Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Information provision-timing control for informational assistance robot

This paper proposes a HMM-based user's information demand estimation model for autonomous informational assistance robots to avoid providing information prematurely. The model estimates the user's implicit information demands by predicting a user's next information request using user's head movements. Through a word-association quiz-dialog experiment, our model demonstrated superior prediction performance over the usual HMM-based classifier.
Education and debriefing: strategies for preventing crises in crisis-line volunteers.

Telephone crisis lines offer an important service to individuals in crisis. The accessibility as well as a lack of other means of support leads many individuals to call the line. The role of the volunteer is to listen and support the caller as well as provide information and referrals to other agencies. Agencies are presented with a high turnover of volunteers and are then faced with the task of recruiting and training replacements. Volunteers are often exposed to horrific accounts of human pain and suffering which may affect their personal thoughts, feelings, beliefs and actions and influence the decision to quit. Compassion fatigue is one term used for this inherent "cost of caring. " Many factors contribute to this cost including the nature of crisis calls, the repeat caller, and personal coping mechanisms. Educating and debriefing the volunteer are two strategies that may prevent the onset of compassion fatigue and volunteer resignation. Debriefing is viewed as an effective strategy for volunteers as it has been found to be successfull in assisting other helpers in many different contexts to cope and deal with the traumatic events that they experience or hear about.
HDL-Associated Paraoxonase 1 as a Bridge between Postmenopausal Osteoporosis and Cardiovascular Disease

The association of postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP) with both atherosclerosis and vascular/valvular calcification is well known. Recently, ample evidence has suggested a common etiologic factor, namely, reduced HDL-associated paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity, as a causative factor in the development of PMOP and cardiovascular disease (CVD). This common etiologic factor not only contributes to atherosclerotic diseases but also to PMOP following an almost identical mechanism including dysfunctional HDL and lipid oxidation. According to recent studies, lipid oxidation might improve osteoblastic transformation of vascular cells and obstruct such transformation in bone cells. The primary objective of this current review was to summarize the evidence revealing the role of HDL-associated PON1 enzyme in PMOP. Additionally, the review aimed to address some of the subjects that need further investigation in order to define whether hyperhomocysteinemia and sensitivity to lipid oxidation may be risk factors for PMOP.
Real-Time Stereo Vision Processing System in a FPGA

This paper describes a reconfigurable digital architecture to compute dense disparity maps at video-rate for stereo vision. The processor architecture is described in synthetizable VHDL and, by means of the reconfigurability, the hardware requirements are optimized for different image resolutions and matching scenarios. The configurable description of a stereo processor provides the entity to design stereo matching systems, implementing by incremental design multi-baseline or multi-scale stereo vision algorithms. We show the results of the synthesis and its implementation cost in logic elements and time delays. The synthesis results have been implemented in a practical prototype
Symmetric Disclosure: a Fresh Look at k-anonymity

We analyze how the sparsity of a typical aggregate social relation impacts the network overhead of online communication systems designed to provide k-anonymity. Once users are grouped in anonymity sets there will likely be few related pairs of users between any two particular sets, and so the sets need to be large in order to provide cover traffic between them. We can reduce the associated overhead by having both parties in a communication specify both the origin and the target sets of the communication. We propose to call this communication primitive "symmetric disclosure. " If in order to retrieve messages a user specifies a group from which he expects to receive them, the negative impact of the sparsity is offset.
The Value of Social Shopping Networks for Product Search and the Moderating Role of Network Scope

Online shoppers are increasingly embedded into social networks via digital platforms in which they can use social connections as a means to discover and learn about products. In these settings, consumers do not start on equal informational grounds because their ability to reach products and opinions depends on where they are located in the network. In this paper, we study how a social network-enabled shopping environment influences product search (i.e., how consumers mobilize the bundle of features offered to them to reach products and acquire information) and subsequent consumer outcomes. In addition, we examine network scope, an important design attribute of a social shopping network, by looking into the implications of 'open' (i.e., when shoppers can freely traverse the whole network structure) and 'private' (i.e., when shoppers can only navigate within their personal network) designs. This paper presents a preliminary report of a research project aimed at addressing these questions.
Reduced Early Alcohol-Induced Liver Injury in CD14-Deficient Mice1

