Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shared Input Multimodal Mobile Interfaces: Interaction Modality Effects on Menu Selection in Single-Task and Dual-Task Environments

Audio and visual modalities are two common output channels in the user interfaces embedded in today’s mobile devices. However, these user interfaces typically center on the visual modality as the primary output channel, with audio output serving a secondary role. This paper argues for an increased need for shared input multimodal user interfaces for mobile devices. A shared input multimodal interface can be operated independently using a specific output modality, leaving users to choose the preferred method of interaction in different scenarios. We evaluate the value of a shared input multimodal menu system in both a single-task desktop setting and in a dynamic dual-task setting, in which the user was required to interact with the shared input multimodal menu system while driving a simulated vehicle. Results indicate that users were faster at locating a target item in the menu when visual feedback was provided in the single-task desktop setting, but in the dual-task driving setting, visual output presented a significant source of visual distraction that interfered with driving performance. In contrast, auditory output mitigated some of the risk associated with menu selection while driving. A shared input multimodal interface allows users to take advantage of multiple feedback modalities properly, providing a better overall experience.
Regular ArticleAn Algorithm for Two-Dimensional Rigidity Percolation: The Pebble Game

Many important macroscopic properties of materials depend upon the number of microscopic degrees of freedom. The task of counting the number of such degrees of freedom can be computationally very expensive. We describe a new approach for this calculation which is appropriate for two-dimensional, glass-like networks, building upon recent work in graph rigidity. This purely combinatorial algorithm is formulated in terms of a simplepebble game. It has allowed for the first studies of the rigidity transition ingenericnetworks, which are models of amorphous materials and glasses. In the context of generic rigidity percolation, we show how to calculate the number of internal degrees of freedom, identify all rigid clusters, and locate the overconstrained regions. For a network ofnsites the pebble game has a worst case performance ofO(n2). In our applications its performance scaled asn1.15at the rigidity transition, while away from the transition region it grew linearly.
Sensitive Cardiac Troponin T Assay and the Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Disease in Women With and Without Diabetes Mellitus: The Women's Health Study

Background— Very low levels of cardiac troponin T are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular death in patients with stable chronic coronary disease. Whether high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T levels are associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes in individuals without cardiovascular disease (CVD) has not been well studied. Methods and Results— Using 2 complementary study designs, we evaluated the relationship between baseline cardiac troponin and incident CVD events among diabetic and nondiabetic participants in the Women's Health Study (median follow-up, 12.3 years). All diabetic women with blood specimens were included in a cohort study (n=512 diabetic women, n=65 events), and nondiabetic women were sampled for inclusion in a case-cohort analysis (n=564 comprising the subcohort, n=479 events). High-sensitivity cardiac troponin T was detectable (≥0.003 &mgr;g/L) in 45.5% of diabetic women and 30.3% of nondiabetic women (P<0.0001). In models adjusted for traditional risk factors and hemoglobin A1c, detectable high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T was associated with subsequent CVD (myocardial infarction, stroke, cardiovascular death) in diabetic women (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.79; 95% confidence interval, 1.04 to 3.07, P=0.036) but not nondiabetic women (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.13; 95% confidence interval, 0.82 to 1.55; P=0.46). Further adjustment for amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide and estimated renal function did not substantially alter this relationship among diabetic women (hazard ratio, 1.76; 95% confidence interval, 1.00 to 3.08; P=0.0499), which appeared to be driven by a 3-fold increase in CVD death that was not observed in nondiabetic women. Conclusions— Very low but detectable levels of cardiac troponin T are associated with total CVD and CVD death in women with diabetes mellitus. Among healthy nondiabetic women, detectable compared with undetectable troponin was not associated with CVD events.
Virtual topologies for WDM star LANs-the regular structures approach

The design of a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) passive star network must address the following limitations of the optical hardware technologies: a limited number of transmitters and receivers at each node; the unavailability of rapidly tuning transmitters and receivers; and the mismatch between the electronic processing rates and the optical transmission bandwidth. The authors investigate the use of regular virtual topologies as an efficient solution that incorporates the above hardware limitations, while providing high system utilization and low end-to-end delays. The following regular topologies are investigated: Shufflenet, binary hypercube, generalized hypercube, and two-dimensional torus. A number of performance and hardware related metrics are introduced that reflect the use of these topologies in a high speed optical environment. Based on these metrics, along with upper and lower bounds developed for performance and hardware requirements, the authors evaluate and compare the selected regular topologies. They also address the issue of mapping the regular virtual topologies into a WDM star network. <<ETX>>
The National Cancer Data Base report on carcinoma of the gallbladder, 1989‐1995

