Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Designing Dialects of Enterprise Modeling Languages with the Profiling Technique

During the last years, several enterprise modeling languages became de-facto standards in their particular field of application. This dissemination increased the need for extending these languages in order to both specify concepts domain-specifically and integrate additional concepts. However, only the minority of enterprise modeling languages provides an extension mechanism and even those defining one, reveal some syntactical shortcomings. This issue can be also observed in the context of the well-known meta modeling language MOF and its correspondingly defined enterprise modeling languages like BPMN. This position paper therefore elaborates an adaptation of the profile mechanism from UML for generic extensions of meta models in the field of enterprise modeling. Therefore, the characteristics of profiling are abstracted to the meta meta model layer and comprehensively integrated within an framework for the integrated definition of meta models. The Stereotype concept is thereby applied to several parts of meta models including also aspects of the concrete syntax as well as semantics. The proposed framework serves as reference architecture for the derivation of meta modeling language specific implementations (e.g., Within MOF).
Challenges of Index Recommendation for Databases

One important aspect of physical database design is the selection of a proper set of indexes for a workload. Creation of indexes in a database system is subject to storage constraints. It is also affected by the ratio of update operations in the workload. Therefore, the cost and benefit of each set of indexes should be evaluated by a proper optimization method. The large number of index sets that must be assessed and the iterative nature of such optimization methods impose an additional load on the database system. Therefore, an efficient algorithm is needed to develop a practical framework for automating index recommendation. Furthermore, due to the fundamental differences between data models and query languages of NoSQL databases to each other and the relational databases, evaluation of such index recommendation system for NoSQL databases faces many challenges. This paper reviews the challenges and my proposed solutions for developing a self-tuning index recommendation system, especially for a document-based NoSQL database instance.
Learning to Control a Dynamic Task: A System Dynamics Cognitive Model of the Slope Effect

We developed a system dynamics model for a simple, but important stock and flows task where the objective was to control the water level in a tank within an acceptable range of the goal, over a number of time periods, in the presence of an unknown environmental inflow and outflow. We also report how this model accounts for human behavior, using behavioral data we collected from human subjects in the task. This exercise helped us understand the strategy and mechanisms our participants used in the simple stock and flows task and develop a model on the task. The model provides an integrated explanation on how the variation in the parameters of the model affects the performance and learning for the participant’s task. Finally, we present the model’s validity and predictions derived by looking into how the human data fits different learning conditions.
Towards a quantitative understanding of the late Neoproterozoic carbon cycle

The cycles of carbon and oxygen at the Earth surface are intimately linked, where the burial of organic carbon into sediments represents a source of oxygen to the surface environment. This coupling is typically quantified through the isotope records of organic and inorganic carbon. Yet, the late Neoproterozoic Eon, the time when animals first evolved, experienced wild isotope fluctuations which do not conform to our normal understanding of the carbon cycle and carbon-oxygen coupling. We interpret these fluctuations with a new carbon cycle model and demonstrate that all of the main features of the carbonate and organic carbon isotope record can be explained by the release of methane hydrates from an anoxic dissolved organic carbon-rich ocean into an atmosphere containing oxygen levels considerably less than today.
Smelly primes – when olfactory primes do or do not work

In applied olfactory cognition the effects that olfactory stimulation can have on (human) behavior are investigated. To enable an efficient application of olfactory stimuli a model of how they may lead to a change in behavior is proposed. To this end we use the concept of olfactory priming. Olfactory priming may prompt a special view on priming as the olfactory sense has some unique properties which make odors special types of primes. Examples of such properties are the ability of odors to influence our behavior outside of awareness, to lead to strong affective evaluations, to evoke specific memories, and to associate easily and quickly to other environmental stimuli. Opportunities and limitations for using odors as primes are related to these properties, and alternative explanations for reported findings are offered. Implications for olfactory semantic, construal, behavior and goal priming are given based on a brief overview of the priming literature from social psychology and from olfactory perception science. We end by formulating recommendations and ideas for a future research agenda and applications for olfactory priming.
Therapists' Approaches to the Normative Challenges of Dual-Earner Couples

