Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autonomous hole quality determination using image processing techniques

This paper introduces a technique which evaluate performance of hole quality after drilling process. Hole making is one of the most time consuming process in industry. For some applications the quality of holes are very crucial and be expected of tight tolerance from manufacturer. One of the most common device used by manufacturers to investigate the hole quality is coordinate measurement machines. However investment cost of coordinate measurement instrument machines are very high. Therefore a new image processing technique is proposed in this paper and coordinate measurement machine and image processing technique results were compared.
Re-Educating Humankind: Globalizing the Curriculum and Teaching International Ethics for the New Century

Nations, cultures, languages - all are converging in this globalizing world of the early Twenty-First Century, giving individuals both a feeling of powerlessness and a sense of infinite possibilities. A new ethics of globalization is needed. The best way to create such an ethics is through education. The author proposes several means by which students at all levels of education can achieve global awareness on a personalized basis, in particular, through two university-level courses. These would be required, respectively, of entering university freshmen and of exiting graduating seniors, to be taught simultaneously in networks of higher education institutions all over the world. These courses would focus on global awareness and on the local solution of globally relevant problems. Much of the feasibility of the simultaneous global delivery of such courses would depend on the deft use of the Internet and, in general, of the information and communication technologies.
Dopamine Signaling Differences in the Nucleus Accumbens and Dorsal Striatum Exploited by Nicotine

The dorsal striatum and the nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell of the ventral striatum have similar cellular components and are both richly innervated by dopamine neurons. Despite similarities that extend throughout the striatum, only the NAc shell has a conspicuous increase in basal dopamine upon the initial administration of psychostimulant drugs such as nicotine. As measured by microdialysis, the elevated dopamine in the NAc shell is considered an identifying functional characteristic of addictive drugs. To examine this general functional difference between nicotine's action on the dorsolateral striatum and NAc shell, we directly monitored dopamine release in rat striatal slices using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry. In addition, we separately monitored the in vivo unit firing activity of putative midbrain dopamine neurons from freely moving rats using chronic multiple tetrodes. Nicotine administration increased the firing frequency of dopamine neurons and specifically increased the number and the length of phasic burst firing. The frequency dependence for dopamine release in the dorsolateral striatum and NAc shell is fundamentally different, enabling mainly the NAc shell to capitalize on the nicotine-induced phasic burst firing by dopamine neurons. Although nicotine decreased low-frequency (tonic) dopamine release in both areas, the increased ratio of phasic bursts relative to tonic firing caused by nicotine boosted the basal dopamine concentration predominantly in the NAc shell. By favoring release from bursts while depressing release from tonic signals, nicotine spreads the range of dopamine signaling and effectively increases the signal-to-noise relationship along dopamine afferents.
Behavioral skills training for teaching PECS implementation: Initial evidence is promising but still limited

This review provides a summary and appraisal commentary on the treatment review by Rosales, R. , Stone, K. & Rehfeldt, R. A. (2009). The effects of behavioral skills training on implementation of the picture exchange communication system. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 42, 541–549. Source of funding and disclosure of interest: No source of funding reported, and the original authors of this research report no conflicts of interest.
Arterial Biology for the Investigation of the Treatment Effects of Reducing Cholesterol (ARBITER) 2: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Extended-Release Niacin on Atherosclerosis Progression in Secondary Prevention Patients Treated With Statins

Background—Niacin reduces coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality when taken either alone or in combination with statins; however, the incremental impact of adding niacin to background statin therapy is unknown. Methods and Results—This was a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study of once-daily extended-release niacin (1000 mg) added to background statin therapy in 167 patients (mean age 67 years) with known coronary heart disease and low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C; <45 mg/dL). The primary end point was the change in common carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) after 1 year. Baseline CIMT (0.884±0.234 mm), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (89±20 mg/dL), and HDL-C (40±7 mg/dL) were comparable in the placebo and niacin groups. Adherence to niacin exceeded 90%, and 149 patients (89.2%) completed the study. HDL-C increased 21% (39 to 47 mg/dL) in the niacin group. After 12 months, mean CIMT increased significantly in the placebo group (0.044±0.100 mm; P<0.001) and was unchanged in the niacin group (0.014±0.104 mm; P=0.23). Although the overall difference in IMT progression between the niacin and placebo groups was not statistically significant (P=0.08), niacin significantly reduced the rate of IMT progression in subjects without insulin resistance (P=0.026). Clinical cardiovascular events occurred in 3 patients treated with niacin (3.8%) and 7 patients treated with placebo (9.6%; P=0.20). Conclusions—The addition of extended-release niacin to statin therapy slowed the progression of atherosclerosis among individuals with known coronary heart disease and moderately low HDL-C.
THE ELECTRICAL CONDUCTANCE AND POTENTIAL ACROSS THE MEMBRANE OF SOME CELL NUCLEI