Reports utilizing data from the Commission on Cancer's National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) have previously contained evaluations of time trends for stage of disease at diagnosis, treatment, and survival for multiple tumor sites. Data collected from 1989, 1990, 1994, and 1995 for carcinoma of the gallbladder are presented herein.
Gene Expression Intensity Shapes Evolutionary Rates of the Proteins Encoded by the Vertebrate Genome

Natural selection leaves its footprints on protein-coding sequences by modulating their silent and replacement evolutionary rates. In highly expressed genes in invertebrates, these footprints are seen in the higher codon usage bias and lower synonymous divergence. In mammals, the highly expressed genes have a shorter gene length in the genome and the breadth of expression is known to constrain the rate of protein evolution. Here we have examined how the rates of evolution of proteins encoded by the vertebrate genomes are modulated by the amount (intensity) of gene expression. To understand how natural selection operates on proteins that appear to have arisen in earlier and later phases of animal evolution, we have contrasted patterns of mouse proteins that have homologs in invertebrate and protist genomes (Precambrian genes) with those that do not have such detectable homologs (vertebrate-specific genes). We find that the intensity of gene expression relates inversely to the rate of protein sequence evolution on a genomic scale. The most highly expressed genes actually show the lowest total number of substitutions per polypeptide, consistent with cumulative effects of purifying selection on individual amino acid replacements. Precambrian genes exhibit a more pronounced difference in protein evolutionary rates (up to three times) between the genes with high and low expression levels as compared to the vertebrate-specific genes, which appears to be due to the narrower breadth of expression of the vertebrate-specific genes. These results provide insights into the differential relationship and effect of the increasing complexity of animal body form on evolutionary rates of proteins.
Vertical microstrip transition for multilayer microwave circuits with decoupled passive and active layers

A novel broadband (including dc) microstrip-to-microstrip vertical transition for multilayer microwave circuits is proposed. This transition solves the problem of the discontinuity typically appearing in via hole transitions between two microstrip transmission lines in different layers. An analogy existing between this transition and a rectangular coaxial line is discussed. A parametric study alongside with the experimental results of the transition are presented. Reduction of local oscillator to radio frequency leakage in a mixer with this transition is demonstrated
Numerical modelling of undrained vertical load displacement behaviour of offshore pipeline using coupled analysis

Predicting the initial embedment of an offshore pipeline is one of the important design considerations for on bottom stability analysis. This paper reviews the current state of the art to predict the initial embedment, and presents numerical modelling to perform the coupled analysis of pipe-seabed system. Two dimensional plane strain, axissymmetry model was developed using ABAQUS computer program. Soil was modelled using both Mohr-Coulomb with uniform undrained shear strength and modified Cam-clay obeying Biot consolidation while the pipe was assumed to be rigid. Both undrained and drained loadings were performed in displacement control manner to develop the loaddisplacement behaviour. The results were benchmarked to the analytical solutions available in literature. RÉSUMÉ Prédire l'ancrage initial d'un gazoduc sous-marin est l'un des considérations de conception important pour la stabilité sur l'analyse de fond. Ce document passe en revue l'état actuel de l'art de prédire l'ancrage initial, et présente la modélisation numérique pour effectuer l'analyse couplée de réseau de conduites-sol marin. Deux souche plan bidimensionnel, modèle de l'axe de symétrie a été développé en utilisant le programme informatique ABAQUS. Du sol a été modélisé en utilisant à la fois de Mohr-Coulomb avec la résistance au cisaillement non drainée uniforme et modification de Cam-clay consolidation obéissant à Biot tandis que le tuyau était censée être rigide. Les deux chargements non drainés et drainés ont été effectués de la manière de commande de déplacement à développer le comportement charge-déplacement. Les résultats ont été comparés aux solutions analytiques disponibles dans la littérature.
CORRELATION BETWEEN SEISMIC GROUND MOTIONS AND FLOOR ACCELERATION DEMAND FOR FRAME AND STRUCTURAL-WALL BUILDINGS

This paper focuses on the ability of Intensity Measures (IMs) to predict horizontal floor acceleration demand of multi-story buildings. The efficiency of a broad panel of IMs is compared, based on: a) the use of a large dataset of recorded European earthquake ground motions (over 4,000 records); b) numerical analyses performed with three-dimensional models, representing actual frame and structural wall buildings and validated against experimental test results; c) statistical analyses of results. The study finds that the efficiency of current IMs depends on the type of building being examined. In agreement with the literature, the PGA has proven to be efficient for low-frequency frame buildings. In contrast, when considering stiff structural wall buildings, the IMs based on low-damped spectral acceleration at the fundamental frequency of the structure have demonstrated the highest efficiency with respect to predicting the ordinates of floor response spectra.
Reframing the challenges to integrated care: a complex-adaptive systems perspective