Abstract The majority of American couples with minor children are dual-earners, and research indicates that, in general, the members of these families are thriving. Yet, outdated societal ideologies and practices place stressors on these families. Dual-earner couples, particularly working mothers, may experience guilt and/or concern about their family arrangement. Additionally, these couples may experience tensions in renegotiating gender expectations. A national, random sample of clinical members of AAMFT was surveyed to find out how family therapists are responding to the normative challenges of dual-earner couples in therapy. Results suggest that many therapists are unaware of the related empirical literature regarding the benefits and challenges of dual-earner families. Further, many therapists remain unaware of how the societal context often promotes guilt and inequity among today's couples. Implications for family therapists are discussed, including the need for therapists to become more familiar with recent research about dual-earner families, equality in intimate partnerships, and child care.
Evaluating error functions for robust active appearance models

Active appearance models (AAMs) are generative parametric models commonly used to track faces in video sequences. A limitation of AAMs is they are not robust to occlusion. A recent extension reformulated the search as an iteratively re-weighted least-squares problem. In this paper we focus on the choice of error function for use in a robust AAM search. We evaluate eight error functions using two performance metrics: accuracy of occlusion detection and fitting robustness. We show for any reasonable error function the performance in terms of occlusion detection is the same. However, this does not mean that fitting performance is the same. We describe experiments for measuring fitting robustness for images containing real occlusion. The best approach assumes the residuals at each pixel are Gaussianally distributed, then estimates the parameters of the distribution from images that do not contain occlusion. In each iteration of the search, the error image is used to sample these distributions to obtain the pixel weights
A decentralized reliable automatic generation control

The automatic generation control (AGC) problem of multi-area power systems subject to actuator-failures is translated into an equivalent problem of decentralized reliable feedback control under a class of control failures for a class of linear interconnected continuous-time systems having internal subsystem time-delays and additional time-delay couplings. The failure model takes into consideration possible outages or partial failures in every single actuator of each decentralized controller. A feasible linear matrix inequalities procedure is established for the effective construction of the control set under state feedback. The decentralized reliable feedback gains are determined by convex optimization over new parametrized LMIs at the subsystem level. The developed results are tested on a representative three-area power model.
T cell induction of macrophage IL-1 during antigen presentation. Characterization of a lymphokine mediator and comparison of TH1 and TH2 subsets.

We described in a previous study two pathways by which Th cells induced macrophage membrane IL-1(mIL-1) during Ag presentation. One pathway was lymphokine-independent and mediated by cell-cell contact. The second was lymphokine-dependent. We have now characterized this lymphokine and show that it belongs to the TNF family of proteins. All TH1 and most TH2 clones produced the lymphokine, although TH1 levels were markedly greater. Both types of clones also induced macrophage mIL-1 by cell-cell contact (i.e., in the absence of lymphokine release). Examination of macrophages by in situ hybridization showed that both IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta mRNA were coordinately induced during Ag presentation to either TH1 or TH2 clones.
Ecology of the Australian Elapid Snake Echiopsis curta

Dissection of 187 specimens provided data on body sizes, sexual size dimorphism, food habits, reproductive cycles and inferred growth rates of this small venomous snake. Adult Echiopsis curia average approximately 30 cm snout-vent length, with males and females attaining similar sizes. The diet is diverse: 52% lizards, 31% frogs, 13% mammals, plus occasional birds and insects. Amphibians may be eaten less often in eastern populations of E. curia than in western populations. Bardicks are viviparous, with three to 14 (x'" 7.1) offspring born in late summer. Fecundity is highly correlated with maternal body size. Neonates measure 10 to 15 cm snout-vent length, and grow to 20 cm in their first year of life (based on analysis of body size distributions). Male bardicks mature in their second year, but most females delay maturity (first ovulation) for an additional year.
DETECTING SHADOWS IN QUICKBIRD SATELLITE IMAGES

