Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maggie: A Robotic Platform for Human-Robot Social Interaction

Human-robot social interaction plays an important role in spreading the use of the robot in human daily life. Through effective social interaction, robots will be able to perform many tasks in the human society. These tasks may include, but not limited to, handling various house duties, providing medical care for elderly people, assisting people with motor or cognitive disabilities, educational entertainment (edutainment), personal assistance, giving directions at information points in public places, etc. These applications need to develop social robots that are able to behave with humans as partners if not peers. This paper presents Maggie, a robotic platform developed at RoboticsLab for research on human-robot social interaction. The different developed interaction modules are also described
Mean blood glucose and biological variation have greater influence on HbA1c levels than glucose instability: an analysis of data from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial.

OBJECTIVE Mean blood glucose (MBG) over 2-3 months is a strong predictor of HbA(1c) (A1C) levels. Glucose instability, the variability of blood glucose levels comprising the MBG, and biological variation in A1C (BV) have also been suggested as predictors of A1C independent of MBG. To assess the relative importance of MBG, BV, and glucose instability on A1C, we analyzed patient data from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A glucose profile set and sample for A1C were collected quarterly over the course of the DCCT from each participant (n = 1,441). The glucose profile set consisted of seven samples, one each drawn before and 90 min after breakfast, lunch, and dinner and one before bedtime. MBG and glucose instability (SD of blood glucose [SDBG]) were calculated as the arithmetic mean and SD of glucose profile set samples for each visit, respectively. A statistical model was developed to predict A1C from MBG, SDBG, and BV, adjusted for diabetes duration, sex, treatment group, stratum, and race. RESULTS Data from 32,977 visits were available. The overall model was highly statistically significant (log likelihood = -41,818.75, likelihood ratio chi2[7] = 7,218.71, P > chi2 = 0.0000). MBG and BV had large influences on A1C based on their standardized coefficients. SDBG had only 1/14 of the impact of MBG and 1/10 of the impact of BV. CONCLUSIONS MBG and BV have a large influence on A1C, whereas SDBG is relatively unimportant. Consideration of BV as well as MBG in the interpretation of A1C may enhance our ability to monitor diabetes management and predict complications.
Grouping Axioms for More Coherent Ontology Descriptions

Ontologies and datasets for the Semantic Web are encoded in OWL formalisms that are not easily comprehended by people. To make ontologies accessible to human domain experts, several research groups have developed ontology verbalisers using Natural Language Generation. In practice ontologies are usually composed of simple axioms, so that realising them separately is relatively easy; there remains however the problem of producing texts that are coherent and efficient. We describe in this paper some methods for producing sentences that aggregate over sets of axioms that share the same logical structure. Because these methods are based on logical structure rather than domain-specific concepts or language-specific syntax, they are generic both as regards domain and language.
Ciliary Action

To those interested in diseases of the chest, ciliary action should be of absorbing interest, not only through its importance in the interpretation and treatment of inflammatory infections, but also from its intrinsic physiological fascination. It is surprising that physicians place so much stress on the value of cough and so little on that of ciliary action; the former is really a pathological phenomenon, while the latter is an everyday and normal means of protection. And again, those dealing with respiratory diseases should never lose sight of the dependence on cilia in the physiological processes of the nose and sinuses, with a corresponding danger when the mechanism is upset, the upper air passages then becoming a source of danger instead of a means of protection of the lower air tracts.
Urban Heat and Climate Justice: A Landscape of Thermal Inequity in Pinellas County, Florida

The combined effects of two global trends, urbanization and climate change, have generated considerable concern regarding their adverse and disproportionate impacts on the health of urban populations. This study contributes to climate‐justice research by determining whether elevated levels of urban heat, indicated by land surface temperature (), are distributed inequitably with respect to race/ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status in Pinellas County, Florida. Our study utilizes 2010 and Landsat medium‐resolution, remotely sensed thermal data, census socio‐demographic information, and both conventional and spatial statistical methods. Results indicate that is significantly greater in census tracts characterized by higher percentages of certain racial/ethnic minorities and higher poverty rates, even after controlling for contextual factors and the effects of spatial autocorrelation. This reveals the presence of a landscape of thermal inequity: uneven distribution of heat within the built urban environment and a community structure with varying vulnerability.
Tamil Phonemes Recognition for Normal and Hearing Impaired : A Survey