Introduction Despite over two decades of international experience and research on health systems integration, integrated care has not developed widely. We hypothesized that part of the problem may lie in how we conceptualize the integration process and the complex systems within which integrated care is enacted. This study aims to contribute to discourse regarding the relevance and utility of a complex-adaptive systems (CAS) perspective on integrated care. Methods In the Canadian province of Ontario, government mandated the development of fourteen Local Health Integration Networks in 2006. Against the backdrop of these efforts to integrate care, we collected focus group data from a diverse sample of healthcare professionals in the Greater Toronto Area using convenience and snowball sampling. A semi-structured interview guide was used to elicit participant views and experiences of health systems integration. We use a CAS framework to describe and analyze the data, and to assess the theoretical fit of a CAS perspective with the dominant themes in participant responses. Results Our findings indicate that integration is challenged by system complexity, weak ties and poor alignment among professionals and organizations, a lack of funding incentives to support collaborative work, and a bureaucratic environment based on a command and control approach to management. Using a CAS framework, we identified several characteristics of CAS in our data, including diverse, interdependent and semi-autonomous actors; embedded co-evolutionary systems; emergent behaviours and non-linearity; and self-organizing capacity. Discussion and conclusion One possible explanation for the lack of systems change towards integration is that we have failed to treat the healthcare system as complex-adaptive. The data suggest that future integration initiatives must be anchored in a CAS perspective, and focus on building the system’s capacity to self-organize. We conclude that integrating care requires policies and management practices that promote system awareness, relationship-building and information-sharing, and that recognize change as an evolving learning process rather than a series of programmatic steps.
A Framework for the Elicitation and Analysis of Information Technology Service Requirements and Their Alignment with Enterprise Business Goals

As the economies of the world have become increasingly dependant on Information Technology (IT) services, there is a need for service designers and developers to focus on co-value creation between service providers and service consumers. Developers need to conduct a more rigorous and systematic identification, elicitation, and analysis of IT service requirements than ever before so that the resulting IT services are closely aligned with the enterprise business requirements. Research in Services Science from the business and management discipline has mostly focused on the delivery and management of services experience from the business perspective. Much of the research focus in Service Oriented Computing (SOC) so far has been on the design and delivery of services (especially Web Services), but engineering of IT service requirements has received much less attention. The overall aims of the proposed research is the design and development of an integrated framework and its supporting toolset for the systematic identification, elicitation, and analysis of IT service requirements that satisfy consumers’ needs and are closely aligned with their enterprise business goals.
Viability of cultured human nasal septum chondrocytes after crushing.

OBJECTIVE To investigate how different degrees of crushing affect the viability of human nasal septum chondrocytes in adherent cell cultures. METHODS Cartilage grafts were harvested from the nasal septa of 15 patients who underwent submucosal resection. Five cartilage pieces were prepared from each specimen as follows: the cartilage was left intact, slightly crushed, moderately crushed, significantly crushed, or severely crushed. Chondrocytes were isolated for trypan blue dye exclusion testing, and the numbers of viable cells were determined at 1, 2, 3, and 10 days after culturing. Comparisons were made among the groups. RESULTS The day 1 viability rates for the intact, slightly crushed, moderately crushed, significantly crushed, and severely crushed cartilage preparations were 96%, 92%, 82%, 72%, and 54%, respectively. The corresponding rates on day 10 were 93%, 90%, 84%, 75%, and 68%. CONCLUSIONS The viability and proliferative capacity of crushed human septal cartilage depend on the degree of crushing sustained. Slightly or moderately crushed cartilage grafts show good chondrocyte viability and proliferation and are valuable for fashioning soft nasal contours, filling defects, and concealing dorsal irregularities. However, significant or severe crushing reduces chondrocyte viability and proliferation and may result in unpredictable degrees of graft volume loss.
Potential barriers to the use of health services among ethnic minorities: a review.