Activation of Kupffer cells by gut-derived endotoxin is associated with alcohol-induced liver injury. Recently, it was shown that CD14-deficient mice are more resistant to endotoxin-induced shock than wild-type controls. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the role of CD14 receptors in early alcohol-induced liver injury using CD14 knockout and wild-type BALB/c mice in a model of enteral ethanol delivery. Animals were given a high-fat liquid diet continuously with ethanol or isocaloric maltose-dextrin as control for 4 wk. The liver to body weight ratio in wild-type mice (5.8 ± 0.3%) was increased significantly by ethanol (7.3 ± 0.2%) but was not altered by ethanol in CD14-deficient mice. Ethanol elevated serum alanine aminotransferase levels nearly 3-fold in wild-type mice, but not in CD14-deficient mice. Wild-type and knockout mice given the control high-fat diet had normal liver histology, whereas ethanol caused severe liver injury (steatosis, inflammation, and necrosis; pathology score = 3.8 ± 0.4). In contrast, CD14-deficient mice given ethanol showed minimal hepatic changes (score = 1.6 ± 0.3, p < 0.05). Additionally, NF-κB, TGF-β, and TNF-α were increased significantly in wild-type mice fed ethanol but not in the CD14 knockout. Thus, chronic ethanol feeding caused more severe liver injury in wild-type than CD14 knockouts, supporting the hypothesis that endotoxin acting via CD14 plays a major role in the development of early alcohol-induced liver injury.
Explicit Expressions for Solar Panel Equivalent Circuit Parameters Based on Analytical Formulation and the Lambert W-Function

Due to the high dependence of photovoltaic energy efficiency on environmental conditions (temperature, irradiation.), it is quite important to perform some analysis focusing on the characteristics of photovoltaic devices in order to optimize energy production, even for small-scale users. The use of equivalent circuits is the preferred option to analyze solar cells/panels performance. However, the aforementioned small-scale users rarely have the equipment or expertise to perform large testing/calculation campaigns, the only information available for them being the manufacturer datasheet. The solution to this problem is the development of new and simple methods to define equivalent circuits able to reproduce the behavior of the panel for any working condition, from a very small amount of information. In the present work a direct and completely explicit method to extract solar cell parameters from the manufacturer datasheet is presented and tested. This method is based on analytical formulation which includes the use of the Lambert W-function to turn the series resistor equation explicit. The presented method is used to analyze commercial solar panel performance (i.e., the current-voltage–I-V–curve) at different levels of irradiation and temperature. The analysis performed is based only on the information included in the manufacturer’s datasheet.
Near-Field Far-Field Transformation Utilizing 2-D Plane-Wave Expansion for Monostatic RCS Extrapolation

Near-field far-field transformation (NFFFT) is a common solution to the huge costs associated with the radar cross section (RCS) measurements. One such NFFFT technique for the monostatic RCS measurement has been proposed, which utilizes the 3-D plane-wave expansion. While the technique has the higher flexibility, its use of 3-D near-field scans is costly. In this letter, we propose a 2-D version of the NFFFT that utilizes the 2-D plane-wave expansion. Thus the one-cut-plane RCS can be obtained by measuring only on a plane with the higher flexibility.
Oxidative Stress in the Heart of Rats Infected with Trypanosoma evansi

This study was conducted to investigate the occurrence of oxidative stress in the heart tissue of rats infected with Trypanosoma evansi. Rats were divided into 2 groups (A and B) with 12 animals each, and further subdivided into 4 subgroups (A1 and A2, 6 animals/each; and B1 and B2, 6 animals/each). Animals in the groups B1 and B2 were subcutaneously inoculated with T. evansi. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), superoxide dismutase activity (SOD), glutathione S-transferase activity (GST), reduced glutathione activity (GSH), and non-protein thiols (NPSH) in the heart tissue were evaluated. At day 5 and 15 post-infection (PI), an increase in the TBARS levels and a decrease in the SOD activity (P<0.05) were observed. GSH and GST activities were decreased in infected animals at day 15 PI (P<0.05). Considering the proper functioning of the heart, it is possible that the changes in the activity of these enzymes involved in the oxidative stress may be related, at least in part, in the pathophysiology of rats infected with T. evansi.
Joint dependence of risk of coronary heart disease on serum cholesterol and systolic blood pressure: a discriminant function analysis.

The association between increased risk of coronary heart disease and elevated levels of serum cholesterol and systolic blood pressure is well known. Several questions about the magnitude of this association remain unanswered, however. Thus, are there critical values of serum cholesterol (or blood pressure) below which no relation between disease risk and cholesterol value exists, but which when exceeded are accompanied by abrupt elevations in risks? If no critical value exists is it nevertheless true that a given elevation is associated with a larger "effect" when added to a high rather than a low level? Does the apparent effect of serum cholesterol persist when levels of systolic blood pressure are held constant, and does the apparent blood pressure effect persist when serum cholesterol is held constant? If they do, are the effects independent of each other or do they, in the sense of the pharmacologist, potentiate each other?
Secure Data Sharing In an Untrusted Cloud