Tamil Phonemes Recognition for Normal and Hearing Impaired: A Survey Janakiraman.S Pondicherry University, Puducherry, INDIA Pavithra.S Research Scholar, Sathiyabama University Chennai, Tamil Nadu, INDIA __________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract: This paper presents a survey on speech recognition models and Tamil Phonemes Recognition Model. Speech is human’s most efficient mode of communication. Beyond efficiency, humans are comfortable and familiar with speech. Research work on Tamil speech recognition, although lagging than other languages, is becoming more intensive than before and several researches have been published in the last few years. In spoken language, a phoneme is a basic, theoretical unit of sound that can change the meaning of a word. Depending on the language and the sounds used, a phoneme may be written consistently with one letter; however, there are many exceptions to this rule. The range of the possible applications is wide and includes: voice-controlled appliances, fully featured speech-to-text software, automation of operator-assisted services, and voice recognition aids for the handicapped. In this paper it is proposed to develop a Speech Recognition System for both Normal Hearing and Hearing Impaired children with Visual Feedback for Tamil phonemes. The proposed Phoneme Recognition System use Radial Basis Function Networks and visual feedback is a Graphical User Interface to provide the correct (or) incorrect articulation of phoneme visually. ______________________________________________________________________________________
Examining Program Impacts in the Training of Inservice Graduate-Level Teachers of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Students: Adelante Perspectives

More effective training is needed for teachers working with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students in school districts throughout the United States. Based on surveys of inservice teachers and their teaching needs for CLD students in their school districts, a 4-course sequence is delivered yearly to Adelante course participants. Twelve participants who graduated from the program in 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 were assessed for the impacts of the 4 Adelante courses. The "Teacher Behavioral Outcome Assessment (TBOA)" assesses Adelante and non-Adelante teacher classroom performances with CLD students. In addition, 12 CLD teachers who did not attend the courses or graduate from the program were identified randomly and assessed with the TBOA. The results from the TBOA show the Adelante and non-Adelante teachers differ in several ways. Focused graduate level inservice courses appeared to impact teachers' classroom performances with CLD students in a number of ways. Moreover, the course design of the Adelante Project can be applied to other CLD teachers' training programs for future use.
Distribution Locational Marginal Pricing Through Quadratic Programming for Congestion Management in Distribution Networks

This paper presents the distribution locational marginal pricing (DLMP) method through quadratic programming (QP) designed to alleviate the congestion that might occur in a distribution network with high penetration of flexible demands. In the DLMP method, the distribution system operator (DSO) calculates dynamic tariffs and publishes them to the aggregators, who make the optimal energy plans for the flexible demands. The DLMP through QP instead of linear programing as studied in previous literatures solves the multiple solution issue of the aggregator optimization which may cause the decentralized congestion management by DLMP to fail. It is proven in this paper, using convex optimization theory, the aggregator's optimization problem through QP is strictly convex and has a unique solution. The Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions and the unique solution of the aggregator optimization ensure that the centralized DSO optimization and the decentralized aggregator optimization converge. Case studies using a distribution network with high penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps (HPs) validate the equivalence of the two optimization setups, and the efficacy of the proposed DLMP through QP for congestion management.
Family Structure, Gender, and Parental Socialization.

Data from the National Survey of Families and Households demonstrate that parental behavior varies to a limited extent by family structure and to a much larger extent by gender. Mothers spend more time with children and are more responsive to childrens behaviors than fathers whether they are married single or remarried. Single parents spend more time with children than do married parents while being equally responsive to children. It is primarily stepparents both stepmothers and stepfathers who report significantly less frequent activities and fewer positive responses to children. We note however that single parents do not spend twice as much time with children as do married parents so that from the childs point of view there are significant differences between parental time in one- and two-parent families. We also observe important interactions between effects of family structure and parents sex such that male or female "primary parents" spend more time with children than "secondary parents. " This means that the most egalitarian childrearing arrangements are likely to be found in father-stepmother families the least egalitarian in mother-stepfather families. We do not find significant effects of family structure on negative responses to children or on parental control or demands. (authors)
Inclusion, Participation and the Emergence of British Chinese Websites

Previous work has drawn attention to the relative absence of British Chinese voices in public culture. No one is more aware of this invisibility than British-born Chinese people themselves. Since 2000 the emergence of Internet discussion sites produced by British Chinese young people has provided an important forum for many of them to grapple with questions concerning their identities, experiences and status in Britain. In this paper we explore the ways in which Internet usage by British-born Chinese people has facilitated forms of self-expression, collective identity production and social and political action. This examination of British Chinese websites raises important questions about inclusion and exclusion, citizenship, participation and the development of a sense of belonging in Britain, issues which are usually overlooked in relation to a group which appears to be well integrated and successful in higher education.
Which friends are more popular than you?: Contact strength and the friendship paradox in social networks