The nuclear m e m b r a n e of a variety of cells differs in at least two structural aspects from the cell m e m b r a n e : it is double-layered and it presents annu la r figures 400 to 1,000 A in d iameter which have a dense r im (1-10) and in cross-section sometimes appear as m e m b r a n e discontinuities (2, 6). The physicochemical aspects of these differences have not yet been explored. Since the in t roduct ion of the microelectrode (11), the elect rochemical properties of cell membranes have been extensively studied; however, those of the nuclear membrane , a l though of obvious importance in the mechanisms of exchange of materials between cytoplasm and nucleoplasm, have not yet been examined. T he main reason for this neglect is the smallness of most nuclei which places them beyond the reach of direct electrical measurements. There are, however, a few an imal cells, such as the salivary gland cells of Drosophila and a variety of oocytes, wi th nuclei large enough for studies with microelectrodes. For example, nuclei of large Drosophila gland cells measure 30 to 40 in d iamete r and of t ransparen t frog and newt oocytes, 30 to 80 /~. This paper deals with some electrical properties of the nuclear m e m b r a n e of such cells.
Does Geographical Distance Effect Distributed Development Teams: How Aggregation Bias in Software Artifacts Causes Contradictory Findings

Does geographic distance affect distributed software development teams? Researchers have been mining software artifacts to find evidence that geographic distance between software team members introduces delay in communication and deliverables. While some studies found that geographical distance negatively impacts software teams, other studies dispute this finding. It has been speculated that various confounding factors are the reason for the contradicting findings. For example, newer tools and practices that enable team members to communicate and collaborate more effectively, might have negated the effects of distance in some studies. In this study, we examine an alternate theory to explain the contradicting findings: the different aggregations of the software artifacts used in past studies. We call this type of bias: the aggregation bias. We replicated the previous studies on detecting the evidence of delay in communication using the data from a large commercial distributed software project. We use two different levels of artifacts in this study: the class files and the components that are the aggregation of the class files. Our results show that the effect of distance does appear in low level artifacts. However, the effect does not appear in the aggregated artifacts. Since mining software artifacts has became a popular methodology to conduct research in software engineering, the result calls for careful attention in the use of aggregating artifacts in software studies.
Digital Image Processing of Special Effect Generation

in this paper, we present a digital image special effect production system which contains the functions of object extraction, image inpainting, image synthesis and etc. Using this system, users can produce several special effects, including: moving the target object from one place to another in one picture, replacing the target object in one picture with other objects in other pictures, and removing the target object in one picture. Experiments show the system's usability and efficiency, and can provide many satisfactory results.
Los modelos de adopción de tecnologías de la información desde el paradigma actitudinal

The diffusion of innovations is an important topic in the literature on consumer behaviour. In marketing, two perspectives characterize most of the work on this topic: the aggregate market perspective and the individual-level perspective. The analytical and empirical models for describing and forecasting the diffusion of an innovation have addressed the market in the aggregate, with little attention to the micro-level that characterizes the adoption decision. This paper seeks to revise these models of adoption in the field of IT.
A DLL-based frequency multiplier for MBOA-UWB system

A delay-locked loop (DLL)-based frequency multiplier is designed for the ultrawideband (UWB) mode-1 system. This clock generator with 528-MHz input reference frequency can achieve less than 9.5-ns settling time by utilizing wide loop bandwidth and fast-settling architecture. The UWB clock generator has been fabricated in a 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS process and consumes only 54 mW from a 1.8-V supply while exhibiting a sideband magnitude of -35.3 dB and -94 dBc/Hz phase noise at the frequency offset of 50 kHz.
New developments in the treatment of eating disorders.