High resolution images provided by latest missions such as QuickBird, Ikonos or OrbView have opened a new and important age in the remote sensing field, mainly in those applications where is crucial to extract detailed information such as buildings, streets, vehicles, etc. The improvement in resolution makes also that something inherent to an image as shadows take on special significance. This paper reviews some previous published methods to detect shadows and analyzes their suitability for being applied to colour satellite images. Based on this study, this work presents a procedure which exploits colour invariants and image edges to accurately identify shadows in QuickBird images. The presented method has been successfully tested with images acquired under different lighting conditions and covering both urban and rural areas.
Formalizing Lightweight Verification of Software Component Composition

Software errors often occur at the interfaces between separately developed components. Incompatibilities are an especially acute problem when upgrading software components, as new versions may be accidentally incompatible with old ones. As an inexpensive mechanism to detect many such problems, previous work proposed a technique that adapts methods from formal verification to use component abstractions that can be automatically generated from implementations. The technique reports, before performing the replacement or integrating the new component into a system, whether the upgrade might be problematic for that particular system. The technique is based on a rich model of components that support internal state, callbacks, and simultaneous upgrades of multiple components, and component abstractions may contain arbitrary logical properties including unbounded-state ones. This paper motivates this (somewhat non-standard) approach to component verification. The paper also refines the formal model of components, provides a formal model of software system safety, gives an algorithm for constructing a consistency condition, proves that the algorithm’s result guarantees system safety in the case of a single-component upgrade, and gives a proof outline of the algorithm’s correctness in the case of an arbitrary upgrade.
Three-dimensional coherence of the conscious body image

We experience our body as a coherent object in the three-dimensional (3-D) world. In contrast, the body is represented in somatosensory cortex as a fragmented collection of two-dimensional (2-D) maps. Recent results have suggested that some forms of higher level body representations maintain this fragmentation, for example by showing different patterns of distortion for two surfaces of a single body part, such as the palmar and dorsal hand surfaces. This study investigated the 3-D coherence of the conscious body image of the hand by comparing perceptual biases of perceived hand shape on the dorsal and palmar surfaces. Participants made forced-choice judgements of whether observed hand images were thinner or wider than their own left or right hand, and perceptual distortions of the hand image were assessed by fitting psychometric functions. The results suggested that the hand is consciously represented as a fully coherent, 3-D object. Specifically: (a) Similar overall levels of distortion were found on the palmar and dorsal hand surfaces, (b) comparable laterality effects were found on both surfaces (left hand represented as wider than right hand), and (c) the magnitude of distortions were strongly correlated across the two surfaces. Whereas other recent results have suggested that perceptual abilities such as position sense, tactile size perception, and tactile localization may rely on fragmented, 2-D representations of individual skin surfaces, the present results suggest that, in striking contrast, the conscious body image represents the body (or, at least the hand) as a coherent, 3-D object.
On Improving Urban Environment Representations

Computer Graphics has evolved into a mature and powerful field that offers many opportunities to enhance different disciplines, adapting to the specific needs of each. One of these important fields is the design and analysis of Urban Environments. In this article we try to offer a perspective of one of the sectors identified in Urban Environment studies: Urbanization. More precisely we focus on geometric and appearance modeling, rendering and simulation tools to help stakeholders in key decision stages of the process.
Egyptian Arabic to English Statistical Machine Translation System for NIST OpenMT'2015