The friendship paradox states that in a social network, egos tend to have lower degree than their alters, or, "your friends have more friends than you do". Most research has focused on the friendship paradox and its implications for information transmission, but treating the network as static and unweighted. Yet, people can dedicate only a finite fraction of their attention budget to each social interaction: a high-degree individual may have less time to dedicate to individual social links, forcing them to modulate the quantities of contact made to their different social ties. Here we study the friendship paradox in the context of differing contact volumes between egos and alters, finding a connection between contact volume and the strength of the friendship paradox. The most frequently contacted alters exhibit a less pronounced friendship paradox compared with the ego, whereas less-frequently contacted alters are more likely to be high degree and give rise to the paradox. We argue therefore for a more nuanced version of the friendship paradox: "your closest friends have slightly more friends than you do", and in certain networks even: "your best friend has no more friends than you do". We demonstrate that this relationship is robust, holding in both a social media and a mobile phone dataset. These results have implications for information transfer and influence in social networks, which we explore using a simple dynamical model.
A novel blind adaptive receiver for MIMO-OFDM systems

In this paper a novel blind adaptive decoding algorithm based on marginalized particle filter (MPF) method is developed for multipleinput multiple-output orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) communication systems. Blind channel detection requires all the sub-carriers to be considered together for better performance. This results in prohibitive computational requirements in developing an adaptive blind receiver for MIMO-OFDM systems based on the MPF algorithm. Based on a recently reported approximate blind adaptive MIMO receivers and exploiting the properties of discrete Fourier transform (DFT) we have developed a blind adaptive MIMO-OFDM receiver with affordable computational requirement. Simulation examples and an analysis of computational complexity is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Translocation and accumulation of seven heavy metals in tissues of corn plants grown on sludge-treated strip-mined soil.

Metal translocation studies for Zn, Mn, Cu, Pb, Cr, Cd, and Hg were conducted for corn (Zea mays L.) plants grown on strip-mined soil amended with anaerobically digested sewage sludge (25 dry tons/acre). Differential metal accumulation rates in the seven tissues analyzed showed that generally the highest metal concentrations occur in the leaves and roots and the lowest in the grain and cob. With the exception of Mn and Hg, metal concentrations increased in tissues as a result of sludge application. The greatest increases were for Cd where mean tissue concentrations (ppM) for unamended and sludge-grown conditions respectively were roots: 0.062; lower stems: 0.027, 0.204; and leaves: 0.276, 1.52. Metal extractabilities for plant uptake were established for the soil samples adhering directly to the root system of the corn plants studied; these extractabilities were then compared to metal concentrations in the leaf and root tissues.
A Roadmap for Autostereoscopic Multi-Viewer Domestic TV Displays

This paper presents a brief overview of the current technologies and technical approaches that may lead to viable and user-acceptable domestic autostereoscopic multi-viewer television displays. It illustrates the performance attributes of the various technological approaches and points to the most likely approaches to succeed within the next 10 years. Finally, it shows possible timescales for the enabling technologies for 3D display, and concludes that multi-user autostereoscopic displays may be the first to gain widespread use
Boronate Complex Formation with Dopa Containing Mussel Adhesive Protein Retards pH-Induced Oxidation and Enables Adhesion to Mica

The biochemistry of mussel adhesion has inspired the design of surface primers, adhesives, coatings and gels for technological applications. These mussel-inspired systems often focus on incorporating the amino acid 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-L-alanine (Dopa) or a catecholic analog into a polymer. Unfortunately, effective use of Dopa is compromised by its susceptibility to auto-oxidation at neutral pH. Oxidation can lead to loss of adhesive function and undesired covalent cross-linking. Mussel foot protein 5 (Mfp-5), which contains ∼30 mole % Dopa, is a superb adhesive under reducing conditions but becomes nonadhesive after pH-induced oxidation. Here we report that the bidentate complexation of borate by Dopa to form a catecholato-boronate can be exploited to retard oxidation. Although exposure of Mfp-5 to neutral pH typically oxidizes Dopa, resulting in a>95% decrease in adhesion, inclusion of borate retards oxidation at the same pH. Remarkably, this Dopa-boronate complex dissociates upon contact with mica to allow for a reversible Dopa-mediated adhesion. The borate protection strategy allows for Dopa redox stability and maintained adhesive function in an otherwise oxidizing environment.
Hippocampus and memory for food caches in black-capped chickadees