DOI:10.1097/YCO.0000000000000196 Two years ago, the papers in the eating disorder section in this journal focussed on the classification and treatment of feeding and eating disorders in the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5); one of the conclusions was that despite significant advances in the field, novel treatments are needed and that especially childhood representations are a neglected area [1–3]. This year, the reviews in the section on eating disorders do address new developments in the treatment of eating disorders and disordered eating. The five papers in this section describe a spectrum of severity of disordered eating over the lifespan, ranging from picky eating in childhood and adolescent anorexia nervosa to severe and enduring eating disorders in adulthood. Cardona Cano et al. [4] describe that in most cases, picky eating in early childhood can be considered as part of normal development; it has a higher prevalence in preschool children and seems to decrease thereafter, but may persist through to adulthood in some individuals. They suggest that picky eating is a reasonably robust concept, comprising food neophobia, eating a limited variety of food, and other specific features related to food and eating (e.g. low enjoyment of food, slowness in eating, and higher satiety responsiveness). Picky eating is often a major concern for parents of young children, but there is only limited guidance regarding the management of picky eating [4]. The most common approach to the management of picky eating is to start with nutritional education. Educational group programmes for parents of children with non-clinical feeding problems focus on increasing parental knowledge, improving parenting feeding styles, and reducing negative parent–child interactions, such as coercion and parental anxiety [4]. Several treatment options using internet and mobile apps are in development, with some developed by commercial parties [4]. The three most prominent guidelines – from the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in 2004 [5], from the American Psychiatric Association in 2006 [6], and the most recent guidelines from the Royal Australian and New Zealand
Hepatocyte Growth Factor Induces GATA-4 Phosphorylation and Cell Survival in Cardiac Muscle Cells*

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is released in response to myocardial infarction and may play a role in regulating cardiac remodeling. Recently, HGF was found to inhibit the apoptosis of cardiac muscle cells. Because GATA-4 can induce cell survival, the effects of HGF on GATA-4 activity were investigated. Treatment of HL-1 cells or primary adult rat cardiac myocytes with HGF, at concentrations that can be detected in the human serum after myocardial infarction, rapidly enhances GATA-4 DNA-binding activity. The enhanced DNA-binding activity is associated with the phosphorylation of GATA-4. HGF-induced phosphorylation and activation of GATA-4 is abolished by MEK inhibitors or the mutation of the ERK phosphorylation site (S105A), suggesting that HGF activates GATA-4 via MEK-ERK pathway-dependent phosphorylation. HGF enhances the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-xL, and this is blocked by dominant negative mutants of MEK or GATA-4. Forced expression of wild-type GATA-4, but not the GATA-4 mutant (S105A) increases the expression of Bcl-xL. Furthermore, expression of the GATA-4 mutant (S105A) suppresses HGF-mediated protection of cells against daunorubicin-induced apoptosis. These results demonstrate that HGF protects cardiac muscle cells against apoptosis via a signaling pathway involving MEK/ERK-dependent phosphorylation of GATA-4.
Prime Implicates of First Order Formulas

This paper extends the notion of prime implicates to first order logic formulas without equality which are assumed to be in Skolem Conjunctive Normal Form. Using the extended notions of consensus and subsumption it is shown that the consensus-subsumption algorithm for computing prime implicates well known for propositional formulas can be conditionally lifted to first order formulas.
Young People's Narratives of Rural-Urban Difference

Although recent research by geographers interested in children and young people has examined young people's experiences in a range of both 'rural' and 'urban' environments, the significance of narratives of rural-urban difference for young people's identities has received comparatively little attention. This paper draws on theories of narrative identity to explore how narratives of rural-urban difference (and, in particular, the cultural hierarchies created and reinforced by these narratives) are significant for the construction of young people's identities. Using empirical material drawn from two separate studies in the USA, one from a mid-sized Sunbelt city and one from rural northern Vermont, the paper examines ways in which narratives of rural-urban difference are significant for young people's senses of self, processes of 'othering', and the constitution of local youth cultures.
Speaker diarization using PLDA-based speaker clustering

This paper investigates application of the Probabilistic Linear Discriminant Analysis (PLDA) for speaker clustering within a speaker diarization framework. Factor analysis is employed to extract low-dimensional representation of a sequence of acoustic feature vectors — so called i-vectors — and these i-vectors are modeled using the PLDA. Experiments were carried out using the COST278 broadcast news database. We achieved 33.7% relative improvement of the Diarization Error Rate (DER) and 43.8% relative improvement of the speaker error rate compared to the baseline system using clustering based on the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC).
Endemic Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis in Northern Peru