Cloud computing is a huge area which basically provides many services on the basis of pay as you go. One of the fundamental services provided by cloud is data storage. Cloud provides cost efficiency and an efficient solution for sharing resource among cloud users. A secure and efficient data sharing scheme for groups in cloud is not an easy task. On one hand customers are not ready to share their identity but on other hand want to enjoy the cost efficiency provided by the cloud. It needs to provide identity privacy, multiple owner and dynamic data sharing without getting effected by the number of cloud users revoked. In this paper, any member of a group can completely enjoy the data storing and sharing services by the cloud. A secure data sharing scheme for dynamic cloud users is proposed in this paper. For which it uses group signature and dynamic broadcast encryption techniques such that any user in a group can share the information in a secured manner. Additionally the permission option is proposed for the security reasons. This means the file access permissions are generated by the admin and given to the user using Role Based Access Control (RBA) algorithm. The file access permissions are read, write and delete. In this, owner can provide files with options and accepts the users using that option. The revocation of cloud user is a function generated by the Admin for security purpose. The encryption computational cost and storage overhead is not dependent on the number of users revoked. We analyze the security by proofs and produce the cloud efficiency report using cloudsim.
SYSTEM AND SOFTWARE VISUALISATION

The progress of software visualisation, beyond that of nodes and arcs in various forms, has lagged behind the developments made in such fields as information visualisation. That is now starting to change and recent innovations are reviewed, based on a historical view of software visualisation, and followed by some of the many outstanding research issues. The use of three-dimensions is almost as new as the more recent research directions and the focus is on the newer visualisations that make use of the extra dimension for the display of information. Whilst this leaves many unanswered questions and unsolved areas, it is a field where much fruitful work has been done and is ripe for further research.
Prevalence of dengue virus infection in US travelers who have lived in or traveled to dengue-endemic countries.

BACKGROUND Dengue virus (DENV) infections may occur in travelers. OBJECTIVES To determine prevalence of anti-DENV IgG antibody in travelers who lived in or visited dengue-endemic countries and to describe risk factors and characteristics associated with infection and subsequent anti-DENV IgG antibody presence. METHODS Participants were enrolled from travel clinics of the Boston Area Travel Medicine Network from August 2008 through June 2009. Demographic information, trip duration, travel history, and a blood sample were collected. Serum samples were tested for anti-DENV IgG antibody by indirect IgG enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and antibody-mediated virus neutralization by plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) for anti-DENV IgG antibody-positive and selected negative samples. Participants were stratified into group 1: born in dengue-endemic countries; group 2: born in nonendemic countries but lived continuously for ≥1 year in a dengue-endemic country; group 3: born in nonendemic countries and traveled to a dengue-endemic country for ≥2 weeks but <1 year. RESULTS Six hundred travelers were enrolled. Anti-DENV IgG antibody was identified in 113 (19%) when tested by ELISA (51% in group 1, 40% in group 2, and 6.9% in group 3) and in 71 (12%) by PRNT (42% primary monotypic and 58% heterotypic reactive responses). Sensitivity and specificity of the ELISA based on PRNT results were 85% to 100% and 79% to 94%, assuming up to 15% misclassification of ELISA negative results. Presence of anti-DENV IgG antibody by ELISA was associated with years lived in dengue-endemic countries and birthplace in the Caribbean for group 1, receipt of Japanese encephalitis vaccine in group 3, and self-reported history of dengue in all three groups. CONCLUSIONS Nineteen percent of participants who were born, lived in, or traveled to dengue-endemic countries had anti-DENV IgG antibody by ELISA; 12% had antibodies by PRNT, 85% of whom had no history of dengue. Presence of DENV antibodies was associated with years lived in dengue-endemic countries and self-reported history of dengue.
Sustainable School Transformation: An Inside-Out School Led Approach

Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: Becoming World Class, David Crossley (Education Consultant, UK) 1. From Theory to Practice 2. Leadership and Collaboration 3. What should a world class curriculum look like? Part II: Ideas into Action 4. Innovative Examples from English Schools: Whose curriculum is it anyway? Judith Judd (Times Educational Supplement, UK) with John Dunford (Whole Education, UK) 5. Technology and Change, Mark Grundy (Shireland Collegiate Academy, UK), Kirsty Tonks (Shireland Collegiate Academy, UK) and Karine George (Westfields Junior School, UK) 6. Exploring System-Wide Change: The New York City Izone, David Jackson (The Innovation Unit, UK) with Jonathan de Suasmarez (Romsey School, UK) 7. Exploring System-Wide Change - The Academies of Nashville, Jay Steele (Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, USA) and Michelle Wilcox (Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, USA) with Marc Hill (Nashville Chamber of Commerce, USA) Part III: Creating an Empowered System 8. Autonomy and Professional Courage: Emotional and Political Aspects of Change, Pat Collarbone (Education Consultant, UK) and Simon Edkins (Education Consultant, UK) 9. Approaches to Accountability, Jeff Hale (Education Consultant, UK) with James Park (Human Scale Education, UK) 10. Being Data Informed Rather than Data Driven, David Crossley (Education Consultant, UK) with James Park (Human Scale Education, UK) 11. Exploring Evolving Middle or Mediating Tiers and Emerging School and Stakeholder Networks in Five Localities in England, Jonathan Crossley-Holland (Education Consultant, UK) with David Carter (Cabot Learning Federation, UK) 12. Making the Most of the Teachers We Have: A Case Study, Chris Holmwood (Shenley Brook End School, UK) 13. Making Sure Every Student Matters, Alan Yellup ( (Wakefield City Academy, UK) 14. Summary: Ten Key Ways Forward, David Crossley (Education Consultant, UK) References Index
Review on: Brain Tumor Detection Techniques from MRI Images and Rough Set Theory