The paper describes the Egyptian Arabic-to-English statistical machine translation (SMT) system that the QCRI-Columbia-NYUAD (QCN) group submitted to the NIST OpenMT'2015 competition. The competition focused on informal dialectal Arabic, as used in SMS, chat, and speech. Thus, our efforts focused on processing and standardizing Arabic, e.g., using tools such as 3arrib and MADAMIRA. We further trained a phrase-based SMT system using state-of-the-art features and components such as operation sequence model, class-based language model, sparse features, neural network joint model, genre-based hierarchically-interpolated language model, unsupervised transliteration mining, phrase-table merging, and hypothesis combination. Our system ranked second on all three genres.
Glioma-Associated Cytomegalovirus Mediates Subversion of the Monocyte Lineage to a Tumor Propagating Phenotype

Purpose: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been ubiquitously detected within high-grade gliomas, but its role in gliomagenesis has not been fully elicited. Experimental Design: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumors were analyzed by flow cytometry to determine CMV antigen expression within various glioma-associated immune populations. The glioma cancer stem cell (gCSC) CMV interleukin (IL)-10 production was determined by ELISA. Human monocytes were stimulated with recombinant CMV IL-10 and levels of expression of p-STAT3, VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), TGF-β, viral IE1, and pp65 were determined by flow cytometry. The influence of CMV IL-10–treated monocytes on gCSC biology was ascertained by functional assays. Results: CMV showed a tropism for macrophages (MΦ)/microglia and CD133+ gCSCs within GBMs. The gCSCs produce CMV IL-10, which induces human monocytes (the precursor to the central nervous system MΦs/microglia) to assume an M2 immunosuppressive phenotype (as manifested by downmodulation of the major histocompatibility complex and costimulatory molecules) while upregulating immunoinhibitory B7-H1. CMV IL-10 also induces expression of viral IE1, a modulator of viral replication and transcription in the monocytes. Finally, the CMV IL-10–treated monocytes produced angiogenic VEGF, immunosuppressive TGF-β, and enhanced migration of gCSCs. Conclusions: CMV triggers a feedforward mechanism of gliomagenesis by inducing tumor-supportive monocytes. Clin Cancer Res; 17(14); 4642–9. ©2011 AACR.
[Risk factors for anemia in infants aged 6-12 months from rural areas of southern Shaanxi Province, China].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence of anemia and related risk factors in infants aged 6-12 months from rural areas of southern Shaanxi Province. METHODS A questionnaire survey was used to collect the basic information on infants aged 6-12 months and their families from rural areas of southern Shaanxi Province, China. The content of hemoglobin was measured in these infants. A multivariate logistic stepwise regression analysis was performed to determine the risk factors for the development of anemia in infants. RESULTS A total of 1 802 infants and their families participated in the survey, and there were 1 770 valid samples. A total of 865 infants (865/1 770, 48.87%) were found to have anemia. The multivariate logistic stepwise regression analysis showed that breastfeeding after birth (lack of scientific supplementary food) increased the risk of anemia in infants (OR=1.768, P<0.01). Addition of supplementary food which met the criteria for minimum feeding frequency recommended by WHO (OR=0.779, P<0.05) and formula milk feeding (OR=0.658, P<0.01) were protective factors against anemia in infants. CONCLUSIONS In the rural areas in southern Shaanxi Province, anemia in infants aged 6-12 months is still a serious public health problem. Improper feeding can increase the risk of anemia in infants, and scientific addition of supplementary food is the key to reducing anemia in infants.
Symbolic Models for Networks of Control Systems

In this note, we propose symbolic models for networks of discrete-time nonlinear control systems. If each subsystem composing the network admits an incremental input-to-state stable Lyapunov function and if some small gain theorem-type conditions are satisfied, a network of symbolic models, each one associated with each subsystem composing the network, is proposed and shown to be approximately bisimilar to the original network with any desired accuracy.
Rate-Aware Adaptive Channel Allocation for Multi-User OFDM Systems

