithm to convert the obtained fair resource allocation vector into a Markovian routing matrix to determine the polling order of queues. This algorithm is capable of improving performance measures such as delay variance and mitigating short-term unfairness by minimizing the probability of consecutive polling of the same queue. Two distributed schemes are presented to obtain fairness and efficiency in even highly dynamic and distributed environments. The effectiveness of the presented schemes is also studied through simulation and numerical evaluation. Our results show their success in attaining fairness and efficiency in dynamic multi-server distributed systems and networks.
Design of A Concurrent Caml Light: ACCL

In this paper we propose an extension of the functional programming language Caml Light called ACCL for A Concurrent Caml Light which aims to encompass functional, imperative and concurrent programming paradigms in a single programming language. For the concurrent extension of Caml Light, we offer a few primitives with very simple semantics by using the model of ERLANG functional programming language. Support for dynamic process creation and inter process asynchronous communication are the two of the essential extensions to Caml Light language. This proposed language will be developed further to support distributing programming and mobile computation paradigms.
Performance of Hadoop Application on Hybrid Cloud

Hadoop is an open-source software framework for distributed computing that is widely used to develop large-scale data processing applications, such as big data applications. Hadoop application programs are normally run on in-house or cloud computing platforms. Recently, a hybrid cloud composed of in-house and remote cloud computing platforms has been found to be capable of sustaining a certain level of application performance. In this paper, we discuss the performance of a Hadoop application program running on such hybrid clouds. We will begin by presenting the performance model used to estimate the execution time of a Hadoop application program running on a hybrid cloud. Then, we will show the results of experiments conducted on hybrid cloud test beds. These experimental results revealed that the performance levels of the Hadoop application programs running on the hybrid cloud were application type dependent, and that performance improvements could be expected by using a remote cloud computing platform in conjunction with in-house computing platforms for certain types of applications. Furthermore, the results showed that our performance model captured the performance trend of the application programs on the hybrid cloud. However, room for improvement still exists in the performance model, particularly for the shuffle phase.
A TANGIBLE ENVIRONMENT FOR ANIMATIONS CREATIONS

Storytelling is an essential activity in the life of children. By listening or sharing their stories and ideasthey give meaning to their world and practice their communication skill. Even though the compute were already present in the infantile world, there is to get between the software developed for theirs and the ones that really give voice for this little uses. This paper presents the Reactoon System: an authoring tool for building 2D animations for a tabletop with tangible user interface and multi-touch.
Study of the effects of pairwise key pre-distribution scheme on the performance of a topology control protocol

Collecting information from open and possibly hostile environments makes the wireless Sensor Network (WSN) vulnerable to different types of security threats [1]. To provide secure communications for the WSNs, all messages have to be encrypted with a secret key. Message encryption using the public key cryptosystems [2] in WSN is not applicable due to sensor's constrained resources. A random key pre-distribution scheme and its enhanced versions to deal with pairwise key establishment [3] are of popular approaches that have higher resilience for nodes compromising. On the other hand, the topology control protocols are special forms of WSNs that add some constraints for controlling the construction of wireless networks. This paper aims to identify whether it is applicable to apply a key pre-distribution technique on a topology control protocol and evaluates its performance.
Educational attainment does not modify the effect of educational interventions on blood pressure control: a secondary analysis of data from a randomised trial

Summary Objectives To assess whether the effects of community-based educational interventions to improve blood pressure, weight and health behaviours benefit participants with lower educational levels more than those with higher educational levels. Design Secondary data analysis. Setting Two 12-month community-based educational interventions, one led by trained peers and one delivered by health professionals. Participants A total of 403 hypertensive individuals, grouped by education (high school or less; 1–3 years college; 4 + years college). Main outcome measures Blood pressure, weight, physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake. Results We found that changes in blood pressure, weight and physical activity were similar across education levels; college graduates consumed more daily servings of fruits and vegetables at baseline (3.7 versus 3.6 for those with 12–15 years and 3.1 for those with < 12 years, p = 0.0112), and increased intake more after the intervention (+0.4 versus −0.1 and −0.1, p = 0.0142). The two methods of delivery – peer-led versus professional – had similar effects on all measures. Conclusions We conclude that educational interventions, whether delivered by peers or professionals, may improve chronic disease self-management among participants but do not confer greater benefits on participants with lower educational levels.
Experimental and theoretical demonstration of noise shaping by interspike interval correlations (Invited Paper)

Neurons often display complex patterns of action potential firing in response to a wide variety of inputs. Correlations amongst the interspike interval sequence are often seen in experimental data from sensory neurons including electroreceptor afferents from weakly electric fish. Here we review some of our recent computational, theoretical, and experimental results on the mechanism by which negative interspike interval correlations increase information transfer: noise shaping. This mechanism might explain the behavioral hypersensitivity displayed by weakly electric fish when detecting prey.
Synchronous Neuronal Activity Is a Signal for Axonal Sprouting after Cortical Lesions in the Adult

The ability of the adult brain to form new connections in areas denervated by a lesion (axonal sprouting) is more widespread than previously thought, but mechanisms remain unknown. We have previously demonstrated an unexpected, robust axonal sprouting of contralateral corticostriatal neurons into the denervated striatum after ischemic cortical lesions. We now take advantage of marked differences in the degree of axonal sprouting from contralateral homotypic cortex after two types of cortical lesions to define the role of neuronal activity in this response. Thermal–ischemic lesions (TCL) of sensorimotor cortex, which induce axonal sprouting, produced two sequential patterns of low-frequency, synchronized neuronal activity that are not seen after similarly sized aspiration lesions, which do not induce axonal sprouting. An early rhythm of synchronous neuronal activity occurred in perilesion cortex on day 1 after lesion, with a frequency range of 0.2–2 Hz. A later pattern of activity occurred on days 2 and 3 after lesion, with a frequency range of 0.1–0.4 Hz. This second rhythm synchronized neuronal activity across widespread areas, including the cortical areas that contain the cell bodies of the sprouting axons. TTX was used to block this patterned neuronal activity and determine whether axonal sprouting was prevented. Chronic TTX infusion into the lesion site blocked the synchronous neuronal activity after TCL as well as axonal sprouting. Thus, both after different types of lesions and in the blockade experiments axonal sprouting was strongly correlated with synchronous neuronal activity, suggesting a role for this activity in anatomical reorganization after brain lesion in the adult.