Brain is well protected inside the hard and bony skull that hampers the study of its functions as well as makes the diagnosis of brain diseases more difficult and challenging. In this paper we perform review study on brain tumor detection from Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI). Stages for brain tumor detection using MR image are Pre-processing, Segmentation, Feature Extraction, Classification. The various techniques taking into consideration for study are Hidden Markow Random Field (HMRE), Fuzzy-C-Mean algorithm, Discrete Wavelet Frame Transform (DWFT), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Hoop Field & Feed Forward Neural Network (FFNN), Symmetry Analysis etc. At last we perform short review on brain tumor detection using Rough Set Theory.
Resource allocation algorithms for intra-domain quality of service provisioning

Resource provisioning mechanisms play a crucial role in determining the level of quality of service offered by a network. Based on the current research activities, this paper presents a scalable and dynamic set of resource allocation mechanisms applied in the context of the AQUILA intra-domain architecture for providing QoS guarantees. We are focusing on the details of the interworking among the proposed resource allocation mechanisms, which take place at a different time-scale and are applied at different levels of the network architecture, highlighting the scalability features they convey. Finally, the presented trial results underline the performance and scalability offered by those mechanisms, which succeed in providing the expected QoS guarantees keeping simultaneously complexity and simplicity at a low level.
Acoustic Analysis for Detection of Voice Disorders Using Adaptive Features and Classifiers

Voice diseases are increasing dramatically, due mainly to unhealthy social habits and voice abuse. In this paper, we investigate the methods of acoustic voice analysis (AVA) with adaptive features to develop a system for voice pathologies detection, where the models correspond to classes of patients who share the same diagnostic. One essential part in this topic is the database (described later), the samples voices (healthy and pathological) are chosen from a German database which contains many diseases, non- neurological pathologies (such as chronical laryngitis and Vocal fold nodules), is proposed for this study. A supervised algorithm is used to accomplish this task, Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs with variation of Jitter & shimmer), and modeled by weighted Gaussian mixture model (GMM) as it is used in AVA. The work is simulated using MATLAB, for features extraction, for training and testing steps. The results are encouraging for further improvement of combining classifiers and investigation multi-pathologies classifier.
Climate change under a scenario near 1.5 °C of global warming: monsoon intensification, ocean warming and steric sea level rise

Abstract. We present climatic consequences of the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) using the coupled climate model CLIMBER-3α, which contains a statistical-dynamical atmosphere and a three-dimensional ocean model. We compare those with emulations of 19 state-of-the-art atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (AOGCM) using MAGICC6. The RCPs are designed as standard scenarios for the forthcoming IPCC Fifth Assessment Report to span the full range of future greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations pathways currently discussed. The lowest of the RCP scenarios, RCP3-PD, is projected in CLIMBER-3α to imply a maximal warming by the middle of the 21st century slightly above 1.5 °C and a slow decline of temperatures thereafter, approaching today's level by 2500. We identify two mechanisms that slow down global cooling after GHG concentrations peak: The known inertia induced by mixing-related oceanic heat uptake; and a change in oceanic convection that enhances ocean heat loss in high latitudes, reducing the surface cooling rate by almost 50%. Steric sea level rise under the RCP3-PD scenario continues for 200 years after the peak in surface air temperatures, stabilizing around 2250 at 30 cm. This contrasts with around 1.3 m of steric sea level rise by 2250, and 2 m by 2500, under the highest scenario, RCP8.5. Maximum oceanic warming at intermediate depth (300–800 m) is found to exceed that of the sea surface by the second half of the 21st century under RCP3-PD. This intermediate-depth warming persists for centuries even after surface temperatures have returned to present-day values, with potential consequences for marine ecosystems, oceanic methane hydrates, and ice-shelf stability. Due to an enhanced land-ocean temperature contrast, all scenarios yield an intensification of monsoon rainfall under global warming.