Black-capped chickadees and other food-storing birds recover their scattered caches by remembering the spatial locations of cache sites. Bilateral hippocampal aspiration reduced the accuracy of cache recovery by chickadees to the chance rate, but it did not reduce the amount of caching or the number of attempts to recover caches. In a second experiment, hippocampal aspiration dissociated performance of a task requiring memory for places from performance of a task requiring memory for cues associated with food, disrupting the former but not the latter
Depression screening via a smartphone app: cross-country user characteristics and feasibility

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Smartphone applications (apps) have the potential to be valuable self-help interventions for depression screening. However, information about their feasibility and effectiveness and the characteristics of app users is limited. The aim of this study is to explore the uptake, utilization, and characteristics of voluntary users of an app for depression screening. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study of a free depression screening smartphone app that contains the demographics, patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9), brief anxiety test, personalized recommendation based on the participant's results, and links to depression-relevant websites. The free app was released globally via Apple's App Store. Participants aged 18 and older downloaded the study app and were recruited passively between September 2012 and January 2013. FINDINGS 8241 participants from 66 countries had downloaded the app, with a response rate of 73.9%. While one quarter of the participants had a previous diagnosis of depression, the prevalence of participants with a higher risk of depression was 82.5% and 66.8% at PHQ-9 cut-off 11 and cut-off 15, respectively. Many of the participants had one or more physical comorbid conditions and suicidal ideation. The cut-off 11 (OR: 1.4; 95% CI 1.2 to 1.6), previous depression diagnosis (OR: 1.3; 95% CI1.2 to 1.5), and postgraduate educational level (OR: 1.2; 95% CI 1.0 to 1.5) were associated with completing the PHQ-9 questionnaire more than once. CONCLUSIONS Smartphone apps can be used to deliver a screening tool for depression across a large number of countries. Apps have the potential to play a significant role in disease screening, self-management, monitoring, and health education, particularly among younger adults.
A new derivation of the APES filter

We introduce a novel design criterion for data-dependent narrowband filters that are of interest in temporal or spatial spectral analysis applications. The solution to the design problem considered is shown to coincide with the previously introduced amplitude and phase estimation (APES) filter. The new derivation of APES in this article sheds more light on the properties of APES and provides some intuitive explanation of the performance superiority of the APES filter over the Capon filter.
Tissue culture adaptation of foot-and-mouth disease virus selects viruses that bind to heparin and are attenuated in cattle

Isolates of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) exist as complex mixtures of variants. Two different serotype O1 Campos preparations that we examined contained two variants with distinct plaque morphologies on BHK cells: a small, clear-plaque virus that replicates in BHK and CHO cells, and a large, turbid-plaque virus that only grows in BHK cells. cDNAs encoding the capsids of these two variants were inserted into a genome-length FMDV type A12 infectious cDNA and used to produce chimeric viruses that exhibited the phenotype of the original variants. Analyses of these viruses, and hybrids created by exchanging portions of the capsid gene, identified codon 56 in VP3 (3056) as the critical determinant of both cell tropism and plaque phenotype. Specifically, the CHO growth/clear-plaque phenotype is dependent on the presence of the highly charged Arg residue at 3056, and viruses with this phenotype and genotype were selected during propagation in tissue culture. The genetically engineered Arg 3056 virus was highly attenuated in bovines, but viruses recovered from animals inoculated with high doses of this virus had lost the ability to grow in CHO cells and contained either an uncharged residue at 3056 or a negatively charged Glu substituted for a Lys at a spatially and antigenically related position on VP2 (2134). Comparison of these animal-derived viruses to other natural and engineered viruses demonstrated that positively charged residues are required at both 2134 and 3056 for binding to heparin. Taken together, these results indicate that in vitro cultivation of FMDV type O selects viruses that bind to heparin and that viruses with the heparin-binding phenotype are attenuated in the natural host.
A complete characterization of the evolution of RC4 pseudo random generation algorithm

Abstract In this paper, we provide a complete characterization of the RC4 Pseudo Random Generation Algorithm (PRGA) for one step: i = i + 1; j = j + S[i]; swap(S[i], S[j]); z = S[S[i] + S[j]]. This is the first time such an involved description is presented to get a concise view of how RC4 PRGA evolves. Considering all the permutations (we also keep in mind the Finney states), we find that the distribution of z is not uniform given i, j. A corollary of this result shows that information about j is always leaked from z. Next, studying two consecutive steps of RC4 PRGA, we prove that the index j is not produced uniformly at random given the value of j two steps ago. We also provide additional evidence of z leaking information on j. Further, we present a novel distinguisher for RC4 which shows that under certain conditions the equality of two consecutive bytes is more probable than by random association. Our analysis holds regardless of the amount of initial keystream bytes thrown away during the RC4 PRGA.