Since Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) was isolated in Peru in 1942, >70 isolates have been obtained from mosquitoes, humans, and sylvatic mammals primarily in the Amazon region. To investigate genetic relationships among the Peru VEEV isolates and between the Peru isolates and other VEEV strains, a fragment of the PE2 gene was amplified and analyzed by single-stranded conformation polymorphism. Representatives of seven genotypes underwent sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The results identified four VEE complex lineages that cocirculate in the Amazon region: subtypes ID (Panama and Colombia/Venezuela genotypes), IIIC, and a new, proposed subtype IIID, which was isolated from a febrile human, mosquitoes, and spiny rats. Both ID lineages and the IIID subtype are associated with febrile human illness. Most of the subtype ID isolates belonged to the Panama genotype, but the Colombia/Venezuela genotype, which is phylogenetically related to epizootic strains, also continues to circulate in the Amazon basin.
Amotl2a interacts with the Hippo effector Yap1 and the Wnt/β-catenin effector Lef1 to control tissue size in zebrafish

During development, proliferation must be tightly controlled for organs to reach their appropriate size. While the Hippo signaling pathway plays a major role in organ growth control, how it senses and responds to increased cell density is still unclear. In this study, we use the zebrafish lateral line primordium (LLP), a group of migrating epithelial cells that form sensory organs, to understand how tissue growth is controlled during organ formation. Loss of the cell junction-associated Motin protein Amotl2a leads to overproliferation and bigger LLP, affecting the final pattern of sensory organs. Amotl2a function in the LLP is mediated together by the Hippo pathway effector Yap1 and the Wnt/β-catenin effector Lef1. Our results implicate for the first time the Hippo pathway in size regulation in the LL system. We further provide evidence that the Hippo/Motin interaction is essential to limit tissue size during development. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.08201. 001
Efficient Descriptor-Based Segmentation of Parotid Glands With Nonlocal Means

Objective: We introduce descriptor-based segmentation that extends existing patch-based methods by combining intensities, features, and location information. Since it is unclear which image features are best suited for patch selection, we perform a broad empirical study on a multitude of different features. Methods: We extend nonlocal means segmentation by including image features and location information. We search larger windows with an efficient nearest neighbor search based on kd-trees. We compare a large number of image features. Results: The best results were obtained for entropy image features, which have not yet been used for patch-based segmentation. We further show that searching larger image regions with an approximate nearest neighbor search and location information yields a significant improvement over the bounded nearest neighbor search traditionally employed in patch-based segmentation methods. Conclusion: Features and location information significantly increase the segmentation accuracy. The best features highlight boundaries in the image. Significance: Our detailed analysis of several aspects of nonlocal means-based segmentation yields new insights about patch and neighborhood sizes together with the inclusion of location information. The presented approach advances the state-of-the-art in the segmentation of parotid glands for radiation therapy planning.
An Energy-Efficient Fast Maximum Power Point Tracking Circuit in an 800-μW Photovoltaic Energy Harvester

An energy-efficient maximum power point tracking (MPPT) circuit with a fast-tracking time for use with 800-μW PV energy harvesters is presented in this paper. The proposed MPPT circuit uses a successive approximation register MPPT algorithm, which has a power down mode and a fast tracking time, to achieve low power consumption and energy savings. The prototype MPPT circuit, which consists of analog-based circuits, has been implemented and fabricated in a 0.35-μm BCDiMOS process. The MPPT core occupies an area of 3 mm2 and consumes 4.6 μW of power. The tracking time is reduced by 69.4% and the stored energy is increased by 31.4% as compared to the conventional hill climbing-based MPPT algorithm under indoor conditions.
MAC Based Lightweight Protocols for Strong Authentication and Key Exchange

Protocols that provide authentication and key distribution are mainly based on symmetric and asymmetric ciphers. In recent years, some approaches have been introduced that are based on strong one-way hash functions, and further enhancements to these approaches are given in this paper. The lightweight protocols that are presented in this paper are suitable for implementation with simple logic. They enable early recognition of attacks and make distributed session key generation possible. They are intended for use in environments with limited processing.capabilities, where relatively short messages are being exchanged, e.g., agents environments.
Using NCES national datasets for evaluation of postsecondary issues

The purpose of this study is to review 10 NCES databases that can be used for researching postsecondary issues and provide lesser‐known facts to using the datasets that are important but may not be widely understood. Issues addressed include: (1) access; (2) statistical issues; (3) database nuances; and (4) database training opportunities. A concise review of each database is also provided which includes: (1) a general overview of the survey; (2) formats in which the dataset is available; and (3) research areas (which include key variables that can be used as a basis for research themes along with examples of how the dataset has been used to answer research questions). The databases provide rich sources of information for national as well as international comparative analysis studies.