BACKGROUND Ethnic minority patients seem to be confronted with barriers when using health services. Yet, care providers are often oblivious to these barriers, although they may share to some extent the burden of responsibility for them. In order to enlighten care providers, as to the potential pitfalls that may exist, there is a need to explore the different factors in the creation of the barriers. OBJECTIVE Therefore, the objective of this paper is to present an overview of the potential barriers and the factors, which may restrict ethnic minority patients from using health services, according to the literature available. METHODS Articles published from 1990 to 2003 were identified by searching electronic databases and selected through titles and abstracts. The articles were included if deemed to be relevant to study health services use by ethnic minorities, i.e. the different factors in the creation of a barrier. RESULTS There were 54 articles reviewed. They reported on studies carried out in different countries and among different ethnic minorities. Potential barriers occurred at three different levels: patient level, provider level and system level. The barriers at patient level were related to the patient characteristics: demographic variables, social structure variables, health beliefs and attitudes, personal enabling resources, community enabling resources, perceived illness and personal health practices. The barriers at provider level were related to the provider characteristics: skills and attitudes. The barriers at system level were related to the system characteristics: the organisation of the health care system. CONCLUSION This review has the goal of raising awareness about the myriad of potential barriers, so that the problem of barriers to health care for different ethnic minorities becomes transparent. In conclusion, there are many different potential barriers of which some are tied to ethnic minorities. The barriers are all tied to the particular situation of the individual patient and subject to constant adjustment. In other words, generalizations should not be made.
Leptin and insulin signaling in dopaminergic neurons: relationship between energy balance and reward system

The central actions of leptin and insulin are essential for the regulation of energy and glucose homeostasis. In addition to the crucial effects on the hypothalamus, emerging evidence suggests that the leptin and insulin signaling can act on other brain regions to mediate the reward value of nutrients. Recent studies have indicated the midbrain dopaminergic neurons as a potential site for leptin’ and insulin’s actions on mediating the feeding behaviors and therefore affecting the energy balance. Although molecular details about the integrative roles of leptin and insulin in this subset of neurons remain to be investigated, substantial body of evidence by far imply that the signaling pathways regulated by leptin and insulin may play an essential role in the regulation of energy balance through the control of food-associated reward. This review therefore describes the convergence of energy regulation and reward system, particularly focusing on leptin and insulin signaling in the midbrain dopaminergic neurons.
BAYESIAN SPATIAL SAMPLING DESIGN

A power supply unit which has charging function enables error charging of a non-charged-type battery to be prevented, which battery is used as a power supply of an electric circuit device. Such the power supply unit is materialized with simple constitution and a low price. The power supply unit in the electric circuit device includes an external power supply connecting power supply jack, a protection circuit, and so forth. A charged-type battery case is provided with a positive electrode terminal of the power supply unit, a positive terminal corresponding to a first and a second negative electrode terminals, and a first and a second negative terminals. While a non-charged-type battery case is only provided with a positive terminal and a first negative terminal. A terminal corresponding to the second terminal is not provided for the non-charged-type battery case. Consequently, when the charged-type battery is employed, the charged-type battery is charged on the occasion of connection of the external battery, while the non-charged-type battery is not charged as the non-charged-type battery is employed, it is capable of preventing failure charging of the non-charged-type battery.
Evolution of female choice and age-dependent male traits with paternal germ-line mutation

Several studies question the adaptive value of female preferences for older males. Theory and evidence show that older males carry more deleterious mutations in their sperm than younger males carry. These mutations are not visible to females choosing mates. Germ-line mutations could oppose preferences for "good genes. " Choosy females run the risk that offspring of older males will be no more attractive or healthy than offspring of younger males. Germ-line mutations could pose a particular problem when females can only judge male trait size, rather than assessing age directly. I ask whether or not females will prefer extreme traits, despite reduced offspring survival due to age-dependent mutation. I use a quantitative genetic model to examine the evolution of female preferences, an age-dependent male trait, and overall health ("condition"). My dynamical equation includes mutation bias that depends on the generation time of the population. I focus on the case where females form preferences for older males because male trait size depends on male age. My findings agree with good genes theory. Females at equilibrium always select above-average males. The trait size preferred by females directly correlates with the direct costs of the preference. Direct costs can accentuate the equilibrium preference at a higher rate than mutational parameters. Females can always offset direct costs by mating with older, more ornamented males. Age-dependent mutation in condition maintains genetic variation in condition and thereby maintains the selective value of female preferences. Rather than eliminating female preferences, germ-line mutations provide an essential ingredient in sexual selection.
Gate level static power estimation in UDSM processes

This paper introduces a new approach to estimating static leakage current, which leads to the calculation of static power dissipation in basic and complex logic gates. The approach utilizes a transistor collapsing scheme which merges pull-up/down networks into transistor stacks. Leakage current in these stacks can then be easily estimated using a stack estimator proposed by Hertani, et al. The proposed approach is highly analytical (at the logic gate level), therefore exhibiting high computational efficiency as well as good accuracy. Compared to SPICE simulations, the average percentage errors ranges from 0.1-5.4% for basic logic gates and 3.7-6.2% for complex gates across the 32 nm, 45 nm and 65 nm PTM technologies.