This paper addresses channel allocation for multi-user OFDM systems for real-time packet oriented data transmission. For high data rate wireless communication, optimum utilization of resources has become of utmost importance. The optimum problem we are facing is the minimization of the total transmitted power while meeting the quality of service (QoS) and rate requirements in a multi-user OFDM transmission. The idea is to utilize the knowledge of rate requirements not only as a constraint, but also in the channel allocation process. We propose to include the rate requirements in a two-fold manner: i) to perform pre-calculation of the maximum number of channels per user and, ii) to define the set of users competing for the available channels. Thereby obtaining a much balanced allocation policy, that results in reduced total power at low complexity
Preliminary Results of a Phase II Study of Weekly Paclitaxel (PTX) and Carboplatin (CBDCA) Administered Concurrently With Thoracic Radiation Therapy (TRT) Followed by Consolidation Chemotherapy With PTX/CBDCA for Stage III Unresectable Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

Concurrent chemoradiotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of unresectable NSCLC. This phase II study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of paclitaxel (PTX) and carboplatin (CBDCA) at a recommended dose, based on other previous phase I studies. Twenty-two unresectable stage III NSCLC patients participated in this trial. Of those 22 patients, 19 were evaluable, with a median age of 57 (with ages ranging between 42 and 74), in stages IIIA/IIIB: 6/13. Every patient displayed adequate organ functions. Treatment consisted of a 1-hour i.v. infusion of 50 mg/m2 of PTX followed by a half-hour infusion of CBDCA AUC 2 administered weekly concurrently with radiation treatment, every first day of those weeks in which the patient underwent radiotherapy. Concurrent thoracic radiation therapy was performed in daily doses of 2 Gy to a total dose of 66 Gy over a period of 6.5 weeks. After completion of chemoradiotherapy, consolidation chemotherapy was administered via a 3-hour i.v. infusion of 175 mg/2 PTX on days 1 and 22, in combination with a 1-hour i.v. infusion of CBDCA AUC 6 on days 1 and 22, q 4 weeks for 4 cycles. The overall response rate was 78.9% (95% CI: 62–87.7) with 5 CR (26.3%), 10 PR (52.6%), 2 SD (15.8%), and 1 PD (5.3%). The median survival rate of the patients was 13.9 months, and the 1-year survival rate was 65.1%. Toxicity was moderate: grade 2 neutropenia was seen in 8, and grade 3 neutropenia in 5 patients. Grade 2 thrombocytopenia was seen in 3 patients, and grade 3 thrombocytopenia was not observed. Nonhematologic toxicities were moderate: esophagitis was the most common, and significant toxicity was noted in this study (89.4%). Grade 1 asthenia/fatigue was observed in 5, and grade 2 asthenia/fatigue in 3 patients; furthermore, grade 1 peripheral neuropathy was seen in 4 of the cases and grade 2 peripheral neuropathy in 3 of the cases. Concurrent chemoradiotherapy with weekly PTX/CBDCA, followed by consolidation chemotherapy with the same regimen in patients with stage III unresectable NSCLC is feasible and well tolerated.
Gene–gene and gene–environment interactions defining lipid-related traits

Purpose of review Steps towards reducing chronic disease progression are continuously being taken through the form of genomic research. Studies over the last year have highlighted more and more polymorphisms, pathways and interactions responsible for metabolic disorders such as cardiovascular disease, obesity and dyslipidemia. Recent findings Many of these chronic illnesses can be partially blamed by altered lipid metabolism, combined with individual genetic components. Critical evaluation and comparison of these recent studies is essential in order to comprehend the results, conclusions and future prospects in the field of genomics as a whole. Recent literature elucidates significant gene–diet and gene–environment interactions resulting in altered lipid metabolism, inflammation and other metabolic imbalances leading to cardiovascular disease and obesity. Summary Epigenetic and epistatic interactions are now becoming more significantly associated with such disorders, as genomic research digs deeper into the complex nature of genetic individuality and heritability. The vast array of data collected from genome-wide association studies must now be empowered and explored through more complex interaction studies, using standardized methods and larger sample sizes. In doing so the etiology of chronic disease progression will be further understood.